Richard Wurmbrand's sermon emphasizes the importance of listening to God and others while understanding the role of suffering in faith and life afflictions.
This sermon delves into the themes of affliction, abortion, and the importance of listening to God, Jesus, and nature. It reflects on the suffering experienced in communist countries like China and the need to endure afflictions with faith. The speaker emphasizes the significance of listening to God's voice amidst life's challenges and the eternal glory that awaits those who endure afflictions with grace.
Full Transcript
How does Jesus Christ, when he reads Ephesus, what does he think? Well, in Hebrews 10 and in Hebrews 6, when we see Jesus speaks about Son, who clung to Him under their feet, it is written in Hebrews 10, that Son clung to the Son of God under their feet. In Hebrews 6, it is written about Son, who crucified Him again. And what it is written in Isaiah, is that He is afflicted in all our afflictions.
You can't be afflicted without God participating in your afflictions. And He is afflicted, we have seen what He has done to a child, and He did the same with such a child. There was such a child.
Even Joseph wished to heal her. And when he, in a certain moment, suspected her, they remembered there was a baby. And he was a king.
And we would say now, the High Court, or the Congress, or the Senate. Okay. So he was a king.
And they decided to kill him. And when he hears, it's not so much the act of abortion, but the thought which goes before him, and the child thinks it was not his will. And they get rid of him, they just kill him.
And the child hears this thought, and I would recommend to all of you, in this issue of Life Magazine, the issue of July, there is a conversation with a certain Mrs. Daniel Brown, who committed abortion. And she says, whenever my baby, at the moment of the abortion, the... All right, thank you. When I brought my baby, I felt the child inside, to be so hard, it rolled backwards.
It did not wish that it should take me, and it tried to hide itself, the child. So the child knew that abortion comes, she tells it. A very interesting article in Life Magazine.
So the one says, we don't listen to God. We don't listen to the child. We don't listen to Jesus.
To whom do we listen? We talk about abortion. Instead of listening. And we will learn, to be silent, to hear these verses, and thank God for the years of solitude, that I learned to listen.
That I listened to many... This is a reminder, easy type stuff. Don't mind it, it will cost you a little bit. I learned to be jealous in those sorts of senses.
In Romania, we have a problem. As long as there is no curse, no priest in the ring. So, I never speak, and when I talk, I know, I know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, in the world sometimes, my talk is such a terrible talk. But I mean it is, almost perfect. We have to learn to listen.
To listen to God. To listen to nature. To listen to Jesus.
And to listen, to listen. I mean, it's such a curse. In the world.
It's just a little bit of nonsense. If you ask the child of three or of four, do you wish to remain without money or without family? They all do that. We take decisions, which involve them too.
And they somehow need to accept. And so we take this decision, without thinking about it. But when you learn to ask God, when you work inside this state, it is not the only key of your soul, it is the key of your heart.
You have heard the communism speech, it is not the only speech. Every fifth person in the world, is a communist. There are 5 billion men in the world, 1 billion are in China.
And in China there is a terrible communist terror, a terrible idea, that has been there for 40 years. And what a terrible person, one who was there, there was a joke with him. A Chinese, who had been 32 years, in Tibet and Greece, he went to Tibet and Greece, he was a Christian.
He was there many times, saintly, a pastor. And he talked of the parenting space, the head is back, so that he could not move, he could not defend himself. And then, he shook over his head, he looked at, his human face, and his human being.
He shook it over his head. So they give him food. He could not eat from his head, because his hands were tightly on the back.
They threw the food on the floor, and he knew it was not. And yet, to bow down to the earth, and to eat this food, that is mixed with food, with human beings, and all this. Things like this are happening in China right now.
And most of those are enjoying this stuff. Now the interesting thing, as I begin to tell you, about, about, that it is eclectic, but it has also a worse part, as this creation of the god, everything has a worse part. Death, must not be only, must not be only a tragedy, it is the entrance in a new world.
And, if Jesus says, there is a lot of human, who are completely innocent, it is a terrible crime. But they are in heaven now, they are safe. So, suffering in communist countries, in Chinese countries, in such a terrible thing like this, is a worse part.
In terrorism, and so many tortures. And then they ask us, how could we bear all these things? And to begin to sin, to sin. In America, I found a kind of birds, which don't exist in my country.
In my country, birds sing every day. Birds sing every day in America too. But there is one kind of birds, which don't exist in me, the American Christians.
They sing only on Sunday. Here it is, isn't it a right to sing to God? They sing every day. It is not like they sing even on Sunday.
In prison, we sing every day. And we sing, being accompanied by music listeners. They do not give us memories of their music, which have been too expensive for the community.
But they give us instruments, which we use, and we discover that we use them as musical instruments. We could sing, the day, the day, the world is made, the world is made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. And one day, I asked this brother, how will you live 32 years of such treatment, and you will not remember anything, which you lived through in the last 30 years? He began to sing.
He began singing. Thou art all that man is ever feeling, and the human being is being cremated day by day. That is from the second Corinthians 4, 17.
So our life affliction, which is but for a moment, is but in summers, a far more exceeding and eternal rate of glory. 22 years we can live days, a life affliction, which is but for a moment. How do we take our life afflictions? How do we take our life afflictions? That is how it took 22 years to be but for a moment, a life affliction.
One told me, a nurse came to me and said, I can't bear it anymore, I've been in it for 60 years, and I'm fed up. She talks and talks and talks and nags and nags and there's a whole day and night she's nagging me. I said, what is your occupation? She said, I work in a factory.
So how many hours a day do you work? 8 hours a day you work, 2 hours a day you have to go and buy food, 8 hours a day you sleep, make 6 meals, so she can buy you only 6 hours.
Sermon Outline
-
I
- Understanding Jesus' perspective on affliction
- The significance of listening to God and others
- The impact of abortion on the innocent
-
II
- The role of suffering in communist countries
- The importance of faith amidst persecution
- The contrast between American and Romanian Christian practices
-
III
- The eternal perspective on life afflictions
- Finding joy in suffering through worship
- The value of resilience in faith
-
IV
- The necessity of silence to hear God's voice
- The consequences of neglecting the innocent
- The importance of community in faith
Key Quotes
“You can't be afflicted without God participating in your afflictions.” — Richard Wurmbrand
“We have to learn to listen.” — Richard Wurmbrand
“Our life affliction, which is but for a moment, is but in summers, a far more exceeding and eternal rate of glory.” — Richard Wurmbrand
Application Points
- Practice active listening to better understand the needs of others.
- Embrace suffering as a means to grow in faith and resilience.
- Engage in daily worship to deepen your relationship with God.
