Trust God, Even to The End

Good morning, Faith Church. This morning, I want you to give you two reasons why you can Trust God, Even to The End.

I. Because God is The God of Comfort (vv. 3-7)

He’s your Mercy King (vv. 3-4)

Verses 3-4: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies (stop)

Oiktirmós in the Greek – that’s an interesting word that refers to a person’s deep feeling about someone's difficulty or misfortune.

In other words, God is aware of your difficulties. He’s aware of the myriad of misfortunes that derives from a fallen world. He’s aware of your fallen condition and wearied nature of your souls, to which Paul points to as the Father of mercies who profoundly/deeply cares for his people and that we can turn to Him because he is that deep and abiding well of mercies divine.

You will notice in Psalm 86:5, King David invites us to read what he says about our Mercy-King.

Psalm 86:5, “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all who call upon You.”

You will notice Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, spoke about the “tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us” (Luke 1:78).

That is to say, he likened God’s mercy to that of a sunrise. And when it dawned on Zechariah that his son would be the forerunner to the Messiah, he went back to the Scriptures to recall God’s mercy to him and his people – that God would send a Redeemer to atone for the sins of his people.”

Throughout all of history, God has displayed portraits of his divine grace. The Apostle Paul was one such a man – a murder of Christians – that is, until the Lord shined his mercy upon him and instead of Paul being a bearer of death, he became a bearer of Gospel life. And he spent the rest of his days sharing the good news of Jesus Christ – our Mercy-King.

How about a more contemporary example? Perhaps you heard of the name David Berkowitz. He went by the name “The Son of Sam”

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He took on that name because he believed his next door neighbor’s dog was demon-possessed who issued him commands to kill people. From 1976-1977 he would go on a murderous rampage in New York, until he was finally apprehended and sentenced to 365 years in prison.

He used to say things like, “sudden death and bloodshed appealed to me”, and “the demons were protecting me. I had nothing to fear from the police.” Here’s another quote.

“I was literally singing to myself on my way home, after the killing. The tension, the desire to kill a woman had built up in such explosive proportions that when I finally pulled the trigger, all the pressures, all the tensions, all the hatred, had just vanished, dissipated, but only for a short time.”

“I am a monster” he said, “I am the son of Sam. I love to hunt.”

But that’s not the end of the story. Our Mercy-King used a chaplain in the prison to minister the Word of God to the son of Sam’s heart. And the Lord spiritually opened the Son of Sam’s heart, and he became a son of God. Here’s another quote from him.

“The people and the news media used to call me 'The Son of Sam,' but God has given me a new name, 'The Son of Hope,' because now my life is about hope.” – David Berkowitz

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I want you to see what our Mercy-King does to sons of darkness, how he converts the soul, transferring that person from the domain of darkness over to the Kingdom of his beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

PLEASE INSERT VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdv78w6MN04

God of mercy, God of grace

Show the brightness of your face

Shine upon us, Savior, shine;

Fill your church with light divine

You hear testimonies like that and we say –‘wow: can your Mercy-King change me like that?’ ANSWER: Of course He can. What did The Apostle say in the opening of his letter to the Corinthian Church?

Verse 1. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God…” In other words, it was God’s intention to save Paul and to appoint a former murderer him into the ministry. And if our Mercy-King can provide salvation life for us he can and will also provide life sustaining endurance.

For Paul was confident of this very thing, “that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

I tell you, if there is no change at all in the life of a person – then God’s work has not happened to you. If God’s work has yet to happen to you, then repent of your sins and turn to Christ that you may be born from above God’s promise to you is eternal life and life sustaining strength to progressively live out your profession of faith.

Hear what the late A.W. Tozer said:

You see, that’s why we can come alongside the Apostle Paul that the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, [is] the Father of mercies…” He is the Father of compassions – but before Paul allows the ink in his pen to dry, he goes onto say that God is the Father of mercies AND God of “all comfort” – from the Greek word paraclete – the idea brings to mind a person who consoles someone who’s in trouble or sorrow and the idea of giving active help or encouragement.^[1]

A good example of this can be seen in the 7^th chapter of this book. Paul had written a severe letter to the Corinthians church. All you need to do is read 1 Corinthians and you will see right from the outset that the believers there had a number of issues that Paul had to address. So he was deeply concerned about the outcome of his severe letter to that church. So he sent Titus ahead of him and the Lord used Titus to bring back comfort to the Apostle Paul.

2 Corinthians 7:6-7.“But God, who comforts the discouraged, comforted us by the arrival of Titus; ⁷ and not only by his arrival, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted among you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more.”

Here’s the point, the Lord uses his people to bring comfort to his people. All of God’s people have a history - all of God’s people have a past. And it is by his will that we can have a future and a purpose which he brings about salvation mercies to that person, gives that person the Paraclete – the Comforter – the Holy Spirit - to bring divine comfort to one who is suffering.

Transition: So our Father in heaven isn’t just our Mercy-King, he’s our

He’s your Purposeful King (vv. 4-7) (read)

⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. ⁶ But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; ⁷ and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are partners in our sufferings, so also you are in our comfort.

(stop)

Let me give you the big picture here, and it is this: God has a purpose in our affliction because he is a Purposeful King. In the heart of the Apostle Paul we understand that he was a man of affliction - a man who suffered many things for the cause of Christ.

After all, God did say of the Apostle Paul that “he was a chosen instrument of [His], to bear [His] name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer in behalf of My name.” (Acts 9:15-16)

So Paul went on to explain his suffering – 3 times he uses the word affliction – thlipsis, in the Grk. It can refer to outside pressure, or it can refer to an inner kind of pressure or turmoil inside of a person. Paul has in mind both because that’s what he was experiencing as an apostle – as a pastor. So he’s able to point out a purpose and benefit to his suffering in verse 4

Verse 4b “so that [PURPOSE] we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

In other words, one purpose for suffering is so that followers of Christ can learn to be comforters/paracletes to one another, you see that? NOTE: We are not the source of comfort, but vehicles of comfort used on behalf of the Savior for the afflicted as we are comforted by God. In other words, as we are used by God to comfort others under the furnace of affliction, God then turns around and supernaturally comforts us by His Spirit and the Scriptures.

I just want to touch on this point by turning to Psalm 119:67, 71, and 75. This is the longest psalm in the Bible – clearly the writer had a lot to say! But he understood that it was through the crucible of affliction that drew him closer to His Mercy-King. Notice how these verses read

Psalm 119:67 “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.”

Now notice what he has learned from being afflicted

Psalm 119:71 “It is good for me that I was afflicted, so that I may learn Your statutes.”

In other words, the furnace of affliction is what drove this man to the Savior of his soul, such that he could now say in verse 75.

Psalm 119:75 “I know, Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, and that You have afflicted me in faithfulness.”

Whatever his afflictions were, doesn’t matter – whatever he did or what was done to him – doesn’t matter. What matters is now this person has been brought so near to the Savior of his soul through God’s furnace of affliction.

He’s a purposeful King, Christian – He’s a Mercy-King – Christian. And it’s all for a purpose. As I was writing this sermon, I sensed an uneasiness in my heart because I don’t completely understand God’s sovereignty and how it relates to human suffering. I sensed in my heart a tension that I could not completely explain – for another time perhaps. But what I do know are two things: (1) affliction will draw you closer to God or (2) affliction will drive you away from God.

And the Apostle seeks to give comfort to those in affliction by reminding them that God is a purposeful-King. Note what he said in 4:7-11 of his letter to them

2 Cor. 4:7-11 “ But we have this treasure in earthen containers, so that the extraordinary greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; ⁸ we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying around in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are constantly being handed over to death because of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death works in us, but life in you.”

In other words, God’s power was on display through Paul’s weakness – through his trials and afflictions. It is by sheer design by the purposeful King on high that the Christian life is marked by affliction – marked by suffering. And if it meant that Paul faced the possibility of death every day if it meant the salvation for those he preached to, then what does that say about us?

We have yet in our country to reach the point of bloodshed. But we could still be blacklisted, we could still be persecuted for the cause of Christ in a myriad of ways, but if we suffer as a result of that, then so be it. And he has allowed us to suffer in order to demonstrate, as Paul put it, “the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ.” (Phil. 3:8)

And I can identify with other followers of Christ who suffer too to whatever degree and I can come alongside them and share in their sufferings. I don’t know what I would do without the local church. I’m serious. I don’t know what I would do.

If God is my Mercy-King because he is my source of spiritual strength. If God is my Purposeful King in that he has measured out and allows suffering in my life in order to mature me and to come alongside others in their need, then if follows that without you, the Body of Christ, I would not know how to function.

Show me a person who is not faithful to a local body of believers, and I will show a person who isn’t sound in the faith. I will show you a person who is either spiritually deficient in his or her faith, or is not a Christian at all.

I have run into a good many people in my life who don’t attend church at all, and in my getting to know them, I have come to learn that the reason why they are so deficient in so many areas of their life is because they are not connected a local body, and at worse are not believers at all.

I’ll never forget what my old professor told us young students at the Master’s Seminary. He said, “Wolves travel in packs because a lone wolf is a dead wolf” Then he went to connect that illustration to the local church and said to us to be faithful to attend and be accountable to a local church.

Why? Because my friends, our hearts are unruly without one another. If I were to ever to say to you, “I’m leaving Faith Church”, and I failed to be faithful to a good local church, it’s only a matter of time before I begin to develop a theology on why it is not a sin to belong to and be accountable to a local church! I’m not kidding!

I can give you a number of examples of stories I’ve heard of unruly people who refuse to attend a local church, but upon examining their lives, their spiritual lives are running shipwreck. I have yet to meet a single person who has sound faith and a faithful walk with Christ outside of the church – why? Because Satan has essentially destroyed their lives.

Our Lord has designed his church in such a way that we cannot adequately function without one another – that’s by His design. That’s why Paul can say that “we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” because he’s talking to a local body of believers, you see?

Transition: So if you want to have a good and healthy ecclesiology, that is the church, we have to be accountable toward one another. And the Lord will use his people as vehicles for his comfort – as vehicles for his purposes and he will deliver his people…

II. Because God is the God of Deliverance (vv. 8-11)

Verses 8-11 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction which occurred in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. ⁹ Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, ¹⁰ who rescued us from so great a danger of death, and will rescue us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, ¹¹ if you also join in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons in our behalf for the favor granted to us through the prayers of many.

There are two points I want draw from these passages

1. God is the King who Redeems (v. 10)
2. God is the King who Hears (v. 11)

God is the King who Redeems (v. 10)

I want to take this a part so we can understand what’s going on. In verse 8 Paul explained to the Corinthians that something happened to him and his ministry at Asia. But he doesn’t explain the incident.

All that we know is that when Paul wrote his first and second letter to the Corinthians, he was at Ephesus, which was in of all places…Asia. He was there ministering the Gospel because “a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” (1 Corinthians 16:9)

Perhaps this is what Paul had in mind. Perhaps one of these adversaries attempted to take Paul’s life – at least we know that much – that Paul and those with him in verse 8 were “burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.” In other words, Paul saw no escape from whatever it was that threatened his very life.^[2]

So close to dying that Paul writes that they “had the sentence of death within ourselves.” In other words, Paul had resolved in his own mind that he and his fellow compatriots were going to die for their faith.

But what did they learn even at the very brink of death? Only this: Not to place his trust in himself, but in the God who Redeems! (v.10) There are times when God will providentially intervene in a person’s life to get them out of situation they find themselves him.

In a small way, I can look back on my own life and see how God providentially provided a way of escape for me. How about you? I’m sure you can look back through the chronicles of your own life in which God delivered you, and not you yourself.

Such was the case with the Apostle Paul and his fellow missionaries. They trusted in the power of God who raises the dead to get them out of whatever circumstance they found themselves in.

Transition: Now, does this mean that our Lord will always get us out of tough, even dangerous situations? – not necessarily. Even Paul thought that he was going to die for his faith, and was trusted in God, even until the end – and that’s the mindset we ought to be resolved in because our God

God is the King who Hears (v. 11)

Verse 11“…join in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons in our behalf for the favor granted to us through the prayers of many.”

Paul viewed prayer as an essential part of his ministry to the saints. To the church at Rome, Paul wrote…

Romans 15:30 “Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,”

Paul earnestly sought the prayers of the saints on behalf of him in Ephesians 6

Ephesians 6:18-19 “With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints, ¹⁹ and pray in my behalf, that speech may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.”

I left one detail out. Paul was in prison when he wrote to the Ephesian church. But did you notice something else? God did not deliver Paul from prison. He allowed the Apostle to go to prison for the sake of the Gospel, and the Lord strengthened Paul’s to declare the Gospel in prison! Notice what he says in his letter to the Philippian church that he wrote while also in prison

Philippians 1:12-14, “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brothers and sisters, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.

Our God is The God who hears our prayers. But what good does it do if you don’t pray to Him regarding your circumstances?

Prayer to our God is simply living out the Christian life. Have you ever thought of it that way? If not, now is a good time to start thinking of prayer in that way.

You know, when I think about the circumstances surrounding West Lafayette’s ordinance 31-21, it really is a wake up to the church. Think about it: If ordinance 31-21 passes into legislation, it will create a precedent for other states to follow.

If you don’t know what that is, ordinance 31-21 legislation will make it “illegal for “unlicensed” counselors to counsel minors on human sexuality in a way that conflicts with LGBT+orthodoxy.”^[3] The language of this ordinance is not clear at all. But this doesn’t only affect those in the ministry, this has precedent all families and individual liberty.

In Canada, Conversion Therapy is banned and a person can go to Jail for up to 5 years. But if this ordinance passes, we receive a fine.

Now, I realize that is not jail, but our country is growing more and more antagonistic to the life changing message of the Gospel. So I would not be surprised if at some point in our country we could end up going to Jail for our faith, just like the Apostle Paul – are you ready, church?

If you don’t where to start – how about you begin with…prayer to the God who Hears so that the Lord would grant us favor, yes? And if this kind of legislation is the beginning of bigger penalties, such as Jail, can we pray to the God who Hears like the Apostle Paul did, that the Lord would grant to us boldness, and that it would turn out for the greater progress of the gospel.

If the Lord delivers us, then praise Him – but if not, we praise him anyway that we have been counted to suffer for his name – that’s my prayer – Is it yours? So let us take a stand for cause of light. Let us stand – we will not Bow – We will not bow to Caesar.

“If the city council passes the ordinance, we're not going to obey it, because we already have a God and it's not them. We're going to continue to do what we've done for the last 45 years with our biblical counseling center. We're going to counsel people who voluntarily come to see us by the word of God. And if the police come and they try to stop us with a threatened fine of a thousand dollars, we're not going to pay the fine.” — Steve Viars

Here we stand on the Word of God – may God help us (pray)

[1] Omanson, Roger L., and John Ellington. 1993. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. UBS Handbook Series. New York: United Bible Societies.

[2] John MacArthur, The Macarthur Study Bible: 2 Corinthians (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2003), 26.

[3] Joe Carter, “How ‘conversion Therapy’ Bans Are Akin to Apostasy Laws,” The Gospel Coalition, last modified, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-conversion-therapy-bans-are-akin-to-apostasy-laws/.