The Benefits of Suffering for Christ

Our responsibility is to shine the light into the darkness. The light is in us because Christ is in us. The light is also in the Word of God because therein is the light of the gospel revealed. This is the heart of the point and purpose of the church in the world, to preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Have you ever returned to your hometown after a few years of being away and you barely recognize it? The field behind your house is sprouted apartments, your high school's been demolished, your favorite restaurant has gone out of business, things you had pictured staying the same instead changed drastically. Perhaps you get a similar feeling when you look at the way our culture has changed over the past few decades. Foundational institutions and beliefs that we've always depended on are being turned upside down.

So what is driving this transformation? And can you do anything to slow the cultural decline? John MacArthur answers those questions today in his study called The World versus the Kingdom of God, and now here's John. We come now to the study of the Word of God, and we have been looking at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I invite you to turn in your Bible to that chapter. We've been slowly working our way through this chapter because we have been talking about the fact that as Christian believers we are citizens of the heavenly kingdom, and our responsibility is to shine the light into the darkness. The light is in us because Christ is in us. The light is also in the Word of God because therein is the light of the gospel revealed. Verse 5 of this chapter says, we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake. This is the heart of the point and purpose of the church in the world, to preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord. Now we have been discussing the fact that to preach Christ is to provide light in the darkness. Just to remind you of that, let me begin in verse 1.

Follow along. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God, but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake. For God who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

We have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. Everybody's carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

So death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke. We also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

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." To pull up and above that text and get an elevated vantage point of what Paul is saying, he is saying this, we have been given the ministry of the new covenant, the preaching of the gospel, the glory of the gospel. We preach Christ. We don't preach ourselves. We understand in doing this that we are insignificant.

We are clay pots, earthen vessels. We have no power, only God has power. We can communicate the message we have no power to change the sinner. In fact, we have to face the reality that dominates all evangelism, and that is if it is faithful, it will generate hostility, rejection, hatred, and persecution. And so having risen to the heights of speaking of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God, speaking of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, immediately he says in verse 8, we're afflicted. Verse 9, we're persecuted. And then in three verses in a row he talks about the fact that he lives every single day with the reality of death. And what we've been learning is that the gospel offends sinners necessarily, necessarily. Jesus said in John 7, they hate Me because I tell them their deeds are evil.

Even Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, the Holy One, could not overcome the sinner's anger when confronted with his own sin. The darkness is deep and seductive. We've been learning that. The darkness is becoming bold in our generation, isn't it? The darkness is protecting itself by making laws that punish the people of the light. We have criminalized righteousness and made wretchedness legal. The devastating deception of the wicked has legalized murder and sexual perversion and the destruction of the family and the devastation of children.

The pollutions in this population are widespread. We have the duty to shine the light into this. But market whatever tolerances the culture had in past generations, it doesn't have now.

Hostility is going to be the response. So here we are living in the darkness, not on the edge of the darkness, but literally in the darkness shining His lights. And Paul says in tackling this task, it can be daunting, and that's why he begins in verse 1 by saying, we do not lose heart.

And then he brackets it at the end or near the end in verse 16, again, we do not lose heart. That means we aren't cowards. We don't quit. We don't give in. How is it that you can do this with boldness and courage and endure?

The bottom line is this. In order to be faithful, you have to have strong convictions. You have to believe in the superiority of the new covenant.

We learned that. You have to understand that you need a pure heart, that you have to handle the Word of God accurately. You have to understand that salvation is a work of God.

Only God who said, let there be light, and brought about light in creation in Genesis 1.3 can say, let there be light in a heart. You also have to understand your insignificance. You're a slave. You're a clay pot.

You're powerless. So here we are with this superior new covenant truth, the only saving truth. We have been given the mercy, the high privilege of proclaiming it even though we're unworthy. We must do so from a pure heart, handling the Word of God accurately, trusting in the Lord for the results, realizing our own insignificance. And when we do all of that, and do it all to the best of our Holy Spirit-driven abilities, what will happen? Do you think they'll all believe?

No. Go down to verse 8. We're afflicted in every way.

If you think this is the path to popularity, you're wrong. Paul was certain of another thing. This is the seventh certainty that we've looked at. He was certain of the benefit of suffering. You're going to have hostility. You're going to have rejection.

You're going to suffer. We've already learned from our Christian experience in going through the New Testament that we should count it all joy when we fall into various trials, right? James 1, because they have a perfecting work. They even validate our faith. When your faith survives a horrible disappointment, that's evidence that it's the real faith. And the longer you live and the more times you've gone through trials and your faith comes out triumphant, the more assurance you enjoy.

So Paul says, let's look at verse 8. I'm certain of one thing. I'm certain of suffering, and I'm certain of its benefit. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed.

Afflicted, flibbo, pressure coming on us, but not crushed. Perplexed, you could translate that at our wits end, despondent, not really seeing a way out of the suffering. But even at that, not despairing, not to the point of final despair. What he is saying is it's hard. It's very hard, but there's no heartache that can cause us to defect.

We don't lose heart. Verse 9, he says, we're persecuted, dioko. That verb would be used for hunting an animal with the purpose of killing it. We are hunted, hunted down for the purpose of being killed, just like Jesus was, but not forsaken, not abandoned, not deserted. We are struck down, katabalo.

That's a body slam, slamming something to the ground to throw down with force used in wrestling boxing, but not destroyed. We don't perish. This is one battered apostle, but it never broke him. Listen, triumph is not freedom from pain.

Triumph is not escaping adversity, it is surviving it. Go over a few chapters to chapter 12, second Corinthians 12, and I will have you look at verses 7 to 10. Paul opens his heart. He's been talking all through this letter about his suffering. Go back to chapter 6, the opening ten verses list all the things he suffered. Then in chapter 11, the most complete list of external and then even internal suffering starts in verse 23 and runs all the way down to verse 29, all the things that he suffered. There were critics of him who would say, well, pretty evident that God is not pleased with you because of all the suffering.

That would have been the extant version of Job's friends counsel. You're suffering because you're sinful. But notice what the Lord says in chapter 12, verse 7. This is personal testimony from Paul inspired by God because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations. For this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself.

Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He said to me repeatedly, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

That is so counterintuitive to the culture of today in even the evangelical church. I don't become powerful until I'm weak, until I'm persecuted, until I'm distressed, until I'm insulted. He puts Himself on the altar of sacrifice, and He says suffering is beneficial.

First of all, it humbles us to keep me from exalting myself. There was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, says it again, to keep me from exalting myself. That messenger of Satan, I believe, was the leader of the false prophets who were tearing up the church at Corinth.

A messenger of Satan, an angolos of Satan, a satanic angolos, an angel is a demon. God used suffering to humble him because of the many revelations he had. God also used suffering to draw him to the Lord. Verse 8, concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. It drove him into deep prayer.

That's what suffering does. Also, suffering allowed God to display His grace. Verse 9, He has said to me over and over again, my grace is sufficient for you. My grace is sufficient for you. It allows for God to put His grace on display. And finally, suffering not only humbles us, draws us to the Lord, allows Him to display grace, but perfects His power in us.

You're only as powerful as you are weak in your own strength. What is wrong with people who want to truncate the gospel? What is wrong with people who want to alter the gospel? They're too invested with their own power. It's when you know you are impotent and utterly powerless, clay pot, that all the power resides in the truth of the gospel.

Preachers, I see them on television with massive crowds of people. They are impotent. They are weak. They have no effect on anyone in any eternal sense. They draw crowds. People laugh, clap, full of sound and fury, signifying spiritually absolutely nothing.

As long as you think you have the power, you are powerless. When you have been broken and recognize your own impotence, you're useful. Paul understood that. He understood that.

And so, back to chapter 4, and picking it up at verse 10, he says, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus. You know, the reality was that they really were not so much offended with Paul. It wasn't something about his style they didn't like. It wasn't that his words were on their surface offensive. It was Jesus that was the offense. And I want you to understand that no matter how winsome you are, no matter how kind you may be, no matter how loving you are, when you preach Christ and the gospel, it's an offense. To the degree always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, what is he saying?

He is saying, I live continuously in the reality that this could cost me my life. Paul was stalked everywhere he went. He was hunted like an animal. They wanted to kill him, but he did what he did so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. In other words, both in his character and his preaching, Christ was on display. I love that. Christ in Paul was made visible by his courage.

Get that. Christ in Paul was made visible by his courage, by his enduring sacrifice. By risking death for the gospel, he showed that he loved Christ, and he also showed that Christ was alive in him. Parallel statement in verse 11, for we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Literally, he's saying, Christ is on display when you are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, even facing death for preaching the gospel. It's actually an amazing truth. It's what Paul described as entering into the fellowship of the Lord's suffering.

Again, for the third verse in a row, verse 12, Paul says, death works in us, but life in you. We have to be exposed. I mean, we've got to be out there proclaiming the truth, right? You can't say, well, I'm afraid that it might cost me my reputation if I'm bold about the gospel, and those who hate the gospel are going to try to destroy me, and there are a lot of ways they could do it without killing me, especially in this internet era.

But you don't really have a choice. The glory of God is shining in the face of Jesus Christ, and Christ lives in you and shines through you as He puts Himself on display in the evident virtues of your life, and those virtues sum up this way, love. Love toward God, love toward Christ, love toward truth, love toward Scripture, love toward the church, love toward the lost.

Humility, brokenness over your own sin, sense of unworthiness, and thirdly, obedience. You put Christ on display, and then you proclaim His gospel, and this is unacceptable in the world. Paul says in Colossians 1 24, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. Not only for the Lord's sake, but your sake. And in my flesh, I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

What an amazing statement. Paul is saying this. Christ isn't here. They can't do any more damage to Him. They can't afflict, inflict any more wounds on Him, so they inflict them on me and His place.

What a privilege, right? He took the wounds for us. Can we take the wounds for Him? That's how it's going to be if you're faithful. It's going to be death working in us, verse 12, but life in you.

What an amazing promise. Paul endures faithfully then, shining the light of the gospel into the darkness, even if it costs him suffering, and it does, even if it costs him death, and it did. The suffering was the way to refine him, the way to break his self-confidence, the way to humble him, draw him to the Lord, and perfect divine power in him.

So he was certain of the benefits of that suffering. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur. He's chancellor of the Master's University and Seminary, and today's message is part of John's study titled The World Versus the Kingdom of God. John, when we talk about the benefits of suffering for Christ, the blessing of being persecuted for his sake, and as we look to the future, it seems there are some harbingers that suggest persecution for Christians may be close at hand. Should we pray for persecution to come?

Should we even go looking for it, or should we pray for it to go away? I think we should pray for the purity of the church. I think we should pray for the sifting of the church. I think the church in America is full of nonbelievers.

We all know, look, does a day go by that we don't hear about another famous pastor who has to leave the ministry because of immorality? The absence of persecution in America has allowed the church to become bloated with false believers and false leaders. I think we need to pray that the Lord would purify his church, and it is obvious that the purifying of the church is going to require persecution. It's going to require suffering, because the thing that will basically chase false believers away is persecution. You're not going to pretend to be something if you have to pay a price, if you get persecuted.

I saw that in Eastern Europe, all those trips to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The church was pure, because nobody wanted to go to Siberia for something they pretended to believe, so they would quickly deny Christianity if it saved them from prison. So persecution purifies the church, and I think it's safe, and I think any faithful pastor or any faithful believer would say, Lord, do whatever you need to do to purify your church. And Peter says that after you have suffered, the Lord make you perfect, right? Casting all your care on him in the midst of all of that because he cares for you, but understanding that spiritual growth and perfection and maturity requires that kind of purging, and what is good for the church is good for the individual believer as well.

That's right. Thank you, Jon. And, friend, with uncertain days ahead, it's crucial to know how to respond to suffering biblically. And to help with that, I encourage you to pick up Jon's book, titled The Power of Suffering, when you contact us today. Call us at 800-55-GRACE or go to our website, GTY.org. With helpful chapters on preparing for suffering and dealing with trials, and examples of people who have faithfully endured hardship, The Power of Suffering is sure to offer practical guidance for you or for your small group.

The Power of Suffering costs $10.50 and shipping is free. To order your copy, call 800-55-GRACE or go to GTY.org. And to help you understand all of God's Word better than ever, we have thousands of Bible study tools available free of charge at GTY.org, including Jon's entire sermon archive covering the entire New Testament and much of the Old as well, and it's all free to download in MP3 and transcript format. Again, the sermon archive and many other Bible study tools are available at GTY.org. Now for Jon McArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Be back tomorrow when Jon looks at how our culture can desensitize you to sin, and how you can fight against that and keep your conscience sharp. Jon's continuing his series called The World vs. the Kingdom of God, with another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace to You.