to you. Let's open our Bibles for just a moment. I just want to give you a thought. I realize that's very dangerous when a preacher says that. I remember growing up, our pastor that we grew up under would say, now I'm just going to give you a thought and people might as well start kicking off their shoes. We're going to be there a minute. Amen. So I want you to open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11. This is going to be very different this morning. I am normally a very textual and expositional type preacher, and this will be more topical. And it's all good if it's Bible, amen? I don't care what your style is, as long as you give me plenty of Bible, amen? Nothing wrong with an illustration, but we need something beyond skyscraper preaching. You say, what is that? That's preaching built on story after story after story. We need the Word of God, amen? I need somebody to give me, thus saith the Lord. The cry of the people of God in the Old Testament was, bring the book, amen? And in these days, we need somebody to bring the book, amen? Give me the book. I like good chatting like we done this morning, but a chat won't always follow you to the ICU room. I like good stories, good illustrations. Jesus used them. There's nothing wrong with them. But those stories won't always stick with you in the hardest of times. But if you can get a word from the Lord, amen, if the Holy Ghost can appropriate the Word of God in your life, you'll be able to make it and stand in the storms of life. And I want to read some Scripture and then just give you a brief thought this morning. 2 Corinthians chapter number 11. And we'll begin our reading in verse number 24. The Apostle Paul has been speaking and defending his apostleship and in the midst of it, actually verse number 23, in the midst of it he begins to detail some of the struggles that he'd gone through in his ministry. And so in verse number 23 he says, Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths off. Of the Jews, five times received I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbery, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and in nakedness. Verse number 28, he finally says, Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. We'll end our reading there and we'll refer to some other scriptures that I'll quote and mention to you, the Lord being our helper. But that is a quite extensive list of struggles. Amen. It looks like to me that by that list, He went through just about everything you could imagine. And it seems like to me in these days that we're living in, Preacher Lucas, everybody's going through every type of peril and every type of struggle imaginable. Amen. I've never seen days like these days. I had to go to the ER the other night. I had a kidney stone and was finally able to pass it. If you've never had one, the only good thing about those things is they'll make you beg for the rapture. Amen. But we went into the hospital, and Brother Brian, there was people everywhere. Beds all out in the hallway, and the nurses and the doctors seemingly could not keep up. And when they called me back to go to my room in the emergency room, a man in full army uniform escorted me to my room, and I asked a nurse, what is he doing here? And she essentially said, the army is paying them to come in and help us during this time. I thought, my soul, this is like a movie. There's panels on every hand. Of course, I was in immense pain, and she said, we're limited on what we can give you because we're out of most of our pain medicines. I thought, man, this is different. I don't know about you, but every time my phone rings these days, there's so many difficulties around us. that i'm just like what am i going to hear next who's funeral am i going to next and we we we have we seem to be living in every type of peril imaginable but we ought not been caught by surprise because paul already told us that in the last days these perilous times would come. We're living in what the Word of God already forecasted. Amen. We ought not be surprised. We are, but we ought not be. And in this list, he lists every kind of peril imaginable. Peril by being shipwrecked. Peril by false brethren and false countrymen. Peril by being in prison. Peril by facing death often, he says. And he talks about all these different kinds of perils. He talks about the word weariness and painfulness and all these things. You say, how are you going to bring an encouraging message from this day? Because I was reading all this the other day, and the Holy Ghost reminded me that the description of these struggles was not the end of Paul's story. He went through all of this, but at the end of the journey he still said, I've fought a good fight, I've finished my course, I've kept the faith. I want to preach to you for just a moment this morning on this thought. Strength for the struggling saint. Strength for the struggling saint. If we're not careful, we'll paint these Bible heroes like they're superheroes and superhuman. But I remind you that James said that Elijah, that man that prayed down fire from heaven, was a man of like passions. What does that mean? He's a man of the same struggles that you and I have. These men and women were wrapped in the same sinful flesh you and I are wrapped in. They battled the same Satan that you and I battle today. They were struggling saints. Amen. I begin to think about the Apostle Paul's struggle. Can I say number one? He struggled with sin. I'm afraid one of the things that if we're not careful, we'll end up in error, especially in our independent Baptist movement when we say things like this. Well, if they were really saved, they wouldn't do this. There ain't no way that somebody can be saved and do that. Now, I believe in sanctification and separation and that we ought to live right. But when you look at the life, first of all, let's look at the Lord for just a second. If salvation was based on whether or not somebody struggled with their flesh or whether or not they struggled with sin, Brother Brian, we'd call the Lord a lost man. I'd call any man. that purposely moved his children in and around a bunch of sodomites, I'd say there ain't no way he knows the Lord. That's what I'd say. Any man that got so drunk that he had pregnant his own daughters, I'd say he needs God, he don't know God. But you know what God said about Lot? That he vexed his righteous soul. Now I need you to hear me. The only thing that made Lot righteous is that God said he was. And can I say to you this morning, the only thing that makes me and you righteous is that God said we are. Hey man, my salvation is not based on what I said when I prayed, or what I've done since I prayed. But my salvation is based on what God said I am. What God said I have. And old Paul struggled with sin. In Romans 7, he said, Those things that I want to do, I do not. And those things that I don't want to do, those things I do. And he said, What I would do good or evil is ever present. He struggled with sin. There was a struggle with sin, but not only was there a struggle with sin, there was a struggle with self. He struggled in His flesh. The greatest enemy that you and I have is the one we look at in the mirror every morning. Amen. I don't care how long you've been saved, your flesh is as wicked now as the day before the Lord found you. You got saved, but your flesh did not. Amen. And the Bible said the spirit and the flesh are contrary to one another. And you're going to struggle with self. That's why Paul said, I put my body under subjection, lest I have preached to others. I myself became a castaway. That word castaway means to be disqualified. I don't know about you preacher, but that scares me to death. That I could have preached to others all these years, and then if I don't learn to put my body under subjection and try to win the struggle with self, that one day somebody could be talking to my little girl about how I used to preach. About how I used to serve. Because I lost the struggle with self. He struggled with sin, he struggled with self, but then he struggled with Satan. You know what he said to me? You know what he said, Brother Brian? He said, lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. That word messenger is the same word that we would use for angel. So he called him an angel of Satan. I don't know exactly what that thorn was or what it all entailed. But I do know this, according to that phrase, there was demonic forces involved. And a Christian cannot be possessed, but we can be oppressed. And I have never seen a day when more of God's people were oppressed by the forces of hell than the day we live in right now. He fought with Satan! He had all these struggles. When you look at our text that we read this morning, the Bible said in weariness, and that has to do with distress. There was dangers. There was peril after peril after peril. We're living in dangerous times. But then there was distress. The Bible said in weariness, He said. And that word weariness has to do with emotional distress. Or watch out now, that forbidden word, it has to do with depression. Did y'all hear that? The greatest man that ever lived outside the Lord Jesus said, I'll just be honest, I constantly deal with depression. You say, are you sure about that? Yeah, I got more Bible. He said that he was in such a place that they were pressed out of measure in so much that he despaired of life. The Apostle Paul was so weary in his mind that he got to where he said, I'd just rather die. I don't want to live. In weariness and in painfulness. That has to do with physical pain or sickness. And may I say those things are very closely connected. The Bible said in weariness and painfulness. Boy, it's really easy to end up in weariness when you're constantly in physical pain. Whoa. Whoa. Y'all might be more spiritual than I am, but I have prayed and prayed and prayed about my health, and it just seems to be getting worse. I told my wife the other day, I don't remember the last time that I felt good. And Brother Jerry, the last couple times that I've tried to prepare to preach, there's been such a battle in my mind, as I sit in pain, and the devil would come by and say, what if none of this is really real? What if you're living in a fairy tale? How come it is that you've prayed and prayed and prayed and you're still in constant pain and God won't answer your prayer? By the way, when we read this list of all these sufferings, we're not talking about a man that was half in and half out. We're talking about a man that gave his life to the ministry and faced death over and over and over for the gospel sake, probably the most faithful man to ever live outside of our Lord, and he's in constant pain. He said, I was in watchings often. That meant he couldn't sleep. It meant sleeplessness. Anybody struggled to sleep lately? Laid down, dog tired, and still can't find any rest. Again, we ain't talking about somebody that's half in and half out. We're talking about somebody that's giving it all they got. He said, I can't even sleep. In case you're wondering, that ain't bothering me at all. I think we all have moved when the Spirit of God moves us. A lot of people wait to the invitation, and the devil done talked them out of their help by the time the invitation came. Watching is often. He said I was hungry. He said I was cold. And he said I was in peril of false brethren. People that I thought were for me, but they weren't. Have you ever been betrayed? My home church where I'm a member, I watched men that told my pastor, we're for you, and we're always gonna be there. And I watched those men walk out. And my pastor said to me, You're the only one I can talk to. I gotta look strong than everybody else. But he said, I thought those men were my friends. And they just walked off with no explanation. Struggle with betrayal. Struggle with Satan. So, with him struggling with sin and self and Satan. How did he make it? Where is the strength for the struggling saint? Well, we're going to reference a couple of passages of Scripture, but can I say, first of all, I believe he had the assurance that everything was working together for the good. Because it was the Apostle Paul who said, for we know that all things work together for the good of them that love God and are called according to his purpose. I began to study out that phrase, all things, and I went to the Strong Brother Brian, and here's what I found out. That phrase, all things, meant this. It meant all things, but in more detail, it meant every individual part. Every single thing the definition said, every single thing you're suffering, every struggle you're facing, every battle you're fighting is somehow working together for the good Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Every single thing has a child of God. No struggle, no pain, no battle is wasted in the life of a child of God. Every single thing we encounter in these days, I have a blessed assurance that is somehow working together for my and your good. Oh my. Everything. You say, Preacher, does that mean everything, every single thing is working together for our good? Every single thing. We buried my grandpa almost a month ago. And the Spirit of God sat down in that room in the church house. And we sang what a day that will be. And God began to minister to us. And I watched my grandma, his way to stand up with hands raised and shout during what a day that will be and give God the glory. Say, how did that work together for your good? Because I saw that no matter what we faced, that God would be enough, and God would give the strength to go on and worship in the worst of circumstances. I'm trying to tell you, whatever you're facing, every single bit of it is working together for your good. And I believe that struggling saint, the Apostle Paul, made it because he knew, I don't understand it, I don't know, but I do know that everything is working together for my good. Not only did he have the assurance of all things working together for good, but can I say this, according to the chapter, after the chapter we just read, he had the assistance of the grace of God. Amen. Thank God he wasn't in that struggle. by himself. He wasn't in the fight by himself. But the Lord had done come by and said, Hey Paul, I know you're suffering, I know you're struggling, but I just come by to say my grace is sufficient for thee, and my strength is made perfect in weakness. Glory to God, he had the assistance of the grace of God. Amen. You know how we're going to make it through this? By grace. Amen. By grace. And His grace never fails. When we talk about grace being sufficient, praise the Lord. I don't know everything God's doing this morning, but He's here and I sure do appreciate it. We talk about the assistance of the grace of God, and it being sufficient, being more than enough. Brother Jerry, several years ago, Brother Buster Seaton told a story, and he said a young lady went into the hospital, and she come from a very poor family. They were so poor that they lived off the land, just whatever they could harvest, and they would have a glass of milk, and they would put it in the center of the table. And Brother Lucas, they would make lines around that glass of milk, and all the children could drink down to their line, but you couldn't go any further. You had to pass it to the next person when you got down to your line. But the youngest little girl got sick, She had to go into the hospital and she had surgery. She come out of that surgery and they brought her the biggest plate of food into her hospital room that she had ever saw. And when they opened that tray, there was a glass of milk on that tray. The biggest glass of milk she'd ever seen. And she said to the nurse, Brother Brian, she said, there ain't no lines on it. And the nurse said, what do you mean, honey? And she explained how when she was at home, she had to share that glass of milk with her brothers and sisters and she could only drink down to her line. But now she was in the midst of this suffering and she'd been given that glass of milk and there wasn't no lines on it. And that nurse began to cry. and said, no baby, there ain't no lines, honey. He said, you have all you want. And when you get through with that, there's more where that comes from. It's unlimited, honey. You'll have all you want. And may I say, when it comes to the reservoir of the grace of God, there ain't no lines on it. God bless the Lord. You can have all you need! Woo! And when you think you've run out, there'll be more! Where that grace came from, it's unlimited! There's no limits on the reservoir of the grace of God! And we have the assistance of His grace to make it through these struggles. Lastly, and I'm done, not only do we have the assurance that all things work together, for the struggling saint. Not only do we have the assistance of his grace, but we have the anticipation of glory. There's something that will make you want to fight on and struggle on when you start thinking about, it will be worth it all. When we see Jesus, our trials will seem so small. When we see Christ, one glimpse of His dear face, all trials will be erased. Old Paul said it like this, run the race. until we see Christ. Old Paul said, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, hey man, they seem heavy, they seem big, but he said they're trivial and they're temporary. Hey man, somebody said when you get over yonder, are you going to ask the Lord why you had to sit in that chair? Hey neighbor, when I get over yonder, I won't care. Amen. That's not it won't matter. Amen. The sufferings of this life are large compared to the glory that awaits us. And he said, our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a more eternal and exceeding weight of glory. Hey, hey. Just wait until we get over yonder and all the suffering here works for us glory over yonder. One day it dawned on me, Brother Brian, that the longer I sit in this chair over here, the more glory there'll be over yonder. Hey! I'm just racking up glory to be enjoyed on the other side! Woo! And one day, bless His name, I'll cash in on all the glory! May God bless his name. Hey, hey, you know why it's good? Because it's true. High-life affliction, which is but for a moment, will give for us a more eternal and exceeding weight of glory. I read Peter's epistles the other day, and Miss Joanna, I found the word suffering 15 times. That's a lot of suffering. But guess what, Brother Jerry? I've found the word glory 16 times. Hey, as a child of God, the glory will always outweigh the suffering! Bless the Lord. And I had the anticipation of glory. Some of you might have seen it. I posted it on Facebook. A young man who was wheelchair-bound passed away And when he died, his father had a statue made of a boy standing up out of a wheelchair and put it on his grave. And I looked at that picture of that little boy standing up out of that chair, and I said, Glory to God, one day... Huh? One day, Hallie! Hey, hey, I'm closing with this, but Brother Robert, I doubt you remember your first steps. They happen because you're walking, but you probably don't remember them. And you're probably walking to Mama or Daddy or Grandma or Grandpa, but you don't remember that either. You cannot remember your first steps or who you were going toward when you made them. But it dawned on me a couple months ago that I will never be able to forget mine. And when I take them, I won't be going to mama or daddy or grandpa or grandma. Hey, but I'll be looking at the Lamb of God. Woo. Oh my! I won't hug on mama or daddy when I take those steps, but I'll be looking at the darling Son of God! And say, there's the reason that I can get up! There's the reason for all this glory! The anticipation of glory! Thank the Lord. And I believe we're closer now than we've ever been. I like to study prophecy a lot, and I've got a few ministers in my email that send out prophecy updates. And do you know, Brother Brian, that in the hills of Judea, right now, they're training priests for that third temple. Right now. Just a couple of months ago, for the first time in years and years and years, there was born a red heifer. And they've put it in the stall, and they're keeping it for that third temple. Now listen to me. All those are things that happen after we leave. So if they're already preparing for what's to happen after we leave, how close are we to leave? How, bless the Lord, how close are we to, for the Lord himself, shall descend from heaven with a shout, hallelujah, with the trumpet of God and the voice of the archangel. I'm trying to tell you, hang on, child of God, glory's just around the bend. We're fixing to leave. Amen. There'll be no doctors over there, because we'll be in the presence of the great physician. No, he never has to practice. He's perfect. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. The anticipation of glory. We sat down to eat last night with my grandma. She began to cry. We took her to Longhorn. She said, your grandpa wanted to get out to get a steak. He never got it. She started crying. And I said, Nanny, he's feasting on something a heap of a lot better than anything we got down here. That steak was nice, but I'd rather been feasting on the lamb. The anticipation of glory. The assistance of the grace of God and the assurance that all things are working together for our good. That should be strength for the struggling. And the struggle ain't gonna last forever. Because when he got to the end of the journey, he said, I fought a good fight. You know what I found out? That word fought and fight come from the same word and they both mean struggle. You know what he was saying? My struggle's over. It's finished. And one day, hallelujah, Brother Jerry, all our struggles will be done. One morning, you're gonna wake up and fight your last fight, shed your last tear, walk through your last valley, and it'll all be over. And all be left to do is enjoy the presence and the glory of God in that place we call heaven, strength for the struggling saint. Can we have the pianist to come back to the piano? Maybe you're a struggling saint. Maybe, to be honest, you have a lot of anxiety about the days ahead. Did you know Paul struggled with that too? The Bible said, there cometh upon me daily. And that phrase, there cometh upon me. Albert Barnes said it, the word pictures like a mob that comes to attack. That word care means worry or anxiety. Paul himself struggled with anxiety. He was a struggling saint. but he had strength that did not belong to him. It was given to him. And child of God, there's strength to be had today if you'll take hold of it. If you'll come to the Lord and