THE BENEFITS OF THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION
SUNDY MARCH 5^TH 2023
Sermon by Pastor
MARC SIMEON

• Ps 119:71 ¶ It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.

INTRODUCTION

• Affliction is a negative word associated with pain and sorrow.
• Everyone on earth seems to be trying to avoid afflictions at all costs.
• Affliction is like being trapped in adverse circumstances with no way of escape.
• Affliction is like despicable dark tunnels that one must pass through in life.
• Dictionary.com defines affliction as:
• A state of pain, distress, or grief; misery:
• A cause of mental or bodily pain, as sickness, loss, calamity, or persecution.
• Synonyms of afflictions are:
• Disorder, disease, malady
• Complaint, ailment, illness
• Indisposition, scourge, plague
• Trouble, menace, evil visitation
• When affliction is made beneficial
• In spite of all the negatives that surround adversities, on the other side of the coin, adversities can be the most beneficial fertilizer for growth and fruitfulness in one’s life. 
• What are the benefits of afflictions?
• A refined gold is one that has gone through many trials of fire in order to extract the impurities.
• The more intense the heat, the more purified the gold will turn out.
• A person who is firm in character is one who has been reshaped positively by the many afflictions he has encountered in life.
• All things work together for the good of those who love God.
• Paul declares in Romans 8:35, 37
• 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
• 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
• In the message today, we are going to see some instances where afflictions are make beneficial to the Children of God.

I. Affliction is made beneficial when it promotes the glory of God.

• The man who was born blind in order that the name of God may be glorified
• John 9:1-3 Joh 9:1 ¶ Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.
• 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
•  3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
• ……
  • The sickness of Lazarus
• John 11:3-4 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
• 4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
• We are usually prone to think that every affliction is the result of sin, but sometime the affliction may come just so that God can receive glory out of it.
• Don’t be quick to pass judgment on someone who is afflicted; you may even blaspheme God in so doing.
• II- Affliction is made beneficial in exhibiting the power and faithfulness of God.
• Psalms 34:19-20
• 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
• 20 He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken.
• The afflictions that Paul encountered in his ministry
• 2 Corinthians 4:8-11
• 8 ¶ We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
•  9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed–
• 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
•  11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
  • If the trials enhance our faith to anchor all the more in Christ, then they are  considered beneficial.
  • The trials of Paul show the genuineness of his ministry and the faithfulness of God.

III. Affliction is made beneficial in teaching us the will of God.

• Unfortunately, the children of God tend to take Him for granted and become complaisant with His word.
  • Through affliction, we learn to take God seriously.
  • Sometimes, God uses afflictions to steer us in the right direction.
  • Adversity can be the best teacher of all.
• Psalms 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
• Isaiah 26:9b For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
• We tend to pay more attention to God after a calamity than before it.

IV. Affliction is made beneficial in enhancing our  prayer life.

• Some of us maintain a very shallow prayer life until danger is in the horizon.
  • Sometimes we only respond to God the hard way.
  • Many have developed a higher intimacy with God while going through  trials than any other time.
• Lamentations 2:19
• 19 “Arise, cry out in the night, At the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him For the life of your young children, Who faint from hunger at the head of every street.

Deuteronomy 4:30-31

• “When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice.
• ….

V- Affliction is made beneficial in leading us to confess our sins to God.

• Numbers 21:7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
• Some use torture to get a confession, God uses afflictions for the same purpose

VI. Affliction is made beneficial in developing patience and humility in us.

• Psalms 40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
• Romans 5:3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;
• Deuteronomy 8:3
• “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.
• …..

VII. Affliction is made beneficial in rendering us more productive for God.

• John 15: 1-2
• 1 ¶ “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
• ….
• Hebrews 12:11
• Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
• …..

VIII. Affliction is made beneficial in the furtherance of the gospel.

• Acts 11:19-21 ¶ 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.
• 20 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.
•  21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
• Philippians 1:12  ¶ But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel,

CONCLUSION

• Do not dismiss the benefits of your afflictions, for God may be preparing you a greatest season of harvest.
  • If your affliction is not the result of sin, then it is for God’s glory.
  • Do all you can to draw closer and not further from God in the course of all your afflictions and it will be well with you. 
  • AMEN