Good morning, it's great to be with you all.
Let me pray quickly as we jump into God's word.
Lord, we thank you for this opportunity that you've given us
to gather around your word. We ask that you would comfort us
through it, that you would allow us to submit to it, that you
conform us in greater conformity to your word.
It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Woody Allen once said that if God exists, he better have a
good excuse. Some of us find that quote
amusing. Others, like myself, can't help
but feel that sentiment hits a little too close to home.
I often find myself blaming God for things that go wrong in my
life, thinking, Lord, why would you put me in that situation?
Or what was the point of that? Or even at some of the lowest
points, I ask God, do you even love me?
Many of us have faced those moments of deep existential
crisis, struggling with the concept of suffering.
How is it that a good God allows so much pain and sorrow in this
world? Some of you might feel guilty
for asking those types of questions, but let me encourage
you that it's OK to ask. It's normal, it's natural.
We we struggle with these thoughts about suffering because
they're deeply foundational questions.
It regards our identity. Suffering reveals who we are and
who God is. Maybe sometimes those questions
about suffering don't feel so theoretical for you.
They're a daily loud siren disrupting your life.
And maybe you're you're in the middle of that great furnace of
suffering even now. But what if I told you that
God's word has the answers to that question you're looking
for, that there is a purpose to your trials.
Today we'll be looking at Paul's letter to the Church of Corinth
known as Second Corinthians. Will be in chapter 4, verses 7
through 18. A little context for the book.
The book of Second Corinthians seems to be at least one of four
letters written to the Corinthian church.
There was the 1st letter written to the Corinthian church.
It's referenced in First Corinthians 59.
It was addressing sexual immorality that was happening in
the congregation. The second letter is First
Corinthians dealt with very similar issues of sexual
immorality, divisions, questions around the Lord's Supper, and
even Christian conscience in regard to food sacrifice to
idols. The third letter is what is
referred to as the severe letter from Second Corinthians 24,
which is written after some church people had slandered and
opposed Paul during his visit to Corinth.
So Second Corinthians is really Paul's 4th letter to the
Corinthians and it seems to be written slow.
Shortly after he received good news that the Corinthian church
had responded to that severe letter with repentance and
humility. They had even placed that member
who had slandered Paul under church discipline.
But now there was another issue that popped up in Corinth.
False prophets had infiltrated the church and have been raising
Paul a questions about Paul's legitimacy as an apostle.
They were spreading lies about him and his authority, saying
that Paul was an egomaniac. He's he's just trying to exploit
the Corinthians. And they even ask questions like
if Paul really is a legit apostle, why does God let him
suffer so much? And so in our passage for this
morning, Paul is in the process of of defending his gospel
ministry against the false teachers.
And simultaneously he gives a master class on the subject of
suffering. He teaches them that every true
gospel ministry at its core entails suffering.
Therefore, Paulie says he, he suffers not just for the sake of
suffering itself. He's he's not a masochist, but
for the sake of Christ and the gospel to go forward.
That's why he can so confidently say, I will spend and be spent
for your souls. So I'll read our text out loud,
2nd Corinthians 4, starting in verse 7.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the
surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed but
not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken,
struck down but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the
death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested
in our bodies. For we who live are always been
given over to death for Jesus sake, so that the life of Jesus
may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.
So death is at work in us, but life in you, since we have the
same spirit of faith according to what has been written.
I believed and so I spoke. We also believe, and so we also
speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise
us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence.
For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extend to more and
more people and may increase Thanksgiving to the glory of
God, so we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting
away, our inner self is being renewed day by day for this
light, momentary affliction. It's preparing for us an eternal
weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to
the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.
For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that
are unseen are eternal. This is God's word.
So in light of our text, how do you plan on responding to
suffering? Because it will come if you lose
your job and all your savings, if you receive news of a bad
health diagnosis, if you desire marriage and children but those
gifts are withheld from you, if you're persecuted and and called
to renounce your faith, if you're reeling from the loss of
your pastor. How will you respond to the
suffering? I have three points to guide our
time today. For for the Christian, suffering
is 1 normal, second, discouraging, but three
glorious. So first, for the Christian,
suffering is normal. Suffering is part of the
Christian DNA. We certainly see that in our
passage today. So Paul says in verse 16 that
due to the hardships of ministry, his outer self is
wasting away. So we might be tempted to think
that this suffering was unique to Paul as an apostle and not
really that relevant for us. But Paul's life affliction is
not meant to be extraordinary. It's quite the opposite.
It's meant to be the norm for any true follower of Christ.
Paul's lie, a line of of suffering is a continuation of a
long lineage of sufferers known as God's people.
So Abraham and Sarah, their infertility and clinging to
God's promises despite the trials that laid before them.
Job and the loss of health and family and riches.
Moses as he led Israel through 40 years of wilderness.
David and his fraught relationship with his son
Absalom. Daniel in the lion's den.
Elijah fleeing from Jezebel. Jeremiah and Isaiah, who were
both, according to Christian tradition, sawed in half.
And of course, Jesus himself, who was abandoned by all his
friends and died a brutal death on a cross, As Luther put it,
they gave our master a crown of thorns.
Why do we hope for a crown of roses?
This point, point number one can feel so jarring for us as
prosperous American Christians. I mean, think about all the
advances that we're making today in society.
The cancer treatments, the medicine, the anti aging, the
weight loss pills, the beauty treatments, the all consuming
entertainment and and the video games, the incredible tech
that's available in our pockets, artificial intelligence, all
attempts to get rid of boredom, illness, inconvenience in our
lives. What are these attempts at
though? Ultimately their attempts to
reverse the curse through man made means.
But it's a foolish endeavor. We need to remember that
suffering is normal in the Christian life and will be ever
present because of sin. Maybe you grew up in a church
that preached prosperity or positive self help gospel that
tells you that your life is going to get so much better if
you believe in Jesus, if you just put your faith in him, if
you don't hold back, everything's going to be great.
I doubt many of these prosperity preachers they'll have preached
their 2nd Corinthians 4. They also seem to conveniently
gloss over passages like Second Timothy 312.
All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be
persecuted first. John 313 Do not be surprised,
brothers, that the world hates you.
Or John 1519 where Jesus himself tells his disciples, if you were
of the world, the world would love you as its own.
But because you're not of the world, because I chose you out
of the world, therefore the world hates you for the
Christian persecution and suffering is going to be normal
because the Lord has told us it's all part of the plan.
Instead of promising prosperity and riches in this life, we've
kind of pretty much been promised the exact opposite.
That's why the prosperity gospel is so satanic.
It's antithetical to what the Bible promises.
There are many teachers, false teachers, from the Charismatic
and Word of Faith movements that are wolves in sheep's clothing.
And it's easy, even if we don't listen to a Joel Osteen or
Stephen Furtick, to let their teaching influence our lives.
But what if the true promise of God is that you will be
persecuted for your faith, for being a Christian?
Trinity Baptist Church? Do your friends and neighbors
know by your life how costly it's been to follow Jesus?
Do your children know that? I know that's certainly a
temptation in my life. I I don't want to suffer and I'm
tempted to underplay the cost of a following Jesus whenever I
share the gospel with anyone. But it's Jesus himself who tells
us. For which of you desire to build
a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he
has enough to complete it? It's also Jesus who says, if
anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find
it. But back to Paul and verse eight
of our passage. He says that in spite of the
cost, we are those who are afflicted in every way but not
crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted
but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed.
A question that I often get asked is what exactly qualifies
as Christian suffering? Does it only count if the trials
you go through are are directly linked to your faith?
Now it may be tempting for us to think that that it only counts
as Christian suffering if you're persecuted or martyred on the
mission field, but examining the Bible, I don't think that's the
case. Job, we mentioned him before, is
probably the best known biblical example of Christian suffering.
He he suffered all things for the sake of his faith in God.
Not only did he endure criticism and persecution from his family
and friends for his faith, he also went through painful health
related issues like leprosy. He lost his sons and daughters
in a terrible roof collapsing incident.
On top of that, he loses his fortune and land when the
Chaldeans raid his property. But what do we see behind all
that suffering? Well, on one level it's Satan,
right? Satan challenges God, asked God
if he can afflict Job. But on the ultimate scale, it's
God himself who is sovereignly in control, allowing Satan to
afflict Job. What we see then is that any
form of suffering that a Christian go through is
Christian suffering. True Christian suffering is not
limited to persecution. It's not ridicule or rejection
you face while doing Christian activities.
As a Christian, your entire life is Christian activity and all
the suffering you go through is spiritual warfare.
What we learned from the life of Job is that how you respond to
this suffering represents your true view of God and shows off
God's power and his might. Paul puts it this way in verse
seven of our sermon passage. But we have this treasure in
jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God
and not to us. And he goes on in verse 11.
For we who live are always been given over to death for Jesus
sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our
mortal flesh. So at this point of the sermon,
you're probably thinking, Kev, you're really not selling
Christianity here. Why would I ever want to be or
stay a Christian? Look on on one hand, I'm not
encouraging you to to be like a Benedictine monk.
I'm not going telling you to go lash yourself as a former
penance. Christians are not masochists.
We don't love persecution, we don't love suffering.
We don't try to intentionally go and bring it upon ourselves.
We pray for the exact opposite like Ashok did, that God might
stop the hand of evil doers, that he might bring about
healing and restoration. No one likes to go through
suffering, and Christians are not no exception to that.
However, unlike the the secular world and our neighbors around
us, we do a see a purpose in our suffering.
The philosophers of this world view suffering as a random
causality, a blip in the system. Christians read their Bible and
see that it provides an answer to the question of why do we
suffer? One of those those answers is
that God uses suffering to grow and renew our faith.
In verse 16 of our text, Paul tells us that as Christians we
do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting
away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
The suffering has a purpose, renewal.
Many of you have been probably watching the Winter Olympics
this year and one of the greatest athletes and comeback
stories is the figure skater Alyssa Lou.
She started ice skating at the age of five and and was clearly
on trajectory to be one of the best Figure skaters of all time
when suddenly after two US National championships, she
retired at the age of 14. She's mentally, emotionally
burnt out and she shocked the skating world by announcing her
retirement. But in 2024, she decided to make
a comeback because she couldn't shake that desire to be an
Olympian. And this year, she's taking the
skating world back by storm by winning 2 gold medals in the
games. There's a recent 60 Minutes
interview where the reporter is talking to Alyssa and and tells
Alyssa, I saw you were training and you were saying like one
more, one more. You don't need someone pushing
you. Alyssa response.
I have my own determination. I love struggling actually.
It makes me feel alive. There's something deep and
profound about that observation. Suffering, though so many of
around us, largely write it off as some cosmic hiccup in the
system, something to be avoided and reduced at all cost.
As Christians, suffering has great utility, and we'll think
about this much more in .3 later in our sermon.
But just know that suffering is God's promised instrument of
leading his children to glory, to make us inheritors of that
crown of glory. Using another sports analogy,
you might have heard the phrase no pain, no gain.
Well, the Bible says to Christians, no suffering, no
glory. So that's our first point.
Suffering is normal. But let's move on to our second
point now. For the Christian, suffering is
discouraging. Now I I probably don't have to
spend much time today convincing you that suffering is hard and
discouraging. If you live life long enough and
you experience life, you will see that suffering is is hard
and it can get you down. But sometimes I think in our
attempts to suffer well as Christians, we can lean into a
type of unhelpful Christian triumphalism.
I want to balance out my previous point on suffering
being normal with this point #2 So what I want to do in this
point is see from 2nd Corinthians 4 where that
discouragement stems from. By doing this, my hope is that
we will be proactively on guard against discouragement that
might come our way. So from our passage I see 2 main
reasons why suffering can be so discouraging in the Christian
life. So reason #1 suffering reveals
human weakness. In verse 16 we see that one of
the main reasons suffering is difficult is that the outer self
is wasting away. And and then earlier in verse
12, Paul says, so death is at work in US.
One of the reasons suffering is so discouraging, it's that it
reveals the human condition, right?
It's one of death, brokenness. We're mortals, we're all going
to have to face death one day because as sinners, all of us
have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Romans 323. What's the result of that?
Well, the wages of sin is death. Romans 623 And so we can, we can
trace the suffering all the way back to the Garden of Eden, when
sin first entered the world. And suffering and brokenness is
a result of that first sin which is brought into the world by our
parents, Adam and Eve. But the brokenness is not due
only to their sin, but ours also what we've we've inherited sin
natures, and therefore we sin. We were rebels against God.
How many of you would be ashamed to have your deepest, most inner
thoughts revealed maybe in the last hour or the last 24 hours?
What if we could play them and project them like a film for
everyone to look at? I would be so ashamed.
I would be mortified. Suffering then.
Is a symptom. It wakes us up and points out
the inconvenient truth that this world is a broken place due to
our sin, and that in our sin we've disobeyed our holy Creator
God. Suffering condemns us.
Suffering humiliates us. It exposes us.
The ugly truth is that we are utterly sinful and finite.
We are mortal beings with our outer selves wasting away.
CS Lewis puts it like this. Pain insists upon being attended
to. God whispers to us in our
pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our
pains. It's his megaphone to rouse a
deaf world. Suffering is also discouraging
because suffering seems pointless.
The second reason why suffering seems discouraging.
One of the most difficult aspects of suffering is that it
often feels pointless. Many of us are familiar with
Romans 828, and we know for those who love God, all things
work together for good. But when we're in the midst of
fire trial, real time, experiencing sorrows and pain,
Romans 828 can often feel like a lie rather than the truth.
This is because suffering puts blinders on our on our lives.
It prevents us from seeing life clearly.
So suffering consumes our emotional and mental thought
life and leads us to despair because we lose sight of the
hope that we have in Jesus. Paul certainly understood that
this was the case. He writes those words in the
beginning of verse 16. So we do not lose heart
precisely because one of the primary temptations in our
suffering is to lose heart by believing our trials are
purposeless. They're pointless.
If we don't remind ourselves that there's a greater purpose
to all the tribulations that we go through like Paul that he did
in his missionary work, we are all going to quickly fail.
Like we said previously, there's nothing about suffering in and
of itself that makes it virtuous.
Suffering is never the point. It's not the end goal.
Paul is certainly not encouraging a competition to see
who can suffer the most. Suffering only makes sense when
it serves a greater purpose. Suffering leads to glory.
But you might be thinking right now I'm suffering.
I see absolutely no reason for why the Lord would have me go
through this trial right now. There's no silver lining here.
I have to admit I I've often struggled with thoughts like
that myself. I've especially struggled with
this as I've examined the life of of John the Baptist.
John the Baptist is called by Jesus to be the greatest of men,
borne by a woman, yet he dies what we can only see as an
utterly pointless death. The story of his death is
recounted Matthew 14, where John the Baptist has been put in jail
for criticizing Herod's adulterous immorality.
Herod's divorced his own wife, and he's taking his brother
Phillip's wife as his own. Many of you are familiar with
that story. During Herod's birthday feast,
most likely a revelry of drunkenness and sin, Herodias
daughter performs a central dance.
This pleases Herod greatly. As a result, Herod promises her
an oath, offers her whatever she wants.
Of course, prompted by her mother Herodias, as his daughter
asked for the head of John the Baptist, Jesus called John the
greatest of men born on earth. The second Elijah, who had
called on people to repent of their sins, had prepared the way
for Jesus's ministry. And this faithful servant of God
gets his head chopped off in a feast of immorality and
debauchery. Look and feel more pointless
than that, God, if you're good, if you're sovereign, if you're
all powerful, why do you let your Saints suffer like this?
Why in the world does it have to be this way?
You might be saying the same thing in the midst of your trial
right now. It, it hurts.
God, I, I hate my life. Why do you have to let me
suffer? These are real questions.
These are hard questions. Some of us may receive an answer
to these questions in our lifetime, but many of us will
have to wait until glory. Brother or sister, if you're
suffering like this, I'm so sorry, but do you know that this
local church family is here for you?
Let your elders let your fellow members in.
Let them know what you're going through.
One of God's main means of grace in your life is bringing you
comfort through your local body. They're here to walk with you
through that pain and suffering at the same time.
Dear brother or sister, asking hard questions, being
transparent, these are all really good things.
But one word of caution. Don't let your questions about
God's purpose turn into questions about God's goodness.
You see, it's very easy for those honest and raw questions
about God's purpose turn into a distrust of God's plan, right?
Satan can so easily twist those sow and sow seeds of of doubt in
our lives. He can make us think maybe God
got it wrong. Or maybe he's not sovereign.
Maybe he really doesn't know all things and maybe his purposes
aren't that good for me after all.
Or maybe God just doesn't even care about me.
So when you're tempted to doubt, to question, instead turn to
God. Clutch your Bibles, cry out to
the Lord, Remind yourself of His promises.
Promise. I find myself returning to over
and over again. Is in Romans 831 through 39.
What shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave himself up for us
all? Hallie not also with him.
Graciously give us all things. Who shall bring any charge
against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is
to condemn Christ. Jesus is the one who died more
than that who was raised, Who's at the right hand of God, who
indeed is interceding for us? Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or danger, or sword,
as it is written for your sake, We are being killed all day
long. We are regarded as sheep to be
slaughtered. No, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor death, nor anything else, and all creation will be
able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Saints, we we must trust Him.
We have to trust His goodness and His wisdom even through the
pain and suffering, even when it all seems so pointless.
Don't ever believe the lie that God doesn't love you.
God's already shown His infinite love for you by giving up His
Son on the cross. This brings us to our final
point for today. Point #3 for the Christian,
suffering is glorious. So I'll say that again.
Suffering is glorious in the life of the Christian.
That's right. Suffering is not just something
that you have to grin and bear through.
It's it's glorious. That's because it has an
ultimate aim and arc, a greater purpose.
Suffering is glorious because God desires to use your
suffering for good. How is this so?
Well, two reasons. First, suffering is glorious
because our weakness displays God's strength.
So in our passage we've been looking at, we've been going to
verse 16, Paul states that though our outer self is wasting
away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
Renewed by who? By God.
And earlier in verse 7, Paul states that we have this
treasure in jars of clay to show us that the surpassing power
belongs to God and not to us. The gospel then becomes
accentuated through its manifestation and weak, frail
human flesh. That's what Paul means by jars
of clay. It shows off the supernatural
power of God. God intentionally uses the weak
so He might display His power. Our endurance then through that
suffering makes God look glorious.
It flexes the muscle of God's mighty arm.
You might be familiar with the great Baptist preacher Charles
Spurgeon, maybe one of the greatest preachers in all of
history. He was known as the Prince of
Preachers. He became the pastor of the
largest Protestant church in the world at the time, Metropolitan
Tabernacle in London. His church had 6000 members, and
he supposedly knew all of them by name.
Brother had a photographic memory.
So I think it's a little bit of cheating.
But every week he preached 4 to 10 times, read 6 meaty books,
revised sermons for publication. He lectured, he edited a monthly
magazine. He wrote about 150 books in a
spare time. And if this wasn't enough, he
directed a theological college. He raised up about 900 pastors,
planted hundreds of churches. He ran an orphanage housed about
educated 500 boys and girls and oversaw 66 Christian charities.
And he stood as a giant in the downgrade controversy,
sacrificing his reputation and his health.
He fought against theological liberalism.
But did you know that Charles Spurgeon, as great a man as he
was, spent most of his life in the valley of shadow of death?
This renowned man of God has suffered from chronic
depression. He had debilitating physical
pain from gout, so so much so he sometimes couldn't even walk or
hold a pen. He's often slandered and mocked
even by members of his own congregation.
So even the greatest of men are heroes of the faith are at the
end of the day, jars of clay. TBC, this is a reminder that you
should encourage and be constantly be praying for your
pastors, the non invincible superheroes.
They're fallible men who sin who also get discouraged.
But there's also something amazing that happens in that
weakness. In it, God chooses to display
his amazing strength and glory. Suffering is glorious reason #2
it's a temporary vehicle. It's preparing us for eternal
joy. So verse 17 of our passage, Paul
describes his life of suffering as a light, momentary
affliction. Light and momentary suffering,
then is temporary because this life is going to come to an end
and it will give way once it's done, preparing us for that
eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
So Paul didn't lose heart. He fueled his perseverance, as
we read in verse 18, by contemplating on eternity, on
heaven. He says as we look not to the
things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.
For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that
are unseen are eternal. Christian suffering, then, is is
glorious because it's light and momentary.
And that nature of that temporariness is preparing us
for an eternal weight of glory which culminates in the new
heavens and the new earth. And brothers and sisters, this
world and everything in it, it's quickly passing away.
The trials of this life are not even worth comparing to to the
future to come. When we get to heaven, there
will be never ending non-stop joy and satisfaction as we meet
God face to face. How amazing will it be when the
Lord himself tells you that you've done good?
Well done, good and faithful servant.
Come and share your master's happiness.
This suffering, then, is preparing us for heaven.
It's God's merciful way, though often deeply painful and
horrible, of prying our hands off the idols that we make on
this earth. Suffering points us to the
temporal and insufficient nature of the good gifts of this world.
Things like getting married, having a family, finding a great
job, buying a house, eating good food, traveling the world.
Look, those are all great gifts from the Lord for us to enjoy.
But too often the gifts can begin to over shadow the giver
of those gifts. Brothers and sisters, have any
of those gifts become a snare in your own life?
What's your reaction when any of those gifts are taken away from
you? What's in your life this morning
that's consuming your thoughts and your emotions more than
Jesus? Confess your sins to the members
at this church. Ask them to keep you
accountable. Pray, though this may be a
frightening request that the Holy Spirit would use whatever
means possible to rid your life of those idols.
Many of you know that former Senator Ben Sasse was diagnosed
with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He's been given a prognosis of
several months to live. But Ben Sasse has been known for
his faith. And I'm encouraged by the way
he's determined to live his last few months on earth to to try to
love his family and to to glorify the Lord with all he's
got left. Something that struck me,
though, is that despite how terrible the whole ordeal has
been for him, he he's talked about overwhelming pain and
nausea, bleeding from his face from too much chemo, sleeping 15
to 16 hours a day. Despite it all, he says, quoting
Tim Keller, that despite hating the disease, he would never want
to go back to the prayer life he had before cancer.
The Lord is using this light and momentary affliction to prepare
center to SAS for heaven. So what does it mean for us to
be heavenly minded? Well, it means we imbibe verse
18 as our life motto. We tattoo it on our arms.
We look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that
are unseen. We live our lives as if we truly
have our future hopes set on heaven, and when we do so, we
make it clear to all those around us that our hope is not
on the temporary, fleeting pleasures of this world.
And when we look towards the eternal, we magnify and we
glorify Jesus, showing the world that He's He's far better than
anything this world has to offer.
And the means, then even our suffering will be qualitatively
different from those around us. Brothers and sisters, live a
life sold out for Christ. Use your suffering to make much
of God, to glorify him, and to point others to that salvation
we have. There's no better way to use
your life. I think it's only fitting for us
than to end our sermon by meditating on the weight of
eternity that lies before us. One of the best words ever
written about this are in Jonathan Edwards's sermon titled
Heaven is a World of Love. It's a little bit long, but it's
a glorious quotation, so it'll be worth it.
So please bear with me, Jonathan Edwards writes.
There are many things in this world that in the general are
lovely, but yet are not perfectly free from that which
is the contrary, but is not so. In heaven there shall be no
pollution, or deformity, or unamiable defect of any kind
seen in any person or thing, but everyone shall be perfectly pure
and perfectly lovely. In heaven that blessed world
shall be perfectly bright, without any darkness, perfectly
fair, without any spot, perfectly clear, without any
cloud. No moral or natural defects
shall ever enter there, and there nothing will be seen that
is sinful, or weak, or foolish, nothing the nature or aspect of
which is coarse or displeasing, or that can offend the most
refined taste or the most delicate eye.
No string there shall vibrate out of tune to cause any jar in
the harmony of the music of heaven, and no note be such as
to make discord in the anthems of Saints and angels.
And every member of that holy and blessed society shall be
without any stain of sin, or imperfection, or weakness, or
imprudence, or blemish of any kind.
The whole Church, ransomed and purified, shall be there
presented to Christ as a bride, clothed and fine linen, clean
and white, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.
Wherever the inhabitants of that blessed world shall turn their
eyes, they shall see nothing but dignity and beauty and glory.
And there too, will be the things which they chose for
their portion, which were so dear to them that they were
ready for the sake of them to undergo the severe sufferings,
and to forsake even father, mother, kindred, friends, wife,
children, life itself. Every gem which death rudely
tears away from us here is a glorious jewel forever shining
there. Every Christian friend that goes
before us from this world is a ransom spirit waiting to welcome
us in heaven. There will be the infant of days
that we've lost below through grace to be found above.
There the Christian father and mother and wife and child and
friend, with whom we shall renew the holy fellowship of the
Saints, which was interrupted by death here, but shall be
commenced again in the upper sanctuary, and then shall never
end there. We shall have the company with
the patriarchs and the Fathers and the Saints of the Old and
New Testaments, those of whom the world was not worthy, with
whom on earth we were only conversant by faith.
And there, above all, we shall enjoy and dwell with God the
Father, whom we have loved with all our hearts on earth, and
with Jesus Christ our beloved Savior, who has always been to
us the chief among ten thousands and all together lovely.
And with the Holy Ghost, our sanctifier, Guide, and
Comforter, we shall be filled with all the fullness of the
Godhead forever. Friends, sear this truth into
your hearts. This light, momentary affliction
is preparing you for that eternal weight of glory.
Let's pray. Oh Lord, we are not worthy
vessels for Your glory, so we ask that you would glorify
yourself through us, that You would give us perseverance and
faith. Oh Lord, we we come to You now
as those who are needy and dependent upon you.
Pour out your Spirit upon us so that we might know you more.
It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.