Trials and Suffering

Okay. What we've been doing for several weeks, and we'll be probably doing for the next two weeks, is laying a foundation. We're laying a foundation for trials and sufferings. And a foundation has to be laid before we go and look at trials and suffering.

Many of you, The Lord is probably going to use many of you with respect to counseling others who are in trouble, who are going through trials, who are going through circumstances in their life, who are going through sufferings in their life. And one of the things that is very important that you need to do is to lay a foundation. aspect of the foundation that we've laid so far is that God has a purpose, right? It's very critical that we understand that God has a purpose. He has an eternal purpose. His eternal purpose is carried out through the trials, through the sufferings, through the circumstances in life that we go through. Now, the other part of the foundation that needs to be laid is this.

When an unwanted circumstance or trial or whatever comes into your life, our reaction, our immediate reaction is what? Oh no. Why me, right? And it's something that, it's like Peter says, his admonition is, think and act strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you. Don't look at it as some stranger that has come into your life, because it isn't. It's designed. It's there for a purpose.

But our reaction is negative. The reason why our reaction is negative is because it's the old man that reacts to the trial. That's what happens. The old man reacts. The old man is the one that gets anxious and worries, and there's fear and anxiety. There's all of these aspects that go on within us.

So the other part of the foundation that we need to lay and understand is our identification with Christ and what God has done with the old man. That is critical. If someone you're counseling doesn't understand that, there'll be just a constant turmoil in their life. I guarantee you this, there will never be rest in a trial or suffering in a person's life if they don't understand their identification with Christ. And what Christ and what the Lord has done to the sin nature that reacts negatively to the trial, to the circumstance, to the suffering, to whatever.

So that's what we're going to do. So here's the question. And I know that this is going to be review for many of you, but for others, you may not have even heard or understood the Identification Truths. So, the purpose for the next two weeks is for all of us to get up to speed to the same level. Okay?

I had one thing that I wanted to add about the very purpose of God. I was talking with somebody once, and we were talking about how when God declared His glory like sweet creation, and I was saying, now isn't it just unbelievable that before any person was made, that the Lord made light. To just declare, to share exactly who He was, and they said, you know, can you imagine what a conceited God who would want to, you know, who would have to show himself off? And I thought, you know, that's part of that foundation, is knowing who the Lord is. Because otherwise, you see declaring who he is and revealing who he is as just something that comes from a selfish God who, you know, is going to parcel it out when he feels like it, you know.

Yeah, think about that, think about that thought for a minute, in terms of light. You know, there was light. Is that God showing off in terms of who he is? Why isn't it? He could already see he had no problem with the light in his house. But his nature and love concede in it. I mean, there's no selfish motives at all.

But think about this in terms of who God is and the totality of his glory. Because of who he is and the totality of his glory, it radiates as pure light, because that's who he is. He can't be anything else but who he is, and so he's not showing off anything. If that's who He is, you look at me and you see me, that's what you get. I mean, that's who I am, right? And the same thing is with the Lord.

His glory is so infinite that it radiates in pure, pure light. It can't do anything else. And I said a couple of weeks ago, the miracle The miracle is when Jesus Christ was here, He had that glory, right? And the miracle was that that glory wasn't radiated out through Him, and it was hidden, if you will, suppressed. That's the miracle.

The question is, as we look at these identification truths, the identification truths focus on the cross. They focus on the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. So as we look at the cross, his death, his burial, his resurrection, the question is, what happened here? So this is a question to the class. look at the cross, as you look at his death, his burial, his resurrection, what all happened? What all happened there? What's the first thing that happened?

Christ was crucified. And why? Okay? For the sins of the world. So one of the reasons why he went to the cross is to die and pay the penalty for the sins of the world. Okay? What else happened at the cross? Don't look at your notes. No, I didn't mean that literally. People are closing their books. What else?

He paid the penalty for the sins of the world. How about the source of sins? What's the source of sins? The sin nature. So on the cross, one of the things he did is he took care where he dealt with the sin nature. And after his death, he was buried and he was resurrected. So when we look at the cross, his death, he was resurrected. Let me ask the question. Let me think of a way to ask this question. If Christ just died on the cross for your sins and my sins, and he wasn't resurrected, would your sins and my sins be forgiven?

I see some yeses, some noes. Okay. The question is, those who say no, why? Why wouldn't they be forgiven? I think they wouldn't be forgiven, but they would have that position in heaven associated with Christ. Okay. But there would be no life. I mean, there would be a forgiven corpse. Okay. No, I mean, the sins would be forgiven, but there would be... Sorry, did I jump ahead? No, go ahead. No, but I mean, you know, yeah, the sins would be forgiven because Christ was, you know, The Lamb of God is the perfect sacrifice, so I think that the sins would be forgiven, but there would not be new life. Okay. Christ hasn't been resurrected. Okay. Everybody hear Peggy's answer? Anyone could go to the cross. Anyone could lay down their lives, but only Christ could be resurrected. Okay. Only Christ could be resurrected.

It wouldn't have fulfilled the words of the Old Testament. It wouldn't have fulfilled the words of the Old Testament? Okay. And those words? that he would be resurrected? Okay. So let me throw this out. Let's say one of the thieves next to him on the cross said, I'm going to die for the sins of the world.

Okay, so what distinguishes Christ from one of those thieves on the cross in terms of forgiveness? He had no sin. But how do we know that? How do we know that the thief on the cross had no sin? But nevertheless, Christ was put on the cross as a thief, a break in the law, whatever. So how do we distinguish between one person and the other person dying for the sins of the world?

Well, he proved who he was by being resurrected. Okay. Well, the resurrection was the completion of the prophecy of God. So, in fact, if he had not been resurrected, then how could we believe that our sins were forgiven? Okay. Okay. Partial truth, right? Yes. Okay.

So, the key is this, that God, way back in eternity past, and remember this, made a covenant. He knew that man was going to sin before the foundation of the world, right? And so when Adam sinned, it wasn't a surprise to God. He didn't bite his fingernails and say, what am I going to do now? Right? It wasn't a surprise to God. Why?

Because the Father and the Son made a covenant called the Eternal Covenant in Hebrews 13.20. The covenant is an agreement between two people. The son agreed to shed his blood for the sins of the world. The father said, if you shed your blood for the sins of the world, then I'll take it up again. I'll take your life up again. I'll raise you up again.

And so the proof to the world, the proof to us, that the sacrifice of Christ was efficacious, was of value, is by the Resurrection. Because if it wasn't for the Resurrection, we would still be in our sins, because if Christ wasn't resurrected, then we would not be justified, we would still be in our sins, because it comes in a package, and the package is the death and the resurrection. And the resurrection was God's proof that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied him. That Christ was his true satisfaction. Because he said, that will satisfy me, I will raise you up again. Is Jesus Christ the only one that has ever been resurrected from the dead?

Okay, Lazarus. But he was raised back to a fleshly life. Okay, alright. So there's a difference now between restoration and resurrection, right? Only one person, only one person in the world has ever been resurrected. true resurrection in terms of with a new body, a glorified body, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody else, Lazarus, Dorcas, anybody that was raised from the dead was restored back to life only to die again. So the resurrection is critical. I mean, Christ, He still has His body. He still has the holes from the nails in His arms and such, so I'm a little confused on what you mean by His resurrected body.

Okay. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, it talks about these bodies that are sown, sown to dishonor, raised in glory, and it goes through the sowing of this body and the raising into a new body. And it's sown a physical body and it's raised a spiritual body. So the body that's raised is like the body that was put into the ground. However, it's not the same. But it's like it.

So the body that is raised is a body that is not, say, limited by the physical laws of our universe, so that the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was raised, did they have to roll the stone away for him to get out of the tomb? How did he get out? He just passed right through the rock. So his body wasn't constrained by the physical laws of this universe.

But yet the apostles saw him, and Thomas, as you know, said, you know, I'm not going to believe this until I see him. And the Lord said, Thomas, come over here. Touch me, feel me. And he did. So he had what appeared to be a physical body. But yet it was a spiritual body, totally different than the physical body. So it's a spiritual body that resembles, if you will, the physical body, is the best way I can describe it.

And there's an interesting passage in We're getting off point here, but turn over to, let me see, and this is one for you to think about. 2 Corinthians, I think, chapter 5, if I can find it here. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5, starting at verse 1. It says, For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, talking about this physical body of ours, if it were dissolved, look what it says.

We have a building of God, a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavenlies. You know what that's saying? That's saying that we have, right now, a spiritual body prepared for us in the heavenlies. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be closed clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven."

Isn't that interesting? Are you suggesting that those who died in Christ have a body at this point in time? What does that appear to be saying? Does that appear to be saying that those in Christ have a spiritual body? So let me tell you what I think, in terms of as you go through the resurrection, and you go through these passages of scripture, that it says that we have a body, right now, awaiting us in heaven, a spiritual body.

And then at the rapture, when the Lord either takes us up to be, if we're alive, and takes us up to be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, or if we're dead, then he's going to raise us up, that this spiritual body takes on the physical characteristics of this body. Does that make sense? This is a whole new subject. Yes, he's in heaven as a man. This earthly body in the rapture, in the eternal grave, or living, that body goes to our body in heaven who awaits us. I mean, there's a union that happens then, but we the body, our body, in the heavenlies or in the heavens at this point, right now. Yeah, I think there is a spiritual body, right now, awaiting us. Okay, off the subject, one of these days we'll talk about the resurrection.

So, as we talk about, as we look at the cross, Fact number one, Jesus Christ died and was buried for the sins of the world. He was our substitute. He took our place. The penalty of sin is death. we should have died spiritually. He took that penalty upon himself. The other thing that happened on the cross is that Christ died unto sin.

Now look at the prepositions. The prepositions are critical. That Christ died and was buried for the sins of the world, for, says in our behalf, or as our substitute, So He was our substitute for the sins of the world. And notice, I've got in blue here, sins. Singular or plural? Plural. Point number two says Jesus Christ died unto sin. Notice a different preposition. It's not for sin, but unto sin. Singular or plural? So there's a difference between sins and sin.

Sins are the product of sin, or the sin nature. We'll get to Romans chapter 6, and in Romans chapter 6 you'll find sin only in the singular. And there's almost always a definite article with it, the sin. It's talking about specific sin, and when it does that, it's talking about the sin nature. So Christ died unto the sin nature as our representative. We'll look into that. I just want to do an overview here right now.

With respect to the resurrection, It's critical, because we would not be justified. We would never be declared righteous if it wasn't for the resurrection. It was the resurrection that justified us to declare this righteous from our sins. Paul? I was just going to raise the concept of atonement versus propitiation, right? In terms of if you were not resurrected.

I mean, the animal sacrifice of the Old Testament was an atonement, a covering, Versus propitiation, a total satisfaction. Propitiation just means satisfaction. That God is totally satisfied. Okay, very good. Okay. Correct. Correct. It was a temporary covering every year. It was a temporary covering of the sins of the children of Israel. It was just a covering. And the forgiveness did not occur until the cross. The other thing with respect to the cross is that you and I as believers were identified, placed in union with with the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? This is a summary. Now we're going to take a look at each one of these. Okay? So I want to take a look, and it says, Jesus Christ died and was buried for the sins of the world as our substitute. Here's the question. When we talk about the sins of the world, What are we talking about? Are we talking about just the... When we talk about world, what are we talking about? Are we talking about just the world of the elect? Those who are elect?

You know, believers versus them. Did he die just for the sins of the believers? Okay. So he died for the sins of the entire world? Whole world? Okay. So now, if he died for the sins of the whole world, okay, make that assumption, now the question is, are the sins forgiven?

Or, are they just forgiven to those who believe? And unbelievers, their sins are not forgiven, but only the sins of those who believe are forgiven. See the distinction I'm trying to make? Well, aren't they forgiven, but until the person believes and accepts it and is then washed Okay. All right, so let me ask it a different way. I'm dealing with, working with a couple of guys who are not believers.

Can I tell them and I won't use their names, hey, Joe and Tom, I want you to understand something, that your sins, past, present, future, those that you'll commit, are totally forgiven. Your sins are no longer an issue with God. Can I tell them that? That they're totally forgiven. Whether they believe it or not, whether they understand it or not. Can I tell them that?

Okay. I think I can. Now, a lot of the teaching today in Christianity says that the applicability is only to believers. the applicability of forgiveness is only to those who believe. Okay? So, what we want to do is try and understand that, so that when you're talking to your neighbor, you can say, Do you know something?

God has forgiven you of every single sin. You'll never go to hell because of your sins. What a wonderful thing to share with people. That sins is not the issue. How does John 3.16-18, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes that whosoever believes in him should not perish, right? But have everlasting life.

But it goes on to John 3.18 that the person that doesn't believe is condemned already. He's condemned at his birth because of the same nature that was born within him.

Okay, you're jumping ahead. We're going to get there, all right. Okay, we'll get there in just a minute. Okay, but Art is right. Okay, so what I want to do is take a look at this. That Jesus Christ died, was buried for the sins of the world as a substitute for every single person, for every single sin, past, present, future. The scriptures teach that. I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter 2.9.

Hebrews 2.9, But we see Jesus, who is made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. Now, does that sound pretty convincing? For every single person? For every man? And the word there, taste, you could translate as experience. He experienced death for every single man, every single person.

Look at 1 Peter 3.18. 1 Peter 3.18 For Christ also has once suffered for sins." Now, notice that it says, for Christ also has once suffered for sins. Once for all. And it says, for sins, plural. And there the word suffer can also be translated experienced. But look what it says. the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive by the Spirit." So, it says that he died for the sins, the just.

In fact, a literal translation of that says, a righteous man for unrighteous men." Does anybody have a translation that translates just to righteous? No? Everybody says just, then just. But literally, a righteous man for unrighteous men. Who is unrighteous? All men. And if we go back to Romans, there are none that are righteous. How many? No, not one. Okay, so the righteous man for unrighteous men which is all, right? No, no. So it's for every single person.

And it says, he died for the sins, their sins, plural. Okay. 1 John 2.2. And this is what Bob was talking about just earlier. And he, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the propitiation, or that word means satisfaction, he is the satisfaction for our sins. Whose sins are they? He says, our sins. John is writing to believers for our sins. And look what he says. He follows up with And not for our sins only, but the sins of the whole world. So, for every single sin.

Isn't that wonderful to know? Isn't that wonderful that when you're talking to somebody, you can tell them that their sins are forgiven? What freeing news it is. Those people who are unbelievers, who the Lord puts in your sphere of influence, I can tell you this, that many of them, and probably most of them, are burdened down because of their sins, of what they've done in their life. They are just burdened down. And for you to come along and share this wonderful news to them, that your sins are no longer an issue with God. They're totally forgiven. Now, does that mean that just because their sins are totally forgiven, that they're going to be in heaven? Not yet. We'll get there.

In John 4.10 it says essentially the same thing. I want you to turn to Acts chapter 13. And I want you to look and see the progression here in Acts. Because this is critical.

Because there are many believers that will say that our that only the believers' sins are forgiven, and not the unbelievers. So look at Acts chapter 13, starting at verse 38. It says, Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, is preached unto you, the forgiveness of sins. So, what is being proclaimed, what is being heralded, is the forgiveness of sins. And so, this is what was being preached. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven.

Now, does that mean that they're going to be with the Lord in all eternity? No, look at the next verse. Verse 39, And by him all that believe are justified, are declared righteous. So, you see what's happening here? Here is the message that your sins are forgiven. But forgiveness is not equal to justification. That's the key. Forgiveness is not justification. So, justification comes by how? Belief. Believing. Believing that Christ really did do that for you, that he did pay that penalty for your sins.

They're forgiven, but it's by believing that He did that for you. all that believe are justified, declare righteous from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses." So here we have the law of Moses, which was holy, righteous, and good. And if you could live by that law, you could be justified, but no man could ever live by that law with one exception, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was impossible for man to keep the law, or to live by the law, because man had a sin nature, and all the law did was inflame the sin nature.

That's all it did. That's all the law does. You know, I think it's a great thing that they took the Ten Commandments out of that courthouse down in South Carolina, or wherever it was. And you know why? Because the Ten Commandments, all it does is inflame the sin nature. And it's like Paul said, here's the law, thou shalt not covet, and all he did was find out that all he did was covet more, because he says, yeah, I'm going to covet.

Right? And that's what the law does. Okay. Bob? I was just going to say, these two verses, too, speak to what you said earlier about justification requiring resurrection, right? Yes. Because we can't be justified by the law of Moses. That's the whole atonement deal of the Old Testament, right? The idea of covering only. Temporary covering, yes. Absolutely. Covering only. All right.

Last one, 2 Corinthians 5.19.

In 2 Corinthians 5.19 it says, to wit, that God was in Christ Reconciling the world unto himself. Reconciling.

What does that mean? When we try to reconcile two parties, that there's enmity between the two parties, right? And there's a barrier between the two parties. and reconciliation is to break down that barrier, to bring the two parties together. So the barrier between man and God was man's sins, right? And Christ was in the world to break down that barrier, to bring man to God. Okay, so to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, How?

Not imputing, not putting into, the word impute means not to put into their account, not to charge them with their trespasses or their transgressions or their sins. Okay? So that man sins are not put into his or her account. Isn't that interesting? So picture this.

Here are all the unbelievers from day one, appearing before the Great White Throne judgment, where all of the dead are raised. All of the unbelieving dead are raised and appear before the Great White Throne, and they're judged. And it says, and the books are opened. And there's the Book of the Lamb, the Lamb's Book of Life. There's the Book of Works.

There isn't a book of sins. You know why? Because God isn't imputing. He's not taking account. He's not writing down. He's not counting man's sins. So man is going to be judged. just the way man wants to be judged. He wants to be judged on his works, on his self-righteousness, that he is a good person and that he could make it. And the Lord says, okay, that's the way I'll judge you. So the book of works is open, which is all out of self. It's all of the self-righteousness that each person has done that he or she thinks is going to merit him or her to be in heaven.

And I don't know about you, but with me, I came to the Lord very late in my life. And I went through life thinking, if I'm a good person and I kind of walk the line, then I'll be okay, and I'll be acceptable to the Lord. I can remember at 30 years old, and I was going to a high Episcopal church at the time. And when you walked down the aisle, and before you went into the pew, you had to genuflect. And I can remember saying, let's see, did I get that right? And if this is true, And if I did this right, then that's making me acceptable unto God.

You know? I mean, never, ever thinking about my sins, you know? That's your problem now, going to a high episcopal. If you'd gone to an old one, you wouldn't have had that problem. I wouldn't have had that problem. Okay. Okay. Alright. So, man is never going to be condemned because of his or her sins. Right? But man is going to go to hell. People are going to hell. And the question is, why? We're not believing, and that's exactly right.

So I want you to turn to what Art was talking about before, John 3.18. And we might as well start with 316, as Art did.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Now we're talking about salvation. How does salvation come? Now just because man's sins are forgiven does not mean that he is saved. So verse 18, he that believes on him is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

So it comes down to belief, right? To believing in what Christ has done on that cross. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ means believing in his person in terms of who he is, he's the eternal son of God, and believing his work, what he did. that he died and he paid the penalty for their sins. That's all that God requires of someone to believe when we're talking about believing in Christ.

And here's the clincher. Turn over to John chapter 16. And so we're talking about that man's sins are no longer an issue with God, right? If they're paid for, it's a done deal, once for all, past, present, future, their sins are taken care of. God is not imputing. He's not taking a record. He's not writing down their sins. They're never going to be judged for their sins.

But there's still one issue between God and man. And what's that issue? So John 16. We'll start at verse 7 just to get things in context. He says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. This is Christ talking to his disciples. If I go not away, the Comforter will not come. The Comforter being the Holy Spirit will not come. But if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will look what he's going to do. When the Spirit of God comes, the Holy Spirit comes, he's going to do three things. He will reprove the world of sin, or convict the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment. Now, how does He convict the world of sin? What sin does the Holy Spirit convict the world of? So we read on in verse 9. It's going to convict the world of sin because they believe not on Me.

So the only issue between man and God is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's Christ. It's not their sins. Sins are no longer the issue. It's the person of Christ that He paid the penalty for their sins, and God wants them to acknowledge that this is my Son in whom I'm well pleased. And He has paid the penalty for your sins. He's done a work for you. Believe Him. Believe in Him. Trust in Him. Rest in Him.

I'm talking about like in churches where you're baptized, what other worship is baptized? You're baptized for the forgiveness of sins? Okay. I'm not familiar with that, that people are baptized for the forgiveness of sins. It's like you've been baptized for your sins to be washed away, but at that point when you're baptized, that your sins were forgiven. Okay.

The person who's being baptized, sins are no longer the issue for that person, for any person, right? So that person is not being baptized into water because of forgiveness of sins. we're going to be looking at baptism in the next two weeks, because we're not going to finish next week. We're going to be looking at baptism, and what is true baptism? What does it mean? Okay? So, we'll be looking at that. Okay. Any questions, comments?

The resurrection of Christ also proved that He was the Son of God. Yes, yes, it was the absolute proof that He was the Son of God. May I just mention the issue with Judge Moore down in Alabama or wherever it is, it's not a doctrinal issue. But it's a constitutional issue, actually. Because in the United States, we, in our Constitution, we see freedom of religion. And that's the issue. It's not that they need to be there because of what they teach us as Christians. But it's just simply the Constitution. OK. Let's close.

Our Father and our God, we do thank you for your love for us. Your matchless and marvelous grace has been poured out to us on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father, for him and for his sacrifice for us. We thank you Lord, not only did he die for our sins, but he died unto the source of those sins, the sin nature.

And we truly thank you for that. Otherwise, we would be going through life never being delivered from that source. And we thank you that we are delivered. And we thank you for your love for us. And thank you, Lord God, that your purpose is for us to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.