R874 When Your Suffering Makes Sense

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and how we can face suffering in faith. God's Word, faith in God, trusting Him is a way to change our perspective on suffering in our own lives, on suffering that perhaps we can minister to in the lives of others. Today we finish with the message, When Your Suffering Makes Sense. I know that's counterintuitive to think that how could how could suffering ever make sense as we open the Word of God together with Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher, well-known evangelist, author, and pastor, will gain that insight today. Know we're available for you? Love to connect with you on our prayer line at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673 or online at www.tewonline.org. Now, Dr. Don Wilton, in this you greatly rejoice, though even now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief, pain, and suffering of all kinds. Here in this particular context they were being persecuted, they were being hammered, they were suffering from every corner of the universe folks and Peter looked at them and he said, listen you can rejoice in these things even though you are suffering grief in all kinds of trials. Let me explain it to you, these things, these trials, this suffering, this pain has come so that your faith of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

For though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Now watch this, watch this, I'm going to give to you six principles that will help you to make sense of your suffering. Now God's going to apply these things to your life, He's going to give you understanding, He's going to enable you to minister to others, He's going to carry you through the burdens of life. Your suffering will only make sense number one, when it is preceded by a living hope. Now I love this folks, here Peter puts it like this in verse 3, he says, on the basis of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and His great mercy He has given us new birth unto a living hope. This is the evangelism component of making sense out of suffering. Here God is about to lay the smack down and He's about to tell us something about our human condition.

In other words He's saying to us, listen people, hello you will never understand your suffering which is difficult to understand outside of the fact that you have a foundation which is your living hope in Christ Jesus. Now I have the privilege from time to time of marrying young couples and sometime in the sessions in which we meet usually right up front somewhere I'll say something like this, now I want you to know maybe God will bless you with children one day but I want to make a suggestion to you. Yes you need to buy them a nice motor car and you need to protect them and give them a refrigerator full of food and take them to flag football and be in the stands for them and boy you need to do all of those things. That's the fun part of life, it's absolutely necessary and we can have the best fun in the world but I'll guarantee you there's one thing that if you give to your sons and daughters it is of more value than anything you can possibly give you. You know what it is? That mom and dad love each other. Now watch this folks, you show me a child that goes to school, that doesn't sit on the front row of the cafeteria, that never gets invited to the prom, that goes through all kinds of struggles, that feels left out, that goes through all the rigors of puberty and pain and everything else and that child can go through every kind of up and down you could possibly imagine. They could be persecuted, belittled, they could be treated badly and bullied by everybody at school but when they know that mom and dad love them, I'll tell you you've given them the greatest gift of life that you can possibly give them outside of salvation in Christ Jesus.

That's what he's talking about. You see folks, this foundational living hope of which the Apostle speaks has three components. Number one, it is founded on God's sovereignty according to this matter, it is based upon God's mercy and it is provided for by God's Son. Now watch this, here I am and I'm suffering, I'm going through pain, I'm struggling with depression, I cannot understand it, it never seems to go away but I'll tell you folks, you give me the sovereign grace and mercy of God combined together with the provision of God's Son who gives to me through his blood a direct passage into the heart of God and into the throne of God and I've got everything necessary to get through what I'm having to get through. It makes sense of that which doesn't make sense, it means I've got something to stand on.

Folks you take away the platform, you show me a child out there in our school system who goes to school every day and they walk out of their home and all there is is fighting and four-letter words and fussing and feuding, they go to school and they subject to all the things that go on in school and then they come home and they've got nothing to come home to do. You want me to sit down and show you the end product? You know I know what we're talking about. So when you want to make sense of your suffering it'll never make sense folks, unless it's preceded by a living hope.

Can I put that into basic terminology? Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Number two, your suffering will only make sense, number two, when it is rewarded by an eternal inheritance. Verse 4, the Bible says quite clearly, because of the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that I am delivered into continual continuing tense and inheritance.

Now we all know what an inheritance is don't we? I have a friend in Mississippi, I've known him for years, donkeys years, known him for a long time and I see him every blue moon at a convention or meeting somewhere once every two or three years but I've known him for years. This guy is a great guy but have you ever met someone you say everything they touch turns to gold?

You know, not with him. Everything he touches squawks, groans, withers and dies. I mean he just can't get it right. I've known him now probably 25 years and bless his heart, he knows every time I see him, this guy is on thin ice, he just cannot get it together, he just cannot connect the dots. He and his wife they kind of live just on the edge you know, all the time, always battling and I remember saying to him one time I was in Pearl, Mississippi outside of Jackson and he and I were sitting there having a cup of coffee and I said to him, still struggling huh? He said, oh man, he said how do you do it you know? I said what do you mean how do I do it? He said look at me man, he said everything I touch just withers and dies.

I just can't get it going. I said well you don't look too bad, he said no, he said I'm quite happy, he said you know my dad's a very wealthy man. I said he is? He said yeah, he said he hasn't found it in his heart to share that with me right now but he said my dad is a very wealthy man, told me what his dad owned and so on, I mean very very wealthy man. I said well what makes you happy about that? He says well I'm an only child. He says I'm telling you something, my inheritance is going to be something else. I said well when do you suppose your daddy and mama are going to go to heaven? He said about 40 years from now. I said is that right?

I said according to my calculation that's going to make you about 75 years of age. He said yeah man isn't that wonderful? I said listen 75 years of age, I might be putting you in a box by then.

He said listen man, he said I've got my eyes on the prize, he said if I'm 75 years of age my daddy goes to heaven, leaves it all to me and I have just one month, he said be the best month of my entire life and if you knew this man, I'm telling you folks he is as genuine, he's got nothing, he just seems to go from one ruination and disaster to another but somehow in his mind he's got his focus on this inheritance. Now we know what inheritance is all about don't we? I tell you some time ago I got in the mail a little thingamajiggy and it said that I had to send a whole lot of money down to the department treasurer Orrin Brady or whatever his name is and I've got to write out all this money to get a tiny little sticker. I mean a little dirty little piece of paper that says 07 on it and you stick it on your tag so that when you ride around in Spartanburg we've got all these policemen riding around on your bumper seeing whether you got your sticker in place.

We've got all these criminals out here and people speeding and shooting, here he is on my bumper to see whether I got my sticker and then stop me there and you know hands behind your back and turning like this and here I am with my hands stretched out like that being strip-searched because I don't have a sticker. Well the sticker arrived but it wasn't for my son, I mean it wasn't for me, it was for my son Greg. So I send this off to Greg, here's your sticker, put it on your motor car. Greg says to me, Dad I need to write you out a check.

I tell you folks all that sugar I've been eating just began to melt me. I've got all this resolve, he needs to pay it, he's 25 years of age, I tell you I need that money more than anything in the whole world. I mean I know I'm gonna die without it, he's a big boy, he needs to learn how to stand and I get right up there to the line and I say, it's okay son, you don't owe me anything.

And Greg says, but Dad I can do that, why would you do something like that? And I say to him, son because you're worth it. How do you make sense?

Because of your inheritance, you make sense because God looks at you and says you're worth it. And everything I have is for you. Number three, the suffering will only make sense when it is guarded by an unswerving faith. Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the completion of today's message, When Your Suffering Makes Sense, with Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment. But Dr. Don insists we remind you that we're available, not just as a presentation, we want to present the gospel, we want to present this great teaching to you and it's a joy, it's a privilege, it's part of our calling. But we also want this to be a conversation, an opportunity for us to have some feedback with you about what God's doing through the power of His Word in these teachings.

If you want to call us, we'd love to talk with you at 866-899-WORD, that's 866-899-9673, or meet us online at www.tewonline.org, that's www.tewonline.org, and you can put something in the front of that, Don, that's our pastor's first name, D-O-N at www.tewonline.org, and that's the email you can send to Dr. Don if you'd like to let him know what God's doing in your life and how we can pray together, I can guarantee you, especially if your life is being changed by the power of God, or for any reason, just know that we would love to pray with you and for you, that email will get you connected to Dr. Don and our full prayer team, that's Don, D-O-N at www.tewonline.org, jot it down, we'd love to hear from you. Now let's dive back into today's message, here's the conclusion of When Your Suffering Makes Sense with Dr. Don Wilton. When it is guarded by an unswerving faith, in verse 5, he says, you who through faith are shielded by God's power, and he gives to us the components of an unswerving faith, number one, which is imperishable, it can never perish, number two, it is untouchable, because it is shielded by the power of God, and number three, it is unchangeable, because God will never change his mind about things, because he's sovereign and he set in motion the ways of God, and God loves me despite myself, and I can only make sense of my suffering based upon my unswerving faith.

What does that tell me? It tells me the essential ingredient of making sense out of my suffering, my friend, is not determined by the quality of my faith, because I can never have a quality that can match up to the quality of a sovereign and a holy God, it is no rather measured in direct proportion, not by the quality of my faith, but by the content of my faith. What is my faith made of? It is imperishable, it is untouchable, it is unchangeable, because I stand in the presence of a righteous and a holy God, and I know that my God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ask or even think, that's quality faith, that's content faith, that puts the emphasis on the right syllable, quality faith has to do with God, content faith has to do with me, and when I meet quality and quantity together, I begin to make sense out of those things that I just cannot make sense out of.

How do I make sense out of my suffering? Number one, when it's preceded by a living hope, when it's rewarded by an eternal inheritance, when it's guarded by an unswerving faith. Number four, when it is enveloped by spiritual joy, in verse 6 and verse 8 he talks about joy, he says you're gonna have an inexpressible and glorious joy, but he qualifies it by saying in verse 6 in this, now wherein lies my joy? My joy does not lie in my suffering, my joy lies in this, which is my living hope, my eternal inheritance, my unswerving faith, therein lies my joy.

I cannot go to someone and say I know you're suffering, why don't you just have an inexpressible joy and walk around smiling all day? Pain hurts my dear friends, it hurts, but I am enveloped by a spiritual joy because I know that my Redeemer lives. Number five, because it is valued by a loving God, verse 7, he says these things come because God is at work in you, because God has a plan for you, because God has a purpose for you, because God is doing for you what nobody else can do.

I tell you folks it is an amazing thing that we can be valued by God to that extent, that God would bless us like he does. I can only make sense of my suffering when I understand that God does not condemn me in my suffering, in my pain, but God rather values me that I get to the point at which I'm able to say it doesn't matter whatever state I am, therewith I will be content because my God is able to supply all my needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. But number six, my suffering makes sense when it produces an unsurpassed testimony, an unsurpassed testimony. Look at verse 7, he says these things happen in order that several things may be proved. Friends my pain and your pain and suffering and grief, the pain of the world and the pain of those that love the Lord Jesus Christ are billboards to the grace of God.

Did you know that? Boy I think of my dear sister and our friend Hannah Sebesky. Oh man, Karen and I were in the hospital a week or so ago standing there at her bedside and she was going through more treatments and yet there is an unsurpassed testimony that flows out of her heart. Every day we hear of reports of the unsurpassed testimony of Hannah Sebesky and how God has used her suffering to touch the lives of countless thousands of people. I think of Brittany Fogg, I think of her so often, precious young lady, her life taken so prematurely from us and I think of all the people that have come to know Jesus Christ because of her suffering. In this congregation today one of my dearest friends in all the world, Paul Scales, visiting us for just two days from Brisbane Australia. Last year my precious friend, our friend and his beloved wife Bev Scales, taken into the presence of the Lord right there in Brisbane Australia.

Moments before she died she began to clap her hands and say I'm coming, I'm coming, I need to go boys, I need to go with her twin sons and her family waiting and praying and seeking God and Bev Scales, one of the most wonderful Christian ladies I've ever met, transported into the presence of the Lord but what a billboard of faith, what an unsurpassed testimony. I want to thank you for two things today. I want to thank all the doctors and nurses and medical personnel who are within sound of my voice for the manner with which you treat those of us who hurt so badly. You can go to the average doctor's office or to the dentist and there sit people like you and me. I've never been into one of those rooms that people are sitting there bouncing off the walls saying how wonderful it is to be here. Everybody's hurting, everybody's in a rush, then the door opens finally, you've been waiting in line for what seems like ever, then they want you to sign a form and nobody wants to sign that form again. Then you get into that room and we've got some of the most godly, wonderful, practicing medical personnel that I've ever met, that folks they don't conduct a medical practice, they're engaged in practical ministry because they stop and they look in our faces and they touch us.

I've never met anybody that wants to go in a doctor's office, a dentist's office, get a pat on the back and a pill and be told to get lost. We all want the time of day, we all want to feel loved and and we all want to be part of and we've got people in our community who give and give, our counselors and our parents and our teachers. I want to thank people who help us to make sense out of our suffering but I want to thank all the people who are listening today who have suffered. All of you, those of you that suffer so much, you mamas and grandmothers, precious friends, members of churches, people who have gone through every kind of grief you could imagine, you know who you are, sometimes it's the loneliest world you've ever been in, you've got every justification to believe that nobody else could possibly understand what you're going through, you're right.

Suffering sometimes is so unique, sometimes there is nobody else who can understand. I want to, I just want to thank whoever it is that's listening right now, whoever's looking at me right now, for all the suffering and the pain that you've gone through and for the manner with which your unsurpassed testimony for Jesus Christ has stood up. Thank you for helping some of us who haven't gone through the same pain make sense of your suffering. Thank you for helping us to help others make sense of their suffering and thank you for passing on to future generations the things that touch the nerves of every one of us.

I tell you dear friends, I thank you today. I thank you because you make us the kind of people that we are. You kind of like that vast group of people who have served this country and have paid a price. You like those servicemen and servicewomen in all the wars that have traveled across the seas and taken bullets on our part. You're the ones that have paved the way and flown the flag. You're the ones that have stood the test of times. You're the mamas and the daddies who no matter how unpopular we've become, you're always at home and you've always loved us regardless.

Thank you for making a difference and some of you here ladies and gentlemen, the grief that you've gone through and the pain of separation has been so intense. If I could walk out of this pulpit right now and lay my hands on you, if I could call upon the Lord Jesus Christ, if I could just ask God to move across this place in his power and his spirit, if I could call for a general healing of all people, I'd do it because you are so precious. But the one thing I know that we can do is we can make sense of our suffering because we've got a firm foundation upon which to stand. So it begs one more question, are you standing on a foundation? Do you know Jesus Christ?

Maybe you came here this morning and you know you didn't quite expect all of this and suddenly it all makes sense you know. You see the Bible tells us that God loved us so much that he gave us Jesus. He gave us Jesus because Jesus is the cornerstone. He's the rock and when we build our house on the rock, when the wind and the waves come, the house on the rock stands firm.

But when our house is not built on a rock but it's built on sand other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the wind and the waves come, the house on the sand falls flat because we cannot make sense. What a powerful message from Dr. Wilfton today as we wrap up not only today but this entire week of broadcasting here on The Encouraging Word. It's our prayer that the Lord has stirred your heart and you've heard not just this wonderful South African brogue of Dr. Don Wilfton but you've heard the voice of the Lord speaking to you through his living word and you realize that it's time to make a change. To make a course correction, an adjustment, just know that we're here to pray you through that next step.

You can connect with us in a number of ways keyboard to keyboard on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's T-E-W for the Encouraging Word, online.org. Or you can give us a call again at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. And before we get away would you take a moment and just hear these closing thoughts from our pastor and chief encourager, Dr. Don Wilfton. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Perhaps you've just given your life to Jesus Christ, you prayed that prayer with Dr. Don, or you've rededicated your life. If so, welcome to the family of God. Welcome back to the family of God in the middle of all that's going on in this unique time of the virus and the separation. And just know this, God can use even this suffering, even this unique time to draw us closer to each other in the body of Christ, and more importantly draw us closer to Christ.

If the Lord has done that in your life in a unique way today, let us put some free resources in your hands. If you've given your life to Christ or rededicate your life, please call 866-899-WORD and let Dr. Don know that's 866-899-9673. We'd love to speak with you, pray with you, maybe give you those resources and send that to you, and maybe even help you find a local church.

I know that we're still connecting virtually in some areas, beginning to gather. Just know that we believe firmly God's called us to encourage you to be involved in your local church. And if you don't have a local church home, we have a wonderful network of resources, not just around the nation, but now around the globe, to help you find a church within a couple of zip codes of where you are in most situations.

And Jim and Michelle and the team would love to help you do that. So call and let us know if you need help finding a local church. You can call 866-899-WORD. That's the number. Jot it down.

Store it in your cell. Let us be a part of, as Dr. Don would say, your 2 a.m. friend network. Happy to talk to you anytime. Pray for you anytime at 866-899-9673.

Of course, we're connecting online as well. Here's Liz with the details about our website. Do you know someone that could use some encouragement? We're here to help. Visit our online web store at www.tewonline.org. It's like having a Christian bookstore at your fingertips 24 hours a day. You will find sermon messages, books, and outreach cards. Let us take care of the shipping and help you send a word of hope today. The encouraging word is a viewer and listener supported ministry that trusts in God to supply our needs through people. Thank you for listening today. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. We'll look forward to being together again on our weekly broadcast next week, but over the weekend, don't forget Sundays on Daystar, Mondays on TBN. All the details where you can watch as well as listen to Dr. Don are on our website. That's www.tewonline.org. And of course, we'd love to pray with you and for you anytime day or night at 866-899-WORD.