Good evening, my dear brothers and sisters.
We want to continue our fellowship this evening about this unbelievable matter of spiritual travail. I know that my brother Stephen and brother Dana have felt the impossibility of trying to adequately fellowship about this, and my feeling is, I think, twice theirs.
As I mentioned yesterday, I feel like you have been asked to take the water that is over here in the bay and take it over to the ocean with a teaspoon. And, you know, brothers and sisters, it is good to be in this place where you cannot do it yourself. That way, we have to depend on Him, and that is what we want to do tonight.
I would remind us, as we begin, of the reality of what is happening in this meeting. The sovereign Lord of the universe has arranged it for us to be here, in His presence, seated before Him, because He has something in His heart that He wants to speak to our eyes.
Out of His great love for us, knowing everything there is to know about us, He has a way of taking His written Word and speaking it to our hearts. Now, in order for this to happen, it seems to me a miracle has to occur.
Because our exalted Lord is at the right hand of our heavenly Father, and here we are in Harvey Cedars, New Jersey. How is He going to speak to us? Well, first of all, the Holy Spirit has been sent to make that real. But the real miracle comes when He has to take a human vessel to somehow verbalize what is in His heart.
And so tonight, I trust that our hearts are open, looking beyond any human vessel and all their weaknesses, and not listening to human words, but trusting that somehow our exalted Lord will speak a living word to each one of our hearts.
And before He even speaks anything to us, let us decide that we are not just going to be listeners and hearers, but we are going to seek to obey whatever He speaks to us. Amen?
Again tonight, I have a number of Scriptures. I cannot ever remember when I have read this many Scriptures at the beginning of a time of fellowship. But I have just felt in my heart that is what the Lord wanted to do this time, so I need to be obedient. Let us begin by going to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 9.
What I sense, my brothers and sisters, is that we can be helped if we can see how the Lord made this matter of spiritual travail something real and practical, manifested in the life of a man. I see this wonderfully displayed in Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the apostle.
I would like for us tonight to read some Scripture that I trust will at least be a beginning place for us to consider together. First of all, what is really involved in spiritual travail? And secondly, how are we to respond when we find ourselves in the experience of spiritual travail?
What I have discovered in my little study of the Scriptures is that we can be helped greatly in both of these matters by looking at the life and ministry of the apostle Paul in the Word of God. From the very beginning of his life with the Lord, we see that the Lord was preparing him for this experience of spiritual travail.
Let us look, first of all, at one verse in Acts chapter 9. I am sure all of you remember the essence of Acts chapter 9. When Saul of Tarsus was seeking to devastate, destroy, and do away with the followers of the Lord Jesus, he was encountered by the exalted Lord Jesus on his way to Damascus.
But I want us to look first of all at verse 15, when the Lord is giving instructions to Ananias about what he is supposed to do when he meets Saul.
“Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine,
to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;
for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”— Acts 9:15-16
So right in the very beginning, Paul was to begin his journey with the Lord, his experience with the Lord, knowing that suffering was to be a part of his experience.
Then let us look in Philippians chapter 3. These verses have been read on a number of occasions during this weekend. We want to read Philippians 3:7-11.
“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law,
but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death;
in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”— Philippians 3:7-11
Let us turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 7-12. Again, Paul is the one who is speaking.
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not despairing;
persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake,
so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
So death works in us, but life in you.”— 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
And I must read the verse that is a theme: Galatians chapter 4, verses 19 and 20.
“My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—
but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone,
for I am perplexed about you.”— Galatians 4:19-20
Let us turn to Ephesians chapter 6, and read verses 10-13.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness,
against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Therefore, take up the full armor of God,
so that you will be able to resist in the evil day,
and having done everything, to stand firm.”— Ephesians 6:10-13
Let us turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. We have also heard these verses read this morning. Paul is having to defend himself. He does not like the idea, but because of the situation, he feels like it is an appropriate thing to do. Let us begin with verse 22.
“Are they Hebrews? So am I.
Are they Israelites? So am I.
Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
Are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane—I more so;
in far more labors, in far more imprisonments,
beaten times without number, often in danger of death.
Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned,
three times I was shipwrecked,
a night and a day I have spent in the deep.
I have been on frequent journeys,
in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers,
in dangers from my countrymen, in dangers from the Gentiles,
in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness,
in dangers on the sea, in dangers among false brethren.
I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights,
in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.
Who is weak without my being weak?
Who is led into sin without my intense concern?”— 2 Corinthians 11:22-29
Let us turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4, beginning in verse 6.
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering,
and the time of my departure has come.
I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
I have kept the faith;
in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day;
and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”— 2 Timothy 4:6-8
Then a final verse in Romans chapter 8. Let us begin reading in verse 35.
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Just as it is written,
‘For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”— Romans 8:35-37
Let us ask the Lord to help us.
Lord, we want to thank You for gathering us here this evening. We acknowledge and recognize Your presence, and we also recognize that You are the sovereign Lord of the universe and the One who is head over all things to His church.
We humble ourselves before You this evening, and we are so grateful that out of Your mercy and great love to us, You have chosen to speak to us. And so, Lord, we want to be here, seated before You, with hearts that are open to hear what You have to say.
And Lord, we have already said amen to this matter of us being doers of Your Word. So, Lord, we again acknowledge our full and total dependence upon You—for speaking, for translating, for listening, and for obeying.
How we bless You that there is an unlimited anointing for all of this. By faith tonight, we put ourselves under that anointing, thanking You in advance for all that You are going to do through speaking Your Word to our hearts.
Lord, we want to know not just information. We want to know experientially the reality of spiritual travail. Help us tonight. We ask it in Your name. Amen.
Yesterday afternoon, we sought to fellowship about the issue of the hope of glory. Because for me, brothers and sisters, when we fellowship and consider this issue of travail, so that it will not, as our brothers have said, become something heavy and something negative, I felt like it would be helpful if we understood first of all the results—the fruit that comes to those who experience this travail.
It is not meaningless travail. As our brothers have shared with us, it is a travail that results in life. It is a travail that results in character. It is a travail that results in glory.
Whatever God has had in His heart for you and me as His redeemed children, He wants to bring that about in a very practical way. But it seems, as the Lord has spoken to us about this issue, that this matter of travail is incorporated into all that God is doing.
We mentioned yesterday that the whole creation is in travail, groaning, waiting for, eagerly expecting, the manifestation of the sons of God. It seems to me that as God has sought to recover His creation, travail has been involved.
You know, my brothers and sisters, we are not told as many details as some of us would like to have. But it seems that, when we read the Old Testament, the information we have is that before human history there were beings God created called angels.
He created three archangels: Lucifer, Gabriel, and Michael. When we read Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, we get some little insight into what was happening back there that resulted in what we have in Genesis 1:2.
Lucifer, one of the archangels, was not satisfied just to be a ruling angel. Because of his pride, apparently, because of his position, he felt like he was more qualified than just to be a ruling angel. He decided that his goal, his ambition, was for him to become God.
Now, I do not know how you think about that, but it is very difficult for me to understand why a created being could ever even imagine becoming God—an eternal Being who never had a beginning. But nonetheless, apparently this pride so blinded him, so prevented him from really seeing reality, that he did something very foolish. The result was that God judged him.
The possibility is that this planet upon which you and I live was a part of the responsibility that Lucifer had. And so God’s judgment came upon this planet.
Now, I want brothers and sisters to correct me if you think that my understanding is not correct, at least if it is so far off that I need some help in this. But when I read the Scriptures, it seems to me that the whole focus of God’s heart, as far as the biblical record is concerned, is focused on this planet called Earth.
The Scriptures begin by saying:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
— Genesis 1:1
Why did Moses not say, “In the beginning God created the heavens and Mars,” or Jupiter, or one of the other planets? Why is the focus just on this planet Earth? It seems like this is where the problem is: God’s kingdom is not a reality on this planet. Satan has been permitted to set up his kingdom of darkness here.
But, you know, my dear brothers and sisters, there is no way that our God—the God that we have come to know in the person of the Lord Jesus—could ever rest or be satisfied with something described in Genesis 1:2: emptiness and void, with darkness on the surface of the deep.
I do not believe for one second that that is the way God created it. It so displeased Him that He had to find a way to recover it and fully restore it the way it was in the beginning.
Probably none of us would have thought about the way He chose to do it. Nonetheless, in His great wisdom, He chose to use human beings. He recovered the earth to such a point where man could live here on this planet.
Then He created man:
“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
and let them rule.”— Genesis 1:26
Let them take dominion. Let them subdue. Why would He want them to subdue something that was already perfect? It was not perfect, in my understanding.
So this was God’s choice: to create a being that could have open, clear, full fellowship with Himself, where God could communicate with him and he could communicate with God. There was no hindrance. You remember, God would come down in the cool of the day. Apparently, there was fellowship between the man God had created and God Himself.
But then we know that Lucifer found another way. He disguised himself in the form of a serpent, went into the garden, deceived the woman, and she disobeyed and ate of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She gave to her husband, and he also ate.
Now, we read that, but brothers and sisters, I think we need to let the Holy Spirit make clear to us that this was a very, very serious matter. God had created this man and woman to be His agents to fully recover. He never intended for man to be a sinner.
I do not know how many times we need to say this to ourselves, but it was never in God’s heart for man to become a sinner. He wanted men whom He created in His image to have open, full fellowship with Him. That meant not only being able to talk with Him, but to share His very life.
In the garden, there was not only the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but there was a tree of life. God did not force the man. He called attention to it, but He did not force the man to eat of this tree. It was there.
But we know the sad story: Adam, under the influence of his wife, ate of the tree the Lord had said not to eat of. In that condition, he became disqualified to be the agent that the Lord wanted to use in recovery.
But, as it has already been pointed out to us, in Genesis chapter 3, when God was bringing judgment upon the man, the woman, and the serpent, He said to the serpent:
“The seed of the woman shall crush your head,
and you shall bruise His heel.”— Genesis 3:15
This was prophetic concerning our Lord Jesus as the second Man, the last Adam. When the Son of God came and was incarnated in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, God began a new humanity.
With this humanity, it was impossible for man to fail, because He is God. This Man could not sin. Now, for me, it is a great mystery, so I do not intend to try to explain how the Son of God could be one hundred percent God and, at the same time, one hundred percent man—how His humanity did not interfere with His divinity, and His divinity did not override His humanity. But this is God’s way.
Our Lord Jesus came. He lived an absolutely perfect life. He was crucified. He was resurrected. He ascended back to the right hand of the Father, and He has sent the Holy Spirit to this planet—this planet Earth.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. There was a group of one hundred and twenty believers in the city of Jerusalem. In Acts chapter 2, you have the record: there was a noise from heaven like a violent rushing wind, and it came and filled the place here on earth.
A mighty move of God began because the new Head of this new humanity, seated at the Father’s right hand, had now poured forth His Spirit. It entered into one hundred and twenty believers, and our Lord Jesus began this mighty work of building His church.
Brothers and sisters, as I mentioned yesterday, to me this is the most magnificent thing that God has ever done. It is His masterpiece. You and I find ourselves caught up in this.
It seems that in this process of God’s recovery, and in His wisdom, there is no option concerning travail. There is suffering because of sin, because of rebellion, because man and God’s creation became something He never wanted it to become.
God had to find a way. It had to be a righteous way. It had to be a way satisfactory to Him. He could not do it in some cheap way.
Sometimes, brothers and sisters, it is such a wonderful experience to be forgiven of your sin. But I will tell you what: we can grow to appreciate it in a deeper way if we will step back and begin to see what it cost God to be able to say, “You are forgiven.”
He had to find a righteous way to forgive unrighteousness, and only God can do that. He could not use some unrighteous way. The only righteous way He found was for His own Son to become the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
So, you see, travail was already working in the heart of God. Now here you and I find ourselves a part of this great masterpiece that God is producing.
First of all, we are the material. Do you understand, my dear brother and sister, that without human beings—without redeemed human beings who have been bought with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ—God’s eternal purpose cannot be fulfilled? This is what He has chosen to do.
We are not only the material, but He says we are His coworkers. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. What are these good works? “I will build My church.” This is what He is doing.
That is why I appeal to us, my dear brothers and sisters, that we be careful how we use this word church. If we are not careful, we will make it small, make it something insignificant, make it something human and earthly—something that man can somehow produce.
When we do that, it creates another major problem for the Lord, if we can talk about Him having a problem. We make it very, very difficult for Him.
If we are to be a part of God’s producing this masterpiece, if we are going to cooperate with God, there is no option. If the Lord is to have His bride, if the church is to be brought to the place of being a glorious church without spot, wrinkle, blemish, or any such thing, how can that possibly become a reality without suffering and travail?
It is impossible. Maybe we have not been informed, but I trust that after this weekend you get it clear, and I get it clear in my heart, that if we are going to be a part of God’s work, we have to know and experience the reality of spiritual travail. It is God’s way of accomplishing His work.
When we look at this man, Saul of Tarsus, let us remember where he started. Where do we find him first? We find him trying to destroy God’s masterpiece. Yes, he did not realize it, but he thought he was serving God. In reality, he was an enemy of God.
That is what Paul says in Romans chapter 5: while we were yet enemies. Amazing grace. Mercy beyond description—that somehow our God would apprehend His enemy in such a way that he would become an instrument the Lord could use to build the church.
Brothers and sisters, we are deeply indebted to this Saul of Tarsus who became Paul the apostle. He was the agent the Lord used to write most of the New Testament. We learn much because of the revelation that God gave him. We learn much about the church, and we learn much about this matter of spiritual travail.
We read in Acts chapter 9 that, right from the very beginning, it was clear that Paul was not going to be able to be faithful and go through this experience without experiencing some deep suffering.
We should not be surprised at this, brothers and sisters. If we would just stop to think what our Lord Jesus said: if you want to be My disciple, what is necessary? What do you have to do?
You have to first say no to yourself. Then you have to take your cross and follow Him. If you have stopped to think about that, there is travail built into that statement. He does not wait until you get all the way into the experience. He tells you right in the beginning, but we do not like to read that.
Our Lord Jesus is not interested in just having believers. He is not interested in just having forgiven people. He wants disciples. He says, “If you are going to be My disciple, this is what you can expect: you have to say no to yourself.”
Our brother Stephen has shared on a number of occasions that the problem with Peter was that he denied the wrong person. He should have denied himself, but rather he denied the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, if you think it is an easy thing, as our dear brother was sharing this morning, there is a tyrant living inside of you and inside of me who wants his own way. He is a petty tyrant, but nonetheless he is a tyrant, and you have to learn to say no to him.
I do not know how you find it, my brothers and sisters, but in my experience, sometimes the only way I keep him under control is to get my foot on his throat and keep it there until he stops breathing.
You see where this matter of travail begins: right in the beginning. It is not a matter that we have to go looking for. It is built into the experience.
But somehow we have presented a gospel that does not include this—a gospel of forgiveness. Hallelujah, there is forgiveness. Where would we be without it?
But I think the great evangelical error has been that we have focused only on forgiveness. We have deceived people by letting them think that all that is necessary is to have their sins forgiven, that they are going to go to heaven, and that is it. This is the distortion of the gospel that the apostle Paul preached.
So, brothers and sisters, it was not something new that Paul began to experience. It is something each one of us needs to understand from the beginning of our surrendering of our lives to the Lord Jesus. You have to learn how to enter into spiritual travail: saying no to yourself and taking up your cross.
In the day when our Lord Jesus was walking here on the earth, if you saw somebody carrying a cross, where do you think they were headed? To a party? I do not think so. They were headed for their own crucifixion.
Our Lord in no way deceives us. He makes it clear right from the very beginning: following Me, being My disciple, includes dying.
What we discover, my dear brothers and sisters, is that Paul, in the language he uses in writing his letters, can help us get a fuller, more comprehensive understanding of what is involved in spiritual travail.
When I joined the Navy in 1955, one of the things they trained us to do was to name all the parts of a ship. It was called a class in nomenclature. We had a mock ship on the training base, and we had to go through classes where we had to learn the names of the parts of the ship.
First of all, we had to learn the difference between a ship and a boat. Simply, you can put a boat in a ship, but you cannot put a ship in a boat. That is very important—you never call a ship a boat.
Then you had to learn what the front was called and what the back was called. You did not call it the front and the back. It was the bow and the stern. It has been a long time, brothers and sisters—fifty years.
Also, there were no doors on the ship; they were called hatches. You did not have a mop; you had a swab. All the language was different, but it helped you understand and communicate with the people who were on the ship.
Something like this is what I think we discover when we begin to look at the language Paul uses in his letters. I have only chosen very few of them tonight. I encourage you, my dear brother and sister, that from now on, when you are reading the letters of Paul, allow the Holy Spirit to highlight this matter of spiritual travail. I think you will find it everywhere.
First of all, we have read a number of times in Colossians 1:24. Paul says, “I rejoice in my sufferings. I do my part in making up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”
There are two words included in this matter of travail: first of all, suffering. Suffering is an integral part of travail. Afflictions are another dimension of this issue of travail.
Tonight, we took the time to read 2 Corinthians chapter 11, where Paul has this list of his experiences. I took the time to write down what he said. We are not going to read the whole passage again, okay?
He mentioned fifteen specific things that he experienced. This, my brothers and sisters, gives us a bigger and more detailed picture of what we are talking about when we talk about travail.
Paul speaks of:
Brothers and sisters, to me this puts this issue of travail in a light that helps us see that none of us can escape. Not that any of us will necessarily experience all of this—I do not know, maybe. It does not look too good right now, brothers and sisters. Sorry.
Maybe some of you younger brothers and sisters will be the ones called upon to go through some of these experiences. But you see why the Lord seemed to take this man, Saul of Tarsus, and, in a sense, set him out before us as an example: so we can begin to appreciate and understand in a fuller way this matter of spiritual travail.
Maybe there were others; we just do not have the record. But because of the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit working in this man, he was not bragging. He was having to defend himself, not because he wanted to, but because he was being truthful. Yet here were his experiences.
I do not know how you feel about it, but for myself, I think any one of them would have been enough for me to say, “Forget it. I am hanging this thing up. I am going someplace else. I am going to do something else.”
But this dear brother, by the grace of God—and we know, as he says earlier, it is by the grace of God—was able to maintain his focus, to be obedient to the vision he had, and to be loyal to his Lord in the midst of all those kinds of experiences.
In addition to that, Paul talks about this matter of having a sentence of death. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 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.”— 2 Corinthians 1:9
I cannot begin to explain to you what it meant for Paul to say that he had the sentence of death, but I could put it this way, in my little bit of understanding: he was a living dead man. He was dead to himself and dead to his own ambitions, and yet he was alive because there was a sentence of death operating in his life.
In 2 Corinthians 4, he says:
“For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake,
so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”— 2 Corinthians 4:11
We mentioned yesterday, and our other brothers have mentioned as well, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Brothers and sisters, there are so many wonderful dimensions to this salvation that God has provided in His Son.
In addition to you and me having our sins forgiven, in addition to having been placed in the body of Christ, Christ Himself has come to take up residence in our hearts. He talked with His disciples about it in John 15: “Abide in Me, and I in you.”
But sometimes we do not stop to consider this: Christ is in us. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Where is the earthen vessel? Right here. It is just an old clay pot. As one brother says, some of them are a little cracked pots.
We are just ordinary human beings made out of dust, and yet inside of us is God’s treasure. Now, if you had a treasure, brothers and sisters, I guarantee you that you would not put it in an old pot. But God has chosen to do so.
What He is saying is that there is a way for this treasure to be manifested even while we are living here on the earth. What has to happen? Spiritual travail.
Let us go back to the earlier verses:
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not despairing;
persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed.”— 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
What is Paul talking about here? If you go to this chapter, you will see that he is talking about the ministry God had given him. What was his ministry? To manifest Christ.
This is the same thing for every one of us, brothers and sisters. This treasure of Jesus, the life of Jesus having been placed inside of us—our ministry is to allow this life to be manifested through us.
But just like the alabaster vial had to be broken, this clay pot has to be broken too. This is what travail is. Travail is the experiences that the Lord allows us to go through, or ordains for us, so that the breaking can take place and the release of the life can become a reality.
As our brother mentioned this morning, we are not going to break ourselves. We love ourselves too much. We are not going to put ourselves through that kind of pain.
But, brothers and sisters, if we said to Him, “My life belongs to You,” then He sovereignly chooses the way that the vessel gets broken, the same way He did with Paul.
Paul is Paul, and the Lord had to do what He needed to do. But, you know, my dear brothers and sisters, He will also design our sufferings too, if we give Him permission, if we commit ourselves to allow this treasure He has put inside of us to be manifested right where we live every day: in the home where we live, on the job where we work, at school, among our friends, and especially in the body of Christ.
It is very sad, brothers and sisters, what we have done to one another. We have all the treasure, all the fullest capacity of the love of God that we need.
There is no limit to His love. It is unlimited. The reality is, the more you give it away, you know what you discover? There is more there than when you gave it away. You not only recover what you gave away, but there is a fuller measure.
In Brazil, most homes have what they call a water box. This water box is a place where they receive water from the city. Everybody has a water box, so you do not have to be connected directly all the time. If the water gets turned off, you have a little reserve.
What I am suggesting to us, as I suggest to my brothers and sisters in Brazil, is this: you have a water box. Let the Lord fill it up. Then get you a ladle, and start walking around pouring it out on your brothers and sisters.
You will discover that not only does the water box refill, but it even gets bigger, because the Lord wants us to learn how to be thankful.
When I was considering this matter, I tried to work it out where I could neatly fellowship about the issue of us as individuals, the issue of the church, and the issue of creation. But the Lord did not seem to want it to happen that way.
Let us think for a moment: what kind of travail ought to be experienced by those of us who are members of the body of Christ? How can we travail as assemblies, not just as individuals?
Three things came into my heart. Our brother mentioned one of them this morning: we need to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Dear brothers and sisters, there is absolutely no excuse for the divisions that exist among us. They are man-made. They did not originate with the Lord. In my little bit of estimation, they are a grievous sin against the body of Christ and a grievous sin against our Lord.
Can you imagine Him seated in His position, looking down upon His church that He purchased with His own blood and seeing that we are hopelessly divided into little groups? Not only are we divided, but we have nothing to do with each other.
I know I have shared this story before, but I think it is true. I cannot guarantee you. There was a group of Baptists in some southern state—please forgive me, you brothers and sisters from Alabama.
Some of them began reading John 13 and discovered that there was a washing of feet. So some said, “We want to wash feet,” and the others said, “No, we do not want to wash feet.” What happened? They split. You had the foot washers and the non-foot washers.
Then the foot washers, when they got together, could not decide whether to wash one foot or two feet. So you had the one-foot and the two-foot washing foot washers.
But you know what I think, my brothers? There is a good possibility that if you and I were there, we would have insisted on having warm water, not cold, and we would have divided again.
How we laugh. I know it is funny, but it is not funny to Him. My dear brothers and sisters, we need to take the grace of God. We need to die to all that divides us.
There is no legitimate reason for you and me, as the Lord’s people, to be divided. You know, my brothers and sisters, He travailed in John 17 before His crucifixion. What was the number-one issue in His heart? “That they may be one, even as You, Father, and I are one.”
How can we take the liberty to be divided when He agonized, when He travailed? How can we call Him Lord? How can we say that we love Him and continue to do this thing?
I know that each one of us has to find our way. I appreciate, again, my dear brother Stephen. I remember hearing him say many years ago, when we are faced with this difficulty of being divided, that you have to have a big heart and little feet.
You know what that means? A heart big enough to embrace every one of God’s children, but feet small enough to walk in the light the Lord has given you.
Brothers and sisters, in this matter of travail, we need to die to everything that divides us. May the Lord forgive us for doing something earthly, something human, something that man can do, and then daring to put the name of the Lord Jesus on it.
I do not know—maybe there is something wrong with me—but why does He withhold His judgment? Why does He put up with this? But He does.
I think for those of us gathered here tonight, we need to take serious consideration. Maybe we need to make a commitment tonight: “Lord Jesus, by the working of Your Spirit, there is one Spirit and one body. If I am going to obey the Holy Spirit, then I have to accept everyone that the Lord has accepted.”
How dare we, brothers and sisters, refuse to have fellowship with someone who has been purchased with the blood of our own Lord Jesus Christ? Can you explain it to me? I am sorry, I have no way of trying to understand. There is no reason for it. There is no basis for it. We cannot do it and not bring grief to His heart.
The second thing is this matter of loving one another. You remember, brothers and sisters, in the hours just before our Lord was crucified, when He was washing the feet of those twelve men, He said, “A new commandment I give unto you.”
Now please be careful: He did not say a suggestion or a good idea. Brothers and sisters, if He is the Lord and He commands something, do we have an option? I do not think we have.
We need to love one another. He does not say, “You love the people who are easy to love.” He just said, “Love one another.” How? “In the same way that I have loved you.”
Dear brothers and sisters, if you do not think you need travail to face that responsibility, you need to take your blinders off. In my estimation, the Lord has saved some very, very funny people—one of them speaking tonight.
You know what He has done? He has put these funny people in your life, and He said, “Now you love them the same way I love you.” He does not give us any out.
It does not make any difference who they are or how difficult they are. We do not have the liberty to stop loving them. We cannot choose.
There is only one way that we can love each other as He loves us: we have to find another kind of love than the one we were born with. You cannot love the way He loves unless His love floods your heart.
We need to seriously consider this, because, you know, brothers and sisters, let us just be real: some of us are not easy to love.
I share with my brothers and sisters in Brazil, “Have you ever hugged a cactus?” That is what it is like. They have to love me, and there are those sharp things sticking out all over the place. You have to learn to jiggle around a little bit and try to avoid those sharp things.
But, my brothers and sisters, you do not have an option. You have to love me, even if I am long-winded and loud. You still have to love me.
We do not have an excuse. We have to learn to love. There is not one of us here tonight who cannot learn this lesson. You may not be able to do a lot of things in the body of Christ, but there is no excuse.
Every one of us, from the youngest to the oldest, can learn this. It is not a gift. It is a life being manifested. This love has been flooded into your heart.
My dear brother and sister, if you will say to the Lord right now, “Lord, I want to learn this lesson,” this is what He was trying to teach the disciples in John 13. He waited until almost the last minute, at the right opportunity, to teach these men the most important lesson: loving one another as He loved them.
He gave them the example. What does it mean to love? Get down on your knees and wash the dirty feet of your brothers and sisters. Even if they splash the water on your face, you continue to wash their feet.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is travail. God will be faithful—our Lord will be faithful—to put people in your life that you will not be able to love naturally.
He will not say, “Okay, they are too difficult. Try another one.” No. If you refuse to love this one, probably somebody twice as difficult to love will come into your life. I am serious. I am serious, my brothers and sisters.
Let us take our Lord at His Word. If we are going to call Him Lord, then what we need to be concerned about is obeying Him. I cannot remember any place else where the Lord Jesus says, “This is My commandment.” It ought to get our attention.
We need to learn to die to ourselves. What you discover in Paul’s language is an emphasis on dying. We already mentioned the fact that there was a sentence of death. We saw in 2 Corinthians 4 the carrying about in the body of the dying of Jesus, daily being delivered over to death.
We need to face the reality: it is not enough, brothers and sisters, for us to come here and fellowship about this issue of spiritual travail if we are not prepared to begin to put it into practice.
We need to understand from the very beginning that it involves dying—first of all, dying to ourselves, dying to our old man.
You notice in Romans chapter 6 that Paul talks about knowing this: your old man was crucified. That sounds like death to me. Your responsibility is to reckon him to be dead.
You are going to have an opportunity every day of your life for the old sinner to rise up, exert his power, disobey, and sin. But brothers and sisters, there is good news. The gospel tells us the sinner is dead.
The only kind of sinner who does not sin is a dead one. God took care of that. He put us in His Son, so that when His Son was crucified, what happened to the old Ernie Hart? He was crucified. He is dead. He has been buried.
But hallelujah, I have also been raised to walk in newness of life. This is travail, brothers and sisters: standing against this old man, against this tyrant who always wants his own way and who is hostile toward God.
There is nothing he can do to please God. Romans 8 says that the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God. You may use all the right language, but you need to know that your old man, no matter how much you have educated him, no matter how much you have tried to sophisticate him and teach him all the spiritual language, does not want to do the will of God. He is not able to do the will of God.
There is only one solution: death—death by crucifixion. You and I need to learn to say amen to God’s way.
We try to find another way. We try to take this old sinner and cause him to become a Christian. This is Romans chapter 7.
Brothers and sisters, if you are in Romans 7, I want to encourage you to get out of Romans 7 into Romans 8. Some of us have been living there entirely too long, complaining about, “The good that I would, I do not. O wretched man that I am! Who will set me free?”
You need to ask that question, but also remember Paul’s answer: “Thanks be unto God.” He has done it.
But you and I need to go through spiritual travail and keep that old man in the death position. Then by faith, watch the resurrection life of Christ come in and take over, enabling you to live a life that overcomes sin in the way God has designed.
Also, in Galatians 6:14, Paul says:
“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”— Galatians 6:14
Is that where you are living, brother and sister? Are you living free from the influence of the world? Are you one of these people who is trying to change the world?
Sometimes I get the idea that some of us are trying to build a house, but it is going to be burned up. It is going to be burned down. This world is going to experience the judgment of God. You do not need to invest your life in it.
That does not mean you are not involved in terms of a job and these kinds of things, but you need to be careful that you do not get sucked into the methods and all that is going on.
You need to remember, and I need to remember, that it hates Jesus as much today as it did when He was crucified. You and I need to be crucified to it. We do not need to let it influence us.
How this has crept into the lives of us as the Lord’s people. I do not mean to become legalistic, small, and petty. I do not mean that. But is it not amazing how the world tells us so many things we should do—what kind of clothes to wear, how long our hair should be, and so forth?
The fashion of this world. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed,” Paul says. So we need to be crucified.
Then there is that wonderful verse of Galatians 2:20:
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”— Galatians 2:20
Our Lord Jesus desires to manifest Himself through us and live His life through us. But in order to do that, there has to be a dying. There has to be a travail.
You have to learn to see that that old man is your biggest enemy. The one you look at in the mirror every morning is the greatest obstacle to your spiritual growth.
Even Satan can only work through that old man. In reality, he becomes your big enemy. You know what else, my brother and sister? You are the only one who can do anything about him.
We would like very much to help other people stay in that crucified position. We are experts on how other people ought to die. But what about ourselves? You are responsible for you.
Let me just mention some other words Paul uses. He says, “Perplexed. Persecuted. Struck down.” He cried. He had tears when he was laboring among the Ephesian believers.
I do not know about you, my dear brothers and sisters, but I never pictured Paul crying. I saw him as this strong he-man. But this was part of his travail: he cried.
Brothers and sisters, I think if we have not cried, there is probably something that the Lord wants us to enter into.
There is another dimension to Paul’s life that I was particularly impressed with. In 2 Timothy 1:15, writing to Timothy, he says:
“You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me.”
— 2 Timothy 1:15
What do you think was happening in Paul’s heart when he wrote those words? All in Asia turned away from him. He had labored, at great expense, brothers and sisters, to bring these people to a knowing of the Lord. He invested his life in them. Now, when he was in a tight place and a difficult place, they abandoned him.
I do not know your experience, my dear brothers and sisters, and I do not say this in any way to make you feel sorry for me. I do not want you to feel sorry for me. But maybe it has been your experience too.
You know, the people who have hurt me the deepest in my life are my brothers and sisters in Christ—not my enemies, but those in whom I have invested my life.
When the Lord wants to do a deep work in our lives, He usually uses our brothers and sisters to do that deep work. So do not get shocked. Do not get surprised. Do not despair. It is probably designed by the Lord.
But, brothers and sisters, there is something here I think the Lord wants to teach us about being loyal to one another—this matter of loving one another. Do not tell me you love me, and then you are not loyal. It is a contradiction.
We need very much to have relationships with one another. Oh, may the Lord help us to have relationships where I would rather die than be disloyal to you.
Maybe some of us here tonight are going to face that kind of pressure in our life. I encourage us to begin now building these kinds of relationships. It would be wonderful if we could have these kinds of relationships with everybody, but humanly it is not possible.
But brothers and sisters, we can have two or three people in our life to whom we commit ourselves one hundred percent. We are open with them. We are transparent with them. We would rather die than be disloyal to them.
I think this is travail. I think it means that I have to die to a lot of things in myself to have this kind of relationship—to be submitted to another brother, so that I do not make independent decisions. I do not take the liberty simply to make a decision without considering my brother.
What wonderful safety and joy there is in having this kind of relationship. I want to encourage us tonight to ask the Lord to put somebody like this in your life, brothers and sisters.
Find people to whom you can say, “I am not going to make an independent decision. I am not going to make a major decision without consulting you. If you see anything going on in my life that dishonors my Lord, come to me and talk to me.”
I want to say that to all my brothers and sisters here tonight. We sang that song tonight about being an overcomer at the setting of the sun. At the end of your life, you are very vulnerable because you think you have arrived. You think, with all this history behind you, that there is no possibility of falling away or being deceived by the enemy. But you are already deceived if you think that.
At this time, we need each other more. I say to every one of my brothers and sisters here tonight: if you hear of anything, if you see anything happening in me that is dishonoring to my Lord, come to me. Communicate with me somehow. I want to be able to stand before Him having been faithful.
I know it is only by His grace, but sometimes, brothers and sisters, we do not become good stewards of His grace.
Let us not turn away from each other. Let us not abandon one another. No matter what it costs us, let us determine that we are going to love one another, be loyal to one another, and serve one another.
I know my time is gone, and I am going to take a few more minutes, if it is okay, because I want us to see Paul’s response in the midst of his travails.
First of all, in Colossians chapter 1, Paul makes an amazing statement: “I rejoice. I rejoice in my sufferings.” Sounds like this man needs to have a visit to a psychiatrist. “I rejoice in my suffering.”
Let us be honest: is this the way you and I react when something happens in our lives that we would put under the category of suffering? No. We have a party, but it is usually a pity party. We invite many of our friends, and we tell them all about the horrible things happening in our lives.
But, brothers and sisters, we will not get the most out of our sorrows that way. It will be a waste.
In Romans chapter 5, Paul says, “I exult”—E-X-U-L-T—“in my tribulations.” The Lord Jesus tells us in Luke chapter 6 that when you are persecuted, what are you supposed to do? Leap for joy.
I have not seen that happening recently: some believers jumping up and down and saying, “I am so happy because people are persecuting me.”
Paul talks about waiting eagerly. This is another attitude, another response when we are going through travail. We need to know that the Lord is working something out in our lives that may not be clear to us.
You and I need to learn to wait, to persevere, and to be patient, so that we allow Him to finish the work.
We did not talk much about Ephesians chapter 6 and standing firm, but, my dear brothers and sisters, we are in a battle whether we know it or not.
We need to know that Satan hates the church as much as he hates the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are foolish enough to put our head in the sand and ignore the fact that we are in a real battle, we will not be prepared.
Part of our travail is learning how, in the midst of the battle, to stand firm. Put on the whole armor of God, and learn to stand firm.
I do not know how you respond to Paul’s final statement in 2 Timothy chapter 4:
“I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
I have kept the faith.”— 2 Timothy 4:7
He is not bragging. He is just making a statement. Where did this whole thing start? It started with Ananias being informed that Paul was going to experience much suffering.
In Philippians chapter 3, Paul talks about being willing to forego everything so that he may gain Christ. What did he mean by gaining Christ? That he may know the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, and be conformed to His death. That is knowing Him.
So he fought the fight. He finished the race. He kept the faith. You remember what he said: “A crown of righteousness is awaiting me, and not only for me, but also for those who love His appearing.”
Do you know what that means, brothers and sisters? You and I can also have that crown waiting for us. But we need to fight the fight, finish the race, and keep the faith.
I am going to close by calling your attention to that experience in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, where Paul is talking about what he called a thorn in the flesh—a messenger from Satan to buffet him.
Interesting, brothers and sisters: a messenger from Satan. You mean the Lord might use Satan to do a work in the lives of His children, even in one of His servants like the apostle Paul?
Well, you know what, my brothers and sisters? Sometimes Satan becomes God’s faithful servant and does not know it. Okay?
But I want us to notice how Paul responded in this situation. What did he do? He implored the Lord. I mean, he begged the Lord three times that it would be removed.
Now, here is my question: what if the Lord had not answered him the third time? Do you think he would have asked the fourth time? Maybe a fifth time, or a sixth time? I think so.
It shows us that Paul took these issues happening in his life and did not just try to work them out on his own. He went to the Lord with them. He sought the Lord. He implored the Lord.
What do you think Paul would say to us if he were here tonight? He would say, “It was the most wonderful experience, because I learned one of the greatest lessons I ever learned. I learned that when I am weak, that is when I am strong.”
How long do you think it takes us to learn that lesson?
We not only need to know in a fuller way what is involved in spiritual travail, but I think we also need to know what is the appropriate response in this situation.
Many years ago, I was living on Long Island, eastern Long Island, and a dentist there befriended me. He discovered that I liked fish, and he had a thirty-foot sailboat. He said, “Ernie, I would be glad for you to come.” So he and I became good friends, and we went fishing many times.
He was always telling me about this place at the end of Long Island called Plum Gut. At a certain time of the year, the big bluefish—fourteen-pound bluefish—run through there because the water is going so fast. He said, “When they are there, I am going to call you.”
One morning at four o’clock, I heard the phone. He said, “Ernie, they are there.” So we got on this sailboat, and we used the motor to get out there.
When we got there, we had to take the boat up into the swift water, shut off the motor, and float down. We did that, and sure enough, we started catching them—big ones. We had a big plastic garbage can, and I could see it filling up. We both got two.
The second time we went down, we tried to start the motor, and the motor would not start. Here we were on a sailboat with a motor that did not run.
He said, “Ernie, we have to get home.” I knew nothing about sailing, okay? We had come about seven or eight miles, maybe even farther than that, with the motor. Now we had to go back.
When we started back, I noticed two things. First of all, the wind was blowing against us. Secondly, the tide was running out against us.
I said, “We are in a sailboat. How do you go against the tide and against the wind in a sailboat?” I did not know about tacking, brothers and sisters.
About seven or eight hours later—this way for a while, that way for a little while, this way for a little while—but hallelujah, we got home.
Here is what I am trying to say: when we find ourselves face to face with these kinds of opportunities to enter into travail, it is important to know how to set the sail so that the wind causes you to go forward.
Brothers and sisters, what a wonderful Lord we have. He is incomparable. There are no words to describe Him. There is no way we can explain the love that He has for us. There is nothing we can use to fully understand it.
Do you know what His ultimate goal is for us? The hope of glory: transformed into the image of Christ, sitting on the throne of the universe, reigning with Him, serving with Him, and being involved in God executing His kingdom.
Remember where we started. We started out as enemies. Now, through this work that He is doing, He is going to qualify us to sit with His Son and reign forever and ever.
Now, do not get in your mind, as our brother Steve said, this thing of wearing big crowns and sitting on a big gold throne. No. The same way we saw the Lord washing dirty feet, that is what He means by reigning.
In all these things, we are to overwhelmingly conquer. I hope tonight that when we sang that song, “I Dare Not Be Defeated; Make Me an Overcomer,” that was what was in your heart. Do you want to be an overcomer?
Then I encourage you: do not go out of this place tonight until you have had a session with Him and you give yourself one hundred percent to Him. Let Him arrange the circumstances necessary to produce the character that He requires for you and me to have a responsible place in the age to come.
Let us continue to love one another. Let us continue to embrace one another. Let us refuse to be divided. Let us find a way, by the grace of God, to communicate this glorious gospel to the multitudes and multitudes who have not heard.
What a wonderful opportunity you brothers and sisters have here in the United States right now, in this crisis atmosphere, with so much instability and insecurity. It is a wonderful time to tell the lost about a Savior, about a Lord, about Someone who can take their lives in the midst of this crisis and produce something beautiful out of it.
Let us be encouraged, brothers and sisters. Let us pray for one another. Let us love one another. Let us support one another in this matter of seeking to be faithful.
I trust every one of us here tonight will be able to say with Paul:
“I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
and I have kept the faith.”— 2 Timothy 4:7
And we want to hear our Lord Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” By His grace.