God Has Not Abandoned You in the Fire [Eschatology Matters]

0:00Well, welcome back to Take Heart on the EM Network. I'm Corey Wing. There are some truths in the Christian life that we can confess much easier in a theoretical classroom than we can in a sterile hospital room. We can talk about God's sovereignty when everything's going well, we can sing about His faithfulness when the bills are paid and when, you know, the family's healthy. Or when our plans are just working out perfectly. But what happens when life really hurts? What happens when the diagnosis comes and the job disappears, the house forecloses, where the marriage falls apart? What happens when the child walks away from the faith or someone we love dies? What happens when our suffering isn't simply the result of living in a fallen world? But comes because we belong to Jesus Christ. The Bible has a great deal to say about suffering and persecution, and one of the things Scripture makes where markedly clear is this. Suffering is not evidence that God has abandoned His people.

1:01Suffering is guaranteed, and some degree or another, for every one of God's children. And sometimes suffering is precisely where God demonstrates His faithfulness most powerfully. So today on Take Heart, I want us to consider what the Bible teaches about suffering, how Christians have endured persecution throughout history, and most importantly, how we can remain faithful when the fire comes for us. Take Heart with Gory Weng, the world view with Alex Cokman, the Magistrate with James Baird and Josh Howard, the based Boomer podcast with Mike D. Virgilio, the millennial medic with Jacob Glass, down to Earth theology with Matt Plett, Shadows to Substance with George Sayor, five new episodes every week. We are the E.M. Network. The first thing we need to understand is that suffering is not the way God originally

2:17designed His creation. Genesis 1 repeatedly tells us that God looked upon His creation and declared it good. But Genesis 3 changed everything. Adam and Eve rebelled against God and sin entered into the world, and with sin came death, pain, alienation, toil, frustration, and suffering. I would be remiss if I didn't take just a brief moment, though this episode is not about this, to say it is that primary teaching, along with some others, but this in particular that supports one of the main reasons I am a young Earth six day creationist. I think there's major ontological and even doctrinal and biblical problems with thinking there is a world where death happens prior to sin. Sin is so real, sin is so corrupting that Paul says in Romans 8 that creation is groaning

3:24underneath the curse. He says that creation has been subjected to futility and is longing for the day when it will be liberated from that kind of corruption. So Christian theology gives us a category for suffering. Well, we live in a fallen world, or as Solomon says all throughout the book of Ecclesiastes under the sun that's his euphemism for living in a world that is corrupted by sin. Now, that doesn't answer every question about why this particular suffering has come to this particular life at this particular time. Of course not. But it does tell us something very important. Something is desperately wrong with the world in which we live. Christianity doesn't pretend that suffering isn't real. We don't have to put a smile on our faces and pretend everything's fine all the time. The Bible gives us permission to grieve. Job grieved. David grieved. Jeremiah grieved. Jesus himself wept at the tomb of Lazarus and of course would grieve more than any human

4:24ever in the Garden of Gisemini. The Psalms are filled with cries of anguish. Biblical faith is not pretending that suffering doesn't hurt. Biblical faith is learning to cry out to God and then trust that God and that he is still there that he still cares and that he is still working all things out for our good. Look, Scripture even takes things further. The Christian doesn't merely believe that suffering exists. We believe that God is sovereign over all of that suffering. And that distinction is incredibly, incredibly important. And I know, I know, I'm 26 episodes in. I'm going to get blown up in the comments section below about a sovereign God who would allow all these awful things to happen. What sinners who bring those things out fail to understand is that yes, God does allow suffering to take place, but he is not responsible for the suffering.

5:27We are. So O arrogant sinner who cannot wait to get the comments section and talk about how monstrous a God who allows suffering is, take culpability for the suffering you have brought about. But I digress. That distinction exists all over the Bible. We see it earliest in Genesis, of course. We see it when Cain kills his brother Abel. We see it very clearly in the story of Joseph. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers as well. He was sold in the slavery, he was falsely accused, and he was in prison. But at the end of the story, Joseph says something astonishing to those very same brothers. It's recorded in Genesis chapter 50 verse 20 where we read quote, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. In quote, I want you to notice the duality there, the two realities that are pointed out. His brothers intended evil, real evil, but God intended good.

6:28The same event can involve sinful human intention while simultaneously falling under the wise providence of our God. Such is the power, providence, and sovereignty of our Lord. And ultimately we see this most clearly at the cross of Christ. The crucifixion of Jesus was the greatest act of human wickedness in human history. Jesus was truly, honestly, and completely innocent. He was betrayed. He was falsely accused. He was beaten. He was mocked and he was ultimately crucified. Yet Acts chapter 2 says that Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. Think about that. The cross was simultaneously the most evil thing human beings have ever done, and the greatest thing God ever accomplished for the salvation of his people. If God can accomplish redemption through the suffering and death of his own beloved son, then my friends, you can trust him with your suffering as well. Now you may not understand what God's doing, but you can know who God is, and sometimes

7:33faith is simply saying I don't understand your purposes or the process, but I trust in your character. There is another truth, however, that we desperately need when we suffer. Christ doesn't merely save us from suffering. Oftentimes he actually doesn't save us from that suffering. The truth is better than that, that Christ is present with us in our suffering. Psalm 23 verse 4 says, Ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Notice what David doesn't say in that very familiar passage. He doesn't say I will never walk through the valley. He says, even though I walk through the valley. Christianity doesn't promise a valley-free life. It promises the presence of the shepherd all throughout the valley. And this is where the incarnation becomes so very precious to our doctrine and really

8:34to our personal lives. Jesus Christ entered into our suffering. Hebrews chapter 4 tells us that we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with all of our weaknesses. Jesus knows what it means to experience hunger. He knows exhaustion and rejection. He knows betrayal and grief and pain. He knows what it is like to cry out to the Father in agony. Ilo, Ilo, Ilamas sabakhthani. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Therefore, when you suffer, you're not crying out to some distant deity who doesn't understand. You come to a loving Savior who stoops down and says, my son, my daughter, I know. And the Bible shows us faithful people who suffered, not just Jesus. Scriptures filled with examples of people who suffered while remaining faithful. Let's consider Daniel.

9:35Daniel lived in exile in Babylon, which means Babylon came, they conquered his nation. They conquered Judah. And they took Daniel and others off in slavery. They kidnapped them. That's the word and took them to a foreign land to serve as servants or slaves under that regime. And he served those pagan rulers. For years, and eventually, a law would be passed forbidding him from praying to anyone except the king. Now Daniel could have just capitulated. He could have compromised. He could have closed his windows. He could have said to himself, well, God understands. I mean, I'll just pray, but I'll do it in my heart or in my mind. I'll pray privately. No, no, no. That's not what he did. Daniel chapter 6 tells us that he continued praying three times a day, windows thrown open for all to see as was his custom. And what happened?

10:35He was arrested. And he was thrown into a den of lions. Daniel's faithfulness did not prevent his suffering. His faithfulness actually brought about his suffering. And that's an important distinction that must be made. Sometimes we think that if we're doing the right thing, God's going to protect us from difficulty. And of course, he could, but Scripture doesn't teach that or even promise it. Shadrach Meshekhan Abin to go three other young men that were also kidnapped during the Babylonian exile. They stood before King Nebuchadnezzar. He was the king previous to the one I mentioned earlier with Daniel. And he had just built and erected this giant idol, this huge statue that everyone was to bow down to and worship. And they refused. They said, we cannot do that. We worship the God most high. And their response to the most powerful man in the world is one of the greatest statements of faith in all of Scripture. The king had them brought before him because they stood out.

11:40Everyone else was bowing down and they weren't. And he said, if you don't bow down and worship the statue, or, hey, I'm right here, just bow down and worship me, I'll kill you. I will have you thrown into what the Bible describes as the fiery furnace. It's a huge oven, basically. And they said, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from you, O King. But they didn't stop there. What they said next is really the secret sauce. They went on to say, but even if he doesn't deliver us, we will still not bow down to you. Oh, man. That's faith. That's boldness. That's courage. That's faith that doesn't say God will give me the outcome I want. That's faith that says God is able. But even if he doesn't give me the outcome I want, I still trust him.

12:43I still obey him. That is Christian strength at its finest. But let's pivot specifically to persecution. Since that's what that certainly an image of, Jesus never hid this reality from his disciples on the contrary, he said in John 15, 18, quote, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. In quote, he then goes on in verse 20 to continue by saying quote, if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. In quote, Jesus says something remarkably straightforward to his own disciples. If you belong to me, don't be surprised when the world doesn't love and yet goes beyond that hates the Jesus in you. Paul will say essentially the same thing in 2 Timothy 3 verse 12 when he says quote, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted in quote. I want you to notice that Paul doesn't say some Christians will be persecuted.

13:45He says all who does it, pardon me, all who desire to live godly lives will be persecuted. Now persecution looks different in different places at different times and different generations most assuredly. For some Christians around the world today, persecution means imprisonment, torture, displacement, and even death. Our Nigerian brothers and sisters in Christ are being slaughtered by radical Islamists and dumped into mass graves and it's happening every day. Churches are being burnt down all over the Western world and Christians and Muslim majority nations are maligned, imprisoned, threatened, and even killed. But for others, it looks like losing a job or being mocked or being excluded socially, being rejected by family or being ridiculed for your biblical convictions. And I know the temptation is to say, well, how do we even mention those things in light of imprisonment and death?

14:47And while we should never minimize the severe persecutions that are being experienced by our brothers and sisters around the world, we neither should assume that because our suffering is less severe, that it isn't real. Jesus calls us to faithfulness where He has placed us or planted us. And for those brothers and sisters in severe persecution, that's where they are, that's their context. And Christ expects faithfulness from them there. And He expects faithfulness from us here. And you never know when the script can flip. But perhaps the clearest passage of this reality is seen in John 16 verse 33, where Jesus speaking to his disciples says, quote, in this world you will have trials and tribulations, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. End quote. Now, the early church would go on to show us how to suffer well and the book of Acts records much of that. It gives us remarkable examples actually. Stephen, one of the early deacons, preached Christ and was murdered for his faith.

15:53And in Acts chapter 7, we are told that he dies from stoning. And that as he's dying, he looks into heaven and sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Stephen's persecutors were throwing rocks, crushing him, crushing his skull, crushing his body. And Jesus was standing. What an image. The suffering, saint, they're on earth and the glorified Savior awaiting him in heaven. And Stephen's final words sound remarkably like those of his Savior. When he says to those around him stoning him and to the Lord, more importantly, quote, Lord Jesus received my spirit. End quote. He would go on actually to go further and sound even more like Christ when he would say, quote, Lord do not hold this sin against them. End quote. Now that's Christian suffering. Not because Stephen somehow enjoyed pain. Not because death wasn't terrible, but because Stephen knew that Jesus was worth more than his life.

16:55And here's something else that's fascinating. The persecution of the early church actually became one of the means that God would use to spread the gospel. The next chapter, Acts chapter 8 tells us that persecution scattered the Christians in what became known as the dysphoria. But those scattered Christians, as they were being dispersed, went everywhere preaching the word of God. The world tried to extinguish Christianity and tried many times since, but God has used that suffering to spread Christianity. So we think back to Joseph, what human for evil? God intended for good, and that is providence. That is sovereignty. And this pattern continues throughout church history. The early Christians endured persecution under Roman emperors, and Christians were imprisoned, beaten, tortured, and killed. Even one like polycarp, an early Christian bishop and disciple of the Apostle John was arrested there in like the first and second century because of his refusal to deny Christ.

17:56And according to ancient accounts of his martyrdom, polycarp was urged to renounce Jesus and to save his own life, just to give a pinch of incense to Caesar. His response has become one of the most memorable statements of early church history. Polycarp would look to his accusers, and even up to Caesar sitting in the box and say, quote, 86 years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my king and my savior? End quote. And so polycarp remained faithful. Centuries later, Christians during the Reformation would face imprisonment, exile, and death because they believed in the authority of Scripture over the church, and they thought that the gospel was worth suffering for. We could think of the Scottish Coveninters who endured persecution for their convictions about churches or pardon me about Christ's leadership and Lordship over the church. Christians behind the Iron Curtain during my childhood, who continued preaching and gathering even when communist governments sought to suppress them.

18:59We could think of believers today in places like China, where confessing Christ can cost someone their livelihood, their family, their freedom, or even their life. Or in India, one of the most dangerous places for Christians to be today, a mostly Hindu nation. But many Christians are suffering greatly there today. The testimony of the church across 2,000 years is remarkable consistency. These can suffer because Christ is worth more than our comfort. He's worth more than our freedom. He's even worth more than our lives. So how do we actually do this? How do we suffer faithfully? Let me give you four practical exhortations. Number one, remember God's sovereignty. When life feels chaotic, remember that it isn't chaotic to God. Romans 8, 28 doesn't say everything happens.

20:02Is good. It doesn't say it like that. It says that everything works together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Now you may not see that good yet, but God's purposes have not been frustrated ever. Second, look to Christ. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 tells us to look unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Why? It was on to tell us because He endured the cross, despising the shame. But it was the joy that was set before Him. So when you're suffering, don't merely stare at the suffering, look to your savior. The cross reminds you that God's love isn't theoretical. God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5, 8, He gave His Son for you and Jesus gave His life for you. Third, stay connected to the church, suffering contempt us to isolate ourselves. Do not give in to that temptation.

21:04Galatians chapter 6 verse 2 says, quote, bear one another's burdens. The Christian life was never intended to be lived alone. When you're hurting, let your brothers and sisters pray for you. Let them bring you some meals, let them sit with you and talk with you, let them remind you of the gospel when your heart is too tired to remind itself. And when someone else suffers, be that person for them. And finally, number four, remember that suffering is temporary. And this may be one of the most important of all four. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, 17, quote, this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. In quote, Paul isn't minimizing suffering. Remember, Paul had suffered much for Christ and would eventually die a martyr as well. Yet he calls all of it light and momentary affliction compared with eternal glory. My friends, whatever suffering you're experiencing in this life has an expiration date, but

22:09the glory of Christ Jesus doesn't. Let me wrap this up in the most practical way I know how. Maybe you're listening today and you're in the middle of extreme suffering. Maybe nobody knows how much you're actually hurting. Maybe you're asking questions that you don't know where or how to answer. Maybe you're afraid of what comes next. Maybe you're not my dear brother and sister, take heart. Not because suffering isn't real, not because Christians never experience pain, not because God has promised that everything will turn out here the way you want it. But take heart because Jesus Christ has conquered sin, death, and the grave. Your suffering is not the end of your story. The cross was not the end of Jesus' story. The tomb wasn't either. Resurrection was coming and Christian resurrection is coming for you too.

23:12There's a day when Christ will return. He's called the first born of the resurrection. And that day, every tear will be wiped away. Death will be no more. Persecution will end. And when suffering is finally swallowed up by the overwhelming glory of being with Christ Jesus, Revelation 21 verse 4 says, quote, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no more. End quote. But until that day, we endure. We pray, we worship, we serve, we stand. And when necessary, we suffer. Not because we're strong enough in ourselves, but because Christ is strong enough for us. Let's pray. And there we do come before you. Of course, no one wants to suffer. Lord, we would ask for light affliction or no affliction, of course.

24:12Oh, but Christ, you suffered for us. You bore our sin. No one has suffered like you. Hebrews chapter 12 goes on to say that we have not yet resisted to the point of shedding our own blood and our fight against sin. But you did. Oh, Father, thank you for loving us enough to send your son. Oh, Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us enough for dying for us and O spirit of the living God. Thank you for loving us enough for indwelling us and being with us and walking through every trial, temptation and affliction. Forgive me when I've got it wrong. Help me, O Lord, to look to you and to the church and to the spirit in those seasons and in those times of trial. Help me, O Lord, to be there for other believers when they need assistance. Help me to bear others burdens.

25:12May I be a Barnabas. May I be an encourager. Lifting others up, reminding them of the faithfulness of our Lord and Savior. And thank you that one day all suffering will come to an end. We will be ushered into your presence. Our faith will be made sight and we will spend all eternity seeing that which cannot be fathomed. I has not seen, ear has not heard, neither can enter into the imagination. All that lay ahead for those who are in Christ Jesus. Oh, thank you. Christ name we pray. Amen. Look if you've enjoyed this teaching, please let me know below. Like, subscribe, share this encouragement with someone who may need it. And until next time my friends, take heart. For Christ, the suffering servant is risen. He's ascended and he is seated at the right hand of the Father.

26:14And he has overcome. God bless.