This morning we're turning again in God's Word to the book of Job. Job chapter 20. And then we'll take one verse as our text from chapter 21. Job chapter 20. We're going to read verses 1 through 6. And then turn to chapter 21. "'Then answered Zophar the Naamathite and said, "'Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, "'and for this I make haste. "'I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds." I'm going to end there. Just simply pointing out to you, here you have the response of Zophar to the words that we considered last week from Job in chapter 12. But I want you to think with me this morning on what Job responds to this man. If you look at chapter 21 and verse 22, you have a summation verse, if you will. Here is Job's reply. Shall any teach God knowledge? Seeing he judgeth those things that are high. Shall any teach God knowledge? With this Word before us, let's just pause and ask the Lord to meet with us for Jesus' sake. Our Father and our God, now we would pray that Thou would bless the Word of God. We would pray that Thou would use it to direct our hearts and minds to the feet of the Lord Jesus. We pray that Thou would fan within us faith, quicken our minds to understand. Lord, do that work in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that leads us away from ourselves. Lord, do a work by using the word to our hearts today. To this end, I pray that thou will help me as thy servant. I pray that thou will give me the leading of the blessed Spirit of God. Undertake, help, uplift the name of Christ is our plea. Bless now thy people whose eyes are unto thee. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. This morning I'm going to seek to answer the question that we're taking as our title, Why Am I Afflicted? Last week we considered the response of Job to the seeming words of wisdom that were spoken by this man that we read of again today, Zophar the Naamathite. It was the conclusion of Zophar that Job was being requited by God for his misdeeds. Though he submitted that God was dealing with him in far greater mercy than he deserved, Now that treatment, I have to say, is, by the Lord, a wonderfully common truth that we all have to admit to. The Lord deals with us all with far greater mercy than what we deserve. But in the case when Zophar offers these words of truth to Job, it was not meant to be a comfort to him. Rather, it was meant to be an accusation Job, you've done far more wrong than the Lord is letting you see the outcome for. And Job responds that such comforts brought him to exclaim that his friends were to him nothing more than miserable counselors. It's amazing that you have friends who would come to you in the tragedy of your life, sit down with you in the ashes for a week's time, and then start turning around and telling you how bad you are. Miserable counselors! Miserable, not just because of the heartlessness, but miserable because of the error, because they were not speaking the truth. But even though the conclusions of Zophar were accusatory, I want you to see that in this case again, once again today, Job's response was spot on. Zophar had contended that it was the actions of God that had caused the things to happen in Job's life. And those actions of God were necessitated, necessitated by the acts of Job. And the underlying thought process was that God must respond to the actions of men. God is a responder. I want you to keep that in your mind. That's the argument. God is a responder, Job. He does what He does because men make it necessary. Well, as you will remember from last week, I pointed out that Job immediately responds with the truth that this is very much against the truth. Job plainly says in chapter 12, verse 15, that God acts because God purposes. God does what He does because it is His will to do so, not because anybody, as it were, bends His arm behind His back. He does that which is His will, and no man's actions, either good or bad, cause Him to respond. And because Job understands the nature of God's sovereignty, he preaches against what we have to call Zophar's conclusions was nothing more than superstitious falsehood. Again, I want you to understand with me today, it must be understood that to attribute anything, either to the actions of God or to the words of God. If we attribute anything other to what we see in our lives other than this is the purpose of God, and it is determined by the sovereignty of God, that is in its essence superstition. God acts as God purposes, and that alone is the cause of what man sees. Now, it would seem that Job's response would be an end to Zophar's discussion that man causes God to move. Not so. Not so. You have Zophar saying, "...therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. I have heard the check of my reproach." In other words, I've heard what you said, Job. I've heard what you have answered to my reproach that I feel was justly leveled against you. And so you see that Zophar offers again today in today's reading what we must pick up and say is nothing more than an anthrocentric, you know, that's a fancy way of saying man-centered, anthrocentric, He offers an anthrocentric argument born out of a seeming unwillingness to bow to the truth that God is the first, not only in cause, but in purpose. His counsel, His will, His decree are before all things and dictates what man sees. I want you to understand that with me. God's sovereignty is not just a sovereignty of power. It's not just a sovereignty in that you see the events of the world ordered, but you must see that God is sovereign in His purpose. And that purpose is before all things by way of priority and also by way of seeing the events played out. In Zophar's words of chapter 20, I say is another shade of falsehood that comes from man's heart. In this portion, Zophar's argument challenges the absolute truth that God's holy purpose is the first and exclusive reason for that which is done among men. God's purpose is first. God's purpose is exclusive. Does God do anything that's outside of His purpose and will? You might say, well, if I don't believe or if I do this, well, that may not be the will of God, but it forces Him to do something. No, sir. No, sir. No, sir. Again, here you have the center of man-centered theology, which is errant right from the very start. There is no truth to it. And I would say to you this morning that the shades of this falsehood that we're dealing with are subtle. But I want us to see the issue because our thinking, naturally, that comes from our natural man, so quickly wants to follow the reasoning that Zophar presents. Again, here is the argument. Zophar contended that the wicked, because they are breakers of God's law, will be brought to misery and woe. Are you with me? Do you see what he's saying? If you read through chapter 20, that is the whole of his argument. Over and over and over again he tells how it is of necessity that the wicked will be brought to misery and woe. Their end is of necessity one that shows the horrible wages of sin. The sinner will be judged and duly punished. And he contends that this is a law that is unalterable, for God is holy and cannot stand the breaking of the law. That sounds pretty straightforward, doesn't it? It sounds pretty right on. But I want you to see that this would mean then that God is bound to act in one and only one way with regard to sin. And for God to be bound to do anything comes back around to the false thought that God's purpose is not that which dictates God's acts, but rather it is the acts of man. If it's the acts of man, what do we call that? Superstition. It is the same error as before, though approached from another angle. It seems right. But it is very wrong. And Job replies by asking a question in our text. And the question is this, shall any teach God knowledge? Zophar had said to Job earlier that he was going to deal in knowledge. Knowest thou not this of old? But Job says, "...shall any teach God knowledge?" Or, put in other words, is there anyone that is going to tell God that He has to do something because a situation dictates that He must? Are you going to be able to go to God and tell God He has to work in a certain way because this is something that demands Him to work in that way? Does the dealing of God with men have to be just as man understands so that he can impart that understanding to God? In other words, Zophar, are you going to say to God, you have to work in this way because we understand the truth to be this? Are you going to be able to say that to God? Let me review and reiterate what the argument of superstition is. And I'm calling this argument, this on purpose. The argument of superstition is this, that bad men always end up in calamity and are brought low because of sin. Now, we would have to say true, that often happens. False, it does not always happen. Because this superstition is believed, that is, bad comes because I did something, this then also brings a second false conclusion. And that is this, because I see affliction, I want you to ask yourself, is your mind ever gone here? Because I see affliction that always, always means that the Lord is angry with me because I sinned. Whether I can remember that sin or not. Do you see what the argument is? Here's man, he does this, therefore he has to come to this end. God is always angry with sin. Now, that part is true. But does God always outwork His purposes in accord with what Zophar says is the required end? Job brings this counter. He says, the wicked, for the most part, see things go well. They are often in the best of circumstances and it is the wicked that are often the ones that enjoy the luxuries of life. Was there somebody else that perhaps we might remember in scripture that came to the same conclusions? Maybe you remember the psalmist in Psalm 73 who says, I see what's going on with the wicked and I don't understand why this is. I thought that the wicked would have calamity happening to them as so far, but they didn't. All that they are knowing is that which is luxurious and comforting and enjoyable of life. Their children are the ones that grow up and become just as their fathers are. They never have any hardships. They never have any necessities. Everything they want seems to be theirs and in abundance. And it seems as if those that are trying to do right are the ones that seemingly are going without. But then he finally comes to the point where he says, but then I went into the sanctuary and I put myself before God. Then I understood their end. I say this morning that this thinking, you say, you're splitting a hair here. You're trying to get very technical. You're trying to get very somewhat even theological. No, I'm not. I'm trying to get very basic. I'm trying to get down to where the rubber meets the road. I'm trying to get down to where our thinking tends to go because of the old man that's in us. The conclusions that we make are very much akin to the conclusions of so far. And I say it is very important for us to understand. I submit again the substance of Job's argument. And that is, as God does, and I want you, this is a bit of a logic, and I'll repeat it. I want you to think of it with me though. As God does not, underscore not, as God does not always judge and afflict the wicked because of his sins, and because that is no proof that God approves the life of the wicked, So the presence of affliction and distress is no proof that God disapproves of the life of the saint. Did that make sense? I hope it did. It did to me. Sometimes things make sense to me and I'm not sure they make sense to anybody else in the whole wide world. Job is saying, listen, you can go out there and you can see the fact, if God is not judging the wicked, that is not a proof that He is approving of the way that the wicked lives. The fact that the wicked enjoy all these things and they have all the luxuries and all the comforts, that is no proof! That God looks at these people and says, my blessing is on you, oh, you're just a great people, that's why you have all this. But just as that is no proof on that end of things, you also have to see on the other things. It is also no proof that God is against His people, that God is disapproving of the life of the saint, because there's affliction that arises. And I say to you this morning that that last half is something that the people of God wrestle with all the time. There is a constant assumption on the part of many, because I am knowing this affliction, because I'm knowing this hard time, because I'm knowing this deprivation, because I'm knowing this need, that must mean that God is angry with me, because I wouldn't have that otherwise. I would be on the other side of things. I would only know the sunshine and the birds chirping. I'd only know the flowers coming up. It would be just all rosy if I were just No. No. Job says God has a divine purpose. He has a will. And that purpose and will is before all things. God works out the purpose of His mind. He does not react to the situations or the downfallings or the commendational acts. There's no such word as commendational. I just made it up. But you know what I'm meaning. He does not look at these things and say, OK, I have to act. OK, this one was bad. OK, now he has to have this happen. This one was good. Oh, now he has to have this happen. That's what Zophar says. And I say to you, by your fallen nature in your old man, you are a Zophar. You come to the same conclusions. It is antithetical. to the doctrine of God's grace. Because it takes God's act out for his people from the realm of being gracious and good and merciful and puts it upon the works-oriented religions of the world. Isn't that what Paul argues throughout Romans? You know, if we do this thing, if God helps us because we do this, it's no more of grace. God owes it. So my proposition to you this morning is this, God deals with men according to the priority and the preeminence of his purpose, not because something else dictates, especially not the understanding of men. Now, having said that, there are some questions that may come up in our minds, and that's what I'm going to seek to answer, though my point that I'm gonna make, really, this morning is, I've only got one point, but I'm gonna stretch it out a little, because I'm gonna ask a couple questions here to try to get me to my point. The first thing I want to consider with you is the answer to the question first, why does God not afflict the wicked? Why does God not afflict the wicked? Why isn't it just exactly as Zophar says in chapter 20? Why isn't it that you don't see instantaneous judgment? Well, to answer this question is if we can list the whole of the answer is to try to do what Job says is impossible to do. Who can tell all the reasons and purposes of God? I can't begin to answer that. I can give you a couple things, though. There are some truths that can be noted from Scripture, and I will begin by asserting again what Job is saying, and that is that the wicked are often allowed of God to prosper and enjoy what may be termed the good things of life. Now let me just interject a thought before I go further on that. The question in our thinking must never be, is it fair? You know, sometimes when we come to this whole question, that the wicked seem to have everything. And the righteous seem to be struggling. Is that fair? Well, we might also ask at the same point, are the wicked deserving of prosperity and comfort? Are they those who are worthy of the Son of God's blessing? Answer, no, they're not worthy. And sometimes we think, well, that's not fair, because I can see that and I can see they're not worthy. I can see that this man is just this and that and the other thing. And he's got all these things and it's just not fair. Well, let me ask this question. The truthful answer to the question, is there any that are worthy of God's blessing? The answer is what? Nobody's worthy of God's blessing. So what right do you have to be envious of the unrighteous? Nobody is worthy, though we try to justify ourselves and judge that we are indeed more worthy than the unrighteous, because we have received mercy." Oops, stop right there. You are more worthy because you have received mercy? I suggest to you that's a bit of a warped idea. And I say that often because you allow your mind to go down that road leads you into covetousness, it leads you into bitterness, it leads you into envy and jealousy. And I ask you this, can I take your question and maybe flip it around and ask it this way? How is it that the criminal that has received mercy is more worthy than the one who has yet to be judged? We're both criminal. Yes, one received mercy. So does that make him worthy? No. I can hear the argument back to me. I can hear the mind that would say, now wait a minute, but here's my thought. I am now the child of God. So I should be worthy and the unrighteous man should not be worthy. Let me simply say this. Yes, if you're the child of God, You will be made rich. But I will just simply say what the Lord Jesus says, yours is the kingdom of heaven. Yours is not this old world. You will have that which is untellable in its magnitude as the Lord pours out his love on you. But it's not of this old world. So we come back to my question. So what makes the ungodly able to know the comforts that I'm not able to know? Again, I say be careful in your heart as you think on these things. Why is it that God does not afflict the wicked? Well, let me give you one reason so that he can preserve you. The preservation of the saints is oftentimes involved with that. Now, I know this might seem somewhat strange and an incongruous thought. The prospering of the wicked and the exaltation of the ungodly to ease and comfort preserves the saint? Do you understand? I'm just going to give you an example. I think your mind can go there, because I think you know this account very well from Scripture. Do you understand that the prosperity of Pharaoh in Egypt during those years in which there was the plenty was God's outpouring of blessing, as it were, of luxury, if you will, upon the whole of the land of Egypt, and on Pharaoh particularly, ungodly Pharaoh, the man who later God would have to judge. But the Lord poured out a blessing, as it were, for that man. Why? It was for the preservation of the family of Jacob. The fact that the Lord allowed him to know much gain spilled over to the keeping of the people of Israel. And let me say, there is no blessing for the ungodly in this. For they will perish along with their goods. But sometimes there is a supply established for the godly to survive. Sometimes the Lord uses what He does in the lives of the ungodly to make it so that the godly can exist. Do you remember the Lord calling Cyrus, the king of Persia, His servant? Was Cyrus a great and godly man? No, but what did the Lord do through the life of Cyrus? He pronounced the edict that allowed the people to come back into the land of God. Sometimes the Lord allows the wicked not to be afflicted because it is for the good of the people of God. Why did the Lord allow to rise to power and prestige Alexander the Great? a godless man, a pagan of the worst sort, yet he conquered the world. Why? The Lord was setting the stage for Greek to become the language that was known from India all the way through to Spain. that there would be an avenue through which the truth of God could be presented and souls converted and the people of God established. Why did God allow there to be the rise of Julius Caesar? Because God was establishing the Roman Empire as that strong body, if you will, of power, whereby a peace, the Pax Romana, descended upon the world. And it was during this time, and because you could freely travel from here to there, to here to there, without the thought of, am I going to be attacked by some other group of people, that the gospel was able to disseminate out through the world. You take another ungodly man, Henry VIII of England, Why did Henry VIII of all people prosper, that adulterous old man? Why did the Lord allow him? Because it was the means of Henry's hatred of the Pope. And all the Pope was trying to present on him that there was the breaking of England from the clutches of Romanism, which allowed then, because of that, not because of Henry, but because of the break, the gospel to flourish in England. And England became, as it were, the center of the gospel preaching that the world knew for 300 years. Why does God allow the wicked to prosper? Oftentimes it's because he uses it to bless his own people. I come to a point at which I have to say, my heart wants to hesitate to have to deal with this next point. But it needs to be said, why does God bless the ungodly? Because it will prove to become the destruction of the sinner. And I say at this point, the issue may sound unfair and hard, It's hard to hear, for it is sad and regrettable. But I will at this point simply echo the words of Abraham who saw the coming of the destruction of Sodom and asked of the Lord, Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Now I know that that question had as its framework whether the Lord would destroy the righteous along with the wicked. And he said, is it right that you do this? But let me also suggest to you this, that the framework of that question also included, is it right for the Lord to destroy the wicked? And the answer to that is yes. Yes. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. So why does the Lord allow prosperity and seeming comfort to come to the wicked? Well, I just will present to you a couple sentences here that Matthew Henry offers in response to that. He says, the prosperity of fools destroys them. The setting them or in their own conceit, he says, the setting of them above reproofs, by which they might be brought to repentance, which alone will prevent their ruin, Those are marked for destruction that are let alone in sin. God leaves them to their way. And Matthew Henry points to Hosea chapter four, verse 17, Israel is joined to idols, let them alone. It's a sad thought that God will allow the wicked, they get everything they want and they're being left alone to grace. The truth of the matter is that many are put to sleep by their comfort. Is there a word for such? I think Paul's word in Ephesians chapter 5 is the word to such as those, wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. The Lord can rescue. Did the Lord ever rescue a man that was in great wealth and had many things, great comforts? How many times? Can you think about the man who actually lent, I didn't say give, lent the Lord his tomb? The Lord didn't need it, but only for three days. Joseph of Arimathea was a very wealthy man. I tend to think of the young man who came to the Lord and said, Lord, what must I do to be saved? And the Lord tells him, go away and give your stuff away to the poor and come and follow me. And he went away sorrowful, but he had many goods. But what does it say when the Lord looked at him? What was the conclusion of the Lord? And the Lord loved him. Now, wait a minute. To me, you say, can you make anything out of that? Yes, I can. Because the Lord does not love, as it were, those that he means to fit for destruction. You and I loved Christ. Why? Because he first loved us. Yes, the Lord has a message to those who even know these kind of comforts, and that is, awake thou that sleepest. It's time to come. It's time to come to Christ. Well, my second question that I must ask you this whole subject is this. Why does the Lord allow the affliction of the righteous? He allows the blessing, with quotation marks, of the wicked. Why does He allow the affliction of the righteous? Again, the conclusion of Zophar is that the righteous must have done something wrong. In order to know the affliction that they're seeing, there must be the punishment. There must be the punishment. Again, I underscore. If you can see it, there's an emphatic word that I'm presenting. There must be the punishment of evil. But taking Job as an example, that thought is false. The purpose of God takes the front place after which all the affairs of the righteous are but results and effects. God has a purpose for you, child of God. Let that be the first thing in your thinking. My God has a purpose for me. All the things that I see are attending circumstances. They are not causes. They are not reasons. They are the effects of God outworking His purpose for me. So can we at all answer the question in any other way than to say that the purpose of God is outworked in affliction? I have a list that I could point to as to perhaps reasons why the Lord then afflicts the righteous. But again, I have to say, as I did with my last point, this is a very incomplete list. And there are other things that you will think of that I won't mention here. But I've got a couple that I want to present to you. Why does the Lord allow the affliction of the righteous? Number one, because of the need of every saint to submit. There's a need of submission on the part of the people of God. Is it ever the mind of God that His people should walk before Him with their own will being the reason for their actions? Is that what God means? Is that how God desires His people to go forward? I will walk before the Lord, but I will be guided by my own will and my own desires. Is that the purpose of God? But I tell you this morning, and may the Lord be pleased to put His finger on our hearts where this is applicable to us. Many a child of God stumbles at this point because the words, maybe not audibly, are still in existence within the heart, I want, I like, I need. I esteem. Because the child of God looks at his own desires, we oftentimes allow those things to become the justification of our actions. I need this. I need Resources. I need friends. I need love. I need money. I need, I need, I need. Maybe it's more aptly put. I want these things. I desire them. And therefore, because I have this strong need that I have judged as being a priority, that justifies my actions. And my actions generally are, I don't do what God says to do. Listen, you've got this big conflict. I want this, and here's God's law. Now, if I'm going to be happy in this world, I'm being facetious, I hope you all understand this. If I'm going to be happy in this world, which one am I going to chase? I say it becomes the judgment, that happiness. And do you understand that there's a difference between happiness and joy? There is the belief that happiness occurs when what I need, or rather want, is known. Let me tell you something. There's somebody that once gave a testimony toward the end of his days that mentions how miserable walking after what you want makes you. And you say, who was that? The man whose middle name was Worm. Does everybody know who I'm talking about? The Lord calls him that. Thou Worm, Jacob. Jacob. Jacob labored for his wants. Jacob connived to get what he valued. Jacob worked to enhance jacob and the conclusion of his getting and possessing and everything else when he gets to the end of his days and he stands before pharaoh and joseph presents his father and his father is asked to pharaoh how old are you Jacob just doesn't tell him I'm 130 years old or I don't remember exactly what the age was. I can't pull it to mind. He doesn't say that. What's he say? Few and evil. Well, I'm saying it with too much strength. Few and evil have been my days. Few and evil. What's he saying? I labored for what I wanted all my days. Now I'm at the end of it. And my conclusion is, as I look back over all those days, that they were days of waste. They were days of want, not a want of stuff. Because you know, how many times does it say of Jacob, and he waxed strong, or the Lord blessed him, and he grew, and he gathered this year a hundredfold? How many times does it say of Jacob that kind of thing? And you have to take in mind this, as Jacob was the one who got the birthright, how much of the possessions of Abraham did he get? And then how much of the possessions of Isaac did he get? And you know, it says of Abraham that he waxed great, and then of Isaac that he was far more rich than his father. So here's Jacob with all this stuff. And he got what he wanted. You say, Jacob, why did you go out there and put steaks out there so that you'd get ring-streaked sheep and cattle? Why did you try to get, why were you so concerned getting all this stuff out of Laban? Everything that Abraham and Isaac had is yours. What are you doing here? Well, it wasn't good enough. But it brought Jacob to the point where he says at the end of his life, I look back and I have to say before God, and I say it before the king of the world at that point, few and evil have been my days. But you know, Jacob was blessed, blessed of God. And most of the blessing that he knew came when the touch of the hand of God brought him to the point of affliction. I don't think that Jacob felt for the rest of his days after Peniel that he was able to walk the way he ought to, that there was always a hitch in his step, that there was always an ache in his back. It was a reminder of the touch of God. Why did the Lord touch Jacob? To bring him to submission. Why does oftentimes the Lord bring us to the point of touching us in that place where we go, oh, that hurts, whether it's in our wallet or in our heart or in our mind or any other place? Why does He bring us to that place? Because it's needful for you to submit. James 4, verse 6, God resisteth the proud. but giveth grace unto the humble, submit yourselves therefore to God." That's the purpose of God for you, child of God. What's the Lord require of you? Do you know that quote from Micah? What does the Lord require of you, old man? What's the first thing? do justly, then love mercy, and then the last is where I'm going, and walk humbly with thy God. That is the purpose of God for you. Sometimes the Lord allows affliction to get you to that place where you realize that's where I need to be, that's as far as I ought to be going, and everything else that has to do with my wanting needs to go. Also, I would say this is another reason. There's a need to be clear about the mind of God. You know, sometimes you and I are so cluttered with the things of the world that the Lord needs to bring us through some affliction, if you will, just to clear our minds so that we can see things and understand things are right. The Lord never does that, does he? Well, I would just say ask Peter about that one. You know, Peter, before the Lord, allowed him to go through that time where he was afflicted by his remorse. He was so filled with self-assurance and preconceived notions that the Lord had to bring him to the point of bitter tears that he might make him aware of what the focus of his life really was. I prayed for you, Peter, that when thou art converted that you'll strengthen your brethren. There's a purpose that I've got for you, Peter. You've got some stuff here that's in the way. There's some things that are gonna have to be dealt with. But my purpose for you is that you will feed my sheep. How many times does he make him hear that? I have a purpose for you and you have allowed the trash The refuge, the garbage of the world to come in and clutter everything. There needs to be a change. Well, my last thought on this point is this. And this was suggested by Horatius Bonner. And if you ever want to read a good book, Bonner's book on the suffering of the saint is a great one to go through. Bonner makes this point. He says that sometimes we are allowed to be afflicted that we might enter into the sufferings of Christ. That we might be able to enter into the sufferings of Christ. Philippians chapter 1 and 29, for unto you it is given. I should just stop there and we should think about that word. Unto you it is given, who gave it? Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. I would present to you this, that there is a particular work that is done in the heart of the believer by the Spirit of God that only joining Christ in suffering can produce. Sometimes the Lord knows that I mean to bring out a grace, I need to polish as it were, a piece of gold as it were, and the only way that that's happening is that there's the furnace of affliction. Does affliction bring patience? I hear the words of Hebrews, you have need of patience. After that, you've done the will of God. Of course, it was spoken of Abraham, but you have need of patience. Does suffering and affliction bring patience? Does it bring a gentling? Does it bring a softening of the heart for others? Does affliction relieve you of the fear of man? or value the things of God. The work that is accomplished by suffering, I say to you, is a singular and it is a personal work that only is able to be determined between the heart of the believer and the Lord Jesus himself. When the Lord brings you into affliction, what the Lord is doing, what the Lord is accomplishing, that is a personal thing. Nobody else is really going to be able to ever enter into it. And there's also another thing that you have to say along that line, is that the purpose that God has for you, he does not have for anybody else but you. So what the Lord brings you to is personal, it is singular to you. And sometimes he allows there to be the blessing and I underscore that, the blessing of affliction, the blessing of suffering to bring you to that place where you will be able to enjoy what He is doing in you. Philippians 1, verse 27, only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified," there's the thing about the fear of man, "...by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. And as we just said, for unto you it is given on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for his sake. I read those verses just simply to let you know again and hear again. There is a method in the hand of God at work in the heart of a believer when he allows the suffering that Christ went through to be a portion that you go through as well. It's a unique work. It's a work of grace and love. I say, if it is the purpose of God that allows me to suffer, what other conclusion can I make about the will and purpose of God in regard to this whole subject? Well, that brings me to my last thought, and that is this. What conclusions can I make about the Savior's will? I ask the question, why does the Lord allow the ungodly, so to speak, to escape suffering. And why is it that the Lord allows the righteous to suffer? Well, let's bring it back to where it really needs to come down to, and this is where I'm coming to my point. What conclusions can I make about the Savior's will? And again, I have to say, as I have said with my other points, I think that there are many conclusions that could be made, but I will offer just one. And let me read to you 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 12 and 13 to set the stage for my point. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be refilled, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. The conclusion I say that I'm trying to make is that the end for the people of God, no matter what the sea, or the river, or the fire, or the storm that He calls us to walk through, the end The end purpose of God for you, child of God, is the exceeding joy of the believer. Why does the Lord afflict you that he might bring you to exceeding joy? You know, it seems in our minds, wouldn't it be a whole lot easier if he just allowed me to know the exceeding joy now, and I'll just continue it later, and I don't have to go through all of this. is given to you to know sufferings, to become one with Christ, not only in His person, but also to be one with Christ and what He went through, that the treasures of what is received at His hand are all that much more sweet. I say, there is nothing that is ever to be known from the hand of the Father, but that which is good and perfect. so says James chapter 1 verse 17 every good gift and every perfect gift cometh is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights now this is not just speaking about the occasional that the Lord sometimes gives a good and sometimes gives a perfect this is not an occasional statement this is a constant do you understand every good Everything that is perfect descends from the hand of your father to you. Why? Because you belong to him. That's the only thing you're ever going to know. The only thing that we know and receive of the Lord is that which is good and perfect. Well, isn't it just some things are good and perfect and some things are not so good and perfect? I'm going to throw Romans 8, 28 at you again. And we know that all things work. Not just the occasional, not just the some part. All that come to us is good and perfect. Why? Because the purpose of God is preeminent. It goes before all things. All things work out to me according to the primary, the preeminent, the perfect purpose of God. That is the reason. It is not as Zophar says. God does not deal with you based on what you did or what you're going to do. He deals with you based on purpose. Now, I say this, that the end of affliction is joy exceeding, but that's not a joy that is not fixed. It's not just a nebulous thought. It's just not a stated quantity. It's not a commodity. The Lord says it's not going to give you joy that is not founded on something. Let me just present this verse. This is Paul's conclusion. He says in Philippians 3 and 10, that I may know and the power of his resurrection. Do you know the next few words? And the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. Here's my point. You said you've taken a long time to get here. Yes. But I want you to remember The end of our affliction, the end of our suffering, the substance of our joy is the knowledge of the Lord Jesus himself. We know him. We get to hear him to our hearts. We get to see him in the things that he outworks for us. And one day, we'll be able to see him. And we'll be able to testify that Penny Crosby was right. That I want to see my Savior, first of all. He is exceeding joy the person of the Lord Jesus is the purpose for all that is happening in our lives you and if you didn't get it here's my point you were made for Christ And the Lord is making all things transpire to make you ready for Christ. So again, let us not matriculate in the school of Zepharianism. Let us not think that what we do causes God to react. God is. I'm sorry, I just heard a voice from the past. Brother Bob McCurry in Georgia. God is and all is well. Why? because his purpose will be done. I will be Christ's. I will be fitted for him. I will be that one who knows what is needful for me to know that my joy at seeing him will be unspeakable and full of glory. is gospel. Job presents that, and he asks the question there that we had in our text, shall any teach God knowledge? Is there anybody who's going to rise up and say, Lord, if you were going to do this whole thing better, then you'd do it like this? I am given to Christ. I will know affliction because He says it's good for me." That's the end. No matter what my old man wants to conclude, otherwise. Amen. May the Lord bless His word to our hearts this morning for Jesus' sake. Let's all pray. Our Father and our God, now we would pray that Thou wouldst take our thanks for the Word of God. And we pray that Thou will bless it to us. We pray that Thou will encourage us, that we have a God who is perfect in His purpose for us. And we can rest in that, knowing that we shall undoubtedly receive the end of the purpose of our God for us. And that being Jesus. Bless now the preaching of the word. Bless the thoughts of Christ to our hearts. May we continue before this day rejoicing that we are Christ's. For we ask it in his precious name. Amen. Okay.