The Sufficiency of Christ In Suffering

All righty. Good morning, everybody. Great to see everyone once again. The month was very strange because in some ways it flew by, in other ways it didn't. As we speak, Mom and Dad are on their way back from Galveston, which is where their ship ported, and Katie and Dave and their family went and picked them up, so they're all back on the road heading our direction, which is a good feeling, so it'll be great having all of them back.

But obviously, as I've already said pretty much every Sunday since I've had this opportunity, I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to fill the pulpit for Dad. It's been quite the honor and privilege, as it always is.

And just getting to share some studies that have been on my heart for quite a while with you all is always probably one of the most special things, very near the top of the most special things that I could ever get to do.

And so, I appreciate all of you for bearing with me throughout this full study, this very brief series, and we have quite a bit to get to today to fully round it out, and I'm excited about that. So, turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 3 to get us started this morning, Ecclesiastes chapter 3.

And as we all know, the overarching theme of this series has been the sufficiency of Christ, but we've broken that down into specific individual studies in a few particular areas. We started with how to simply rely on his sufficiency in the first place, and from that, we moved into his sufficiency in our salvation.

Last week, we talked about his sufficiency in life in general. We looked at some specific areas in our life, from contentment to fulfillment to being able to ward off just the influence of false teachers, of men around us, his sufficiency in all of those categories.

And today, we're going to be talking about what may seem at first to be a somewhat heavy topic, especially a heavy topic to be ending on, of all things, but one thing I want you guys to keep in mind as we go throughout the material for today is that the purpose of it isn't necessarily for it to be heavy, but more so to give all of us some mental equipment, if you will, for being prepared for tough times, whenever they may befall us, whenever they may befall people we know, people we love, our loved ones, our family members, our friends.

Today, we're going to be talking about the sufficiency of Christ in suffering, but it's from the angle of preparing for it, not necessarily for being right in the middle of it. Now, I'm aware that all of us are outliving our own individual lives, and there's a lot going on for each and every one of us, so for any one of us in this room or perhaps listening online or perhaps listening to this recording, ten years from now, you may be going through a time of grief, a time of suffering, in which case, I do believe that these passages we're going to look at today will be very helpful.

Being able to be prepared to be hopeful and to not fall into despair, which can be a very easy thing for any human to do, but to also be prepared to help those around us as well, our loved ones, our friends, and so forth.

Look at this passage in Ecclesiastes 3 .11, just one verse to open us up with, and then we'll move on from there.

It says,.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this wonderful day. Thank you for bringing us all together once again to abide in your word as a local church body, to be encouraged, to be edified by your word, and also just by our fellowship together, by being together in an otherwise very turbulent world around us, a very turbulent culture, certainly at this time, among others as well.

But with as much as is going on right now, Lord, we are so thankful for the opportunity, the privilege of being able to gather and to, again, encourage one another and to have this steady foundation of your word brought forth, proclaimed, discussed.

And we just ask that you be with us throughout this service. Be with every word that is spoken. We thank you for the passages that we're about to dive into, and we ask all these things in your name. Amen.

So, many millennia ago, the human race was tempted with the knowledge of good and evil. They were tempted with increasing their knowledge beyond that which God had bestowed upon them when they were created in a perfect environment, in a perfect human body, with perfect human functions from their intelligence to their emotions across the full spectrum.

Everything was perfect. But they were tempted with more than that. They were tempted to increase their knowledge, again, beyond the capacity that they were ready for at that time. It was a temptation that bore too much power to turn down, in fact, because, as we know, when that temptation was delivered, we partook.

We became as gods, which was actually part of the temptation, and that was confirmed by God himself a few verses later in Genesis 3, where the fall of man is described. We became as gods, and this portal was opened up for our knowledge, so that we could perceive not only the goodness that was already abounding in our presence, but also the evil.

We, for the first time, had the knowledge of good and evil together. So, in other words, what happened was we got exactly what we asked for. We wanted it, we asked for it, and so we got it. We received it, the knowledge of good and evil.

And by we, by the way, I do mean exactly that. I know it was Adam and Eve, they were the instruments, but I do believe that every one of us, any given one of us in this room, any given human being that has ever lived, I do believe that they would have grasped for that exact same power that was so tempting to Adam and Eve in the first place.

Just as Eve, just as Adam, we would have grasped for that knowledge of good and evil ourselves. So, in light of that, what exactly do we have on our hands today, in the 21st century, as believers in Christ?

What do we have on our hands now? Well, what we have is the reality that if we live long enough, if any one of us lives long enough, we will suffer. We will experience grief. We will experience times, in some cases, of acute suffering.

Very, very bad stuff. If we live long enough, we will suffer. We will experience that. We will experience grief and hardships and sorrows because we got what we asked for. Now, on top of that, as we know, the range of suffering in a fallen world is very comprehensive.

We have cancer and disease. We have natural phenomena, just like we experience with Hurricane Milton. Tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis. Of course, there's financial distress, like the stress of perhaps losing a job or being in a tough spot at any point in your life.

The loss of a spouse, the loss of a child, the loss of anyone that you love. These are all forms of suffering and grief. All you have to do is live long enough, and you'll experience some form of these things.

And, if you don't live long enough to experience any of them, your departure will be the cause of grief for somebody else. It's all interwoven, and it's all a result of what we asked for. The truths that we just discussed leave us with two important questions to ask.

Number one, what is the purpose of this suffering? Is there a purpose? If so, what is it? And, number two, what do we do about it as we experience it? So, answering those questions, or those questions themselves, actually, are going to kind of set the context for our ultimate topic today.

Of course, as I mentioned, is the sufficiency of Christ in suffering. And, that's actually going to be our third point. So, point number one, we're going to discuss the source of grief. Point number two, we're going to discuss the purpose of grief.

And, point number three will be the sufficiency of Christ in suffering. So, let's start with point number one, the source of grief, the source of suffering. As we've already alluded to, the source of grief is, of course, tied directly to our choices, getting what we asked for.

We want the knowledge of good and evil. And so, the grief that comes with that evil comes directly from the choices that were made, specifically our choice, again, to have the knowledge of good and evil in all things.

Now, this is a very important foundational piece to have laid out because, as we know, the Bible explicitly discusses God in His character and His creation as what? Good. In fact, not just good, but everything that God made was made very good.

So, then we're left with this predicament of, if everything that God made was good, how can there be so much suffering in this world? Well, we know it couldn't proceed from what God made directly because, as we know, what He made was very good.

Therefore, what is the source? Well, the source of such grief and sorrow that totally permeates the human experience must be derived from something else. And that thing is what you might call the fall, the fall of man.

Genesis 3 discusses the full narrative, the source of the grief that we observe around us, the source of the types of things that we will be discussing. The fall of man is such an essential reality that, even though it's not always the most fun topic to talk about, it is nonetheless instrumental in a topic like this because the fall is what is wrong with the world.

It's why we look around and have a tough time understanding certain things sometimes, understanding why things are happening the way they are to the people that they're happening to, whatever it may be.

It is so important to remember the answer ultimately comes back to the fall of man. That is why things happen. That is why things are happening. The origin for pain, the origin for suffering and evil, it all comes back to the fall.

The fall is why I am here today preaching the sermon and why we're not all walking with the Lord in the cool of the day right now. It's the fall. The fall is why you need imperfect humans like me to proclaim the word of the Lord and not getting to hear it from the Lord himself.

Every aspect of life that is not ideal is a result of the fall of man. In other words, evil and suffering, in some way or other, is tied back to that, and that is the source of our hardship. So when we read through the Bible, one thing that we're going to find is a very curious thing, because we find that despite the utter moral failure of people, including us, but people throughout all of human history, beginning with Adam all the way until the day that the Lord comes back and sets things right, the second Adam, we find that despite that utter moral failure on our part, over against, by the way, because you've got to remember the contrast, over against the utter holiness of the God that created everything in the first place, to the highest degree, holiness to the highest degree, the curious thing is that people aren't just wiped out wholesale.

How can the presence of such sin and moral failure ever even exist in a universe where the Holy God exists somewhere and also is the source of all of that as well, the source of the universe itself? How can these things coexist?

How can this contrast even be allowed, for lack of a better term? Well, the reason that it can even be a thing is by the Lord's long-suffering Spirit. It's by His long-suffering Spirit, His forbearance, that His judgment has not already fallen upon the world.

And so, you know, how is this even possible? Well, suffering and grief, of course, isn't the surprise of the biblical narrative. The fact that we are not totally wiped out, the fact that there is something called grace, is the great surprise of the biblical storyline.

And so, go to Luke chapter 13 for a second, and I want to demonstrate what this grace looks like in the midst of a race that otherwise is deserving of much worse than it receives around us, much more than what we do see happening around us, as much grief and suffering as there is.

You think of the story of Noah and the ark, of course, you think, well, there's an example where the human race was wiped out, but it wasn't wiped out wholesale. Of course, there was Noah, there was the eight that survived and that propagated the human race that currently exists.

We are all sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, of course, but we are also all descendants of Noah and his three sons. And so the Lord, in His grace, it was grace that Noah found in the eyes of the Lord that we are here and not wiped out of the presence of a holy God to the fullest degree.

Look at Jesus' words in Luke chapter 13. Let's start in verse 1, and this is a very bizarre story. I think you'll see why in just a second. There were present that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

Already kind of bizarre. What on earth is he talking about? Pilate? Okay, we know who he is. He's a man in leadership. And apparently, because of Pilate, there were these people whose blood was mingled with their sacrifices.

What's that about? We'll look at it in just a second. Look at verse 2. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things?

An interesting question. Look at verse 3. I tell you, no, but except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And then look at verse 4. Or what about those 18 upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew them?

Do you think that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish. What is going on here? Think about this for a second. There are two types of suffering here that Jesus brings into this story.

Two true stories, by the way. This isn't a parable. This is him recounting actual historical facts that are surrounding their immediate area. And within those, you find two forms of suffering. Number one, we see that there was suffering caused by a wicked man.

This man called Pilate. What he was doing is he was sending in Roman soldiers to punish these people that were bringing sacrifices to their altar and killing them on the spot to the point where it was mingling their blood with the sacrifices that they were going to sacrifice to God.

And so the first example of suffering is brought forth by the wickedness of man, the wickedness of a man like Pilate, slaughtering people before the very altar that they were going to worship from and mingling their blood with their sacrifice.

That's what's happening in verse 1 of chapter 13. So you have suffering in that sense, but you also have suffering caused by acts of nature. You have this tower that just randomly fell one day. There wasn't a siege around it.

There weren't men attacking it or anything like that. You had people around this tower or in this tower, and the tower just fell. And 18 people died because of it. Really bizarre stuff. And 18 people died as a result of it.

So Jesus gives us two very distinct examples of suffering, very different from one another. Suffering caused by a wicked man, suffering caused by acts of nature. Now, in light of all of this, I want you guys to think about Jesus' words in both cases, His response in both cases.

In both cases, Jesus wants to make sure that people don't come away with the wrong conclusion about the people involved in these very sad things that took place. He wants us to make sure we don't have the wrong conclusion.

You can't conclude that those who died are more wicked than those who didn't. That's exactly what He said when He says, Do you suppose that those Galileans that were killed by the wicked man Pilate, whose blood was mingled with their sacrifices, do you suppose that they were sinners above all the other Galileans?

Do you suppose they were more wicked than you? I say, no, they were not. Repent, lest you perish. That was His response. So they weren't more wicked than those who didn't die. And obviously we can't conclude that, well, okay, so the playing field has just been leveled by Jesus.

That can't mean that everyone is inherently good, because there is, of course, death and suffering before us here. So what does it mean? What it means is that everyone, what Jesus is saying is that everyone deserves the same thing.

Everybody, including those He is talking to, deserves to have what happened to these other people happen to them. In other words, this isn't Jesus bringing kind of the cliche, why do bad things happen to good people, forth.

He's saying, do you see the suffering and grief happening around you? Do you think it's happening to them because they are worse sinners than you? The answer is no. And unless you repent and believe, you will also perish.

That is how He addressed this particular issue. So again, the proper conclusion here with regard to grief is not that it should be this confusing anomaly when it pops up in our lives and all of a sudden we're suffering.

It shouldn't be confusing. It's not an anomaly. But rather, when it occurs, it's a necessary consequence of the sin, of our sin in general, the human race's sin, and getting what we asked for in the first place when we wanted that knowledge of good and evil together.

Not just goodness isolated, not just the pleasure that was the Garden of Eden, but we wanted to be as gods. That was the temptation, and so we took it. And again, secondly, as we read this biblical storyline from start to finish, from the first verse in Genesis to the last verse in Revelation, the great surprise is not that we have to deal with grief and suffering in the first place, but rather that there is grace that covers all of it.

That there is grace from the condemnation that each and every person deserves. The source of our grief, the source of the suffering that we will experience, comes back to the fall of man and to the sin that ushered in that fall, that ushered in all of the grief and all of the suffering.

So now we've covered the source. We know that everything God created was good, and yet man wanted to be as gods. And so the fall occurred, and suffering and grief followed. But now let's look at point number two for a second and consider what could possibly be the purpose in all of it?

Because surely if we worship a sovereign Lord, if we worship a sovereign God, there's going to be purpose in everything even when we can't even come close to understanding it yet. Well, by God's grace, speaking of that, He lays out many things in the New Testament to help us start to grasp it.

It may not be in full, because we are meant to be sanctified and to be continually growing in His Word through His Spirit until the day we meet Him where all of that is consummated. And then we continue learning about Him even in heaven, even in the new earth someday.

So all of that's by design. But remember, there's purpose in everything. If we worship a sovereign God, if we serve a sovereign God, if the Creator is sovereign, then there is purpose. So let's look at the purpose of this grief.

And to increase the context just a bit for this section, I'd like to point your attention to the fact that everything that we go through in this life, everything that we experience, should be considered in light of eternity.

In other words, when we experience suffering of any kind, we have to ask, what are the eternal implications of this? Oftentimes, it's really easy to shift our focus in the immediate now and start asking questions from that point out rather than starting with, well, wait a second.

I've got a lot of life to live. Those around me have a lot of life to live. And I know that after the life on this earth ends, it's really just the beginning. The life on this earth is just the preamble to eternity with the Creator.

So what does all of this mean in light of eternity? You don't have to turn back to Ecclesiastes if you don't want, but I want to look at that verse we opened with one more time, Ecclesiastes 3 .11. Let me read it really quick one more time and just highlight a couple of things that help breach this a little bit for us.

It says, again, He hath made everything beautiful. What's the key phrase? In His time. So everything is beautiful from the eyes of the Lord because all of it is moving toward this great, again, consummation of the creation, of redemptive history, of His return.

Heaven will be brought down and it will be experienced on this earth. And so in light of all of that, everything that He has made is beautiful. In His time. But it continues. Also, He hath set the world in their heart.

Now the word, the Hebrew word for world there, He hath set the world in their heart. It would be better translated eternity. It would be better translated eternity here. It could mean a couple of things, but in the context, think about it in these terms.

He hath set eternity in their heart. Who is the they? It is those faithful to God. Solomon is talking to men that are faithful to the Lord, that recognize His sovereignty over things so that they can take pleasure in life and not just fall into total despair.

It's one of the great themes of the book of Ecclesiastes. He hath set eternity in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Now this is interesting because He just told us that He put eternity in our heart.

And you would think, well, maybe that's the beginning of a deeper knowledge of the why behind everything. But He immediately follows it by saying, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

He put eternity in our heart because He loves us and because we have an eternal spirit that will dwell with Him forever. And that eternity in our heart does give us a yearning to know more about Him. But at the same time, He is a God so much bigger than us that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Now the fact that we have the world or eternity, more literally, in our hearts doesn't mean that we understand eternity. I kind of alluded to that just now. It's actually quite the opposite. It says no man can know the work which God does from the beginning to the end.

It requires faith in God to actually enjoy life. Think about this for just a second. It requires faith in God, trust in Him, relying on His sufficiency. In spite of the fact that we don't have the full knowledge of His power, the full knowledge of His purpose from the beginning to the end, it requires faith for us to have joy in life and rejoice in all things in spite of that lack of knowledge rather than to despair because of that lack of knowledge.

We could walk around, and because we just don't have the answers to all of the things that happen to us, all of the things that happen to those around us, we could walk around despairing that because we are meager humans and God is God.

Or we can actually flip the script a little bit and rejoice in life and actually enjoy the pleasures that we get when the times are good during peacetime because of the fact that everything is ultimately in His hand.

Faith, having faith in Him can bring that joy. The fact that we trust that everything is in His hand. But because it is in our hearts, because we have eternity in our hearts and because we have a yearning to know why things happen the way that they happen, it means that we can and that we should consider everything that happens around us in light of eternity.

We should be thinking about what does this mean in the grand scheme of things. Yes, it's hard now, and remember, this is all to set the groundwork for being prepared for things. I realize that in the midst of crisis and in the midst of grief, we'll actually talk about that near the end, there are different approaches that might be necessary, but getting prepared for it and considering the suffering and the grief in light of eternity, in light of the grand scheme of things, we have eternity in our heart.

So because of that, we should think about it. We should consider it even when we don't get all of the answers. Everything that happens to us, it's us witnessing the very storyline of the perfect storyteller.

And that storyline sometimes includes grief, but ultimately for our good. And that's one of the beautiful truths of Romans 8 .28. All things work together for good for those that love Him. That is obviously something that we shouldn't forget ourselves.

But what Solomon is talking about here, one of the things that he says is he hath made everything beautiful in his time, and that includes the grief of his people being a beautiful thing in his time. Sometimes his timeline looks different than ours.

Sometimes his timeline is different than the way we wish it were. But in his time, it will be made beautiful. So what does that look like to consider eternity? What does it look like to be in the midst of grief, but to consider the eternal?

Well, the Apostle Paul helps us with that.

Take a look at 2 Corinthians 4 now. We're going to be looking at a number of passages, by the way, so yes, we will be turning a little bit. But again, I want you guys to see these things with me because they're so beautiful, and they are so helpful in preparing us for the tough times that are inevitable.

Because of the fall, they are inevitable. Look at 2 Corinthians 4, and look at verse 16. In the midst of grief, in the midst of suffering, what does it look like to consider eternity? What does it look like to think about it in the context of the eternal rather than just the very moment, the singular, linear moment that you're in?

Look at verse 16. For which cause... Or actually, let's take a look at verse 15. It gives just a little bit of the context for what Paul's talking about. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

For which cause we faint not. The glory of God, that is the cause. For that cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. That's a reference to something that the Bible calls the new man.

That is the part of us that is regenerated. It's the part of us that has been re-gened in the likeness of God's lineage, God's heirs. We are His joint heirs. We are His family. And so that's a little reference there.

The inward man being renewed day to day. It's a reference to the new man. But look at verse 17. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us far more exceeding in eternal weight of glory.

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not are eternal. So the apostle Paul, listen, if you want to look at a guy that experienced absolute severe acute degree, excuse me, acute suffering to the highest degree, look no further than the apostle Paul.

I'm excluding our Lord Jesus, of course, because He bore the sins of the world. Talking about humanity here, other men like us, the apostle Paul, is a great example of what it looks like to get through suffering and grief.

One of the reasons he was able to get through it is because he thought about eternal things. For this light affliction, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding in eternal weight of glory.

When we're experiencing that affliction ourselves, when we're experiencing that grief ourselves, remember that it is working together a far more exceeding in eternal, not temporal, but eternal weight of glory.

So at a minimum, we can know that one of the purposes of our suffering is to work out an eternal weight of glory far beyond our comprehension. Now, in light of Paul's words here, I want us to consider a few of the Biblical reasons behind grief.

So that was kind of, we're talking about the purpose of grief now. In the passage in Ecclesiastes, and then Paul's words here in 2 Corinthians 4, I believe, kind of set the tone for us to start to understand that there even can be purpose in grief in the first place.

But I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Turn to these passages with me because I want you all to see them. So important. Hebrews chapter 12. And I want us to start to get an idea of the various purposes behind grief that we experience.

And there are more purposes, obviously, than can even be touched in a single sermon, but we're going to look at a few. First look at Hebrews chapter 12, and let's look at verse 4, beginning of verse 4.

And this is another very interesting passage to keep in mind as we live our lives. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. It's kind of an interesting starter there. We don't hate our sin enough to where we have been striving to the point of bloodshed yet.

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son despise not thou chastening of the Lord, for nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.

Now here's where it starts to get really, really interesting. Let me read that last part one more time. My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, inscourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with his sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof are all partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons.

Furthermore, ye have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, and we might be partakers of his holiness.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. Can we get an amen? But grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Now I want you guys to keep something in mind really quick.

In addressing this passage, I'm covering my bases here to the best that I can. Of course, the great failure of the friends of Job was assuming that he was being chastened because of some sin habit or something like that, when in reality it was all meant to be a demonstration of God's sovereignty and power all along.

And so in covering this passage, it's not to say that every bit of grief and suffering that we will experience in our lives is because of a particular sin, but the point is there are times when the Father chastens us.

But what's the purpose? It's to purify us. It's to make us better. Unlike the selfish, brutish guys that love power and that beat their subjects and chastise their subjects for the pleasure of that, that is a gross disfigurement of what a master should look like, what a father should look like, what a person in authority should look like.

What it actually looks like is the Father of life, the Father of eternal spirits that we have. And He chastens us and disciplines us when we need it, even when it doesn't feel good in the morning, in the morning, in the moment, in the morning too, but in any moment that it happens, whether it's morning, evening, or whatnot, on the weekend or during the week, it never feels good in the moment, which Paul was quick to point out, it feels grievous in the moment, but it is serving something far greater.

It is serving the growth that we experience in the sanctification process, something we talked about two Sundays ago. But even still, according to Hebrews, there are times of chastening for the believer.

There are times when that chastening comes, and while it does yield a form of grief, a form of suffering, it is actually a result of God's never-ending love for us. And so just consider that. When we go through times of suffering, of grief, when tough things are happening in our lives, there may be something going on where the Lord is pruning the tree.

He's the husbandman. He's pruning the tree, and trees look rather ugly when they're first pruned, but it brings a more bountiful harvest later. It makes them much more beautiful later, something we were talking about last week, Jared and Nisha.

And so this chastisement is for our own good, even though it brings grief in the moment. So there is at least one purpose of grief, at least one. Again, not that every situation of grief and suffering means we're being chastened by our Father in that moment, but sometimes it does.

So one purpose of suffering and grief in this life is to purify us, make us more holy as He is holy, to prepare us for the day that we see Him for the first time. Now, let's take a look. I know we're flipping back and forth a lot, but go back to 2 Corinthians for a second.

2 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians 1 this time. And we're about to see another interesting reason why suffering and grief even exists. What is a purpose that is drawn out from the suffering and the grief that we experience?

And this is one that just warms your heart because it makes you realize the way in which God uses His people. He can actually work through the grief and through the suffering that we experience to make us better people for other people.

Take a look at this. Look at verse 1. Excuse me, chapter 1, verse 1. And we're going to read through a little bit of a portion of it here for context.

But it says,.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God and Timothy our brother, entered the church of God, which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Listen to this.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of 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.

Now, that's a little bit of a mouthful. But think about what he's saying for a second. He's saying that, number one, he's there to comfort us. But what is there to be comforted by if there's not some suffering and grief alongside it?

Suffering and grief, as they occur, brings out a particular character of God. Think about what is even the purpose of us existing. The purpose of it is so that the triune God who preexisted every aspect of creation had all of these wonderful, perfect attributes that no one knew about because no one existed yet, including the angels.

And so God, in this grand plan, created everything out of nothing but also set the course for the wonderful thing known as redemptive history. It's the history of man, but with the specific view of Christ's redemption of those men.