Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
Read II Corinthians 12:1-10.
The question we may ask after reading this passage, is how does Paul wrap his mind around his suffering, as he says that he took pleasure [eudokeo, to approve of] Paul approved of his infirmities, he approved of reproaches [hubris]; that is, the insolent wrong doing and disdain of others toward him, he approved of the necessities, anagke, his obligations he had as a servant of the Lord. He didn’t back away from his calling or his responsibilities as a Christian witness because people treated him wrong; he approved of his persecutions, diogmois, the malignity and malice of his opponents of grace; he approved of his distress, stenochoriasis, to be squeezed or to be put in a tight spot. He did this for Christ’s sake?
Paul knew that nothing happened in his life that God did not know about, and that God always has an appropriate amount of grace to sustain him in any trial.
Satan wants you and I to think God has forsaken us; that He doesn’t love us if He lets us suffer, especially if it is undeserved suffering. Job’s wife told him to curse God and die. She swallowed the lie of Satan that all there is to life is what we have in this world. She didn’t realize that she was being tested as well. She didn’t realize Job was bringing maximum glory to God; that he would be blessed immensely in time and in the glory he brought to God would be parlayed into eternal blessings when life on earth was over. She was only concerned as most of us are in a time of suffering. “Oh Lord, make the pain go away.” Instead of, “Oh Lord help me bear the pain and see You more clearly through this dark time in my life." She could have continued with, “Help me to be weaned from this earthly bottle of which I have partaken since my birth. Help me to see beyond this present life on into the future where You are greater than my present pain. Help me acquire a taste for new milk. Help me to see the nutrients that will sustain me and carry me successfully to the goal line of my spiritual pilgrimage on this earth. Help me to finally realize that You can let nothing put space between your love and me."
God can show the believer who is suffering for blessing that he or she can be sustained with divine happiness even in the most unpleasant of times and circumstances, just as Paul and Silas suffered under the hands of the magistrates at Philippi in Acts 16:16-34.
The greatest example of undeserved suffering was seen in our Lord’s treatment by mankind while he was upon this earth. He was despised by men, rejected by his own countrymen, labeled a blasphemer by the very religion through which came the prophecy of his person, his purpose, and his provisions. He was laughed at, scorned, hated, gossiped about, wrongly accused and crucified. He knew the Father had his eye on him all the time and through every event of his life. Jesus Christ is the prototype for handling undeserved suffering. From his entry into Jerusalem the first day of the week he met and ministered to his disciples and his closest of family and friends. He was the one who was about to be put to death, yet instead of complaining he was comforting them even until his betrayal by Judas Iscariot on Thursday night, Jesus Christ remained faithful. His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane that night was physically; emotionally and mentally exhausting.
From Mark 14:32-36 Jesus asked that his impending separation from God on the cross to pass, because he knew the answer; it was not my will, but thy will be done. He knew it was his destiny to pay for the sins of the entire human race, John 3:17; 6:38-40.
He knew his undeserved suffering had eternal ramifications for every human being. He was sustained by the knowledge that great joy would come from satisfying the just demands of his holy Father and that the plan of the Father for salvation would be offered through himself to every human being, Heb.12:1-3.
It is the Sunday before we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and I would really love to see souls here seeking the Lord this week in particular, for if a man or woman is not committed to their place in Christ’s redemption story, then they are not ready for Christ’s resurrection story. If we are not redeemed first by the blood of the Lamb; by the sacrificial life Jesus Christ gave to save us from our sins, then we will not be resurrected unto eternal life.
Our Lord was sustained on his way to the cross, and on the cross by means of resident Bible doctrine. It was prophesied that he would proclaim at Calvary the words seen in Ps.31:5 “Into thine hands I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” This proclamation is fulfilled just moments before he died and it is recorded in Luke 23:46. It was truth that saw our Lord through the ordeal of his undeserved suffering.
He knew he could trust the Father to restore him after he had become sin for us on the cross.
He knew he could forgive the people who were doing what they were doing to him.
He knew he would be raised from the dead.
He knew he would return to the Father with multitudes of saved men and women, boys and girls from every corner of the globe, from the beginning to the end of time, Heb.2:9-10.
He knew his undeserved suffering served to bring glory to God and redemption to mankind, Heb.10:7-12.
He knew the victory which he secured in his undeserved suffering on the cross for our sins would enable him to subject all of his enemies under his footstool one day, Heb.10:13.
Fellow believers, we have the means of being sustained in any kind of undeserved suffering. We need to see the benefits of learning Bible truth, and we need to take it in as much and as often as possible. Stay positive to the word until your life on earth is over. It will come to an end one day. Pay day is coming. Do not become weary in well doing.