SUFFERING & THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD (4)
IN PSALM 119:67-71, David speaks of his affliction as a blessing from God, since before he was afflicted, he went astray from God's commandments; but now, during his season of affliction, the Lord has taught David to keep His commandments. The writer to the Hebrews catalogs many of the trials, afflictions, and sufferings of the people of God in chapter 11:35-38. He tells us they were “tortured, mocked, scourged, chained, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, tempted, slain with the sword, destitute, afflicted, and tormented.” Truly, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).
SCRIPTURE TEACHES that the Lord ordains suffering and affliction for His children (1 Peter 4:19). To deny this fact would be a denial of the very Word of the living God, who through trials, afflictions, and suffering tests the genuineness of our faith (1 Peter 1:6-7), reveals to us that in this world we will have tribulation (John 16:33), warns us that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:10), commands us to endure afflictions (2 Tim. 4:5), calls us to endure hardships and suffer trouble (2 Tim. 2:3, 9), to share in the sufferings for the Gospel according to the power of God (2 Tim. 1:8), and to despise not the chastening rod of the Lord (Heb. 12:7-11). Suffering, affliction, persecution, trials, and hardships are inescapable for the Christian in this fallen world since God ordains all these things as instruments to conform believers into the image of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 5:10). Therefore, believers must implicitly trust the Lord even when we have no answer concerning our affliction. We must think as Job and say, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15). God commands us in James 1:2-4 to “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James tells us that patience comes through suffering, yet how often do we pray for patience but fail to realize that affliction, suffering, and tribulation are the means God uses to cause us to grow in patience. Patience and affliction are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other.
IN THE INSTITUTES of the Christian Religion, John Calvin wrote, "The Lord afflicts us in various ways because ambition, greed, envy, gluttony, intemperance, excessive love of the world, and innumerable lusts in which we abound, cannot be cured by the same medicine. True patience is the knowledge of God's blessings. We may patiently pass through this life with its misery, hunger, cold, contempt, reproaches, and other troubles content with this one thing, that our King will never leave us destitute, but will provide for our needs until our warfare ended, we are called to triumph. Such is the nature of His rule that He shares with us all that He has received from the Father. Those persecutions, which we must suffer for the testimony of the Gospel, are remnants of the sufferings of Christ.”
THEREFORE, DEAR CHRISTIAN, do not despise affliction and trials, but rather rejoice with all the suffering saints who have gone before us. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). God is using affliction to mold us more and more into Christ’s likeness, which is exactly the image believers long to reflect. One way or another, the Lord marches all His children down the same path towards the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Take courage, Christians! "Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows" (Luke 12:6-7).
Friday Devotional: April 25, 2025
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry
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BE RECONCILED TO GOD
“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.”
—2 Corinthians 5:19
PAUL SAYS IN our text that God was performing a work of reconciliation in Christ by imputing our sins to Jesus Christ and His righteousness to us. God did this in order that Christ might wash away our sins with His own blood on the cross and restore us to fellowship with God. That’s the truth of the cross, the Good News of the Gospel. And the Apostle Paul was very zealous that this glorious truth of what God has done in Christ be declared by every preacher. He says in vs. 18 that God has “given to us the ministry of reconciliation." And again in vs. 20, "we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."
THIS RECONCILIATION must be preached to all men indiscriminately. If two nations were on the verge of war, but the leaders reached an agreement then men would be commissioned to declare the news of this reconciliation in the streets to the comfort of the citizens. If a husband and wife are reconciled by forgiveness in their marriage and the threat of divorce is destroyed, the first thing they do is call the family together and announce that they have been reconciled to one another. In the same way, reconciliation between God and man must be officially declared in the name of Christ. Therefore, Christ has gifted, called, ordained, and commissioned ministers to preach the Gospel, the Good News —that God was in Christ reconciling to Himself all whom He gave to Christ (John 6:37) by removing the enmity, guilt, power, and consequences of their sin and restoring them to a right relationship with God.
THEREFORE, PAUL says that ministers are "ambassadors for Christ.” Ambassadors are messengers or representatives who speak not in their own name or authority or deliver their own message or opinion. Rather, the ambassador of Christ has been sent by God on behalf of Christ to declare, through preaching, what God has done through Jesus Christ. Do you want to know how to recognize a faithful minister of Christ? He says what God says, not his own opinions, but what God says! There’s a lot of stuff today that passes for preaching, but it’s nothing more than cattle fodder. True preaching is the call and declaration of God to all who hear of what God has done in Christ.
THEREFORE, GOD commands these words to be heralded, “Be ye reconciled to God.” These words are a call to repentance. God has reconciled believers unto Himself, and we must demonstrate we are reconciled to God by obeying Him. Are you one who is reconciled to God through Christ? Then keep on turning away from the evil ways of this world. Don’t think as the world thinks, speak as the world speaks, or live as the world lives (Romans 12:1-2). Don’t pamper your lusts and your sinful ways, but with a humble and contrite heart obey the Gospel call. Confess and repent of your sins and show yourself as one to whom God has been reconciled through Christ. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8). Only by being reconciled to God through Christ will we find abundance of joy and peace forevermore. Trust Christ today –there’s no other hope!
Tuesday Encouragement: April 22, 2025
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry
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A CHRISTIAN'S SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER
My Father and My God,
Thank You for who You are, for what You have done, and what You continue to do!
You uphold all things by the Word of Your power.
You are the sovereign LORD over everything You have created!
You govern all things to the particular end that You have ordained.
Thank You for redemption, forgiveness, justification, adoption, sanctification, and future glorification!
Thank You for Jesus, my Redeemer!
I praise You, dear Father, that You "raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification" (Rom. 4:23-24).
Thank You Holy Spirit, my Sanctifier. You are the One Who molds and shapes all Christians into Christ's glorious image!
Thank You for Your blessed Word, the very means You use to make all believers like Jesus (2 Cor. 3:18)!
Bless Your people this day as we gather on this Lord's Day to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus our Lord from the dead, which we do every Lord's Day!
Redeem those who don't know You.
Regenerate souls as they make their way to congregations all around the world this particular Lord's Day.
Redeem sinners. Sanctify saints. Be glorified in the assembly of the saints.
Cause Your glory to be manifest through the preaching of Your Word!
Bless all preachers to faithfully preach Your holy Word!
Thank You, Father, for Your forgiveness, which is granted as a result of Jesus' work!
Thank You that when I confess my sins to You that You are faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
Father, I confess that I have broken all Your commandments. I have kept none of them.
Christ alone has fulfilled the Laws demands, and He did so in the place of His people, even in my place! What a glorious wonder!
Thank You, Jesus! I have absolutely no hope apart from Your law-abiding life and sin-atoning death.
You are my righteousness, holiness, and perfect satisfaction!
You have made me acceptable to the Father by Your perfect work.
Thank You, Jesus, for Your love, kindness, care, compassion, faithfulness, and wisdom!
You are long-suffering! You are merciful! You are gracious! Yet You are just, holy, and righteous!
Father, I love You! You know that I love You for You are omniscient.
You have implanted Your love in my heart by Your Holy Spirit (Rom. 5).
Sadly, my love for You and for others is not what it ought to be. It's weak, sinful, and fragile!
I fail to love You with my whole heart, and I fail miserably!
But praise Jesus that He never failed to love You with His whole heart, soul, mind, and strength on behalf of His people.
Heavenly Father, increase my love for You! Increase my love for Jesus! Increase my love for the Holy Spirit! Increase my love for the church! Increase my love for my brothers and sisters in Christ, my neighbors, and even my enemies!
O Father, I need You every moment of every day! Help me! I am weak, sinful, broken, and frail … strengthen me!
Thank You for imputing Christ's righteousness to me and to all the sheep of Your pasture in exchange for all our sins!
What Amazing grace of Jesus! "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! For once I was lost but now I am found, I was blind but now I see."
Strengthen me, dear Father, by Your Word and Spirit so that I may be sold out for Jesus!
"That if I live, I live to the Lord; and if I die, I die to the Lord. Therefore, whether I live or die, I am the Lord's" (Rom. 14:8).
As C.T. Studd once wrote, "Only one life, ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last."
Cause me to decrease and Christ to increase in me … in all my thoughts, words, and actions.
May I be blessed by Your hand to honor and glorify Jesus in all my words and works.
Lord, lift me up when I sin and keep me humble when I obey!
Keep me from depression and anxiety. Keep me walking in holiness for Your glory!
Cause the "Joy of the Lord to be my strength!" (Nehemiah 8:10)
I ask all this in Jesus' holy and precious name!
Amen!
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CHRIST OUR SCAPEGOAT
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
—Matthew 27:46
GOOD FRIDAY is the day when believers remember the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. We remember how Christ became a curse on the cross for all those given to Him by the Father in order that through His sin-atoning death they might receive the blessing of God. On Good Friday, we remember how Jesus suffered during His whole life on earth, and how He endured the reproach of sinful men and suffered the physical torture of being beaten and nailed to the cross. But the greatest of His suffering was when Jesus was forsaken by His Father. And Jesus didn’t just feel forsaken, but He was forsaken as He endured the curse of the covenant in the place of His sheep (Deut. 27-28). On the cross, Jesus Christ experienced the inexpressible anguish, pains, and terror of eternal death in order that those who were given to Him (John 6:37) might receive everlasting life. That’s the truth behind Christ’s cry on the cross, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46). It was at this time that Christ became a curse for sinners (Galatians 3:13) and was cast out by the Father for every sinful thought, word, and deed of all that He came to redeem. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
THE DAY OF ATONEMENT described in the Old Testament foreshadows the substitutionary work of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the 16th chapter of the book of Leviticus, Aaron, the High Priest, was commanded by God to bring two goats before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Aaron then cast lots for the goats, one for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. The goat on which the Lord’s lot fell was presented before the Lord as a sin offering and its blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat as a symbol of cleansing from sins. But the other goat was presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it. Aaron would place his hands upon the head of the goat and confess all the sins of Israel upon its head, symbolically imputing the sins of Israel to the scapegoat. The scapegoat was then sent into an uninhabited land symbolically bearing the sins of Israel upon it.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ceremony was twofold: the first goat signified the cleansing of all the sins of God’s people, and the second goat, the scapegoat, signified the truth that all the sins of the people were cast away from them and would never return. The truth behind this Old Testament ceremony is that it foreshadowed the work of Jesus Christ on behalf of His people. Jesus was both the sin offering who cleansed His people with His blood, and the scapegoat upon whom the sins of His people were imputed. On the cross, Jesus was the One banished far into the uninhabited wilderness to redeem His people from their sins. That’s why Jesus is called the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). It’s also for this reason that believers can have the blessed assurance that their sins are cast as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered against them again (Psalm 103:12). Why? Because on a Friday afternoon, over 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ became our sin offering and our scapegoat in order that God’s wrath would be turned away from us and that we would become favorable in God’s sight as we are made acceptable to God in the Beloved One, Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:6). That’s the truth we embrace as we remember the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ, on Good Friday.
IS YOUR TRUST in Jesus as the only One who could ever wash away your sins by His atoning work? As the hymn writer, Robert Lowry, declared, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus; What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh! precious is the flow, That makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” Scripture is very clear, “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12); “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5); He alone is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Him" (John 14:6); Therefore, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
Good Friday Devotional: April 18, 2025
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry
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