We're having a wonderful time of worship together, but I think we are running rather late. Our singing time today was really inspiration, and it seems that it went on for quite a time. But it's so good to worship God in song. Now, I would also like to thank those dear brothers and sisters who have sent me notes to assure me of their prayer and of their prayer support. I really appreciate that so much. Words of encouragement, and really you're fulfilling the function of the body of Christ and refreshing me at the time, especially when I most need it. I really thank you, and may the Lord bless those who so love each other and love His people in this way.
Now, today we are coming to another extremely important subject. A subject which, as I pondered about it, I wonder whether I should speak about it, for the Lord has not given me any way out. And so I proceed trusting in His grace. The subject, the principle that we are coming to today is the exceedingly important principle of what we shall call the salvific principle, the salvific value of suffering. Now you can see why, as soon as I mentioned the title of this, that some people began to feel that this might not be so appropriate here. Because if I were talking to Christians in China, they might see the point. For they are suffering. And to speak to them about the value of suffering, the salvific value — that is, the value that relates to salvation — of suffering, might have some point. But what do most Christians know about suffering today?
But I think perhaps I am wrong in thinking in this way. Because suffering, in one way or another — and we shall see what suffering means in the New Testament — comes to all of us, sooner or later. And as we shall see by tonight, it will come before too long to all of us. For this reason, I would like you to have a weapon in your hands by which you are going to fight this spiritual battle and win. I would like to put one more powerful weapon into your hands, which if you fully grasp, you become invincible. Invincible simply because you have so learned to rely on God's power in suffering, that nothing can bring you down. And I would like every one of you to become invincible Christians who can triumph against all odds. God's elect — who is able to bring us down? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? The only way to bring a Christian down is to separate him from the love of Christ. And who can do that? Paul says at the end of Romans chapter 8, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" You name it. And there is nothing capable of doing that. Thanks be to God, Paul says in Romans 7, who always gives us the victory in Christ Jesus. Always. Not sometimes. Always.
Now a person who wins all the time is invincible. You can't beat that kind of person. But why is it that Christians don't seem to experience that invincibility? That is because they have not yet grasped these spiritual principles which we have been expounding. And now today we come to our penultimate meeting, that is to say our last but one. And we are going to deal with this important principle by the Lord's grace. Remember that if you can grasp this principle — and it may take you some thinking to think it through, and apply it into your life — but if you can grasp it, you become spiritually invincible. You'll be one of those Christians of whom Paul can say, "Thanks be to God, who always gives us the victory. Who always causes us to walk in triumph before Him." Where are these triumphant Christians today?
But before we turn to this, let us once more, because everything comes from Him, and without Him all is in vain, let us once more turn our hearts to Him, and pray that He will open the eyes of our understanding. Let us pray.
Father, we thank You for Your life-giving words, and only Your words are life-giving. The words of men, they are nothing. They pass away as smoke. But Your words, O Lord, they abide forever. They are spirit, and they are life. Heaven and earth will pass away. Everything will pass away. But Your words abide forever. O Lord, give to each one of us understanding. Give to each one of us alertness of mind, at least for this period of time that we gather around Your word, that Your word may penetrate deep into our lives and accomplish its purpose. That we may learn how to go forth and become spiritually invincible in Your battle, to fight Your warfare, and always to win by Your grace, knowing that You always give us the victory in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Teach us the secret of victory, O Lord, for we do not want only to fight, but also to win. Not only to be a soldier to endure hardship, but also a soldier that knows how to be victorious and to receive the crown, the crown of victory. Hear our prayer, accept our thanks, Father, as we plead this and pray for this for each person gathered here today. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Why do so many Christians collapse spiritually? Does it not puzzle you? Why do so many Christians go forward? They enter the Christian life, they seem to make such a good beginning, they seem to fight the spiritual warfare so well at first, and then they collapse. As soon as problems come, as soon as difficulties come, as soon as some suffering comes, they collapse. Why do these Christians collapse? Because apparently they have never been told that suffering is part of the Christian life, an inseparable part of the Christian life. And as we are expounding 2 Timothy, you will find that this word "suffering" comes back so often that that is why I could not escape the subject if we are expounding 2 Timothy at all.
Look at the number of references to suffering within 2 Timothy alone. Chapter 1 and verse 12: 2 Timothy 1:12. "And therefore I suffer as I do, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed." I suffer as I do, but I know whom I have believed. Or going back a few verses to verse 8 in the same chapter: "Do not be ashamed of the gospel. Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but take your share of suffering for the gospel in the power of God." Take your share of the suffering for the gospel, in the power of God. And then on to chapter 2 and verse 3: "Take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
Whoever thought of becoming a soldier who is not prepared to suffer? Becoming a Christian is to fight the battle for truth. It is to join the battle for righteousness. It is not just to save your own skin. You know why so many Christians do not stand? Because they have been told by the preacher that if you become a Christian, all you will get is peace and joy. And then when they do not find the peace and joy on the first day, they say, "Hey, there is something wrong with this message." And I tell you, sure enough, there is something wrong with that message. If you become a Christian merely to save your own spiritual skin, you have missed the point of becoming a Christian. Becoming a Christian is to have been enlisted by the Lord Jesus into His army. That's already what we saw yesterday.
It goes on in verse 4: "No soldier on service gets entangled in civilian affairs, since his aim is to satisfy the one who enlisted him." Jesus enlisted us into spiritual warfare. We have not been saved just to save our own skin. We have been saved in order to fight His battle for truth. To stand up for truth. Six times does the word "truth" occur in 2 Timothy. And six times in 1 Timothy. Truth is what we are concerned about. I became a Christian because I want the truth. Not because I want ease and comfort. Not because I want some spiritual crutch to lean on. Not because I want some spiritual opium to make me feel good. If you became a Christian for those reasons, you have become a Christian for the wrong reason. We become a Christian to fight for the truth. To establish the truth in the heart of every person. To save them from sin.
What did you become a Christian for? To get a crutch to walk on? No wonder many people say Christianity is for the weak. Christianity is for those people who can't stand on their own feet and therefore they need a crutch. You know, that is exactly what I thought before I became a Christian. That's why I didn't want to become a Christian. "All those feeble people. These are the kind of people that need the gospel. These are the people that need to go to church. They need the spiritual crutch, the moral something to boost them up, the moral opium to make them feel a bit better. The strong ones like us, we don't need that." Sure, I was proud. But in a way I was not too far from the truth. I suspect that too many people just look for some spiritual LSD to send them high, to make them feel a bit good. They never thought that becoming a Christian meant to be enlisted in warfare, to fight His battles.
Now if anything needs correcting in your thinking, start also at this point today. That when you go out from here you say, "Lord, forgive me that all I wanted was the selfishness of just feeling good." You know, so many Christians live by feelings, and they really worry every pastor. Pastors are worried by these feeling Christians, and the church is full of them. They're feeling good today and bad tomorrow. It never ceases to worry me. They're up today and down tomorrow. Presumably they took their spiritual stimulant one day and they forgot to take it the next day, so they went down again. What are these spiritual drug addicts? And so they go up and down in the Christian life. One day they are smiling, the next day they are sour. You never know what to expect. But being a Christian is to enlist in warfare.
Now let us go on. Chapter 2 and verse 9: "The gospel for which I am suffering and wearing fetters like a criminal." Suffering again. We go on to chapter 3 — every chapter we have this. Chapter 3, verse 11. He says, "Now you have observed my persecutions, my sufferings, what befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me." Verse 12: "Indeed, all who desire..." — not only I have to suffer, Paul is saying this — but verse 12: "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Every one. Every Christian. Every one of you who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus — you are going to suffer. So if you don't want to suffer, you can opt out right now. Don't opt out at the last minute. Don't become a Christian and then opt out because you only drag the name of Jesus into the mud. At least do Him the favor to opt out before that, if you don't want to take your share of the suffering.
And so I'd like you also to understand this: that we have been called not only to believe but also to suffer. That is exactly what Paul says in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 29. Do you think that only Paul was called to suffer? Not at all. We are all called into that same holy calling. And that is a holy calling. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 29, which every Christian should know by heart: "For it has been granted to you" — you have been given the privilege, that means — "it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake, engaged in the same warfare, in the same conflict which you saw and now hear to be mine." We are in conflict. We are all engaged in this conflict. We are all engaged, Paul says, in the same battle, in the same conflict. And we have been called not only to believe for His sake but also to suffer.
You say, "But Eric, if you preach the gospel like that, nobody is going to become a Christian. You've got to sugarcoat the pill. I mean, you give them the pill and it's so bitter they don't want to become a Christian now. You should have sugarcoated it, and before they know what happened they swallowed it, they got it in the stomach and they can't get it out anymore. That's the way to make Christians. You don't go and take the sugar coating off and say, 'Swallow it.' That's not the way to make Christians."
Don't you worry. I'm not out to make converts, nor was Paul. He was out to make disciples. "Go ye into all the world and make disciples." We are to make disciples. What's the use of having an army of people that don't want to fight? You know, God could accomplish more through 300 men of Gideon's band than through a couple of hundred thousand people who had no stomach for war. 300 people defeated the enemy. That is how God works. You don't need to sugarcoat the pills. The truth needs no sugarcoating. And I have found that when God works in a person's life, the question is not "How do you cause him to come to the Lord?" The question is "How do you stop him?" You know, that's very funny. Some people try all kinds of means to drag people to become Christians, and I spend my time stopping people. You say, "What? What did you say?" I said, that's exactly what I said.
When God works so powerfully in a person's heart, your problem is not to say how do I become a Christian. The problem is how can I stop him from not understanding what it means to be the right kind of Christian. The other day two dear people came to see me and they asked me, "How do I become a Christian?" After I had preached a message which did not seem to have anything to do with evangelism at all. And these two dear people came and said, "How do we become Christians?" So I outlined to them how to become Christians. And they sat there and they said, "And how do we become Christians?" I thought, "Funny, I just explained it a moment ago." Well, I said, "You see, it's this way," and I started again. And they very patiently listened through all that again, and they still sat there, and I thought, "What else do they want?" And so the same question: "Well, how do we become Christians?" I said, "Funny, I thought I explained it twice already." And then it suddenly dawned on me. They were not asking me to tell them how to become a Christian in the sense of "What does a Christian mean?" but "How, right now, do I become a Christian?" In other words, they should have said, "What must I do right now?" But they kept saying, "How do I become a Christian?" So I started thinking they didn't understand what it means to be a Christian. So I said, "Oh," I said, "Well, do you want to receive the Lord Jesus now? Is that what you're saying?" They said, "Yes! That's what we're waiting here for." I said, "Dear me."
The question is: how do you push them out? They are not going to be stopped. You told them how difficult it is to be a Christian, how hard, and they say, "Yes, well, let's get on with it. I am waiting to become a Christian." You see, when God works, they begin to love the truth. They're not going to be put off by this. Why are the preachers so frightened? And when these people come to the Lord, they are soldiers. They have seen the vision and they are not afraid of the obstacles which are ahead. The vision that is calling them doesn't frighten them.
I have many times said, when a person wants to come to the Lord, I say, "Wait, wait, wait. Before you receive the Lord, let's get all this clear — what it means to be a Christian." And when I finish, they said, "Okay, now let's become a Christian. Let me kneel down." See, I have never seen anybody who really comes to the Lord, in whose life God has worked, who has been frightened, who has been put off. That's amazing, isn't it? And so I want every one of us here to understand: even as Paul never sugarcoated his words, nor did the Lord Jesus. What did the Lord Jesus say? "If any man would be My disciple, let him take up his cross and follow Me."
The great crowds were following Him. He was so popular with the people. And what did He say? Oh, "It's easy to become a Christian, you know. All you do is say, 'I believe in Jesus.' All you do is now just say this, open your heart, and that's it." Jesus didn't preach like that. Did it ever occur to you when you read the Gospels? He turned to this crowd and said, "You want to follow Me? Then let Me tell you something. Except you take up your cross and follow Me, you cannot be My disciple." Wow! You say that's no psychologist there. You don't win anybody like this. Well, He sure did. Because you see, when God's Holy Spirit works in our heart, you can't keep them away. You don't have to use tricks to bring them in.
That's why at meetings I don't like the psychological stuff. I don't like meetings that work up people with soft music and the lights dimming and coming up again. You wonder what's going on. Is this some kind of a dance hall? And then when everybody is beginning to feel weepy, you say, "Now, who will raise their hands?" And by this time they can hardly stop the tears, they raise their hands, and they go out and they run into trouble, and the next day they're not Christians anymore. Nobody wins soldiers like this. General Bernard Montgomery said to some young man who asked, "What do I get by joining your army?" He said, "What do you get by joining my army? You get blood, you get sweat, you have tears. That's what you get." You say, "Hey, you don't get anybody to enlist like that." He sure did. He got his best soldiers exactly like that.
So the Lord Jesus turned to His people and said, "You want to follow Me? Take up your cross." Paul says it in clear, unequivocal words: we have not been called just to believe but also to suffer for His sake. Exactly the same thing in 1 Peter — the whole of 1 Peter is all about this, and we are going to look at that in a moment.
Now let us then understand another passage — why we need to suffer. But first, let me say what suffering means. Many people, when they speak of suffering, they think immediately of martyrdom. We've all got to go out and get shot. And so if that is what suffering means, well, we don't have to worry too much because nobody in Canada is going to shoot us, at least not for the time being. So you can say, "Okay, okay, I am willing to die for Christ," knowing very well that nobody is going to shoot you, so you live to a ripe old age. And don't think then of suffering as merely martyrdom. There is a lot in the way of suffering that has nothing to do with martyrdom.
Let me use the pictures that occur in 2 Timothy, as we are expounding 2 Timothy. Here Paul gives three pictures of the Christian. Chapter 2 and verse 3, he speaks of the soldier. Chapter 2 and verse 6, he speaks of the farmer. Chapter 2 and verse 15, he speaks of the workman, the craftsman. You say, "Well, what's all that got to do with suffering?" A great deal, until we understand suffering in the full sense of that word.
Let's begin with the last first. The workman — the skilled craftsman. This word is not just a workman of an ordinary kind; it can refer to a skilled craftsman. For example, this word is used of the silversmiths of Ephesus in Acts. These were craftsmen, skilled people who knew how to work in precious metals. It refers to all kinds of workers, but particularly also to skilled workers. Now remember this: don't think of suffering then only as martyrdom, but as the labor and the effort, the hardship, the determination, the sweat, the work that goes into acquiring skill in spiritual warfare. And this is some point I would like to touch on.
Spiritual warfare is not just a business of flinging yourself into the battle line. That's a good way to get killed, but not a good way to win a war. Whoever heard of somebody just rushing forward and getting shot down? That's very heroic, but there's nothing much to do with warfare. You need to acquire skill in spiritual warfare if you are going to fight efficiently and effectively. And that skill takes determination and hard work to acquire. Suffering in its widest sense involves cost of one kind or another. When you spend hours working over the word of God until your eyes are tired and you can't see straight — that is suffering. That is willingness to take up the cost of becoming a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Remember then, the next time when you work for the Lord Jesus — or those of you who are in the planning committee running around to the point of exhaustion — all this has to do with suffering. But this is not the first point. The first point that we are dealing with is the skill that has to be acquired and applied. That skill, as any of you who know what studying is and studying hard, know just how tiring, how much weariness it brings upon the body and the mind. It makes your body suffer, it makes your mind suffer, and you suffer in order to acquire skill in doing your work. In the same way in spiritual warfare, you must acquire skill to become proficient in battle. So don't think that all God wants is a good soldier who flings himself into the machine gun and gets shot down and says, "Here I am, a martyr." What kind of a martyr is that? You have accomplished nothing for the Lord. You have got to know how to fight and fight effectively. Paul says, "We are not ignorant of the devices of the enemy." How did he acquire his knowledge? How did he acquire his understanding of spiritual warfare? Through work and through experience. But first, in this first point, we are talking about work.
So remember, every time you spend one hour not just enjoying the Bible but working at the Bible... You see, the problem with Christians is we have so many Christians who just want to enjoy things. What kind of a soldier would you be who just wants to enjoy things? I told you last year, for example, that I was frightened how the British army enlisted soldiers. It says, "You have a wonderful choice of traveling to Germany or in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. You have a wonderful future and you have enjoyment," and they show pictures of people paddling canoes. And you wonder, whatever has this got to do with warfare? What kind of soldiers do they expect to enlist? They come to the stage they can't get soldiers anymore, that you have to dangle the carrot in front of them. And incidentally stuff the gun in their hands while they're not looking, until they suddenly discover, "What's this I've got in my hand?" "Oh, that's a gun. Just carry it around for decoration."
And so we have the church full of Christians who seem to have joined the church just to get something out of it, to enjoy. Now if they say, "I can't enjoy reading the Bible." Well, why not start by working at it first? They expect to have instant enjoyment. We live in the age of instant things. Instant coffee, instant soup, instant tea, instant meals, instant everything, and instant Bible enjoyment. You open the Bible and suddenly you find some tantalizing feeling, so exciting. And so they are puzzled when they read the Bible and they read — oh, they say, this is heavy going. Sure it's heavy going. Why not? Start working at it first, and when you have worked at it, you might suddenly discover one day to your astonishment and surprise, "Wow, I'm enjoying this too."
You know, when I first studied the Bible, I couldn't make head or tail of it. I agonized because I couldn't understand it. I said to myself, "Am I so intellectually stupid? I can't understand this thing." And I was reading an Authorized Version. I have compassion on all those who struggle with the Authorized Version, because there you have not only to cope with the spiritual content, you have to cope with a language that is 350 years out of date. And I had no other Bible. I had only the Authorized Version. And I struggled, and only eventually I discovered that when I read it in plain English I could understand it. When I read it in the Authorized Version I couldn't understand it. It takes extra work. Now I'm not stopping you from reading the Authorized Version. By all means go ahead. But it takes extra work because you have to first master King James English and after that get on with the spiritual message. And sometimes the meaning of those old words has changed. And so you are left in even further confusion.
But start with work. And I was so concerned that I couldn't understand it, that I knelt down before the Lord. I got down on my beautiful concrete floor that I mentioned yesterday and prayed to the Lord and said, "I am staying here until You open this word to me. I don't understand it. But I am going to stay here and I'm going to sweat it out. But You're going to open that word to me." You know, God loves this kind of persistent people. He really loves them. You be persistent with God and He loves you. Don't you think you ever irritate God by being persistent? You keep hanging on to God like Jacob and say, "You don't bless me, I'm not getting out of here. I'm going to be blessed." Because you didn't bless him.
# The Salvific Value of Suffering in 2 Timothy (Part 2)
Years out of date. And I had no other Bible. I had only the Authorized Version. And I struggled and only eventually I discovered that when I read it in plain English, I could understand it. When I read it in the Authorized Version, I couldn't understand it. It takes extra work. Now, I'm not stopping you from reading the Authorized Version. By all means, go ahead. But it takes extra work because you have to first master King James English and after that, get on with the spiritual message. And sometimes the meaning of those old words has changed. And so you're left in even further confusion.
But start with work. And I was so concerned that I couldn't understand it, that I knelt down before the Lord. I got down on my beautiful concrete floor that I mentioned yesterday and prayed to the Lord and said, "I'm staying here until You open this word to me. I don't understand it. But I'm going to stay here and I'm going to sweat it out. But You're going to open that word to me." You know, God loves this kind of persistent people. He really loves them. You be persistent with God and He loves you. Don't you think you ever irritate God by being persistent? You keep hanging on to God like Jacob and say, "You don't bless me, I'm not getting out of here. I'm going to stay here until You bless me. Until my knees are sore, my trousers are going to have a hole in them. And just because You didn't bless me, I'm going to have this hole in the trousers." You say, "What a way to talk to God." God, you'll find that God never disappoints you if you have that attitude, that determination.
So I knelt down before God and I said, "You teach me what this word means because I'm going to stay here until I understand it." Amazing. Praise be to God. He opened the way that the eyes of my understanding were opened. When I read the Bible again, I said, "I can understand it." I could shout out, "Eureka! I can understand it!" What a discovery.
So brothers and sisters, understand the principle of suffering in this respect. It's suffering to kneel on your knees. It's hard on the knees. It's hard on the trousers, but worse on my kneecaps. But you see, the point is this: if you're prepared to endure, you're going to be blessed. God wants those who can endure. Don't look for instant enjoyment in the Bible. You're wasting your time. But look with this attitude of suffering. Remember I said that if you have the attitude of suffering, you become invincible. In Bible study, in anything, you're invincible. You're going to win through because you're determined to get through it. And so as I studied it in this way, willing to suffer at first — but what enjoyment came afterwards! Today I don't find Bible study a suffering. I find it so enjoyable. I work at it until my eyes begin to get dim. My vision gets blurred. I used to have 20-20 vision. Look at me now with this thing sticking on my face. I dislike glasses intensely. But what can I do? I can't even see you clearly at the back if I don't wear the glasses. And so sometimes you see me still taking them off because I don't like it. But out of sheer necessity, I put them there. By going on in the word of God — that is the suffering. That is a price we have to pay. But is it worth it? Sure.
So I say first step: don't look for instant enjoyment. If you are that kind of person, you have not understood what it means to be a soldier. You have not yet grasped the principle of suffering.
Secondly, people again look for instant results in their personal Christian life. They want to be instantly holy. "Take time to be holy," the hymn says. You are not going to be holy in five minutes or five seconds flat. Instant holiness is nowhere to be found. You have to work and strive towards that goal. You have to press on towards the mark. If Paul says, "Not as though I am already perfect, but I press on towards the mark" — you don't press on towards the mark, you are not going to get there. You are going to look for instant holiness, you will never arrive.
So the second picture is that of the farmer. He wants the harvest, but he has to work for it. He has to sweat for it. He has to invest in it. It's going to cost him in terms of money, of time, of labor. He strives for it until he gets the harvest that he looks for. People look for instant conversions as well. Today it seems everything is instant, especially in North America. I think the British are much better in this respect. They are much less instant. The point here is you want instant evangelism. People are going to immediately raise their hands up in five seconds. The quicker the better. I don't want instant Christians. The Lord Jesus doesn't look for those. He looks for disciples. Those who have thought through the cost. The Lord Jesus says, "Look, before you decide to become My disciple, you go there, sit down quietly and work out the cost." Because like a person who tries to build a tower — if he hasn't worked out the cost, he may not be able to finish the tower. Like the soldier who goes out to battle, the commander thinks, "Can I beat the enemy or not?" He has to work out the situation. The Lord Jesus says, before you become My disciple, you do the same thing. Sit down and think out the cost. That's what He said in His word, not what I said.
And so, don't look for instant holiness, instant results in winning souls. Everything made easy for you. That's the problem of our society. I bought a book that says "Latin Made Easy." I opened the book and I found nothing very easy about it. I found that this title, "Latin Made Easy," was only to cheat me into buying the book. When I bought the book, I found that I had to work as hard in that book as any other book to learn any Latin. And yet, it tells me that it's made easy. You mean to say it's made so easy that you just glance through the book and you can start speaking Latin? And you have "French Made Easy." You try studying that and see how much French you can speak at the end of it. You'll have to work just as hard. There's no such thing as instant French or instant anything. You've got to work. You've got to memorize those words. How instant can it be? As instant as it takes the time for you to memorize the whole business.
So suffering, first, in acquiring the skill. That is suffering too. The cost, the labor, the effort that's put into it. Be a good soldier. Take your share of that suffering. And secondly, we saw the suffering that is involved, the cost, the hard labor that is involved in getting a harvest — a harvest of godliness, of holiness, or of winning souls. Whatever you do, it takes work. No such instant things.
And thirdly, we come to that point: the sacrifice of the soldier in verse 3. That sacrifice, of course, takes it all the way to the ultimate sacrifice. The soldier does not complain, as we saw, because he must crawl through the mud. He is drenched in the trenches. He is wet with the rain. He marches endless hours. His feet are nearly falling off. And the order is: march on. He has to cross rivers with heavy equipment on him. His legs are freezing. His hands are freezing. Sometimes he has to endure hunger and thirst.
In the Korean War, I was still in China at the time. And soldiers — the Chinese communist soldiers who came back — we were all made to attend the meetings. And they gave us reports on the progress of the Korean War. But one thing came across to me sharply and vividly: how much the Chinese soldiers suffered in order to win this battle. Well, they came to a stalemate, but they reported it as victory. But that's okay. The point is that they endured enormous sufferings. They told us how their padded trousers — you know, the Chinese soldiers in winter wear padded clothes — the padded trousers were soaked with water and then frozen stiff so that they had ice tubes around their legs and around their body. They were so hungry that they had to eat their leather belts and eat their toothpaste. These were not chocolate soldiers. These were soldiers who knew hardship. Yet they were willingly enduring this for their cause. Where are the Christians who endure something for Christ? And I see none of those soldiers complained. They accepted it as the glory of sharing in fighting for the cause they believed in. Why should Christians complain?
So suffering is not only death; it is the toil and suffering that the soldier must endure — sleeping under the open sky, while the American soldiers snuggled in their thick sleeping bags. I enjoyed that story where the Chinese reported in one of these occasions that they captured the whole British unit because they surprised them at night and they were all sleeping in their sleeping bags and they couldn't unzip them in time. The Chinese soldiers burst in with their submachine guns and they were all caught in their sleeping bags, still trying to unzip.
I am afraid that there is a picture of so many Christians. When the enemy attacks, we are still snuggled up in our sleeping bags. And when the attack begins, we are struggling to get out of it, but it's all too late. We have been entangled in civilian pursuits, in the comfort of this world. How are we going to fight? The Chinese soldiers were hardened to battle. I do not hesitate to say that certainly the Chinese soldiers are among the finest in the world. Why? Because they are hardened to suffering. We Chinese people know how to "chi ku" — to eat bitterness, literally — to endure hardship. And I would like to see this quality among the Chinese Christians. That we are not going to be so enfeebled or weakened or, may I say, westernized in this respect too, that again it's all instant stuff and nice cozy sleeping bags. That we are no longer able to "chi ku," no longer able to endure hardship. We must maintain that quality that made the nation great, that the church, the Chinese church, may also become great.
So sacrifice — suffering, we can see, is very wide-ranging in its meaning. Never just think that it has to do with dying for Christ. It means it has to do with every aspect: the skilled worker acquiring his skill through hard work. The farmer who labors hard in the hot sun, enduring the sweat and the effort and the tiredness to bring in a great harvest. The soldier who does not complain in freezing rain or under the hot sun or in snowstorms or in sandstorms. They don't complain. They press forward into battle. Only ultimately do they come to the supreme sacrifice of laying down their life also. But you see the point is this: if you cannot even endure hardship in the rain and in the water and in the wounds, however will you ever get to the point of laying down your life for Christ?
A person who cannot endure some hard work in Bible study hopes to lay down his life for Christ? Can you believe that? That is utter nonsense. I wouldn't believe it for a minute. A person who complains because he has a little bit of problems in his everyday Christian life — that kind of person is going to lay down his life for Christ? Don't you believe it. Don't you believe it. The proof that you are prepared to lay down your life for Christ or for one another is seen in what you are willing to endure in the small things from one another. Is it not?
And so having understood what suffering means and having understood this, let us press on to another verse. In Colossians chapter 1 verse 24. I'm going to ask you to do some thinking. Colossians chapter 1 verse 24. Colossians is a letter which comes after Philippians. And I would like to help you to remember the order of these things. You know some Christians have great difficulty in remembering which book comes before which. They are so confused. When it says Ephesians — "Where is Ephesians?" And then Philippians — it's so confusing, so hard to remember. I use a very simple system. The easy way to remember is to remember the name "Jeff." J-E-PH. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. Now that will make it easy to remember. If you want to know how these books stand in relation to each other, just remember Jeff: Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians. And after that comes Colossians. When you remember those three in the middle, the rest is quite easy to remember. After Colossians, you have Thessalonians, you have Timothy and so forth.
Colossians 1:24. Since there is suffering, does it mean that Christians have to go around with a long face? Not at all. Look at what Paul says. Colossians 1:24: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is the church." You say, "Wait a minute, what did I read here?" You know, so many Christians have puzzled over this verse and asked me, "Whatever does it mean that Paul is saying that I complete in my flesh what is lacking in Christ's sufferings, afflictions for the sake of His body, the church?" How can there be anything lacking in the sufferings of Christ for His church? That's exactly where the puzzle is.
You see, we have thought that Christ did all the suffering and we do all the enjoying. That would be just the kind of logic that most Christians have. Christ suffered on the cross. He died. He suffered. "Why? So I don't have to suffer." Oh no, my friends. There is no such teaching in the Bible. I'm sorry to disappoint you, if indeed you are disappointed. Paul says, "I suffer to make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the church." Never be puzzled about this. Once you understand the principle of the saving value of suffering, nothing puzzles you in this verse. The reason why you're confused and there is always confusion in understanding the Bible is because of the lack of understanding spiritual principles. When you study the Bible, isolate spiritual principles. Understand why these things are being said. When you study the Bible, don't just go verse by verse. That is a good way to study the Bible, but understand the principle which is being expounded there. So many commentaries, you get nothing out of it because all they did is to tell you what it said in this verse, what's said in that verse. That's not much good. You want to know what principle is being taught. And you have seen in this conference that instead of taking you chapter by chapter, verse by verse through Timothy, I've expounded the principles by which, once you have grasped all these principles, you understand 2 Timothy very well.
What is lacking in the sufferings of Christ? What is there that Christ did not suffer? How can something be lacking? Well, Paul has just said, if you read from the first few verses in chapter 1 onwards, from verse 15 especially, verse 21: "And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He," that is the Lord Jesus, "has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless in His presence." Holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him, provided — on the condition — that, verse 23, "you continue in the faith." Faith has a condition attached to it.
But now consider this. What then remains to be done? What is lacking in the suffering of Christ for the church? What do you say? What's your answer to that question? Can anything be lacking? Christ died for our sins. He suffered to save us. He suffered to make us blameless and irreproachable before God. Then what else can be lacking? One thing lacks, which is where we all come into the picture, is this: the growth of the church is achieved through suffering. Not only the salvation of the church, the purchase of the church — this is what Christ did. No one of us can do that. Only Jesus could die an atoning death. His death alone can atone because He alone is sinless. We are all sinful. Therefore, our death could not atone for anybody. Only the death of Jesus can atone for the sins of the world. Now that we must understand. Jesus redeemed us, brought us to Himself. But the growth of the church is that part which is also to be achieved through suffering. Development — you might say the growing pains of the church. It is in that aspect that the sufferings of Christ — these are not included in His sufferings. His suffering: He died to atone. We suffer that the church may grow. That is the scriptural teaching. The growing pains of the church.
Why did Paul suffer as he did? In order that the church, he says, may grow, for the sake of the elect. He suffered to build up the church. And he says that's not his work only. We all build each other up. And to build anything up has a high cost. And that cost implies suffering.
Another aspect of suffering, as I have already hinted — maybe I better make it clearer in relation to the farmer, for example. For example, it's also suffering when you are giving. For example, the conference needs money. And you give five dollars when you really need those five dollars. You give five dollars, you suffer in giving those five dollars. Because you have deprived yourself of something. That is suffering. Every time you give to God, you have taken on some aspect of suffering. Because, especially if that giving is going to reduce the money that you need. That is suffering. And yet, we gladly accept that kind of suffering for the sake of His church. And I pray that also in this respect, if I may say so at this present time, we may be willing to suffer somewhat. I'm sure that we can all give another five dollars out of love for Christ. We may take that as suffering, myself included. We don't have — none of us have — too much money to throw around. But by giving this, we have suffered somewhat. But we know that we have given an offering acceptable to Christ. Every sacrifice involves suffering. Every sacrifice offered to God involves suffering in one way or another, financially or physically. So let us aim to do this in such a way as to be well pleasing to God.
Now once we understand these principles, that the church grows through suffering, we begin to see what I said right at the beginning: the meaning of the saving value of suffering. Consider it in this way. If Paul were not willing to suffer, how would all those churches, how would all those people become Christians? How would the churches be established if he were not willing to suffer? How would they grow? If John Sung were not willing to suffer, how would those thousands of people come to the Lord?
And I thank God for Henry Tsui in China. His memory is blessed forever in my mind, even though I do not know whether he is alive today. Henry Tsui helped me to come to the Lord. He was a brilliant research chemist with a glorious future in the world. And everybody was running out of China as the communists came. But not Henry Tsui. He was a soldier who would take his share of suffering for the sake of the church. He said, "I shall stand here with my people, with my church." Where would I be, brothers and sisters, if Henry Tsui were not willing to take his share of the suffering? If he had said, "Well, I'm going off to North America, where as a research chemist I'm going to make a lot of money and a great future." He knew that when the communists came, he would be in trouble as a devoted, active Christian. But he stayed. You see, the church grows through suffering. Through his suffering, I came to the Lord. Through his suffering, another dear brother, Henry Lee, came to the Lord — that great disciple of the Lord, that surgeon, who witnessed so faithfully to Christ, and who was baptized with me at the same time. And who today is still sitting in some hard labor camp, so far as I know. He offered up everything to Christ. When the communists said, "You are no longer to witness to your patients in hospital," he persisted in witnessing to his patients. He says, "I am under orders. I am a soldier under command. I must witness to the patients." So the communists said, "Though we need surgeons today, though we need surgeons desperately, but because you are not willing to be a so-called surgeon of the people, you are going to hard labor."
Where would we be if Henry Tsui had not been willing to suffer? Where would the people — how many of us here, if someone was not willing to pay the price of winning you to Christ? Maybe it was a preacher who himself had offered himself up as a living sacrifice to God. You came to the Lord at the cost of his life. Had he not offered up his life to the Lord, where would you be? If your brother or sister who won you to Christ were not willing to run back and forth and spend his own petrol money and do all kinds of things — where would you be? The church grows through suffering. That is the share of suffering we must take. Christ suffered for our atonement. We suffer for the growth of the church.
And in connection with this marvelous principle, there is another principle tied up with it. And it is this: that the church includes many people who are still now in the world. They are not yet Christians. But they are going to become Christians through you. Look out there among the non-Christians. Look out into the world there. They are all non-Christians, right? Right. At the moment. But think of it. Among those non-Christians, there may be a Paul out there. There may be a Wang Mingdao out there. There may be a John Sung out there waiting to be won. Paul wasn't born a Christian. He came to the Lord through suffering. He said, "What? Through suffering?" Indeed he came. The suffering of so many Christians that he put to death and put in jail. Do you know that the suffering of those Christians left an indelible mark upon his mind? He never forgave himself for their death. He said, "I am the one who persecuted the Christians. I am the worst of sinners because that's what I did." Through his whole life he never forgave himself for that. He only said, "I know that I received forgiveness from God because I did it all in ignorance. The Lord have mercy upon me."
And you know that one person's suffering left a deeper impression on Paul's mind than anyone else. Do you know who that is? Indeed. You rightly saw it. Stephen. The death of Stephen left a mark upon Paul that is so evident and so clear that you need only look at Stephen's message with any perception — the last message that Stephen preached — and look at Paul, and you will see how close the links are between that. Paul never forgot Stephen's message because that message was burned into his memory with the blood of Stephen. That's how he was won. You know, God used the suffering of Stephen to do a terrific work in Paul's heart. And it is only after that that there came also the voice from heaven. But never forget Stephen's contribution to Paul's salvation.
And so you see, the church grows through suffering. If we are not willing to suffer, how shall they hear? If we are not willing to suffer, how shall that potential Paul out there come to know the Lord? So when you look at the non-Christian, look at him through spiritual eyes and consider: perhaps he is part of the body of Christ. He is meant to be in the body of Christ. Today he is non-Christian. Tomorrow he may be a dear disciple of the Lord. And tomorrow he might even be a spiritual Paul. Think about it. And when you realize that, you realize the great principle that the Lord Jesus mentions in John chapter 17. John chapter 17, verse 20. The Lord Jesus says these words: "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who are to believe in Me through their word." He is praying for those who are going to believe in Him through our word today. He has prayed for those non-Christians out there who are going to become His disciples. Think about it. Think about it. Doesn't it seize your heart with excitement? If I could suffer a bit, perhaps through me there will come forth a spiritual Paul, another John Sung, another Wang Mingdao. Maybe out there they are waiting for us. Am I not willing to take up the cost of this and go out?
Stephen did not die in vain. Through his death, the seed was sown. As Tertullian, the early church father, saw so well: "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." The more Christians the Romans were killing, the more Christians were coming up from that very blood. Through suffering the church lives. Through suffering the church grows. Oh, brothers and sisters, I beg of you, understand this principle. We have been called not only to believe, but also to suffer. So take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Go out and fight that battle and win it. If you understand the saving value of suffering — saving for others, saving in yourself — you will never grumble again. You will thank God for the privilege to suffer. As I said yesterday, of Brother Yu who said, "What cost?" Compared to what is gained, what is the cost? What a privilege that we can endure something for His sake.
Suffering then — and this is another part of the same principle — is the most powerful weapon. Notice these words: the most powerful weapon for the destruction of sin. And with that verse we must close for today. It occurs in Peter. 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 1. Here is the weapon. Put it in your hand. Take it in your hand. Seize it. And you, brothers and sisters, will go out of here spiritually invincible. Unbeatable.
1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 1 reads like this: "Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves." Notice this word: "Arm yourselves." In the original, this word occurs only once in the New Testament. It means to take up the weapon. To be equipped. Arm yourself with what? "With the same attitude of mind." Not just a thought. Not just one thought. But the whole attitude of mind. Arm yourself with the spiritual insight. With the whole attitude of mind. What attitude of mind? What same attitude of mind? As the Lord Jesus. Notice these words — again, a verse that is so poorly understood. Now every time you come across a verse that is poorly understood, you can be sure that there is ensconced in it, contained in it, a spiritual principle of vital importance. Don't be afraid of those verses. The reason why the churches don't understand these things today is because all these spiritual principles are not understood.
"For whoever..." Notice these powerful words. "Whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." Not a very good translation. The word "from" does not occur in the original. "Has ceased sin." That is, has stopped sin. Has broken the power of sin in your life. That's what it means. Whoever has suffered — whoever knows the weapon of suffering — has broken the power of sin. Suffering is a powerful weapon against sin. It breaks sin in your life. It will break the grip of sin in other people, as we saw in the case of Stephen in relation to Paul. Suffering is a powerful weapon. And when you know it, you will value that weapon. How precious it is to be able to learn how to suffer. To be able to learn to face the cost of paying out five dollars, ten dollars. Of spending time, of energy, of driving back and forth, of perspiring, of laboring, of praying. It's worth it all. Because this weapon is effectively demolishing sin. You might say suffering is like an anti-tank gun that blows up the enemy tank. Oh, it is something that we must come to see.
Do you find any of this hard to understand, brothers and sisters? Maybe so. Maybe it is also new to you. But it's not new in the Bible. It's new to you because you haven't been taught it before. But I pray that you will now understand the principle of the salvific value of suffering. It has the saving effect because it destroys sin. You see, the Lord Jesus delivered us from the dominion of sin. Romans chapter 6, verse 14: "Sin has no dominion over us." It may not have the mastery over us. But it's still very active in us. You may break the power of the enemy, but his guerrillas can still do you a lot of damage. And so how do you knock out the remaining force of sin? By suffering. By being really willing to pay the price.
For example, you spend your time in Bible study. You work and you are weary. Do you know that that very work in Bible study is actually helping you to knock out the power of sin in your life? I think you know that in your own experience. You know it in your own experience. And so suffering is a powerful weapon. And next time you don't have to wait for some suffering to be inflicted upon you. The skilled workman does not wait for some labor to be inflicted on him. He seizes the opportunity to work, to labor. The farmer seizes the opportunity. He takes the initiative. The soldier does not wait either. He goes forth having the desire to please Him who has enlisted him.
Well, there is much more in this. But our time has gone. So great is this principle as it ranges throughout the New Testament, from Matthew to Revelation, from the Old Testament all the way to the New. And at this point we must stop. But perhaps I should share with you one last thing in this connection. I can hardly resist doing it. And it is this, because it is so valuable.
You know there is the teaching of the suffering servant in the Old Testament. I am just going to mention it in passing. And we always think of the suffering servant as referring exclusively to Christ. If you think so, you are going to have a surprise. Because Paul uses exactly the expression of the suffering servant in relation to himself. Where do you find that? You will find that in the second chapter of 2 Timothy as well, in the book that we are studying at this conference. And here we see these things remarkably. In verse 9 he says that he suffers for the sake of the gospel, wearing fetters like a criminal. He is numbered among the evildoers, it says. The translation is "like an evildoer." The word translated "criminal" in the original is in fact someone who does evil. A transgressor. He suffers as a transgressor. Which reminds us of Isaiah 53 verse 12: "He was numbered among the transgressors." And then he goes on in verse 10: "Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect." Now many people are puzzled by the word "elect." Nothing puzzling about this. Because Paul is making a reference to Isaiah again. The word "elect" occurs in the Old Testament only in Isaiah. It's used even very rarely by Paul himself. But here is a clear reference to Isaiah, the only book in the Old Testament.
I'm mentioning this is a little bit deeper and not so easy to follow for young Christians. But for those who like stronger meat, I just quickly drop this thought for you. The "elect" refers in Isaiah to the remnant, to the faithful. Now the suffering servant in Isaiah 53 has puzzled many people because the suffering servant in Isaiah 42 refers to Israel itself. And suddenly in Isaiah 53 it refers to some particular person who is also referred to as the servant. And yet Isaiah 42 tells us that Israel is the servant. Now all of this is not so mysterious when we realize the principle that we have just been expounding: the salvific value of suffering. And we begin to understand that Paul is saying that we all are called to be the servants of God, to suffer for His sake. We remember that we cannot suffer for one another in an atoning way. Only Jesus can do that. We owe our salvation to Him in our atonement. But the church grows through suffering. In this sense we bring salvation to those who are lost. And so we find this beautiful thing, that we in a sense too are suffering servants, in so far as we share His suffering. That is what Paul says in Philippians chapter 3: "That I may have the fellowship of His sufferings."
Now I just touched on this point. It could be developed a great deal further. But I hope by now you will understand the beauty of our calling. The high calling to which we have been called. Not only to believe, but also to suffer for His sake. And to take hold of this weapon — 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 1. Remember that verse. To arm yourselves with this weapon of suffering. By which you take hold of it. You positively go out and endure hardship, willingly, gladly. And by it you destroy sin as you go on in the power of God. Remember He says, "Endure hardness," He said to Timothy, "by the power of God, for the sake of the gospel."
Oh, brothers and sisters, my prayer for you is that you become each one spiritually invincible. Always gaining the victory in Christ Jesus. So ponder through this principle. It may be hard for you at this stage. But work at it. Suffer for it. Until you understand it. And then you will be invincible. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.