Part 51 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Part 52 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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5. I answer, That God will bear his people company in all their afflictions and persecutions. If the bush, the church, be all on fire, the angel of the covenant will be in the midst of it. Isaiah 43:1-3, "But now, O Israel, the Lord who created you says: "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Both in the waters of affliction, and in the fire of persecution, God will bear his people company. So in that Daniel 3:24, 25, "Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" They replied, "Certainly, O king." He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like unto the Son of God."Christ is never so near to his people as when they are in their fiery trials; and the hotter the furnace is, the more eminently present will Christ be with his people. Saints never enjoy so much of the supporting, emboldening, comforting, and encouraging presence of the Lord, as they do when the sun of persecution shines hottest upon them.
2 Corinthians 4:8, 9, "We are troubled on every side—yet not destroyed; we are perplexed—but not in despair; persecuted—but not forsaken; cast down—but not destroyed."Divine help is nearest when a saint's danger is greatest. It is the deriding question which persecutors put to the saints in the time of their trials and troubles, Where is now your God? (Psalm 42:10); but they may return a bold and confident answer, "Our God is here," our God is near unto us, our God is round about us, our God is in the midst of us, our God has given us his promise "that he will never, never leave us, nor forsake us," (Heb 13:5); in every trouble, in every danger, in every death, the Lord will be sure to keep us company. God will bear his children company, not only while they are in a delightful paradise—but also when they are in a howling wilderness, (Hos 2:14).
O Christians, in all your sufferings the angel of God's presence will bear you company, and he will sweeten the most cruel torments, and wipe off all the sweat, and take away all the pain, yes, he will turn your pains into pleasure, (Isa 63:9). If Joseph is cast into prison, the Lord will be with him there, (Gen 39:20, 21). If Jeremiah is thrown into the dungeon, the Lord will be with him there, (Jer 36:6-14). If David walks through the valley of death, God's rod and his staff shall comfort him, (Psalm 23:4, 5). If the three children are cast into a fiery furnace, the presence of the Son of God shall preserve them. If Daniel must go to the lions' den, God will keep him company there, and chain up the lions' nature, and sew up the lions' mouths, and lay a law of restraint upon the lions' paws, that they shall not have so much as a disposition to touch him, or in the least to hurt him or harm him. If Paul is brought before Nero 's judgment-seat, God will stand by him, though all men forsake him, and bring him off with credit and triumph, (2Ti 4:16-18). Thus you see that in all the afflictions and persecutions that do befall the people of God, God will not fail to keep them company; and therefore let not troubles trouble you, let not afflictions afflict you, nor let not persecutions discourage you. But,
6. I answer, That he shall be sure to suffer from Christ—who refuses to suffer, or that is afraid to suffer, for Christ's sake, or holiness' sake, or the gospel's sake. No man can suffer so much for Christ as he shall be sure to suffer from Christ, if he disdains and refuses to suffer for Christ: Mark 8:35, "For whoever will save his life, shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his life for my sake, and the gospel's, the same shall save it." He who shall attempt to save his life by shifting off of truth, or by forsaking of Christ—shall lose it. He who thinks to shun suffering by sinning, shall be sure to suffer with a witness. It is a gainful loss to suffer for the truth, it is a lossful gain, by time-serving and base complying with the lusts and humours of men, to provide for our present safety, security, plenty, peace, and ease, &c., either by denying the truth, or by betraying the truth, or by exchanging the truth, or by forsaking the truth.
So verse 38, "Whoever, therefore, shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels." Ah, friends, what are prisons and dungeons, and racks and flames—compared to Christ's being ashamed of a man in the great day, when he shall be attended with troops of saints and millions of angels? When, in the face of the court of heaven, when all the princes of glory shall sit upon their thrones, Christ shall disdain a man, and scorn so much as to look upon him, or take any notice of him, or show the least respect or favor towards him. Oh, what a sea of sorrow and a hell of horror will this raise in him!
I have read that when Sapor, king of Persia, raised a violent persecution against the Christians, Usthazares, an old nobleman, and one of king Sapor's eunuchs and courtiers, being a Christian, was so terrified that he left off his profession, and sitting at the court gate when Simeon, an aged holy bishop, was led to prison, and rising up to salute him, the good bishop frowned upon him, and turned his face with indignation from him, as disdaining to look upon a man who had denied the faith; upon this Usthazares fell a-weeping, and went into his chamber, and put off his courtly garments, and then broke out into these like words, Ah, how shall I appear before that God that I have denied? With what face shall I behold that God of whom I have been ashamed, when Simeon, my old familiar acquaintance, will not endure to look upon me—but disdains to bestow a civil salute upon me? If he frowns now, oh, how will God behold me when I shall stand before his tribunal seat! And this physic so wrought with him, that he recovered his spiritual strength, and went boldly and professed himself a Christian, and died a glorious martyr. The application is easy.
Well, sirs, remember this, it is infinitely better to suffer for God, than to suffer from God: 1 Peter 3:17, "For it is better, if the will of God be so, that you suffer for well doing, than for evil doing." It is better to suffer for well doing from men, than to suffer for ill doing from God. But,
7. I answer, That great are the advantages which will redound to you by all the troubles, afflictions, and persecutions that shall befall you, for righteousness' sake, for holiness' sake, Luke 21:13. Persecutions are the workmen that will fit you and square you for God's buildings; they are the rods which will beat off the dust from your souls; and the scullions [a kitchen servant who cleans pots and does other menial tasks] that will scour off the rust from your souls; they are the fire which will purge you from your dross, and the water which will cleanse you from your filthiness. Physicians, you know, apply horse-leeches to their disordered patients. Now the horse-leech intends nothing but to satiate and fill himself with the blood of the sick patient—but the physician has a more noble aim, even the drawing away of that putrified and corrupt blood that endangers the life of his patient; so though persecutors aim at nothing more than to draw out the heartblood of God's people, that they may satiate and fill themselves with it—yet God has other thoughts and other aims, even the drawing away of that corrupt blood, that pride, that self-love, that worldliness, that carnalness, and that lukewarmness, that otherwise would endanger the life, the health, and welfare of their souls. But this great truth I shall make more evident by an induction of particulars. Thus,
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Part 52 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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