Let's take our Bibles, please go to Genesis 3.
Genesis 3, we're gonna come back to Revelation 21
at the end, but Genesis 3 verse 16,
unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply
thy sorrow and thy conception.
In sorrow thou shall bring forth children
and thy desire shall be to thy husband
and he shall rule over thee.
So this is of course when Adam and Eve disobeyed
the Lord, ate of the tree of knowledge of good
and evil and the Lord curses, you know,
passes on this curse unto the woman
that she's going to bring forth children in great sorrow.
Verse 17, and unto Adam he said,
because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife
and has eaten of the tree with which I command thee,
saying, thou shall not eat of it,
cursed is the ground for thy sake.
In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
So we have Adam with a curse here,
going to work, he's now having to work hard
and we see that the ground is cursed,
the earth is cursed as well.
Verse number 18, thorns also and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee
and thou shall eat the herb of the field
in the sweat of thy face, thou shall eat bread
till thou return unto the ground
for out of it was thou taken
for thus thou art and unto thus thou shalt return.
So we had a little bit of like,
going soul winning today, had a lot of sweat, right?
Pretty humid out there, we know now why,
you know, working is going to bring sweat,
you know, requires effort, you know,
this is the curse that God has brought upon man
when we sinned against the Lord.
Not only was man and woman cursed,
but so was the entire earth.
And so this curse has fallen upon us
and of course, this is the reason why
we seek deliverance from that curse
and that's what, you know, Christianity is all about,
that's what Jesus Christ is all about.
But of course, because we suffer,
because we have this curse,
that will lead us to suffer in life.
We're going to suffer
and the title for the sermon this afternoon is
Why Does God Allow Suffering?
Why does God allow suffering?
It's not why do we suffer,
we know why we suffer, right?
We suffer because of the curse of sin.
You know, we're in this sinful flesh.
Not only is this earth cursed,
but our bodies are cursed.
We have this sinful nature,
you know, that there are, you know,
you're not 100% genetically perfect.
We all have some type of defects.
Some of us suffer more than others,
maybe physically, maybe in pain or in sicknesses,
but we may also suffer by many other things as well.
We may suffer just because of the environment we grew up in.
Maybe we had a bad family, bad parents.
Maybe we suffered in many ways.
Maybe you've suffered for Christ,
just standing for the word of God.
Maybe you've suffered against people like that as well.
So why does God allow suffering?
We know that suffering is a consequence of the curse.
Consequence, you know, a woman giving birth.
That's a great thing, giving birth,
but the woman's going to suffer more, right,
than she would have had if not for this curse.
And so that's just, that's the process.
And many of the things that we find fulfilling in life,
many of the things just going to work,
earning a paycheck, painful things, you know.
It says by the sweat of your brow,
you're gonna have to do that.
But there's some type of fulfillment as well,
going through that suffering, enduring that thing,
and being productive through that suffering.
And, you know, it's not only us
that have been called to suffer,
but the Bible says that God is also suffering.
The Bible uses this term that God is long suffering.
I'll just read to you Exodus 34 verse six.
It says, and the Lord passed by before him
and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God,
merciful and gracious, long suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth,
keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
and that will by no means clear the iniquity,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children and upon the children's children
unto the third and the fourth generation.
But what we learn about the Lord God is,
you know, the gracious is gracious,
he's merciful, full of goodness and truth,
but the Bible also says that he's long suffering.
Now we often substitute the word patience,
and I've taught in this before,
when we're going through the fruits of the Spirit,
one of the fruits is long suffering.
Our Lord God is long suffering,
and the expectation that as we walk in the Spirit,
we grow and mature in the Lord,
that we will learn how to be long suffering as well.
And that is more than patience.
Patience is very similar, yes, it is,
you know, being patient,
but long suffering has got to do with patience,
but suffering while you're patient, right?
Well, you know, things not going in accordance to your way
or, you know, not liking things a certain way,
yes, you're called to be patient,
but you may have to suffer through that patience.
And the Lord God suffers, you know,
he allows us to disgrace his word,
he allows us to break his commandments,
he allows us to accumulate these sins,
and, you know, if not for his long suffering,
he would bring judgment upon us immediately.
I mean, none of us are deserving of salvation.
None of us are, you know, what we're deserving of,
as soon as we've broken the laws of God,
is to suffer the consequence of that,
and that is eternity in hell.
So we've got to be thankful for his long suffering,
you know, he suffers with us,
so he gives us the opportunity to hear the gospel,
gives us the opportunity to come to Christ
and receive salvation through us, through him.
So, you know, God is the one who suffers long,
and, you know, this is a consequence of life,
this is a consequence of sin,
and again, long suffering is a fruit of the Spirit
that God wants to develop in our lives.
He wants us to suffer, but to suffer long.
To get through that, and as you get through suffering,
you're going to find fulfillment in that,
you're gonna find productivity,
you're gonna find improvements in your life.
So why not just answer this question,
why does God allow suffering?
Okay, we know why we suffer, but why does he allow it?
And number one, as I was sort of leading toward that,
number one, it's to draw us to salvation,
to draw us to the gospel, salvation.
I'm sure some of those, you know,
the salvations you had today,
I'm sure some of that came
from that person suffering inwardly.
Some type of suffering,
some type of just not knowing what the future holds,
just finding, you know,
there's no answers to any other place,
and, you know, maybe suffering would be illness, who knows?
Something in them desired to call upon the Lord,
something in them desired to know salvation,
to know the gospel,
and many times God allows the suffering
to lead us to Christ.
And, you know, the great example of that
is when Christ was walking this earth 2,000 years ago,
Matthew 11 five says,
the blind receive their sights,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed,
and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up,
and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
You see, as Christ came,
you know, these people that were suffering
with all these ailments, blindness, unable to walk,
it was by their suffering
that when Christ walked the earth,
that they desired to find healing.
They desired to place their faith on Christ,
find salvation in him,
but also to find healing for their ailments.
You know, if these people weren't suffering like that,
they probably wouldn't be looking for Christ.
They wouldn't be looking to place their faith
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so in many cases like the poor here,
you know, this is why going to a place
that has a lower social economic area,
they're more receptive to the gospel
because they're poorer.
You know, they're suffering financially, as it were.
And so they desire for the greater riches.
You know, what are the answers out there
and desire salvation?
So that is one of the main reasons
why God allows suffering,
why God allows the consequences of our sins
to play out in our lives
so we can then seek deliverance from our sins,
seek deliverance and know there's more to life,
there's more to eternity
than the suffering that we have in this life.
That's number one, to draw us to salvation.
Please now turn to Proverbs chapter three for me.
Proverbs chapter three.
And yeah, go to Proverbs chapter three
and I'll read a few passages to you.
The second reason God allows suffering,
and I think this should be obvious, okay,
is to punish and correct us.
To punish and correct us.
You know, there is some suffering
you've gone through already as a Christian
and it's the reason you've gone through that
is because of God's chastisement.
He's punished you for something.
He's corrected you for some reason.
Definitely, a reason you've gone through suffering
already in your life is for that purpose, okay?
The Bible says in Revelation 3, 19,
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten,
be zealous therefore and repent.
So why does God chastise us?
You know, to correct us and to repent,
to turn from those things that were damaging our lives,
to turn from those sins and walk after his way
to repent from those things
so we can live a life that is worthy of his calling.
Hebrews 12, 10 says,
For they verily for a few days chasten us
after their own pleasure,
but he for our profit,
that we might be partakers of his holiness,
now chastening for the present,
seemeth to be joyous but grievous.
You know, when you're grieving, that's your suffering.
It's not joyful at that time
and God may just be putting you through chastisement.
He might be chastening you, right?
It's grievous for that time.
Nevertheless, after it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness,
unto them which are exercised thereby.
And so the Lord wants us to live after righteousness,
to produce fruit in our life
and he may allow you to just go through some suffering
in order to produce that fruit in your life, okay?
Now the reason I'm going down this list
of the reasons why God allows us to suffer
is because all of us suffer, all of us, you know?
Don't have the attitude, well, it's just me.
No, all of us.
Now some suffer more than others.
Some have a greater measure of suffering than others.
I understand that, okay?
But understand, there's a reason
why God is allowing you to go through this.
I'm not saying that it's all of these reasons.
It might be one of these reasons
that we're going through.
It might be two of these reasons.
But here's the thing, as you suffer,
you need to go to the Lord
and figure out why am I suffering?
You need to work that out
because if God is trying to show you something,
if God is wanting you to change something in your life,
do you think it's going to lift the suffering
when you don't make those changes?
No, it's going to continue, right?
It's going to continue.
You know, the only time He's going to lift that suffering
is when the job is done.
When the job is done,
He's accomplished the work He wants in your life,
then that suffering will be lifted, okay?
And so we're gonna go through these reasons
and I want you to think about
whatever reason it is that you're suffering,
you know, it could be one of these reasons, okay?
Or maybe multiple of these reasons
and you need to figure that out with God.
You guys are in Proverbs 3, 12.
Proverbs 3, 12.
Now I delight in my children.
I do.
Are they perfect?
No.
And the reason they're not perfect
is the same reason why every now and again
you gotta pull out that rod, okay?
And chastise them.
But why do you do it?
So they, why do you do it?
For them to suffer?
Yes, to suffer a little bit.
Suffer a little bit of the pain.
You know, have the consequences of their actions
so they can be corrected
and do what's right the next time.
So they don't have to go
through the rod of chastisement again.
All right?
You know, there's no joy in me doing that
except the joy of the end results, right?
Seeing them overcome that,
or make that change that they need to make,
correct what they need to correct.
And brethren, we're no different.
We're the children of God
and God is our heavenly Father.
He's going to correct us.
He's gonna pull out that rod every now and again.
He's going to allow you to suffer.
It hurts.
It hurts, okay?
Don't get angry at God.
Be thankful that he corrects you
so you can make the necessary changes in your life
that you need to make.
And if you guys go to Proverbs 19,
Proverbs 19, verse 19.
Proverbs 19, 19.
You've gotta let chastisement run its course.
You've gotta let, just let it happen, okay?
Proverbs 19, 19, it says here,
a man of great wrath shall suffer punishment.
For if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.
You know what I'm saying?
He's saying, look, a man of great wrath, great anger,
he's gonna be punished, okay,
for his sin, the consequences of his sins.
He's gonna be punished for that.
But if you go and try to deliver him,
you go and try to help him out of that punishment,
it says, yet thou must do it again.
He's not gonna learn his lesson.
If you deliver people out of their chastisement,
or you're about to chastise your kids
and you're like, oh, actually, no,
we're not gonna do it.
Well, you're gonna have to do it again.
You try to deliver them out of that,
they're gonna go back to their old ways,
they're gonna go back to their old sins,
and they're gonna be required
to go through their chastisement again.
And you know what?
Sometimes, I know, it's obvious,
you know some people are suffering
the chastisement of God.
Sometimes you just know that.
You say, brother, I'll pray for you.
But look, there are times you're just gonna let
that chastisement run its course,
so they can learn the lessons they need to learn
to be that better person,
to walk righteously in the ways of the Lord.
Now, please go to 2 Corinthians,
2 Corinthians chapter one.
Because there are many, many reasons why we suffer.
And that's just one of them.
And it'd be wrong of you if you see someone suffering
to go, well, you deserve it.
The Lord's making you suffer,
the Lord's putting you through chastisement.
There are many, many reasons.
You don't know that.
You don't know that necessarily for sure.
But there are some people where you can
kind of work that out, right?
Because they're not living a life
that pleases the Lord.
But 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse three,
you might say, well, I am living a life
that's, you know,
I don't believe I'm being chastised by God.
Why else could I be suffering?
Well, 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse three.
2 Corinthians chapter one, verse three.
Blessed be God,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
What do we learn about God there?
He's a Father of mercy, we know that.
We see that he's a God of all comfort.
You know what's fantastic about suffering?
Is that we got someone to go to.
We have God, the God of the universe.
The creator of all things.
He can change your suffering like that.
And we can go to him for comfort.
But let's keep going.
Who comforteth us in all our tribulation,
that we may be able to comfort them
which are in trouble.
By the comfort wherewith,
we ourselves are comforted of God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us,
so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
So the third reason we can suffer
is that we may learn how to comfort others.
That's a reason you might go through suffering.
And so you can learn how to emphasize,
how to sympathize toward other people.
You know, other people that are suffering.
There's some people suffer a lot in life.
You know, honestly, I mean, I've suffered,
but when I listen to the stories of other people,
you know, I haven't suffered like them.
And here's the thing,
God may allow me to go through some suffering.
All right, not out of chastisement,
but just so I learn how to connect
with that other person.
So I understand why that person's suffering.
You know, so I don't have, you know,
wrong thoughts about that person
and say, well, maybe that person should get over it.
You know, but if you go through suffering,
you know then what it's like,
and you can then relate more with that person.
And the great truth we saw is that when we're suffering,
we can go to God for comfort
and that same comfort that we receive from God,
we can then deliver that to our brethren.
We can then help our brethren, comfort the brethren.
So that's another reason
why you might go through suffering.
You just need to learn what it's like to suffer.
You need to learn how to relate
to those that are suffering.
Look at verse number five, though.
Look at verse number five.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us,
so listen, some people suffer more than others, don't they?
Some people suffer abundantly.
They abound in suffering, right?
Some people can be that way, but look at this.
So our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
You know the one that suffers a lot
can also receive a lot of consolation from God.
The person that suffers a lot
can actually be a lot closer to God
than the person that suffers very little, okay?
Because they're getting more comfort,
more consolation from God.
But listen, your suffering will never abound
the consolation that God will give you.
It's always equal measure.
The more you suffer,
the more comfort God is willing to give you, okay?
And you say, well, I'm not getting the comfort.
Well, maybe you're not spending enough time with the Lord.
Maybe you need to go back to the Lord,
go back to his word,
go back to prayer and seek that comfort.
This is a promise from God.
This isn't a possibility.
This is what happened.
You suffer a lot,
God will come through with his consolation,
with his comfort.
And so it's important for you to appreciate
when other people are suffering,
to acknowledge when other people are suffering, you know?
And some, like I said, may suffer more than others.
You know, like we said, just childbearing,
we saw, you know, requires suffering.
Just a man going to work,
earning a paycheck requires suffering, right?
It requires the effort,
more effort than what it normally would.
And I've said this before,
and one thing that I despise is, you know,
is the mother, I don't despise the mother,
but let me explain.
The mother with the one child, right?
The mother with the one child,
and she can't get anything done.
She's a new mother.
She's got that one child.
She's got a lot on her plate,
and she's tired, and she's not getting, you know,
she's not able to do things.
You ask her how she's going.
Oh man, I'm so busy.
You know, it's so hard.
You know what?
I believe her.
I believe she's suffering.
I believe she's going through difficulties.
But how easy would it be for me to say,
oh, Christina's got 10 kids.
You know, what?
Man, you should spend, you know,
a day in life in my house.
You think you're suffering?
That's what I despise.
That attitude.
That attitude, you know?
Just because you suffer more,
doesn't mean you play down the suffering of others.
Everyone suffers different measures.
In fact, if you suffer the more,
you should be the one that has the greater,
you know, empathy toward the other person
that's suffering.
You know, one thing, there are certain characters,
certain people that you cross paths in life.
You know, one of my old pastors,
he was the assistant pastor,
and his wife had eight children.
Now that was a lot of children for, you know,
obviously eight children.
Most other people in the church
had two, three, or four kids.
And you know, she would hear of mothers
struggling with the kids,
struggling with getting things done.
She would always go up to them and say,
you're doing a good job, keep it up.
You know, go to the Lord, go and ask him for help.
She never had the attitude,
well, I've got eight kids,
you know, why should you?
No, never.
And you learn from good people like that.
You learn, well, look,
if that person has such a great,
godly attitude to life,
I know she's having a hard time,
you know, but she's not trying to,
you know, lift herself up
and look how much I suffer
and put other people down, no.
You know, God has allowed us to suffer sometimes
so we can then appreciate the suffering of others.
And brethren,
I don't care how little the suffering could be,
the suffering is there,
it's a legit issue that should be prayed for.
That person should be comforted,
you know, comforted by the brothers and sisters
in the Lord.
Galatians 6, two says,
bear ye one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ.
The law of Christ.
That's how you fulfill it.
You just bear one another's burdens.
You allow someone to suffer.
You allow someone to just get stuff off their chest
and vent and comfort them, encourage them,
say you're doing a good job,
keep working hard, you know,
because this is life.
Life is a life of suffering
and we all suffer, all of us, you know.
Never think for a moment
that you're the only one that suffers, you're not.
Everyone does.
Some people are more open about it than others,
you know, but everybody suffers to some extent.
Please go to Psalm 9 now.
Psalm 9, verse 13, Psalm 9.
Psalm 9, verse 13, what's another reason we may suffer?
Psalm 9, verse 13, the Bible reads,
have mercy upon me, oh Lord,
consider my trouble which I suffer of them
that hate me, thou that liftest me up
from the gates of death,
that I may show forth all thy praise
in the gates of the daughter of Zion,
I will rejoice in thy salvation.
What's another reason we might go through suffering?
So we can rejoice in his deliverance.
So we can appreciate the deliverance of God's hands,
how we can allow you to go through difficulty
and see it through all the way.
Hey, this Psalmist is suffering, isn't he?
He's going through trouble.
There are those that hate him,
they're causing him to suffer.
But when he's delivered through that,
he's able to rejoice and thank God
for the deliverance that he's gone through.
That's another reason why you may suffer,
to just be able to rejoice in the deliverance
through the suffering that you have.
Give the right glory to the Lord.
And look, if you're not thankful to God,
if you lose the joy of your salvation,
you know, you don't appreciate church,
you don't appreciate what God has done in your life,
he may allow you to just go through suffering.
So you can be brought back to well, you know,
I need the Lord, you know, go back to the Lord,
ask him for help,
he delivers you out of that difficulty,
then you're back in place where you're thankful,
you're rejoicing for the deliverance
that God has allowed you to have.
Jeremiah 15, 15 says,
O Lord thou knowest, remember me and visit me
and revenge me of my persecutors.
Take me not away in thy long suffering,
thou that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke,
thy words were found and I did eat them
and thy word was unto me,
the joy and rejoicing of mine heart,
for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.
Why does God allow us to suffer?
Many, many reasons.
I mean, we're just kind of joking about this today
with brother Michael, you know,
and you know how excited he was
to come soul winning on the Sunshine Coast
and we know it's kind of unreceptive here,
it's tough, it's a little bit easier
maybe in some other places in the world,
definitely other places in the world, it's easier,
even other places in Australia, it's easier, right?
And it's a little bit tough here,
but remember, you know, brother Michael,
guess what, you suffered in the Czech Republic,
go and soul win, right?
Suffering for the Lord getting out there,
so unreceptive, he calls it the hell hole.
Why?
So he can come here and rejoice.
The rest of us are like, oh, it's so hard.
Michael comes here, it's so easy, praise God.
It's so receptive, it's like heaven here.
God might allow you to go for that level of suffering
so you can appreciate what you have,
you know, so you can rejoice in the Lord,
rejoice in his deliverance.
Please turn to Acts chapter five,
Acts chapter five, Acts chapter five.
So let me just go through those points again.
Number one, why does God allow suffering
to draw us to salvation?
Number two, to punish and correct us.
Number three, that we may learn to comfort others.
Number four, to rejoice in deliverance.
And number five, Acts five, 40, Acts five, 40.
And this is the story where the disciples
or the apostles are brought before the council
of the high priests for preaching Christ.
And it says here, verse number 40,
and to him they agreed,
and when they had called the apostles and beaten them,
all right, they beat them,
they commanded that they should not speak
in the name of Jesus and let them go.
And they departed from the presence of the council,
rejoicing, is they rejoicing?
Why?
They just got beaten.
They've got a black eye, they're sore,
you know, they're struggling to walk,
whatever, why are they rejoicing?
They're rejoicing that they were counted worthy
to suffer shame for his name,
and daily in the temple and in every house,
they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
You know, point number five,
that why God allows us to suffer
is to share in the suffering of Christ.
God allows us to share in the suffering of Christ.
We know how much Christ suffered.
We know the physical beating, the whipping, right?
The nailing of the cross, the crown of thorns.
You know, the mocking, the false accusations,
the lies that were said about Jesus,
all those things, we know that his friends deserted him.
He felt betrayed, one of his friends betrayed him,
Judas Iscariot.
And we know he took on the sins
of the whole world upon himself.
You know, the sins of the whole world upon himself
and paid the punishment for that for every wicked person
and for your sins upon Jesus Christ
and how much he suffered.
And then he was forsaken by the Father,
forsaken by, listen, when you're saved,
God says he'll never leave you nor forsake you.
And he had to forsake his own son for your sins.
How much Christ suffered, right?
And look, whatever suffering we go through
for the cause of Christ, for the name of Christ,
is us just sharing a little bit,
just a little bit of what Christ suffered.
These guys got beaten, you've never been,
have you ever been beaten for Christ?
Anyone?
You've never been beaten for Christ?
Not for being an idiot, like for Christ.
But look, they're rejoicing, all right,
and they're sharing the suffering of Christ.
Do they go and hide?
Well, I don't wanna go through that again.
No, what do they do?
They keep, now they're so winning more than ever.
They're excited.
Man, praise God that I got to suffer
a little bit for Christ.
And I just have to share a little bit,
see what it's like to suffer,
and then, what are they doing?
They're preaching.
They didn't cease.
Daily in the temple and in every house,
they cease not to teach and preach.
to teach and preach.
You know, they were sowing every single day,
every day in the temple, house to house,
going and preaching the gospel.
They were motivated, motivated to suffer for Christ.
I don't know, have you ever had that motivation before?
I mean, I've never been beaten or anything like that,
but I have been mocked for my beliefs.
You know, or friends that are, you know, Christian,
but you know, they don't believe like we believe.
And you know what, I don't know about you,
but it's a little bit sad, right?
You know, you don't want to be mocked.
But at the same time, when that happens,
I'm like, I'm motivated to do more.
Like I'm motivated to do more for Christ.
You know, like it just reinforces
the truth of God's word.
And you know, the truth is,
if you suffer for Christ, you know, rewards in heaven.
And I praise God for the rewards that God has given you.
But you know, He might allow you to just taste
a little bit of the suffering of Christ to motivate you.
And that's, you know, He might just allow that for you.
You know, just to appreciate again,
what Christ has done for you.
Now, please turn to First Corinthians 12.
First Corinthians 12.
I've been preaching about the church, haven't I?
The last few weeks about the church
and church ministries and the fact that we're one body.
And First Corinthians 12, 23.
We read these passages, but let's read it again.
First Corinthians 12, 23, the Bible reads,
And those members of the body,
that body is the church,
which we think to be less honorable,
upon these we bestow more abundant honor,
and our uncommonly paths have more abundant comeliness.
For our commonly paths have no need,
but God have tempered the body together,
having given more abundant honor to the part which lacked
that there should be no schism in the body.
Now, that word schism means division, okay?
He wants no division in the body,
but that the members should have the same care,
one for another, and whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it,
or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.
The sixth reason why God may allow you to suffer
is to bring unity within the church,
to bring unity within our church.
You know why?
Because if we have a brother that is serving the Lord,
doing great things for the Lord,
and then they're suffering,
they're going through sorrow, they're going through hardship,
don't your hearts just melt for that person?
You know, I mean, all the other things that,
oh, we believe slightly different on these things,
or we might, you know, whatever,
you know, whatever differences we may have
when there's a brother, this is the case,
this is how it should be, this is how it should be,
all right, when somebody's suffering in the church,
that everyone just drops and forgets every other issue,
and also sorrows with that person,
and also suffers with that person.
That's why we're made of that one body.
Just as much as the success of one person
should bring unity in the church,
we should all rejoice together,
well, it might just be the suffering
of somebody in the church
which should bring the church together.
Again, the prayer time on Wednesdays,
please try to be part of that if you can.
Be here for the midweek service.
Why we pray for one another?
Because we all suffer from different things.
We all have things we need to pray for,
even if they're small things.
But those prayer requests bring unity, right?
We come together, we bow our heads,
we go to the Lord and say, Lord, we need your help.
We need you to answer this prayer
on behalf of brother so-and-so,
on behalf of sister so-and-so.
That brings unity in the church, you know?
And God does not want a schism in the body.
He doesn't want divisions in the body.
And if there's divisions in the body,
the Lord may just allow us to go through suffering,
to just bring us back together,
just to bring us back to what's important,
the love and the care that we ought to have
to our brothers in the Lord, all right?
To serve the brethren, to serve the church.
The Lord just may allow us to suffer,
to bring unity within the church.
Okay, you go to 2 Corinthians now, 2 Corinthians 12.
2 Corinthians 12, please.
Now, a lot of suffering we go through,
I would say the majority of suffering we go through,
there will be an end to it, okay?
Like on this earth, okay?
Once God has used it to develop
whatever it is in our lives,
whatever lesson it is that we need to learn,
that suffering will go away, okay?
But there is some suffering that will stay with you
for the rest of your life, some of it, okay?
Now, this could be a chronic illness.
This might be some pain in your body.
It might not even be an illness.
It might just might be a problem person in your life,
just a constant problem person in your life
that you just, for the rest of your life,
that person's always gonna be there, you know?
And we learn about this here in 2 Corinthians 12.
2 Corinthians 12, verse seven, Paul writes, saying,
and lest I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations,
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan to buffet me,
lest I should be exalted above measure
for this thing I besought the Lord thrice
that it might depart from me.
So, Paul is talking about this thorn in the flesh.
I believe it's an illness that he has, okay?
And I'll show you why soon.
I believe it's an illness,
something that is just a chronic issue,
a messenger from Satan, just to keep beating him up,
beating him up, beating him up, but why?
Why did God allow that?
Well, he said at the beginning, right?
And lest I should be exalted above measure.
That's at the beginning of verse seven,
and then look how he ends verse seven.
Lest I should be exalted above measure, okay?
So he, in verse number eight,
he prayed, he went to the Lord three times about it,
and he just never got healed, you know?
And the seventh reason why God may allow you
to go through suffering is just to keep you humble,
just to keep you humble, okay?
To allow you to go through that suffering,
you say, well, I'd just rather not have it.
Look, if the Lord is allowing that
just to stay consistent and remain and not go away,
you might be an extremely, this, like,
wicked person without it.
You could be an extremely prideful person without it.
You know, right now you're thinking, I want it gone,
but without it, you'd be, God allows it.
This is what we're reading about, right?
And Paul is saying, without this, you know,
thorn in the flesh, I would exalt myself above measure.
He would be prideful, he would be lifted up
for the great works he's doing for the Lord.
He would be looking at himself and saying,
look what I've done for God,
rather than giving all thanks and glory to God.
Now, some chronic issues that we have, brethren,
is there just to keep us humble, you know?
You probably want it gone, but you know,
God knows better.
He's put it there for a reason, okay?
Just to keep us humble, lowly,
constantly going to the Lord, making him our help,
making him our strength, rather than lifting ourselves up.
Look at verse number nine.
And he said unto me, this is what God said to Paul
after he's gone to help.
He says, my grace is sufficient for thee,
for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
So God's allowing him to be weak, so he can be strong.
Okay?
So he can be strong in the Lord, in God's strength,
rather than the strength of his own flesh.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ
may rest upon me.
Man, I know that's hard, right?
Infirmity is difficult.
It's things you battle every day, the sicknesses you have.
But the right approach is that you glory in infirmity.
Thank you, Lord, for what I'm suffering.
Thank you, Lord, for this pain.
Thank you, Lord, for this illness.
Can you do that?
That's what we're called to do.
That's what the Bible says.
Thank you, Lord, for this, because if without this,
I probably wouldn't even like myself.
You've given this to me so I can remain humble.
Now, look at verse number 10.
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities.
So I, you know, he keeps talking
about the infirmities there, right?
So I believe the thorn in the flesh for him
was a sickness, but it's not just sickness.
He gives us a list.
In reproaches, in necessities, maybe being slightly poor,
you know, going without, you know, having great needs,
that might be your thorn in the flesh.
In persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake,
for when I am weak, then am I strong.
And if that's something you're suffering with, brethren,
it could be many, many things, all right?
And it just doesn't go away.
You just keep going to the Lord for it.
The Lord says, my grace is sufficient for thee.
He says, I'm here to help you.
I'm here to comfort you.
You know, I've given, I'm allowing that,
I'm allowing you to go through that for my reasons,
to keep you humble, to draw strength from me, okay?
Just keep that in your mind,
because that's gonna help you
to go through the suffering that you have.
You know, God has a reason.
He means it for good.
He means it so you can profit and do better.
And we don't know, maybe Paul would have been that guy,
right, that would have been full of pride,
you know, full of, boasted of himself.
And if he was that way,
he wouldn't have been the Christian that we read about.
He wouldn't be the one that wrote
all those New Testament books.
You know, God allowed him to go through suffering
so he can be used greatly for God.
So, I'll just read another,
actually, you're in 1 Corinthians, go to chapter 10.
1 Corinthians 10, 13.
And what I want to say to you is this, is,
and I know this is easy to say,
because I'm not going through great suffering.
It's, you know, you might say,
well, this is easy for you to say.
But this is, you know, why we take the lessons
from the Bible in 1 Corinthians 10, 13.
1 Corinthians 10, 13.
There have no temptation taken you,
but such as is common to man.
But God is faithful who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able,
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape
that ye may be able to bear it.
You say, I'm going through great suffering.
And that might tempt you to get angry at God,
might tempt you to, you know, give up on life,
give up on serving the Lord.
You know, the truth is,
God's not allowed you to suffer more than you can bear.
If you're going through great suffering,
God knows you can bear it.
If you give up, you say, I'm not,
you get angry at God, you give up,
then what you're saying is, you know,
I don't believe what God said.
I don't believe that I can bear it.
No, God's given you an amount that you can bear
for His reasons, okay?
And He does it so you can draw strength from Him.
You can draw strength from the Lord.
You can be more productive like Paul was,
do great things for God, you know?
You just gotta find that way to escape.
You say, how do I escape this thing?
You go to God.
You go to draw strength from the Lord.
You wake up in the morning, you read your Bible.
You say, Lord, I'm suffering, help me get through today.
Lord, I'm suffering, help me get through the week.
Help me get through the month.
Help me get through the year.
Help me be a good child.
Help me be a good father.
Help me be a good mother.
Lord, help me.
You go to the Lord for strength.
Don't be so prideful and think you don't need the Lord.
You can do it in your own.
Maybe the Lord's allowing you to go through that
so you can draw strength from Him,
so you can be stronger than you've ever been,
so you can be stronger than you would be
without that ailment, without that illness,
without that pain, without that suffering.
God allows us to suffer, and sometimes, yeah,
to keep us humble, to keep us humble.
Please go to Romans chapter eight now.
Romans chapter eight.
Romans chapter eight, please, verse 16, Romans 8, 16.
The eighth reason, and I think personally
the most important reason why God allows us to suffer,
verse number 16, the Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God,
and if children then heirs, heirs of God
and joint heirs with Christ,
if so be that we suffer with Him
that we may also be glorified together.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us.
Listen, Reverend, if you're going through suffering,
guess what?
It's not worthy to be compared
to the glory that God has for you
in store in the future.
For the new heavens, reigning with Christ,
the gift of God, being a joint heir with Christ of God,
being that child of God, the future promises.
You know, you say, I'm suffering too much.
It's worth it!
When you get to heaven, you're gonna be like,
why did I win so much?
Look at all that I have for the Lord.
Look what I was able to achieve for the Lord.
You know, and the eighth reason I have here,
the Lord allows us to suffer,
is to keep us thinking of eternity,
to not get bogged down in this life.
You know, just be thinking about this world
and this world alone, the temporal things.
You know, we suffer so we can go,
well, Lord, I can't wait for the day you come back.
I can't wait for the day when I have my new body
and I don't have to suffer with these problems.
You know, verse number 19, verse number 19, same chapter.
For the earnest expectation of the creature
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
For the creature was made subject to vanity,
not willingly, but by reason of him
who have subjected the same in hope,
because the creature itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth
and travaileth in pain together until now,
and not only they, but ourselves also,
which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body.
That's why we suffer, brethren.
That's why we get sick.
That's why we suffer with chronic issues,
so we can stop thinking about this world
and be looking for that body to come,
and that body will operate in all eternity, right?
It's a perfect body.
We'll never have to suffer again.
Keep our minds focused on eternity.
What's the point of living for this world?
It says here the whole earth, the whole creation groaneth,
all of creation is suffering, not just you.
Every brother and sister in this church suffers.
This whole world, every man, woman, and child
in this world suffers.
You know, for them, it's so they can be brought to Christ.
For us, it's so we can have our minds
focused on eternity.
So please now go to Revelation 21.
I'll wrap it up now, Revelation chapter 21,
and I'll just go through those points again.
Why does God allow suffering?
Number one, to draw us to salvation.
Number two, to punish and correct us.
Number three, that we may learn to comfort others.
Number four, to rejoice in deliverance.
Number five, to share in the suffering of Christ.
Number six, to bring unity within a church.
Number seven, to keep you humble.
Number eight, to keep us thinking of eternity.
Now, Revelation 21, verse three,
Revelation 21, verse three,
the great promise from the Bible,
and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them and be their God,
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away.
What a promise, what a promise.
You know, one day we're just gonna have God right there.
He's gonna come with the tissues, wipe your eyes.
All the suffering, all the pain
you've gone through in life,
is you're gonna shed tears one last time.
You know, you're gonna be able to vent,
get those pains off your chest one more time,
and God's gonna wipe away all those tears, all right?
For the former things are passed away.
That's what we're looking for,
and the former things are passed away.
All the pain, suffering, the death,
you know, the tribulations, the persecutions,
all the things we may face in this life.
What a great promise, right?
That God was gonna bring the tissues,
you know, the tissues, wipe our tears away, all right?
What a great promise for God.
So brethren, I just want you to, you know,
consider when you're suffering, you're not alone.
Everyone suffers for different reasons, okay?
Some of those things are public,
some of us, we know these things.
Some of us, we keep them to ourselves, okay?
And when your brother or sister in the Lord is suffering,
suffer with them.
Share the pain with them as well, okay?
If you take the attitude,
oh, that person doesn't deserve to suffer,
you're a wicked person, okay?
God allows us to suffer.
He allows us to suffer for his many reasons,
and I want you to consider, you know, this afternoon,
why am I suffering with what I have?
What's the reason behind it, you know?
And I want you to consider these points, you know?
Could it be one of these things?
Could it be several of these things?
And if there's a lesson you need to learn,
please learn it, because if you don't learn it,
the lesson's gonna stay.
The suffering's gonna stay, all right?
You need to learn it.
You need to make that necessary change in life
so you can get through that,
be delivered through that suffering,
and you'll learn to rejoice.
You'll be thankful for the suffering.
We need to learn how to be like Paul.
No matter how much I suffer,
no matter what persecution I'm going through,
I'm just gonna be thankful that I can do it
for the Lord Jesus Christ, okay?
And personally, I'm looking for the day
when I can cry my last tears, all right,
and for God to be the one to comfort me.
Let's pray.