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First I'd like to focus on in this chapter in verse number 3 where the Bible reads, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The title of my sermon this morning is Endure Hardness. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 11 because first of all, let me show you the type of hardness that the Apostle Paul is talking about here. He's explaining to Timothy and elsewhere in the two epistles that he wrote to Timothy, he tells him that he's going to go through a lot of hard things. He's going to have to endure a lot of afflictions. He's going to have to endure persecutions and trials and tribulations that are going to come to him. But as the Apostle Paul is speaking this to Timothy when he says, Thou therefore endure hardness. Let me give you some examples from the Apostle Paul's life of what kind of hardness he's talking about enduring. Look at 2 Corinthians 11 and 23. Paul begins to talk about some of his own troubles that he's been through. 2 Corinthians 11 and 23 reads, Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors more abundant. In stripes above measure. In prisons more frequent. In deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Now this receiving of stripes, this is actually a physical beating with a whip. And this is the same thing that Jesus went through when he was beaten with 39 stripes. And you have to understand the word stripe there, that indicates that this is a whip that's breaking the skin and leaving behind a bloody stripe. The Bible says that Jesus Christ with his stripes we are healed. And it's talking about the fact that the blood of Christ is what saves us. And so Paul of the Jews five times received forty stripes save one. Verse 25, Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeyings often. In perils of waters. In perils of robbers. In perils by my known countrymen. In perils by the heathen. In perils in the city. In perils in the wilderness. In perils in the sea. In perils among false brethren. In weariness that means being tired. Painfulness. Watchings often that's when you're staying up all night even though you're tired and you want to go to sleep. In hunger and thirst. In fastings often. In cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are without. That which cometh upon me daily the care of all the churches. Who is weak and I am not weak. Who is offended and I burn not. If I must see its glory I would glory of the things which concern my infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which is blessed forevermore knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aridus the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison desirous to apprehend me and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall and escaped his hands. Go back to chapter 6 of second Corinthians. So we see Paul here is describing a lot of things that he went through and it's pretty much every type of physical discomfort you can imagine. Not having food to eat. Being thirsty. Being tired. Having to stay up all night. Being shipwrecked. A night and a day he said I've been in the deep. Basically he's just out in the water. You know floating out there for a night and a day. I don't know if he was on a piece of driftwood or what. But he's explaining that he's been betrayed. He's been hated. He's been thrown in prison. He's been beaten. He's been whipped. He's gone through all this. He's been on the run from the law where he tells that story of Damascus where they had to let him out of a basket outside the wall because the king was trying to have him arrested and put him through even more. Look at second Corinthians chapter 6 verse 4. Bible reads but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distress, in necessity of needing things that you don't have. Verse 5 in stripes. We talked about that. In imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report. Sometimes people spoke well of me. Sometimes they spoke badly of me. Sometimes they honored me. Sometimes they dishonored me. He said as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold we live, as chastened and not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. Go to 2 Corinthians 4. This is what the Apostle Paul went through. The Apostle Paul was a man who said I labored more abundantly than they all. He was the man that God used probably more than any other man in the New Testament. He physically penned down 14 of the 27 books of the New Testament. He was the man who preached the Gospel all throughout Asia, all throughout Greece, all throughout Achaia, throughout most of the world, started countless churches, preached the Gospel to thousands and thousands and thousands of people, trained other young priests. This man was greatly used by God. He said he labored more abundantly than any of the 11 original disciples, the 11 apostles. Of course Judas Iscari was hanged himself because he was a traitor. But the bottom line is that the Apostle Paul was a great, great man of God and yet look at what he went through. And many people today they say, well I would love to be a great man of God or I'd like to be a great lady that serves God and wins a lot of people to Christ and I'd love to be a great Christian and really just give it everything I've got and really serve God to the fullest with my life. But this isn't what they're thinking about. You know they're thinking about that it's all going to be easy and that everything is going to go great and that they're always going to have everything that they need and that everything's going to go smoothly. But God here is telling us that the Apostle Paul, yes he was used greatly, but he had to suffer. He had to go through some hard times. He had to endure hardness and that's why Paul is telling his young protege Timothy in the ministry, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Because you can't serve God in a great way. You can't go out and win a bunch of people to Christ. You can't stand up and be the man or woman that God asked you to be without having to go through some hard times. It's not going to be easy. Now this flies in the face of the prosperity preaching today that's so popular on tv and on the radio that basically tells you that if you serve God and do the right things you're never going to get sick, your finances are going to be great, your relationships are going to be great, everything's going to go well for you. That's just not true because where was that in the Apostle Paul's life? Here's a man who's doing everything right. He's serving God to the fullest of his ability and everything's not going his way. He's not rich, he's poor. He's not comfortable, he's in discomfort. But he said yeah I'm poor but he said I'm possessing all things. I'm rich because he's rich because his strength is up in heaven. He said you know I'm unknown but he said you know what I'm well known because you remember he wasn't the famous preacher that's you know well known as in you know let's have him on tv tonight or let's have the big crusade and all the churches will get together and have him. But he said I'm well known because you remember that the devils they said you know Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you? God knew him, the believers knew him. He was known in the circles that mattered even though he was not the famous preacher okay and now we see here that the the prosperity preaching that you hear today is a lie and it gives people a false sense that the more that they do right for God and the more that they go to church and read their bible and pray the better things are going to go for them physically in their life and then what happens is they start serving God and then guess what things don't go that well in fact seems like the more they do for God sometimes things start to go worse in a way and then they basically say oh forget it man this is a bunch of garbage this isn't true but it's because they've been lied to in the first place you know they they're told you know if you put ten dollars in the plate you're gonna get a hundred back you know you put in a hundred you're gonna get a thousand and then it doesn't happen and it's like oh the bible lied no the bible didn't lie the bible never told you that that's just what some prosperity preacher said you know who drives his Lexus and lives in some mansion with an air-conditioned dog house you know he's gonna sit there and tell you that everything's gonna be great you know just name it claim it brother why didn't Paul just name it and claim it why didn't he just say oh if I had enough faith I'd have all the food I need I mean by by the prosperity preaching standards Paul must not have anything because he's always without food he's always in trouble he's always in jail he's always getting beat as I turn to second Corinthians four look at verse seven it says but we have this treasure in earth and vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us we are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh so then death worketh in us but life in you for I think that God had set forth us the apostles last as if we're appointed to death for we are made a spectacle into the world into angels and the men we are fools for Christ's sake but ye are wise in Christ we are weak but ye are strong ye are honorable but we are despised he's saying we're hating we're looked down upon even under this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling places even at this hour he said I don't have food to eat I don't know where I'm going to stay tonight he said I've been beaten he said in verse number 12 and labor working with our own hands being reviled we bless being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we entreat we are made as the filth of the world and are the obscuring of all things unto this day I write not these things to shame you but as my beloved sons I warn you you remember there was a kid or there was a commercial when I was a kid that said like nobody says I want to be a junkie when they grow up does anybody remember that you know it's like a public service announcement and it shows this guy running and you think he's like and it's like I want to be a track star when I grow up but then it turns out he's like running from the police because he's got all these drugs on him so like nobody says I want to be a jungler you know nobody says when I grow up I want to be considered the filth of the world nobody says I want to be the offscouring of all things nobody says I want to grow up and be despised I want to be rejected I want to be hated I want to be in jail I want to grow up and get thrown in prison I want to grow up and get beaten with rods you know three times I want to grow up and be beaten 39 times you know with a whip on five different occasions he says in verse 14 I write not these things to shame you but as my beloved sons I warn you you know God's warning us here and the apostle Paul was warning the Corinthians and saying look this is what I've gone through to get where I'm at today I've had to suffer I've had to go through some hard times to get here but he said therefore and if you remember this in second Timothy 2 when we read the whole chapter at the beginning he said endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ and then later on he said therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory so I'm doing it so that people might be saved and uh I probably confused you there because I was reading from second Corinthians 4 and I switched to first Corinthians 4 and I do not notify you of that I'm not adding to the bible I thought I was just having some kind of revelation right now I don't believe in that stuff okay I turned to first Corinthians 4 without notifying you sorry about that look at first Corinthians chapter 15 first Corinthians chapter number 15 the bible reads in verse 58 first Corinthians 15 therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord we need to get to the place where we're steadfast and where we're unmovable because these type of things are going to come in our life now if you want to be a be nothing do nothing kind of a person that doesn't do anything for God that just tries to do the minimum and just kind of skates by maybe you just show up on Sunday morning kind of check it off hey I went to church I'm covered you know maybe you give the gospel to somebody every once in a blue moon which is every 18 months maybe you uh just uh go through life just reading the minimum that you think you can read in the bible and just kind of be okay with it but I'm just warning you if you really want to do something for God you really start reading your bible you really start praying you really start showing up for church more and really start going out and winning souls hey there are going to be hardships there are going to be trials and tribulations and afflictions that come your way and that's all part of serving God he already told us he already warned us it's going to happen it shouldn't surprise you here's another great verse on this you don't have to turn there but he says in uh first peter chapter number let me find my place here first peter 4 12 it says beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you he's saying why would you be shocked about this why would you think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you like wow I can't believe this is happening to me he said look of course it's going to happen verse 13 but rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed he may be glad also with exceeding joy he said in Philippians 129 for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake he said in first peter 5 8 be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour who resists steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world but the great the god of all grace who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that you've suffered a while make you perfect establish strengthen settle you you say well I don't like that I don't want to suffer did you know that the first word out of Jesus mouth in the new testament who has a bible with the red letter edition you know I'm talking about where it puts all the words of Jesus Christ in red yeah if you're reading the book of Matthew you know the first red letter is somebody tell me what it is if you know suffer that's the first red letter in chapter three of Matthew and so God calls us to suffer he doesn't tell us live on easy street live an easy life live the comfortable life relax take it easy eat drink and be married that's not the Christian life that God he tells us look you're gonna have to suffer nobody wants to suffer nobody enjoys suffering but he tells us to be steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the lord and if you're always abounding in the work of the lord and if you're steadfast and unmovable you will suffer you're going to suffer for the bible says he and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution you say why are you preaching this you're going to make it so that people don't want to serve god well your desire to serve god should outweigh your fear or apprehension about going through suffering the bible says that Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments the bible says the love of Christ constrains us hereby perceivedly the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren and so God is telling us yes you will suffer for serving me yes there is a cost that you're going to have to pay if you want to serve God if you want to uh start a church someday you're going to have to pay a great price to do that if you want to pastor a church if you want to go soul winning and win people to Christ whether you're man woman boy or girl if you want to get people saved if you want to do something big for God if you want to have a great influence on the people around you there's a price that you're going to have to pay for that you say well I don't want to do it well that's fine then don't do it that's why Jesus Christ said that before you decide whether you're going to be his disciple and we're not talking about salvation here salvation is free salvation there is no cost actually there's a huge cost but it's paid by Jesus the bible says that Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world it says for all of sin and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus but you get that him that believeth in Jesus gets the free salvation that's Romans 3 and so the bible is clear that salvation is free it's funny because we preach that salvation is free and that it's by faith not of works that any man should should boast that it's a free gift by just believing on Jesus Christ and here's what people will say oh you preach cheap grace who's ever heard that one before oh easy believe is um yeah you know steep grace can I tell you something the blood of Jesus Christ is not cheap that and that's what I believe purchased my salvation you know what's cheap grace people who think that because they repented of their sins and and joined the church and got baptized and and they do all these wonderful work that's cheap because when you put all your works and you're turning from sin and you're living a good life and you're baptism when you put that on one side of the scale and then you put the precious blood of Jesus Christ on the other side of the scale which one looks cheaper to you it's not cheap grace it's free it's not cheap it's free you're saying it's cheap if you teach that you have to work for it and earn it because your righteousnesses are as filthy rags to God and that's cheap my friend that's the cheap grace the bible says that many will say to Jesus in that day Lord Lord if we not prophesy in thy name and in thy name of cast out devils in thy name done many wonderful works and then like profession them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity he said your wonderful works you know what I think it is works of iniquity go to hell you are not going to get into heaven by your works it's going to be through the blood of Christ it's going to be through believing on Jesus Christ it's free but if you want to be his disciple if you want to follow it you've got to deny self Jesus said if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me and you see in the bible there were multitudes of people who believed on Jesus Christ while he was on this earth thousands and thousands of people believed them they got saved multitudes of them even got baptized but when it came down to who was really following him sometimes it was just the 12 and sometimes it was just 70 and when we get to acts chapter one the people who were going to church at that early church was only 120 people now we're only 120 people saved now tens of thousands have been saved through John the Baptist and Jesus Christ ministry but it was only 120 that were there in acts chapter one when the persecution had come and when the hard times were there and when people are being thrown in prison and when Jesus Christ had been arrested that's when all men forsook him because it's a very different day being saved and being one of his disciples being a follower of Christ and Jesus Christ said that before you decide to be his disciple you need to count the cost he said if a man builds a tower first he decides how much it's going to cost and how many materials there are going to be needed lest he build the tower and then let's say I'm paraphrasing but let's say he gets halfway through and then he can't finish it and he says people begin to mock say this man began to build but was not able to finish he said count the cost before deciding to be his disciple so I'm preaching a sermon similar to what Jesus Christ was saying there when he's warning people look go to Matthew 9 if you would I'm sorry Matthew 8, Matthew chapter 8 go to Matthew chapter 8 and verse number 18 it says in Matthew chapter 8 verse 18 now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him he gave commandment to depart unto the other side so here Jesus is surrounded by multitudes of people right and they're all listening to him praise they're all following him and he gave commandment to depart unto the other side and a certain scribe came and said unto him master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest that's a pretty bold statement right I'll follow you wherever you go and Jesus saith unto him here's the warning of what it's going to cost Jesus saith unto him the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the son of man hath not where to lay his head so he's basically saying I'm not sure where I'm even sleeping tonight I don't even know where I'm staying because the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the son of man that's not where to lay his head I'm probably sleeping outside tonight is that all right with you is that where you want to follow me and another of his disciples said unto him lord suffer me first to go and bury my father but Jesus said then follow me and let the dead bury their dead now look Jesus Christ is saying look if you're going to follow me you're going to follow me right now you're going to follow me on my terms you're going to go where I'm saying you're going to go and guess what we might not have a place to stay tonight is that all right and look at the next verse and when he was entered into a ship his disciples followed him and if you look at the context and keep reading here you know pretty much the 11 or the 12 disciples are the ones who got on that ship and followed him this other scribe we don't hear from him again this other disciple they talked big but when it came down to it they said well you mean we're not staying at the Radisson tonight wait a minute you haven't booked the rooms yet are you serious I thought you're a big famous preacher you know I thought we were staying in a nice place tonight you're sleeping outside forget it man I don't know what I signed up for see Jesus is constantly telling people and I've said this often I'll get on my knees and beg someone to be saved but I'll never get on my knees and beg someone to go to church yeah I've said it often and I'll say it again I don't do it and let me tell you Jesus Jesus he pleaded with people to be saved in the bible he begged them to be saved cried out he's he's just saying look just believe on me even even if you don't believe because of this and I said believe for the very works I mean look at the miracles I'm doing he begged people to believe on us the bible even in revelation 22 the final chapter ends with God pleading with people to be saved three times in revelation 22 17 pleading for people to be saved and I'll go out and try to plead with people to be saved but I'll never beg anybody to go to church because you know Jesus didn't either Jesus just said you know what follow me and he walked away and if they're following him great if not see uh that's what he just did over and over he warned him he said you know are you sure you want to follow me because guess what it's not going to be easy are you sure and many of them said well forget it then he said okay you don't see him going around begging people to follow him do you see him following up every week with people going back to Peter's house and James's house saying over and over hey guys memorize you know are you guys gonna follow me or what it's my fourth time coming you know I'm only gonna come five more times and then you guys know Jesus is just like follow me let's go oh wait I gotta bury my father shut up let's go I mean he's not messing around because he wasn't looking for people who are half in and half out to follow him he wasn't looking for people who wanted to live on easy street and wanted to be lukewarm and oh yeah these are my followers because I just want to see how many followers I can get no he was looking for laborers he said the harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few pray ye therefore the lord of the harvest that he'll send forth laborers into it not just anybody not just send out a bunch of laborers people who want to work hard so that's what I'm looking for and he said to Peter and Andrew he said follow me and it says they dropped their neck you look at James and John same thing they dropped their neck they dropped what they're doing they said see you later dad see you later boss let's go I mean it's the son of God it's Jesus Christ God in the flesh he was on this earth for only three and a half years and guess what he didn't have time to wait for other people to get on their schedule now look you can sympathize and say well come on the guy's trying to have a funeral for his dad I sympathize with that but wait a minute Jesus is only here for three and a half years every day counted every hour counted he didn't have time to wait because his work had to come first and you see we need to get on board with Jesus Christ today not say well you know something else I'm gonna wait a little while I'm gonna wait till after summer I'm gonna wait till January 1st because that's a good time to have like a new year's resolution so I'm gonna give it about six months and I'm gonna decide to start coming to church more reading my bible more you know that calendar that takes you through to read the bible in a year you know cover to cover in one year we got them out on the shelf in case you've never read the bible cover to cover you know you need to get that thing and go through it but a lot of people well I want to start in Genesis so I'm gonna wait till January 1st man start it today start now get on board today Jesus Christ says follow me today get on board now and it's not gonna be easy it's gonna be work it's gonna be labor and how many people today have this attitude I want to go to a church that's gonna put me to work when was the last time you heard somebody say that I'm looking for a church that's gonna put me to work that's gonna make me push to a new level you know it's gonna push me to a new level that's gonna challenge me and it's gonna challenge me to do more for God and to and to suffer more and to and to grow more and to read my bible more I'm looking for a church that's gonna push me and cause me to be a laborer most people says well I just want to go where I'm fed you know what I mean and if we could look through the spiritual glasses today and a lot of churches we'd see spiritual obesity of people who just want to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and they and they don't even want to feed themselves they want to be fed spoon fan open it open your mouth you know and if we could see this spiritually they'd all be like a big baby with a diaper and a bib on an overgrown baby an obese overgrown baby with a little bib on and the pastor saying open up open and shoving slimy squash plum paste into their mouth from a baby food jar you know and that I mean is that do you think that that's what Jesus Christ intended for the local church to be no he wanted us to be labored I mean when you okay if we were to say draw a picture of a laborer draw a picture would you draw a guy who's just kind of a a big sloppy kind of a guy you'd probably picture a guy who who looks kind of you know like he's strong he's probably got like a hard hat on right he's probably got like a shovel in his hand and you say like this is a laborer who's worked in construction before and you've seen laborers right I mean it's a guy who's working they don't give him the laborer isn't the guy who's pushing the pencil in the office right he's not just walking around with a clipboard now the laborer is out there with the pick and the shovel and he's digging the trenches for the conduits he's uh he's out there you know working hard he's doing physical work and that's what God intends us to be his believers laborers he wants us to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might he wants us to be working he wants us to be doing something for God always abounding in the work of the Lord and he wants us to be willing to endure some hardness not to just always look for easy street and for everything to be easy and for everything to go smoothly but to endure some hardness turn if you would to uh first peter chapter number uh five or no we already did that one first peter chapter number three first peter chapter number three or the end of the new testament first peter chapter three the bible reads for even i'm sorry uh first peter 314 but and if you suffer for righteousness sake happy are you so i'm not i'm not asking you to not be happy is what is what God's saying he's saying i'm just asking you to suffer but he says if you suffer for righteousness sake happy are you like really i don't know but he said you are and he says be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason that the hope that is in you would meet to severe having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ for it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evil doing now pretty much if you look at it everybody in this world suffers don't they do you think anybody goes through life just with zero suffering everybody suffers now people who are righteous they suffer for well-doing and then there are people who are wicked and they suffer for evil doing i mean there are people who get thrown in prison for preaching the gospel or for serving God or for doing the right things and then there are people who get thrown in prison for doing bad things like robbing or uh you know murdering or raping or whatever they're doing okay so there are people who suffer on both ends of the spectrum there are people who suffer all kinds of illnesses there are people who suffer the effects of living an ungodly and sinful life and then there are other people who are great and godly righteous people who suffer illnesses and physical ailments but the difference is that the ones who are suffering as they do right they have joy and God is going to bless them and reward them for their suffering they when they're thrown in jail or beaten with stripes they rejoiced in the book of acts because they knew that great was their reward in heaven they knew that they were doing great things for God that God was pleased with them and that God would bless them and reward them but if they would have just gone out and robbed a liquor store and they got beaten with stripes they wouldn't be rejoicing there's no glory in that they wouldn't be bragging about that look at these stripes i'm tough it's no wow you were beaten because you're an idiot there's no glory in that but what if you have stripes on your back and said hey this is where i was beaten for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ there is glory in that there is a reward for that in heaven there is a blessing associated with that hey that is something to be happy about and to rejoice about that's why i said it's better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evil doing look at first peter 221 just go back one chapter chapter 2 verse 21 says for even here unto where you call because Christ also has suffer also suffer for us leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps what steps the steps of suffering go to James 5 James chapter 5 right before uh first peter there james 5 says verse 10 take my brethren the prophets he's talking about the old testament prophets who have spoken in the name of the lord for an example of prosperity and wealth and good health is that what it says no it says uh take my brother the prophets who have spoken in the name of the lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience behold we count them happy which endure again god's saying if you endure suffering happy are you behold we count them happy which endured ye have heard of the patience of joe and have seen the end of the lord that the lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy go to hebrews 11 right before james is hebrews go to hebrews 11 chap number two chap number 11 verse 24 hebrews 11 24 by faith moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of god than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season so that's what you've got the choice today the pleasures of sin for a season or choosing to suffer affliction with the people of god now jesus christ tells us it in psalm 16 11 he says at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore in thy presence is fullness of joy we are going to enjoy the pleasures and the enjoyment of heaven for all eternity as believers but right now god wants us to suffer for him he wants us to work hard for him he wants us to serve him and then our payday comes when we get to heaven and we get all the rewards and we get all the rejoicing now look you say well i want to have both i want to have all the pleasure now and then hey i'm saved because i'm a believer so i'm going to have it off the pleasure then too let's do both it's not going to work that way because here's the problem with that you're in Hebrews 11 go to Hebrews 12 this is why that's not going to work because a lot of people say well i'm having both ways now look there's definitely no way to lose your salvation because the god gives us eternal life it's everlasting life you'll never need leave us nor forsake us but he will discipline us it says in verse number six for whom the lord loveth he chastened it and what what does scourge mean that's the that's like those 39 stripes right that we talked about save one so he says if the lord loveth he chased it then scourges every son whom he received it if he endured chastening god dealeth with you as with sons but what son is he whom the father chastened it not but if you'd be without chastisement where of all our partakers then are you bastards and not sons furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which correct our physical bodies which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection under the father of spirits and live for they barely for a few days chasten us after their own pleasure but he for our prophet that we might be partakers of his holiness now no chastening for the present seem it to be joyous but grievous no no child is joyful about yes and be spanked nevertheless if they are then you're not spanking right okay you need to spank a little harder or maybe a lot harder nevertheless afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby so let's face it you're here this morning in your state and of course i'm preaching to the sage here this morning there could be somebody here who's not saved but the vast majority obviously of the people who are here in church this morning believe on the lord jesus christ there we've already talked to you other people have talked to you you've heard you've gotten saved many years ago or recently or whatever but pretty much i'm preaching to the sage this morning and the vast majority that's under the sound of my voice here today is already saved so you have a choice today are you going to take up the cross and follow jesus christ and serve him to the fullest yes there's going to be hard times yes there's going to be suffering yes there's going to be trials yes there's going to be tribulation yes there's going to be discomfort but you'll be happy and he'll reward you and though you're in heaviness now for the time being if need be you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory and you're rewarded and you're blessed by god and you endure hardness as a good soldier of jesus christ or you can say no i want to have all the fun now i want to have all the pleasure now guess what god is going to make sure that you do not enjoy it because he said i will you don't want to be scourge for preaching the gospel well then i'll scourge you for being disobedient i'll give you a spanking i'll beat you and then there's no glory in it you know what i mean would you rather be scourged physically for preaching the gospel of jesus christ or would you rather have god scourging you because you're out at the bar because you're out you know watching a bunch of filthy dvds because you're out drinking because you're out on drugs because you're out pornopedic because you're lusting after every billboard and every magazine that's in your magazine rack and because you're watching a bunch of smut on tv and god has to chase in you and discipline you and slap you around saying what's wrong with you you are a child of god you are saved you're going to spend eternity in heaven why are you living in this world like you're an unbeliever or why are you living like the filthy world around you you're supposed to be serving me because you're bought with a price wherefore glorified god in your body and in your spirit which are gods you belong to god and you shouldn't be living that way so that you just have to just kick and i mean there are people like you who go through life like that yeah where just everything bad is happening to them and it's not our place to judge others because you know maybe god's just bringing them through trials maybe they're suffering for righteousness sake but you see people sometimes who uh you know just basically just disobey god and just do whatever they want to do they're saved and god is not going to let you get away with it if you're saying like if you're saved and you just want to go out and live the party life that all the unsaved people and you know look we live right here by asu you know the average person at asu is not living a godly life are they they're over there they're sleeping around or whatever you know if you're going to go follow that lifestyle and follow the crowd over there of the fraternity and the sorority and and all the the unbelievers over there how they live if you're going to go that route and you're saved child of god god is not going to let you enjoy it and god is going to chasten you and scourge you because he loves you and he doesn't want you to ruin your life by living that way waste your life you're not going to get away with it now you say well look at all the people who do get away with it that's because they're not saved he said if you be without chastisement where of all the partakers then are you bastards and not sons there are many today who are unsaved who live a wicked life and they get away with it and you say well how is that because they're going to go to hell you want to trade places with them no but those that are saved are not going to hell so guess what their punishment comes now we reap what we sow here and now we reap what we sow here today because there is no hell for us i mean we're going to heaven we're saved our sins are all forgiven but we will be chastened by our loving father in heaven who sometimes uses some tough love and he'll spank at our bottom and you're not going to like it when that happens and so we ought to just decide today you know what i'm going to serve god i'm going to sell out i'm going to be his disciple i'm going to pick up the cross and follow him and you know what bring on the suffering because i'm going to i'm going to i'm going to take it i'm ready for it i'm expecting it i already know it's coming and i'm ready for persecution i'm ready to go through some discomfort i'm ready for for hard times i'm ready to go through necessity and want because i am going to serve god i'm gonna pay that price and look why pay the price because people are going to hell we need to go out and get them safe why pay the price because jesus christ gave his life for us and the least we could do is serve him with our life we're never going to go through what he went through and so if we love him let's keep his commandments if we love people around us let's give him the gospel if we love our church let's be here let's support it let's be a part of it let's get excited about it let's get other people in here let's go out and give the gospel to every creature in phoenix arizona and the state of arizona and beyond let's do everything we can for god and i'll turn to one more place go to romans chapter 8 we'll finish with this romans chapter 8 verse 18 romans chapter 8 verse 18 we'll close with this thought and remember the title of the sermon endure hardness endure don't run away from hardness oh yeah sometimes i'll tell my children to do something i'll tell someone to do something and you know that's hard and i usually say well i'd hate for you to do anything hard now wouldn't i i wouldn't want to do anything hard i want to do everything easy of course you do things that are hard in life people who get paid a lot of their job they do hard jobs they do things that are hard they do things that are difficult that's why they get paid more money and people who just want to live an easy life and have a really easy job you know they're probably not going to make as much money as that and again life's not about making money that's not my point i'm just saying that we do hard things in life when we want to to get money we all do hard things in order to make money and pay our bills and make a living you gotta endure hardness you gotta go through hard times but he says this in romans 8 18 he says 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 you know you work a ton of overtime at your job you're missing sleep you're tired you're working but you know what you love it when payday comes and you've got all that time and a half and double time and bonus and overtime you love it when the payday comes look god's telling us that the payday for the works that we do on this earth is so much greater than our sufferings he's saying i can't even compare it he said the sufferings of this president are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed i mean when we get to heaven it's gonna be so great he said there's no comparison we put it next to our sufferings that we went through in this life when we look at all the hard times and remember this is the apostle paul who's speaking this is the guy who's been beaten this is the guy who's been thrown in prison none of us have been shipwrecked or with stones or or gone through most of the things that paul went through he's saying that even all that is not even gonna he said you know when we get to heaven basically we'll look at that and just be like that was nothing compared to the reward compared to the blessing of being here compared to the glory that is nothing to me it means nothing piece of cake and yet today it seems hard you know it seems hard and and it seems difficult to just you know drag ourselves to church to force ourselves awake and read our bible and to you know force ourselves out there soul-winning when it's hot outside and it's humid and whatever you know it's hard but god says you know what when compared to the reward when compared to the payoff it's going to seem like nothing and god will reward us for everything that we do and the biggest reason why i touched on it earlier how salvation is free it's a free gift when you do good works for god after you're saved you're not paying back your salvation it's not like well i'm gonna you know you gave me this it's sort of like if i if i gave uh you know brother garrett my car i said hey here's my gift i'm gonna give you my car as a gift you know that car belongs to you now and brother garrett said well i really appreciate that so i'm gonna pay back part of the price you know i'm gonna get i'm gonna give you 100 bucks a month for a certain amount you know i i know i can't pay the whole thing but i'm gonna pay part of it for you now i'm saying no no it's free it's a gift it's yours now he might turn around and and choose to give me a gift or say thank you or whatever but he's not going to pay he's not going to pay back part of the price because then it wasn't a gift anymore if he paid me 100 bucks a month then it wasn't really a gift okay now look do you think that god is going to let you pay for part of your salvation no he said it's free he said it's a gift he said it's paid for by the blood paid in full you don't it's not like you made the down payment you have to make the payments so it's totally paid so here's the thing if we work for god okay he's gonna pay us he will pay us because otherwise if we were to go and do a bunch of work for god and he didn't pay us and then we well yeah because he already gave us salvation i mean he doesn't owe us anything but hold on a second that salvation was a free gift and so if we work for god he does owe us something and that's why he tells us knowing that whatsoever any whatsoever good thing any man do it the same shall he receive of the lord whether he be found free and jesus said over and over again in the bible that he will reward us for our works he said behold i come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be god will reward our work according to our works he will reward it because he wants to make sure that we didn't pay for anything of our salvation he gets all the glory it's all free he'll give us a reward to pay us for the works and that's why that's so emphasized in the bible the rewards just to make sure we understand hey salvation's free to get but he'll reward us and the reward is so far going to outweigh the sacrifice you can't even compare the two let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your promises and your word and the fact that you'll reward us someday dear god and the glories that we're going to share in heaven for all eternity and lord i just pray that you would please just help every single person here to count the cost and to realize that there is a cost for serving you there is a there is a cost and there's going to be hardness and trials and tribulations but help every single person who's here today to decide you know what i'm going to pay that price for the love of lost souls and for the love of jesus christ and for the love of his house i'm going to pay that price i'm going to endure afflictions i'm going to endure hardness dear god help every single person here today to make that decision in their heart and to decide that it's worth it to suffer for you not to suffer as an evildoer but to suffer for righteousness sake and in jesus name we pray amen