Sin, Satan, Sickness, or Sabotage
Oct 29, 2026 · 5 min · 3 segments
Suffering proves our allegiance to Christ’s goodness and reveals his worth as an all-sufficient prize.!https://feed.desiringgod.org/link/18331/17310964.gif
- Speakers
John PiperHost
Oct 29, 2026 · 5 min · 3 segments
Suffering proves our allegiance to Christ’s goodness and reveals his worth as an all-sufficient prize.!https://feed.desiringgod.org/link/18331/17310964.gif
John PiperHost
Is the suffering that comes to the Christian because of persecution the same as the suffering that comes from cancer? Do the promises given to one apply to the other? My answer is yes.
All of life, if it is lived earnestly by faith in the pursuit of God's glory and the salvation of others, will meet with some kind of obstacle and suffering.
In choosing to follow Christ in the way He directs, we choose all that this path includes under His sovereign providence.
And it is chosen That is, we willingly take the path of obedience where the suffering befalls us, and we do not murmur against God.
But if God wills, we embrace it as part of the cost of discipleship in the path of obedience on the way to heaven.
They all threaten our faith in the goodness of God and tempt us to leave the path of obedience.
Therefore, all suffering of every kind that we endure in the path of our Christian calling is a suffering with Christ and for Christ, with Him, in the sense that the suffering comes to us as we are walking with Him, by faith, and in the sense that it is endured in the strength he supplies through his sympathizing high priestly ministry to us, Hebrews 4.15. And for him, in the sense that the suffering tests and proves our allegiance to his goodness and power, and in the sense that it reveals his worth, as an all-sufficient compensation and prize.
Is the suffering that comes to the Christian because of persecution the same as the suffering that comes from cancer? Do the promises given to one apply to the other? My answer is yes.
All of life, if it is lived earnestly by faith in the pursuit of God's glory and the salvation of others, will meet with some kind of obstacle and suffering.
In choosing to follow Christ in the way He directs, we choose all that this path includes under His sovereign providence.
And it is chosen That is, we willingly take the path of obedience where the suffering befalls us, and we do not murmur against God.
But if God wills, we embrace it as part of the cost of discipleship in the path of obedience on the way to heaven.
They all threaten our faith in the goodness of God and tempt us to leave the path of obedience.
Therefore, all suffering of every kind that we endure in the path of our Christian calling is a suffering with Christ and for Christ, with Him, in the sense that the suffering comes to us as we are walking with Him, by faith, and in the sense that it is endured in the strength he supplies through his sympathizing high priestly ministry to us, Hebrews 4.15. And for him, in the sense that the suffering tests and proves our allegiance to his goodness and power, and in the sense that it reveals his worth, as an all-sufficient compensation and prize.
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