Romans chapter 5 will be reading verses 1 through 3 therefore being justified by faith We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God Not only so but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience why Do christians suffer part three? Let's pray father. Thank you for today Oh god, we need you now. We pray that you'd work in hearts and lives this morning, you know every need You know every heart, you know those that are going through Valleys even today as we speak and lord for those that are here this morning that have never trusted you They've never been born again the bible way. I pray you'd work in their hearts that you draw them to yourself May you be glorified Lord in all that we do and say here today in Jesus name. Amen Why do Christians suffer? We come this morning to the final part of this kind of mini series within a series. Why do Christians suffer? It's a question that has been asked millions of times It's a question that many people in the Bible struggled with. Many great men of God struggled with similar questions. In Jeremiah chapter 12 and verse 1, Jeremiah says, let me talk with thee of thy judgments. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? Jeremiah says, Lord, I know you're righteous. I understand that. Theologically, he understood that God is righteous, and doctrinally, he was right, and understanding, but Lord, I don't understand what I'm seeing. Why do good people suffer? Why do bad people sometimes seem to prosper? He says, wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? And so he's looking at life and saying, this wasn't how I thought it would go. In Psalm 13, the psalmist says, How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? He's praying and not getting answers to his prayers. It seems like God's not responding. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? Boy, we've been here in a valley, it can seem like a long time. How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. He's in a bad way. He says, in essence, Lord, if You don't do something, I'm going to die. If You don't intervene, if You don't help me here, I'm not going to make it. Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 13, Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil. And canst not look on iniquity? Wherefore, lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue, when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?" Again, here's another prophet. He says, Lord, I understand that you're of purer eyes than to behold evil. Well, how can you look on when ungodly men treat godly men in an ungodly manner? And the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he, and you don't intervene." What about Job? Job's friends just assumed that Job must have committed some atrocious deeds because of the suffering that he was undergoing. You read through the book of Job and his friends show up and they just assume God must be judging him. He must have done something terrible. Chapter 5 and verse 7, Elipha says, man is born under trouble as the sparks fly upward. And he says, you know, if God's done this to you, then you must have done something wrong. You must be sinning. There must be sin in your heart for this to have taken place. In chapter 4, he says, remember, I pray thee, whoever perished being innocent, Or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same. What's he saying? Job, and this is his friend. Job, look, you're going through this, so you must have done something pretty bad. People don't just suffer for no reason. You're being judged for your sin. This is his friend. And yet we know that God would even say unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil. God held Job up as a trophy of his grace, a man that walked with him, and yet Job went through some tremendous trials. Asaph struggled mightily with this subject. The Chapman alluded to this in Sunday School this morning. Asaph struggled. It didn't seem right to him that believers would have to go through adversity and that unbelievers sometimes seem to have it easy. And again, theologically, he understood, he says, truly, God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. I know that God is good. Jeremiah would say, I know that God is righteous, and Habakkuk would say, God, I know that you have pure eyes, and what you do is right, but as for me, I know it theologically, I know it doctrinally, but as for me, experientially, what I've gone through, what I've seen others go through, My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. And then he says this, there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. The word bands in the Hebrew means pains or difficulties. And he's saying even when they die, they don't struggle or suffer. You know, you gotta be in a bad way when you're looking at some of this dice. Man, he should've struggled, he should've suffered before he died. He should've had a painful death. It's just not right that he got to die peacefully in his sleep after all that he's done. even secular in history, those that don't have any belief in God. Some of the Nazi war criminals, boy, there was great lamentation when one of them would die of old age before they could be tried for their crimes and sentenced and judged. It wasn't fair, they gotta just die. And Asaph is looking at the ungodly and saying, it's just not right that they could die without a struggle, without some suffering. In verse five, he says they're not in trouble as other men. He's thinking they should be in trouble. Neither are they plagued like other men. He says their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could wish. And Asaph's saying, in essence, God, this isn't fair. This isn't right. By our way of thinking, people that do right, life should go well, and people that do wrong, they should pay for their wrong. He goes on to say, behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. And what we might say today is that I got saved and I thought life would go wonderfully well and now I'm having struggles and problems. Why? He says, for all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. If I say I will speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. He says, I was going through this private inner struggle. I didn't even want to bring it up. I didn't want to mention it because I was afraid I'd cause somebody else to stumble. It was hurting me. My feet were almost gone. My steps had well and I slipped. I was really confused with this. He says, when I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. I had a hard time even thinking about it. Why is my neighbor doing so well? And he's a blasphemer. And this guy over here that I know walks with God, why does he have problems? And he says, until, until. He's looking at everything wrongly. It just doesn't seem fair. And he says, until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then understood I their end. I went to church, and everything got put in its right place, and he finally got it figured out, but it was a real struggle for a while. So we know that Christians sometimes suffer, but why? Why do they suffer? There are many good reasons for suffering. We're looking at the subject from the standpoint of what would happen if we never suffered. What if Christians never suffered? What would the consequences be? I said, number one, people would be attracted to salvation or Christianity for all the wrong reasons. I mean, there'd be people saying, well, you know, once you get saved, once you become a Christian, everything goes well. You never have problems. You never have pain. You never have setbacks. Everything goes well. I want that. God doesn't want people attracted to Christianity for some fringe benefits and some physical blessings. Now, there are tremendous blessings with being a Christian, don't get me wrong. But God doesn't want people attracted for the physical reasons. In Jesus' ministry, he was continually taking people from the physical to the spiritual. The woman at the well, Lord, sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither can hither to draw. I want this water. She's thinking, man, that'll make my life easier and better if there's some kind of magic water that I'll never thirst again. And Jesus was talking about spiritual things and trying to elevate the conversation to that level. But people are attracted to a pain-free life, a problem-free life. If that's what Christianity offered, people would come to God for that reason, not because they're a lost sinner that has offended a holy God that has broken his laws and stands in just condemnation. and judgment of that God. Not to come and plead for mercy that their sins would be washed away, but I just want in on the gravy train. I want my life to go well. I want to get that raise, that promotion at work. I don't want to ever have to go to the doctor again. I don't want to ever have to have difficulties or setbacks again. People would be attracted to Christianity for all the wrong reasons. Number two, we would not grow in our faith. Psalm 34, 19 says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. And it's through that that we grow in faith. Psalm 34, 6, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. We wouldn't grow in our faith if we never had problems, never had struggles. Thirdly, we would not personally experience what God can do. The righteous man, Psalm 37, 24 says, though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. He shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. And then fourthly, we would not grow in patience and experience and hope and overall maturity like we would otherwise. Jesus would say in John 16 33 these things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace in the world Ye shall have persecution But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world And that brings us to point number five Number five we would get to content down here. I You know, if we never had problems, we never had difficulties, we never had heartaches, we'd get real content down here. God's good. God's blessed. God's shown his favor upon us. But God, every once in a while, has to send along a trial or problem for us to remember, you know, this isn't our home. We're just passing through. The danger is we drive our tent stakes really deep and just be happy here and content here and not pining away for that which is to come. As the song says, I'm kind of homesick for a country. I've never been to, never seen before. Oh, we need to have that in our heart, that longing. In 2 Corinthians 4, in verse 17, Paul said, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. You know, until God comes along and shakes things up sometimes, we get really prone to get attached to things down here, really attracted to things down here. Our hearts go after things down here, and we can start living as if that's all there is. Paul said a little affliction comes along and all of a sudden we take our eyes off what's down here and look forward to what's to come. He would go on to say, for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon that with our house which is from heaven. The older you get, the more this tabernacle starts groaning. And the closer you get to eternity, the more you realize, you know what, I think it's time to trade this old model in for a new model. And one man said, I'm hearing snap, crackle, and pop before I get to the breakfast table. This old body, the aches and the pains, and God starts reminding us, we're not going to be here forever. He said, this old tabernacle, boy, one day we're going to trade this thing in. And he goes on to say, for we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Boy, some adversities and some difficulties that make that a greater longing in our heart. Romans 8, 22, we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, and one day we'll leave this sin-cursed world, and one day we'll have a new body, and one day we'll be in an eternal state, and no more temptations, and no more difficulties, and no more setbacks, and no more heartbreaks, and no more crying ourself to sleep some night. 1 Peter 1, verse 3, blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you. who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, year in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith be in much more precious than of gold that perisheth. Though it be tried with fire, it might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, ye love. In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. What brings that about? The trials of our faith that are more precious than gold that perishes, causes us to lift up our eyes and look to the world that is to come. Revelation 21.4, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." Think of that. That's almost beyond our understanding. We're so used to this world with the pain that comes along with being in this world. We're used to this world with news that yet another loved one has passed away, that somebody else is about to pass away. And the longer we live, the more that just becomes normal. My wife and I visited yesterday with a 97-year-old man. He said, all my friends, they're gone. They're gone. But we're going to a land where We'll never know that again. We'll never experience that again. We'll never have the pain even of saying goodbye to a loved one that's maybe we're not gonna see for another year or two. We'll not have that anymore. No more pain, no more suffering. And God sends some things along to remind us and to cause us to long for that land. Number six, we would miss many opportunities that come about through trials. You know, when Paul found the time to write the book of Ephesians, that blessed book, the book of Philippians, that book of great rejoicing, book of Colossians, book of Christian growth and maturity, Philemon, that letter where he's interceding on behalf of a brother, You know where he found the time? In prison. In prison. And Paul Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress, that book that's helped so many in the Christian walk, a book that's helped so many decide to be a follower of Christ. He wrote that while in prison. That one book has been translated into over 200 languages. sold over 250 million copies, he found the time while in prison. While in prison in Rome, Paul was faithfully, as he says in Acts, preaching and teaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence. But he was in prison, and God enabled him to do that. In Philippians chapter one, And verse 12, Paul says, but I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. He said, I want you to understand what you've heard about me, the things that have happened, even the beatings, the scourgings, the shipwrecks, and now being in prison. He said, all of this is work to the furtherance of the gospel, he said, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places, and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. And so Paul says, look, being in prison, don't worry about me, I'm doing well. In fact, he would write to the Philippians in chapter 4, he'd say, I abound. Don't worry about me being in prison, I'm doing well here. Boy, through this, I've been able to witness to people I wouldn't have had a chance to witness to otherwise, and I'm having an impact with people, and even what God's allowed me to go through is in some way encouraged and emboldened other people to be more bold in their witness. He said all of this has worked together for the furtherance of the gospel. In 2 Timothy 2, he said, verse 9, wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even as under bonds, or being in prison, being bound up. He said, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Jesus Christ with eternal glory. He said, I could put up with any of this. He said, because of this, other people are getting saved. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 19 says, and for me, he's asking them to pray for him, the Ephesian believers, that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in bonds that wherein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. In Philippians 4 verse 22, as he's signing off in that book, he said, What a great thing. Why? Why were there those in Caesar's household that would salute the brethren in Philippi and send their greetings? Why? Because Paul had been in prison and he had an opportunity to witness to those he would not have had an opportunity to witness to. And they'd gotten saved. And so he said, hey, I want you to know some people in Caesar's household send their greeting. They're believers now. In Psalm 40, I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it in fear and shall trust in the Lord. Through these things I've gone through and and God still put a song in my mouth and as a result of that There'll be those that will hear and fear there will be those that have trust in the Lord You know oftentimes when you are going through adversities when you're going through struggles God is giving you a tremendous opportunity Number one to just showcase what God can do in the peace that he can give you that passes all understanding but you have a tremendous opportunity to share the gospel and He said, man, on Wednesday, I got a doctor's appointment. Well, that's the only chance you're gonna get to witness to that doctor. You're not gonna get to his house. He lives high up on the hill, behind a gated community and guards, and you'll never talk to him at his home. We've tried to door knock up there. You're not gonna get in. So the only chance you're gonna get is sitting in his office. And the doctor gives you, maybe gives you bad news. I've got bad news for you. And then he tells you the news. You say, well, doctor, I got maybe even worse news for you. I'm not paying the bill. No. No, but you have a chance to witness. That's your only chance. Your car breaks down, and you're on the side of the highway, and you're thinking, man, this is a terrible day. I can't believe this. And you got a call for the tow truck driver, and the tow truck driver comes, and why do you think God had that happen? That might be the only chance that tow truck driver, you know that tow truck driver might have a mama back in Missouri or Idaho or somewhere praying, God send somebody to talk to my boy about Jesus. And you got that opportunity. I was cutting a branch in our backyard, I'm up on a ladder, I cut the branch, it wouldn't fall, and I cut this other branch, and that made that branch fall, and it hit me in the eye. I didn't even see it coming, it hit me right in the eyeball. So I had to go to some optometrist in Pomona, and I'm talking to him, and talking to him, he said, ah, I grew up in a Baptist church. I said, yeah, why aren't you going now? He said, oh, I just got busy, you know, I've just been so busy, and with the practice and all of that, but I used to go. I gave him a track, and I said, look, God had to whack me in the eye before I could talk to you. I said, don't waste that. Don't waste that opportunity. He said, well, you know, I was thinking about that. Boy, we have great opportunities. We just take advantage of it. Three or four weeks ago, my wife and I were flying back to South Carolina, sitting on a plane, and we were tired. We got up at like, I don't know, 1.30 or 2 in the morning. We get on the plane, and we just, we fall asleep. We wake up and we started talking to the lady sitting next to my wife and started talking to her, gave her track and witnessing to her. She says, you know, she says, I was crying while you guys were sleeping. She says, I just found out this morning my best friend died. Best friend. So we got to talking to her. She was a Jewish lady. My wife was reading the book Through Jewish Eyes. My wife said, look, take this book. Read this book. It's no coincidence. It's no accident. We had a chance to give her the gospel. It's no accident that God had you sit right beside us. And God had you go through what you went through on this very day, and now you're sitting next to a Baptist preacher and his wife. We got to share the gospel and talk to her. We say, hey, we're on our way to Israel. We're going to be in Israel in a few weeks. We love your country, love your people. God gives us those opportunities. But when we respond wrongly, I can't believe I'm going through this. I can't believe my car broke down. I can't believe I gotta go back to the doctor. I can't believe I gotta call the plumber. Maybe that plumber needs the gospel. Can't believe I gotta get an electrician out here. Maybe the electrician needs the gospel. God gives us these opportunities, but when we get a wrong spirit and we get a wrong attitude and we're complaining and murmuring, we're not gonna be of any good to God or anybody. God gives us opportunities. Number seven, we would not grow as close to God. You know, it's through the valley we grow. In Psalm 61, too, from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Oh, when my heart is overwhelmed, have you been there? When your heart is overwhelmed, you're more likely to cry out to God. You're more likely to spend time in the presence of God. and you need his comfort more than ever. Psalm 57, one, the psalmist said, be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. In Psalm 143, the psalmist says, For the enemy hath persecuted my soul, he hath smitten my life down to the ground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate." He's in a bad way. He said, I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy works. Amused on the work of thy hands, I stretch forth my hands unto thee. My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land, Selah. Hear me speedily, O Lord. My spirit faileth. Hide not thy face from me, lest I be likened to them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning. for in thee do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies. I flee unto thee to hide me." He said, Oh God, my heart's overwhelmed. Oh God, the circumstances of life. I'm desolate inside. Oh God, I need you. Cause me to flee unto you. Oh, listen, troubles and trials, they draw us closer to God. Unless we get bitter, unless we get a hard heart, unless we get angry with God. And Job says, who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered? The answer is nobody. But oh, when we go through trials and we go through testings and our heart grows hard, and God, why are you doing this? And this isn't fair and this isn't right. Then God can't accomplish what he wants to in our lives. And the trial is wasted. Psalm 142, I cried unto the Lord with my voice, with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him, I showed before him all my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path in the way wherein I should walk. Wherein I walked, have they privily laid a snare for me? I looked on my right hand, and behold, but there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living." Isaiah 43, when thou passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the rivers. In the passage through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. God says, I'll go with you. I'll go with you through those trials. In Philippians 3, Paul says in verse 10 that I may know him and the fellowship of his sufferings, that I may know him. Number eight, we would not be as well equipped to help others. It's through the trials that God grows us up and teaches us some things. In 2 Corinthians 1, verse 3, he says, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. You know He is saying when you've gone through those trials, you've gone through those afflictions, God wants to use those and use you to be a blessing to somebody else. Don't waste those opportunities. There are people in here this morning that you can minister to people that I never can. In ways that I never can. Because you've gone through some valleys that they've gone through. Some of you have faced some heartaches in particular areas where now you can be used of God to be a blessing to other people. God will use you. I said this was the final message of this. I don't think we're gonna make it through this this morning. In case you're worried or wondering. But there are people here this morning, you've gone through some times of testing that God now wants to use you to be a comfort to somebody else. Sometimes it's other Christians. Sometimes it's fellow believers. The Bible says, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. And you can be a burden bearer and you can come alongside and you can shoulder the load and the burden that a fellow Christian is going through. But sometimes it's a lost person. that you'll be the best person to ever even give them the gospel because you've gone through the particular valley, the particular struggle, the particular difficulty that they're going through and they're going through it without Christ. And you can reach out to them and you can minister to them. But when we walk around and we're feeling sorry for ourselves and we're immersed in our own little pity party, we won't even notice that somebody else is hurting. We won't even notice that somebody else is struggling because we're just, woe is me, and I can't believe this happened to me, and boy, this is terrible, and why didn't God do something? And God says, wait, I am doing something. I'm working in your life because I can use you so much better if you just submit, if you just allow me to have my will and my way in your life. Oh, you could be so well equipped to help others. Don't waste that. Don't waste that. The tragedies, the trials, the tests, that at this point in your life, maybe they make no sense at all. But if you'll go to God and say, God, you've put me, you've allowed me, had me go through this test, I don't know why, but will you redeem it, God? Will you make of it something beautiful? Will you use it, God, that I could be a blessing to somebody else, that I could be a help to somebody else? Lord, this hurt an awful lot, but I've learned some lessons, and I've learned to trust you better, and you've helped me to keep my eyes on eternity, but God, will you use it even more? Will you help me to be a blessing to somebody else? Paul's saying, look, by what you've gone through, the sufferings of Christ, they abound in us. So does the consolation abound. And whether we be afflicted, he said, it's for your consolation. What we've gone through, God can use to be a help and an encouragement and a blessing to you. And then he says, our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so ye shall be also of the consolation. Don't be ignorant of all this. And he goes on to say, look, when we were in Asia, we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. Paul said, we thought it was over. We thought we were dead. We didn't think we'd survive. But he says, but God's done something with that. And through what we've gone through, we're able to be a help to you. You're gonna go through some things, and you turn around and you be a help to somebody else. Why do Christians suffer? It's not by accident. God's not up in heaven looking down and say, ooh, I didn't mean for that to happen. No, there are no accidents with God. God didn't wake up late last week on the day that you had a problem and just really wasn't kind of didn't have his day laid out. And unbeknownst to him, something happened. No accidents with God. No mistakes with God. It's not something God overlooked that you've got some medical issues now. God has a plan through all that. That's one of the great things about being a Christian, that we can just put our lives, our well-being, our future in God's hands, and watch Him work, and rest in Him. 1 Peter says, casting all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you. If we really believed that, we'd do a lot less fretting. We'd do a lot less getting stressed out. If we really believe that He does care for us and we can cast all our cares upon Him. And you know, as we do that, we grow in faith. And early on, you're gonna cast your care upon Him and you're gonna pick it back up again the next day. And then you go, wait, wait, wait, wait, I think I was supposed to give that to God and let Him keep it. And you may have to go back again and again and again. But you begin to grow, and you realize there's a God in heaven that makes no mistakes. And whatever He's allowing, whatever He's doing in your life, there's a purpose. There's a purpose. And He wants to redeem that trial and use it for His glory. He wants to redeem that trial and bring something beautiful out of it. But it depends on us. It depends on our response. If we're fretful and anxious and worried and angry and responding in a dozen different ways that are wrong, then that trial's wasted. God can't do with it what he wants. Why do Christians suffer? There are a lot of reasons, a lot of reasons. And God has his purpose in all of them. If you're here this morning, and you've never trusted Christ. You might say after this message, I don't want to trust Christ, but I want you to know God's a good God. He loves you in spite of your sin and he sent his son to die on the cross of Calvary that you might have everlasting life. I'm not telling you this morning, come to God and He'll take away all your problems. Come to God and everything will be wonderful. Come to God, you'll never have another financial need, another health need. No, I'm telling you, come to God because you're a sinner. You're a lawbreaker. But God loves you even still. And He delights in mercy. And He's willing to forgive your sin. He's willing to adopt you into His family. What a privilege that is. That He would take the likes of you and me, as sinful as we are, say, you know what, I'll forgive that sin. and I'll adopt you into my family." As many as received him. As many as call upon Him, He'll receive us. He'll adopt us. He said, I will in no wise cast out. I'll in no wise cast you out if you'll come to Him. The choice is yours this morning. No one can make that decision for you. Nobody can make that choice for you. You must make that choice. You must make that decision. As many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God. If you'll receive him, if you'll turn from your sin and turn and trust him, receive him this morning. He says, I'll give you the power, the privilege, the right, the authority, the standing to become a child of God, adopted into his family. The choice is yours. Father, thank you for your word this morning.