No Escaping Affliction Part 2

Review of the Principle: No Escaping Affliction

0:03 This adult Sunday school class was held on March 6, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, we come again this morning to pick up where we left off last week, at the point at which we were beginning to flesh out from the Scriptures together the fit of these major principles of living the Christian life, which have constituted the focal point of our study for a number of months here in the adult class. And the principle which we began to articulate last week, and this is the only review we'll engage in,

0:48 I'll not even mention the previous four principles that we examined, the principle we began to examine last week was expressed this way, there is no escaping the varied pressures of afflicted circumstances in living the Christian life. And then I proceeded to exegete the meaning of the words of that principle. By afflicted circumstances, I am referring to circumstances which cause pain or distress. And by the term the varied pressures, I am trying to embody the fact that these afflicted circumstances come in varied kinds and degrees,

1:33 and intensity for the people of God. And we need to face the fact that there is no escaping these varied pressures of afflicted circumstances as long as we are in this life. Now, having stated the principle and exegeted it, we then look to the Word of God for what I called general statements which assert this fact. And you gave me the Scriptures that I had in my notes, plus several others.

Review of General Statements and Specific Categories of Affliction (Part 1)

2:03 John 16.33, in the world, Ye have tribulation, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Acts 14.22, they exhorted the young disciples that through many tribulations they must enter the kingdom of God.

2:18 Matthew 10.34, James 1.2, and several others. Then as our time ran out, we were beginning to focus upon what I have called the specific categories in which these afflicted, these afflicted circumstances come to us.

2:36 And we had covered two of them when the time ran out. Can you remember the two specific categories in which these afflicted circumstances come to us? We looked at the general statements of Scripture that afflicted circumstances will be the lot of all of God's people. Then we began to consider the specific categories within which these afflicted circumstances come to us.

3:00 And what was the first category? Yes. Spencer? All right.

3:06 Persecution from the ungodly. And we looked at such statements as all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution in one form or another from its more subtle, mild, and perhaps often veiled manifestations to its ultimate aggressive manifestation in martyrdom. The people of God have always experienced persecution from the ungodly. As they have sought to live godly in Christ Jesus.

3:38 And then the second category that we considered last week, the category in which afflictive circumstances come to all God's people, is what, George?

3:50 All right. The discomfort of divine chastisement. The discomfort of divine chastisement. And, of course, the key passage is Hebrews chapter 12, in which the writer to the Hebrews asserts that all of the sons of God are partakers of chastisement, and Revelation 3.19,

4:12 as many as I love, I rebuke, and I chasten. So we cannot be within the orbit of the distinguishing, redemptive love of Christ and escape the rod of his chastisement. Now then, your homework assignment was to see if you could discover in Scripture any other major categories. Now, we don't want to get down into, all kinds of capillaries of categories, but any other major categories within which affliction comes to the people of God.

New Category: Vexation from the Ungodly Climate

4:44 Paul, I believe you were the one who stated this third category just as time ran out. Would you restate it this morning?

5:00 And your statement was based upon what passage in particular, Paul?

5:06 All right. 2 Peter chapter 2. I'm not sure that you have the right reference, the last verse reference. Pardon?

5:16 That's it. All right. Read it out loud for us. 2 Peter 2, 7 and 8.

5:20 All right? The way in which I've tried to express this is vexation from the ungodly climate in which we live. It's not quite the same, you see, as persecution from the ungodly. That's the persecution of persons to persons.

5:52 All right? But here we have the vexation from the ungodly climate in which we must live. And it's described very vividly in the language of 2 Peter, Peter 2, 7 and 8 that God delivered righteous lot sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked. For that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul or tormented his righteous soul by the lascivious life I'm sorry that righteous man dwelling among them seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day

6:35 with their lawless deeds. So here is this concept of the vexation from the ungodly climate around us. And surely we ought to consider that especially in our day as a major category of the afflictive circumstances in which a believer must live. Because there have been times when in the period of history in periods of history when in the general climate of society there has been a great measure of what we call common grace and a very extensive influence of the gospel upon society through the power of God's special or saving grace.

7:18 So that though society has always been basically part of that which Paul describes in Galatians 1 is this present evil age the extent to which evil has permeated and dominated the extent to which evil is openly practiced and condoned and sometimes even propagated by statute as we read in the prophet Isaiah why to that extent the souls of the righteous experience a greater vexation and surely living in our day anyone who is in any contact whatsoever with the real climate of this society experiences this vexation of soul as you must live

8:02 in this context of pervasive ungodliness. All right, anyone else want to make a comment or ask a question about that category or do you think of another passage which addresses itself explicitly to that category?

8:17 All right, yes, Paul.

8:55 Good, good passage. His spirit was stirred within him and that's an element of inward pain the pain of the grief of yearning over people who forsake the law of God the pain of seeing God's honor denied and besmirched by people given over to idolatry and sensuality that's a very good point in flushing out what the nature of this vexation is that the people of God experience from the ungodly climate in which they must live. All right, any other passage or perspective on this? All right, did someone come up then with a fourth major category in which afflicted circumstances come to us?

New Category: The Tribulation of Dark Providences

9:38 Yes, Dean? The pain of living in a cursed earth. Will you explain yourself, please? All right, so you're saying in the very fact that we're living in a cursed earth would that be a specific category or would that be sort of a general description that casts its shadow over some of these other categories?

10:22 I need some time to think that through. Yes, Pastor Clark. Well, in a more general sense as it says in 1 Corinthians 10, 13 no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man. All right.

10:37 The very fact that we are human beings living on the earth in a human society subjects us to certain persecutions and difficulties in which as Christians we are not exempt. All right. And sometimes Christians forget that. Yeah, very good.

10:53 All right. Someone else, did you come up with what you believe or at least tentatively believe as a major category?

11:01 Yes, Ron? All right. The distress that comes about amongst Christians. You're thinking, are you, of the distress caused to the apostles?

11:16 Paul, when he heard of the factions at Corinth, the distress that came when Barnabas was carried away with some of Peter's backsliding in the area of the truth of the gospel that all men stand on an equal footing in Christ. Well, I think what will happen now is we'll begin to come up with all kinds of specific illustrations from the word of God and from human experience. What I would like to suggest is that perhaps all of the other forms that don't fit specifically under one of these will fit under this general canopy of the tribulation of dark providences. The tribulation of dark providences.

12:01 Now, I'm only suggesting, I have no chapter and verse for the categories. We're just trying to collate and organize some of the biblical materials. But I wonder if most of the other forms do not fit in this category. The tribulation of dark providences.

12:19 When we look at the providences around us and are tempted to say with old Jacob as he looked at the providences surrounding him, Genesis 42, 36, all these things are against me. All these things are against me. Everywhere I look, I see not the cloudless sky and the smiling face of God, but I seem to see a dark undercloud that is not of a negative providence. And that causes tribulation to the people of God and may come in many specific ways.

12:58 And one of the classic passages in which the specifics of the dark providence are not delineated, but the reality of them and the cumulative nature of them is 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And no study of the place of affliction or afflicted circumstances in the lives of God's people is anywhere near complete that does not take much of its perspective from 2 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning with verse 3.

13:33 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice the particular way in which he describes this God. The Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who, who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Now notice the breadth of the language.

14:04 This God of mercies and of all comfort comforts us in all our affliction. In whatever category it comes to us, the more specific categories of persecution, the more specific category of the vexation of spirit in the presence of the ungodly, the pain of divine chastisement, or in many other ways. In all our affliction we have the God who comforts us in all our affliction. Notice, to the end, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction.

14:45 So the emphasis falls upon all affliction and any affliction. Then he goes on to say, as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ. But whether we are afflicted, and notice now in the context, whether we are afflicted with any affliction, and in all of our afflictions, it is for your comfort and salvation, or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort which works in you, which works, in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which also we suffer. So here we have this broad sweeping statement of the affliction

15:29 that comes to the people of God in many forms, in many circumstances, the all affliction, the any affliction in which God proves himself to be the God of comfort. And it would be very difficult to try to pin down with any spirit specificity, any certainty, the precise nature of the afflictions that came to the apostle and to his companions. And you have another such general reference in chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians.

16:08 Verse 16 and following. Wherefore we do not faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction. Now we don't know what he's referring, what he's referring to specifically or whether he's summing up all of the various kinds of afflicted circumstances as they impinge upon him and he puts over all of them light afflictions and then tells us what God is accomplishing in them. But that awaits the latter part of the lesson today.

16:42 And then of course there is the more general statement in Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 and verse 3 and not only so but we also rejoice in our tribulations. A very general statement. Tribulations of any kind of any sort in any circumstances we rejoice in our tribulations knowing that tribulation works steadfastness.

17:13 And so we have this segment of scriptures of these specific scriptures which point to the tribulation of dark providences of many kinds without specifically identifying the particular tribulation that the apostle may have had in mind at that particular instance. And so we could put into this such things as economic or economic and neither one is correct. One of my daughters has been correcting me on that and I checked again in the dictionary yesterday and either is correct. Economic is preferred but economic is acceptable at least in my Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.

17:55 So I'm not sure which one to use but I figured I'd better check up on it because I dare not make pronunciation and mistakes of pronunciation in the presence of my daughters because they really jump all over me when I do. Usually because I'm jumping all over them.

18:16 Great day when they can get one on pop. All right. All right. Could be economic or economic dark providences.

18:25 It could be physical afflictions such as come to the people of God in unusual concentration at certain periods in their lives. Could be any number of things that would come under the category of a dark providence. The kind of thing that does not cause you to get out of bed in the morning and say, thank you Lord, I'm living under a canopy of your evident goodness. The kinds of things that when you get up in the morning and have to face them you have to say, Lord, I believe you're good in spite of what I'm feeling.

18:55 I believe you're good in spite of what my bank account says. I believe you're good in spite of that pile of unpaid bills in the desk. Lord, I believe you're good in spite of the pain I feel in this place or that place. So do you have a feel for what I'm saying when I say dark providences?

Transition to Divine Intentions in Affliction

19:12 All right. All right. Any question then on that fourth sort of catch-all category? Yes, Paul?

19:40 Yes.

19:46 Yes. All right. You're anticipating now the next part of our lesson. So if I may table that with your approval, Paul.

20:01 All right. Good. Good. Yes, Pastor Nichols.

20:15 Yes, you may.

23:26 None of them is painless to the world in our souls. Yes. And that just underscores what Pastor Clark said, that it's that's part of existence as it now is until the consummation. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, that's the all-inclusive statement, the sufferings of this present time,

24:11 of whatever sort, the inner suffering of longing to be totally conformed to the image of Christ and not being that and not being able to be that until we see him and are like him, the longing that all of our loved ones should know him and they're not all going to come to know him, the longing that the whole world should obey his law and it doesn't and it won't, all of that.

24:37 It's very good. I think that that helps us and maybe just by trying to have some of these categories got us thinking in those directions and this is what we must try to do when we're handling the word of God. All right, now, if we may hasten on then, I want to raise the question and this will get us into the ballpark of the concern that Paul addressed himself to with this question. What is or what are the divine intentions with respect to these afflicted circumstances?

Purpose 1: Pruning and Cultivating Graces

25:10 What does God intend to do in the lives of his people by means of these afflicted circumstances? And I have listed right now no fewer than A, B, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 clear purposes of God and I was able to list those in probably just about an hour's worth or not even quite an hour probably of concentrated attention to the subject. So I'm sure there are many more but a number of passages began to range themselves under these 8 clear purposes clear clear purposes

25:53 of afflicted circumstances. Now, can you begin to think of some and then we'll see where your mind comes in on these things. Yes, Gene?

26:07 Isaiah 48 and verse 10. Behold, I have refined you but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. Very good.

26:21 It is a the purpose of God is to refine and refine and to purify us. I stated it this way. These afflicted circumstances prune and cultivate our graces. And we have a passage such as Isaiah 48, 10 but can you think of some clear passages in the New Testament which teach this very truth.

26:43 All right, John?

26:50 All right. Read it for us, please. All right. Here's the clear teaching of James that when these trials come we are to count it joy not because we have some kind of sick mentality that enjoys pain but we know what the purpose of God in these things is.

27:23 And the purpose of God is to prune and to cultivate our graces knowing that the trial of your faith works patience. All right? Another passage. Yes, Carol?

27:35 All right. Here's the clear statement that that pain of divine chastisement or the discomfort of divine chastisement that we feel has as its end that we might make progress in grace specifically the grace of holiness. All right? Other passages?

28:10 Yes, Jay?

28:37 If I may hold that off as a separate category, Jay it could come under the grace of the ability to empathize but I actually put it as a category these afflictive circumstances equip us to minister comfort to others. It's such a dominant emphasis in that passage so with your permission we'll put it in a separate category. All right? Yes.

28:59 Jeff? 1 Peter chapter 1 Good. With verse 6 wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a little while if need be ye have been put to grief and manifold trials and the proof of your faith being more precious than gold that perishes though it is proved by fire may be found in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. All right?

29:29 So here this passage clearly teaches us what, Jeff?

29:38 Our faith and we find our faith and we often end in that Christ himself would be glorified in us. All right? So the grace of faith implanted by the Spirit must be purified by these afflictive circumstances manifold trials or temptations. All right?

29:59 Other passages? Yes, Brian? All right? So often then these afflictive circumstances are the divine pruning hook or pruning knife by which God is cutting away that excess of growth that keeps us from maximum fruitfulness.

30:33 All right? Yes. Someone here? All right.

30:35 All right. First Peter chapter 2 and verse 20. What glory is it if when you sin and are buffeted you take it patiently but if when you do well and suffer for it you take it patiently this is acceptable with God. So here unrighteous treatment at the hands of ungodly masters in their relationship to servants is being used to work into people a Christ-like response to injustice.

31:10 So here conformity to Christ is realized in the context of an afflictive circumstance. All right? Any other key passages? Yes.

31:20 Cliff?

31:22 That's the one I was fishing for. All right. Read it for us please, Cliff.

31:41 So here we are to know that the tribulations are working something. The tribulations are not just pummeling us. They are working something. And when they are embraced intelligently and biblically they become the very means that God uses to cultivate the grace of steadfastness or endurance.

32:05 All right. Any other passages that point in this direction? Yes. Ray?

32:12 Psalm 119.71. Read it for us please, Ray. All right.

32:22 Here affliction becomes the means by which the grace of insight to the word of God is increased. All right. Any other passages?

32:33 Larry and then Dave. What's the point that you're not sure should be made from those verses, Larry?

33:15 Yes. So that is a warranted connection. The all things that are working together for good to them that love God, even the afflicted circumstances, the dark providences, are for that highest good, namely, our conformity to the moral likeness of Jesus Christ. For whom he foreknew, he foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son.

33:42 All right? Now can you think of another category? I'm sure we could find more verses, but these are some of the outstanding verses that show us that the purpose of God in these afflicted circumstances is to prune our graces. If that's so, is anyone's graces and his life and his life and anyone's likeness to Christ so complete in this life that he can afford the luxury of getting out from underneath the pressure of afflicted circumstances?

34:10 The answer of Scripture in your own experience is evident. No. So just settle in to the fact that the pruning knife is going to be part and parcel of your experience till you go to glory. All right?

Purpose 2: Identifying Mark of Sonship

34:21 Another purpose of God in afflicted circumstances. Yes, Rich?

34:32 Where do you get that idea? All right.

34:42 Read it and then tell us what it says.

34:55 So you're saying that in afflicted circumstances are part of the identifying mark of the true sons and daughters of God.

35:15 Someone want to agree or disagree with it?

35:18 Jeff? Or without them in which all have been partakers then you are to assume that children and God are not partakers. All right. So there are elements of suffering in Christ's life that are not common to all of humanity.

36:04 Very good. All right. That's one I hadn't put in there but I think these two verses are compelling in that direction. So one of the purposes is for God to mark out his own in their own eyes.

36:17 Particularly. Particularly in their own eyes. Not so much in the eyes of others because we must be careful. Sometimes we see someone suffering an unusual amount of afflicted circumstances.

36:28 And they seem to bear it patiently and we say well that must be the evidence they're a child of God until you get to talk to them. And there is ungodly and blasphemous as any old sinner who's grousing and grumbling about his lot in life. I shall never forget the shock I received some years ago when watching a special documentary on someone who had a very severe case of cerebral palsy and how this young man coped and went to college and carried on a normal life and yet I had to turn the program off because what was fascinating at the beginning when they showed sort of a survey of his day's activities and I was amazed at his cheerfulness and everything else when they began

37:12 to interview him the foul blasphemy that came out of that fellow's mouth he was as ungodly as the devil and yet just seeing him you'd say well no one could be that cheerful all twisted up in his body and so limited in what he could do. If he were not a Christian he was no more a Christian than the devil.

37:33 So we must be careful in assuming that because someone seems patiently to endure afflicted circumstances we then have a warrant to mark them out as the Lord's. The mark seems to be more in these passages to ourselves. Alright? And so that the affliction is not an indication that God's mad at us.

37:53 It may be a wonderful indication he loves us enough to make sure we can read the marks of his words and he has his own handiwork in us and he's marked us out by suffering. Alright? Any further verses on that point? Or do we have another category?

38:08 Alright. Frank, you had your hand raised earlier. Thinking of Revelation 2.10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer.

38:16 Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation ten days. Alright. Alright, so this would perhaps come under this as well. Alright, so that the tribulation according to the Bible according to Matthew 13.21

38:31 tribulation and persecution arising because of the word becomes the very means to show the difference between the plant that had remember no roots and the one that had deep roots. The sun arises and what happens to this plant that had no root? When it arises it withers and dies. Whereas the true plant flourishes.

38:57 And Jesus said the activity of the sun is the activity has a parallel in the burning rays of persecution and affliction and there are many people who seem to be fair and flourishing Christians until God brings upon them a baptism of affliction. And then they get sour, they get bitter, they turn their backs upon God or they show themselves to be cowards who rather have the favor and smile of men than the smile of God. Tribulation and affliction arising because of the word often reveal whether or not the root of the matter is in a man. And for some of us it's no little comfort when we can look back to situations in which God did plunge us in his providence into a tremendous baptism

39:42 of affliction and what it did was simply sink our roots deeper into Christ. It deepened our resolution to serve him to follow him until we came to the place where though not afflicted as Job was to the degree the same extent we said Lord though you slay me I'm going to trust you. I don't know what you're doing I don't have a clue of what you're doing but one thing I know you are God I am your child and I'm going to hold to my way no matter what happens. Alright?

Purpose 3: Increasing Reward and Longing for Consummation

40:10 Yes. Pastor Nichols.

40:44 Alright, read that for us if you will please.

41:19 Okay.

41:39 1 Peter chapter 4

42:10 here we go.

42:32 Alright. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** And might we not add to that the pivotal passage in 2 Corinthians 4.17, our light affliction, which is but for the moment, it's in the bank, working, gaining interest, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And you've got banking language in there.

43:06 So Paul says every bit of affliction is money in the bank gaining interest, and at the revelation of Christ, I'll draw out principle plus interest. All right, Pastor Clark. That's the note that's running through all of these texts, looking forward. It does not yet appear what we shall be.

43:27 It's all this scatological looking forward to the time of the revelation of Christ. Tribulation works with patience, patience, experience, experience, and hope. And all of it is forward looking. All right, so if I actually had that as a category, that all these afflictions make us long for the consummation of redemption.

43:47 We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation from heaven. 2 Corinthians 5.2, Romans 8.23-25.

44:00 We are saved in hope. That comes in the context of groaning.

44:05 We ourselves groan within ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, and we long for the consummation. So 1 Corinthians 5.2, Romans 8.23-25.

44:13 One of the ways God keeps you from getting too settled in down here is affliction. Because this is not your home. But left to yourself, you begin to think it was your home. And that's one of the problems with the peace and prosperity cult of the modern charismatic movement and much of evangelicalism.

44:32 It is too this-worldly. Whereas true biblical Christianity is other-worldly. We have here no abiding place. And one of the ways God lets us, let us know that, is to put little fires in our tents when we begin to get too comfortable.

44:48 There's nothing like a fire to get you out of your house, no matter how comfortable it is. No matter how easy chairs you may have, you may have piled carpets three inches thick, but a good raging fire will get you out of there pronto.

45:01 And so when we get too comfortable, God lights a few fires in our dwellings. And then we begin to long for the consummation. All right? Yes, David?

Purpose 4: Glorifying God and Cultivating Trust

45:09 And then back to Louise.

45:41 Mm-hmm.

45:45 Yeah. So, just giving, I hadn't thought of that, David. But I think if I hear you rightly, what you're saying is that when a child of God can confess his allegiance to God, his confidence in God, praise and bless God, even though God seems to be turning a frowning face toward him, that glorifies God before the eyes of all who behold it. When Job says, sitting on ashes, with his body full of oil, scraping them with a potsherd, though he slay me, yet will I trust him, there is something of the glory of God that shines through that.

46:30 What did he see in God? What did he know of the being of God that caused him thus to cling to his God, even when God seemed to be against him? I think that's a valid point. All right?

46:43 Mrs. Mikowski had her hand up first. Yes. All right.

46:59 That'd be one of the graces, then, that is pruned in affliction. The grace of simple trust in our God, the grace of single-hearted devotion to our God. So that's one of the graces that is pruned in affliction. All right.

47:14 Harry?

47:27 I think it fits, perhaps, in this general category, the whole concept that if we suffer with him, we will reign with him. The present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed. The pattern of Christ's life, which was humiliation, shame, affliction, prior to exaltation, the pattern in his redemptive history is the pattern in the history of his people. Now is the period of the cross, the period of affliction.

48:00 And though we share in principle in resurrection life and have the down payment of glory, we have not yet been glorified with him. That awaits the consummation. So much of that fits in that whole orbit, of what we might call one of the dominant motifs of the New Testament teaching on our union with Christ and what that union involves in these very practical matters. Oh, hands all over the place now.

Purpose 5: Equipping to Minister Comfort to Others

48:27 Who hasn't had a chance to make a contribution? Yes, Mr. Brown. All right.

49:11 So under that general category that I mentioned earlier, equipping us to minister to others,

49:20 part of that ministry is the ministry of exemplary conduct under affliction. 1 Thessalonians 1, another dimension of that equipment, 2 Corinthians 1, we are given an experimental knowledge of how to communicate the comforts of God to others. God who comforts us in all our tribulation, in order that we may be able to comfort others, notice, not by a proper theology of comfort in abstraction, but the text says, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. That's an experimental acquaintance with the comforting work of God.

50:02 Now, how can you know that unless you pass through an affliction in which you become a candidate for that ministry? And therefore, when you draw near to someone who's afflicted, and you can, as it were, draw near with this bond of felt affinity for them in their need, your comfort will mean far more than the person who may have an impeccably correct theology of affliction, but who has no scars upon his heart from a similar affliction.

50:32 There's something about having a scar upon the heart in the empathy that makes a person sense that this man, this woman, is not simply parroting some verses he learned in an adult class somewhere a few years ago. And there's sometimes when the way you express that comfort is very awkward verbally, and it would never look impressive if you were to write it out and put it in a piece of paper. And that's the way it is. And that's the way it is.

50:59 And that's the way it is. Sometimes it's just a sob with someone. And you say, as you squeeze the shoulder of that brother, Brother, I understand. And he knows the very way you say it that you do understand.

51:12 I'm standing with you. That's all you say. And it means far more because he recognizes that scar from the similar affliction. All right?

Summary of Purposes and Rejection of Prosperity Theology

51:24 Any other? Oh, time's gone. Time's gone. All right, so we've come up with five categories.

51:30 The purpose, the purpose of God in these manifold afflictions to prune and cultivate our graces. They constitute an identifying mark of our sonship. They increase our reward. They stir up longings for the consummation.

51:49 They equip us to minister to others. Now, those were the only reasons. Do you see what a fool a Christian is who has a hankering to get rid of affliction? I think I preached a sermon once under the title, Affliction, in Friend or Foe.

52:07 Well, I ask you, are these things your friends that prune your graces, help you to see that you are indeed a child of God, a cash in heaven gaining interest, that make you long more for the coming of your Savior and equip you more to minister to others? Do you see what a crass form of selfishness it is irresponsibly to want release from suffering and affliction? Because you would be stripped of these things. Now, your homework is see if you can come up with some other, I've still got another four or five here.

52:39 You already expanded the list by some of the ones that you came up with. Think through your present knowledge of the Word of God and trace out some of these lines and come, God willing, next week prepared to complete the list, at least for now. And I think without any stretching of things at all, we'll probably come up with at least ten categories. As I mentioned, I had eight in my notes this morning, or seven, and an eighth one came to me driving to, to church.

53:07 Yes, John? You bet your boots you do. So you don't immediately sense or feel that when you see the pruning knife on someone, God take the knife away. You realize the thing is bigger than this.

53:31 And that, again, is why this simplistic idea that any affliction is from the devil and we need to claim deliverance in the name of Jesus. Either exercise the demon or claim deliverance. You see how terribly distorted that perspective is. And I hope we come to hate it because it is unchristian.

53:51 Even though the name of Jesus is parodied a thousand times in an hour in those circles. In the name of Jesus, this. In the name of Jesus, we command this to go. In the name of Jesus, we plead deliverance over this.

54:04 In the name of Jesus, we plead perfect prosperity and health. Rubbish. You don't plead in Christ's name what He is not committed to give. And we see from the Word He's committed to put the pruning hook on us, to mark out His own, to give us an abundant reward, to keep us ever longing for the consummation and to equip us to minister to others.

54:26 So all you're claiming in the world, I'm going to deliver you. If you're His, you can have Jimmy Swaggart and a hundred more like Him claiming your deliverance from this, that, and the other and Norman Vincent Peale telling you how to be happy all the time and Schuller telling you how to have lovely views of yourself so you'll never feel depressed. But if you're a child of God, all of that stuff increased a thousand times over isn't going to help you to get rid of affliction. It's going to be your companion if you're a child of God.

54:54 So just settle in and welcome it. All right? Yes. It's the big thing.

55:01 There's wonders to perform. Yes. And one of those things by which He moves is in affliction that to us at the present seems utterly unbearable. But then we begin to reap the fruits in many, many of these areas.

Prayer for Biblical Response to Affliction

55:15 Well, let's thank God together for our time in the Word and pray that God will continue to give us understanding.

55:24 Our Father, we confess this morning how ashamed we are when we have so often responded to various forms of affliction with a reflexive cry to be delivered immediately and to be delivered for our own immediate comfort. We thank You that Your Word gives us such rich instruction as to Your own purposes in affliction. And we ask that You would continue to guide us as we think and pray and discuss together these vital matters that we as Your people may think biblically about these afflicted circumstances,

56:08 that we may react to them biblically, that we may be a people in whom all of the manifold purposes of Your own heart in conjunction with affliction are continually realized and manifested. Hear us, Lord, as we ask these mercies in the name of Your beloved Son. Amen.