Trials and Suffering
Bob Eckel · May 9, 2004
Trials & Suffering (2004), No. 19
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826236122119

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, this is great text this morning and one that has a lot of personal value to me, but yet I think can have it to each one of us. And I'm talking with Gail this morning even briefly in terms of, Gail's with us this morning, in terms of the importance of this passage to her too. And I think to set the stage for the last two verses of 2 Corinthians 4 that we should really go back to verse 6 and kind of read through the text and just touch base briefly with what's preceded this. So we're in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 6 through 18 and today we're going to concentrate on verses 17 and 18. And I've kind of entitled today's lesson as Our Light Affliction gives rise to eternal glory. That's, I think, a theme that will play out as we look at this particular text. Second Corinthians 4, verse 6, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Now remember, this class is on trials and tribulations, right? Verse seven, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels. What treasure? What treasure do we have? Lord's glory. Verse six, right? Stage is set. Isn't that neat? We've got this treasure in earthen vessels.

That means each one of us, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. You know, the trials and tribulations, when we try to get through them in our own strength, boy, it pales in comparison to what the glory is expended through us. We're troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We're 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, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak. knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you.

For all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal way of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Okay, the stage is set.

For this light affliction, which is but for a moment, What is this light affliction? Think about that a little bit. Light affliction. Does that seem like an oxymoron to you? Light affliction? Well, maybe not. Maybe it's just one of those kind of small taints, like having a parking place taken away when we're looking for one right before we get there. Not quite what we're talking about there, because if you go to the Greek, you come up with a term that's a very, very strong term in the Greek. Affliction is not kind of just this little thing that gets in our way on a day-to-day basis, but this is from the Greek Philipses, which means pressing together, pressure, oppression. You get this idea that an affliction is not having a parking place stolen from us, right?

We're talking about the kinds of things that the author of this text, in fact, experienced in his life. Think about Paul and kind of the things that the Lord took him through. And here's the author of this text, someone who'd been there and done that, if you will, and can, I think, reflect very importantly on his past and his new citizenship and what it means to him that this affliction, although serious, really in perception as to what this really means for the life of the believer, is really something on the light side. And when you think of light, it's really neat to think about turning to a very neat passage in the text, and that's Matthew 11 30, for my yoke easy, or is easy, my burden is light. So the idea here, what do we make of this?

Light affliction. Again, it sounds like a contrast, but yet... Yeah, Norm. Considering life eternal with the Lord, light affliction is our current life here on earth is short in relationship and our problems are relative with life, knowing that the Lord is behind everything that we do. Therefore, life itself is almost a life affliction in general. Great, Norm.

So, are you looking then at life as the affliction? This whole thing is an affliction? Oh, he's got a phone call. He called his broker for advice about our texts. So what do you think about, maybe even in taking Norm's comment a little bit further, what about life itself being the affliction?

I think that's a good view, isn't it? I mean, think about the Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians where he talked about how he thought it was not robbery with God to be made equal with God, but then came to the earth, in a sense, really plays in very nicely to where our citizenship's really at, isn't it?

I don't think that's what Paul's talking about here, but I think we could extend it and maybe overly spiritualize it that this life is an affliction, right? Because we're in these temporary addresses down here, right? we're positioned in heavenly places. So in a sense, just being in a foreign country like we are is an affliction. But I think actually Paul is really being much more specific in terms of what these afflictions are all about as his classes on trials and tribulations, because the stage is set before this about Remember back in verses 8 and 9, we're troubled on every side, yet not distressed, da-da-da-da-da-da. So this isn't just simply the earthly life, although if you think about it, that many times is an affliction. The problem we get into here is what? I mean, what's the issue here in terms of just the earthly existence? Where's the temptation often that's more subtle to each one of us? Not these hard, pressing trials that come our way.

Those are obvious and easily identified. Well, it is the lost parking space. Okay. I bore trouble with those. Those are the places where I think we often forget to remember who we are and where we are seated. And we get frustrated and we allow those to build up.

It's kind of a self-driven existence, right? I don't know about you, but comfort zones are the things we all look for, isn't it? I mean, there's these earthly security blankets that we all have, kind of those life insurance policies and having a warm home and, you know, three meals, three squares a day and those kinds of things. I mean, there's nothing inherently wrong with any of that. It's just the earthly existence. And we get, I don't know about you, but I kind of like knowing that everything's taken care of. I mean, you know, the life of Paul is not one I can identify with.

So when we think of some of our afflictions, what are you thinking about on a day-to-day basis? Anybody? Aren't a lot of it the day-to-day? It is the stress of the world. It is. Just the stress, the pace, the expectations, whoever you're dealing with. And I think I'm noticing that the world is becoming more and I mean it's like spiraling down because it's becoming more and more rude and more and more angry and all those things. And we're in it. We're here. Those are afflictions to me too every day. There are a lot of stresses.

I have another one. Jack? The other day Hal mentioned that this big thing they had down there in Arizona where they had these people inside this protected environment. The biosphere, yeah. The trees all died. And I'm just kind of speculating, sure we have a lot of trials and tribulations around here with these old earthly bodies and getting along in the world, but I wonder if we didn't have any of that stress without a spiritual body. whether we fall apart ourselves. You know, the other interesting thing about the biosphere is kind of some of the scientific aspects about it.

You know, the people that lived there lost a tremendous amount of weight because they really couldn't get their food produced adequately to maintain their energy intake for all the energy they expended. And now the National Institutes of Health has grants out there to look at the ability to prolong earthly existence by caloric restriction. I mean, so If you look at the animal data, if you take animals and you reduce their food intake throughout their life by 20 or 25 percent, now that's not a subtle food restriction. Think about eating a quarter less calories than you're currently eating for the rest of your life. The evidence is both from monkeys and from rodents that you can live about, you know, a third longer, 22 percent to a third longer in terms of lifespan, if in fact you're calorically restricted throughout your life. So now there are grants going out from the National Institutes of Health, your tax dollars and mine, to pay for these types of experiments to be done in humans. Goodness, with the obesity problem we have, I mean, the issue is now we're talking about, you know, people losing weight far below what a normal sustenance should be. So...

Are you just kidding me? No. Believe me. I'm just sharing with you that we talk about light afflictions. Jackson wasn't brought up to biosphere. That wasn't planned as part of this lesson here this morning, I can assure you. So let's take it to real time again.

What about your light afflictions? The afflictions themselves, what are they? Are these little small things really what Paul's talking about? And if he's not, what are they? And do we need them? I mean, there's this kind of opportunity to really be more like Paul and become martyrs, but I don't think that that's what God's calling us to, right?

I mean, God had a life for Paul that related to his plan for Paul and the text to follow and all the things that he went through. I mean, Paul gives us a glimpse of what it's like for one of us humans to walk in a different set of shoes. I mean, we don't aspire to be Paul because Paul was unique to what God had for him, but this idea of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ is something Paul knew a lot about. And I think these afflictions of Paul, which were far different than the ones we face today, are ones which in the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ clearly were light. And that's the life that Paul, by faith, ultimately learned to live, right? For me to live as Christ and die as gain, either way you win there, don't you?

So I think the important truth here is that this light affliction, although apparently an oxymoron, is something that we can translate into our day-to-day experience. It doesn't have to be the death or illness of a loved one. It can be anything that ultimately separates us from God and really hampers our earthly experience here. And we can identify with Paul because we have the same capabilities of him by faith in the new man and the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives.

I think the interlinear Greek perhaps does a little bit better job with this section of verse 17, for the present lightness of the affliction. Doesn't that kind of define it a little bit better? It doesn't call the affliction light. It comments on the environment in which the affliction's in and says, for the present likeness of the affliction. Remember, present likeness, not future, right? The present likeness of the affliction.

Doctor, if you look at this as a comparison, we're looking at the verses before, verse 8 before, I'm distressed and so on, and this is a comparison that even all these things, this is much less when we think of it's only for a moment. That's right. And think about eternity past the future, right? Infinite, in terms of our understanding. And this perhaps is just a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month, even a year or two, right? That's for a moment, isn't it, in terms of eternity?

And, of course, the response we have, depending on whether it's engendered by the flesh or engendered by the Spirit, in fact, relates to the truth of this passage, right? I mean, we can make the affliction very, very temporal and very profound. In fact, that's our choice. But I think, honestly, it's good theology that puts us in the right perspective. There's no power of the flesh over afflictions, is there?

You know, remember we mentioned last week the ability of the world sometimes to look like they're doing better than the believer is in these circumstances? Boy, there are numerous examples that I've seen of that. You know, believers lost a loved one and you'd think that there's no foundation in who that loved one was in the Lord Jesus Christ or in them too, not being critical and using kind of a judgmental perspective. But then you see the world and they seem to hang in there pretty well and don't really seem to be suffering the same grief. Boy, when we look at this through the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can't come to any other conclusion that our life is hidden in heavenly places, right? I mean, that gives you a profound sense of security, no matter what these earthly things are all about. It's not something you talk yourself into. Either you believe the Word of God or you don't. And I think, again, good solid biblical foundations are important in terms of taking these on. All right, let's move on. Alright, let's think about what this light affliction or lightness of affliction really is all about.

Well, what it's about is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. How about that for some adjectives? Worketh for us. Worketh is interesting. This is a strong term. It really, in the Greek, means emphatically work out. This is not kind of, you know, some modest effort. But these afflictions are emphatically, strongly, powerfully working out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Now, think about that. The implications of this term worketh in the Greek is by toil. Now keep in mind, who's doing the working here? are we doing the working? Who's doing the working? All right, but through what circumstances? All right, but what set the stage for this to have to work? Yeah, exactly.

This light affliction, if you will, is what's working, right? And that's the power of the Lord working through the light affliction. It's not the affliction itself that's working through this. It's ultimately the light affliction which sets the stage to allow this idea of an eternal and exceeding way to glory to be emphatically worked out in our life. And it almost is to the point that if there weren't these afflictions, we wouldn't have this kind of result. Boy, and keep in mind, where's your home? Remember, we're in foreign addresses down here. This is just our business address. This ain't our home. Well, I have a question for you.

When, where it says, worketh out, and we're not doing any of that worketh, however we are in the world, and there are times, I'm getting too personal, where we're faced with these trials and stuff, but it has to be worked out in a worldly manner, how do we, as believers, Be more specific, can you? I don't want to pry, but... Kirk and I are in a trial right now where it has brought us into legal terms. And it's hard to know, what do we do?

Do we just sit there and just go, okay, whatever? No. No, I mean, unfortunately, God's placed us all in an earthly government and the rules and laws of the things that are pertinent to this world. But, you know, the neat thing about that is that the triumph's already there for you. I mean, you know, nobody said this is going to be easy, did they? I mean, these afflictions all point to these kinds of things that come up in our paths down here, but you've got to be, by faith, resting in the fact that from an attorney perspective, this is all for His glory and for your sustenance and your comfort. How do we handle that properly without putting a do or a work attached to that? As far as believers, you're put in the situation and you've got to just go, okay, I'm resting, but at the same time, you've got to deal illegally. Right. Well, you get good advice, number one. You need good legal advice, for sure.

You're living in an earthly environment here. We can't circumvent the ways of the earth, even though that stop sign looked like I didn't need to obey it, right? If I'm going through it, there's a consequence of doing that. So I think that we do, unfortunately, have to place ourselves in the system that we're operating within.

So if it's a legal matter, I suspect that you're position is best handled by someone who can help you in giving you legal advice that's sound. So don't try to go above what your ability is from an earthly perspective to deal with a problem, but yet the affliction is there for this purpose, is it not? Because it's working for you in a far more exceeding and eternal way of glory. The way you carry yourself through this is not a work of the flesh. And I guess that's where I get confused where it's from. Hey, I don't want to deal with this situation in a fleshly manner, but I'm dealing with it in a worldly manner. So am I dealing with it fleshly or not?

Well, you have to. Only the Holy Spirit can answer that in your own life. But this idea of this far more exceeding and internal way to glory doesn't make the circumstances any different. It just makes the way you respond to the circumstances different. And this isn't something you need to try to do. You've got to step away from this and look at this through eternal eyes.

What's God's main purpose for each one of us? And what's the mechanism? Romans 8. What's the purpose for each one of us as believers? To conform us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? And how does that occur? Karen, unfortunately, through legal issues. I mean, just using that as an example. I mean, the mechanism by which our citizenship is proven true is by these trials and tribulations that come in our way.

And in fact, I've heard many say, and Paul reflects that in the Word too, is the more trials and trips we get, perhaps God's got a greater workforce. I mean, that's a paraphrase, somewhat my opinion, but I do think some people just seem to be called to more of these, maybe.

I said goodbye to my wife 10 years ago. I had to think that the Lord had a lot more to teach me and he'd already finished with her. I'm still learning. I'm a slow learner. I keep thinking about Paul, for me to live as Christ and die as Cain. And I sometimes like the second option.

But anyway, he leaves each one of us here for whatever reason. And it's not to get red, white and blue ribbons in terms of performance. It's a matter of learning increasingly to live by faith. and to live on the basis that our citizenship is in heaven, not here. So get good legal advice. That's important. And so you're well informed about what your options are and what you can do. But yet the affliction works this far more exceeding weight of glory. Look at this, by toil. This is not easy. And again, back to affliction and what that implies. The affliction is what's working it out by His great grace.

Yes? I'd just like to add something to Karen's coverage. I think, you know, when we're put in these trials, and she's talking legal, I don't think we have to handle this ourselves. I think we need to look for someone that can help counsel us. When I was struggling last year, the first thing I did after breaking all down, Let's pick up my telephone and call Hal. Yeah, Hal's a... You know, I bet that's not the first time he's gotten a phone call like that. I could not have gotten better help. And I know it was the Lord working through him. He gave me such peace and comfort.

Call Hal. I mean, you know what? He came over and I said, where can I meet you? He said, you're in no shape. We'll meet you at your house. Yeah, yeah. Thanks. You've got a lot of friends around here too, believe me. Don't do this alone. You don't have to. Good, thanks. Any other comments? Anybody else have advice for Karen?

I think just that we know that our walk is sometimes in the spirit and sometimes not. Don't kick yourself when you find yourself not walking in the spirit, but just recognize You know, as Mike says, confession just means agreeing with God. And repentance means turning back to being with Him. And it's not a matter of you kicking yourself. It's a matter of you saying, OK, Lord, I'm struggling with this, but I know the truth. And, you know, ten seconds from now, you might still be trying to grab the reins, but ten seconds from there, you might be able to give them back to the Lord. And that is a growing process. It does take time. That's why we have The years we do to learn it. And then in eternity we don't have to do it anymore.

And I totally agree with Monique that this is an amazing body group. And all of us would love to be in support of each other and of you through this. The body is there for the bodies. Okay, and I know that what I was going to say, of course, is a Jewish thing. It comes directly from the flesh. Please stop it. So I want to handle it better, not that we're, you know, you've got to do what you've got to do, but you want to handle it in a way so that it is glorification instead of resentment. Sure. Well, that's the easy way out, right? I'm meaning easy. That's the way the flesh is used to. The old man shows up all the time.

We know Adam a lot better than we know the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm sorry to say. But yet, this is there for a very special purpose. And you do have plenty of people around you. We've got in our elders, particularly, but far beyond our elders, we have great people in this body that can help you through this trial.

So, yes. My daughter, I mean, and I, we struggle with a lot of things all the time. You think that's unique? Anyway, she and I can get down to it and really discuss things. And I keep telling her, I mean, it's like, no, okay, Lord, I can handle this.

We'll save the big ones for you. We'll save them all for you, not just the little ones. I think Nancy touched on that before, yeah. Those little things come up, and Martin too. Really, I tend to get more bothered by those myself. Yeah, Gail. I guess I would say to Karen that... I'm sorry. Hey, you know it's good that you feel free to share that in here. That's wonderful. Yeah, that's great. That crying or falling apart or whatever is nothing to be ashamed of. Absolutely. He's got you right where he wants you.

Remember, we are not as informed now as we will be on the other side of whatever it is we're going through. And going through it is the hard part. And you have to deal with the emotions God gave you, your emotions. your ults in nature, as well as probably Satan or whatever, coming at you and using you. And so you deal with that. But going to the Lord, like I said, going to the Lord is your resource. That's where you get your strength. And even though you might feel bad, oh I cried, or why is this affecting me more than I think it ought to? Just let the Lord take that part of it. And keep on trusting Him. And He is and will conform you more and more to the image of His Son. And what you will be at the end of this as time passes will be so neat.

Think of the Garden of Gethsemane. What was Christ's concern in the Garden? What was His anticipation? Separation. Exactly. And He was distraught. And it's neat to think that he was distraught, not because of the physical punishment, again, not to belittle that. There's no question.

If you've seen, again, we mentioned this last week, The Passion of the Christ, there's no question the physical trial was there. But to think about his His concern, his sense of pressure and depression coming from his separation from the Heavenly Father is an uplifting thing for us to think about. Because we're positioned as sons of God, heirs to the throne. And God's already seen what things he's going to be taking us through to prove it's true for who we really are. And look at this. weight. Can you envision this?

It sounds just so crazy to me, this weight or heaviness of the burden of glory. What's that all about? It's kind of this 10-ton burden of glory. Can you believe that? Isn't that tremendous that these afflictions are giving us this heaviness of glory? I mean, that sounds again like a second oxymoron that we're dealing with in this verse. that we've got this thing that's confounding us, that's making us weep and be scared and anxious and all the things that bring about the human experience of doubt and lack of trust, but yet the text says that this is not only a heavy burden of glory, but it's exceeding and eternal.

Wow. Show me something out of the book of Islam that touches on that. I mean, where can this be orchestrated other than from heavenly places? This isn't some martyrdom that we've been asked to take on here. This is the truth of the Word of God, that these earthly things really put a tremendous weight of God's glory on us.

And what's our response to this? How do we respond to this? Doug, you said it last week. How do we respond to this? Faith rest. You rest on the goodness of the Lord. You leave it to Him. And you know, that doesn't make the trial any easier. it's still there. And I think the other thing about that, go back to 2 Peter, what are we here for? To learn the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowledge. Right. It comes through these things. That's what we're doing here. Any other thoughts?

Let's turn to Romans 8.18 for a second. I have it in part up here, but let's go back to that text. It very much relates, I think, to this verse. Remember Romans 8. It's set after 5, 6, and 7. Just go to tangential just a second.

The Lord put Romans in the right place in the New Testament, didn't he? We've got the gospel account, then we've got the transition of Acts. into the truth of the Church Age, and then we've got Romans. And in terms of doctrinal text, there's a foundation on Romans that we build our faith, honestly, in terms of the life in Christ.

But in Romans 8.18 it says, For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Isn't that beautiful? And that's not trying harder.

That's the truth of the belief that we're secured and positioned in heavenly places and the Holy Spirit now gives us no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus and working through us to accomplish this task. And like it or not everybody, the trials and tribulations are there for us ultimately to accomplish this purpose.

First Peter, let's turn to that again, chapter 1, verses 6 through 8. In this ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, year and heaviness through manifold trials, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes. How's that? The trials, remember it's this light affliction that worketh for us a far more exceeding internal way to glory. The scripture is consistent, is it not? First Peter says that this in fact manifold trials, that the trial of our faith is much more precious than of gold that perishes.

Though it be tried with, for I might be quote, found under praise and honor and glory. That same concept again, that his glory is ultimately manifested. This burden of his glory, if you will, this heaviness of his glory. Isn't that beautiful? Again, the heaviness of God's glory is exceeding an eternal nature of this glory. ultimately manifested through the trial.

Here's at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye love, and whom though now ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. That's the hope, is it not, that the return of the Lord Jesus Christ will make this all seem pale that we're currently experiencing.

Let's go on to verse 18. Okay, so we've been told in 17 that this light affliction is just for a moment. This is in terms of eternal sequences of events. This isn't very much time and I think is but for a moment really reflects the fact that it's looked at as quote light. Again, it just is not anything in terms of eternal purposes. worthy of serious consideration because of what ultimately it accomplishes in giving us this exceeding internal weight of glory. Now here's the working of the Spirit in our lives, and this is positional truth that ultimately becomes conditional.

Get your eyes, and again, Karen, you can't ignore your situation. You need to get legal advice and spiritual counseling from right people who can help you through this issue. But while we look not at the things which are seen, that doesn't mean you ignore your issue. I mean, we all have these things come up on a day-to-day basis often, and we can't ignore this. But the question is, we're not going to look at these trials and tribulations and afflictions that come in a way that ultimately ignores the verse that occurs before us. The things that are seen, what are they, and what's their fate? Let's just be very, very earthly now. Everything that exists on the earth exists in what domain? And what's going to happen to the whole creation? It's grounded in sin and unbelief and ultimately what happens to sin? What's the eternal outcome of sin?

Death. So that's the kind of thing that ultimately we're looking at. What's the alternative of looking at the things that are seen in terms of their ultimate? Their ultimate is death. and absence of value? Well, the alternative is, how's this verse, a couple verses just to try on, Hebrews 12, 2 and 3, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." So the alternative to this is, in fact, back in the earthly domain, is it not?

So there's a lot of comfort that we are, in fact, looking to the author and the finisher of our faith. Yes? I have a little thing here for Charlie Hicks. I don't know if some of you remember Charlie Hicks. We studied Corinthians once and he said this, you can see without hearing, but can't hear without seeing. You can see without hearing. See without hearing, but you can't hear without seeing, meaning spiritually seeing. And I just thought that was so neat and I wrote that down right there. It's a margin note in your Bible, good. So you can make it a margin note in your Bible too.

I was reading on the plane coming back from San Francisco yesterday something out of the book of Charles Coates here. It's titled the book Spiritual Blessings. I'm not sure how many of you have seen this book, but this kind of hit the lesson for today a little bit. This is just one paragraph, so bear with me. This is the chapter on deliverance. The book by Coates has these chapters, forgiveness of sins, justification, acceptance, deliverance, thirsting or overflowing, I like that one, loved unto the end, the divine effect of the truth, the way of holiness, and the bright and morning star. Nice reading for being uplifted.

And I quote Coates, I'm sure we have to learn that death is on things here. back to the issue of looking at the things that are seen, right, and focusing on these things that are seen. Let me repeat that. I'm sure we have to learn that death is on things here. We may learn it on the privilege line or on the experimental line, but it must needs be learned.

They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. We have to learn that there is nothing here to minister to us. There is no refreshment here. not a blade of grass or a drop of water for the lambs and sheep of Christ's flock. We may think in our folly that if we had this or that it would minister satisfaction to us. We may set our eyes on some pleasing prospect. Certain things may seem full of promise. We may turn aside to quench our thirst at what appears to be an attractive pool, only to find that it is a delusive mirage.

Companionships, listen to this, I think this is really profound. Companionships, hobbies, books, music, or any of the thousand and one things which engage the minds of men must fail to minister satisfaction to the believer's heart. God will not have us to find satisfaction in the things which are here.

So, temporal things. to be accepted for what they are, but then the second part of this verse then rings home. Consider the eternal. So, the alternative to looking at the things that are seen is to looking at the things that are not seen. Because the things that are seen are temporal, and where is our existence? Are we here for just a time to do our good work for God and get brownie points and rewards for this work? Hardly.

We're to look at the things that are not seen because those are eternal. Consider the eternal. What do you think about when you think about eternity? We'll know, we'll know what we can't know now, and we'll see what we can't see now. We don't have much detail, do we? But what do you think about? Just reassociate.

Think of eternity, what comes to mind. You know, let me be very candid with you and frank. You know, this idea of being with the Lord Jesus Christ forevermore, you know, is scripturally sound and excites me some, but I just kind of think, gee, is that going to be enough? I mean, that sounds stupid, but I mean, just sit around all day with the Lord? I mean, I'm not going to get old.

I mean, that sounds terrible for me to say that, but I'm sure that he's going to take it into a realm that we don't even begin to understand. So that's an act of faith, is it not, in terms of what eternity is all about? What else do you think about when you think about eternity? There will be the struggle between the old nature and the new nature.

All right. No longer any tension there, right? Because the spirit lusts against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit. No more of that. Well, that's not one thing I'm looking forward to. I'll tell you, that sounds like it's a pretty good deal to me. What else? No sadness. No sadness. Okay. No world, no flesh, no Satan. All right. All the negatives are done over with, right?

What else? Yeah? Since this is something that Paul is telling the Corinthians to do now, to tell them not to look at things which are sin, things which are unseen, that would have to include just the oppositional truth. Again, the case of Christ, the death, the resurrection, you know, Good, good, good, good thoughts. Anything else? Eternity. You want to come up here? Very true. Very true. What else? Eternity? Yeah, the idea of... No, I think you're right. My comments a few minutes ago really are very earthly in terms of hanging out with the Lord Jesus Christ forevermore. That's got to be the ultimate experience, is it not?

Mike Doyle says this, I really like Mike when we talk about this. This idea of rewards in heaven, what are those all about? You know, what Mike says is this, and I think it's really profound. He said, you know, the rewards in heaven is that we're all going to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. And His closeness to us will reflect how close we were to Him here. And everybody will be satisfied.

Isn't that kind of neat, if you think about that a little bit? I mean, I'm not saying that that's pulled out of a chapter and verse. That's Mike's conception of what rewards are all about, that everybody will be satisfied, all of us, and those who knew him better here will in fact have an experience that's different than someone who knew him less well here. Now keep in mind, that's kind of a yardstick mindset, but clearly the rewards, if we turn back to 1 Corinthians 3, are not wood, hay, and stubble.

We know works themselves, in the power of the flesh, are meaningless before God. It's just this last concept that very much deals with what we've been talking about this morning. For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. And again, the way I interpret this is either way you win. This is a good deal. All the time, for all of us. and I think is really extremely relevant for this text before us.

Now, I don't know about you, but the idea, and Karen, what you and Kirk are going through, what we're all going through in our day-to-day existences is this, is that these trials and tribulations aren't an intellectual ascent to living in Christ. The Bible tells me to live in Christ, so therefore I'm going to live in Christ, and these temporal afflictions kind of go away.

Well, it just doesn't quite work that way. So how does it really work? What's the pragmatics of this? How many times have you said, gee, I'm just going to live in the power of the Spirit? How are you doing at that, by the way? Is that something that we kind of just intellectually put on and make a decision to do? I'm up to 40% right now. That's not a passing grade, Norm. Even if we grade on the curve. I don't know, maybe we ought to survey the class and see how they're doing at this.

So what is the secret to having these afflictions really be be light and temporal. Gail? Page four on your notes, the verse at the bottom. Okay. To avoid being weary and faint in our minds is to consider Him. And that's the key, I think, to going through these things and having a proper attitude. What? Attitude? I know what you're saying. I have to say it sounds to me like something you'd hear from a psychologist or a psychiatrist, but anyway. No, put it in the right perspective. I understand what you're saying. Yes?

Well, I was thinking when Karen was talking that we can't, I don't think it serves God's purpose when we beat ourselves up over thinking our faith is not carrying us through because this work is going on in our lives. That's right. And, I mean, we just fail. Again, I fail. I won't speak for everybody else. Again and again. And resting in the Lord and trusting the Lord in all things. But I know that he's still in the process of transforming. Nothing I do is going to stop that. Isn't that neat? Yeah. We can't get in his way. The only thing we can do is be disappointed in ourselves, right? And what did Newell say about being disappointed in yourself? Yeah, exactly. Being disappointed in yourself is having trusted in yourself, right? That's neat. In Newell's commentary to Romans chapter 6, he lists a whole series of things like this, and the one that I remembered is that.

The way I've looked at it is, in regards to walking in the Spirit, when you read the Word, it's not something that you can do, I'm just going to decide to walk in the Spirit today. When you read the Word, To me, it's like a gift from God, the peace. Whatever I'm reading, He'll show me, and He will give it to me, and it's nothing I can do, but it's a gift from God, the peace, and the rest. And that you just kind of go, just through reading. And what if you're separated from the Word? Does that change the way this is manifested? Not necessarily.

I mean, you can see things around you and he will give that to you as well. I think the rest is a gift from God. It's nothing that we do with it. It's just a gift and he will give it to you. That's right. It starts with rest, doesn't it? I have a question. If we're saying that faith is a gift or that we don't have responsibility, not even walking in the Spirit, No, I don't think we've made that conclusion. That's something on the table to be discussed. Right. We heed them. I mean, this is something that we need to respond to, isn't it?

Not in a legal sense, but by a faith sense. I think we know faith isn't just an intellectual thing, but it is still something that we do. And, you know, the issue in terms of the Christian life is really an act of faith as much as it is to get saved to begin with, isn't it? I mean, again, I think I said this last week, but I'll be redundant, is that the easy part of becoming a Christian is having your sins forgiven and trusting that you have eternal life. The hard part is what happens between those two points. Right? I mean, we're all walking in earthly shoes on a day-to-day basis. And part of that are these afflictions that come our way. Norm?

One of the things that I found on the internet, I don't know what the site was, but the five of these small pilots that were helping the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War, and many of them were believers, and they would take each of their own Instead of trying to live in my own flesh, we were living through things that were not as bad, of course, by far, but Christ didn't want to cross them. But they went through suffering that none of us will probably ever go through.

And they relied upon the scripture that they had learned and would call upon that scripture. And that scripture each time had a different meaning to them based upon what they experienced. And they would share their scriptures with each other, and they would, uh, they would even, of course, just have them sit down and give them to another fellow believer that was in the, uh, the midst of another group. And, uh, they would share them back and forth. And sometimes you could get intercepted, and then they got persecuted even more. But, uh, but they lived because Christ lived. And that was kind of what I was hoping to say.

You know, when we're put in these, you know, positions of being forced between two bookends that have kind of fulcrums at the end that are pushing towards the center, you know, I often reflect on what Peter said, you know, where else could we go but to you, Lord? I mean, in a sense, there is the power of these afflictions and trials and tribulations to bring us to Christ. that goes beyond our ability to intellectually reconcile it, because where else will we turn? I mean, it's almost an act of desperation that, oh, by the way, I think I'll turn to the Lord.

There's nowhere else that I can turn at this point in time. And I would trust that in many of our lives, that's the way trials and tribulations operate, right? Goodness, I've tried my own power to deal with this, and nothing's happening. And what happens there is, again, back to the code section on deliverance, there's no power of anything in the atom nature that deals with temporal things that's going to have any eternal weight of glory.

So the rest is the place to start, and as Doug so nicely says, it's a faith rest. And I don't think it's a non-active faith. I think we need to reckon. But what I want to make sure that we don't misunderstand is the reckoning is not simply an intellectual reckoning. It's really a based reckoning on who we are in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The 2 Corinthians 3.18 thing played out, right? As we look at the Lord Jesus Christ, we're seeing His glory reflected in us.

And I think, Trish, that's where the Word becomes so important, because when we get into the Word, the Lord allows it to be experienced much more realistically, I think. I don't know about you all, but if you go periods of time and not be in the Word as intensely, you're separated from that fellowship more so. Even though the Spirit's still capable of doing it, there's just something about being in the Word that continues that fellowship at a higher level. If all our Bibles were taken away today, would our faith be pale? No, because we've been ingrained with the truth of the Word of God. I think fellowshipping with the Lord Jesus comes out of the pages of Scripture. That doesn't mean there's no fellowship without it. It's just that all that fellowship is based on what's written in the Word.

I don't know about you, but I don't remember every verse and every word. The neat thing about the Lord is He takes you back to the same passage again. You have new insights than what you had when you read it six months ago. That's really special, isn't All right, let me close with the same thing that we closed with last week, and I just want to kind of review this little plaque that I think has been so useful to me and I'm hopeful, you know, is helpful to you, too, a little bit, too.

Trials of suffering are faith giving rise to God's glory through the text of last week and here. Live positionally, crucified, risen, seated. live positively, fully persuaded. We're not just a bunch of dead leaves on the ground to be raked up. This is a proactive, back to what you were saying, this is a proactive thing. Fully persuaded, we're confident. This isn't something we just show up and have the Lord hit us with a lightning bolt. The Holy Spirit works to proactively pronounce this positional truth that sets the stage for this little plaque.

Live possessively. This is confidence, isn't it? All things are ours. And the reason that all things are ours is because all things have an eternal weight of glory when we look at them through our position and through the positive aspects that we're called to. And this, you know, is a good way to culminate this series of thoughts is that live triumphantly.

We are more than conquerors, are we not? Let's close in prayer. Father, we're thankful for this very special section of your Word that we can be led by the Spirit to believe this, and the belief is not that these circumstances are going to be changed in our lives because they show up in a world system in a way that's highly predictable, but the way in fact we respond to this is part of your great plan for growth in each one of us and the power and the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. So our light affliction is but for a moment. But it works for us a far more exceeding and internal weight of glory while we look not at these temporal things, the things that are seen, but we look and focus on the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are clearly only for this time, but those that are not seen are there eternally. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.