Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. Since you have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him, and this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Father God, we bless you and thank you for this morning. And we come again to a challenging subject today. We ask you to help us to be able to embrace the truths of this subject. And may your servant be effective by the power of the Holy Spirit, doing in the hearts what no human can do, and helping us to be encouraged and strengthened in our walk with Christ. We pray this today in His name. Amen. So, we have been spending a few weeks unpacking the concept of the glory of His name. The glory of His name. We noted in week one that God’s motivation is to be, or His intention is to be glorified. And stress that for fallen man this is egotistical but not for God. If you hear a reference to God wanting to glorify Himself and you say, that just sounds so wrong, it may be because you’re thinking of God as a man. And as Jason is masterfully unpacking in the prelude, God is not a man. He is not like us. We may in some ways be like Him, but He is in no way like us. And so, this is the concept we looked at in week one. Last week, we noticed how God is glorified through His acts of judgment, and most notably in Egypt and in the upcoming study of Revelation, where glory and wrath are preeminent topics through that. And by the way, God’s wrath is often directed toward His enemies. He loves His people and He judges their enemies. And so, we see love and wrath combined. Today, we come to the subject of how God is glorified through the suffering of His people. Now, it’s very important for you to hear this. This is not human suffering in general. Because if we are to argue that, we could portray God in a sadistic kind of way, that He gets some kind of pleasure from inflicting suffering on people. And in fact, the Bible says He does not inflict suffering willingly. And so, we want to be very careful about this. But the Scripture is clear that in the faithful endurance of His people, God’s people do, in fact, suffer for Him and with Him, as I hope they be able to lay this out. Now, I have to structure today’s message in three premises, under three premises. But before we get there, I should follow my outline. There’s what I just told you. Before we get there, we need to note the broadness of this concept. Suffering in its broadest context. Because what can happen sometimes? You say, God is glorified through His suffering. And we would reject that and say, well… And when we reject it, typically, we have one particular kind of suffering in mind. And we need to understand that suffering is a very, very broad concept in our human existence. So, for example, there’s physical suffering that comes from disease, hardships, old age. We can understand those kind of things. There is emotional suffering, psychological or relational suffering that people endure through life. There is vocational suffering. Many of us know people who are in the military and they have PTSD from their time in service. That’s an emotional suffering that they have and often deal with their entire life. It’s not like fixed it last week and everything is good. We just had, last week, we went to Sarah’s house for Avery’s birthday celebration. And one of the homeschool families, not in our group, but in another group that Will is connected to, was in Afghanistan and Iraq and still decades after is struggling with these things. So, there is that kind of suffering that people go through. The police, when Jacob went to the police department, they sent somebody to our house to interview us. And they said, your son will be different. This job will affect him. It will change him because of the kinds of things that they see in the police. It’s not just like pulling somebody over and giving them a ticket. It is much more graphic than that when you really get into the things. And it can affect you and you suffer even in that role that has a good and proper purpose in our society. And then there’s financial suffering. And by this, I mean not the suffering that comes because we keep making mistakes and making decisions that we shouldn’t be making. I’m talking about sometimes that you’ve got a good job, you’re in good health, and you’ve got a job, and you like your job. It just doesn’t pay enough. And because you may want to stay there, my particular perspective on life, I would rather have a job that pays poorly that I enjoy than one that pays hand over fist that I’m miserable every time I have to get up. And Sunday is ruined because I know I’ve got to go back to the job on Monday. But there is that kind of suffering whereby I make a choice. In fact, I’m not sure how many of you realize this, five of the families in our church are single-income families. Five of the families in our church are single-income families. And I’m talking about the younger families. Five of them, four of them are in the homeschool co-op. They’ve made a decision to raise their children and teach them at home. And that means that one person doesn’t get to go to work. And the consequence is there is financial hardship, financial suffering that goes with a decision you’ve made in order to train your children up in the way that you go with the Lord. And this is the kind of thing when we talk about suffering, sometimes we just have one image in our mind, and we reject that out of hand, and we don’t see that it’s a very broad and varied concept and subject. So let me come to my first premise then this morning. Premise number one, the Bible is clear that the Christian suffers as a consequence of our union in Christ or with Christ. The Bible is clear about this. Now, one may argue, and I would say without success, that the suffering of God’s people cannot and does not produce glory for God. And we’ll deal with that directly. But you cannot argue with the fact that the Bible is explicit that when I become a Christian, when I hitch my horse or my mount to Jesus, then there is suffering that comes with that. And there’s nothing in the Bible that you can argue against that concept and belief. Now, I stress that this morning because it is very important that in the light of this recognition, we not allow ourselves to fall victim to the charismatic word of faith extremes that as God’s children, we have no problems. Now, folks, that’s just wrong. It’s wrong. And, you know, whenever we mention those people, people, you know, sometimes we can get a little antsy and say, well, I don’t think we should be judging them. We’re not judging them as individuals. We’re judging the false teaching that they give out every time they go on TV that says you shouldn’t have any of these kinds of problems. I would encourage you to go home and look up Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. Kenneth Copeland has been preaching that you should have no problems since before I became a Christian. And I’ve been a Christian coming on 50 years. He’s been preaching that. Right now, they are both in terrible physical health and they’re suffering. And they’re asking people to pray for them after five decades of saying we should never have any kind of suffering in our lives. You and I cannot fall victim to that kind of teaching in our hearts and in our lives. And we must guard against that. And the reason we must is not because we don’t like those people or because we envy their success. It is because the Bible does not teach that. The Bible teaches that the Christian, as part of a fallen world, suffers like everyone else. And adds to it the concept of suffering for Christ. And this is woven into the Bible. And I will show you this this morning. I want you to notice in this first text, which comes from the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew structures his Gospel in such a way that the first set of instructions, the end of the first section of Matthew’s record of Jesus’ instruction, ends like this. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, note this next phrase. Blessed are you. Notice how he makes it personal. At first, it’s blessed are those people who are persecuted for righteousness. But then he says, blessed are you. Blessed are you when others revile and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. The very first record of instruction that Matthew gives us ends with an acknowledgement that Christians, if they’re faithful to God, will suffer in some manner or fashion. Listen to Romans 8, verse 17. If we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him, in order that we may be glorified also with Him. I want you to notice first, many times the people will just stop after heirs of God, heirs of Christ. We’re children of God. We’re king’s kids. We have all these privileges, and we may be living below our privileges, but we are also called to suffer with Christ, provided we suffer. Now, by the way, this does not mean that we become children of God through our suffering. It does mean that being a child of God brings with it some degree of inevitable suffering. And if you know anything about Romans chapter 8, Paul continuously reflects on suffering and the difficulties of Christian faith in a pagan culture. And for those who don’t know it, we are now in a pagan culture. This is no longer a Christian culture. This is a pagan culture. And we must be aware of that and be willing to speak up. Listen to Romans chapter number 8, verse 35 through 37. Notice it is in these things that we are conquerors. Not after we’ve ridden them all out of our lives. While we are suffering these things, we are conquerors in Christ Jesus. Now, this big passage you must read because it would take too many slides. But it’s a familiar passage. All of you should know.

And it comes at the end of Jesus’ life. John 15, the Last Supper. So the last comments Jesus is making to his disciples before he’s crucified. And then you know the rest of the story. He ascends later to go back to heaven. If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. This tells us, this contradicts the whole concept of the idea that Jesus was just loving and tolerant. Why did people hate him if he was loving and tolerant in his life on earth? This is after his ministry. This is at the close of his ministry. And he says, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. In his life on earth, people were hating him. They were not all enamored with his goodness and his grace. He says, if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. All these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. And by the way, you should know, that most of the people doing that were religious people. Our greatest danger, unfortunately, sometimes doesn’t come from the lost, but from the people who claim to be children of God and don’t know what they’re talking about. These are the challenges. But Jesus makes it clear in Matthew, in John, and Paul echoes it in Romans, and many other passages we don’t have time to look at. But here’s a restatement of our premise. Christians suffer as a consequence of their union with Christ. Now, you say, well, that’s good, Pastor. That only proves Christian suffering. It does not prove that God is glorified by their suffering. Well, that brings us then to premise number two.

Since God’s purpose in Christ’s suffering is the glorification of his name, as our text indicates, we suffer with Christ. Now, I read that to you, and I didn’t take the time, by the way, as much more. But Jesus says, when Jesus has spoken these words, he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. What hour? The hour of his death. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you. And in the context specifically, it’s talking about him dying for human sin. This is how God is going to glorify himself, by Jesus’ death and suffering on Calvary. And this is the thing we must realize. Let me give you three sub-points, if I can. First, we glorify him through the suffering he calls us to. Everybody has a different calling in their lives. I’m not called to suffer as a missionary might, but I am called to suffer in some way. And we should be faithful to that. We should recognize that and allow God to work in our hearts. Secondly, our sufferings with him serve the same purpose. If we are united in Christ, and Christ’s sufferings were about the glory of God, then our sufferings have some role in that same thing. Listen to what Paul says in 2 Timothy 2. I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This saying is trustworthy. For if we have died with him, we will also live with him. There’s the identification in Christ. If we endure, and I will add to that statement, if we endure the same kinds of sufferings he endured, which is exactly what he said there in John 15. They hated me, they’ll hate you. There’s no difference. If we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure those kinds of sufferings, we also shall reign with him. We shall be heirs of Christ provided we suffer with him. The suffering is an evidence of, and not a means of, becoming a Christian, but the evidence of being a Christian. Now listen to this passage from Psalm chapter 44. Remember in our first week, I stressed, I labored, two-thirds of the message was bringing out the Old Testament passages which say, for the sake of your name, for the sake of your name, for the sake of your name. Or where God says, I’m doing this for my sake and not for your sake. Again and again and again he says that. One of those passages we looked at was Psalm 44, 26. Rise up, come to our help, redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love. But verse 22 of that psalm, which was in this passage of Romans a while ago. For your sake we are killed. All the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. In other words, immediately after saying this, he comes back and talks about the glory of God. They are connected. That in ways we cannot understand. It is in the context, the suffering of Psalm 44, 22 is for God’s glory and is emphasized in the Romans passage above. Thirdly,

we glorify God through the privilege of suffering with Christ. Now I just lost everybody in the room. Because nobody here thinks suffering is a privilege. And yet this is exactly what the scripture says. That to suffer with Christ is in fact a blessing. Look at this passage of scripture, Philippians 129. It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ. And please notice, the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake. And note that. Twice it talks about God’s sake. And we saw how that has to do with his glory in the first message. But notice this. It has been granted to you. The Greek word there means, and it’s a root of the word grace. God has graced you with the privilege of suffering for Christ. How that will change our perception on some of our difficulties. Now lest you think, again, here, let me just read from some other commentaries. The word biblical commentary.

Says that Paul believes that God is in control of all events.

Therefore the Philippians should not be upset by the bitter experience as if God had forgotten them or were angry with them. How many times when we’re in a time of trial and difficulty and hardship do we think that way? I must have done something wrong. And God has turned his back on me now. Or he’s forgotten about me. And I understand that feeling. But this is not what’s going on. It is not the case. On the contrary, the verb he has granted, the verb would remind them that even this trial comes to them as a gift of grace. God wards and endorses believers with the gift of suffering. Have you ever wondered how the first century Christians survived the persecution of the first century? This is one of the things that apologists point to. How do you explain the perseverance of the Christian church with all of its problems for over 2,000 years? What was it that made? Go back and read some of the stories of martyrdom from the first century. The horror of it. And ask yourself, why do people keep doing that? Because they believe God is in control of every aspect of their life.

This is the only way Paul could have survived. It’s the only way you will survive. It’s the only way anybody in the world survives. In the countries around the world today where they do this, they break in, they come into the church on Sunday morning and drag the pastor out, never to be seen again. And next week, the people are in the church again. How can they keep doing that? Because at the core is this deep, settled belief that God is sovereign of the universe and He is in control of all things, even the things that are, to our view, horribly bad. And we’re going to come back next week.

We’re going to come next week to come back to our study in Revelation. But I’m going to try to put together a message as we spring back into that about God’s sovereignty. Because when you look at the book of Revelation, you see the judgment, you see the horror, you see the persecution, you see all the things. What the message is, God is in control of all of this. And He has His hand upon it. And you and I have got to come to a place of believing that God is in control and that our suffering in an ironic, paradoxical fashion, amen, but it is a gift from God.

The evangelical commentary on the Bible. Now, let me give you just a brief.

The evangelical commentary on the Bible is a one-volume commentary. Okay? One volume. About that thick, it’s got the whole Bible. Commentary of the entire Bible in one book. I have commentaries. In fact, Leon Morris later on, his commentary on Matthew is that thick, just in the book of Matthew. And what that says is the evangelical, as a one-volume commentary, it must be brief. It can only hit the high points. It can’t really plow down into some of the things. It is interesting then that in this evangelical commentary on the Bible, they highlight this verse. When they could have had so much else to deal with, they highlight this verse and comments on this passage of Philippians. Granted means given as a gift, graced, and shows that suffering in the Christian life is not a curse, but a blessing that fosters growth. I don’t know how to fix it.

I don’t know that it can be fixed. But I know our culture is on a pell-mell race to make everything as pleasant as it can possibly be, and in the consequence, we are becoming weaklings. We are becoming spiritual, moral weaklings who hide out in our homes and become recluses rather than accepting the struggles that can make us strong.

Listen to the story of God, Bible commentary. Paul writes here that God gave to the Philippians two things, belief in Christ and suffering for Christ. Lest we imagine that faith in Christ is merely intellectual acceptance of cold facts, Paul conjoins faith and suffering in his picture of the Christian life. For Paul, suffering only makes sense and is bearable because of the immeasurably rich faith, our belief in the sure, faithful work of Christ that is the gift God gives to every believer. Paul reassures the Philippians that suffering is redemptive inasmuch as it testifies to Christ’s work on the cross. Suffering is an expected aspect of the end of the current age dominated by sin and oppression. But suffering does not have the final word. God will gain the victory as evidenced in Christ’s resurrection. Paul sees all of this in the light of God’s glory, and that’s exactly what’s happening in Romans 8, if you go back and read it again. I’m convinced that none of these things are worth talking about because of the glory that will be revealed in us. Very important reminder here then, it is not merely suffering for Christ, which is true, but it is suffering with Christ. And that puts a whole new slant on this. Ambrose the Astor, one of the early church fathers who died into the year 384, says of this passage in Philippians, Paul offers a special kind of honor to the Philippians in this passage. He says, God has granted you to suffer for Christ. He does not propose this distinction to any but true lovers of Christ. His paradoxical reasoning is that this gift is given to you for Christ. This means that God the Father gives this special gift of suffering to lovers of His Son. Now that won’t fly in our culture because everybody thinks, I love Jesus. I just love the Lord. And that means that I have heavenly blessedness and blessedness and prosperity and goodness. And there’s no difficulty and there’s no struggle. And that’s a contrast to what the ancient church believed. So let me restate premise number two. God is glorified through His people sharing the sufferings that Christ endured as part of our calling. When we endure faithfully, God is glorified and He enables us. Now that brings me to premise number three.

It is unimaginable. I want to stop and say, we’ll come back to the singing in a little bit, Leona. She likes to sing. It is unimaginable that the God who gave us the gift of faith and the gift of suffering would not also give us the strength to endure such suffering. See what the problem is for many people is they would reject the suffering because I just don’t know if I can endure the suffering and I don’t want to be lost. And this is, I’ve had people tell me that. I just don’t know. Remember the other year when the guy who had been in prison, the Voice of the Martyrs guy who was in prison in Romania, something for decades and was tortured and everything, he got out and they made a book about him and a movie about him, et cetera. And someone told me after that came out, they said, I just don’t think, I love Christ enough to suffer like that.

Well, you’ve got a problem. You’re relying on yourself instead of relying on him. He will not bring you to a place of suffering like that unless his intention is to give you the power to endure that suffering. And this is so very important for us today. A basis for rejecting this view of privileged suffering for the believer is the fear of being unable to endure the degree of suffering we are being called to individually. But you should know that there are too many examples in the history of the church of people faithfully enduring their sufferings for us to imagine that we might fail in the face of that suffering. The God who in Jude’s words kept those people from failing will keep us in the same manner. And it is that kind of concept. We don’t need to be thinking, oh Lord, I don’t have the strength. We need to be thinking, Lord, give me the strength for what you call me to. And rest in that. Rest in that. Rest in that. Now here’s a verse that’s often misused and we should be careful with it. There has to be balance. It’s very familiar. Philippians chapter 3, 4 rather, verse 12 and 13. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. That last part is almost always used in a positive sense. I can accomplish this goal in my life. I can achieve that goal in my life. I can do this in my life. And it’s all positive. It’s all pleasant. And there’s a balance there. I understand. We almost never hear it about negative things. Some negative comes. We don’t hear people say, I can do all things through Christ. We hear other things.

And this is a balance. We must be balanced. We can endure the most horrific suffering if it should come to us because of who Christ is and the power that He has given us. This is a challenge that we must make note of. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all echo the sentiment that it is the one who endures to the end who shall be saved. And that’s an unnecessary view if there is no suffering for the Christian. Most of us, I understand, I was trying to think of some illustrations this morning, most of us do not think of pleasure as something we have to endure. Okay?

We, you know, we went out on our, good to have Stephanie and Manuel with us today from California.

Kim’s, Kim’s daughter, Paul’s stepdaughter, and they’re from California and we’re glad to have them here. But some years ago, as you all know, seven years ago now, we rode our motorcycle all the way to California and all the way back. And I think it was Corrine that said, I cannot imagine staying on a motorcycle for three weeks solid. Well, it would be an endurance for her, but boy, I’m ready to go tomorrow if we were able to do it again. I love that. I can’t stand the beach. I love the ocean. I love to see the waves. But the idea of mindlessly sitting on the beach for an entire week, I just, that would be endurance for me. Do you see what I’m trying to say? Usually we don’t use the word endure for pleasant, desirable things. This is not going to be easy. There’s a time where we endure and it is suffering and it is part of the Christian life. But now we must talk about something else. Because if we’re not careful, here’s what happens. The Christian is supposed to suffer, so we just got to buck up and do it and stick it out and, you know, stiff upper lip and all that. And we don’t want to be guilty of discouraging people. So there’s two things we should say here this morning about this subject. And that is this.

We do not live offensively and then call the consequence persecution. Do you remember back when we were in Iraq and Iran or Afghanistan? There was that church out in Kansas that was going to the funerals of veterans who died in Iraq and were protesting and said, this has happened to your son because God is judging America because He hates homosexuals and He hates those faggots and He hates those people and He’s judging America for it. And that’s why your son was killed.

And people opposed that church. They should have been opposed. They were looking at, well, we’re being persecuted for our stand for Christ. No, you’re being persecuted because you’re not living like Christ would have you live in your testimony about the destructive power of sin. We must speak up, but we have to do it in a way that people are going to be drawn to the gospel and not driven away from it. And when we talk about suffering, well, we’re supposed to suffer, Pastor. You don’t go looking for the suffering. If it comes because of your faithful testimony, well and good, but you do not create suffering by being a,

you fill in the blank with words that I’m not able to say, okay? Secondly, it is not to evade persecution, but it is wrong and we must seek, we must never seek to avoid it. It is not wrong to evade persecution, but we should never seek to avoid it. Now, what is the difference and how does it come? Well, it’s on the screen. The first one involves wisdom. I can evade persecution by wisdom and prayer and seeking God’s face about how to deal with the situation. Avoiding persecution means I’m going to shut my mouth. Nobody’s going to know I’m a Christian. They’re not going to know where I go to church. They’re not going to know what my pastor stands for. I’m going to avoid it by compromising my faith. We can evade persecution by wisdom, but we cannot avoid it by compromise. Let me give you some scripture.

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Now, chapter 10, this section of chapter 10 is all about persecution because verse 22, which is not on the screen, verse 22 is one of those passages that says, if he that endures to the end will be saved. Now, we have incredible contrast because in verse 22, he says, he that endures to the end will be saved, and in verse 23, he says, when they persecute you in this city, flee to the next one. Boy, does that sound like it’s a little out of step somewhere here? No, the answer is they are not compromising their faith. They’re going to be faithful to the end of their faith, but they can evade the persecution. Now, listen to this and see if it’ll make sense to you. Leon Morris, the noted Australian commentator. Now, let me pause and tell you again why I tell you that. I’m not trying to impress you with my knowledge or the repertoire of my library downstairs. Leon Morris was from Australia. In a moment, I’ll make reference to F.F. Bruce who was from England. This is a global witness to what is being said here. Now, listen.

The thought of persecution, Leon Morris says, the thought of persecution continues in verse 23 with the instruction not to persist unnecessarily in a situation of persecution. If there is a way to evade it, in other words, without compromising your faith, do so. When a disciple finds one place implacably hostile, it is not his function to continue to offer himself for mistreatment and death.

Needlessly to court martyrdom is not the Christian way. We don’t try to make people hate us. We testify of Christ faithfully, and if that happens, we accept the consequences. Jesus tells him, seek safety in flight, flee to the next town. Now, can you think of a biblical example of that very thing occurring? You should be able to. And I will read portions of Acts chapter 8. This is right after Stephen has been stoned for his faith in Christ. Acts chapter 8, verse 1 through 8. And Saul approved of Stephen’s execution. And there arose a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered. They were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. Why didn’t they just stay there and tough it out? The apostles did because Jesus had given them permission that if you are persecuted here, flee to the next town. Now, notice what happens. Notice what happens. Now, those who were scattered went about preaching the word. They evaded persecution, but they did not compromise their faith. They just went somewhere else to proclaim the truth. And notice what happens. Philip went down. This is Philip the deacon, not Philip the apostle. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, and unclean spirits crying out with a loud voice came out of many who had them. And many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city. But how did this city get the joy? From people fleeing the persecution. They evaded persecution without compromising their faith. It is not wrong to evade persecution. It is wrong to avoid it by compromising your faith. F.F. Bruce comments on Matthew 10.23 flee to the next town. F.F. Bruce, the British commentator of a previous century, says that the next town could mean one different in spirit and temperament, not just geographically. As you can see, the religious rulers in Jerusalem didn’t want anything to do with the church. But there were other people who would hear it. Oh my goodness, there’s so much. Now, one more example is from Acts chapter 23. I can’t read it because it’s a great big section. I have to give you the Shifflet abridged version. Paul is testifying and they’ve arrested him. He’s in jail. And these people, the Pharisees and so forth, they have taken an oath that they’re going to kill him. They say, we take a vow to kill Paul by this time tomorrow. And they hatch a plan and they go to the leaders of the Sanhedrin and they say, request that they bring Paul to this place and we’re going to ambush him and kill him. Now, Paul finds out about this in a very unique way that most people do not know. Paul had a sister, apparently. At least one sister. We almost know nothing about his family. But in that text, it says Paul’s sister’s son. His nephew, who apparently was in a religious setting to hear this plot, comes to Paul and says, hey, I got bad news, unk. They’re going to kill you tomorrow. And Paul says, well, you know what? We’re going to suffer for Christ. And if this is my time to go, then I’m just going to have to be content with that. So thank you for giving me a sleepless night with that news. That’s not what happens. Paul says, I want you to take this. He calls this sentry and he says, take this boy, take this person to the leader and you tell him what you told me. He goes and he tells the captain or the general, whatever it was in that culture. And then that guy gets all these soldiers, 200 soldiers, I think it is in the scripture, and he gives Paul an armed escort to take him from Jerusalem to Caesarea so he can’t be killed.

Now, why did Paul do that? Why didn’t he just accept and say, well, you’re going to suffer for Christ? Verse 11.

Before, the night before that he was told this, we read this. The following night after he was arrested the first time, the Lord stood by him and said, take courage for as you have testified to these facts about me in Jerusalem, you must also testify in Rome. Now, get it, please. Please get it. If God’s purpose is for him to go to Rome, he cannot die in Jerusalem. And how do I keep from dying in Jerusalem? I evade persecution. He doesn’t compromise his message, but he evades that particular type of persecution because what happens when he gets to Caesarea? They bring him up before King Agrippa and before Festus and he declares the gospel again and how God had saved him and et cetera, et cetera. You know the story or should know it if you don’t go home and read that in the book of Acts. He evades the persecution but he does not avoid it by compromising his faith. very important.

Very important. Now in closing, three questions that I hope you would be able to answer because of something you’ve heard this morning. Number one, do you recognize the inevitability of suffering as a Christian?

Do you recognize is your first response, I must have done something wrong. Maybe you did. but it could be that God’s just called you to a place of suffering for his name.

Secondly, do you consider your faith struggles to be a privilege or a problem? When something bad comes your way that is a consequence of your faith, so this is not something we talk about a lot but you do know that people suffer in silence. You do know there are people who never mention the pain they’re in. I know we live in a culture, forgive me if this comes across wrong, but we are in a great deal of victim culture. Everybody’s got to know our business. Everybody’s got to know all the problems I have. And we just expect that. But there are many people who suffer in silence. They don’t tell anybody. They keep it quiet. Sometimes there’s a struggle inside. It is not physical suffering. It is not financial suffering. It is some degree of emotional or psychological suffering. For example,

the person of Lot. Everybody knows about Lot, right?

He went down and lived next to Sodom and Gomorrah. Wicked place. Here’s what Peter says about Lot. And he was a complex person admittedly. He says, If he rescued righteous Lot, who was greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked, for that righteous man lived among them day after day. He was tormenting his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. That is that he was in a culture that had just gone off the rails in craziness and he was grieved in his heart, in his spirit. Now that’s the kind of suffering nobody’s going to see or understand. Only the true Christian can understand it. Many of us here this morning don’t understand it because we don’t make any distinction between those acts in our lives.

Many of us don’t even believe those things are wrong anymore. But for those who are faithful to Christ, it grieves their hearts at some of the madness that goes on in our culture. And it need not be just those kinds of sins. I was, we were looking for something to watch last night which is incredibly difficult to do. And this movie came up and it was about a woman who spent like 20 years, an African American lady who spent 20 years trying to bring justice for her 13-year-old son who was lynched in Mississippi.

And I tell you that thought turns my stomach. How could anybody?

We went down to Atlanta some years ago. We did that again this year. But if you go to Atlanta and they have this big Martin Luther King National Park thing. It was closed this time. But you go in there and there’s a picture on the wall of this black man hanging from a tree and all these white people gathered around and a boy, maybe 12 or 13, smiling at this scene. I tell you that should grieve the heart of humans, especially Christians. That’s a kind of suffering. Nobody’s throwing eggs at your house or flattening your tires. We see names against you, but in your heart of hearts you are grieved by the sin of humankind. Do you see that as part of an outworking of your Christian faith?

And thirdly, are we relying on Christ to sustain us? When we need strength, who do we run to? The first person should be the Lord because He’s the only one that has all the answers. I’ll pray with you. I’ll console you. I will counsel you. But I am a man.

He is God. And He is the only one that can impart true spiritual strength to endure the suffering that could come to God’s people and has come to them in other lands.

Do you recognize the inevitability of suffering as a Christian? Do you consider your faith struggles to be a privilege or a problem? And are you looking to Christ to help sustain you through those times of suffering? Father God, thank You for this. Thank You.