The Benefits of Suffering for Christ

we come now to the study of the word of god and we have been looking at second corinthians chapter four i invite you to turn in your bible to that chapter with apologies to those of you who haven't been here the last few weeks we've been slowly working our way through this chapter because we have been talking about the fact that as christian believers we are citizens of the heavenly kingdom and our responsibility is to shine the light into the darkness the light is in us because christ is in us the light is also in the word of god because therein is the light of the gospel revealed verse 5 of this chapter says we do not preach ourselves but christ jesus as lord and ourselves as your slaves for jesus sake this is the heart of the point and purpose of the church in the world to preach not ourselves but christ jesus as lord now we have been discussing the fact that to preach christ is to provide light in the darkness just to remind you of that let me begin in verse 1 follow along therefore since we have this ministry as we have received mercy we do not lose heart but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of god but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of god and even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god for we do not preach ourselves but christ jesus as lord and ourselves as your slaves for jesus sake for god who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ we have this treasure and earth and vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of god and not from ourselves we are afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not despairing persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed always carrying about in the body the dying of jesus so that the life of jesus also may be manifested in our body for we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for jesus sake so that the life of jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh so death works in us but life in you but having the same spirit of faith according to what is written i believe therefore i spoke we also believe therefore we also speak knowing that he who raised the lord jesus will raise us also with jesus and will present us with you for all things are for your sakes so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of god therefore we do not lose heart but though our outer man is decaying yet our inner man is being renewed day by day for a momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison while we look not at the things which are seen but that the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal to pull up and above that text and get a elevated vantage point of what paul is saying he is saying this we have been given the ministry of the new covenant the preaching of the gospel the glory of the gospel we preach christ we don't preach ourselves we understand in doing this that we are insignificant we are clay pots earthen vessels we have no power only god has power we can communicate the message we have no power to change the sinner in fact we have to face the reality that dominates all evangelism and that is if it is faithful it will generate hostility rejection hatred and persecution and so having risen to the heights of speaking of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god speaking of the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ immediately he says in verse 8. we're afflicted verse 9 we're persecuted and then in three verses in a row he talks about the fact that he lives every single day with the reality of death and what we've been learning is that the gospel offends sinners necessarily necessarily jesus said in john 7 they hate me because i tell them their deeds are evil even jesus christ the righteous one the holy one could not overcome the sinner's anger when confronted with his own sin the darkness is deep and seductive we've been learning that the darkness is becoming bold in our generation isn't it the darkness is protecting itself by making laws that punish the people of the light we have criminalized righteousness and made wretchedness legal the devastating deception of the wicked has legalized murder and sexual perversion and the destruction of the family and the devastation of children the pollutions in this population are widespread we have the duty to shine the light into this but market whatever tolerances the culture had in past generations it doesn't have now hostility is going to be the response and because hostility is the response naturally inevitably because if they hated jesus they'll hate you as he said many have adjusted the message to remove the offense and we hear people speaking of the gospel as if it's some kind of social reform some kind of a racial reconciliation we also hear that some present the gospel as if it is a means of discovering your own purpose or discovering your own fulfillment or discovering your own success or anything else about yourself commonly the starting point for evangelism is about you god loves you so much that he wants to give you everything you desire these kinds of non-gospel promises are so familiar that they pass uncritically people don't realize how utterly alien they are to the true gospel they make the message of god about the sinner the sinner takes center stage and the sinner is the one that makes the demands and lays down the desires and god is the one who delivers them to the omnipotent sinner these are devastating appalling misrepresentations of the message of salvation just for a moment you're in chapter four go to chapter five i'll give you an illustration of this starting in verse 18 talking about the ministry of reconciliation the gospel that makes one a new creation all these things are from god who reconciled us to himself through christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation namely that god was in christ reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and he's committed to us the word of reconciliation therefore we are ambassadors for christ as though god were making an appeal through us we beg you on behalf of christ be reconciled to god he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of god in him now i read that and i just want you to take a look at those verses without necessarily honing in on anything and see how many times you see the word god and then see how many times you see the word christ god appears four times in those verses christ four times god four more times by pronouns and christ two more times by pronouns which is to say that the ministry of reconciliation the gospel is about god and it's about christ it's not about you it is god-centered now if we're honest about the gospel of god and the gospel of christ what do we say how do we present it if we are to shine the light if we are the clay pots that are valueless and useless and replaceable but we possess the glorious gospel of christ how do we communicate that what do we say let me just give you some simple things that you need to remember if you're honest about the gospel it'll go something like this be honest about sin and the cost of repentance okay that's where you start be honest about sin and the cost of repentance there is a cost the cost is so high that but sinners left to themselves will not pay it because they have to deny themselves but that's where the gospel starts be honest about sin and the cost of repentance secondly be urgent and tell people they need to repent now today thirdly give them the truth about christ his person and his work support that with scripture everything you've said about sin and repentance and christ is person and works support with scripture and when you have made the need for repentance clear and the cost of repentance clear and the work of christ and his person clear and shown them in scripture tell them with joy that if they repent and believe the gospel they will be saved and given eternal life that's the process tell them with joy and then inform them of sanctification and the critical importance of life in the church that's how you shine the light into the darkness that's no guarantee they're going to respond in fact most won't right but as god said to isaiah there's a remnant god has his people and when you give that truth of the gospel to one whom god has chosen from before the foundation of the world the spirit of god may at that point give them light and life that's how we shine the light of the gospel into the darkness i said a couple of weeks ago something that people have taken issue with i said i couldn't fight for religious freedom because that would be fighting for satan to be successful because every single religion in the world except the truth of christianity is a lie from hell you say well isn't religious freedom important for christianity no it's meaningless it doesn't matter what laws governments make or don't make they have no effect on the kingdom of god jesus said i will build my kingdom and the gates of hell will not prevail against it we don't need the government to expedite the gospel and you will notice that when religious freedom sort of categorically is eliminated the only religion that will be punished is the truth so here we are living in the darkness not on the edge of the darkness but literally in the darkness shining his lights and paul says in tackling this task it can be daunting and that's why he begins in verse 1 by saying we do not lose heart and then he brackets it at the end or near the end in verse 16 again we do not lose heart that means we we aren't cowards we don't quit we don't give in how is it that you can you can do this with boldness and courage and endure well we've been through a number of things i won't go back through them but we find ourselves down to verse 8. the bottom line is this in order to be faithful you have to have strong convictions you have to believe in the superiority of the new covenant we learned that [Music] you have to understand that you need a pure heart that you have to handle the word of god accurately you have to understand that salvation is a work of god only god who said let there be light and brought about light in creation in genesis 1 3 can say let there be light in a heart you also have to understand your insignificance you're a slave you're a clay pot you're powerless so here we are with this superior new covenant truth the only saving truth we have been given the mercy the high privilege of proclaiming it even though we're unworthy we must do so from a pure heart handling the word of god accurately trusting in the lord for the results realizing our own insignificance and when we do all of that and do it all to the best of our holy spirit-driven abilities what will happen do you think they'll all believe no let's go down to verse 8. we're afflicted in every way if you think this is the path to popularity you're wrong paul was certain of another thing this is the seventh certainty that we've looked at he was certain of the benefit of suffering you're going to have hostility you're going to have rejection you're going to suffer we've already learned from our christian experience in going through the new testament that we should count at all joy when we fall into various trials right james 1 because they have a perfecting work we've already heard from peter first peter 5 10 that after you've suffered a while the lord make you perfect complete whole so we know that just in general suffering and trials in life benefit us they perfect us they make us stronger they even validate our faith when your faith survives a horrible disappointment that's evidence that it's the real faith and the longer you live and the more times you've gone through trials and your faith comes out triumphant the more assurance you enjoy so paul says let's look at verse 8. i'm certain of one thing i'm certain of suffering and i'm certain of its benefit we are afflicted in every way but not crushed afflicted flibbo pressure coming on us but not crushed perplexed you could translate that at our wit's end despondent not really seeing a way out of the suffering but even at that not despairing not to the point of final despair what he's saying is it's hard it's very hard but there's no heartache that can cause us to defect we don't lose heart in verse 9 he says we're persecuted dioco that verb would be used for hunting an animal with the purpose of killing it we are hunted hunted down for the purpose of being killed just like jesus was but not forsaken not abandoned not deserted we're struck down catabolo that's a body slam slamming something to the ground to throw down with force used in wrestling boxing but not destroyed we don't perish this is one battered apostle right but it never broke him listen triumph is not freedom from pain triumph is not escaping adversity it is surviving it go over a few chapters to chapter 12. ii corinthians 12 and i will have you look at verses 7 to 10. paul opens his heart he's been talking all through this letter about his suffering go back to chapter 6 the opening 10 verses list all the things he suffered then in chapter 11 the most complete list of external and then even internal suffering starts in verse 23 and runs all the way down to verse 29 all the things that he suffered there were critics of him who would say well pretty evident that uh god is not pleased with you because of all the suffering that would have been the extant version of job's friend's counsel you're suffering because you're sinful but notice what the lord says in chapter 12 verse 7. this is personal testimony from paul inspired by god because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason to keep me from exalting myself there was given me a thorn in the flesh a messenger of satan to torment me to keep me from exalting myself concerning this i implored the lord three times that it might leave me and he said to me repeatedly my grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness most gladly therefore i will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of christ may dwell in me therefore i am well content with weaknesses with insults with distresses with persecutions with difficulties for christ's sake for when i am weak then i am strong that is so counterintuitive to the culture of today in even the evangelical church i don't become powerful until i'm weak until i'm persecuted until i'm distressed until i'm insulted he puts himself on the altar of sacrifice and he says suffering is beneficial first of all it humbles us to keep me from exalting myself that was giving me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of satan to torment me says it again to keep me from exalting myself that messenger of satan i believe was the leader of the false prophets who were tearing up the church at corinth a messenger of satan and angelos of satan the satanic angolas an angel is a demon god used suffering to humble him because of the many revelations he had god also used suffering to draw him to the lord verse 8 concerning this i implored the lord three times that it might leave me it drove him into deep prayer that's what suffering does also suffering allowed god to display his grace verse 9 he has said to me over and over again my grace is sufficient for you my grace is sufficient for you it allows for god to put his grace on display and finally suffering not only humbles us draws us to the lord allows him to display grace but perfects his power in us you're only as powerful as you are weak in your own strength what is wrong with people who want to truncate the gospel what is wrong with people who want to alter the gospel they're too invested with their own power it's when you know you are impotent and utterly powerless clay pot that all the power resides in the truth of the gospel preachers i see them on television with massive crowds of people they are impotent they are weak they have no effect on anyone in any eternal sense they draw crowds people laugh clap full of sound and fury signifying spiritually absolutely nothing as long as you think you have the power you are powerless when you have been broken and recognize your own impotence you're useful paul understood that he understood that and so back to chapter 4 and picking it up at verse 10. he says always carrying about in the body the dying of jesus you know the reality was that they they really were not so much offended with paul it wasn't something about his style they didn't like it wasn't that his words were on their surface offensive it was jesus that was the offense and i want you to understand that no matter how winsome you are no matter how kind you may be no matter how loving you are when you preach christ and the gospel it's an offense to the degree always caring about in the body the dying of jesus what is he saying he is saying i live continuously in the reality that this could cost me my life paul was stalked everywhere he went he was hunted like an animal they wanted to kill him but he did what he did so that the life of jesus also may be manifested in our body in other words both in his character and his preaching christ was on display i love that christ in paul was made visible by his courage they get that christ in paul was made visible by his courage by his enduring sacrifice by risking death for the gospel he showed that he loved christ and he also showed that christ was alive in him parallel statement in verse 11 for we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for jesus sake so that the life of jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh literally he's saying christ is on display when you are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice even facing death for preaching the gospel it's actually an amazing truth it's what paul described as entering into the fellowship of the lord's suffering first corinthians 4 9 he says god has exhibited us apostles last of all as men condemned to death we know the story of the apostles right they were executed exiled and they had the best news the world had ever heard it was all for jesus sake it was a life of persecution because he was faithful to proclaim christ and to let christ live through him it's not just your message listen it's not just your message that is a rebuke to the world it's your life it's your life it's christ in you that comes through in your love for the truth for the church for righteousness so the glory of god shining in the face of christ shines through the clay pot the believer as that believer proclaims the gospel of christ and the higher the price and the greater the cost the more christ is put on display that is to say the weaker you become and the less confidence you have in your own strength the more powerful you become the world doesn't like it nobody's tried to take my life that i know of at one time one person did on an easter sunday morning in the office but they're doing everything they can on the internet to take away my reputation to silence me because they have convinced people that i am like so many others just another spiritual fraud you sort of leave your life out there that's the way it is again for the third verse in a row verse 12 paul says death works in us but life in you we have to be exposed i mean we've got to be out there proclaiming the truth right you can't say well i'm afraid that might cost me my reputation if i'm bold about the gospel and those who hate the gospel are going to try to destroy me and there are a lot of ways they could do it without killing me especially in this internet era but you don't really have a choice the glory of god is shining in the face of jesus christ and christ lives in you and shines through you as he puts himself on display in the evident virtues of your life and those virtues sum up this way love love toward god love toward christ love toward truth love toward scripture love toward the church love toward the lost humility brokenness over your own sin sense of unworthiness and thirdly obedience you put christ on display and then you proclaim his gospel and this is unacceptable in the world paul says in colossians 1 24 i rejoice in my sufferings for your sake not only for the lord's sake but your sake and in my flesh i do my share on behalf of his body which is the church in filling up what is lacking in christ's afflictions what an amazing statement paul is saying this christ isn't here they can't do any more damage to him they can't afflict inflict any more wounds on him so they inflict them on me and his place what a privilege right he took the wounds for us can we take the wounds for him that's how it's going to be if you're faithful it's going to be death working in us verse 12 but life in you what an amazing promise paul endures faithfully then shining the light of the gospel into the darkness even if it costs him suffering and it does even if it cost him death and it did the suffering was the way to refine him the way to break his self-confidence the way to humble him draw him to the lord and perfect divine power in him so he was certain of the benefits of that suffering the next certainty that steeled paul for endurance is that he was certain of the need for integrity he was certain of the need for integrity um do i have to say how desperately we didn't we need integrity what is integrity it's um acting consistently with what you say you believe right you're not duplicitous you're not a hypocrite but look at this how it is laid out in verses 13 to 15. but having the same spirit of faith paul operates by faith according to what is written i believed therefore i spoke we also believe therefore we also speak that is so simple people ask me through the years do you worry about people's reaction to what you say my standard answer has been no why would i worry about what people think there's only one person i'm concerned about and that's god i i i've never had the thought of you know sitting in my study preparing oh i don't want to say that that's going to make somebody mad people have said to me you know written me notes i brought my catholic friend and you offended him i'll never come back i brought my mormon friend and you offended him i brought my wife and you offended her and i'm saying you you want to paralyze me then tell me you're having 3 000 people sitting in front of me and my job is to not offend any of them no i am here to offend all of you and in so doing i have offended my own heart no don't come to grace church if you if you don't want to be offended we are nice people and loving people in fact i was introduced to the national religious broadcasters by a well-known charismatic pastor that i'd gotten to know in a personal level he introduced me this way this is my friend john mcarthur who is much nicer in person than he is in his sermons it's not that i'm trying to be unkind it's that i must be truthful that is integrity i can't say i believe something but i don't have the courage to say it verse 13 i believed therefore i spoke that's integrity this is the spirit of faith you say you believe this is how faith operates it operates according to what is written in paul barros a statement from psalm 116 verse 10 i believed therefore i spoke psalm 116 is an incredible sum the psalmist lays out his severe difficulty has so much difficulty verse 3 verse 6 verse 8 and then he launches into prayer in verse 4. and without any change in the circumstances in verses 5 to 9 he just rehearses how he trusts god and so then in verse 10 he says i'm speaking words of trust because that's what i believe and the psalm ends from verse 12 to 19 with praise he just launches into praise and circumstances haven't changed but he speaks of his trust in god what i believe compels me to be confident well the apostle paul sees that as an analogy to his own situation the psalmist believed in the mercy the care the power and the salvation of the lord and he spoke about it and he praised god for it and paul borrows his words and says i have the same kind of faith in god as that old testament psalmist a confident conviction that i cannot be silent because this is what i believe and this is what i speak by the way jonah in chapter 2 borrowed i think from this very psalm when he was praising god inside the great fish so paul said what he believed to be true said what god revealed to him it says it again in first corinthians 9 16 woe is me if i don't preach the gospel he believed so he spoke you can reverse that what you hear people speak is what they believe and if they don't speak the truth they don't believe the truth they might want to tell you they believe the truth but it's not a conviction what you're afraid to say you don't believe or you don't believe you can say it and be protected by god so you don't trust god if you don't speak the truth if you put some other message in then either you don't believe that truth or if you do believe that truth in some superficial way you don't believe the god of truth can protect you when you say it look i'm not unaware of what's been going on at grace church they've been trying to shut us down week after week after week after week behind the scenes you don't know all about that we just keep speaking the truth and speaking the truth and entrusting the results to god right true belief in the word of god and true belief in the god of the word are the foundations for courage you just speak the truth and paul has two reasons to speak the truth number one i love this verse 14 knowing that he who raised the lord jesus will raise us also with jesus and will present us with you he was willing to preach the truth even if it cost him his life why because what would happen he'll be raised from the dead he believed in the resurrection knowing that he who raised the lord jesus who is that that's god the father acts 2 24 but god raised him up again or first corinthians 6 14 now god has not only raised the lord but will also raise us up through his power why are we worried about what can happen to us persecution hostility and even death when that's just the the fast track to the resurrection we wait don't we for the redemption of the body can we say with paul to live is christ to die as what gain would it not appeal to you first john 3 2 to be like him when you see him as he is haven't you had enough of yourself there's no fear when death is gained he'll raise up jesus and present us with you we'll all be together in the resurrection well the verb there means to come and stand in the presence of someone and that someone is christ so the first reason he's willing to suffer and die is because he knows the resurrection is a reality and secondly is salvation look at verse 15 for all things are for your sakes so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of god the indomitable courage of paul the integrity of his life he believed it and he spoke it and even if the price was death that was not a problem because resurrection was waiting him and secondly because in preaching the truth the grace of salvation was spreading to more and more people who were being added to the heavenly hallelujah chorus that would forever give glory to god the goal of gospel ministry is never comfort never wealth and popularity it's always the salvation of those lost and alienated from god and as we proclaim the truth we count our lives as nothing except that we would be used for the gathering of god's people through believing the message preached in the power of the holy spirit he says saving grace is spreading to more and more people so that the ultimate goal can take place which is the glory of god ephesians chapter 1 the whole redemptive plan of god summed up in that opening chapter for the play for the praise of his glory for the praise of his glory for the praise of his glory paul has god's glory in mind he's he's incidental he's overwhelmed at such a mercy to be used in such a way to bring glory to god so the believer who is faithful as a witness to the gospel shining the light of christ into the darkness fills his soul with the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ and selflessly reflects that glory in what he says and how he lives so that more glory can be ascribed to god as people see his life and hear his gospel and be saved and he does all of that confident that if they kill him it's the fastest path to heaven finally one more certainty anchored paul to faithfulness one more reason he didn't lose heart he was certain that eternal glory far outweighed earthly suffering look at verse 16 to the end therefore we do not lose heart but though our outer man is decaying yet our inner man is being renewed day by day for momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal he makes three points we don't lose heart because number one spiritual strength is more important than physical weakness we are decaying the outer man and we all know that right life is a terminal disease every day you live you're closer to death it was this it was escalated for paul because of the brutal way he was treated he died at about 60 probably would have lived longer if he hadn't been so mistreated and abused but it really wasn't the issue the outer man is decaying yet the inner man is being renewed day by day i can tell you from this vantage point you know i'm at the end i'm giving you the view from the hearse as it goes down the road and i will tell you this the inner man by the grace of god has never been stronger in me that is because i have a history of seeing the power of god the grace of god the mercy of god the sustaining of god the older the you get the more history of god's working in your life you have i can praise god for all the things he did through old testament history i can praise god for all the things he did through new testament history i can praise god for all the things he did through redemptive history church history up to now but i also on this end of life can praise god for how providence has unfolded in my life purely as a matter of mercy and grace utterly undeserved and worship for me is just rehearsing providence if you want to know how to worship worship is rehearsing providence it's going back and saying god this is who you are this is what you've done and you can start at the beginning of divine revelation go all the way through the scripture all the way through church history and then you can start going through your own life you've seen the hand of god it's a continual renewal every day of my life another providence unfolds in my eyes that could only be accomplished by god sometimes joyous wonderful providences sometimes painful agonizing providences but providence is nonetheless yes life is a terminal disease we're all dying paul died probably before his time had he not suffered so much but all that was happening on the inside was far more important to him i can honestly say somebody told me a doctor told me recently i won't die of cancer and i said why do you say that he said because you haven't had it yet you're too old to get it now you know you're old when you're too old to get cancer well i said thanks doc now if i can just dodge trucks in the freeway i might survive that's never been the goal right the goal is to be renewed on the inside so paul understood that spiritual strength was far more important than physical weakness secondly that future glory was far more important than present humiliation verse 17 for momentary light affliction is producing for us eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison momentary light affliction that's how he viewed his sufferings you might say he was underestimating them he would say not at all not at all momentary light afflictions he mixed contrasts inner over the outer and verse 16 momentary over the eternal in this one light over heavy the word light afflictions light is a laphrous it means weightless inconsequential these afflictions are inconsequential but there is an eternal weight of glory and even the word glory is related to the hebrew word weight what matters to paul is eternal glory and that has a weight far beyond all comparison it exceeds all limits he says in first corinthians 2 i hasn't seen nor ear heard nor has it entered the heart of man the things that god has prepared for them that love him right thirdly he says invisible realities are far more important than visible realities verse 18. we look not at things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal while we look his focus of his whole life his vision was fixed not on things which are seen not on temporal things not on the visible world i heard the testimony of someone it was sent to me a well-known evangelical leader who has been advocating critical race theory and all of those things and he declared to the world in this latest interview that he was no longer an evangelical and he didn't want that label then he went on for about an hour to talk about what mattered to him which was all the racial issues and at the end of it all it was it was weightless it was meaningless i said to somebody it was like reading the phone book didn't matter it had no eternal consequences whatsoever that's not the side you want to pick all the objects all the philosophies all the social [Music] issues are temporal it's like as i've told you before rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic what's the point of that but paul constantly kept his focus on things that are not seen and they are eternal it's really an echo of moses that the writer of hebrews picks up in hebrews 11 27 moses it says endured because he had his eyes on him who is what invisible set your affections on things above and not on things than the earth right so with those kinds of convictions paul was faithful to the end and in his last epistle he gives a testimony he says ii timothy chapter 4 and verse 6 i'm ready i'm already being poured out as a drink offering the time of my departure has come i have fought the good fight i have finished the course i love this i have kept what the faith that's how you want to end up isn't it so in the future is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing to use well his vision was always heavenward like we heard in aurya play be thou my vision o lord of my heart i i confess to you these are challenging times in many ways but i don't recall in my entire ministry a more exciting time to be proclaiming truth or a more black and white time when evil is flaunting itself when the truth is terrifying to the ungodly but it also is the only hope of salvation right so let your light before men they may see your good works and glorify your father and who is in heaven and be lights as paul said philippians shining in the darkness with the light of the gospel of christ and be faithful to the end and you will be if you have these same certainties that gave paul undying courage let's pray father we're so blessed to have the revelation that you've given us and that even as we hear it read and explained it comes to us with a kind of supernatural power it both offends our weakness offends our sinfulness offends our indifference offends our worldliness thins our preoccupation with what is lightweight and at the same time calls us as a mercy as a gift of love to live high elevated noble heaven focused lives i pray that you will do through the lives of these people who are here a work that will bring you glory and renown not only in heaven but even on earth that you would be glorified we grieve over the dishonor that comes to you the reproaches that fall on you fall on us when you o god o christ blessed holy spirit when you are dishonored we feel the pain we desire that you would be exalted and honored and if we are truthful about that then we know that that is a calling in our own lives to so live that that is true may we honor you with our life and may we honor you with our convictions by living them and speaking them with love and compassion lord i i just pray that you'll fill our lives with the unexpected providences that show that you are at work in ways that are only explicable if we understand the kingdom of heaven and the power toward us by the holy spirit in us we thank you for this immense and undeserved privilege of being the clay potts from which the glory shines be glorified we pray in our savior's name amen

Channel: Grace to You

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Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, Grace to You

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Length: 60min 56sec (3656 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 03 2021