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

Alright, so we had the reading there in Genesis 3. I love Genesis 3, it's one of maybe my top five chapters in the Bible. I love it so much because there are so many great doctrines that I just found scattered throughout this whole chapter. And you know one of the things that often as a pastor I get asked is this question, why does God allow suffering? Why does God allow suffering? In fact, that's the title of the sermon this morning, why does God allow suffering? You know sometimes when you go to the Psalmony and you preach them the Gospel, people reject the Gospel, they don't want to hear it. They say, well, I don't want to believe in a God that allows suffering. Have you come across that? You know, how can you justify believing in a God when there are suffering children in Africa or this and that, right? You know, I know somebody, maybe they'll say, I know somebody who died from cancer early in life or you know maybe a loved one, I just can't bear myself to think of a God that would allow us to suffer and lose our loved ones. Why does God allow suffering? Well, first of all, to come to the point of understanding where it even comes from is here in Genesis 3 and let's look at verse number 16 again. This is of course after Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord. They ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Some people think that the fruit itself was some type of wicked fruit. I don't think the fruit is the problem, it's the fact that they've just disobeyed God. God said don't eat of it and they're like, we're going to eat of it. I don't think the tree itself was this issue, okay, but it's just where God had tried to just give them some level of boundary. You can eat of every tree but not this one and you know what, our life many times is like that. You know, we can be offered all kinds of liberties in our life but we just generally, we're always curious, what is that thing that God does not want me to do? I kind of want to taste it, I want to try it and see what it brings me. Well, they sinned against the Lord God, we know that God then begins to rebuke them and in Genesis 3 16 it says, First thing that we need to understand when God curses the woman, it's not that she was cursed to bring forth children, she was made to bring forth children but that the curse upon her as a result of her sin is that there will be great sorrow, this is why we call it labor pains today, right? And many times when a lady is pregnant that's what, that's the one concern, I just hope that my labor pains aren't so heavy, right? And that's where ultimately suffering comes from. You know, it's a consequence of our sin against God. God did not create a world where there would be death, pain and suffering. Pain and suffering is a consequence of the sin that we've offended against God. But what I want you to understand, when we start to understand suffering from a biblical perspective, it's not suffering for no reason whatsoever. When it comes to the curse upon the woman, she suffers but there's a positive end result at the end of it, which is the child, it's the baby. It continues in verse number 17. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field, in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. For out of it was thou taken, for thus thou art, and unto thus shalt thou return. So what is the curse or what is the suffering that Adam has to go through? Some people think, well, Adam has to work. That's the suffering. No, Adam was created to work, just like Eve was created to bring forth children, all right. And you know, even though we say, well, it requires a lot of suffering to bring forth children, yet generation after generation, women are bringing forth children. You know, they're saying the suffering is worth the end results. Well, you know what, even before God cursed Adam, God made Adam to work. He was to work as a gardener there in the Garden of Eden. But the consequence of his sin is that he's going to have to work really hard. He's going to have to work by the sweat of his brow. He's going to have to work till the day he dies. You know what's funny about Australia is generally people retire when they're about 67, and then they're on welfare, and they still complain about being on welfare. The curse of God is you're going to work till the day you die, and yet in Australia, we don't have to work till the day we die, but we still complain. You know, we're whiners, we're complainers, but sometimes men complain because they just have to go to work. No, you've got to work, and you've got to work by the sweat of your brow. This is the consequence. But again, is there a positive result at the end of it? Yes. It allows you to put a roof over your head, over your family's head. It allows you to take care of your needs and your family needs, that they need to eat and have their clothes and maybe do something nice every now and again, go out and have some fun. There's a positive result at the end of working, and this is a big issue amongst men today. Men are struggling to understand their purpose of life, and they think, if I can just get out of the workforce, men, you're created to work, you're created to labor. If you do nothing with your life, you're going to be miserable, you're going to be depressed, okay, you're going to have all kinds of problems and mental challenges in your life if you do not fulfill the responsibility that God's created you to be, all right? But there is suffering. There is suffering, yes. Welcome to the real world. Men has brought suffering and sometimes you're not going to like the work that you do, but you know what? You need to remember, there's a positive end result of it. Our wives don't like the labor, but there's a positive end result to it. And if you can understand this, because you're all suffering, I'm suffering, we're all suffering with something in this life. If you're not suffering, boss, everything's good, everything's swell, everything's positive. I don't believe you. I just do not believe you. Men suffering with something, all right? But what's going to get you through it? The psychological change you need to make in your life is not, ah, my life sucks, and misery and woe and suffering, I just give up on life, no, no, no. You need to remind yourself, hold on. When God brought in suffering into the world, there was always a positive result at the end of it, and you need to figure out what that is. And men, when you're struggling to work, remember, I'm working for my wife, I'm working for my children, I'm working for my family, and if you don't have a family, I'm working for the Lord. I'm serving Him. You've got to understand and put yourself in the right place mentally and understand this suffering's going to bring something good in my life. Can you come with me to Matthew 11? Matthew 11 in your Bibles, please. Matthew 11. I want to give you the reasons why God allows suffering. We know why suffering exists because of Adam and Eve's sin, but I can't blame them. They were around 6,000 something years ago. The reason we suffer is because of you, because of me, okay? And sometimes I make you suffer, and sometimes you make me suffer. Man, we just somehow, we just create suffering one toward another because we're sinful creatures. But the first thing I want you to understand is when Christ came to this earth, we know that His mission was to save souls. He came to die on the cross and bring salvation to all men. And notice what Christ says in Matthew 11, verse number 5. He says, the blind receive their sight. Would you say if you're blinded, you're suffering? Of course. And the lame walk. You think if you're unable to walk, if you're lame, you're suffering? Yes. The lepers are cleansed. Are the lepers suffering? Yes. The death here. If you can't hear, if you're deaf, are you suffering? Yes. The dead are raised up. I mean, that's the ultimate consequence of suffering. Being dead, the dead are raised up. And the poor is being poor, suffering, yes. People that are poor suffer. But look at this. And the poor have the gospel preached to them. Brethren, number one, the number one reason, the first reason I should say, that God allows suffering is because it draws many to salvation. You know when the lepers were there and the blind were there and they heard about this Jesus, when they heard about this man, they thought, is this the Messiah? Is this the man? We've heard of the miracles, we've heard of his works, we've heard of his words. This is the man that I need to go to and receive deliverance in my life. This is the man that's going to heal me. This is the man that's going to give me salvation. So many of these people that suffered in their time of life were put into that position and it allowed them to look to Christ and to look for an answer. Who's going to raise the dead? Who's going to give me everlasting life? Many times suffering will lead you to salvation. Suffering will lead you to Christ. Now that's not my experience. Thank God I was saved at an early age Christian home, heard the gospel when I was four years old. All right? I mean, I just, yeah, I want the free gift. I want to live forever. I want to be at home with God in heaven. It wasn't suffering that brought me to Christ. But for many of you, I've known your testimonies, I know your stories, I know some of you were brought to the lowest point in your life where you've tried everything in this world, you've tried the devices, you've looked for satisfaction in different areas of life, maybe even different religions and you've never had an answer. You've never been fulfilled until you heard of Jesus, until you heard of his gospel and you got to your wit's end and you said, man, there must be more to life than this. What's the answer? You sought the Lord and the Lord came to you and gave you the gospel, gave you the free gift of salvation. Some of you have that testimony, say why does God allow suffering? That you would be saved, that you would have everlasting life. Is that a positive result at the end of suffering? Is everlasting life worth the little suffering we go through in life? Absolutely. I would rather be lame and unable to walk in this life but know full well that I'm going to heaven than be able to run a marathon, run the Olympics and win the gold medal and for the praise of man and yet to die and go to hell. Man, suffering, if suffering brings me to Christ, there's a positive result, there's a net result out of this. This is one reason why God allows suffering. Can you come with me to Revelation please, Revelation, actually no, let's go to Hebrews, come with me to Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12, are you learning to Hebrews 12? I'll give you the second reason why you might be suffering. Again, I don't know if these are all the reasons, you need to figure this out. You know, you need to figure out, Lord, I'm suffering with X, Y or Z, I need to figure out what that reason is. There's always a positive result at the end of it. There's a reason why God is allowing you to go through suffering. And point number two that I have this morning is the one that's least popular. But sometimes God allows suffering to punish or to correct us. People don't like to admit that, right? Usually when someone's going through suffering, it's because I'm going through persecution. The devil's out to get me. Sometimes you've done wrong and God as a Heavenly Father, a loving Father, is chastening you. The Bible says in Revelation 3.19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent. See there are certain sins in our lives that are there and God's been long suffering, He's been merciful, we continue in our sins and God says, look, it's time for me to chasten, to rebuke and chasten and He wants us to repent. So there in Hebrews 12, look at verse number 10. It says Hebrews 12, 10, for they, speaking of earthly parents, verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. But He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Why does God chasten us? For our profit, for our best, that we can learn from our mistakes, that we would not continue in the destructive nature of our sins. Look at verse number 11, now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. Of course not. No one likes their backside being smacked, especially by God, however God does it in our lives. No one, I'm enjoying being on the chastening hand of my God. No one enjoys that, you know, no child likes it when mum and dad have to pull out the rod and bring correction on them, not even the parents enjoy that process. No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous, so there is suffering there. Nevertheless, afterward, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. The Bible also says in Proverbs 3, 12, for whom the Lord loveth, He correcteth, even as a father, the son in whom He delighteth. Because one reason that you're going through suffering is because you need to be corrected, you need to be chastised, you need to be punished for the sins that you're going through. That might be the case. It's unpopular. Because, you know, I should have kept going with the Adam and Eve story, but when Adam confronts Adam, Adam, he says, oh, the blame is to my wife. And when he confronts Eve, God, the blame is to the devil. Our natural makeup is to blame everything else, not me, not me. Yes, you, sometimes. Sometimes it's you. Okay? And sometimes you deserve a good smack. Okay? It's true. Right? Otherwise, if kids are not getting disciplined, we're going to create a generation of spoiled brats. And God does not want a generation of spoiled Christians, right? So we need to be corrected. And look, I'll tell you what I do in my life. When I'm going through something, some trouble, some element of suffering appears in my life. The first thing I do, before I start blaming anyone, now, I'm not trying to, okay, I won't use it. What I should do, because I'm not perfect all the time, what I should do is go, God, what have I done wrong? Is there something in my life? Now, you say, I sin every day. Of course we do. But is there something that is outstanding, something that you know that you've just been letting go time and time again, you never address it, you're keeping it hidden from the Lord, you just don't want to have victory in that life, in that sin? Is there something that just stands out that you realize, boy, there is an issue here? Is there maybe someone that you need to forgive, right, and you've been bitter toward them time after time, week after week, month, and the years go by, and you're being corrected and you go, is there something that I've done wrong that I ought to be seeking forgiveness? Is there someone that I need to forgive? Or is there someone that I need to apologize to? Is there something that I need to get right, God, are you putting me through this trouble because there's this issue that I need to deal with? That's how I start. I start thinking, is this God's punishment? Is it His correction? And if I can't pinpoint something that the Lord has brought to my attention, then there might be other reasons behind it. But I usually start here. Lord, is there something that I need to change in my life so I can overcome this? Because here's the thing, like, parents, like, let's say your child, I don't know, steals money in the house or something, right? You take out the rod, you correct them, don't do it, son, right, I love you, I don't want to smack you, please, that's the wrong thing to do, theft is wrong, whatever. And then a week passes by, and they steal again, like, I've got to do it again, right? The thing about discipline and correction is that you want to learn your lesson ASAP. If you want to lift the suffering, if it's God's chastisement, you want to lift the suffering and get quickly to the profit that God wants you to earn, then learn the lesson. If you don't learn the lesson, if you fight back, no, God, I refuse to change that about me. Do you think the suffering's going to go away? The chastisement's going to continue, it's going to come back next week, it's going to come back next month, until you learn the lesson. Some of us are suffering unnecessarily under the hand of God's love and chastisement because we simply refuse to get certain things in our life right. To me, that's unnecessary suffering. I can learn the lesson once, Lord, teach it to me, what is it, show me, give me the wisdom to tell me what I need to change. And if you change it, if you correct it, God's chastisement will be lifted off you and you won't need to suffer unnecessarily. So the second reason why we might be going through chastisement, can you come with me to 2 Corinthians please, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, 2 Corinthians chapter 1. The second reason why we might be going through suffering, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse number 3, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse number 3, blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comforts. You know, any time you need comfort in a time of suffering, you can go to the God of all comfort. No matter what you're going through, God is able to comfort you. Look what it says in verse number 4, who comforted us in all our tribulation. So any tribulation, tribulation means troubles, problems, or sufferings, whatever we go through, God is able to comfort us in all of them. For what purpose? That we may be able to comfort them which are in my, sorry, that are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. This is so interesting. One reason God allows us to go through tribulations is so we can experience God's comfort, okay, that's nice, so that then we can comfort others when they're going through difficulties. Verse number 5 says, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. You know what this is saying? If you want to experience God's consolation in a great way, if you want to experience God's comfort in a great way, you're going to have to go through great suffering. You're going to have to go, I mean, how else are you going to get comforted? Like when life is going well, woo, life is awesome, life is fantastic, you don't need comfort in that situation, right? You're not like, oh pastor, can you give me a hug, I'm having a great time in life. No, only the pastor can give me a hug because I'm really depressed, right, I'm really cast down, right? That's usually when you need the comfort of the Lord. You see, life may appear unfair at times where you say, well, I do suffer sometimes, pastor, but there are others that have suffered much more and there are some here in this church that have definitely suffered much more than me, much more, much more. But you have the advantage though, because you can experience more comfort of God than I have experienced and God allows us to go through this process so we can comfort others, you know? And this is something that is, I just believe it's true, that the third reason why God allows us to suffer is that you may learn to comfort others. You know, I don't know, I'll just tell you my life, I don't know, maybe you can relate, maybe you can't, I don't know. Most of my life, pretty good, didn't grow up with many problems in life, didn't really get addicted to any substances or even when my friends were out partying, I just didn't really like that lifestyle and, you know, I could see the destruction on its way and whatever it is, right, I generally kept out of problems and because I kept out of problems, I didn't have many problems, obviously, but then I'd hear about my friends and I'd have this issue and that issue and I just thought, yeah, you guys suck, right? It's like, my life's okay, right, I'm fine, yeah, the reason you go through this is, yeah, you probably deserve it, you know, you probably did something worthy of the consequences of all this and, you know, I just, I kind of thought, yeah, it sucks to be you, honestly, when I was like young, a teenager or whatever, but it wasn't till I started to suffer, until troubles would appear in my life, alright, and you're like, boy, this hurts, this is painful, what hope do I have, how do I get out of this problem, it wasn't till you go through this process that then allows you to look at others when they're suffering and go, man, I feel for you, I actually feel for you, I can see the struggle you're going through, I'm gonna pray for you, brother, I'm gonna pray for you, sister, like, I went through this, I'm just telling you, I don't know if it's maturity, maybe it's maturity, but it's having to go through difficulties in life, feeling sometimes that there's no solution to my problem, how do I overcome, Lord, why are you allowing me to go through this and then you reach out to God and God is a God of all comfort, he's proven that over and over to me, I'm sure he's proven that to you in the past, when you start to look at others and they're going through their hardships and you're like, brother, I love you, it breaks my heart that you're going through this, I'll be praying for you, if there's anything you need, I'm here, okay, I'm here to support you, I'm here to be your brother, can anyone else relate to that or is it just me, that suffering allows you to understand other people's struggles? You know, I'll express, I've said this before in sermons past, but you know, maybe it's the process that I've gone through, right, but you know, my wife and I, we've had the 12 kids, right, we've had 12 kids and it's not easy, I'll tell you that, I mean, having kids, that's the easy part, raising kids, that's the hard part, right, well it's not the easy part for mum, right, the labour, we already covered that, to bring forth kids, but one thing that I really don't like hearing, and I hear it sometimes, like, you know, a mother who might have their first child, right, and they're struggling, you know, and sometimes, I don't know why this comes out, people say, well, you know, you don't have the right to just complain, because past has got 12 kids, that's garbage, that's garbage, you know what, yeah, there's a lot of difficulties with 12 kids, but there's a lot of difficulties with one child, there is a lot of suffering with one child, I remember having one child, and the challenges of life, of having to concern yourselves with, you know, we can't just go out like we used to, we need to make sure there's the nappies, and baby's going to get dirty, and we need to make sure that, you know, we're worried if baby makes a noise, and what are people going to say about it, like, there's the struggles of adapting to even one child, and what I'm trying to say, brethren, is that God allows us to go through different levels of difficulties in life, different levels of suffering, but all suffering is legitimate, we cannot turn around and say, well, you know, you're just one child, wait till you find out later in life, I've had people say, well, yeah, you're enjoying your kids while they're young, wait till they're teenagers, because you haven't gone through what I've gone through, we all suffer, I hate that view, I've suffered more than you, you've got no right to whine or complain, there's suffering in all of our lives, different measures, we all go through it, and boy, you know, once you go through the difficulties in life, you really start to understand and appreciate the others who are struggling, I get the difficulty of being a father of one child, because I've done that, I understand the difficulty of being a father with six children, because I've done that, and it wasn't easy, the process was never easy, it wasn't, oh, one child, woohoo, too easy, three children, woohoo, this is great, five children, ten children, this is okay, now it's gotten really hard with 11, now it's gotten really challenging with 12, now we're really struggling to make ends meet, now that we've got this number, no, it's always been a challenge. But I certainly believe that one reason God's allowed me in my life to go through difficulties is that I can better relate to others that are suffering. You know, and until I became a pastor, this is going to sound completely naive, I did not realise how much people suffered. I just, because we go to church, we come to church, we hear, you know, we spend a little time, praise God, we try to be encouraging to one another, we know generally that people are going through some difficulties and challenges, and we kind of, that's the general gist of church, but when you're a pastor and people are telling you, pastor, I've got an issue, can you pray for me, pastor, I'm going through this difficulty, I'm going through that difficulty, I'm like, who's not going through difficulty? Everybody is. That's why now, I'm preaching to you, I know everybody's suffering with something, something in life, could be a chronic illness, alright, could be lacking the funds to make ends meet, it could be a bad manager making your life hell at work or something like that, right, it could be just raising kids, it could be criticism that's coming from family and friends, it could be lots of things that's causing you kinds of anguish and problems, but we all suffer, and I've had to learn, wow, everyone's suffering, and everyone's suffering is legitimate, but you know what, no matter how much we suffer, God's comfort is greater than that suffering. I want you to understand that. The Lord God is our God of all comforts. He can be there for you. The third reason why you might be suffering is that you can learn how to comfort others. You've experienced God's comfort yourself, and now you're like, I've got to encourage you brother, okay, I've got to encourage you, lift you up, turn to the Lord, I'll be praying for you. How can I help? I can understand what you're going through. You know, maybe even give some advice, because you've gone through something similar. Can you come with me to Psalm 9 please, Psalm 9, Psalm 9, what's the fourth reason why we might be suffering? Psalm 9 and verse number 13, Psalm 9, the Psalmist says in Psalm 9, 13, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, consider my trouble, which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that lifteth me up from the gates of death. The Psalmist is suffering, because there are people that hate me. He's suffering with these relationships out there. And then look at verse number 14, that I may show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in thy salvation. So he's asking God, God, can you help me in my sufferings? Can you give me a solution against those that hate me? And Lord, if you come through with this, I'm going to praise you in the gates. I'm going to come and tell everybody how great of a God you are. The fourth reason why you might be going through suffering is that you can just learn to rejoice when God comes through on the other side. Have you ever done that? Have you ever gone through a difficulty and then like, it's sorted, it's fixed. At that point, you've got to be careful. Oh, that's so good. I'm such a good, you know, fixer to my problems. No, no, you go, thank you, Lord. I'm going to rejoice over you. Lord, I shared with my church members, my brethren, the problems I was going through. But this Sunday, I can turn up and say, it's all fixed because of God. God came through, thanks for praying for me, and he brings joy. I don't know, is it possible to have joy in this life without problems? I'm not sure. You know, if things are always going well, I don't know, I find great joy when there are problems and you get out of it. And like you look and say, you know, God had his eyes upon me. God knew it all along. God had an answer all along. I thought God forgot about me. You know, that's stupid. How stupid am I? I thought I had to do this on my own, but God's come through, glory to him, thanksgiving to him. Let's praise the Lord and I'm going to rejoice that I have a great God that loves me and always has the solution, always has an answer for me. Boy, sometimes we go through suffering just so we can rejoice at the hands of his deliverance. Can you come with me to Acts 5? Acts 5. Acts 5 verse 40. This is a time when the disciples are arrested for preaching Jesus Christ. In Acts 5 verse 40 it says, That's a bit of suffering. And in every house they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Like these apostles were taken, the religious leaders of that council, they tried to put a stop at the preaching of Jesus Christ. So they arrest them, they beat them up, and they command them, never preach in the name of Jesus. They come out and what happens? Do they stop? They're like, every single day we're out preaching the gospel. Every day we're going from house to house, speaking of Jesus Christ. You say, what happened? Wouldn't the suffering they went through stop them? Suffering can sometimes cause you to stop. But sometimes God allows you to share in the suffering of Christ, to be further motivated, to do more for the Lord. Have you been there before? Have you experienced that before? You know, I'll share just this little story in my life, where I went to a Christian, Christian high school. Okay, it was a Baptist Christian high school. And you know, back then I just thought, well, if you just said Jesus, you must be saved. I didn't realise people believed in works, salvation. I didn't even realise that people thought you could lose your salvation. I just thought, man, you get Jesus right, you're right. Like, salvation is not that complicated. Anyway, you meet people along the journey and friends you make, and all of a sudden you start to notice the doctrinal differences that you have one for another. And I'm trying to, you know, at that point, I'm seeking the Lord, I want to know the Bible, I want to do what God says, and I'm thinking my Christian friends and my Christian fellow students would rejoice in that, aren't we a Christian school? Aren't we a Baptist Bible-believing school? But you serve the Lord and you try to do what is right. What happens in life? You get mocked. People despise you. It's like, what? I'm not telling you to live godly, I just want to live godly. But you still get mocked. I don't care what you do with your life, you want to destroy your life, go for it. I just want to do what God says for me. And people mock you. One thing I experienced through that process is like, you know what, I want to serve the Lord even more now. I want to show others just how fired up I am for God, and it's driven me to get further into the scriptures, further into finding a better church, better understanding of doctrines, and it's through that process, through that journey of being mocked that I started to develop a heart to desire to be a pastor. Something about suffering for the right reasons, for the cause of Christ, sharing in his suffering just a little bit. If you have the right mentality, it makes you want to serve him more. It's worth suffering for Christ. So maybe you're lacking a little motivation. Maybe you've gotten a little cold toward God and the things of God, and God knows what's going to get them back on their feet and motivated and out there putting his kingdom first. A little suffering. A little suffering, to share a little with the suffering of Christ. That might be a reason why you're going through suffering. Just to get you motivated, get you on fire. I'm going to serve the Lord faithfully. I'm going to do more for him than I've done before. First Corinthians 12, please. First Corinthians 12. The sixth reason why you might suffer might be my favorite reason out of all of them. First Corinthians 12. First Corinthians 12. I love this church. Bless you all about this church. You guys have a good church. I wish I could be here on Sundays week in, week out, but I've got a good church in your life as well. But I look at you guys and it seems like most of you, all of you, get along just fine. Seems like you have a great time at church and we fellowship and the friendships and you know, not just also always at church, but maybe outside, you know, catching up for lunch or going and serve Crown Baptist Church from time to time and help out the brethren. It seems like things are going quite well for this church. I'm really happy for you guys. But many churches suffer divisions and conflicts and I mean, I don't know. If there have been conflicts, I hope you just sort it out between yourselves. Forgive and forgot and move on, you know, that's a good lesson to learn as well. But one reason why God allows suffering is to bring unity within a church. Look at First Corinthians 12. First Corinthians 12 and verse number 23. For those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor, for our uncommity paths have more abundant comeliness. For our comeliness paths have no need, but God have tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which is lacked. God is essentially saying there is nobody here that is really inferior in the house of God. You might say, yeah, but I don't come every week, doesn't matter, okay? We need to bestow upon you more honor, okay? A church is a body, all right? And I'm sure we've all had times where we've hurt in our body. We've sprained an ankle, hurt an arm, all right? I don't know, I'm just thinking about just last year I had a fall and I sprained my ankle and it's only been the last, this was like, when did I come to Sydney with my wife? Was it November? December? December? Something like that. It's only been the last week that my, oh, it's working again. But after I sprained my ankle, you know, I'm hopping, I'm walking like this, all right? And I'm like, oh man, you know, it's really, it's an issue. God, but it's just an ankle, who cares? Your hands work, your brain works, your mouth works, yeah, but it's just a nuisance that it's suffering. It's a nuisance that my ankle is suffering. So there might be a part of your body that, you know, have you ever had a pinched nerve? And you're like, it's somewhere there, but it's having an effect over here and over there. It's like, yeah, because we're one body, we're meant to be united. Every part of our body is important. You might say, I don't do much with the pinky finger. All right, let's chop it off then. No, I don't want to chop it off, that'll hurt. Yes, of course it'll hurt. Because it's important as well. It's got to function. We all work together, regardless of how important you think you are to this church. I'm telling you, if you don't think you're important, you are important to this church. Regardless of who you are. God wants us to be united. And look at this, verse number 25, that there should be no schism in the body. Schism means division. We don't need division at church. I don't like it. I don't like experiencing division. There should be no schism in the body, look at this. But that the members should have the same care, one for another. And this is the important part. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. A good example of this is Brother Ramson. He was honored yesterday, right? A celebration for him and Sister JC. Well, if one member has been honored, all the members rejoice with it, right? Go woohoo, yeah, right? I mean, I'm super happy for Ramson, right? He's a quality man, he deserves a wife. Good man. But when one member suffers, we are all to suffer with that one member. What does that create? Unity. When one member's going through difficulties, our hearts ought to pour out to that person. What can I do to help you? I'm going to take you to prayer, sister. I'm going to take you to prayer, brother. What can we do? This person's gone through this difficulty. Can we as a church come around them and do something nice for this person who is suffering? And what does that create? Unity, a togetherness, all right? Now think about all the differences we have in our lives. We have different backgrounds, we've been saved all at different periods of our life. There are doctrines that I believe that you disagree with me, and there are doctrines that you believe that I disagree with you, and we may disagree one way or another. Let's talk about the rapture. Let's just use that. I like that example, all right? Let's use the rapture, for example. This church believes in a post-Trib pre-Raph rapture. All right, let's say, pastor, I don't agree with that, I'm pre-Trib. I disagree strongly with your position on that, I'm pre-Trib. And well, I'm to love you anyway for my brother-in-law, aren't I? I'm supposed to love you. But what if I'm just like, no, you're wrong! No, you're going to sit like me! Ah, you're a heretic! What's that going to create? Schisms. Divisions. Now, let's say I'm like that to what a brother, because you just see things differently to me on whatever issue. All right? You're meant to breastfeed five times a day! No, it's eight times a day! I don't know. I'm a child abuser! But let's say I'm suffering. I'm going to use brother Anthony as the example, all right? Me and him, he's the pre-Trib, I'm post-Trib, and I just, you know, try to, I don't like, get out of my church, you heretic! Whatever. But then let's say I'm suffering. I go for some difficulty. I go for some hardship. And brother Anthony goes, you know what? I'm going to come alongside Pastor Kevin and help him out. I'm going to pray for him. I'm going to go before the Lord and petition. What are his needs? I'm going to try to fulfill those needs, because he's my brother-in-the-Lord and I love him. At that point, brethren, who cares about the rapture position? What's more important, the unity and the love and the care that we have for each other? Or just, you'd see that differently to me? See that's what problems and sufferings can create within church. Someone's going through a difficulty and we're all concerned for that brother or that sister. And all of a sudden, all the other little differences we have don't matter! All the little things that can become divisions and schisms are not important when we're going through suffering. And I don't know, maybe if the Lord starts to see schisms within the body, within the church, he just might allow a little suffering to come along our way so we can forget all the little issues that we're dealing with and focus on the bigger issues of life. So I'd rather avoid the suffering. Let's just stay united. Let's just love one another and understand that everyone can be different from time to time and people are going to do things differently to you and that's not an offence to you and people have their own lives and let's have unity because I don't want to have to unnecessarily suffer for God to try to bring unity back into the church. But when someone is suffering, we ought to come alongside them and that brings strength to the church. So one reason why we might be suffering is to bring unity within the church. Can you come with me to 2 Corinthians now, 2 Corinthians chapter 12. We know that the Apostle Paul suffered a lot in the ministry for Christ but there is something that he suffered that is so unique to everything else and it's really amazing why he suffered through this. You might have, and again this might not be well received, I don't know, but I'm just, you might have a constant chronic issue in your life. I'm not saying this is the reason why, I'm just, I understand our bodies break down, I get it, you know, which is sin, the sin nature, you know, our bodies are meant to break down so we can go die and go to heaven, right, it's got to happen but there might be just this constant thing in your life, like pastor, this suffering is for the rest of my life. There just seems to be no benefit to it, all suffering has benefit, all suffering, okay. And look at 2 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 12 and verse number 7. Paul says, and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, let me stop there. He says look, because he's an apostle chosen by Christ, Christ taught him a lot of great doctrines. He had these visions and he went to the third heaven and heard things that cannot be uttered. Paul had this great experience through Christ which is why he wrote most of our New Testament books and started many of the New Testament churches, right. He did great works for God and had great visions from God. And he goes, lest I should be exalted above measure, he goes look, God does not want me to be exalted above that because I went through all this, because when a man is exalted, what comes in? Pride. Pride. Oh, I'm chosen, I've had the visions, I've written the most New Testament books, how much did you write, Peter? Three. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. There was something in Paul's makeup that God knows, look, you can do great things for me, you can accomplish great things, but you're going to be tempted with pride. You're going to be lifted up with pride. And man, men are like human beings, we're like this. Great successes, great riches, right. Great victories start, oh, look at me. Just how it is. We're all like that. So God says, all right, in order to stop the, I like the work, I like what you're doing, but to combat the pride, I need to send you a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet you. Something's just going to be beaten up every day of your life, Paul, you're going to have this chronic issue every day of your life, Paul, just to keep you humble. Amazing. And look what he says in verse number eight, for this thing, I besought the Lord Christ that it might depart from me. He's like, God, I don't like this suffering. Many times he went to God, God, take it away, verse number nine, and he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities. I believe what Paul was suffering was infirmities, some sickness. The first thing that brings up, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I believe Paul was suffering some chronic illness in his body, something, some chronic pain, back pain, I don't know, sore knees or something, right, I don't know, something, that he just, even when I've gone to God three times, he won't take it away from me, because he goes, if he does, I'll be full of pride. You know, sometimes God allows us to go through suffering just to keep us humble, just to keep us humble. What this means is, and I know we don't like to admit it, but if everything is going well in life, you're like, get the problems and the sufferings out of my life, God. But if it does, you might not like the person you become when everything's going well. I'll never be that person, yes, you will. I'll never be prideful, yes, you will. I'll never be hateful, yes, you will. Sometimes God, God knows you better than you know yourself. Lord, I'm suffering with, you know, I don't have a lot of money in the bank account, well maybe God knows that if you've got a million dollars, you'll be some jerk, some idiot, and so God's keeping you humble. You've got to accept it and understand God knows you better than you know yourself. There is something, we are corrupt in the flesh, okay, we're tempted and we like to, the flesh likes to praise itself and have its own will contrary to God's will. And you go, but I'm doing so much for God, and I still got this problem, maybe if you didn't have the problem, you wouldn't be doing these great things for God. If you didn't have the problems, you'd just be chasing the world, the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. One reason why God may allow suffering is just to keep you humble. And look at verse number 10. So when you understand this and you can figure this out, verse number 10 says, therefore, so this is a conclusion for him, I can't get rid of this problem, this suffering, therefore I take pleasure in infirmities. He goes, I'm taking pleasure now, I realise God's keeping me humble, I know I'm a better man with this chronic suffering that I go through, therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong. So whatever your suffering might be, might fall into one of these categories, take pleasure. Paul says, man, when I'm weak, I'm stronger than ever, when I'm weak, I rely on God's strength, rather than just me, me, me, pride. One reason why you might be going through suffering is to keep you humble and to be stronger than you've ever been, but the strength of the Lord, not the strength that comes from your flesh. Can you come with me to Romans 8, Romans 8, I'm near the end now, thank you for your patience. Romans 8 and verse number 16. Romans 8, 16, the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Now receiving an inheritance is a nice thing. You know, if your parents are able to leave you, I think the average inheritance is like 100, 200 grand, roughly per Australian, something like that, some more than others obviously. Inheritance is nice, what about if you can inherit everything from God? Whatever Christ inherits, joint heirs with Christ. Whatever Christ inherits from his Heavenly Father is what we inherit. That's awesome. Alright, but then it says this, if so, be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. You see, in order to have the great privileges of being a joint heir with Christ, we have to live this life and there's going to be a little bit of suffering, a little bit of suffering, okay, but that we may also be glorified together. If we want to be joint heirs with Christ, I don't know the better, that's the best inheritance you're ever going to receive, well, you can share the inheritance with Christ but we also have to share a little bit of suffering with Christ. Look at verse number 18, then it says these words, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. He goes, you know what, okay yes, suffering's not good, no one likes it, but how can we even compare the amount of suffering compared to all the glory we're going to get in Christ Jesus? It's not even worth comparing. It's not even worth complaining about. Verse number 19, for the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God, for the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who have subjected the same in hope. Because the creature, the creature by the way is talking about our flesh, okay, because the creature, this flesh that we go through, itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. He goes, boy, you know, we can suffer in this creature, in this flesh, but it's going to be delivered from the bondage of corruption. The rapture's going to take place, we're going to have new bodies, no longer corrupted, corruption to incorruption, mortality to immortality. And look at verse number 22, for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Brethren, you're not the only one that's suffering. You're not the only one going through problems. We all are, and guess what? All of creation is. All of creation. Every single human being is going through suffering. God has created, groaneth and travaileth in pain. Our earth is groaning and travailing. All of God's creation is groaning in pain. You say, why is that? Because Adam and Eve sinned. God did not just pour the curse on the woman to labor and bring forth children, not only for men to work by the sweat of his brow, but we saw that thorns and thistles were, and there's still thorns and thistles today, are there not? God's curse came upon this earth, right? This earth, as wonderful and as beautiful as certain places of the earth is, it's still not the beauty that God first created when he created all things. Everything is groaning. Everything's going through pain. Suffering is part of life. But then verse number 23 says, and not only they, but ourselves also, we're also groaning in this flesh, sins, the problems and consequences. We groan also in ourselves, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves grow within ourselves, so there's waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. All right. Why do we go through suffering? What's one reason why God allows it? Why do we go through groanings and pains also within ourselves? Because we're waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies, the new bodies. The eighth reason why God allows suffering is to keep us thinking of eternity, to keep us thinking about the return of Jesus Christ, that we're going to be with him forever and ever. Eternity, being in joint heirs, the glories are so much more important than the sufferings of this life. You see, what's been told of us here is that if everything's good, life is awesome all the time, always winning. What does Donald Trump say? You get so sick and tired of winning. Just constant good all the time. And our focus and attention will just be on this earth. Earth is so good. The sinful condition is so awesome. My body is so good. Now God says, you know what? You're groaning and you're moaning and you're suffering because you need to understand our focus and our attention is on the adoption, the redemption of our bodies, being with Christ Jesus and glorifying with him as we sit with him as joint heirs, joint heirs with Christ. One reason God allows suffering is that we stop thinking and wanting, you know, the best of this earth and desiring the best that is yet to come in heaven, to put our attention and focus on the right place. Man, if my life is just constantly about this earth, the reason I labor, the reason I work, the reason I live is to just make as much money and have as many businesses and as much investment properties and all of this just for me as much as I can, I'm going to die. Who's going to take it? Someone else is going to take it. Some welfare recipient that didn't labor is going to take all my wealth, right? The government's going to take it all and give it to someone that didn't work as hard as I did or something for it, right? It's like, what for? I'm dead. It's gone. It's finished. But if I'm laboring for heaven, we know there is no corruption in heaven. We know there's a great interest rate in heaven, no matter what the RBA does, no matter what my mortgage rate is, the interest rate in heaven continues. It multiplies. It doesn't stop. Laying up treasure in heaven is worth it to be with Jesus, to walk those streets of gold, to have bodies that were never sinned, to be made like unto Christ. That's where my attention is. That's forever and ever and ever in the mansions that God has prepared for me in heaven. Don't you think God wants us to have our attention on eternity rather than what is temporal? And you know what? Now, if too much of your focus is on this earth, too much of your focus is on what's temporal and carnal, you're going to go for suffering. Because God wants you to go, hold on, no, no, no. Look over here. Look to heaven. Look to eternity. Work for the kingdom of heaven. Work toward his righteousness. Keep your eyes on Jesus. That might be another reason, the eighth reason why God allows suffering. One more Bible verse. Revelation 21, please. Revelation 21. While you're turning to Revelation 21, let me read to you the reasons why God allows suffering. Number one, to draw us to salvation. Number two, to punish and correct us. Number three, that we may learn to comfort others. Number four, to rejoice in deliverance. Number five, to share in the suffering of Christ and be motivated. Number six, to bring unity within a church. Number seven, to keep you humble. Number eight, to keep us thinking of eternity. Revelation 21, please. Revelation 21. And so, if you're going through suffering this morning, and I know you are, I want you to think about why is it. Maybe you got sick of it. I'm over it. Don't be over it because something good's going to come out of it. God intends it for good. But you need to figure out, what is it? Am I being chastised by the Lord? Have I been too focused on carnal things and not on eternity? Am I looking down on others that are suffering? Maybe I'm going for suffering so I can learn how to comfort others. What is it, Lord? There could be one. There could be many. I don't know. You know. I'm not telling you what the answer is. Just consider these things. You're going to know better than me why you're experiencing the suffering you're going through. And in conclusion, Revelation 21. I just want to encourage you that there will be an end to suffering. In Revelation 21, verse number 3, it says, And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. And God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And I love the next verse. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. It's nice when you've got someone that you can go to and vent and get your frustration and they can comfort you and support. We're all going to have to deal with this with God one day. We're going to go before God. All the tears, all the pain that we've gone through in life, all the suffering. God's going to come and wipe those tears off our face. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. The former things there is the reference to suffering. All the pain and suffering we're going through. It's all going to pass away one day when we see our Heavenly Father face to face, and He'll wipe away all tears. No more crying. No more pain. No more suffering. There's a promise to come. And so I'm telling you now, if you just want to live a life on this earth with no suffering, it's not going to happen. It's an objective not worth going for because that's not life. When you overcome one suffering, another one will come. But there is a time that's coming and that's going to be with our Heavenly Father when He takes it all away. And I can't wait for that day. So brethren, why does God allow suffering? I hope you can conclude today and say, yeah, I'm suffering for a good reason. There is a reason why. Maybe I don't know what it is just yet. I need to go to God and say, God, why am I going through this? What is this pain that I'm dealing with? What are you trying to teach me? And start from there, and I promise you, you're going to get to the end of it. You're going to rejoice when you have deliverance out of that suffering, and God always means it for good. There's always profit when God allows us to go through suffering. Let's pray.