Listen, as Dr. Michael Yousef reminds you that Jesus is compassionate in your times of pain and suffering. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 tells us that our chief priest, our high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ is the chief compassionate.
Why? Because he understands and he has experienced all of our pains. Whatever pain you're going through, I've experienced more. Whatever suffering you're going through, I've experienced more. If you're going through physical suffering and a physical pain, you can look up to the cross and know that your pain cannot be compared with his pain.
So he understands you. Thank you for joining listeners across six continents for the Bible teaching of pastor and author, Dr. Michael Yousef, on Leading the Way. Suffering is an expected and unappreciated part of life.
Everyone experiences it at one time or another. And as you'll hear today, no matter your life situation, God offers compassion and understanding in your suffering. Today's message is part of Dr. Yousef's series, Deepening Your Love for Christ. And as you listen, please keep in mind that Leading the Way is listener supported gospel ministry, meaning Dr. Yousef and his leadership team rely on God's provision through the generosity of those blessed and encouraged by Dr. Yousef's ministry at home and around the world.
Learn ways that you can stand with them at ltw.org. Listen now as Dr. Yousef begins his encouraging message called In Times of Suffering. If you have ever gone through unexplainable suffering and unexplainable pain of any kind, most likely you found yourself in one of four positions.
What are they? Either you found yourself in a barren land from which you try to escape it, or you found yourself in a broken land under which you are sinking, or you found yourself in a bitter land in which you resented, or you found yourself in a better land in which you are blessed and become a blessing. I'm going to repeat this as I go along in this message. Suffering of any kind will land you either in a barren land, the broken land, the bitter land, or the better land. It is indeed my prayer that you would land in a better land. It is the cry of my heart today as you listen to this message that God is going to teach you to take all of your past sufferings, all of your present sufferings, all of your future suffering, and land in a better land. An anonymous ancient author one time said that for Christians in the midst of suffering they're going to react one of two ways, or they're going to be like either a potato or an egg. So you see a potato is hard as a rock, but when it gets into a boiling water it softens.
The egg on the other hand is soft, but when it gets into the boiling water it hardens. Turn with me please in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 3 and 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 3 and 4. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all, not some, in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Someone said that the pages of history are stained with the tears of our compassionate God. The word compassionate here in 2 Corinthians, in the passage that I just read to you, it means to suffer alongside someone. The word really means that you are opening yourself up to the person who is suffering and you're walking with them. It means that you share in their anguish. It means that you are hurting with their pain. Now wonder Hebrew chapter 4 verse 15 tells us that our chief priest, our high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ is the chief compassionate.
Why? Because he understands our plights. He understands and he has experienced all of our pains. He has known what it is first hand to suffer because he walked where you are walking and where you have walked because he and he alone understands you better than anybody else because he and he alone knows not only what you're going through but he can respond to your pain by saying whatever you're experiencing I've experienced more. Whatever pain you're going through I've experienced more. Whatever suffering you're going through I've experienced more. If you're going through physical suffering and a physical pain you can look up to the cross and know that your pain cannot be compared with his pain. So he understands you when you go through physical suffering. Those who are going through injustice and unfairness and experiencing injustice in this world they too can look up to the cross.
They can look up to him. Perfect as he was. Perfect in every way. Never once sinned. Never harmed anyone. Never hurt anyone. Never wronged anyone. Never had the wrong thought about anyone. Never had the wrong attitude about anyone. Never spoke evil of anyone.
Never broke any law and yet he was falsely accused and sentenced to death. He understands your suffering of injustice. Those who are going through the pain of rejection and they feel maybe they have contributed one percent, two percent, three percent, little percentage toward that rejection toward that experience that they're going through.
They can look up to him who was rejected for no reason whatsoever and know that he understands what you're going through. In fact far from contributing to the rejection of him Jesus fed their hungry. He healed their sick. He raised their dead and he gave of himself freely and without charge and yet even his best friends fled and forsook him in his out of need. So he understands your rejection and those who are going through feeling of loneliness they too can look up to him and they can see here he is alone in the Garden of Gethsemane.
His dearest three could not stay awake. Alone in the dungeon in Caiaphas' basement. Alone in Pontius Pilate's court. Alone on the road to the cross.
Alone hanging on the cross. He understands your loneliness and those who are going through persecution because they happen to be at the very center of the will of God. They might ask God how come but they too can look to him and see the one who was at the very perfect center of the will of God and yet through his persecution he brought salvation to millions through the years. He understands the pain of persecution but he also said that he has a special blessing with your name all over it when you are persecuted for the sake of Christ. Let me remind you again suffering can land you on a barren land from which you try to escape or it can land you on a broken land in which you sink under it or it can land you in a bitter land in which you can resent it or suffering can land you on a bitter land in which you are blessed and become a blessing to others. Johnny Erickson once said suffering presses you up against God. I love that especially from somebody who understand physical pain every single day of life but then you know I thought about this and I thought about her joy in serving the Lord and then I thought obviously that when your suffering presses you against God you are going to come face to face with his suffering son and when you come face to face with his suffering son you are forced to comprehend his son's suffering was not for himself but it was for you.
It was for me that when you come pressed against God and you come face to face with the suffering of his son you understand that his suffering was not for his benefit but it was for your benefit and for my benefit and then and only then will you really deepen your love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now beloved I want you to listen to I'm going to tell you what God wants us to know is this Jesus did not suffer on his own behalf no because he was purely perfect but just as the high priest in the Old Testament once a year when he enters into that holy of holies and there he will lay the sin of God's people upon that scapegoat and that scapegoat will run into the wilderness in the same way Jesus carried the burden of our grief. He carried the burdens of our sorrow. He carried the burden of our suffering. He carried the burden of our pain and not just once a year but forever and ever and ever the rest of your life and then for eternity after that.
Now the truth is we are the ones who condemn Jesus on the cross. We're the ones who have caused him to suffer. We're the ones who caused him punishment. You say wait a minute why did he do that?
Why did he do that for me? It's a good question and I want to answer it because that is what the compassion is all about that we read about in Corinthians. You see God's compassion caused him to pay for the penalty of my punishment and yours. God's compassion caused him to serve your death sentence and my death sentence. God's compassion caused him to take upon him your rightful punishment and my rightful punishment. It's amazing to me as I read the Gospel of Luke.
Here's a scientist. Dr. Luke was a physician and therefore I find that his gospel and the way he recounts the historical evidence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love his systematic mind and I love the fact that Luke tells us that Jesus was crucified between two criminals.
One of the criminals was astounded. He was astonished that the son of the living God, the perfect holy God would be crucified like them who are criminals. So much so that he turns to the other fellow in Luke chapter 23 and verse 41 and he said we have been condemned justly for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong. One sees Jesus as suffering as for him and he loves Jesus for it and he ends up in heaven. And the other one likes so many in our culture who become bitter with their suffering and they reject the Lord Jesus Christ and wind up for eternity in hell. The one who allowed himself to experience the compassion of Jesus in the middle of his own suffering was driven into deeper love for Jesus Christ and was blessed. The other represented all those who shake their fist at God and end up condemned for eternity. Someone said God brings his children into deep waters not to drown them but to cleanse them.
Don't you like that? God brings his children into deeper waters not to drown them but to cleanse them. Let me plead with you. Do not waste your suffering. Do not waste it in the barren land. Do not waste it in the broken land. Do not waste it in the bitter land. Invest your suffering in the better land. And in order to avoid landing in the barren, the broken, or the bitter land there are several things you need to know.
In fact there are two to be exact. If you want to land in the bitter land every time you go through a rough patch in your life you need to understand some very important biblical truths. First you must remind yourself and if you have to do it every two seconds do it. You have to remind yourself that Jesus knows and understands your pain and suffering. Secondly you must remind yourself that Jesus not only experienced far worse than what you're going through, not only experienced far worse than what you are experiencing, but Jesus walks with you in the middle of your suffering. That Jesus is abiding in you in the middle of your suffering. That Jesus is carrying you through in the middle of your suffering. That Jesus is comforting you in the middle of your suffering.
That Jesus is holding onto you in the middle of your suffering. It's mind boggling for me how everyone of the Lord's disciples gladly suffered and died for Jesus Christ. You know why it's mind boggling? Because a little earlier those same guys, those same guys ran away in fear. They forsook him and left him all alone.
But you know what? The resurrection changed all that. The resurrection changed all fear. The resurrection changed all anxiety. The resurrection changed all of that.
As they walked and talked with the resurrected Christ day in and day out they came to love Jesus with all of their hearts that they considered life was not really worthy to be compared with the glory that's prepared for them. Today we have some people running around saying come to Jesus and he will make you healthy and wealthy and all your problems are going to be over. I got news for you. Since I came to Jesus all my problems have been multiplied. Because I became aware of my sin. I became aware of temptation. I became aware of Satan's attack.
While I was in his camp I wasn't aware of all this. But praise be to God that he promised victory and he gives us victory in the midst of this world. You know I was reflecting early hours of this morning. I already prepared my message but I was thinking in the Lord in the early hours of this morning took me to 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 12. And there the apostle Paul was telling Timothy listen carefully. He said you know all those who live godly life shall not may or possibly but shall suffer. Shall be persecuted. And I don't look to these folks in the eye and I say look one of two things either you're not living a godly life or you don't believe the whole Bible. Shall you try to live a godly life in your office. You try to live a godly life in your home. You try to live a godly life in your neighborhood and you will hear from the enemy. And people say why don't we experience the power of God as we read about in the book of Acts.
I want to tell you why. When you begin to value Jesus more than life itself you will have that power. The reason the power came upon the apostles of Jesus Christ is because after the resurrection nothing was being compared to the relationship with Jesus Christ and eternity with him. During the 90s two million Christian brothers were crucified to death in the Sudan and their wives and children were sold into slavery. And some people say well they imply at least that this was their fault for suffering for Jesus.
Give me a break. But like Jesus all of his children who paid with their lives are now glorified with him in heaven. And you have God's word on it. Suffering can land you in a barren land from which you try to escape. Suffering can land you in a broken land under which you might sink. Suffering can land you in a bitter land of which you resent. Or suffering can land you in a better land in which you are blessed and become a blessing. You know some years ago I shared a story with you and it bears repeating. The reason this story bears repeating is because it's an example of how a child of God learned in the midst of his crushing pain to land on the better land. Horatio Spafford was a prominent Chicago lawyer and he committed his life to Jesus Christ under the ministry of D.L.
Moody in Chicago. In November of 1873 Horatio's wife and all his four children, all four girls, four daughters set sail to France on the Villa de Havre. And Horatio was supposed to be with them on this particular voyage but the pressures of work has delayed him so he made plans to follow them in the next ship. And in the Atlantic before they got to France the Villa de Havre collided with another ship and sank.
Spafford's wife survived but all four children died and the cable that came to him from his wife contained only two words, saved alone. Spafford knew that his unbearable agony could land him on a barren land. It could land him on a broken land. It could land him on a bitter land and no one would have blamed him for that is a crushing experience very few of us even understand.
But instead he allowed through the power of God the Holy Spirit to land in a better land. And from the depth of his incredible pain he penned words that blessed millions. From the darkest and the deepest agony of his soul the light of praise manifested itself as he expressed it in these words, when peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrow like sea bellows roll, whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say it is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet the trial should come let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul. Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Yousaf for his message In Times of Suffering. Do you have questions about living the abundant Christian life or maybe practical ways to face suffering in your own life? Consider speaking with a leading the way pastor or counselor. Go to ltw.org slash Jesus. My name is Billy Elliot. I've been pastoring for a number of years.
I'm originally from Belfast, live in Dromara. As a family we were going through a very difficult time. My son is severely disabled with cerebral palsy and we couldn't get out to worship. I couldn't minister other than to minister to my family. I didn't know if I could continue in the ministry. I didn't know what was going to happen. We were pulled by members of my congregation.
Michael Yousaf and I were on a similar weight band and they encouraged us to listen to Leading the Way broadcast. My beloved friends, when we allow the word of God to rule our lives. Michael believed the word of God was the word of God and that clearly the word of God not only saved but the word of God provided a way of life in abundance. And even though life was difficult and hard, I had Christ and that was what was all important. Are you discouraged and despondent? The word of God will make you victorious. Are you sad? The word of God will give you joy unspeakable in the midst of your sadness.
Are you lost? Well the word of God is a lamp on our feet and will guide you to salvation. The word of God is not only the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes but the means whereby we live following salvation and that really spoke to my heart and encouraged us. Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yousaf passionately proclaims the truth of the gospel all over the world, encouraging and strengthening believer's faith with the powerful word of God.
Wherever you are, across every major form of media, Leading the Way is there to provide good news you can build your life on. To hear more encouraging stories like this one or hear powerful messages from Dr. Yousaf, contact us today. Visit ltw.org to learn more about how you can stand with Dr. Yousaf and the worldwide teams in taking the gospel to your neighborhood and to neighborhoods just like yours all around the world at ltw.org. You can also call us. Speak to one of our ministry representatives in our call center at 866-626-4356. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yousaf, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world.
