Ron Dunn Podcast - Ministry Of Trouble Part 1

Episode Date: November 24, 2021

Ron Dunn brings part one of "Ministry Of Trouble"

Corinthians chapter 7 verse 10 for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death now I want to do something a little differently this morning I'm going to read this verse from the New English Bible. The past few weeks, I have been reading the book of 2 Corinthians over and over from different translations, not looking for sermons, but just for my own edification and devotion time with the Lord. And I highly recommend that as you take a book of the Bible, such as 2 Corinthians, that you read it through over and over again

from various translations because reading one translation will sometimes open up to you a truth that perhaps you have not seen in reading other translations. And to me, this is one of the great values in reading the Word of God with variety in these various translations. And this past week, I have been reading it through over and over again from the New English Bible, which is a very capable translation of the Greek text, one of the best there is. And I want to read that same verse because it seems to me that this translation, such as no other, has captured the thought of the apostle and expressed it better than any other translation.

So let me read that same verse out of the New English Bible, 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 10. For the wound which is born in God's way brings a change of heart too salutary to regret. But the hurt which is born in the world's way brings death. Then he goes on in verse 11 and says, You bore your hurt in God's way and see what its results have been. Now I want to read that phrase again because with that phrase turns the entire message of 2nd Corinthians. Paul has written to these Corinthians a very severe letter rebuking them for sin in their life. The Corinthians have been greatly troubled.

They've gone through a great deal of tribulation. And so Paul now is writing to them concerning all that they've gone through. Concerning the wounds, the hurt, the trouble that they have experienced. Notice what he says. The wound which is born in God's way brings a change of heart that is so good you don't have any regret for the wound. You gladly receive the wound, the hurt, the trouble, because since you bore it in God's way, it produced a change of heart. And this change of heart is so great that you have no regret for the wound. Now notice, but the hurt which is born in the world's way brings death.

Now the difference between happy people and unhappy people, between people who are rejoicing and people who are down in the mouth, the difference between people is not the absence of trouble. Now, oftentimes we think that this is what makes all the difference. We look at one soul and he seems to be a happy-go-lucky sort of guy. Everything seems to be just running smoothly for him. He seems to be such a happy person. There seems to be such peace and joy in his life. And sometimes we, just looking on the outward appearance, say, well, if I had it as easy as he had it, then I could be as happy as he is. And one of the amazing discoveries that we continue to make is that everybody, no matter what they look like on the outside, everybody has problems.

And I tell you this morning, you would be completely astounded if you knew some of the deep, deep wounds and troubles that the people sitting around you have that you're not even aware of. The difference between people is not the absence of trouble. The difference is in the attitude towards the trouble that comes to them. And if the Bible makes anything clear, and really you don't need the Bible to make this clear, life itself teaches this. If there's anything that life and experience as well as the word of God makes clear, it is that trouble and hurt comes to everybody.

And the difference lies in what you do with it. And I can tell you this morning that the difference in people in this congregation, those whose life is one characterized by victory and rejoicing and triumph, and those whose lives are characterized by depression and self-pity and defeat and bitterness, the difference lies in what you did with the hurt and the trouble that came your way. And the reason that this particular translation of this verse captivated me so is that it placed it so plainly that there are two ways that you can receive the wounds and the hurts and the troubles that come to you in life. There are two ways to bear it. One is God's way and the other is come to you in life. There are two ways to bear it. One is God's way

and the other is the world's way. And Paul says when you bear it God's way, it brings about a change of heart. It ministers to you and it brings about such a transformation of your heart, of the control center of your life, of the steering wheel of your life, that you have no regret. You welcome that hurt and that wound because look what happened. Look at the results that it produced. But he says, if you bear this hurt the world's way, it produces death.

Produces death. The death of bitterness and the death of resentment. I can't help but think of a number of people that I have met through the years and I have come to know in different places who are outstanding illustrations of this truth. People who received a wound, who received a hurt, who had some trouble dumped into their lives, and they received it the way the world receives it, with resentment and bitterness.

And you know what? It has produced death in their life. Death to their spirit. Death to their joy. Death to their happiness. And yet I've seen many people who have received equal hurts and even deeper wounds, and they have received it in God's way, and it has produced in them such a joy and a peace and an abundance

that they have no regret for what happened. There are two ways to receive the problems that come to you. One is to receive them the world's way, and I tell you, it produces death. This is the reason some of you have a dead spirit this morning, and your joy is dead, and the peace and contentment of your heart has been slaughtered because you received the hurt in the world's way. Well, you say, how do you receive it in God's way? How do you bear this trouble in God's way?

Now I want us to look in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, and I want to share with you this morning how you receive this trouble, this problem, whatever it is, in God's way, so that it creates in you a change of heart. Verses 3 through 5. Verses 3 through 5. Paul said,

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. Now there are other verses of scripture throughout 2 Corinthians I want to share with you, and I'm going to start this morning and finish tonight,

and I think we'll give you a few hours break in between the two. How do you receive a wound, a hurt, a trouble in God's way. Paul uses the word tribulation in the fourth verse, and it's a very strong word that indicates being pressed down, and it indicates any kind of pressure that comes to you. It doesn't necessarily have to be physical pain. It can be emotional or mental, or it's a slipcover type of word. It fits any chair. It fits any couch. It fits any life.

And so Paul uses this word tribulation, which simply means pressure of any kind of any size of any color. Now, he says that these Corinthians and Paul, Timothy himself, have received into their lives a great deal of pressure, various kinds, and throughout the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul is giving his really personal biography, his autobiography of the tribulations that he himself has experienced. Now, in these opening verses, he gives to us the way to receive this in God's way so as to bring about a change of heart so that we really won't regret it.

And that is to see that when trouble, distress, God is through this tribulation, through this trouble, is perfecting his eternal plan in our life. The way to bear it is to realize that it is a minister sent from God to us. So if you're looking for a title to the message, it is the ministry of trouble. The ministry of trouble. You thought you had a strange minister. Here is a stranger minister. Yes, a minister whose name is Reverend Trouble. And God has sent him to us to do us good. Now there are about five things that I want to share with you, and I think I'll just get to one of them this morning and the other three

or four tonight. What is the purpose of this trouble that God himself allows to come into our life? Realizing that it is a minister sent from God to us will enable us to bear it God's way and therefore transform our heart. Number one is this. God sends to us these troubles, these pressures, that we might experience the comfort of God. That we may experience the comfort of God that we may experience the comfort of God let me read those verses out of the New English Bible he says praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the all-merciful Father now listen the God whose consolation never fails us he comforts us in all our troubles so that we in turn may be able to comfort others in

any trouble of theirs and to share with them the consolation we ourselves receive from God. Now, verse five is a tremendous verse. He says, as Christ's cup of suffering overflows and we suffer with him, so also through Christ our consolation overflows. Paul is saying when trouble comes of any sort, it is that we might experience the comfort of God. The word for comfort is the same word that Jesus uses in

Matthew 5, 4, the beatitude, blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. And that's a tremendous word. It's a rich word. And really you cannot translate that word into English. You can come close to it, but you really cannot translate that word into English. It's the same word that is used of Jesus being our advocate in 1 John 2, 2, as he stands before the Father on our behalf, so that when we sin, we do not lose our salvation. And the reason we do not lose our salvation when we sin is because Jesus Christ himself is our advocate before the Father. He's standing before the Father in our behalf. Same word that Paul uses here for God's comfort. Same word used in Matthew 5.4. It's also the same word that is translated the comforter in John 14, 15, and 16, where Jesus

speaks of the Holy Spirit, the comforter, when he comes to us to indwell us, to be our comforter. What does the word really mean? The word actually means one who comes to stand beside us, to defend us, to champion our cause, to encourage and strengthen, comfort us. Now it takes that much and more to translate that Greek word. A tremendous word. Someone who comes to stand beside us in a time of need to take up our cause, making it his cause, and stays there, sees us through, to encourage us, to strengthen us, and comfort us.

And Paul says God is the God of all consolation, and the reason that he allows trouble to come to us is that we might experience God's presence in this way. Now, I don't know of anybody in all the world that would not want the comfort of God. Any person who is saved, any Christian who is saved, can you imagine him not wanting to experience God's presence? How many of you this past week have thought to yourself, I wish God were as real to me as he is a so-and-so? How many of you in the past few days or past few weeks perhaps reading the biography of some great stain of God have said to

yourself I wish that I could experience the strength and the power and the encouragement of God in my life as that person you know all of us want be comforted well do you realize what the prerequisite to comfort is? You know, it's amazing to me how short-sighted we are. We want to be comforted, but listen, you can't be comforted

until first of all you mourn. That's what Jesus said. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who hunger first, for they shall be filled. Many of us want to be filled with righteousness, but first of all,

you've got to be starving for it. And many of us want to be comforted. We don't want to mourn. We do not want to have hurt and trouble. But prerequisite to experiencing the comfort and consolation and the encouraging presence of God is first of all,

that we know tribulation, that we know pressure, that we know hurt. And God allows these various kinds of trouble to come into our lives. We may experience firsthand the comfort of God. And say, by the way, Paul is uniquely qualified to speak on this subject. Let me just encourage you when you go home this afternoon to read through 2 Corinthians and see what a rough time he had. You think you've had it rough. I want you to know that fella. Well, as a matter of fact, in this chapter 1, he says we had the sentence of death within us. Christian, have you ever had that feeling? Have you ever had the feeling

that God has absolutely forsaken you and that he no longer cares about you and that he has really just forgotten where you are and has misplaced you somewhere and so you are at the mercy of the devil and the mercy of the world and whatever faith there is out there against you Paul said we got into so much trouble that we actually had a sentence of death within us. Now, you can't get any worse off than that. You can't get into a valley that's even any deeper and darker than that. And yet, Paul says through all of this, we came to experience firsthand the encouragement, the comfort of God. He is God of all comfort.

Now, I want you to notice he says that he is the God of all comfort. Now, I want you to notice he says that he is the God of all comfort. Now, this means basically that God's comfort and encouragement and strength is complete. He is the God of A-L-L comfort. And that is simply Paul's way of saying that God's presence and God's overflowing strength is adequate for whatever it is you need this morning. That there is absolutely no hurt, no wound, no pressure, no trouble that comes to your life that God himself is not adequate for it. And some of you don't know this and don't believe it and so God is going to have to let you hurt enough so you will come to know that God is adequate there's a song that I am encouraging Jamil to learn so he can sing for the Lord and

for his pastor it's a great song the name of it is through it all and I know the second verse I'm not going to sing it, don't worry. I just want to quote it. It has come to mean so much to me. It just blesses me every time I hear it something. I thank him for the mountains, and I thank him for the valleys, and I thank him for every storm he's brought me through. If I'd never had a problem, I'd never known that God could solve them.

I'd never known what faith in his words could do. Isn't that great? If I'd never had a problem, I'd never know that God could solve them. And some of you here this morning do not believe that God alone, God all by himself, is adequate for your every need. And the only way you'll ever come to know it and ever come to believe it is when you have the sentence of death in yourselves, and then you'll learn that God is adequate. That God is adequate. And I'll tell you what, that'll create such a change in your heart that you won't be sorry for the troubles that came because learning that one secret that God is the God of all comfort will be worth whatever it costs. I promise you that. He is the God of all comfort. Now that means that he's adequate, but I'll tell you something

else it means. It means that he is the only source of comfort. You see, if he is the God of all comfort, then that means that outside of him there is no comfort. And how often we've seen it illustrated. And I want to repeat that over and over again. I want you to really understand this, that outside of God there is no other real comfort and strength. That he is the source of it all now listen carefully here is a person trouble comes into their life hurt comes into their life pressure comes into their life and they bear it the world's way they begin to complain. They begin to fuss about it.

Feel sorry for themselves. They begin to resent it. And they grow bitter. What are they doing? They are cutting themselves off from the God of all comfort. They are turning away from the God who is the only source of comfort. And when they turn away from the God who is the only source of comfort, they will never, they will never, they will never find any comfort for that problem. They never will.

And I know people, and you know of people, who in times of problem, in times of distress, have borne it the world's way. They have wallowed in self-pity. They've resented what God has done. They've grown bitter. And to this day, there's still no comfort in their life. Why? Because God is the God of all comfort. He is the God of all comfort. And if you turn away from him and don't see his hand in it and praise him in the midst of it, you've cut yourself off from all strength

and all comfort. There will be none. There will be none. His comfort is complete. There's something else about this comfort. It's not what you think it is. It is a conquering type of comfort. Let me read two or three verses out of this book.

Now listen. This comfort that Paul is talking about. This strength that God gives. This experiencing God's encouraging presence in the midst of trouble. Now listen carefully. Does not enable the Christian simply to endure the trouble. Now, I say that'd be pretty good if that's all there was to it. That'd be all right.

It'd be a bargain, wouldn't it? If it stopped just there to enable you to endure it. But what the Bible is talking about, God's kind of comfort, does not simply enable the Christian to endure it, but to rejoice in it. Listen, 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 4, last phrase, in all our many troubles, my cup is full of consolation and overflows with joy. You know the thing that really impressed me so much about this 2 Corinthians is that all the way through it, there is a parallel note struck, a parallel theme.

All the way through this 2 Corinthians, there is that dominant theme of suffering of hardship of trouble of tribulation Paul talked about being stoned being scourged being forsaken being lied about betrayed his own people turning against him and trying to kill him and throughout this book there runs that dominant theme of suffering anguish but the parallel track that runs right along the other one is, throughout the book, there is that dominant theme of joy, and of victory, and rejoicing, and happiness. And Paul says, in all our many troubles, our cup of consolation

and joy overflows. Isn't that amazing? Overflows with joy. All right, listen again to what he says in chapter 6 in verse 9. He says, we are disciplined by suffering, but we are not done to death. Now notice this. In our cause we have always called for joy. Now can you imagine? Now listen, Paul is not saying, praise the Lord anyhow. Really, I don't care much for that phrase. I don't think that's scriptural.

Praise the Lord anyhow. Because what you're saying there is, well, everything is bad, but inside everything I can still squeak out a praise the Lord. Praise the Lord anyhow. Paul didn't praise the Lord anyhow. He just flat praised the Lord, period.

You see, he's not saying that he has joy in spite of all these troubles. He says he has joy in them and because of them. You see, there's the difference. There's the difference. A stoic, a humanist, a person with a great constitution and a strong will could praise the Lord in spite of the circumstances. But all of the comfort of God can enable a Christian to praise the Lord because of the circumstances.

And until you get to that place, friend, you haven't known the real victory that God has for you. He says, in our sorrows, we have always cause for joy. And there are others that would agree. It is a joy. God not simply enabling a Christian to endure the problem, but to rejoice in it because of it. Why? Because it's going to bring such a change of heart.

You're going to taste the goodness of God such as you've never tasted it before. You've just been on a diet before. But now God is going to sit you down at a table spread with all of his comfort and all of his strength and all of his encouragement. And you are going to experience it such as you have never experienced it before. Now there's one other thing about this comfort that we experience that I want to share with you before we close. It is the comfort of Christ. Now you're liable to miss something very important if you read casually or quickly over the fifth verse. Notice what Paul says.

He's talking about the troubles that he's going through. He defines those troubles. And he defines that comfort in verse 5. Listen. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. Now, you've got to see this or you've missed the whole thing. Notice in verse 5, Paul does not say, for as the sufferings for Christ abound in us.

Notice that. Paul is not saying that we are suffering for Christ. What does he say? For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us. Now listen. When you have problems, you're a believer. You're a child of God. That makes you something special in the sight of God.

It qualifies you for a number of things. And one of the things it qualifies you for is to share in the very sufferings of Christ. Now listen. Every time there's a hurt. Every time there. Now listen, every time there's a hurt, every time there's a problem, every time there's a difficulty, any time there is a pressure, you know what it is?

That is the sufferings of Christ himself in your own body. Isn't this what Paul the Apostle said in Colossians chapter 1? For I fill up that which is behind in the afflictions of Christ. Isn't that what Paul the Apostle said in Colossians chapter 1? For I fill up that which is behind in the afflictions of Christ. Isn't that what he said? Isn't that what he said in Romans chapter 8? That we share with Jesus in His sufferings. You see, Paul isn't saying here that we are suffering for Christ.

It's not our suffering on the behalf of Christ. But he said it is actually the sufferings of Christ expressing itself through our body. Because you see, Jesus could never redeem the world and he could never change our heart without suffering for us, could he? And that truth and that principle still is true today and the only way that God can still in this hour

redeem the world is through the sufferings of Christ. But now Jesus has a glorified body. Which body is he going to suffer through today? It is the body of the believer. And God's plan of redemption has never changed. The world cannot be redeemed and hearts cannot be changed apart from the sufferings of Christ. And the sufferings of Christ still go on through the believer. That's exactly what Paul is saying in Colossians 1 and Romans 8 and 2 Corinthians 1. When you have any kind of problem, distress, tribulation, it is the suffering of Christ. That's why you can bear it God's way. But you become a co-laborer. You become a partner. Isn't this what Paul means in Philippians 3 when he says that I may become

what know the fellowship of his what suffering being made conformable to his death and the word fellowship simply means sharing alike now to Paul this was the apex this was the climax of his Christian growth that I may come to the place where I share the sufferings of Christ being made to normal under his death now listen just as the sufferings of Christ overflow in us so our consolation also overflows by Christ if what I am suffering is really the suffering of Christ, then the comfort and the consolation and the encouragement that I receive is also that which belongs to Jesus Christ. In other words, I receive the same consolation, the same comfort that Jesus Christ himself received. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn.

For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.