Embracing The Amazing Principle In Which God Ordains Affliction To The Point That I Am Burdened Excessively Beyond My Strength And Even Despair Of Life So That I Will Not Trust In Myself, But In Him
2 Corinthians 1:8-10
(Children’s Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes for young children to answer are throughout sermon)Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church
(Sunday Morning Call To Worship, Juan Rivera)(Sermon, Pastor Kinchen)
“Brother and Sisters, we have come to this place to proclaim what we do individually, and we do when we assemble together, and that is that Jesus is Lord! We have come here together to worship the King, Savior, and our God. The Bible tells us in Psalm 95:1 “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.” In Psalm 98:4 “Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.” Let us together proclaim His name. Let us adore Him as He deserves. If you do not feel like singing today, that is okay; He knows. Just begin and watch the glory of the Lord shine upon you. He is so faithful, He is so worthy, He is so gentle, He is so lovely. He knows your struggles. He knows your pain. He knows your heart. He wants you to draw near to Him. He is not far! He is here! He has endured all suffering for you sake. You are free; 1 John 8:36 “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” Come let us adore Him! Just begin in your heart quietly if you like; Or proclaim Him from the roof tops! So the whole world will know we are His! Praise His Name!”
Please turn to 2 Corinthians 1:8-10. 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 is our primary text we are learning from this morning. As you are turning there, I want us to consider that “spiritual growth” is something that is defined in many ways. Consequently, there are multitudes of definitions of spiritual growth. Ways of attaining spiritual growth have just as many definitions. As God’s children, created in Christ Jesus, we all want to grow spiritually. With this in mind, I want us to think about one particular definition of spiritual growth. It describes the growth as understanding more and more of God’s truth. So in this sense, degrees of doctrinal knowledge are equated with levels of spiritual growth. I want us to think of another one. It is the definition of spiritual growth which describes manifesting more and more of the character of Christ. To put it another way, this sense of spiritual growth is a manifestation of the fruits of the Spirit. They grow forth from us by the Spirit in accordance to God’s truth. The more consistently we manifest the matured fruits, the more we are considered to be maturing spiritually. I think that both of the definitions I have just explained should be connected to each other for a more robust understanding of spiritual growth. I say this because there are various senses to a lot of these kinds of things, and I think that the whole subject of spiritual growth has more than one sense. With all of that said, I think that another sense to the whole arena of spiritual growth has to do with trusting God in each and every circumstance. It seems that the more we grow in our trust in God, the less we trust in our own selves. So, it is a kind of spiritual growth in which our faith becomes tangible in acting out trust in the Lord. This seems easy enough to understand, but the question is,
Is it easy to embrace in practicality?
Is it easy to experience?
Think about people who have abundance. Some have an amazing gift of intelligence. Some have amazing health. Some have abundant material resources for daily life. In a certain manner, and in a certain sense, they have so much that their needs are few. In fact, they have so many of their needs met through physical means, that they do not make it a habit of trusting in God as much as they trust in their own selves. But this can be you too. You don’t have to have amazing intelligence. You don’t have to have perfect health. You don’t have to have abundant resources for daily living. All you have to do to trust in yourself more than you trust in God, is to simply trust in yourself more than you trust in God. It’s not very complicated which is one reason it is so easy to do. The same goes for trusting in anything else, like circumstances. Even trusting in other people more than we trust in God is part of the problem. I say this because this is a problem that God identifies in His people more than they do. In other words, He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows where you are in your so-called level of spiritual maturity. He knows where you are in your trust in Him. And because God knows this, and because God wants us to trust Him with everything, He has a way of getting us there to that maturity level of trust which happens to be a way that we do not come up with. It goes beyond book-learning (yet scriptural revelation is there.) It goes down deep to the heart of the matter. It is a work that God works in us through an actual method. In our text this morning, Paul the apostle reveals the principle for us. Let’s read 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, to glean what the Spirit is teaching us concerning the principle, so when the method comes, we will recognize both it, and the work that God is doing in the midst of it. Starting in 2 Corinthians 1:8, Paul says,
“8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; 9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope that He will yet deliver us again,” 2 Corinthians 1:8-10
Please prepare your heart to receive a message from God’s word that is very important. I want us to pay special attention to the intentional wording of the theme. The theme of this sermon is
Embracing The Amazing Principle In Which God Ordains Affliction To The Point That I Am Burdened Excessively Beyond My Strength And Even Despair Of Life So That I Will Not Trust In Myself, But In Him
[prayer]
I have chosen to apply this lengthy theme title to the sermon this morning because I think it really helps convey a fullness to this subject that needs to be there in our minds. I could have simply said that God ordains affliction so that we will trust Him. It is a true principle. It is also part of the theme I am preaching. But I want the theme to be more robustly in line with the various nuances that Paul gives in the passage. Again, notice that the theme has to do with personally embracing an amazing life principle. It is to both realize, and also to live our lives in such a way as recognizing, that God ordains affliction to the point that you, me, and any Christian, can become burdened excessively beyond our own strength to where we even despair of life, and it is for the purpose of not trusting in our own selves, but in the Lord. As we look at this amazing statement that Paul makes in respect to God’s sovereign determination, there is one main point that I want to cover throughout this sermon.
/1/
Essentially it has to do with embracing this as the foundation that it is. So this is the main point this morning. It has to do with knowing that overwhelming affliction really is ordained by God for various reasons. But the principle is narrowed down. It is different than the biblical principle in which God ordains affliction to humble us. It is different than the biblical principle in which God ordains affliction to bring glory to Himself through saving souls; like what Jesus had to go through on the cross, or martyrdom for the gospel. It is different than something like a principle in which God ordains affliction to punish His enemies. The principle foundation that I am bringing out from Paul’s statement, has to do with recognizing that God ordains overwhelming affliction for the purpose of getting us to not trust in our own selves, but in Him. So to truly recognize this principle, and actually embrace it as the foundation that it is, we must first be convinced that this principle is true. A lot of Christians do not like this kind of thing. It is distasteful to them. Consequently, it is distasteful doctrinally. So they immediately reject this as a work of God in His people’s lives. But once we recognize it as a solid truth from God that He has given us by His Spirit, then we should embrace it for guidance in our life. We should see it as a method God uses to make us grow spiritually. The principle is revealed in various places in Scripture. But there is an immediate context concerning Paul and his own recognition of this principle concerning God’s plan for suffering. We must remember that Paul’s immediate persecution that he was talking about, took place in the regions of Asia in Ephesus and Macedonia. This is where he wrote this epistle. We know a little bit about what happened from the history account in Acts. The record indicates that pagans were stirred up against Paul because he preached against their false gods, especially the famous goddess Artemus. There are not a lot of details about what happened to Paul and the rest of the ministry team; But evidently, their experience of affliction and the attending burden was so great and so excessive, that it was beyond their strength to endure it. Now think of getting so sunk in a sea of persecution that you are worn out from the emotional and physical stress of it all. This is what happened to those guys. In fact, even though he was an apostle--called, gifted, and empowered by God--Paul’s experience was so heavy, he says (and I think it is best to believe it was without exaggeration) that he got to the point that he despaired of life. Think about that deeply for a moment.
Paul had gotten to a point where he did not want to live anymore.
And from Paul’s wording, we also gather that the rest of Paul’s ministry partners who were there with him, were going through the same anguish of soul. Immediately, as we read what Paul said, we recognize that those are some strong words. Think about getting to a point where you don’t want to live anymore. Many of you know exactly what Paul means don’t you? And think about the fact that this is Paul. He’s the apostle--called and gifted by God. He was arrested by Christ on the road to Damascus while on his way to arrest Christians. He was miraculously changed and inducted into God’s service. And yet Paul truly meant that he had gone through so much hardship that he despaired of life. I think we can all relate to those words in at least some remote way. I can. Maybe you can relate to this even more than others. You go along in life. You know you have spiritual salvation. Your spiritual salvation brings you joy. And though this is true, you can go through the grinder to the point that you despair of living. Now let's think for a moment about Paul’s whole life as a minister. These kinds of daunting experiences were certainly no surprise to him. I mean think about how Paul had already experienced intense suffering. Think about how Paul already had to have intense trust in God in the midst of all the suffering. Long before Paul had gone through this experience that he describes to the Corinthians, Paul already knew to expect to suffer like this as an apostle. So the suffering was no surprise. Paul knew it from the beginning of His spiritual regeneration in initial salvation. He knew it at his induction into ministry by the sovereign Lord of lords, and King of kings. Think back to when Paul was commissioned by Christ Jesus at Paul’s spiritual arrest. It is found in Acts 9:15-16. The Christian man, Ananias, received a vision from the Lord. The Lord told Ananias that
“15 he [Paul] is an elect instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I [the Lord] will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:15-16
@1 When the Lord inducted Paul into ministry, He told the Christian man, Ananias, that He would show Paul how much he must ____________________ for the Lord’s name’s sake. Acts 9:15-16 (suffer)
So Paul had known from the beginning that he must suffer. He clearly understood it as sound doctrine. But Paul also clearly understood it as the divine decree concerning his calling. Paul knew He was ordained by God to suffer for Christ’s name sake. And before Paul got to Asia and suffered there before writing to the Corinthians, he already knew suffering and persecution as his common experience. In 2 Corinthians 11, in explaining his apostleship, his work, and his experience, Paul explains in 11:23 that he had already experienced far more imprisonments than any of the other apostles. Think about this--Paul had been beaten so many times that he had lost count. He said that his state of existence was that he was often in danger of death. In 11:24 he explained the amazing fact that he had received the penalty of the skin cutting sting of the thirty-nine lashes from the apostate Jews--not once, not twice, not three or four times; but five different times! To live through those beatings alone was incredible. To be able to operate in life without being substantially handicapped was nothing short of miraculous. On top of all of that, in 11:25, Paul referred to the bruising penalty of being beaten with rods on three different occasions. But there is more. He said that once he had been stoned by a mob. We read about it in Acts 14. The crowds pummeled Paul to the point that they thought he had died. Apostate Jews drug him out of the city and left him with his disciples. As his disciples stood around him, he got up. Then what did he do? He went back into the city. But there was even more. Paul also lived through three different shipwrecks. He spent a whole night and day in the ocean. In 11:26, he explained that his whole lifestyle was one of continuously dangerous travel. He said that his frequent journeys exposed him to dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from His own Israelite countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, and dangers among people who claimed to be Christians but were really false brothers. In 11:27, he describes his life as being one of labor and hardship. He had night after night of no sleep in hunger and thirst. He was often without food, was in cold, and in exposure. In 11:32, he explained how he was on the run like a fugitive. He had barely escaped being arrested. He escaped by being led down in a basket through a window in a wall. Then Paul describes one of the most heart wrenching afflictions to experience as a minister. What do you think it was? In 11:28, Paul referred to the one big burden hidden in his soul. It vexed him in his pastoral heart in a way that magnified everything else. You say, What kind of pain could that possibly be? He explained that
“Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:28
This particular burden was an internal thing. External things are hard, but sometimes the internal things are harder. This is the kind of thing which touches the depths of the heart. I can personally relate to what Paul is saying in a strong way concerning just our one little church group. One of those churches of which Paul’s heart experienced some of the heaviest weight of concern, was those immature Christians in Corinthian that he was writing to. They were tearing Paul up like little children will do. Children will wrong, and hurt, their peers with no seeming recognition, or apparent care, of how much hurt they are inflicting. They acted oblivious, immature, sinful, divisive, arrogant, and generally unloving in their ways. How would you like to see that on the marquis in the entrance of our church meeting as you walk in:
“Welcome to the first church of the oblivious, immature, sinful, divisive, arrogant, and generally unloving in their ways.”
How would you like to be one of those people in which the description fits you perfectly? It is some heavy food for thought isn’t it? Unfortunately, pastors all over the earth, have to feed on this kind of meal all the time. To have to deal with this as a consistent staple diet can be so daunting that it can wear pastors out. I know of pastors who got so tired of this kind of thing, that they just gave up and left. They said “enough is enough.” They packed up, and they walked away from the ministry. Sometimes they go someplace else where the Christians are willing to learn, live, and love according to true spiritual sensitivity and growth. Or they end up dropping out of the ministry altogether. The forensic question is,
What happened?
The easy to understand answer is,
They greatly despaired.
Paul says later in chapter 2:2-3, that the Corinthians were a letter written on Paul’s heart. As a living letter, they were known and read by all men. In their salvation, those Christians were being manifested as a letter of Christ. But unfortunately, they were the ones that put the shameful footnote on the living letter that they existed as. It read; oblivious, immature, sinful, divisive, arrogant, and generally unloving. With this background revealed to us, we see that Paul was already intimately aware of the fulfillment of what was ordained for his ministry from the beginning. The affliction and burden beyond his own strength occurred as a fulfillment of God’s promise. So Paul could trust God that God was faithful to show him how much he must suffer for Christ’s sake. And then I also want us to think of what Paul knew concerning God’s sovereignty in general. Paul was keenly aware that the God of the universe is in control even though all outer circumstances seem out of control. Paul, the theologian with precise revelation, was one of the greatest teachers of God’s sovereign determination in history. This is why Paul so surely explained in Romans 8:28,
“28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
@2 God causes _____ things to work together for ___________________ to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 (all, good)
Clearly Paul trusted God theologically at all levels--including at the suffering level. Certainly Paul embraced the truth that he wrote by the Spirit that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, 2 Timothy 3:12. I explain all of this about Paul because evidently this is a doctrinal arena of life where head knowledge must become something deeper--even for Paul. Poetically, head knowledge must become in a sense heart knowledge. It is not simply knowledge that is stored in your brian. It is knowledge that pumps from your heart and flows throughout your whole being. And God knows this. Paul recognized that though all these things were true, there was still a human tendency there for Paul to trust in himself. This is the way it is with all of us. Think about how it is so easy to become biblical experts on the theology of faith. We can have all our special verses memorized. We can give counsel to others on how they need to trust God in life. We’ve got it all together doctrinally. We can even go through pain and suffering and think that we can bear it by toughening up a little bit. We can apply intestinal fortitude, so to speak, and put up with the momentary pain. We can go through the hurts and suffering and recognize scripturally, theologically, and doctrinally that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But there is something almost invisible that is there that can get in the way. It is not completely invisible, but it can seem that way. I am talking about
our own selves.
So what happens is that as we go along, something will happen in our lives that will be so pressing that we think we can not endure the pain and suffering. It is an event in which you are forced to trust in God because you have lost all trust in your own self to go on. God makes your head knowledge go deeper. This is what happened to the called and anointed apostle Paul. God knew more about Paul than Paul knew about Himself. God knew more about suffering and trust than Paul knew, even though Paul had already become an expert on it up to that point. The point is that God knows more about you than you do. So what God did was ordain things to occur in the apostle’s lives that would further teach them not to trust in themselves. And Paul heard the lesson loud and clear. Notice again what Paul says,
“... our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; 9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that ...”
Notice the big “so that” right there in verse 9. What this means is that what Paul just said is what was done for the reason of what is going to be said. Paul is saying that they were burdened excessively beyond their strength which is tough. They even despaired of life itself which is devastating. But notice that he refers to all of that pressure to go on to say,
“so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God”
@3 God ordains such excessive affliction and despair so that we will ________ ____________ in ourselves, but in ____________. 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (not trust, God)
This is the point. God knows that this is a principle that He has ordained to exist as part of His created order just as much as it is a decision of His to ordain that you go through it. There are times that God will ordain certain things to occur in your Christian life, and they are meant for one specific reason--to teach you not to trust in yourself, or to trust in others, but to trust in God. As a principle, think about how James words it in similar terms when he wrote,
“2 Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
[So, the testing of your faith in God produces endurance in trusting in God. James goes on in verse 4, saying]
4 And let endurance have its perfect result,” James 1:2-4
@4 The Spirit urges us to count it all joy when we encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces ____________________. James 1:2-4. (endurance)
God knows that you already have the faith. Without faith in Him, you would not be saved, right? So you already have faith in God, and God knows it. God also knows that you have the faith to cry out to Him in times of need. We demonstrate this fact whenever we get to the end of the rope on a matter. Think about what you do whenever you get to the end of your rope on a matter? Do you cry out to yourself? No. You cry out to God don’t you? Before you cry out to God, He already knows what you know doctrinally. God knows what kind of advice you have given to others. God knows what hard knocks in life you have experienced. But God also knows that the testing of your faith in Him produces endurance in your trust in Him which is a principle that He wants us to know in such an intimate manner that you grow in it. He wants us to count it all joy in this respect even when we have no joy in all other respects. God also knows when you are becoming more trusting in your own self in your circumstances than you are upon the God of your circumstances. So, because God loves you with a love that is more intelligent and more complete than passing human emotions, he will do something to bring you back into track. He will ordain something in your life as a testing of your faith. He will do it so that your faith in yourself dies in light of the relationship He is desiring from you in respect to trusting Him. When we see this doctrinally, we can easily think,
“Wow, how amazing our God is! He ordains everything for a special reason, including this whole process that rids me of self reliance!”
But hold on, because there is something about this that you may not like while the process is going on. You will not think that you are able to handle it. What I mean is that it may get so intense that you may even despair of life. You must be aware of this early on. This is how bad things may get as the weight presses down upon you. You may find yourself saying,
“God, I don’t want to go on anymore.”
“I can’t stand it.’
“I don’t want to live.”
You may even say,
“Lord, I want to die. Please take my life away right now. Kill me and get it over with.”
This is when despairing of life becomes more than a concept that you read about in 2 Corinthians one day. It becomes your reality that the Spirit has given to you for your life of trust. But sometimes these tough experiences can be dizzying. The stark reality will hit you like a ton of bricks and you are stuck. You know that there is nothing you, or anyone else can do to make everything better. Much of the time, we are praying to be delivered. We want the situation to change. But often the circumstance can not be changed. Often they can be changed, but God simply chooses not to do it. But the point is that you are clearly seeing that you can not trust in yourself. You understand that you can not trust in the circumstances either. But God knows that this weighty test of your faith is the only strengthening agent that brings a deep, strong, spiritual change in you. It is the kind of strong, deep, endurance that God wants produced. When you trust Him in this way, then you are letting the testing of your faith, as James says, have its perfect result. And in your trust, you are glorifying Him by recognizing that God is not doing something unwise with you. He is not out of control. He is not insensitive, or operating out of randomness. You are recognizing, in trust that is real and God glorifying, because it is based upon right doctrine, that your Father of all mercies and God of all comfort, is also the greatest loving genius who understands everything perfectly according to a perfect plan that is ordained in the perfect way to accomplish the best of the best though you have a hard time understanding. So, again, we can say that God is all wise. We can say that God is all loving. We can easily say that God always ordains, and does the most perfect and best thing. But God has us suffer so that we manifest the result of the testing refiners fire of golden trust in Him as being the all wise one, and the all loving one, and the one who always does the most perfect and best thing while we are hard pressed to go on another moment in our anguish. What we are doing is recognizing our God in a fuller way concerning Who and what He truly is, but we are loving Him in it through the perfect result that He is working in us. And some of that result is the authentic, strengthened trust which comes through the miracle of the refiner’s fire. From our reaction then, pure worship as pure reliance is springing forth. Here is the point; God brings you to despair of your physical life so that the spiritual life of Christ will come out. Christ in you is the very Hope of “the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27. Again,
God brings you to the point in which you despair of your physical life so that the spiritual life of Christ will shine forth outwardly.
That folks, is maturity. Now, notice what else Paul says, verse 9,
“9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope that He will yet deliver us again,,” 2 Corinthians 1:9-10
Paul goes on to base his trust upon God and the result of God’s work as Paul’s theological reference point in his immediate statement. In the midst of death, God is the only one who is able to raise the dead. God demonstrated this in the resurrection of Lazarus and in the resurrection of His Son Christ Jesus. Here, Paul is connecting this to what he just said about being in such a state that it was as if they had the sentence of death within themselves. Paul made a similar statement about this state in chapter 6. He described the severity of his experience in 2 Corinthians 6:4-5, and 9,
“4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, ... 9 ... as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death,” 2 Corinthians 6:4-5, 9
Paul was existing as one dying yet living in his state that seemed like daily having the sentence of death within himself. This expression of living each day like the sentence of death was in them, could mean that their whole life was lived as if they were sentenced to die, and so this is the way it was known in one despairing event after another. This would reflect what Paul said in his earlier letter to the Corinthians, when he said in 1 Corinthians 4:9,
“I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, ...” 1 Corinthians 4:9
Now I am sharing different views on this, so stay with me on this. This sentence-of-death-in-them reference could mean that Paul is saying that the apostles were living out their lives with the ominous feelings that one has who has the death sentence pronounced upon him. Awaiting execution that will come at any moment is an unnerving expectation. There are different ways to look at what Paul is conveying. The main thing is that Paul gets his point across well by the Spirit which is the point we need to get by the Spirit. And the main thing I am wanting to bring out for us, is that Paul is connecting his descriptive points together. He is saying that while he exists as one who is dying yet lives, and is continuously punished yet not put to death, and has the sentence of death in his excessive burden experience that leaves him despairing even of life, that the only one to trust concerning dying and death, is the God who raises the dead. This is the theme;
Embracing the amazing principle in which God ordains affliction to the point that I am burdened excessively beyond my strength and even despair of life so that I will not trust in myself, but in Him.
With the apostolic team, the God who delivered them from so great a peril of physical death, will deliver them from the despair of life in which they are dying, yet live. And for us the revelation is fuller still, because we see that in the despair which we can experience in the physical life, the spiritual life of Christ is forced to come out of us. This is what brings glory to God, and this is spiritual growth. But there are even more layers to all of this process that the Spirit wants us to be encouraged with. Paul goes on to add revelation concerning the hope of one more final deliverance. Notice verse 10,
“He will yet deliver us again,” 2 Corinthians 1:10
Paul trusts God to deliver them again. I take this last reference of hope in God the deliverer to be in respect to future deliverance from the destruction of the Old Temple remnant of apostate Israel in AD 70, and also to apply to being delivered from eternal destruction into everlasting life in resurrected glory. What does this mean for us? Essentially the same hope of a future delivery that is so amazingly glorious that it is difficult to express. In other words, whatever you may go through in testing and trials right now, where it seems like you are dying yet living, in which it seems like you have the sentence of death deep within yourself, and you have excessive affliction of burden beyond your human strength which leaves you despairing of life, the only one to trust is the God of your life who raises the dead in resurrected glory. This God is the One in Whom we all set our hope when we first trusted Him for everlasting life in His Son in our initial salvation. He is the One Whom we set our hope now; and He is the One in Whom we set our hope for our future when there will be no more despairing of life, and no more sentence of death ever again for evermore.
I want to briefly recap so that the principle is set in our hearts; We have been exploring something that is of great importance. The problem is that it often gets overlooked. Sometimes it forgotten. A lot of folks simply don’t like it so they try to reject it. But the Spirit wants us to embrace the amazing principle in which God ordains affliction to the point that his children are burdened excessively beyond their strength. In fact, the burden is so great that his children can even despair of life. The reason is so that they will not trust in their own selves, but in Him. The principle is revealed in various places in Scripture. In this beautifully amazing epistle of 2 Corinthians, we see it in respect to Paul and the apostles. This Scriptural principle needs to become so much of a vibrant part of us that we spiritually understand what is going on while it is going on. And yet we must remember that though Paul knew the principle in both theology and experience, he still went through the despair part of the burden of the principle. He despaired of life. More than likely, a time will come when this will happen to you too. When it does, remember God’s word by His Spirit. It is at this level of despair that the head-knowledge must become something deeper. So though you may be a biblical expert on the theology of faith; and though you have all the special verses memorized; And though you can give counsel to others on how they need to trust God in life. And though you may be able to go through pain and suffering and think you can bear it by toughening up, be ready for that faith buster to come along and get in the way. The faith buster is a person. Remember who it is. It is you. But God knows this about us. And so we must remember the principle; God will ordain things to occur in our lives to further teach us this amazing truth that we see in Scripture. God is bringing us into the right place of faith in which faith in ourselves dies in light of the relationship He is desiring from us in respect to trusting Him. But none of this is easy which is part of the process. In fact, the process may press you to pray to be delivered. You will desperately want the situation to change. And yet God does not change it. He wants the miracle of His refiner’s fire, which is what? That you despair of your physical life so that the spiritual life of Christ will come out shining in blazing glory. This is pure spiritual growth. So I encourage all of us to passionately crave the walk in which we have our eyes upon God in the midst of this temporary world. Let’s set our hope in Him in the good times. Let’s continue to set our hope in Him in the bad times. Someday the process will no longer be needed. Keep looking to your future resurrected glory that is coming someday when you leave this earth behind. Always trust God knowing that there will be no more despairing of life, and there will be no more sentence of death evermore.
[amen]
@1 When the Lord inducted Paul into ministry, He told the Christian man, Ananias, that He would show Paul how much he must ____________________ for the Lord’s name’s sake. Acts 9:15-16 (suffer)
@2 God causes _____ things to work together for ___________________ to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 (all, good)
@3 God ordains such excessive affliction and despair so that we will ________ ____________ in ourselves, but in ____________. 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (not trust, God)
@4 The Spirit urges us to count it all joy when we encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces ____________________. James 1:2-4. (endurance)
