(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

The area that I want you to look at in Romans chapter 8 verse number 28, it's a very, very famous verse. It's a verse that is a favourite to many people as well, not just famous, but a favourite to many. And Romans chapter 8 verse number 28 says, For we know that all things work together for good. And so the title for the sermon this morning is, All things work together for good. This afternoon I'll be going through Jeremiah, okay? But I wanted to touch on this topic, all things work together for good. It's something that really encourages many Christians when they're going through difficulties to consider, that whatever it is that they're going through, whether it's good or whether it's bad, whether it's difficult or painful, that all things, God is working all things together for our good. But I want you to look at the rest of the verse there, For we know that all things work together for good to everybody. Does God make everything work together for good for everybody regardless of who you are? That there's certain people that the criteria meets here. It says, For good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. And so brethren, if you are not called according to His purpose, if you are not somebody that loves God, then you can't expect for all things to work together for good, okay? So first of all, who are those that are called according to His purpose? Well keep looking at verse number 29. It says, For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. So who are these people that God foreknew? Who are these people that God predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son? You know, some people look at these verses and they believe God has predestinated for some to be saved. And so when they look at this verse and say, well see, God has predestinated, it wasn't your choice to be saved. That's not what the verse is saying. God has predestinated for some to be conformed to the image of His Son. Who are these then? Well the only people that God is interested in working to be conformed to the image of His Son are for those that are already saved. Okay, so God foreknew who would already be saved. Listen, salvation isn't conform yourself to Christ. That would be another gospel. Another gospel to say, well you need to be more like Jesus and that's how you get saved. No, it's the saved that are working to be conformed, to be changed, to be more like Jesus Christ. These are those that are called according to His purpose. And so brethren, if you are saved, that's step number one. If you're saved you can say, well you know what, I've taken the first step to ensure that everything that takes place in my life is working together for my good. Meaning that someone that is not saved, someone that is unsaved, they can't claim, they can't think that everything that happens in their life is working together for their good. It's not the case. It is only the case for the saved. But then is it for everybody that is saved? No, because it says, For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. So brethren, is the gospel love God and thou shalt be saved? No, the gospel is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. You know what, there are many Christians that do not love God. So how do we know? How do I know if I love God or if I don't love God? You know, Jesus Christ puts it this way in John 14, 15, If ye love me, keep my commandments. That's what Jesus Christ said. If ye love me, keep my commandments. Do you believe there are many Christians today that do not keep the commandments of God? Who don't do the most basic things as reading their Bibles, the most basic things as attending church, the most basic things of telling people about Jesus Christ and the gospel. There are many Christians that sit on their backside and do nothing for God, who don't keep the commandments, who live a wicked and sinful life. You can't turn around and say, Oh, they do love God. No, they don't love God. Because if you loved God, you would keep his commandments. One sure way for you to know how much you love God is basically how well do you keep the commandments? None of us keep the commandments perfectly. So that tells me none of us love him perfectly. It's not going to happen. While we're in this sinful flesh, we're not going to love the Lord perfectly. Remember the Bible says that we love him because he first loved us. It's because of God's love that we can love him in return. But brethren, that's a great way to measure how well do you keep the commandments of God. How well are you living out your Christian life? Well, you know what? The Bible says here that if you do love him, and you are called, you are saved, then everything in life will work together for your good. Everything. And this is something that's going to help you in life. I promise you this. No matter what difficulty you go through, and it's hard in the present, but it's for you to say, you know what? God will use this for my good. God will use this for good and profitable purposes. You know, God knows the future. I once had a brother in the Lord tell me, he quoted this verse, and he was going through difficulties. Difficulties in his marriage. Difficulties in his workplace. Difficulties with his friends. Just everything just going downhill for him, right? And he says, I don't know, how can I read that passage and think that all of this is for my good? So the problem is that when we're going through difficulties, we're just stuck in the present. We don't want to go through difficult times, right? And we look at the difficulty we're going through, and we can claim, hey, this is not good for me. How is this good for me? But the thing is, you can't see tomorrow. You can't see next week. You can't see next month. You know, you can't see next year. You can't see 10 years from now. You can't see 50 years from now. But you know what? There's going to come a time, sometime in the future, when you can look back at the difficulty that you've gone through, and you say, wow, God did use that for my good. God did use that for my profit, right? God somehow used that difficulty that I was going through, and it just worked out somehow, either for my good or for someone else's good. Maybe it caused somebody else to be able to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. It was my suffering that allowed somebody to be drawn toward God. You know, we don't understand how all the elements of life work together, but they are working together for our good. And so, brethren, if you want that truth in your life, you want everything that you go through to be for your good, okay? Well, you need to be saved, number one. Number two, you have to love the Lord, okay? Keep His commandments, walk in His ways. Make sure that whatever you experience is for your profit. So let's keep going. Actually, let's backtrack a couple of verses there. So the main verse that we're looking at there was verse number 28. But let's look at verse number 26, just a couple of verses up. Romans chapter 8, verse number 26. Look what it says here. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. Now, what are infirmities? Well, these are sicknesses, right? And, you know, as I talk to the brethren, we're all getting a bit older. You know, Brother Anthony was telling me about his pain in his foot. You know, these things, I mean, as we get older, you know, our body's going to break down. You know, our body's going to get sicknesses. And maybe even young people can experience a lot of illnesses and ailments. These are infirmities. Now, listen, when we're suffering, when our body's suffering, you know, whether it's a viral sickness or whether it's a physical sickness, is it pleasant? No, it's not pleasant, right? I mean, we really don't want to go through sickness. It's not a great feeling, right? But notice what God says here. He says, likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit also maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. What is he saying? He's saying when we go through infirmities, that it's going to draw us to pray to the Lord. You know what? If our life was just smooth sailing all the time, everything worked out, everything we touched turned to gold, where we had the Midas touch, and every day was just wonderful and butterfly and flowers or whatever, you know what? You're not going to pray to the Lord. You know, when life is going well, you're not going to be drawn toward the Lord and you're not going to be going to Him for prayers. Sometimes God's going to allow us to go through some type of infirmity, some type of sickness, so we can go, Lord, help me in my sickness. Lord, help me through the day. But notice that sometimes we pray as we ought not, like for we not, sorry, it says in verse number 26, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. You know, many times we pray, we don't even ask for the right things. You know, because again, we don't know the future. We don't know how God is using this situation for our benefit. And we might be saying, God, please take this sickness away from me today. And God says, yeah, I need to hold on to it for a few more days, though, for it to work together for the good, okay? Which is why it says at the end of verse number 26, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. So when we pray something that we ought not, which doesn't make a lot of sense, the Holy Spirit comes and intercepts that prayer, changes the prayer so it lines up with what God wants. So let's keep going there in verse number 27. It says, and He, that's the Holy Spirit, that search of the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, but He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. According to the will of God. So the Holy Spirit takes our prayers, changes it, so when it reaches the Father's ears, it's according to the will of God. So sometimes we pray and it's not according to God's will. We think it is. God, I'm in infirmities, I'm suffering right now. Please take this away from me. Sounds like, hey, that's our will. We don't want to suffer unnecessarily. But God knows, no, no, no, that's not my will. My will is that you suffer with this a little bit longer. Okay? There's a reason behind this. It might be. Whatever difficulty it might be. So the Holy Spirit changes that prayer, which was like, God, heal me today, and the Holy Spirit changes it, well, heal Him next week. Because we need a whole week to make sure that this works together for His good. So I want you to remember this when maybe sometimes you feel like your prayers are not being answered the way you want to. Yeah, you know, why do you want your prayers answered according to your will? Don't you think God's will is going to be much better than your own will? Don't you think God knows exactly what you need, what you need to experience, what you need to go through so it can work together for your good? You know, why would I want to suffer unnecessarily or suffer with some type of illness or troubles or tribulations when it produces no good? I'd rather it, yeah, make it last longer if it has to as long as it produces something good in my life. And this is hard. Once again, it's hard in the present. It's hard when you're going through difficulties. You know, whether it's your fault or whether it's not your fault, it doesn't matter. Whatever difficulties you go through, you need to be able to pause. This is what's going to help you get through life. It's going to help you get through difficulties and say, Well, Lord, you have a good purpose for this. Help me learn the lesson. What are you teaching me? How are you changing me? Maybe I haven't gone to you in prayer for so long and now you want me back in prayer because I'm heading down a bad path and you've stopped that, Lord. You've drawn me back to you through this difficulty that I'm going through. We don't exactly know all the answers. We don't know exactly how God works behind the scenes but He is working behind the scenes. And this gives me always great comfort when I'm going through difficulties and I want the same for you. I want whatever situation you find yourself in, whatever difficulty you're going through, that you can pause and say, No, this is for my good. Are you able to say that? I don't know what difficulty you're going through. I don't know what struggle you're going through but I want you to be able to say, This is for my good. My good. Not because Pastor Kevin said so. Because the Word of God says so. Can you please turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number 7. We're talking about infirmities, right? Sicknesses that you may have in your body. You know, the Apostle Paul went through an infirmity as well. He had a problem in his flesh. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number 7, Paul says in verse number 7, And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations. So I'll pause there for a moment. So the Apostle Paul was receiving revelations from God. He wrote many of the epistles of the Bible. He had great knowledge of God. But the Apostle Paul basically says here that by receiving these revelations that directly from Jesus Christ that I could be exalted above measure. He says, Look, I could become prideful. I could think, Wow, look who I am. You know, God's using me and I'm such a great man. He says, I might exalt myself above measure. Okay? Then he says this, There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. So he says, Look, God did not want me to be exalted above measure. So he's given me a thorn in the flesh. He's allowed Satan to some extent to buffet me, to beat me up. Okay? Now, when Paul is speaking about this, he's quite general. But I do believe it's an infirmity. I believe it's a sickness that he's suffering with in his body. Because then he says in verse number eight, For this thing, that's the thorn in the flesh, I besought the Lord thrice that he might depart from me. So three times, Paul has gone and prayed to God, Lord, please remove this thorn in the flesh. Please remove this thorn in the flesh. Please remove this thorn in the flesh. Whose will is he seeking after when he says that? His own will. But hey, I mean, is that a bad prayer to pray? Of course not. He's not praying something, you know, selfish as it were. But it's his will. You know what? It was God's will that he would suffer that thorn in the flesh. Because, you know, he eventually worked out why. He worked out what good he was for. That he would not be exalted above measure. That he would not become prideful. And so God allowed this thorn in his flesh. He allowed Satan to some extent to beat up on Paul, so he would not be exalted. He would stay humble. He would stay lowly. He would stay needing God rather than thinking of himself as something greater than he should. He says in verse number nine, and he said, this is what God said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. And then he says, Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, so there's the sicknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Wow. So you know what? Sometimes God will allow us to be weak. He will weaken us on purpose. Why? So we can draw from his grace. His grace is sufficient for thee. Brethren, whatever weakness you have today, or you may have in the future, okay, you need to remember, well, God's allowed me to go weak at this point in time. And he wants me to draw from his grace. In what sense? To draw closer to the Lord, and then he says, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Do you want to be strong of your own? Or do you want to have the strength of God in your life? Who's going to be stronger? The Lord or you? The Lord, amen. The Lord. So you know what? In order for God's strength to dwell in you, for you to be strong in the Lord, you need to go through weakness. You need to suffer weakness. You need to be brought down low. Because if you're just succeeding all the time, you're just doing well all the time, nothing's going wrong for you, you know, all the time, just perfect life, you know what? You're going to get prideful. You're going to say, look what I've achieved. Look how good I am. Look at all the money I made. Look at all the possessions that I have. Look what great man I am. And so God's going to allow you to go through weaknesses so you can draw from his strength and you'll be stronger than you've ever been, but instead of boasting of yourself, you'll be boasting of the Lord. Boasting of the Lord's strength. Amen. So understand this. You may go through weakness and you need to say, well God, you're going to use this for my good. What good? So I can have the strength of the Lord. So I can draw from his precious grace. That he can help me through this difficulty and I'm going to be stronger than ever. And remember what Paul says there in verse number nine, after he says, my strength is made perfect in weakness, he says, most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities. At first the thorn in his flesh was a nuisance. At first he was like, take it away from me. Three times he's gone to pray, please take this away from me. He obviously did not like the thorn in the flesh, but now that he realizes it's for his good, what's he doing instead? He's glorying in his infirmities. He says, thank you Lord for the thorn in my flesh. Are you able to say that, brethren? Whatever difficulty you're going through, infirmities or whatever are hardships, say glory to God, thank you Lord for giving me this hardship. It's hard to do. It's a hard thing to do. But this is where you need to be at. This is how you need to grow. It's going to help you in your life. Let's keep going there, verse number 10. Therefore, he says, I take pleasure in infirmities. Wow! So when Paul gets sick, he gets the COVID or whatever. Guess what? Woo! He takes pleasure. Yes! Can you say that? You know, I think most husbands, we know what we're like. We become like little children, right? And we run, honey, I'm not feeling well. And then wife's like having another child in the house to look after. You know what? Paul says, no, we can glory. We can rejoice when we go through infirmities. It's so contrary to how we sort of naturally respond though, isn't it? Not only that, he says, therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches. What are reproaches? Reproaches is when you're being scorned or blamed. Whether it's rightfully or wrongly, if you're being scorned, you're being reproached. So guess what? When someone's scorned you, okay, someone's blaming you, guess what? Woo-hoo! Yes! Bring it on! Can you say that? Can you honestly say that's how you respond to it? I don't respond to it. You know, I'm not here saying I respond to these things perfectly, Brevin, you know. But this is where the Lord wants us to be, okay? What else? In necessities. So that means you're going without. You don't have the things that you need. It's not without my wants because we all want things. We don't all need what we want, but we all need what we need. He says there are times that I'm going without. I'm unable to meet my needs. I mean, what happens then? I think we start to stress. Paul says, no, I'm going to take pleasure. Well, yes, Lord, because now when I don't have what I need, I know you're going to step in, God, and provide. I know you're going to help me through this difficulty. I know you have good purposes for me. In persecutions, he says. That's when someone is seeking to cause you pain, more so in a physical sense. What do you think then? Are you rejoicing? Are you happy about that, brethren? Are you taking pleasure when people persecute you? In distresses for Christ's sake. Distresses are similar to stress. We tend to use stress. Distress is more a burden on the mind, a burden, an anguish, stress on the mind. When you're stressed and worried and concerned, brethren, do you take pleasure in that? Again, the flesh does not take pleasure in any of these things. This is a great way for you to know whether you're in the flesh or the spirit. When you're going through these difficulties, are you whining and complaining? Are you upset and frustrated and worried? Well, you know what? When you're going through that, you know what it is? It's the flesh. We're commanded to be in the new man. We're commanded to walk in the spirit. You know what the spirit says, the spirit man? Yes, because I know God's going to help me in this situation. I know God means well for me. I know all things are going to work together for my good. I'm going to profit from this situation. I'm going to rejoice when I go through difficulties. And then he says at the end of verse number 10, For when I am weak, then am I strong. Again, the same idea, right? How is he weak and strong? Again, he's weak in himself. He's not elevating himself, but he's strong in the Lord. The strongest place you're ever going to be in your life is when you're strong in the Lord, when God gives you his strength. It's so much more powerful, brethren, than whatever strength this filthy body can muster. God can give you his strength. So he's going to allow you to go through weakness. That's the only way he can develop strength in you. You want to get stronger in your spiritual life? Well, God's going to have to allow your flesh to get weaker. That means you're going to go through infirmities. You're going to go through problems. You're going to go through hardships. And look, you have to enjoy it. Enjoy it when it happens. God, I'm going to enjoy this experience. I'm going to take the lessons. I want to know what you have to teach me, Lord. That's the right approach to difficulties. These problems are necessary to become stronger and better people. Now, can you please, you're in Romans, so please turn back. Turn to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. You know, I'm not trying to make light of difficulties. It's not comfortable. I'm not trying to say that you're like a wicked or sinful person because you don't want to go through difficulties. You don't want to go through hardships. It's there. We live in a sin-cursed world. We have that flesh that would rather just have the beds of ease all the time. I'm not saying you're wicked. What I'm saying is use these opportunities to learn what God wants to teach you. Use these opportunities to say, God, I know you mean this for my good. Help me figure that out sooner than later. Help me have pleasure through this difficult process that I'm going through. There are certain qualities as Christians that we should desire to have. I think if we're all honest, let me just read some of these qualities to you. I think we would all want to be more patient. Instead of losing our temper quickly. Instead of when someone cuts you off in traffic, you get road rage or something. I think we would all like to be a little bit more patient. I think we would all like to have more experience. Gain more experience, right? The more experience you have, the more wisdom you gain, the more ability you have to make the right decisions in times of difficulties. I'm sure we would all want to be more hopeful in life. Have a great hope, be more positive minded. Look at things, a glass half full rather than a glass half empty kind of mentality. I think we all want to be more positive in our mindsets. And I think we all want to be people that are not ashamed of Jesus Christ. That whatever situation we find ourselves, if we're given the opportunity to speak of Jesus Christ, or to speak about our Christianity, that we would not be ashamed to do that. That we would not be embarrassed. I think we would all just want to be, yes, be bold and say, I'm happy to speak about Jesus Christ no matter what situation I find myself in. I think these are qualities that we all would like to have, right? And so these are all good things. But you understand that in order to develop this in your life, well, you're going to have to go through hardship. So look at Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5 and verse number 3. Romans chapter 5 and verse number 3, it says, And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. So, what's tribulations? Troubles. All kinds of troubles. Paul is saying, look, when you go through all kinds of troubles, all kinds of tribulations, you know what? You ought to glory in them. Once again, thank you God for this difficulty. Thank you for this tribulation. I wonder if we're brave enough to say, God, don't remove this tribulation yet until I'm ready to learn all the lessons you have to teach me. Are we brave enough to say that? Lord, take it away as soon as you can, please. But look, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. Now notice the next words. Knowing. This is what you should know, reverend. Knowing that tribulation worketh patience. You want to be more patient? Be careful what you ask for. I think it's a good thing, Lord, give me more patience. Help me be more patient, man. You know what God's going to send you then? Tribulation. He's going to send you the hardships. Because that's where you learn to be more patient. Instead of you, maybe you lose your temper over small matters. Just little, little things that don't matter. God's going to allow you to go through something greater. So next time you suffer those little things that you don't lose your temper so quickly because you'll be able to compare it to something greater that you've gone through. God wants to develop patience in you, but He's going to send the tribulation. Look at verse number 4. And patience. Experience. So you want more experience? You want more wisdom? Make the right decisions? Again, it starts with the tribulations. And experience. Hope. You want to be more hopeful, more positive minded? What do you need? You need the tribulations. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. You want to be more bold to the Lord? You want to be more bold in your Christianity? Not ashamed to speak of Jesus Christ? You need the tribulations. I'll read it again. Wow. You know what, brethren? As we grow, we all ought to grow, shouldn't we? We all ought to learn. How do our children learn to do what is right? How do our children learn to have good character? That's how they learn. They make mistakes. They cop it. They get disciplined. They get chastised. That's how they learn. They have to go through the tribulation as well. They have to go through the pain in their backside as well so they can become better people. They can learn to be more patient. They can gain the experience. Man, I messed it up last time. I better not make that mistake again. So we ought to develop. We ought to grow. We ought to mature. We ought to become more Christ-like. Remember? God is working to conform us to the image of His Son. Every day you live, you ought to be a little bit more like Jesus than the day before. As you keep living out the Christian life, you're going to continue to grow. This is all for your good. All for your good. Sometimes I hear preachers say, boy, I wish I had the wisdom of Jesus. I wish I knew what Jesus would do in this situation, but unfortunately we can't know because we're just men, and I can understand that. But you know what? We can be more like Jesus. We can know the right decisions. We can know the right words to say. We can have good foresight like Jesus had. You know, Jesus Christ came not just to show that He was God, but He came to lead us in the steps that we ought to follow. The more we grow in the Lord, the more time we have in God's Word and through the difficulties, the more we're going to end up like Jesus Christ. You know, I'm sure we've all sort of met people in our lives and we just said, boy, I can kind of see Jesus in that person. You know, the way they speak, the way they handle themselves, the way their maturity, their faith, I just see a little bit of Christ in them. You know, the more you're conformed to the image of Christ, the more people are going to see Jesus Christ in you. But again, it's going to be for those difficulties. It's going to be those hardships. But hey, when you go for them, rejoice. Okay? Rejoice. This is an opportunity for me to be more like Jesus. How is God going to use this difficulty in my life to be conformed more like His Son? Can you please turn to John chapter 15? Turn to John chapter 15, please. John chapter 15. So while you're turning to John chapter 15, I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 24 verse 16. You turn to John 15, I'll read to you from Proverbs 24 verse 16. Because so far we've looked at hardships that maybe are out of your control. Like it may not be, it's not your fault necessarily that you got sick, right? Or you suffered some type of difficulties in life. But you know what? Many times we go through troubles because it is your fault. Our sins have consequences. Our mistakes. There are consequences. Some difficulties in life, some tribulation is just out of your hand. Again, we live in a sin-cursed world. Things happen and it just happens and you just have to deal with it. But then many tribulations, many difficulties you go through are because of your fault. You're to blame. You did wrong. What about those mistakes? Can God use that for our good? Yet because God said all things, all things work together for good. You know what? Even your mistakes, even your sins, God can take that, teach you a lesson and it can be for your good. So I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 24 verse 16 which says, For a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again. But the wicked shall fall into mischief. You know what? Whether you're a just man, you're saved, you're living godly or whether you're some wicked unsaved, you know, just a wicked man, both fall. Both make mistakes. Both sin. They both do that. But the wicked man shall fall into mischief. He stays in mischief. He stays fallen. But the just man, what does he do? He falleth seven times and riseth up again. So look, you've sinned. You've made mistakes. I've sinned. I've made mistakes. You know what? We fall, what do you do? You stay fallen. Oh man, I'm going to stay here on the floor. No, you get back up again. You say, well, I made a mistake. I'm going to learn from this. Hey, you might fall a second time. Sometimes some lessons are learnt seven times over. You might make the same mistakes seven times. You know what? You get up again. That's what the just man does. That's how you learn. You learn from your mistakes. God allows you to fall, but you better pick yourself back up. Don't be like the wicked that stay in their mischief just in that fallen state. No, you get back up and you learn the lessons. You make sure, hey, I sinned. I did wrong. Yes, I need to be punished here. You know what? All things work together for my good, and this is going to help me make better decisions. This is going to help me overcome my sins and my mistakes in the future. You've got to have that positive mindset. Understand, if you love God, you're trying to keep his commandments, you're walking in his ways, then God will mean it for good, even your own mistakes. You know, the problem with the wicked, the reason they stay in mischief, the problem with the wicked is they don't take fault for their actions. It's not me. Blame, blame, blame. It's someone else, right? Like Adam, when he sinned, he blamed his wife. Like Eve, when she sinned, she blamed the devil. All right? Listen, that's pride. You know what? When you fall, don't be like the wicked. Don't be blaming everything. When you fall, you blame yourself. You say, man, I messed up. I did wrong. That's step number one in order for you to get back up. But if you cannot take the lesson, you cannot take the blame, you cannot be at fault, then you're going to stay in mischief. You're going to stay fallen. You're never going to get back up. You know, there's a saying in the world. I'm sure you've heard it. It says, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That's basically Proverbs 24 verse 16. Okay? Just said it in a different way. Okay? If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And brethren, that's the Christian life. You are going to make mistakes. You're going to sin. Get back up, try again. Do what is right. Learn the lessons from the mistakes that you've made. Let God mold you and change you and give you the wisdom. You know, so you don't make the same mistakes over and over again. But it could be seven times. It could be multiple times. But you know what? You keep getting back up. You're in John chapter 15 verse number one. John chapter 15 and verse number one. The Bible says, I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit is taken, sorry, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it might bring forth more fruit. Brethren, in this illustration here, you know, you've got Jesus Christ who's the vine. We have the father who's the husbandman. He's taken care of. We have the father who's the husbandman. He's taken care of, you know, the plants, the tree. And you are the branch. You are the branch. Okay? Now you can either be, like it said in verse number two, a branch that bears no fruit. Again, many Christians are like that. They bear no fruit. They do no works for the Lord. They win no souls. They do nothing for the Lord. Okay? Well, it's like the, you know, the story of the salt, you know, where salt has lost its savor. It's profitable for nothing, right? Except to be trodden under the feet of men. Same idea. We are all branches, but if we don't produce the fruits that God wants, you know what? He just takes it away. It's going to be burnt up. I'm not talking about hell. I'm just saying you're just not profitable. Okay? You're saved. Praise God, you're saved. But you're not going to be profitable for God in this life. So we don't want to be that branch. We want to be the branch that is fruitful. Okay? But notice about the branch that is fruitful. It says, In every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. You know what? The fruit that you produce for God, it's not enough for God. He wants more fruits. Okay? So as you live your life and you become more conformed to Jesus, it's not enough. He wants you to be all the way like Jesus. And look, that's not going to happen 100% until we have our new resurrected bodies, where we shall be like him, the Bible says. Okay? But brethren, this is a reality of your life. God wants us to produce fruits and not be satisfied there. Then he wants us to produce more fruits and then not satisfied there. More fruit, more fruit, more fruit. He wants us to continually gain experience, continually mature, continually be more like Jesus Christ. But notice, in order for that to happen, he has to purge the branch. What is purging? Well, to purge a branch, you know, I'll just look this up quickly like a gardener. Basically, to purge is to get rid of something undesirable. Okay? So maybe part of your branch produces fruit, but then your branch also produces sticks and things that aren't fruitful. Maybe some of the fruit that it produces is just not ripe, you know, or it goes bad quickly, it's just not fruitful in of itself. So you know what God has to do to the branch? He has to purge it. He has to cut away the things that are not profitable. Now, brethren, when you're going through that, when you're going through the purging process by God, it's not a pleasant thing. Okay? It can be hurtful. God's cutting things away on that branch. This does not profit me. This is not going to profit. This is not for His good. We've got to cut this away. We've got to cut this away. That's when we're going through those difficulties and trials and challenges and tribulations and infirmities and pain and stressors. Listen, God is purging you. He's working you. He wants you to be more fruitful for Him. It's not always, oh, I'm being chastised. Look, it can be a chastisement by God. If you're in sin, it can be. But many times, God is just allowing you to go through difficulty for your purging so you can be more fruitful, so you can be more profitable. You can do more for God. It'll be good for you. Okay? All things work together for good, including the purging process, which can be quite painful. So it will hurt. Purging will hurt. But notice the good that'll come from it. More fruits. More for the Lord. More mature. More like Jesus Christ. So listen, brethren, it's worth going through the purging. Actually, you can rejoice and know God wants to do something in my life. God wants to improve me. God wants me to be better. God is doing this for my good. Can you please turn to Genesis chapter 50? Genesis chapter 50. I hope this sermon encourages you, brethren. You know, we all go through hardships and some more than others. You know, my hardships are not going to be the same as your hardships. But we all go through pain. We all go through difficulties. We all go through tribulation. We all do. You know, don't be the person that says, well, I'm suffering and you're not suffering. We all suffer. We all suffer. You know, we all go through difficulties. You know, so just understand that we're all at different stages in our life. And just because someone's suffering doesn't mean they're some bad or wicked person. God might be very delighted in them. Very delighted in their fruitfulness but he's just purging them right now so they can be more fruitful. Okay? So, Genesis chapter 50, verse number 17, we're looking at the story of Joseph. Okay? And we know the story of Joseph where, you know, eventually his brothers and his father would come to Egypt and live with him. Remember, Joseph became second in charge of all of Egypt. Right? He was risen in power. But the father passes away. Okay? And then the brothers are concerned because they had done so much wrong to Joseph in his early life, they were concerned that now that Dad's passed away, what is Joseph going to do? Is he going to imprison us? Is he going to hurt us? Is he going to take his revenge on us? So look at verse number 17. They sent a messenger to... They're too afraid to talk to Joseph directly so they sent a messenger. Right? Verse number 17. So shall you say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren and their sin, for they did unto thee evil, and now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father, and Joseph wept when they spake unto him. So the brothers are saying, Joseph, please forgive us for what we've done. They still think Joseph has not forgiven them. Joseph has forgiven them, by the way, by now. Okay? Joseph is a godly man. Okay? Joseph brought them into Egypt so he could do good unto them. He didn't bring them into Egypt to get his revenge. Okay? But they're still concerned. They have that guilt in their hearts of what they did to Joseph. And verse number 18. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face, and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God? But notice verse number 20. But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Wow. So what did Joseph go through? Remember, he was hated by his brothers. It's not his fault. His dad gave him a coat of many colors. Joseph was an honest son. He was a good son, but his brothers envied him to the point of hatred, to the point that they even tried to kill him. That's what they desired to first do, to kill Joseph. So what would it be like to be hated by your family, to be hated by your brothers? That would be hurtful. I'm sure some of you probably are hated by your brethren. Then what? He was sold into slavery. Was he not sold into slavery? How would you like him to be sold into slavery? Your freedom's been completely removed from you. You're the beckon of whoever it is that buys you. Then he rose. He did well as a slave. He found favor in part of his eyes, but then he was falsely accused of attempted rape. Listen, Joseph did no wrong. Joseph can honestly say, I did no wrong. I'm innocent on all of these things. I never caused my brothers to hate me. It wasn't my fault that I was sold into slavery. I never tried to rape this woman. He tried to keep himself pure. He tried to not cause part of his wife to sin. He did the right thing. He's been falsely convicted of attempted rape. He's thrown into prison. None of this is Joseph's fault. He can truly say that he was innocent. But all the hardships he's gone through. Have you gone through this, brethren? Maybe you've gone through some element of this. But what did Joseph say? Look at verse 20 again. But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good. Do you think when Joseph is sold as a slave, he's thinking, man, this is awesome. Yes, how good is this? No, but it took many, many years later when he rose in power, he's second command over all of Egypt. He's able to help his family in a time of famine and all the nations around. And God is being glorified in a powerful nation like Egypt because of Joseph. He says, it was all for good. God meant it for good. He's able to look back at that, brethren. And look, you haven't been sold into slavery. And this man has gone through a lot of hardship. And he's even able to say, no, you know what? God meant it for good. All things work together for good. That was Joseph's response. So, brethren, if Joseph is able to say that and he's going through much more than what we've gone through, then how much more can you say this with the hardships and difficulties that you go through in life? So, brethren, all the difficulties, all the pains, all the turmoil, the tribulations that you go through, regardless of how hurtful they can be, the right attitude, the correct attitude is to say God meant this for good. But again, you can only say that if you love the Lord. You can only say that if you're saved. So, brethren, let me encourage you, love the Lord. Keep his commandments. The more you keep his commandments, the more you show that you love him, the more you can be 100% sure that everything that takes place in life is for your good. Because that's going to help you in difficulties. That's going to help you. There are some people, I've been in church my whole life, there are some people that just every Sunday they're happy, they're rejoicing in the Lord, they're not boasting of themselves, they're not showing off, they're just great Christians, just great people, just loving the Lord, just blessing the Lord. And it looks like from the outside, boy, he has no problems. She has no problems. That's not true. They have as much problems as you. But they just know the simple truth that it's for their good. And even when they're going through difficulties, they've got a smile on their face, they're happy, they're rejoicing, and no one else knows any different about how much pain they're going through, how much God is purging them so they can be more like Jesus Christ. Can you please turn to Revelation chapter 20? Revelation chapter 20, sorry, Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. Now before we read Revelation chapter 2, I'm going to read to you from James chapter 1, verse 12. James chapter 1, verse 12, because it touches on the same topic. James chapter 1, verse 12 says, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. So temptation, yes, can be temptations of sin, or it can just be trials. But you know what, if you endure, you go through it, you're going to be blessed by God. Because it says this, For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord have promised to them that love him. Remember the love in the Lord there? You know what, the more you love the Lord, the easier it is for you to endure tribulations and temptations and trials. And you know what, God says, I'm going to give them a crown of life. Now that crown of life is a reward in heaven, the eternal rewards, the treasure that we lay up in heaven. And so, what we're going to look at here in Revelation chapter 2, the crown of life is mentioned again. Notice that it's not just good in this life, but it's good in the afterlife. It's good in heaven. You endure, you do well, you continue serving the Lord, you rejoice in your hardships, God's going to reward you. It's another way for you to lay up your treasures in heaven, by having the right mindset, by being positive minded. Say, God means this for my good, I'm going to rejoice in my difficulties. Revelation chapter 2, verse number 10, it says, Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Notice the next words, Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. You know what, some people go through so much tribulation, so much hardship, that it's going to lead them to death. Okay? But what's the promise? If they remain faithful unto death, God's going to give them the crown of life. You know what this tells me? This tells me the heavenly rewards, the crown of life, is worth more than our lives. It's actually worth dying for, if that's the case, right? If we have to be faithful unto death, that's a difficulty that will lead, literally. You know, you say, what good could come out of me dying? Well, yeah, not on this earth because it's done, but for eternity, you're going to be receiving these great rewards in heaven, the crown of life. It's got to be worth it. It's got to be worth more than your life on this earth. Okay? The reason I'm saying this, because there's another saying in this world, and it's kind of true, but it says, what does not kill me can only make me stronger. Have you guys heard that before? What does not kill me can only make me stronger. Well, you know what, that is true for a Christian. Whatever doesn't kill you, whatever difficulty you go through, can make you stronger. It will make you stronger, because the Lord is working all things together for your good. But you know what? It's not fully true, because even what kills you? Okay? As long as you remain faithful unto the Lord, we'll still make you stronger. Okay? In heaven, in eternity, greater rewards in heaven, if you remain faithful unto death. So, you know, we don't have the promise that we're going to be delivered from every hardship all the time, every difficulty all the time. We're not promised. You know what? Some difficulties may lead to death. But you know what? Remain faithful unto death. God will give you the crown of life. That is good. Okay? That's going to be awesome. It's going to be better than any good that you could have on this earth. Okay, brethren? So listen, even at the loss of life, God means it for good. God means it for good. You know, Paul says it this way in Philippians 1.21. He says, For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. He goes, yeah, even if I die, it's for my good. It's going to be awesome. We're going to be able to gain. We're going to be able to accomplish greater things for the Lord in heaven. I'm going to be in the presence of God, worshiping Him and serving Him, you know, without this sinful flesh, without all the thorns, without the pride, without all that kind of, you know, garbage that comes with walking in the old man. Can you please turn to Philippians chapter 1, verse number 6. We'll end on this one. Philippians chapter 1, verse number 6. This is the conclusion, brethren. Philippians chapter 1, verse number 6. Again, I don't know what difficulties you're going through, but God means it for your good. You know, I want you to be encouraged. I want you to be able to walk away after church today, and whatever was upsetting you, you can take pleasure in it and say, no, I'm thankful that I have this experience. I'm thankful that I'm going through this difficulty. Whatever pain you're suffering, whatever illness you're suffering, thank you, Lord. I need this. Help me, Lord. Help this become something that turns me to be more like Jesus Christ, to be conformed more like Jesus Christ. What good do you intend out of this, Lord? Please show me. Help me endure. I want to go through this, Lord, and I want it to be according to your will, not my will. You know, I want you to walk away from this today from church. So, Philippians chapter 1, verse number 6. It reads, That he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. What's the day of Jesus Christ? It's the rapture. It's the resurrection, okay? You know what? God has begun a good work in you. The moment you got saved, God started working in you. A good work, okay? To be conformed to Jesus Christ, and he's going to continue that work. He's going to continue working in you, meaning you're going to continue going through tribulations. You're going to continue going through hardships. You're going to continue going through infirmities. You're going to continue going through persecutions. Whatever it is, brethren, God's going to continue the good work in you, okay? So you can be more mature. So you can grow. So you can look back one day in your life and say, boy, all those things I went through, look where it's brought me. Look how much better I am doing for the Lord. Look how much greater my life is. Look how much more I've done for the Lord because I've gone through all those difficulties, and it's taught me. It's given me the experience. It's given me the hope. You know, that I needed to be able to live a productive and more fruitful life for the Lord. Let's pray.