Trials and Suffering
Roger Henderson · Apr 18, 2004
Trials & Suffering (2004), No. 16
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826235261379

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

Well, today, before I turn on the overhead, today we're going to look at 2 Corinthians. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 2. 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 3 through 7. And if I could get a volunteer to read that, those 3 through 7. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. who comforts us in all our afflictions so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours and abundant, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. Or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is affected in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. And our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our suffering, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

So this verse is really a neat, tremendous verse. I mean, they're all tremendous, but there's something, you know, I just, as you read through that verse, I looked at it as, as she read the verse, is there, is there a word, this is probably pretty rhetorical, but is there, is there a word that occurred quite a few times in this? that kind of stood out in all this. I mean, this isn't really rocket science, but... Does anybody want to share what that word is? It's going to be one of the focal points of it. Exactly. We're going to see two things here. We're going to see maybe three words.

Comfort, affliction, and suffering. And the Lord uses that in this passage. He kind of intertwines those words, and He talks about His comfort and how they're related to affliction and suffering. You know, in a way, We don't think of affliction as suffering as being beneficial in seeing God's comfort. But that's what he's going to tell us. He's going to tell us that if we want to see his comfort, affliction and suffering are going to be part of that process. And that's something we probably think, does it have to be that way? I mean, can't there be some other way? Can't he just comfort us and forget about the affliction and the suffering? It doesn't work that way. I mean, you read this passage and it does not work that way.

That's one of the startling things about this passage. affliction and suffering are part of God's process to show His comfort, to demonstrate His comfort to us. Ultimately, keeping Hal's view of God's glory, I think it's not his view, it's Scripture's view, that ultimately, as the verse says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ultimately comes back to glorifying God. Let's look at this page one here.

I didn't put a whole lot of time into these charts. I basically just went through and took the, we're going to kind of do verse by verse, took the verse, put some, and I kind of even got even lazier, I apologize. I cut and pasted from vines or from strongs right in for the words. So in some cases there are some weird things in there that I don't totally understand. I think I understand most of it. So this was a low-budget slide. They have a couple ones I spend more time on, but this is the low-budget slides here. So you're getting the low-budget version here. But it's God's Word, which is what's important. So the first phrase here, blessed be the God and Father. Thank you. I probably would have. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.

The first word of significance here is blessed, and it comes from this, to eulogize, and actually some translation, I noticed at least in one of my favorite New Testament expanded translations, he uses the word eulogized, eulogizing, eulogizing God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is the idea of being well spoken of, And I have another little kind of amplification on that, to speak well or praise, to celebrate with praise, to address God, acknowledging His goodness with a desire for His glory.

So we're going to see that that phrase is going to kind of set the tone for the rest of the passage. That's the response we're to have when God brings the afflictions and the suffering and the comfort which comes alongside He is to be eulogized, blessed for who He is. And then there's this construction.

This has been pointed out. This construction, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, occurs in many other of the epistles in the New Testament. And it's the idea that the God and Father are basically describing the same person. So some have rendered that God the Father, God the Father, eulogized God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So it could be rendered that way.

And then we get into this part here that talks about the two aspects, the Father of Mercy and the God of All Comfort. And mercy is this idea that to have pity on those who are in distress because of their situation. And there are a couple of passages that are pretty familiar.

One, we don't have to turn to in Romans 12.1, it says, In fact, actually, let's turn to it. Sometimes I'm a little bit hesitant. I'll pray I'll misquote it.

So just in case I prevent that, we'll just turn to Romans 12.1.

I'll just read you that, which uses the same word here, the same word mercy. And it says, I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. So it's by the mercies of God that you're able to present your body a living sacrifice. And then another passage, which I think is really neat, back in Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2. If I can find it here. Ephesians chapter 2.

And verse 4, it says, but God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love, which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, has made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. God is rich in mercy. That's one of the characteristics of God, that he's rich in mercy.

That's one aspect. If you have questions, raise your hand. may have glossed over a point or I haven't amplified it enough, you know. So the next part is kind of set the stage, the God of all comfort. And that word all, I haven't really put it down here, that word all is this word PAS, and the transliteration is P-A-S. It has the idea of every, every kind of variety, and it has the idea that there's no exceptions. So actually all is a really good translation, and all means all.

He's the God of all comfort. So if you think about that, There is really no comfort, no true comfort, that has its source other than God. He's a God of every kind and variety of comfort. I like that. As I went through and looked at the different helps in terms of like vines and the other ones that expand the original words, every kind and variety of comfort. So there's not a comfort that is not His source. So that's something to think about.

As we go through this, whose comfort are we Are we announcing or giving to others? If it's our comfort, then that's, you know, not a whole lot of value. If it's God's comfort, and we're going to see there's a process. The comfort comes from God to the believer who's undergoing suffering and trials, and then we're able to comfort others.

So there's a process that comes from God to the believer who's under trials and affliction. That's why James says, think it not strange. I mean, this is part of our life. This is part of the Christian life, that trials and suffering are part of that. But the wonderful part of that is that that's going to allow us to comfort others with his comfort and not our comfort.

And the word comfort, as I have it here, is the calling to one's side. The word is paraklesis. And if you think about that, it's the same word that describes the comforter, the Holy Spirit, a very similar word in the original language. So it's a comforter or helper. And Para is beside, and Cleo is to call. So it's to call beside one who is called beside. And actually, the Holy Spirit is one who has been called beside, and He already is there. So we already have a comforter or a helper who is in us and with us 24-7.

So this is talking about God's attribute, which is demonstrated in both the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and especially when the Lord Jesus left, He said, I'm going to leave you a helper or a comforter. Let's look at a verse here. There's an aspect of this comfort here that I want to bring out. And actually, I kind of allude to here where I talk about the fact that it's really an encouragement. There's an exhortation or encouragement and a consolation. There's sort of encouragement and consolation and comfort that are kind of together.

It's like a two-part. And this is kind of demonstrated in 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians. And may I get someone to read this? I have to tell you the verse first. You have to read my mind here, right? 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 16 and 17. If I could get a volunteer to do that.

Thank you, Margaret. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. So the word comfort, or actually it's rendered, Margaret, you had it rendered eternal, what was the word in 16 there? Eternal consolation was it? Right. Everlasting consolation. Yeah, sometimes it's rendered consolation.

So it's consolation and good hope. And then in verse 17, in mine, it's rendered comfort and strength. Strengthen your heart. So there's a process that God wants to give you hope, and he also wants to give you encouragement. There's a two-part aspect to that. And we're going to kind of see that as we go through this. We're going to see that comfort and encouragement together.

Any questions on this? Sure. All right. Well, actually, you find it's kind of, I looked at some of the words up and in some cases it'll say, they'll be just mirrors of each other. If you look up encouragement, it'll say consolation and consolation. So they're all synonyms, if you will, of one another. It is. Right. Right.

And one actually had, for consolation, it had the alleviation of grief. So a person's grieving or under a trial or suffering, and you want to encourage them for the future, but you also want to deal with their grief. Maybe it's a loss of a child, whatever. And what we're going to see is, if you've been through that process, if you've grieved and suffered through that process, if you've lost a child, the Lord has you all ready to be able to say, sister or brother, I've been there.

I've been through that situation. I understand what you're feeling, because I felt that. And God has shown me how I can depend upon Him for that situation. So I think that's really... So that word comfort and consolation are all... It's a wonderful... I'm not sure I've really plumbed all the depths of that either. But to come along the side is necessary in order to... Exactly, exactly.

If you think, we already have someone who's come alongside us, the Holy Spirit, and that's what Christ said when he left. I'm going to go away and give you a helper or a comforter and he will be with you and he will show you the things of Christ. So we come along as a believer and we're comforting another believer or an unbeliever and we're saying, The Lord has shown me this, and I'm going to show you that. So we're a conduit in that process. That's what's really neat about this whole passage. It's really exciting.

But it says, if you think about that, I really can't do that unless I've been through that. Do I want to go through that? We don't really have a choice as a believer. We don't know. We say, Lord, I'll take this trial and that trial and that trial. It doesn't work that way. We are a shopping list. I'll take this one and that one. No, not that one.

I think the result of all of that is that you come to know that God is in fact in control. Exactly. You come to rely upon Him. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. Ask Norm. Well, I've appreciated Norm's sharing over the years. It's been great. It's been an encouragement to me and a comfort. It's been great.

Okay, so the next verse, "...who comforts us in all our afflictions," and here's part of the process we're going to see, "...so that we will be able to comfort those who are in the affliction with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God."

So now we come back to this word, and actually Hal went over this word last week a little bit, this word for affliction. It's the idea, it's this, I'll show this picture, it's this pressure, he's showing the guy in the vice, his head being squashed, it's this pressure. that a person's squeezing pressure and it's felt from maybe some troubling situation, some persecution, some anguish that's in the life of that person, and maybe circumstances. I think we all have kind of felt that to some degree. We've had that situation. I was thinking it doesn't necessarily have to be a biggie. You can feel that pressure just from the things around you.

I was thinking about, over the years I've been involved in Bible studies at my work, and there's sort of this subtle, low-level, in the background, you can't really tell, low-level pressure. That really, you know, it's okay, but, you know, it's not the, you know. And actually, even in situations in Bible studies outside the church, where people would actually take material, and we had a janitor, and he would actually take the material and it would just be gone. Like if we left the materials out from this class, he'd just throw it away because he did not like what was being taught. So I mean, he was a believer too. How does that work?

So there's, you know, it doesn't always have to be a tremendous, when you think of this affliction, a tremendous burden or suffering. It can be a subtle thing too. Okay, so let's just kind of go through this. It says, who comforts us in all our affliction, and all again is basically that one, every kind of variety, and actually that word in, it's a preposition, could be rendered with respect to, with respect to the affliction, who comforts us with respect to the affliction.

So we're going to see that God wants to provide a specific comfort. It's not just a general comfort. And I think that's, yeah, actually look down here. The comfort. So that we would be able to comfort those who are in the affliction with the comfort. There's a specific comfort that that person may need for that situation. And so God-specific is the comfort that he may need for that situation. And once again, it's the comfort that we ourselves are comforted by God. So it's not something that we've thought up or ginned up. It's something that's come to us from God. A couple of verses, again, I'd like to look at. Let's look at Matthew in terms of affliction. Actually, before we do that, let's go to 2 Corinthians, chapter 4.

This is what Hal... In fact, just turn over from where you were if you were in chapter 1 there. And this is a list of what Hal went through last week. I just want to point out one thing that kind of occurred to me here. 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, in verse 8, and it uses the word we just talked about. It says, we are afflicted in every way but not crushed. So let's just stop there. This is the first part of that verse. We are afflicted with this. This is the affliction we just talked about. This flips us.

I feel like I have a list there, but in every way, but not crushed. So it's a pressure, and it says, but the response is, as we rest in the Lord, we're not crushed. So I need to have a balance. It's this pressure, but we're not crushed. And, you know, Hal was pointing out that if you take the butts out, if you respond from your old nature, you may have that crushing effect, you may have that despairing effect, or whatever. So, the pressure comes, but the Lord provides His comfort so that we are not crushed, and so on. So I thought it kind of fit nicely with that.

Okay, two other verses. Matthew 13. So what we're going to see here, we're going to see this word affliction used again. The first verse is going to be a case where the affliction, this pressure produces an undesirable result. In the second one, we're going to see it provides the desired result. So in this one, and of course, this case, this is this is talking about the. I didn't say the verse, thank you. Matthew 13, let's look at verse 21. I didn't say the verse, did I? Okay.

So this talks about the different kinds of soils. So if we go back up to verse 20, Matthew 13, verse 20. The one on whom the seed was sown on the rocky soil, this is a man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. yet has no firm root in himself, but only temporary. And when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.

So here's a case where affliction comes. And I don't think this is this person. I haven't been through this in a while. I don't think this person is a believer. So this may not be a perfect example. But here affliction comes. And because of that affliction, He gives up, he's crushed, he falls away. So I think that's an example of a negative response.

A positive response is in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 6. It says, You also have become imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word, in much tribulation, with the joy of the Holy Spirit. First Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 6. So it says, You have become imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word, in much tribulation, with the joy of the Holy Spirit. so that you became an example to all of us believers in Macedonia and Achaia. So here's a case where the Word of God was received with persecution. Maybe it was in terms of just going to hear His Word or whatever. So that tribulation actually, the Word was received with joy. Roger, in many verses it seems that having received the Word is stronger than just merely having heard the Word.

I agree. I agree. I think you're right. I think you're right. Just hearing the Word, some people, in fact there's verses that talk about you, don't be one who just hears the Word. If you receive the Word, it becomes part of your life. That's a good point. Paul, if you receive the Word and it doesn't take root, You have no comfort. Right. Exactly. You have no comfort. That's a good point. Excellent. OK. All right, so just kind of the last two points here, basically, so we will be able or actually have actually some other translations have that you'll be enabled. so that you'll be enabled to comfort those who are in any affliction.

Once again, this any is the same word as the all. It's the every kind of variety. It's that past word. So in this passage, all the alls and the anys are this every kind of variety, with no exceptions. So God isn't giving us a partial solution here. This is a complete solution. And then once again, now here, with the comfort, and specific, the comfort that we've learned, which we ourselves are comforted by God. So we have learned a comfort that we can share with others. And that comfort has come from God.

So I have a little... I spare no expense here in this artwork. I searched the internet high and low. This is supposed to be a joke. So anyway. Actually, I borrowed the men from Hal's presentation. Anyway, so here's a pictorial view of that verse 4, I think.

In every affliction, comforts come from God. So they come to the believer, that's us. And God's comfort in every affliction can be shared with others. So a question I have here, when is God doing the comforting? This is one of these rhetorical questions. When is this comfort being provided in the affliction? And our part in this affliction is to share the comfort that we've been comforted with.

And I was kind of thinking, maybe to try to put some meat to that, I was trying to use an example. The specific comforts might be, for example, and I can think in my experience in my life, there are points when a trial or affliction comes along and I pray and I pray and I pray and I pray, and God isn't doing what I want Him to do. He's not solving the problem. I want Him to solve the problem. I haven't matured. I want to solve that problem.

So I pray and I pray and I pray. And after I realize, well, let's look in Ephesians here. It says that I have every spiritual blessing. I have this. I have that. Wait a minute. All these things I've been praying for, I have. So then I think, well, wait a minute. I can rest in what I have. And for me, that was a real revelation. I can rest in what God has already provided.

I don't have to pray for more faith, more this, more that. I have who He is. If you look in Ephesians, it's just wonderful. Ephesians chapter 1. It's kind of a list of all the wonderful things that we have as a believer in Christ. It says we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. Ephesians chapter 1, starting in verse 3 or so and on.

He's chosen us and Him before the foundation of the world. He's predestined us to adoptions as sons. We have redemption through His blood. He's lavished on us all the us's. I've gone through it and just circled the us's and the we's. We have us, us, we have us, us, us. He made known to us the mysteries of His will. and so on. It just goes on. We have obtained an inheritance. You just look through that and, wow, look at this wonderful thing, all these wonderful things I have, and here I am praying for you to fix this situation.

Maybe that's not what you're looking for here. And don't you think, Roger, that we don't always see what God is doing and He still will use it? It's not up to us to observe what He did and then swing into action. No, and that's a good point. That's a good point. I think we should be slow to action. I think slow to speak, I forgot how that verse goes, but slow is good sometimes. A lot of times it's good. I think a lot of times we act... I find when I act quickly, many times it's not... where I should be, and that's my experience has been. OK. All right. Any other thoughts on this picture related to this? We're going to go on. We're going to keep coming back to comfort. We're not finished with comfort. OK.

So now we're going to find here, we're going to talk about In verse 5 it says, For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. So we're going to see a two-pronged attack here, a two-pronged focus that God has. Here come the sufferings, and this word, abound, actually can be rendered overflow. In fact, I think I say it here somewhere. Down here, well, maybe not. Excess. So it's overflowing.

So it says, the sufferings of Christ abound to us. So also, the comforts abound to us through Christ. So I think one of the things that we need to kind of think about here for a while, and this actually is a whole study in itself. What do you think about this? It talks here about the sufferings of Christ. How much did Christ suffer? We've seen the Passion of Christ is out there. That shows a lot of suffering, right?

Can we quantify it? Is it this big, that big, that big? Is it quantifiable? Can we quantify it? I don't think we can quantify it. Especially if you look at 2 Corinthians 5, 521, He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. And He took upon Him the sins of the entire world. How big are the sins of the entire world? I mean, it's infinite. It's beyond our... I don't think it's countable. You can't count it up. So Christ's sufferings were infinite.

So, can the believer take on those sufferings? Can he take on those sufferings of Christ? Is it possible for him to take on those sufferings? Or is he talking about maybe some other sufferings that the believer can take on? Well, if we're identified with him in those things, the same sufferings, we probably, not exactly the same in the sense that he is divine and we are not, but the things that he suffered. When we sin and we're separated from fellowship, we would begin to understand a little bit of God. I guess I was trying to make a distinction between, obviously the Lord has not asked us to pay for the sins of the world.

I mean, I have to believe we're to do that. So in that sense, we can't share in those things, but we can share we can share as Christ, and it says in many verses of the Talmud, as He suffered, as He was reviled by men, we'll be reviled by men. And He said, don't be surprised that when you're reviled by men, I was reviled, you'll be reviled. And so that suffering we can. So I think the sufferings of Christ abound in us. So it seems to me that it has to be the ones that can come to the believer.

And it comes from this word for pathos, It's this pain, emotional influence possibly, affliction. So, you know, there are a bunch of different verses that you could think about. In John 15, let's just look for a second here. John 15, verses 18 to 20. I'll just go ahead and read this, John 15, 18 through 20.

It says, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. But remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If you keep my word, If they keep my word, they will keep yours also.

So, you know, I personally think that we're seeing a lot of this today in our society. I mean, I think we see that people do what is right, and they suffer for it. I mean, it's incredible. I mean, I don't know, it's just, there's so many good examples out there in today's world. We see that when somebody does right, it doesn't always receive over, you know, cheers, it receives, well, you know, we have different ideas. We have the world's ideas. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Thank you. Thank you. You know, one of the things I, when we watched the Passion of Christ, was that we tend to think as Christians, you know, if I have to suffer for my faith, I'll do that.

But for anything else, I really don't want to suffer. I don't want to suffer injustice just for injustice sake. And yet, when you look at that movie, one of the things that really jumped out at me was the fact that the Romans didn't abuse him because of his faith. The Romans abused him because they were prejudiced against Jews and here was one we could do anything we wanted to, get away with, let's just do everything we can.

And as Christians, you know, we're willing to suffer for some things. But when the person at work gives us a hard time, Or, we're in a job where we don't get the promotion because somebody doesn't like us. We don't look at that in the same light. And yet, in reality, that's exactly what Christ suffered. Right, right. Just plain injustice for no reason. Right, for no reason at all. Exactly, exactly.

Well, I was impressed, I'm going to digress a whole lot from that movie, I was impressed by how they rendered, and I think it's scriptural, how they rendered the sufferings by the Jews. I was really kind of astounded when they got to the Romans. They looked at Christ and they said, He's already been maimed and scourged and now we're going to take Him, we're going to add some more to that. They were kind of amazed how the condition they received Him in. I thought that was really interesting. I may have a passage, I'm sure I can find it at the moment. Actually, let's look at it. Matthew 16. I thought I'd written it down. Matthew 16 and verse 21.

It says, From the time Jesus Christ began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and be raised on the third day. So it names the three groups of of Jews there, right? The elders, the Jewish elders, the chief priests and the scribes. So he's going to suffer many things. And that movie portrayed that. He suffered many things before he ever got to the Romans. So, you know, it's... Okay. One other thing about the celebration.

People in general, if you look at the secular world, and I look at people that are successful, they think, boy, I'd like to be in their shoes. But they never looked at what they had to go through to get from where they started to where they were. As Christians we tend to do the same thing. I want to share in all the good things. But like the pastor's wife said, we're identifying with Christ. We're identifying with everything.

You can't just pick and choose what you want of what he offers. And those two things work hand in hand to make us the kind of people he wants us to be. Yeah, and we're going to see here that if we want to experience comfort and be able to comfort others, we have to go through that suffering and affliction process.

There's no other way. There's no other way that we can... Learn it. I know. Two things. There's no growth and there's no blessing. Right. But you have it the other way. Right. Right. As grown-ups, you know, you go through hard times when you have no money. And when you look back, those are the good times. We don't want to go back there. Yeah. Well, I haven't I haven't convinced my son that having no money is a good thing.

Anyway, actually, I have a little pictorial here for this one, too. So so this shows that the two pronged. the overflowing, the abundance or overflowing of the sufferings of Christ and the comforts through Christ. And this same word, the abundant overflowing of the comforts through Christ and the abundant sufferings of Christ.

The construction there was just really remarkable. I even took a shot at diagramming it. We were in this Greek class with Hal. It was good. Actually, it was really straightforward. The sufferings of Christ and the comforts through Christ. Really, really neat.

And this shows, I really think, His comfort is through Christ. Every comfort, and that's why I say, if you try to comfort of your own strength, your own ability, that's not going to have the effect that God wants you to be relying upon Him. So it's His comfort, it's through Christ. And so, once again, we're not... Christ tells something and you go off and do your best effort. It doesn't give us comfort. No, right.

He says, this is my comfort and you've learned this comfort because you've been there. I get kind of, I don't know, the been there, done that, I kind of get weary of that sometimes, but that actually is in the vernacular in today's, is sort of the idea. Been there, done that. I mean, we hear that a lot. But that's basically it, in terms of suffering and affliction. Been there, done that, and now I'm able to truly share, because I'm sharing for something that's happened to me. Christ is our comforter. Right. And actually, in terms of the Holy Spirit, the guide of comfort and helper are all kind of intertwined there, and the consolation and the encouragement. One more verse before we move on to the next.

Romans 8.18. kind of putting the suffering in context here.

This verse is an encouragement, I think, just like Romans 8.18.

For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. So if you put it on the scale of things, the suffering that we undergo is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. And I think as Hal's been showing us, that glory is something we don't have to wait to the by and by to see. We're going to see God's glory now, because we're going to see the believer going through a suffering, a trial, and God will be glorified right now, today. We don't have to wait to some future time for that to happen.

Okay, verse six. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort. So, it just tells you, here's the reason for our... And actually, it's, if we're being afflicted, is two parts, your comfort and your salvation. So, I have a question here. Why does he have salvation in there? Any thoughts on why he has salvation? You know, at first, you look at it and you say, salvation? Why is... you know. So, any thoughts on why?

So it's a present thing that's going on. We are being afflicted. In fact, it's a present passive. It's a statement of fact. It's an indicative present passive. We are being afflicted right now, and God is doing it, and we're receiving it. We're receiving that. And it's for the sake of your comfort and your salvation. So why the salvation part? Because it brings us back to Him. Okay. Let me kind of refine my question.

If you look through scripture, you see that we have salvation from the penalty of sin. Is it talking about salvation from the penalty of sin here, you think? Salvation from the presence of sin? Salvation from the power of sin? So, which one of those three do you think it's talking about? I think Margaret's right. Margaret said power, salvation from the power of sin.

Because you can see, if a person is being afflicted, what may happen? Hal's picture of the man there, where are you abiding? You're abiding over in the old man. And so the power of sin is having victory in your life, so to speak. So this, I think, speaking of you being afflicted for the sake of your comfort, and your salvation in terms of the power of sin in your life. You don't want sin to be reigning in your life. You want Christ to be reigning in your life.

It's one of those things where the lightbulb went on and I'm sitting there, why salvation? Why salvation? What am I going to tell those people? Why salvation? I don't understand why salvation. And all of a sudden the lightbulb goes on. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don't know. This is my process going through studying this. It's good for me, because I go through the same thing that you might go through. And it's even more, I say, well, I'm going to have to stand up there and say something.

And so the Lord was gracious. He was great. So I believe it's salvation from the power of sin. I think that's important. As you go through Scripture, keep your eyes open for the word salvation or saving. You think, well, what? Three-pronged message, if you will. Salvation from the penalty of sin. We all understand that. In fact, your first thought is, when you see salvation, it's from the penalty of sin. You almost always think that. Well, don't be caught up that quickly sometimes. Many times it's from the power of sin, and then occasionally it'll be from the presence of sin.

That's going to be in eternity. Okay. So then it goes on. We are being comforted for the sake... So it's interesting. Here's kind of a two... Here comes Affliction has two... I could have drawn another picture for this one, but I didn't. Maybe you're happy. You could have a little guy over here, and here comes affliction, and you get two things coming out of affliction. You get comfort and salvation from the power of sin to the person you're comforting. When you're comforted, the comfort only produces, you're able to share that comfort with somebody else. So the two-pronged, you get to share two things. With this one, you share one. That was neat to me. Maybe it's not all that exciting. And what happens here?

It produces endurance. Endurance in the sufferings. And that endurance is this word, hupomone, a remaining under, Patience is rendered sometimes. It's that the patient suffering, this afflictions and comfort are producing endurance or patience. It's abiding under the sufferings and the same sufferings that we suffered. The last part of that verse, I still would like to have some more time. This is one shot at it here. I think there's more to be understood there. It says, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same suffering which we also suffer. I tried to make it in bullet form here.

Producing in you the endurance of suffering, and it qualifies that of the same suffering that we suffer. Once again, We can't share about suffering unless we've suffered it. I really like this because we know that God's conforming us into Christ's image, but from some of these other verses, we see that the only way that, and Hal has mentioned this before, the only way that will be, that Christ's patience will be lived out through us, that aspect is if we go through these trials. And then we also see that the only way it will be that we'll be able to comfort others.

Right. Right. Right. So, I mean, you know, our our first reaction is I know what something happens to get home and some of the car or which seems like it's always happening or something wrong. I mean, my first reaction. Unfortunately, it's not. Yes, Lord, thank you for this suffering. No, not another one.

Something else to fix or do or take care of. And sometimes they're more serious. Sometimes they're more difficult than just... A car can be fixed. You always get the car fixed. Maybe not perfectly, but never perfectly, I should say. I mean, cars and computers. What are the two biggest? I don't know. Those are those are the kind of sufferings that we think we all have more experience. So we want to share. OK, let's go on to the last chart.

OK, this is really good here. This is really good. Okay. It says, our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our suffering, so also you are sharers of our comfort. So this is really cool. This is really neat. So it's basically saying here that if you were to do this, the subject is hope is firm, is kind of the idea.

Hope is firm. And actually that's just that is there in the Greek is a to-be verb or an essence verb. And it's basically the firm is identifying the kind of hope it is. The hope that you have is a firm hope. And firm is this idea of steadfastness, secure. So it's identifying the kind of hope that we have. We have a secure, firm hope, steadfast, sure, unmovable.

And then down here it says, knowing that you are sharers. So basically we have a very similar construction. You are sharers. It's identifying, that's another essence verb, a to be verb, you are sharers. So you and sharers are equal. And actually you all, it's actually the plural you in the Greek, you all, all believers, are by definition sharers. of suffering and comfort.

I grew up in Miami, Florida, so I'm sort of in the South and sort of not. Miami, Florida is sort of like New York City transplant. It used to be. I haven't been back there in a few years. So I grew up, and so you're sort of in the South, you sort of have a Southern, a little bit, I went to school in Gainesville, University of Florida, and so that's a little more Southern than Miami is.

Anyway, so y'all, I really come to appreciate y'all. So y'all are sharers of suffering and of comfort. Okay. One last verse, let's look at Hebrews, Hebrews 6 and verse 19. This is a really tremendous verse. This is one of the ones that you hang your hat on.

When you're sharing with somebody else and you've been through it, you say, this hope, this is the same hope, your hope is firm, this hope we have is an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil. where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. So this is an anchor for the soul. And I think that's where the Lord gives us this trials and suffering to focus on Him. So we have that anchor for our soul.

It's sure and fast. It's firm, unmovable. I don't think without the sufferings or the trials we really We want to go there. We want things to just go on nice and smoothly. We want a smooth life with no bumps. And the Lord says, no, you're not going to come to know me better without the sufferings and the trials. You're really not.

And ultimately, the response is back to verse 1. You eulogize, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You eulogize Him and you bless Him and you thank Him because of what He's done. So that's kind of the... the verse kind of comes back on itself, if you will. As a result of this, sufferings and trials.

Any last questions? I always wonder when mine are going to come. Now I look back at my life and I'm really happy to have what I would call any real trials or tribulations. I just assume that eventually they've got to come. And it's funny, I have many friends that are believers and their life goes along smoothly. I have other ones just incredible. I mean, family members die. I mean, it's just incredible. And these people are the most vocal for the Lord.

I mean, it doesn't seem to matter. I mean, I've seen both scales. People vocal for the Lord have no trials, from our perspective, you know, and I have very few of those. So we don't know God's plan or His, you know... No, I understand. I understand. But maybe you should be. Okay, well I hope you learned something about the suffering and the afflictions and the wonderful comfort that we have.

Let's close in prayer then. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you, Lord. We thank you that you have provided a way that we would not have provided, Lord. You provided that sufferings and and afflictions, Lord, help us to produce as your comfort, Lord. And that comfort is something that is wonderful. It's an anchor for our soul, Lord. And we're thankful for that, Lord. We're thankful that we can share the wonderful hope that you have with others. In Christ's name, amen.