And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life, that he may please Him Who enrolled him as a soldier.
And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowned except he have contended lawfully.
The husbandman that laboureth must be the first to partake of the fruits.
Consider what I say; for the Lord shall give thee understanding in all things.
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel:
wherein I suffer hardship unto bonds, as a malefactor; but the word of God is not bound.
Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
Faithful is the saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him:
if we endure, we shall also reign with Him:
if we shall deny Him, He also will deny us:
if we are faithless, He abideth faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.
In this letter of Paul to Timothy, he is concerned with one thing. And that one thing is that there may be faithful men—men who know the holy calling, men who have a good deposit, men who know the grace of God.
And these men are not only faithful themselves, but God has done such a work in them that they are competent to instruct others also.
And I do believe, dear brothers and sisters, as we are living at the end of the last days, surely it is in the heart of God that He may find these faithful men and women on this earth.
Not only are they themselves faithful, or trustworthy, so that He can entrust His testimony to them, but these men may be used by Him to instruct many others, that the testimony of Jesus may be continued unto the very end.
This is the burden of Paul, and we believe this is the burden of our God, of our Lord Jesus. And I do hope that this will become our burden.
Last night we mentioned this matter of grace. How could Paul continue to be faithful against such odds until the very end? There was no bitterness, there was no self-pity, there was no drawing back. But you find that Paul was able to continue on to the very end for the glory of God.
Where did this strength come from? Paul himself tried to tell his son in the faith, Timothy, that strength did not come from himself. That strength came from the grace of God. So he exhorted him to be strengthened in the grace which is in Christ Jesus.
If ever we know what grace is, dear brothers and sisters, we know His grace is sufficient for us in any situation, at any time.
I remember several months ago, I met a dear brother in the Lord. When he was twenty-one years old, he was a medical doctor in China. He was arrested.
Before he was arrested, he knew that the day would come when he would be arrested. So he spent the last six months before he was arrested memorising the whole New Testament.
He was taken into a labour camp, the second-largest labour camp in China. Thousands of people were working there. He was there for twenty-one years.
Thank God, in a miraculous way, he was released. When I met him, I found that there was no bitterness.
And when people asked him, “How could you stand twenty-one years in the labour camp?” his answer was, “It is not I. It is the grace of God.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, how necessary we are to know the grace of God—not just knowing it as a teaching, but knowing the grace of God as an experience, that we may experience Christ as grace in such a way that Christ is organised in us.
And it is only then that we are able to meet any situation.
I remember another story. Probably you have heard the name of that man. At the turn of the century, he was a man greatly used by God, an Englishman, F. B. Meyer. He was one of the Keswick men.
Once he was vacationing with his family away from his home, and while he was vacationing, his little daughter died. It was a real shock.
After he buried the daughter, he was in mourning. On Sunday, he was supposed to speak to the brothers and sisters. He had such a good heart. He felt that the brothers and sisters were so sympathetic with his loss, so he was asking God to give him some word by which he might comfort the brothers and sisters.
But while he was waiting before God on that Saturday afternoon, seeking for some word to comfort the brothers and sisters, he found that he himself was not comforted. He just could not accept what had happened.
So he prayed and prayed and prayed, asking the Lord to give him grace that he might be able to feel comforted by Him. Then he would be able to share with the brothers and sisters the comfort that God gave him.
But no matter how he asked, no matter how he prayed, he felt he was not comforted. God’s grace was not there. He asked for grace because grace was not given.
And after he struggled for some time, he got up. He thought it was just a hopeless and impossible situation. He did not know what to do.
As he got up, his eyes fell on something above the mantel of the fireplace. While he was away, his mother had put it on the mantel. He saw these words: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” And the word thee was in bold characters.
And when he read that, suddenly he realised one thing. He realised his unbelief. He was asking God all the time to give him grace that might be sufficient for him to go through this tragedy, and even to comfort the brothers and sisters.
But he discovered that the grace of God is always there. It is sufficient. All you need to do is take it by faith.
So, dear brothers and sisters, just remember this: grace is always available. It is always here with you. It has never left you nor forsaken you. It is always here.
What we need is faith—the believing that His grace is with us. His grace is sufficient for us. And as you take it by faith, it is yours.
And you will find you are what you are, or you are what you will be, by the grace of God.
This evening we would like to continue on with the fourth element, which is as essential as the other three elements. And it is: share in suffering.
When the apostle Paul was called, you remember in Acts 9, God met Saul on the road to Damascus. Because of the revelation, his eyes were blinded. He was led into the city of Damascus, and there, in that house on the street called Straight, for three days and three nights he was fasting and praying. He could not see anything.
But then you find that the Lord appeared in a vision to Ananias, telling him to go to Saul. What did the Lord say to Ananias?
At first Ananias was a little apprehensive. He said, “Lord, I have heard of that man. I heard that he came here to arrest us.”
And the Lord said, “He is My chosen vessel. He is a vessel to bear My name before the nations, and kings, and the children of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”
Dear brothers and sisters, when God called Paul, He called him not only to be a witness of the name of the Lord Jesus, but He called Paul to suffer much for that name. That was a part of the calling.
The name of Jesus is most precious to the Father. It is to the Father a name that is above every name. There is no name higher than that name.
The name of Jesus is very dear to us who know Him. We love that name. But you must remember: the name of Jesus, so far as the world is concerned, has been and still is a name despised, rejected, and persecuted.
And because of that, whoever is faithful to that name is bound to suffer for that name’s sake.
And you find in the life of the apostle Paul how much suffering he went through. If only you turn to 2 Corinthians 11, here you find that he mentions a few of the things he had gone through. It begins with verse 23.
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labours more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft.
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
in labour and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you ever see a man who suffered so much? And he suffered all these things because of the name of the Lord Jesus.
As he grew older, his suffering did not diminish. On the contrary, you find as he continued on following the Lord, the suffering began to increase and intensify.
And at the time when he wrote the last letter to Timothy, he was in chains in a dungeon in Rome. It was even difficult to find him.
You remember in the first chapter of 2 Timothy, Onesiphorus tried to find him in Rome. They just put Paul in a dungeon somewhere, forgotten. And it took Onesiphorus great effort just to find him.
Dear brothers and sisters, he was just following the footsteps of our Lord Jesus.
You know, when our Lord Jesus was on earth—for instance, in Matthew 16—He was beginning to be rejected by His own people. So He retreated to the border region.
And there He asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”
They would not tell Him all the bad reports about Him, so they tried to encourage His heart by telling Him all the good reports. “Oh, Jesus, some say You are Elijah. Some say You are Jeremiah. Some say You are John the Baptist come to life. Others say You are the Prophet that Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy—the one whom God would raise up among your brethren.”
But our Lord Jesus was not satisfied at all. He said, “Who do you say that I am?”
And you remember how Simon Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And the Lord Jesus said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Who is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Then the Lord began to tell His disciples how He must go to Jerusalem. He would be rejected by the priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees. He would be crucified. He would die. But on the third day, He would be raised from the dead.
The same Peter took hold of Him, maybe shook Him a little bit, and said, “Lord, no. Let it not happen to You. Be kind to Yourself. Be mindful of Yourself. You do not need suffering. You do not need the cross. You can have the throne if You want to. Why must You suffer? Do not suffer.”
And you remember the Lord said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto Me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.”
If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it.
Dear brothers and sisters, not only once, but twice and three times, we find it recorded in the Gospel: before our Lord Jesus was crucified, He tried again and again to tell His disciples that He must suffer, He must die, He would be crucified.
But somehow, the concept that Christ must suffer was foreign to the minds of these disciples. They could not understand why Christ must suffer.
Brothers and sisters, is it not natural? Is it not true that in our natural mind, we can never connect suffering with Christ? We can never connect suffering with believing in Christ.
On the contrary, we feel that we suffer because we do not know Christ. If we know Him, if we love Him, then suffering is gone. From now on, it is prosperity.
How we love the gospel of prosperity, because we find this is logical, this is reasonable, this is what it ought to be. Dear brothers and sisters, that is natural thinking.
The Lord said He must suffer. Even after He was resurrected from the dead, He still had that problem with His disciples.
You remember in Luke 24, the two disciples were leaving Jerusalem on their way to Emmaus. Our Lord Jesus joined them and began to talk with them. They were so sad because the One in Whom they had placed their trust, the Prophet in Whom they believed, was dead.
And the Lord Jesus began to tell them, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things, and enter into His glory?”
Now, to the human mind, that is illogical. To the human mind, that is unnecessary. To the human mind, that is something to avoid. But our Lord Jesus said, “It is necessary.” Christ must suffer before He enters into glory.
Now, He had not only problems with these two disciples—one of them was Cleopas—but on that very night, He appeared to the other disciples, and He had to go through the same thing again with them.
He tried to open up the Scriptures to them from the law of Moses, the Psalms, and the prophets—everything that concerned Him. And He said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day.”
Now, I wonder whether at that point the disciples began to understand. But anyway, brothers and sisters, is it not true that even in our day it seems so difficult to connect suffering with Christ, with the gospel, with the church, and with believers?
In our natural mind, we still have the deep-rooted concept that because we believe in the Lord and because we love Him, therefore He will bless us. He will take away from us anything that will bring suffering to us. It will be just prosperity.
We are not prepared to suffer. When suffering comes to us, it is a surprise. And because we are not ready for it, when it comes, we are not able to deal with it.
So here you find Paul, in his last letter to Timothy, trying to tell Timothy, “Timothy, God did not give us a spirit of cowardice. He gave us a spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind. And with that power, love, and sound mind, take your share in the suffering.”
Be prepared for it.
Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Dear brothers and sisters, suffering is a mystery. I do not pretend to understand that mystery.
But one thing I believe, and that is this: suffering is not God’s original purpose for man. God did not create man in order that he might suffer.
Suffering is not something in the original purpose of God concerning man, because God’s purpose concerning man, as revealed in Psalm 8, is good and noble.
But because there is sin in the world, as long as this fallen nature is in us, as long as Satan is the ruler of this world, suffering is a necessity.
Not only did God have to suffer the loss of His only beloved Son, but even the Son of God had to suffer to the extent of giving up His life. Redemption is not possible without suffering.
It is in suffering today that you find a purifying, sanctifying, maturing factor.
The very cross is a symbol of suffering.
Why is it that you find people today so shallow in their spiritual life? Why is it that you find so many babes in Christ? They do not seem to grow up. Why? One reason is: they do not suffer.
Suffering does a deepening work in our life. People who do not suffer find it very difficult to be mature.
For people who have suffered much for that name, you find a good deposit. Somehow, this is the mystery of suffering.
Even Paul said that this momentary light affliction works for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.
So, dear brothers and sisters, as the time is drawing close, suffering will increase, not decrease. Unless we have a right attitude toward suffering, when suffering comes, it will find us out.
This is one of the preparations for which we must be prepared as the people of God.
Concerning this matter of suffering, it really is not how much, but how willing.
It is not for us to try to cause suffering upon ourselves. You know, sometimes that is our natural mind again. Because we do not want suffering, we think suffering is unnecessary. We think we should not have suffering. God should not allow us to suffer. If He loves us, then He will not allow us to suffer. The moment we cry, He will rush to us and give us whatever we want. That is love.
And then, when we begin to see what suffering can do for us, we say, “Oh, we love to suffer. We want to suffer,” and we try to make ourselves suffer. Oh, brothers and sisters, that is again the natural man.
In history, you find lots of these things, especially in the Middle Ages. You remember how these men tried to beat themselves with lashes, how they put metal things upon themselves until they literally bled and almost died, how they lay on beds with nails sticking up, how they wore very rough shirts in order to afflict themselves. They drank only water and black bread.
Why? Because they thought that in suffering there is merit, and suffering can make them holy.
Brothers and sisters, no.
God did not want us to suffer in the first place. But now God does arrange for us to suffer because He loves us. He wants to mature us.
What we need is the will to suffer.
In 1 Peter 4:1:
Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
that ye no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
Here you find there is one thing that we should have, and that is: we must have the will to suffer. As to the measure of suffering, God will measure it to everyone according to His wisdom. But so far as we are concerned, there must be a will to suffer.
Do we have a will to suffer, or do we will to avoid suffering as best as we can? That makes all the difference.
Would to God that He would not bring all these persecutions that we have heard of in other countries upon us, because it is not a very pleasant and happy experience.
But at least we should have the will to suffer. If God should want us to suffer for His name’s sake anyway, we are prepared to suffer. We are willing to suffer. And there is something that we must have.
The power to suffer comes from God, but the will to suffer comes from us. If you do not have the will to suffer, when suffering comes, the power to suffer will not come upon you.
But if you have the will to suffer, do not worry. When suffering comes, you will find His grace is sufficient for you. The power will come upon you.
Why must we suffer?
Paul said, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” We must suffer because we are soldiers.
Brothers and sisters, we are not only children of God. As children of God, we find that our heavenly Father takes good care of us. That is the reason why we do not need to worry about what we shall eat, what we shall drink, or what we shall be clothed with, because our heavenly Father knows what we need.
But seek ye first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
We are God’s children. Our heavenly Father takes good care of us.
But remember: at the same time, we are soldiers. We are soldiers of Jesus Christ. We are engaged in a battle.
And because we are engaged in a spiritual battle, it is the battle of the ages. It is a battle between God and His enemy, Satan. We have been called into the army of the Lord Jesus.
And being soldiers, it is expected of us to endure hardship and suffering. To make a good soldier, he must be trained.
And while a soldier is being trained in the boot camp, he will be given the roughest environment in order that he may be hardened to any situation. He must be disciplined very strictly.
He cannot just get up whenever he wants to and sleep as late as he wants to. He cannot just do anything that he likes. If it does not suit him, he cannot simply go his own way. You cannot do that.
In order to make a good soldier out of you, you will be put under the strictest discipline. Things are done to you that are really unnecessary.
Sometimes I think, why should people in the Chinese army get in and march? What is the use of marching in rank and in order? When you are fighting, if you are marching in that way, you will all be gone.
And I think, as far as I know American history, during the Revolution that is how the British were defeated.
But then, in Christ there is neither British nor American.
You know, sometimes I thought that it was just a waste of time. You do not fight that way. Why should you train people exactly and spend a lot of money? But military discipline is necessary.
Is it not true that we are just too soft? Is it not true that we are just too easy? Is it not true that we live a life of luxury? We do not know what hardship is.
We try every way to avoid hardship and suffering. That is our philosophy of life: the pursuit of happiness. We try to gratify ourselves as much as we can. This is the way that we live.
Dear brothers and sisters, there is no wonder we have little use to our Captain. We cannot fight a battle with chocolate soldiers.
That is the reason why, brothers and sisters, we must have the will to suffer for Christ’s sake.
We are called to the fellowship of His sufferings.
Now, the sufferings of our Lord Jesus fall into two categories. There are the atoning sufferings of our Lord Jesus.
That is, our Lord Jesus suffered on Calvary’s cross alone. No one can share with Him in that kind of suffering.
Even when He was in the garden of Gethsemane, His disciples could not bear with Him. When He was crucified on the cross, there was darkness at noon. He was all alone.
He cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He drained the winepress alone. He drank the cup of God’s wrath alone.
You and I—no one could share with Him in death. He was all alone. Alone.
He atoned for our sins. As Hebrews 2:9 says:
But we behold Him Who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, that by the grace of God He should taste death for every man.
He tasted death for everyone alone. We had no share in that suffering. We have no fellowship with Him in that suffering. All we can do is receive what His death and sufferings have accomplished for us.
It is because He suffered, it is because He drank that bitter cup, that we now are given the sweetness of salvation. It is because He was broken on Calvary that we become united with God.
Yes, dear brothers and sisters, in that category of suffering, no one can share with Him. No one is worthy. No one is qualified. The Son of God, the Son of Man, Christ Jesus, suffered alone for us.
Oh, how we thank Him. We can never even understand how deep that suffering was when He tasted death for everyone. All we can do is bow and worship and thank Him.
But, dear brothers and sisters, the sufferings of Christ have another category. In that category, they are the non-atoning sufferings of Christ. And in that category, He calls us to have fellowship with Him in His sufferings.
How He suffered for the sake of righteousness, He calls us to fellowship with Him for the sake of righteousness.
How He suffered for the name of the Father, He calls us to suffer for His name.
How He suffered because of His compassion and sympathy toward the world, He calls us to suffer with Him in such things.
How He prevailed, He poured out Himself in order that the church might be born. He calls us to fill up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ, that we may fill up the afflictions for the building up of the body of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, there is a whole category of the sufferings of Christ in which He has called us to suffer with Him.
We are to share in the sufferings of Christ. And not only are we called to share in suffering for Christ; we are called to share together in that suffering.
Brothers and sisters, Paul was trying to tell Timothy, “Timothy, I am suffering with the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His church. Share with me. Accompany me. Be with me. Go through the sufferings together with me, because we are soldiers together. We are comrades.”
“Do not desert me when I suffer, but suffer together.”
Dear brothers and sisters, how we need it today. We need to share in the sufferings of Christ. In the areas where He suffers, we too suffer. If we are with Him where He is, then we must walk the way of the cross, because this is His way.
But more than that, thank God, you are not called to suffer alone. You are called to suffer together with your brothers and sisters.
What a strength it will be when you are called to suffer and you find you are not alone. You find your brothers and sisters, your kindred spirits, standing together with you to fight the good fight.
Dear brothers and sisters, that is what we are called to do: suffer as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
And Paul tried to illustrate what he meant by three illustrations. The first one, he said:
No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life, that he may please Him Who enrolled him as a soldier.
First of all, you are a soldier. But, as Bishop Moule said, this is not a soldier on furlough, nor a soldier in stationary quarters. This is a soldier in action, in campaign, in combat.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are called to be soldiers of Jesus Christ. We are not way back in the camp, nor are we on furlough, but we are on active duty. We are engaged in a battle.
And because we are engaged in battle as active soldiers, it is important that we do not entangle ourselves with the affairs of life in such a way that we become inactive in the fight.
Now, brothers and sisters, it is true: we are in the world, but we are not of the world. It is true that life has many responsibilities and duties that we must perform. That is true.
But at the same time, it is also true that because we are soldiers on duty, we must not entangle ourselves with the affairs of this life.
In Luke 21, we are warned. Verse 34:
But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly as a snare:
for so shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth.
But watch ye at every season, making supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are warned lest our hearts be weighed down with eating and drinking and the cares of this life. We are so weighed down that when the Lord shall come, we find we are so rooted to the ground that we cannot go up.
How can we live our lives on earth, performing all the responsibilities and duties that we must perform, and yet at the same time not be entangled by the affairs of this life?
I think, number one, probably we need to live a simpler life than we are living today.
Our lives today are just too complicated. Why? Because we are always comparing ourselves with our neighbour.
“If they have this, why do we not have it?”
It is because we love to have a life of ease and luxury. Dear brothers and sisters, the necessities of life are very few.
If you just sit down and think, you will find that the necessities of life are very few. Many things that we feel we must have are not necessities.
It is because we want to match with our neighbours.
Oh, if we can live a simpler life for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of Christ, we will not be so entangled.
Number two, it is really a matter of the heart. Even if we must be occupied with the things of this life, yet there must be such a detachment in our hearts that when the higher duty calls, these things cannot stand in the way.
As soldiers, we want to please the One Who has enlisted us.
Dear brothers and sisters, I think the reason why Christians today are so much entangled is because we forget that we are active soldiers.
If duty calls, we cannot lay down everything. There is a danger that when the call comes from above, you will not be able to respond.
How we need to be before the Lord, that our hearts may be detached from the things of this earth and really attentive to Him.
As the Scripture says, the days shall come—and we believe now is the time—when people will use things as though they used them not. That is the heart attitude of a soldier.
We will not allow anything to entangle our hearts.
And then Paul used another illustration. He said:
And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowned except he have contended lawfully.
Engaging in a contest, contending in the games—to the Greeks, this was something they all knew. We have the Olympics. People wanted to engage in the contest to try to win the crown.
And in order to do that, we are told that in the early days, those who were to compete in the games in Greece would be trained for ten months before the games.
And during those ten months, their lives would be so regimented and disciplined. Everything was prescribed for them. Even their food was prescribed rigidly. They could not just eat anything they liked. They could not just go out and have a milkshake.
Everything was visibly prescribed. His manner of life, when he should go to sleep, when he should rise up—everything had to be according to rule. Discipline.
And if he should violate any rule, he would be disqualified for the contest. In Greek, he said, he becomes a castaway—a castaway.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are engaged in a contest. Therefore, it is necessary for us to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow the Lord.
If we refuse to be disciplined, if we do not cooperate with the discipline of the Holy Spirit, we will not be prepared.
The Holy Spirit is our Coach, our Instructor. The world is a gymnasium.
Everything that the Holy Spirit has arranged in our lives is like different exercises. Unless we are willing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and exercise to the extent of aching and pain and suffering, stretching beyond our measure, brothers and sisters, we will not win in the games.
If all that the Greek athletes gained was merely a crown of flowers, what of us? We are seeking a crown of glory, the crown of life, the crown of righteousness.
Should we not submit ourselves to the discipline of the Holy Spirit?
And the third illustration: “The husbandman must labour before partaking of the fruits.”
You know, to be a soldier and to be trained as a soldier, or to be trained as an athlete, there is a certain amount of glamour there. But to be a farmer—nothing exciting.
You have to go out and sow. You have to till the ground. You have to water it. You have to weed out the weeds. You have to patiently wait and wait and wait until the harvest comes.
In other words, it is just patiently enduring. And that is hard.
You know, brothers and sisters, our American mentality is to be instant. We want instant success. If we put something in, we want to see it harvested the next minute. That is our mentality.
We have no patience. We cannot endure. We give up.
My dear brothers and sisters, if we want to really be trustworthy men and women, if we want to be those vessels that God can use to instruct others, we must patiently endure suffering.
We must suffer for the sake of the gospel. We must suffer for the sake of Christ. We must suffer as Christians. We must suffer for the elect. We must suffer for those who are lost in sins and transgressions.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are called to suffer. It is part of our calling. Do not be surprised if suffering comes.
What will be the consequence, the result?
Faithful is the saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him:
if we endure, we shall also reign with Him:
if we shall deny Him, He also will deny us:
if we are faithless, He abideth faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we have died with Him, He calls us to die.
That grain of wheat has fallen into the ground and died, and He has borne much fruit. And now He is calling us, who are the many grains, to follow Him—to die, to be broken, to be reduced.
In order that we may live together with Him.
If we endure, we shall reign together with Him.
Brothers and sisters, we are now in a time that requires patience and endurance.
He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
But who can endure? He who has the will to suffer.
If you do not have the will to suffer, a little pain will break you. But if you have the will to suffer, you will find the power to suffer will come from above.
And if you endure, you shall reign with Christ.
Oh, brothers and sisters, Paul said, as he wrote this last letter to Timothy—you know, when he wrote Philippians, he was not sure whether he could make it.
When he wrote Philippians, he said, “I forget the things which are behind, and stretch forward to the things which are before. I press on toward the goal, unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” He did not say that he had already attained. He was pressing on toward the goal of the upward calling.
But when he wrote 2 Timothy, before his martyrdom, he could say:
I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith:
henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved His appearing.
If we endure, we shall reign together with Him.
And if we deny Him, He also will deny us—not in the sense of losing your salvation. You know, the sense of losing salvation never comes in here.
But in the sense that when He shall return, He will deny you. That is to say, “I do not approve of you.”
But even if we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, because He cannot deny Himself.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, I wonder when Timothy received that letter, how Timothy would be encouraged.
How his eyes would be opened to see that suffering is part and parcel of a Christian’s life. How it would encourage him to share in the sufferings of Christ, that he was honoured to have a part in the sufferings of Christ.
And how he would feel himself honoured that he might share the suffering that Paul suffered.
There is nothing negative in suffering, brothers and sisters, if you understand suffering. There is nothing negative in it.
Yet we are negative when we suffer. We think that suffering is meaningless. It is unnecessary. We think that suffering means God does not love us. We think that suffering works nothing good; it just brings pain to us.
And when we suffer, we suffer with a long face. We let everybody know how we suffer. Our whole attitude toward suffering is so negative.
But dear brothers and sisters, if you know what suffering really is, it is to have fellowship with Christ. It is to share suffering together as comrades in the army. It is very positive.
You suffer with tears, but you rejoice in your heart.
I do hope that this will not bring us into a depressed atmosphere: “Oh, we have to suffer. My, we have to suffer from now on.”
Dear brothers and sisters, if that is your reaction, I hope that these words were never spoken.
But I do hope that we will go out and say, “Thank God that He considers us worthy to suffer for Him—not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him. Thank God for His grace.”
Our heavenly Father, our hearts do rejoice before Thee, knowing that Thou hast favoured us and hast called us with a holy calling. And because that calling is so holy, we must suffer for it.
Our Father, we only acknowledge that we are not worthy to suffer. We beg of Thee that we may have fellowship in the sufferings of Christ.
We beg of Thee that we may not desert our brothers and sisters while suffering for Thy name’s sake, but that we may be willing to stand with them and to share sufferings together with them. We will consider it as an honour, as a glory.
Oh, our heavenly Father, do give us the will to suffer. So far as our flesh is concerned, it will cry, “Do not let me suffer.” But, Lord, may Thy grace so overwhelm us that we may will to suffer because Thou hast willed it in us.
And we do believe that Thy power is manifested in our weakness. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.