The Church and Tribulation

Tonight we're on lesson 25. It's our last lesson on ecclesiology, and we're looking at the church and tribulation. When you hear that title, some of your ears may have picked up. And maybe you're saying, "Finally, Parker's getting the good stuff here" — the great tribulation and rapture and who's left behind and the mark of the beast and all this stuff. Looking forward to this.

Well, you're partly right. Tonight is the good stuff. Tonight, I would say, is the capstone of our studies in ecclesiology. We are going to be, when we study eschatology, which is our next unit, we'll be touching on those things. Jesus and all that discourse speaks of a great tribulation. We'll look at what that is and different understandings of it. But regarding the great tribulation, whatever your understanding of it is, in regards to its nature, its scope, its duration, who's in it and whatnot, it doesn't make a hell of a difference in the way you live your life right now.

However, your view of the church's current tribulation makes all the difference in the world. When you understand how God relates to us and upholds us in tribulation, it'll change the way that you pray. It'll change the way you think. It'll change the way that you act and minister. It'll change how you hope for the future. So I guarantee tonight's lesson will be a blessing as we look at the scriptures. It'll bless your socks off.

So let's begin here with Bible point number one. The church is the great company of persons who Christ has saved, in whom He dwells, to whom and through whom He reveals God, and in whom He exercises spiritual dominion. That's the definition we've been working with this entire time. The church is those who are redeemed by Christ, who are united to Christ, in whom Christ dwells and we dwell in Him. The church is those whom Christ has revealed Himself to. Apart from His revealing Himself, we would have no knowledge of Christ. And we also, in turn, reveal Christ to others. We are to be a light that is not hid under a bushel, a city that is placed on a hill. And Christ's dominion rules us. We are subject to Him. We want to please Him and honor Him in all that we do.

United to Christ, the church is the temple of God's dwelling. We are His temple. We are His body. The church is so closely united to Christ that His sufferings become ours. That's the first point — His sufferings become ours, and our sufferings are His. We're so closely united to Him. We'll be discussing and unpacking that here tonight as we go through this lesson.

Tribulation — that word is used over 45 times in the New Testament to describe the church in pressure, anguish, trouble, oppression, persecution, affliction, and distress. For Christ's sake. It's often not even translated into your English translations as tribulation, but it may be translated as persecution or as trouble or as distress. Now, in regards to the church, it's always in regard to the church suffering for Christ's sake. But the term itself is very broad, and it's used of others besides necessarily the church. For example, James, chapter 1:27, says that true religion is to look after the widow and the orphan in their time of need. That word "need" is tribulation. And it's not talking about their witness and their being persecuted for Christ's sake. It's just that they're often oppressed. It was very easy in biblical times for people to take advantage of a widow and remove her boundary markers and steal her property. So they would be oppressed, and that is a translation of our word tribulation. Also, we'll be reading a little bit later in Second Thessalonians. It says that those who tribulate the church — those who oppress the church — at Christ's coming, will be tribulated. They will receive from God's hand what they are dishing out. And so again, they're not doing it for Christ's sake. They're tribulating the church because they hate God and they oppose God. So it's used outside of the church. But when the word tribulation is used in regards to the church, it's used in regards to the church suffering for Christ's sake.

The Latin term "tribulum" describes an ancient threshing sledge for separating grain and husk and straw. Let me explain what that means. Have you ever seen maybe an old Christmas movie? I know we live in Florida, and we don't get snow down here — very rarely do we. But a sled, one that doesn't have rails, is typically a flat piece of wood, right? Kind of like a boogie board that you may use in a swimming pool, and it's curved up on the front, right? And that's the way that they slide down the hills in these old sleds. Or horses would draw people on those.

Well, in ancient times, they had what was called a threshing sledge, which was a large series of planks that were bound together and curved up at the lip. But on the bottom of the sledge, instead of being smooth, there were thousands of points or knives that were embedded into it, that were made out of flint or obsidian. Obsidian was volcanic glass. And what they would do, they would run that over the grains that were harvested. By running it over — they'd have a horse pull it, and a man would stand on top of it — they'd go over it in a circular manner, and it would rip out the husk. It wouldn't harm the grain at all, because that was normally hard and hard to break up. But it would take away the straw and would rip away all of the stuff that was garbage, right? And it would leave just the grain that was there.

That's the idea of what tribulation is. Tribulation is to press against. It's to tear.

In the Old Testament, you may remember the story of the northern ten tribes of Israel as they rebelled against the southern tribes, right? And they made alliances with foreign nations, and God sent Assyria to judge the northern ten tribes. And they wiped the northern ten tribes off the map. And that's why they're called the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.

Assyria was famous for, after they defeated you in battle, taking all the soldiers and all the lame, all the infirm — everybody that they couldn't use as a slave — and taking them to a natural depression. Here in Florida, we have many dry lake beds that are made for water retention when it rains, right? But when it's not raining, they're dry. So they'd take you out to there and incapacitate you so you couldn't get up. And then they would run their threshing sledges over you. It would rip all the flesh off your bones. It would pulverize your bones. And it would actually wring every ounce of blood out of you until that depression was filled and became a lake of blood. And they painted their shields blood red, so that was what they were known for. They would show up to battle with this blood-red shield, and everybody knew what that meant. Many times people surrendered and negotiated terms of peace, right, so they didn't have to face the Assyrians.

What I'm getting at — tribulation, that's the picture you need to have in your mind. Tribulation is painful. Tribulation is not something trivial. "I got a hangnail, oh, I'm suffering for Jesus." No. Tribulation tears you apart. It hurts you, right?

The Latin term "tribulum" describes an ancient threshing sledge for separating grain from husk and straw. Christ, who reveals God to us and through us, grants us — quote — "not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake," Philippians 1:29.

The Lord Jesus Christ, who gave us faith, who caused us to believe in Him, He also directs us to suffer for His sake. For in suffering for Christ, we are proclaiming Christ. We are revealing Christ because His suffering is ours. The church suffers with Christ and for His glory.

We have, for our reference verse, Acts 9:4. If you recall, Paul — actually he was Saul here — was on his way to Damascus. He had gone to the chief priest and got letters that would give him authorization to separate families and to haul them to jail in Jerusalem. Anyone who was a member of the Way would be persecuted or tribulated by Paul, right?

And as he was on the way to Damascus to rip these families apart, to throw them in jail, to seek their death, what happened? A great bright light appeared, right? This was the Shekinah glory of God. And it was the voice of the resurrected Christ. And what does He say? He says here in verse four, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"

Well, Jesus is at the right hand of God Almighty, exalted high above heavens and earth. Was Saul going to arrest Jesus and put Him in jail? No. Who was Saul going to persecute? Members of the Way — Christians, right? Christ-ians, people who are named after Christ, people into whom Christ indwells, people in whom Christ exercises His dominion, right? These are Christ's people, His church, His bride, His body. And what Christ is saying is, if you persecute them, you're persecuting Me. It's hard for me to kick against the pricks. Don't mess with God, right?

The application for number one: praise God for His saving purposes. We are so united to Christ that His suffering becomes ours, and it's a privilege to suffer for His sake, and we should not be surprised when that happens. That's part of His purposes, because in the midst of suffering, we are being a witness. We are proclaiming and saying something about Christ. As the world hated Christ, so it will hate us, right? And as Christ suffered and then was led to glory, so will our suffering give way to glory as well.

But point number two: Christ promised the church would always be in tribulation until He returns.

Let's look down at John 16:33 here. It says, "These things I have spoken to you" — Jesus is speaking this upper room discourse. He just had the Lord's Supper. He instituted it with His disciples. He's on His way to Gethsemane, where He will be betrayed, and then the next day crucified and died and buried. It says, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." The church has peace in Christ, because we are in Christ and He has overcome the world and His victory is ours. But in this world, we're going to have tribulation. The world — when we say the world here, it means the entire system that's against Christ, the world, the flesh, the devil, everything strives against Christ and His church. And it hates the church.

Kaylee gave us a good word about the Word of Faith movement, right? Some of the prosperity preachers in that movement will say God wants you to have blessedness, and God wants you to have a bed of roses — no tribulation. If you have tribulation or things in your life, it's because you've got sin, right? But what did Jesus say? In this world, you will have tribulation, right? Until He comes. When He comes, the Bible tells us in the book of Revelation, He's going to wipe every tear from her eye. There'll be no more evil, no more pain, no more sorrow. A beautiful, glorious day that will be.

The church, as it is chosen in Christ, is hated by the world for Christ's sake, John 15:18 through 21. Pastor read that, and we're going to read that again here in just a minute. But Christ says that the world's going to hate you because it hates Me. The fact that the church is counted worthy of the kingdom of God is evidenced by its sharing in Christ's persecution and tribulations.

Individual members of the church are therefore described as both siblings and companions in the tribulation, in kingdom, in patience of Jesus Christ. And so John the apostle opened up the book of Revelation. He says, "I'm John." He says, "I'm your brother and your companion in the tribulations, in the kingdom, and in the patience of our Lord Jesus Christ." It means that defines us as a church. The church will be marked by tribulations. It will be marked by kingdom — having a king that leads us through those tribulations, right? It leads us, of course, in the patience of Christ. The perseverance of Christ.

John 15:18 through 21, this is still that upper room discourse where Jesus is speaking with His disciples. "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, this world would love its own."

If you never have a bad word spoken against you, you'd look at your life. If you're conforming to this world, the world's got nothing to hate, right? You're conforming to Christ — you will be hated by this world.

"Yet because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they had kept My word, they would keep yours also, but all these things they will do to you for My name's sake because they do not know Him who sent Me." They hated Christ because He was the revelation of God, and they will hate you if you're the revelation of Christ.

Second Thessalonians 1:3 through 5, Paul talks about how this persecution is evidence of you being in Christ's kingdom. He says, "We are bound" — he writes to the Thessalonians — "to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of every one of you all abounds towards each other." He says, "Your faith is strong, your love is strong." He says, "So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith and all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer." "See, I'm bragging on you, church at Thessalonica, not only for your love and for your patience, but for the way that you hold up during tribulation. That's a testimony of the righteous judgment of God because you're suffering for Christ's sake, right?"

The application for number two: with the resurrected Christ as our king, be of good courage. What did Jesus say in John 16:33? "Be of good cheer" — which means be of good courage. "I have overcome the world." Christ is our king. He has overcome. He suffered far more than we could ever suffer, endured a tribulation that we can't even imagine. He actually suffered the very wrath of God on the cross, right?

He rose again from the dead, defeating death, the world, Satan. He took the handwriting that was against us and He nailed it to the cross, made a spectacle of these principalities and powers, triumphing over them, right? He is our God, He is our king, and the king delivers His people through tribulation and through suffering. And that's what Christ does for us. We can be of good confidence, good cheer, good courage when we face tribulation because Christ is our king and in His might, we can do all things, right? We can overcome because Christ has overcome.

But point number three: as Christ and His church are one, Christ is always with the church in tribulation. No pressure or power in heaven or on earth can sever or separate the church's union with Christ. We talked about that threshing sledge, that curved instrument with all those sharp points on the bottom. It's a picture of tribulation. Well, those teeth, those spikes of tribulation cannot separate you from the love of our God in Christ Jesus. It is impossible to break apart the union that Christ has effected with His church. He is with us through every tribulation that we can imagine.

Just as Christ's suffering abounds in the church, so too does His comfort abound to the church in its tribulation. Not only does Christ give His presence to us, but He gives us His comfort during our tribulations.

Let's look at Romans 8:35 through 39 here. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation" — that threshing sledge, what the world would love to bring against us — "shall that, or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, 'For Your sake we are killed all day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.'" The world loves to try to slaughter Christians, right?

"Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." The book of Hebrews talks about those who died for their precious Lord Jesus. Some were sawn asunder, and so the world was not worthy of them, right?

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." No pressure, no power in heaven and earth can separate us from Christ. You do not have to fear the threshing sledge.

Second Corinthians 1:3 through 5, reference number three. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our tribulations." The word "comfort" means to be with you, to fortify you, to strengthen you. In Latin, you know, "con" means "with" and "fort" means "fortify." So God is with us to fortify us in our tribulations. "That we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." It's an amazing thing. God gives His people comfort. He fortifies us, gives us strength — not only for us to be able to endure tribulation, but to be able to help others who are being tribulated, so to speak, right? We can comfort others with the same comfort and strength that God has given us. "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us" — they're going to be abundant in us, we should expect them, we shouldn't be surprised by them — "so our consolation also abounds through Christ." His mercy is more, His grace is greater.

The application for number three: will Christ's presence and comfort to the church ever fail? No, His comfort will never fail, His presence will never fail. You can count on Christ walking with you through every tribulation that you will ever face in your life.

But point number four: Christ's dominion — His kingdom, His rule — over the church gives us assurance that He is in control of all things for His glory. Christ our king is glorious. He has been seated at the right hand of the throne of God over all things for the benefit of the church.

Ephesians even says that all things will be summed up in Him. All things work together for His glory. And you're His bride. And as the bride of Christ, He wants you to be arrayed in a glorious visage — His own righteousness, His own beauty placed upon you. So He's in control of all things for His own glory. The church therefore rests in knowing that they were destined by God for these tribulations, First Thessalonians 3:3 through 4, which we'll read in a minute.

The church is therefore not surprised by tribulations, but commits herself to glorifying Christ, knowing that she suffers according to the good and perfect will of God. First Peter 4:12 through 14 and verse 19. Let's read that First Peter here.

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. Therefore, let all those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good as to a faithful Creator." Rather than discouraging us, those tribulations actually cause us to commit to Him all the more, because His Spirit is upon us, right? And we are bringing Him glory in those tribulations.

First Thessalonians 3:3 through 4, this is reference number four. "That no one should be shaken by these afflictions" — which the word here is the same word tribulation that we've been looking at. "For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this." What does "appointed" mean? It means we were chosen for this. We were destined for this, right?

Ron DeSantis, our governor, gets to appoint many officials in our government, right? What he says goes according to the Florida Constitution in these particular offices. Same with Christ, right? He is the sovereign ruler of the church, and we were appointed for this. "For in fact we told you before, when we were with you, that we would suffer tribulation, just as it has happened." And you know, that's okay. When we go through tribulation — not that it doesn't feel great, it feels awful, right? It feels like you're in a meat grinder. But when you go through tribulation, we can have confidence. We were appointed to this by a good and perfect, loving Heavenly Father who knows our limits, who knows our needs, who was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin, right? He knows us better than we know ourselves, right? And His plans for you are amazing, even though you don't have the grasp of them that He has.

Look at Acts 14:21 through 22. This particular passage here in Acts is so important because we have Paul, and he has been preaching in Iconium and — for his troubles, so to speak, in preaching the gospel — we have Jews that are persecuting him and they stone him. They take stones, they pelt him, and they leave him for dead. Whether he really died or not, we don't know, but he appeared dead, right? And then he got up. And what did he do when he got up? Started preaching the gospel again. In the next city, it says, "And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch." This is right where he had just been stoned. He goes back there, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." Would you go back to a place that just stoned you and left you for dead? Exactly. But Paul is willing to do that because he's doing it for the kingdom of God, right? For the glory of God.

The application for number four: should tribulation discourage the church from doing good? It shouldn't, right? We can let it discourage us. We take our eyes off Jesus if we forget that He's the one who's in control of our lives, that He has appointed and destined us for it and that He is with us in the tribulation, comforting us, bringing us strength. As we face that tribulation, if we forget His presence with us, yeah, we can get discouraged. But knowing that Christ is with us and that He's empowered us and we're doing this for His glory, then it actually encourages us to work for His glory, right? Verse 19, the prior 1 Peter 4:19 says, "Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good as to a faithful Creator." In other words, tribulation actually should serve to commit ourselves to do more good, to commit ourselves like Paul to go back and preach the gospel, to share with others the same comfort that God has comforted us with, to persevere knowing that others are hurting and to be able to minister to them, to pour out ourselves. To be like Paul — he says, "I spend and I am spent for your behalf," you Corinthians. He's willing to pour himself out as a drink offering. He says elsewhere, because he knows that Christ is with him and for him, He will never leave him.

Bible point number five: in union with Christ, the church knows Christ through sharing in His sufferings, as well as sharing in His resurrection, Philippians 3:8 through 11. We often, of course, say, "Yes, I want the resurrection power of Jesus in my life." Right? Nothing wrong with that. But you have to take the suffering too, right? To know Christ is to know Him in His sufferings and His resurrection, to know Him in His humiliation and His glorification.

Look at Philippians 3:8 through 11. "Yet indeed, I also count all things loss" — nothing compares — "for the excellence of the knowledge of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ." He's referring to his whole pedigree. Paul had such a great education. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee. But that means diddly squat, means nothing.

So in verse 9, "And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." It's the very righteousness of Christ, the perfection of Christ, imputed to us. Verse 10, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead." You can't be resurrected unless you die first, right? You can't expect glory unless you go through suffering as well, right? That's the same thing that you see in Philippians 2, or it talks about, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus," how He humbled Himself and made Himself of no reputation, took on the form of a servant, was obedient even to the point of death, but now He's been exalted and raised to the right hand of God, that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's the pattern for the church. In this life, we will have suffering, right? But glory is coming. And what a glorious day that's going to be.

Second Corinthians 1:8 through 11. This is Paul on his missionary journey, writing the Corinthians, and look what he says. "For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble" — that word "trouble" is tribulation — "of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure." We don't know what the nature of this trouble was — probably persecution of some sort — but he said, "We were burdened beyond measure. It was above strength." It overwhelmed him. This tribulation was too strong for Paul.

"So that we despaired even of life." He was about to be like Elijah saying, "Lord, come take me now. I can't stand another minute of this. I'm being pressed upon." Verse 9, "Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead."

When we go through tribulation, we realize we're at our wits' end, right? We don't have the physical strength. We don't have the emotional strength. We don't have the spiritual strength to do it. But who strengthens us? Who comforts us? Who is with us giving us His strength? It's Christ, right?

Verse 10, "Who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver us, and in whom we trust He will still deliver us." When you go through tribulation, know that God has delivered you, God is delivering you, and God will deliver you. If He brought me through that, He can bring me through this, right? And He will bring me through whatever hell or high water faces me in the future.

Verse 11, "You also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many." See, not only was Christ strengthening us, but you were praying for me, right? Don't ever overlook your ability to provide strength to someone else through not only comfort and encouragement, but through prayer. I've met people — especially some of our elderly saints over the years — they'll say, "I can't get out and do what I used to do. I don't have the energy, I don't have the mobility. But I can pray." And I always tell them, "Prayer is what God has called you to do then," right? Intercede, stand in the gap for those going through persecution.

Continuing on and heading to number five, the church follows Christ in learning obedience in the same way — Hebrews 5 — that Christ learned obedience in His humanity. He suffered by obeying God. He fulfilled all righteousness, right? His ministry was complete. Not only did He not transgress, He perfectly obeyed, perfectly fulfilled the law, right? In this way, Christ's tribulation becomes ours.

As joint heirs with Christ, Romans 8:17 says, "We suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." You catch that? In union with Christ, we suffer with Him. Our suffering is His. It's following in His pattern and in His steps. We suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. God foreknew and predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. That's what Romans 8:29 says. He has foreordained that. Will that fail? Not at all.

God's work is so certain that we are said to be already glorified in Romans 8:30. That golden chain of redemption — whom He foreknew, He predestined — and then you get to the very end, "He glorified," speaking of us, as if we're already glorified, as if we're already transformed in the perfect image of Christ. It's so certain, because He has foreordained it, that it will take place, right? It is not possible for us to be conformed to the image of Christ, to reflect His perfect love, and to reveal His glory, apart from the fellowship of His sufferings. Can't avoid it. There are no shortcuts to perfection. God uses trials and tribulations and sufferings for our glorification, for our sanctification, to conform us into the image of Christ.

The application for number five: how can tribulation deepen your relationship with Christ?

When all is well, the money's flowing, the health is good, sunshine — it's easy to forget God, is it not? But the minute that we go through tribulation, all of a sudden we remember God, right? We call out to Him. "Why are You letting this happen to me, God?" right? So prayer allows us to pour out our hearts to the Lord and to know Him in His sufferings, to depend upon Him, knowing that He is with us, comforting us. And we say, "God, I'm at my wits' end, like Paul says. I might as well die, because I don't have the strength to go forward. You've got to strengthen me, God. You brought me through it in the past. Bring me through it now, and bring me through it tomorrow."

Bible point number six: the church glories in tribulations, seeing them as providential circumstances lovingly sent by God to form Christ's character in us, producing endurance, godly character, and hope. It's from Romans 5, which we'll read in just a minute. It says that these trials, these tribulations that we go through, actually produce something in us. And what is it working? Endurance, godly character, and hope, right?

The church rejoices in tribulation, knowing that its tested faith will ultimately bring praise, honor, and glory to Christ. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 4:8 through 10 here. "We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body." Right, we go through suffering so that Christ's life can be manifested through us. People will look at you and say, "That's the vessel that is weak, that is wounded, but that vessel is rejoicing in God through tribulation." How is that possible? That vessel is rejoicing in God because God has filled that vessel, right? God is using that vessel.

Romans 5:3 through 5 says, "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance" — another way you could say it is endurance — "and perseverance, character, and character, hope." Because through every tribulation you go through, not only is your character being made more Christ-like, but it's giving you hope for the future. You're one step closer to Christ, right? One step closer to glory. "And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." When you go through tribulation, His love is poured out in your heart by His Holy Spirit. Same providential care of God that's exhibited in creation — when He crowned the mountains with their majesty, when He made the stars bright — He's pouring out His love on you through tribulations.

1 Peter 1:6 through 9, "And in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to the praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Our faith will bring Him glory when He returns." He's returning for a radiant bride, a bride that's conformed perfectly to His image. Verse 8, "Whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls." Right? So we persevere so we can be in His image when Christ returns.

The application for number six: "Can you glory and rejoice in tribulation? How can you glory?" In other words, take pride in it, look at it as a good thing and even rejoice in tribulation. How can you do that? Tribulation hurts. Tribulation is a threshing instrument, pressing against you, squeezing the blood out of your body. But how can you rejoice, as he said, and how can you embrace it?

Knowing that at His return, He's going to say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," right? You'll be transformed in the image of Christ as you go through tribulations.

But point number seven: the church sees her tribulation as light — meaning not heavy, okay? — and momentary, meaning it doesn't last forever. It's light in weight, it's momentary. Because, quote, "It is working for us a far more exceedingly and eternal weight of glory." The word "glory" in Greek is "doxa," and it means heavy, right? We've talked about this before.

Things that are heavy are valuable, right? The pawnshop owner holds a watch that's a fake Rolex, and he can tell it's fake because it's not heavy. It's not made out of gold, right? Gold is heavy.

Things of God are heavy, right? The infinite value of all the perfections of Christ Jesus — that's what His glory is. Tribulation is working in you a far more exceedingly and heavy glory. The passing glory of this world is diddly squat, is nothing. The Christ glory is being worked in you through these tribulations.

Tribulation turns our eyes from the things that are seen and temporary to the things that are invisible and eternal. Turns our eyes from the things that we see to the things that we can't see. We lay up treasure in heaven, right? We do it for the glory of God, not for the glory of man.

Look at 2 Corinthians 4:16 through 17. "Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." Can you see your soul? No, that's the inward man. Remember, we were created in two parts, both body and soul, right? God took the dust and He formed Adam, and He breathed life into Adam. We have a visible and an invisible part, right? Body and soul. And even though our body is perishing, right? It's being picked apart. Our inward man is being renewed every day. That's what matters. That's what we pay attention to.

For verse 17, "For our light affliction" — which means when you weigh the affliction, the tribulation of this world compared to the glory of God, it's light, weighs nothing — "for our light affliction, which is but for a moment" — yes, it's real and it's painful, but it won't last forever. It's kind of like when you go to the dentist, you know, and they give you that shot inside your cheek, and for that minute you're wondering if you're going to live and see the next second. But later on in the day, it starts to go away, right? Because it's a temporary thing. And a week from then you forget all about it, right? Unless you just have to go back to the dentist. Same with our sufferings.

"Which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Romans 8:18 says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us." Right? When gold is purified and the dross is burned off, you see it, right? You see the smoke, you see the blackness go away. Gold can't feel, but if it did, that would hurt, right? But when the end result is worth it, right? The sparks that come off of that and the smoke in your eyes — it's worth it when you actually get the refined gold.

The application for number seven: how can we not lose heart in enduring tribulation? 2 Corinthians 4 says, "Therefore we do not lose heart." How do we not lose heart when we are enduring tribulation? We remind ourselves that, one, it's light compared to the glory that God is working in us, and number two, it's momentary, right.

I had a teacher in sixth grade, Ms. Mabry. She had a clock, and right above the clock she had a sign: "This time will pass in Ms. Mabry's class, but will you?" Because we would look at her clock waiting for 3:30 so we could get out the door and go, right? This is momentary, right? But the exceeding greatness of God's glory is being worked in us — the glory that we will experience forever. This you'll forget all about — the suffering that you went through on earth. You won't think about it, I promise you.

By point number eight, God uses tribulation to expand His kingdom. As the church is persecuted and scattered, it spreads the gospel wherever it goes. In Acts 8, it talks about the stoning of Stephen, right? And persecution came upon the church. And verse 4 says, "Therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere" — and what would they do everywhere? — preaching the word, right? It scattered them, but wherever they went, they were the church, right? And they were the people to whom God has revealed Himself, but also the people through whom God reveals Himself, right? That's the missional nature of the church. So tribulation scattered the early church, and when it scattered the early church, it's like Johnny Appleseed spreading the seed everywhere — the gospel, preaching the word to all men.

Acts 8:1 through 4, speaking of Stephen. "Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time, a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, even the apostles." Just as God had told them, "You shall be My witnesses in Judea and Samaria" — and the uttermost parts of the world — we see this play out in Acts, you see that here.

Verse 2, "And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word."

Look at Acts 11:19 through 21. "Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen, traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus." Not only is it expanding geographically, but now it's expanding to different cultures, to the Greek-speaking Jews, right, the Hellenists. "And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord."

Then look at Philippians 1:12 through 14. Paul in prison, writing his prison epistle of joy to the Philippian church. He says, "But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which have happened to me" — probably writing this as his chain connected to two Roman soldiers — "things that have happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ." They say, "Oh, he's chained, but he's a free man. He's in Christ," right? "And most of the brethren in the Lord have become confident by my chains and are much more bold to speak the word without fear." They realize that if Paul was willing to be imprisoned for preaching the gospel, that emboldened them to do the same, showing the same confidence in God who would support Paul through that tribulation, and who would support them if that happened to them.

The application for number eight: the church must never let tribulation eclipse its mission. In other words, we're not to be preoccupied with tribulations, saying, "Oh, you have it bad, but let me tell you how bad I have it," and trade war stories, right? No, we always keep our eye on the ball. That's the gospel, right? The proclamation of the gospel. And by its very nature, tribulation and hardship gives you a platform.

How many of you have known a godly man or woman that has gone through great physical suffering, maybe cancer or leukemia or something like that? And how great is their witness, right? When they go through that and they say, "God's sustaining me, this body may indeed perish, but my soul is Christ's." And one day I'm going to get a resurrection body, right? They preach while they're getting dialysis at the kidney center, right? They preach while they're undergoing radiation at the hospital.

That's human suffering, right? It's no different than the tribulation that comes upon the church. When you're going through the shredder, you preach Christ — Christ crucified in His sufficiency in all things.

By point number nine, the church in tribulation longs for Jesus Christ to return for their vindication. Have Matthew 5:10 through 12. Let's actually look at that.

"Blessed" — this is Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount, in the section called the Beatitudes. "Blessed" — happy to be envied is what "blessed" means. "Happy to be envied, or blessed, are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." They don't love the applause of men more than they love God's favor, right? They don't care about riches. They don't care about comfort. They care about the love of God. "Blessed, you're to be envied when you go through persecution. For yours is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

So great is your reward. When Christ returns, His judgment will be fierce, and it's not in vindictiveness — which would put God as a capricious judge who doesn't judge based upon righteousness — but it's in vindication. The difference between vindication and vindictiveness: vindication is what a holy God does. He must punish sin and He must reward righteousness. "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne," is what the book of Psalms says. And if God doesn't do that, He's not holy, right? So at His appearing, saints will be vindicated, right?

Second Thessalonians 1:6 through 10 says, "Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you" — He's saying at His return, when He comes, those who are troubling the church, those who are tribulating the church, those who are threshing the church, God is going to personally thresh them — "and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." It's not the devil with his pitchforks who's reigning in hell. It's Christ Jesus, in the fullness of His wrath.

"When He comes, in that day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all who believe, because our testimony among you was believed."

The church in tribulation longs for Jesus Christ to return for their vindication. When Christ returns, He will give the troubled church rest. He will give His troubled church rest while taking fiery vengeance on those who reject Him and trouble the church. In that day — that's Judgment Day, Doomsday, that's Old English for Judgment Day, it's where we get "Doomsday" from, right? — in that day, the oppressor of the church will be punished with everlasting destruction from God's presence. In that day, the church will be made glorious in Christ's likeness. In the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we're going to be transformed. In that day, the church will love and glorify the Christ who faithfully keeps all of His promises. God keeps His promises. What He has promised, He will keep.

The application for number nine: Christ will vindicate His bride. Even so, come, come, Lord Jesus, right? We praise God for His promises that He is going to return. And when He comes, the church will be at rest. The church will meet Him in glory. We'll be transformed at that time into His perfect image. When He comes, all evil, all oppression will cease. The devil and all the enemies of the church will be thrown in the lake of fire, which is the righteous judgment of God. They will press the church no more. What a glorious day that will be.