                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                         The Suffering of Saints!

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By David Wilkerson
September 26, 1994
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          I have a godly friend who has undergone incredible
          suffering -- physical, spiritual and emotional. This
          person's suffering has seemed to me to be beyond human
          endurance. It has been so intense at times, I've
          wondered how my friend could go on without collapsing
          under the burden of it all.

          Recently, during a bout with even more suffering piled
          upon suffering, my friend came to me for prayer. I
          said, "I just can't understand it. You tell me you
          suffer for the cause of Christ -- that God is doing
          something good in you through all of this. But I see
          the pain on your face! I know you weep for hours,
          sometimes through the night. You seem pressed and
          harassed like no other person I know. How could God be
          in this? It seems so cruel!"

          Just a few weeks ago my friend called my office, broken
          and weeping: "I can't take it anymore -- I feel death
          moving in on all sides! I'm at the end of my rope. It
          would be so wonderful if the Lord would call me home.
          No, I would never take my own life -- but death sounds
          so peaceful right now. Please, David -- do you have a
          word to console me?"

          I was still troubled. So again I asked, "What is God
          trying to say in all this? I've never seen anybody
          suffer as you do!"

          My friend grew silent -- then quietly suggested I read
          2 Corinthians 1. "I think the Lord will explain to you
          what's going on in my life," my friend said.

          That night at home, the Spirit spoke to me as I read
          this verse:

          "...we were pressed out of measure, above strength,
          insomuch that we despaired even of this life" (2
          Corinthians 1:8).

          Paul was saying in this passage, "I'm going through
          something I don't understand at all. I'm being pressed
          beyond my endurance, beyond my ability to handle it,
          and I don't know why. I'm so low, I would welcome
          death!"

          Now, Paul was as godly a servant of the Lord as ever
          walked on the face of the earth. He wanted nothing more
          in life than "to know Christ and Him crucified." He was
          entrusted with the mystery of the gospel, and he
          expounded it to the whole world. Yet Paul endured
          suffering that was so overwhelming and powerful, he was
          utterly at a loss. And there seemed to him no way of
          escape. He was so distraught, he thought death was at
          the door. He even said he was ready to lie down and
          die!

          We do not know all the reasons behind Paul's
          sufferings. But it could have been a combination of
          several things:

          He had been mistreated in Ephesus. And in the resulting
          riot, the people had tried to kill him.

          He had reproved the church in Corinth soundly, and he
          didn't know whether he was still accepted there.
          Certain people accused him of being unstable, of not
          knowing his own mind. (Paul twice had promised to come
          to them, but God had changed his mind.) He was accused
          of being dishonest, of misappropriating the offering
          money.

          They also accused him of being a poor speaker, not
          highly recommended by his brethren. They said, "Your
          preaching is hard! Your words are not of the wisdom of
          this world." Paul acknowledged, "I don't preach with
          the wisdom of this world. I preach under the unction
          and power of the Holy Ghost!" But they didn't want that
          -- they wanted a smooth orator.

          Finally, they even questioned Paul's sanity. They said
          he was of unsound mind!

          The more Paul loved those who rejected him, the less he
          seemed loved by them. Beloved, that was true pain --
          being rejected by the body of Christ, the very ones
          he'd helped and done so much for! How would you like to
          bear this from your brothers and sisters in Christ?

          All of these things together probably brought Paul to
          the point of despairing of life.

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             Paul's Vocabulary Included a Lot About Suffering!

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          Consider Paul's list of troubles from his life:

          "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we
          are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
          forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing
          about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus..." (2
          Corinthians 4:8-10).

          "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save
          one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned,
          thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have
          been in the deep;" "In journeyings often, in perils of
          waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own
          countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the
          city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the
          sea, in perils among false brethren;" "In weariness and
          painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst,
          in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those
          things that are without, that which cometh upon me
          daily, the care of all the churches" (11:24-28).

          Paul's life was absolutely full of suffering!

          I ask you -- what is the root cause of your trouble,
          your suffering? As with Paul, it may be a combination
          of things:

          Is it bodily suffering?
          Paul bore in his body the marks of his physical
          sufferings.

          Is someone persecuting you?
          Perhaps a messenger of Satan has been sent to buffet
          you.

          Have you been rejected?
          Has your husband, wife, child or a close friend turned
          on you?

          Are you going through fiery trials?
          Are you battling a stubborn temptation that won't let
          go? Having family trouble? Facing scary financial
          problems?

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              1. One of the Primary Purposes Behind All
               Sufferings of Saints Is To Qualify Us To
                 Become Consolers of Other Sufferers!

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          Paul said,
          "(The Lord) comforteth us in all our tribulation, that
          we may be able to comfort them which are in any
          trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are
          comforted of God" (2 Corinthians 1:4).

          One of the neediest ministries in the church of Jesus
          Christ today is that of consolation -- comforting
          others in their trouble and affliction. Many believers
          simply don't know where to turn in their hurt.

          We do not need more Christian psychologists who use
          biblical words to disguise their psychological
          approaches. They apply the language of the Bible, yet
          they work from psychiatric premises. It doesn't matter
          how well-trained, "expert" or compassionate they are:
          Man's advice cannot alleviate a troubled soul!

          When I'm really hurting, suffering deeply, I don't want
          to read some book that gives me ten steps on how to
          find victory. And I don't want to go to some big-name
          evangelist who'll "zap" me. None of these is the answer
          -- because none will reach the root of my suffering!

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            No -- I want to talk to some ordinary, unknown saint
           who has suffered heavily, and yet has come through it
               all praising God, comforted and full of faith!

                      -------------------------------

          I want someone who has been tested in the fires of
          affliction -- one who has known loneliness, sadness,
          sorrow, rejection, heartache. I want someone who has
          been to the point of giving up -- and yet has trusted
          God and come forth rejoicing, believing, stronger than
          ever. That person is a true expert!

          You see, it is suffering people who receive the
          consolations and comforts of the Lord. They know the
          sympathy of Jesus, because His voice speaks true
          comfort to them in their hour of darkness. These
          sufferers become rich in spiritual resources. They
          develop a confidence born out of having endured
          tribulations and testings. Best of all, God gives them
          an influence they could not have gotten in any other
          way!

          I think of Corrie Ten Boom, and the wonderful
          experience it was for the thousands of people who sat
          and listened to her talk about Jesus. Many pastors and
          leaders all over the United States were comforted and
          encouraged by this once-unknown woman -- because all of
          her suffering had produced a wealth of knowledge of the
          Lord. She had a wealth of consolation and comfort from
          the Holy Spirit -- and she used that wealth as an
          influence for Jesus!

          Paul was able to rejoice in all his tribulations
          because he knew his sufferings were for others'
          benefit. He saw his trials as a kind of schooling he
          was going through. He could say, "God has a purpose in
          this -- because He is training me! There will be people
          who are going to need my influence. They'll need my
          comfort and consolation, which I have received in my
          suffering!"

          It is no wonder Paul referred to his heavenly Father as
          "...the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort"
          (2 Corinthians 1:3). He had learned in his sufferings
          how to draw that consolation from the Lord!

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                  When You Suffer in Your Body, You Become
                Very Patient With Others Who Are Suffering!

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          Suffering knocks all of the judging out of you! When
          you begin to suffer, and yet you dearly love the Lord
          and know you're not hiding any sin, you can no longer
          look at someone else's suffering and say, "I wonder
          what they're hiding? Why are they being judged?"

          Years ago, my daughter Debbie attended what was called
          a "faith" church. It taught a health-and-prosperity
          gospel that left no room for suffering. In many such
          churches, if you suffer, you're thought either to have
          hidden sin in your life or to lack a certain quality or
          quantity of faith.

          When Debbie got colon cancer, she was mocked, ridiculed
          and accused of not having faith. Eventually, she had to
          leave the church. It was cruel, awful! I was so angry,
          I felt like burning that church down!

          Not long afterward, the church did shut its doors. Why?
          Many in the congregation had come under affliction
          themselves -- and they couldn't explain it. Finally,
          they got discouraged and gave up! Some of those members
          later apologized to Debbie and eventually had more
          sympathy for her. They realized that when they got sick
          or an accident occurred in their home, it wasn't
          because of hidden sin or lack of faith.

          Long before that, though, I had learned that suffering
          can make you more understanding of the trials of
          others. In my younger days as a pastor, a dear friend
          of mine lost a son and two grandsons in an airplane
          crash. I remember thinking, "What did he do, that God
          would allow such a tragedy to happen?"

          I harbored those thoughts for about a year -- until yet
          another cancer struck in our home! I didn't wonder,
          "Lord, why did You do this?" -- because I knew our
          hearts were right before the Lord. And I wasn't judging
          myself as I'd judged my friend. Soon after that, I
          wrote my friend a letter of sympathy that came out of
          my experience.

          People who have endured suffering -- who have come
          through it and proven God faithful -- become strong,
          mellow, patient. They have the gentleness of Christ. I
          love to be around such people! They so encourage my
          spirit!

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                    Beloved, that is what God has
                   for you through your suffering!

                      -------------------------------

          You'll come through your trial and be of great help to
          others -- if you'll trust God through it! You'll see it
          happen on your job, in your family, in your church:
          People will be attracted to you, because they've seen
          what you've gone through -- and they've seen you gain
          victory and consolation through the power of God alone!

          Yet there are many Christians who don't want to suffer.
          They live protected, untouched lives, and eventually
          they grow stagnant, self-centered and shallow.
          Suffering works its lessons only in those who yield to
          it, who understand they're in school.

          There also are many believers who suffer but never
          learn anything from it. As a result, they never know
          God as their comforter or consoler. To hear them talk,
          you'd think God was hard, spiteful, uncaring. "Why me?"
          they ask. They doubt God's love, and they begin to turn
          away from Him. They moan, groan and murmur, and all
          their joy fades. Soon they grow bitter and hard -- and
          eventually they backslide completely.

          I have a pastor friend who at one time had a very
          successful ministry to troubled people. But today he is
          deep in sin, drug-addicted and totally backslidden. His
          wife left him, and he has taken up with a woman who
          also is on drugs.

          When you ask him what happened, he blames it all on how
          others let him down: His wife left him. God didn't
          answer his prayers. Other ministers disappointed him.
          He says, "I really tried, but I just couldn't take it
          -- there were too many pressures. And there were so
          many hypocrites, phonies, Pharisees. I was misjudged,
          and I couldn't handle that. I can't trust people now!"

          As you talk to him, you wonder if he ever knew Jesus at
          all. He has grown so hard -- and he grows harder with
          every passing year. He still suffers as much as before
          -- but his suffering has only hardened his heart!

          The apostle Paul, even in the worst hour of his
          sufferings, blessed the name of the Lord. He knew the
          Father was full of mercy and was the Source of all his
          comfort. He didn't question God or become bitter -- he
          praised Him in the midst of it all!

          The best teachers in any church are not the ones in the
          pulpit. Rather, they are sitting in the pews, right
          next to you -- people who have suffered and yet still
          worship the Lord. The language of those who learn
          through suffering is praise!

                      -------------------------------

               2. Another Purpose for the Suffering of
                 Saints Is That We Should Never Again
                Trust in ourselves -- But Only in God!

                      -------------------------------

          Paul wrote:
          "...that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God
          which raiseth the dead" (2 Corinthians 1:9).

          He said, in essence, "The Lord brought me to the end of
          all human help, the brink of death. It was a place so
          hopeless, only the God of resurrection power could have
          rescued me!"

          What a wonderful place to be -- at the end of your
          rope! I've always said, when you hit rock bottom, you
          bump into God! Yet if you listen to most Christians in
          the midst of their suffering, you hear: "I'll make it
          somehow." "I'm hanging in there." "I just live one day
          at a time." "I'm trying not to let it get me down."
          "I'll survive -- I've always been a survivor."

          No! It could become worse than you could ever imagine!
          God sometimes drives you to the very end of your rope,
          into deep suffering, so you'll lose all confidence in
          your ability to save yourself!

          Since childhood we've been spoon-fed the concept of
          self-sufficiency: "Take it like a man!" "Men don't
          cry!" We have countless volumes on how to handle
          trouble, loneliness, sorrow, temptation. But it is all
          focused on our flesh -- our ability to extricate
          ourselves from our sufferings!

          Beloved, how many times have you tried to work out all
          your troubles? How often have you been flooded with
          temptations that overwhelmed you? It all brought you
          down, and you said, "Oh God, You know I love You with
          all my heart. But I'm being sorely tempted! I hate this
          -- I despise it. Lord, I just don't understand."

          Please don't misunderstand me: I believe God wants us
          to fight the good fight of faith. But the Lord has a
          way of allowing us to be "pressed out of measure" -- to
          suffer so powerfully that all other helps are in vain!
          Nothing you try works. Nothing you've read seems to
          help. No counsel of others makes any sense. Suddenly,
          you are forced into a crisis that obliterates all your
          trust in yourself. You have no hope -- except to give
          up all human hope! You are forced to trust God -- and
          you see that the only way out is to trust!

          Paul is saying to us, loud and clear, "I had the
          sentence of death in me. I was tested beyond measure,
          at the end of all hope. And it was all so I would no
          longer trust in myself! I had to turn to God -- with
          faith that He alone could save me out of my
          sufferings!"

          Paul was not just preaching theory -- and neither am I!
          I've been where Paul was -- in a crisis of suffering I
          couldn't escape, a humanly impossible situation. I know
          what it is to reach the end of all hope, and not be
          able to understand why I'm being tried. I've been in
          places where I had no one to turn to for understanding,
          no resources to get me through.

          Over the years I've carried huge financial burdens
          numbering in the millions. I've known what it is to
          have a wife who's close to death with cancer, and a
          daughter who's close to death with cancer -- and then
          another daughter with cancer! During the same time Gwen
          and Bonnie were battling death, I wrote a book about
          coming judgment -- and I received literally hundreds of
          letters of rebuke calling me a false prophet!

          I turned to the Lord in the midst of all this and said,
          "Lord, all I've wanted is to serve You with all my
          heart." His answer to me? A physical affliction on top
          of it all!

          Believe me, that is when you start the serious
          introspection: "Lord, what did I do wrong? Why are You
          allowing me to go through all of this?"

                      -------------------------------

                  In the end, you come to the place where
                  you give up trying to deliver yourself!

                      -------------------------------

          You give up condemning yourself, give up trying to
          understand, give up trying to do things in your own
          power. Instead, you turn to the Lord and cry out, "Oh
          Father, I'm in over my head! All my striving has gotten
          me nowhere. But I know You have all the power I need!
          You raised the dead -- and You can deliver me. I'll
          trust You from now on!"

          Scripture says:
          "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery
          trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing
          happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
          partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory
          shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding
          joy" (1 Peter 4:12-13).

          Jesus was tempted by the devil also -- and it was a
          cause of great suffering to Him! Like our Master, we
          all will face various temptations, some of them fiery
          and fierce. But beloved, I have learned a precious
          lesson through all of my trials: I found the way of
          escape!

          "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is
          common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer
          you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with
          the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may
          be able to bear it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).

          What is this way of escape? It is coming to the end of
          your own strength and turning absolutely to God! It is
          saying, as Paul did, "I do not trust in myself
          anymore!"

          The way of escape is simple, childlike faith in God. It
          is resigning yourself and saying, "God, I put
          everything on You. I'm not going to try to figure it
          all out!" It is trusting Him totally, to see you
          through it all -- and to end your suffering in His time
          and in His way!

                      -------------------------------

               3. Finally, God Intended That When He Delivers
             Us From Suffering, We Never Again Doubt His Power
              To Deliver Us in Every Present and Future Trial!

                      -------------------------------

          "Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth
          deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us"
          (2 Corinthians 1:10).

          Paul is speaking of God's delivering power -- past,
          present and future! He is saying, "God has delivered us
          in the past, He is delivering us now, and He will
          deliver us in every future trouble and trial. We don't
          have to fear anything that comes our way -- because we
          know God is going to deliver us!

          Yet, like the children of Israel, we forget the past
          deliverances of the Lord. And, oh, the deliverances God
          gave them!

          "He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them
          drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams
          also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down
          like rivers. And they sinned yet more against him by
          provoking the most High in the wilderness," "And they
          tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their
          lust. Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God
          furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the
          rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams
          overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide
          flesh for his people?" (Psalm 78:15-20).

          Beloved, that is exactly what happens with us! We say,
          "Sure, I was in a tight place, and God delivered me.
          But this is different. How could He possibly do it
          now?"

                      -------------------------------

                  God wants you to build your faith
                    on all His past deliverances!

                      -------------------------------

          He wants you to come to such a place in your faith that
          you trust Him in every crisis, every temptation -- and
          know you can face the future without fear! He wants you
          to be able to say, "My God delivered me in the past! He
          is delivering me right now out of my present trouble.
          And He will keep delivering Me until He comes back for
          me -- no matter what I have to endure!"

          King Jehoshaphat came through a great time of testing
          fully trusting in God. The combined armies of Moab and
          Ammon had come against him to do battle:

          "And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the
          Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah...to
          ask help of the Lord" (2 Chronicles 20:3-4).

          These armies represent the power of Satan coming
          against the saints of God! So where did Jehoshaphat go
          for help?

                      -------------------------------

               "Jehoshaphat...set himself to seek the Lord...
                        to ask help of the Lord...."

                      -------------------------------

          He went to the Lord in prayer! And that's where
          deliverance begins for us as well -- on our knees!

          Listen to Jehoshaphat's prayer:
          "...O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in
          heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of
          the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and
          might, so that none is able to withstand thee?" (verse
          6)

          He was saying, "Lord, aren't You still God? Who is able
          to stand against You? Is there any demon, any
          temptation able to withstand You? You have all the
          might and power we need!"

          "...we have no might against this great company that
          cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our
          eyes are upon thee" (verse 12).

          The enemy was coming in like a flood. There was
          suffering and trouble on all sides. And Jehoshaphat was
          saying, "We don't know what to do -- we're no match for
          them!"

          Then the Spirit of God came upon the prophet Jahaziel,
          and he said:
          "...Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great
          multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's....
          Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set
          yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of
          the Lord with you...fear not, nor be dismayed...for the
          Lord will be with you" (verses 15-17).

          Right now there are armies of demonic seductions and
          temptations coming against you -- and you have no might
          or power to fight. You're no match for the devil, and
          you don't know what to do.

          Dear saint, do what Jehoshaphat did: Get your eyes on
          the Lord! Turn to Him and say, "Lord, my eyes are on
          You!" The battle is not yours. You must resign from the
          fight!

          You've got to call on the Lord and trust Him. Turn to
          Him now, and find Him faithful to deliver.

                      -------------------------------

                 Whatever your battle may be -- it is His!
                                   Amen!

                      -------------------------------

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