God Allows Trials To Humble Us

When we look at Revelation chapter 2 and 3, and take warnings for our churches from the churches planted by the apostles, like I said, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. So, we must learn, how is it that a wonderful church like the church in Ephesus, planted by Paul, after some years, lost their first love. The last time that Paul met with those elders, he warned them, after I go, wolves will come in, be careful. And, I think I know, why it fell. Because they would have said, no, that won't happen to us. And the Bible says, let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. You think it will not happen to your church? Your church will be the first one to which it will happen. Paul once said, I am afraid that I myself will be disqualified. And so, I discipline my body. I don't allow my eyes to look where they like, or my tongue to speak what it likes. Otherwise, I will be disqualified. Paul says that in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, the last verse. And that is why he never fell away. Because he never said, that will never happen to me. But there are other people who say that. And they are the first people to fall away. And the church that lives in fear, Lord, this can happen to our church. That church will be protected because it has learnt from the mistakes of others. An elder brother who says, it will not happen to me, he will be the first one to fall. Or a brother or sister who hears warnings and says, no, no, no, that won't happen to me. There is danger. So, it's good for us to take the warnings of scripture seriously. Let me give you one of those warnings in Hebrews chapter 3. He is talking to believers. He says in chapter 3 verse 1, you are partakers of a heavenly calling. I know, I know that Jesus is the high priest and apostle of our confession. And to such believers he says, Take care brothers, lest in one of you, there will be an evil unbelieving heart and falling away from the living God. When you read a word like that, what do you say? Say, no, it won't happen to me. If you live in fear, it will never happen to you. But if you take a casual attitude and say, no, no, no, I am alright. Take care that in one of you, there is not an evil unbelieving heart. One Corinthians chapter 10, It says in verse 12, Therefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. And in Romans 11, It speaks there about verse 17, about some of the branches that were broken off. That is the Jewish people. God rejected them. Because of pride. Now he says verse 18, you be careful that you don't be arrogant towards them. Verse 20, they were broken off for their unbelief, but now you are standing by faith. And now listen to this word. Don't be high minded, but fear. Don't be high minded, but fear. I would say that to every believer, elder brother, younger brother, sister, everybody. Don't be high minded, but fear. What happened to another can happen to you. So cling close to the Lord. And when we look at Revelation 2 and 3, As I studied all those seven churches, You know there were two churches that were in a good condition. Smyrna and Philadelphia. How is it that they were preserved? I see one thing common about both of them. They were both facing persecution and troubles. You read that in the Lord's writings to them. But the other churches were not facing any problems. Sometimes you may wonder, why am I facing so many problems? That is what is protecting you from falling away. That is what is protecting you from pride. Because it makes you come close to God. And say, Lord, I need your help. See, people who are facing trial and trial and trial, they are not likely to backslide. Backsliding begins when we have so much money and earthly wise, everything is going well with us. Even the Apostle Paul needed a thorn in his flesh to keep him humble. Do you think you are greater than him? If he needed something to humble him, what about you and me? And that is why God in his great wisdom gives us some type of trial. And we may wish and wish and wish, oh, I wish that trial would go away. But that trial is your salvation. You feel sorry for the people who don't have trials. Paul had a co-worker called Demas. I want to tell you something about him, Colossians. In Colossians chapter 4, see what he says. He is writing to the Colossian Christians of the Apostle Paul and giving them greetings. And he says in Luke 4.14, Luke, the beloved physician, sends you greetings and also Demas. So, Demas was a co-worker of Paul. See, Philemon, verse 24. Here is greetings coming to you from Mark and Aristarchus and Demas and Luke, my fellow workers. Do you know what an honor it was to be a co-worker with Paul? Paul did not select everybody. He was very careful whom he selects. If I was alive in those days and if Paul selected me, I would have thought, boy, it's a great honor for me. But that same man, Demas, a few years later, Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4. Verse 10. Demas has loved this present world and has deserted me. Why would you leave a man like Paul? You think Demas could find a better apostle than Paul? Why would Demas leave Paul? Because there was some love for the world. The world has got many, many things that can attract us. Now, when you think of a worldly believer, we first of all think of someone who is very stylish and all that. He is a worldly person. But those are all very obvious worldliness. Let me tell you what is the number one mark of worldliness. It is not the way you dress or living in grand style. There are many sadhus in different religions in India who are thoroughly worldly. They don't dress in grand style. They don't drive in big cars or anything. All Indian people think they are very holy. Because even Christians don't know what is worldliness. Now listen, the number one mark of worldliness is an independent spirit. I don't want to work with anybody else. I want everybody to listen to me. I don't want to work with anybody else. I want everybody to listen to me. Demas might have had that spirit. That's why he didn't care for Paul. He might have needed money. I don't know what he wanted. But even if he didn't need money, he might have wanted an independent spirit. Because all that he needed was for me to be alone and free. That is the number one mark of worldliness. See Acts chapter 20. Paul speaks to the elders in Ephesus in verse 17. He calls the elders and speaks to them. And he says in verse 29, I know after my departure wolves will come into your midst. And listen to verse 30. This is the independent spirit. Among you elders, some will arise and draw away disciples after them. That is the independent worldly spirit. I will draw some disciples after me. A true servant of God draws people to Christ. But a counterfeit servant of God draws people after him. And these good elders who Paul had taught them for three years, they were going to finally become worldly. So Demas was like that. Maybe he wanted to draw some disciples after him. He said, I am not going to work with Paul, I am going to work myself. I won't listen to anything that Paul says. I am going to get some following myself. I don't know what happened to Demas finally. Let me tell you, He was a very good brother once, the co-worker of Paul. Please listen to me. I will not be surprised if today Demas is in hell. That can happen. Because he lost the protection that he had when he was with Paul. God allows trials and difficulties to protect us. See what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12. Because I was getting so many revelations, 2 Corinthians 12.7 To keep me from becoming proud and exalting myself. You say, Paul, were you in danger of pride? I have known you for so many years, you are such a humble brother. You never exalted yourself. But Paul says, Brother, all of us are in danger of pride. All of us are in danger of lifting ourselves up over other believers. Paul would say, I tried my best always to humble myself. But God who loved me, He saw in spite of all that I did, I was still in danger. And the Lord saw that. And quickly gave me some problem. It was like a thorn in my flesh. You know how you feel if one big thorn has got into your hand. You can't take it out. It gets infected. And it's paining. It's terrible. Paul says, spiritually I had a problem like that. He calls it in verse 7, a messenger of Satan. And I prayed. Verse 8. Three times. Lord, this is from Satan. In Jesus name, I resist it. I cast it out in Jesus name. But tomorrow morning, it's still there. All my prayer and rebuke and nothing has happened to this. The messenger of Satan is still there. And again, Lord, maybe I didn't pray hard enough. I'm going to fast and pray. In Jesus name, get up. Next week, it's still there. A third time. Still no answer. And the Lord says, Paul, I'm not going to take it away. You need that. Why Lord? I have to have a messenger of Satan troubling me? Didn't you defeat Satan on the cross? Why should this messenger of Satan trouble me? I don't know what it was. It could have been a sickness. Or it could have been some problem, I don't know. But one thing we know, it was a messenger of Satan. Sickness is from Satan. And sometimes you pray and God does not remove it. Some people have problems in their families. They pray and pray and pray and God does not remove it. It is from the devil, definitely. This is from Satan. It is written there, a messenger of Satan. And what does he do? He keeps on, it says, buffeting me, buffeting me, buffeting me. That means he is keeping on hitting me. Imagine, Satan keeping on hitting me, hitting me, hitting me. And I say Lord, stop it. Tell him to stop it. God says no. Lord, you are going to allow me, a servant of God, to be keep on hit by Satan? Yes. Why Lord? Because I have blessed you so much. I have blessed your ministry so much. You don't realize it, but you are in danger of pride. You don't understand now, why I am doing it. But one day when you stand with me, you will say, thank you Lord for that. So God allows some trial from Satan, to come into the lives of his best children. Because he calls it a gift from God also. A thorn, and he says, it was, you see in verse 7, it was given to me. It's like a gift God gave. Imagine, if somebody sends you a nice, in a shiny paper and ribbon, a gift for your birthday. Beautiful paper and box. From somebody who loves you very much. And you open it. And it's a thorn. What sort of gift is this? That is what God gave Paul. A thorn. A messenger of Satan. To keep him from becoming proud. Why? Because God resists the proud. And he loved Paul so much, he did not want to resist him. He said, Paul, I love you so much. I never want to be your enemy. But if you become proud, I will automatically become your enemy. So that is why I am allowing this trial to be in your life. You have prayed three times, even if you prayed 300 times, I will not remove it. But I will give you something to conquer it. Satan will be there. The thorn will be there. But my grace will help you to go overcome it. I heard of a story of a servant of God who was facing some problem like this. And he kept on praying, Lord, take it away, take it away, take it away. Do you find some problem like that in your life? Maybe you are facing a problem in your office. And you prayed and prayed and prayed, nothing happened. Or you have a difficult neighbor. Always troubling you. And you pray, Lord, please let him vacate that house and go and rent some other house. And then one day you hear the news that he has bought that house. He is going to be there forever. You say, Lord, I was praying that he would move it to some other house. No, he has bought it. The Lord says, you need that. Because I have blessed you so much, you have to be humble. The more God has blessed you, the more you need something to humble you. The only man who walked on this earth who did not need it was Jesus Christ. He never needed a thorn in the flesh. He always remained humble. But the best man next to him, the Apostle Paul, needed it. So, I don't think you and I are better than Paul. If God has not blessed you much, maybe you don't need it. But if he has blessed you and blessed your ministry and done things through you, you need some type of thorn in the flesh, definitely. No matter how much you pray, it won't go. I'm not saying you shouldn't pray. Pray, keep praying. But if God doesn't remove it, don't grumble. Remember that his grace is enough for you to overcome it. So, I was telling you about the servant of God who had a problem like this. The problem was not going. Then he prayed. One day God gave him a dream. You know how sometimes we dream about things that we are thinking about a lot. So, in that dream, he saw himself like trying to cross a river in a boat. And under the surface of the water was a big rock. Which he could not see. And the rock, boat is always hitting that rock. Go this way, the rock is there. Long, long rock. He is saying, Lord remove that rock, remove that rock. He is praying in his dream. Rock is there. The rock is still there. Then he heard in his dream. The Lord saying, I will not remove the rock. But I will raise the level of the water. That your boat will go over that. He said, that is wonderful. I want to go to the other side. I want to obey you and do your will. So, the Lord says, I will raise the level of grace in your life. And then I will take you over. So, that is why sometimes God allows different problems in our life. There are some sicknesses, no matter how much you pray, it will not go. There are other sicknesses, in a moment the Lord will heal you. There are other problems you may face in your life, no matter how much you pray, it will not go. But God will give you grace. That is a wonderful verse, 2 Corinthians 12, 9. My grace is enough for you. That is one thing. The other promise is 1 Corinthians 10, 13. I will never allow the trial to become too much for you to bear. Keep those two things in mind. Never, never, never will God allow the trial to become so much that you cannot bear. I have been a believer 51 years now. I can give you my testimony. I have never faced a trial, which is too much for me to bear. And even in the trial, God has given me grace. Some of you know that people took me all the way to the Supreme Court. For 10 years it was going on. But not one day did I stop serving the Lord in those 10 years. Not one program of mine I cancelled in those 10 years. Not one night did I lose my sleep in those 10 years. Why? Not because I am so smart. I was weak. But God's grace is enough. Whatever your trial, you can get so worried if somebody takes you to the Supreme Court for 10 years. God can give you grace. See in Revelation 2, one of those churches and elders who was facing a problem, Revelation 2 verse 8, to the leader or the messenger, the church in Smyrna, write, one elder brother in one church, the Lord says, I know your tribulation, verse 9. And your poverty, but you are rich. And all those people who say they are Jews, but they are actually a synagogue of Satan. And there are people who call themselves Christians today, who may be the synagogue of Satan. And they may trouble you. A lot of my trouble has come from people who call themselves Christians. There are many people who call themselves Christians, but they are the synagogue of Satan. In the 35 years that we have been building the churches, 99% of our problem has come, not from Hindus or Muslims or atheists, but from Christians. Why do they hate us? We are not troubling them, but we are shining the light that is exposing the darkness in Christendom. And that's what they hate. The leaders hate us, the people love us. And the Lord says, I know all that. Don't fear, verse 10, what you are about to suffer. I want to say that to all of you. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Don't fear what you are going to suffer. The Lord tells this elder, the devil may cast some of you in your church into prison. Imagine an elder preaching to a church and the Lord has already told him, some of these brothers and sisters will be imprisoned in a few days. Not for doing anything wrong, but because they are bold witnesses for Jesus Christ, people who hate Jesus will put them into prison. Don't be afraid. Because I have determined how many days you will have that tribulation. You will have it for 10 days. It may be 10 days, it may be 10 years, that God determines that. But the important thing there is, it is not the government or the prison authorities who decide that, it is our father in heaven who decides that. it may not be prison in your case. See, there are prisons where we are locked up by the government. There are other types of prisons also that we can face in our life. Where I can't do something because I am like locked up in a situation. And those circumstances can be like a prison. And you say, Lord, how long am I going to be facing this? And the Lord says, I have determined the exact number of days which you will face this. See, when these court cases started against me, I did everything. I resisted in the name of Jesus, prayed, everything. Nothing happened. It just continued. But now when I look back, I know the Lord had planned exactly how long it will take. It was like here, 10 years. I did not know that then. If I had known it then, I would have been exhausted. Oh Lord, 10 years? But now when I look back, I see like the pillar of cloud leads us one day at a time. So the Lord does not allow us to see the future. Today, I will give you grace for today. Don't worry about tomorrow. That is a wonderful verse in Matthew chapter 6. Don't worry whether this thorn will be in your flesh tomorrow or not. Don't worry about it. Whether this problem person will be troubling you tomorrow or not. Don't worry. Today, he is troubling you. I have permitted it. Don't be afraid. I am going to give you grace. And I have also decided how long it will continue. See, some of you dear sisters, your husbands are not converted. And I don't know how much you suffer in your home because of that. It must be quite a lot. It is very very difficult when a woman's husband is not saved. Many of you sisters don't know that. You must be compassionate towards these sisters. That is why I always tell elder brothers, when you preach, please remember there are some sisters sitting like that in the church. Don't just preach hitting, hitting, hitting. That poor sister is already getting enough hits from her husband. She comes to the church to get some comfort. Not to get some more hits from the elder brother. I think some of you have hit the church enough. From today onwards, stop hitting them. Please give some encouragement. That's what many people are facing, life's battles. They are having financial difficulties. Maybe their children are struggling unlike your children. They don't have the money to educate their children like you had money to educate your children. Maybe their children are not so clever like your children to get good jobs. Be compassionate. Think about them and encourage them. Tell them that God loves them. That God's grace is sufficient for you. And you sisters, I don't know when your husband will get converted. But I say, keep on praying. Even if he is an idol worshipper. Even if he hates you. Even if he beats you. Go before God and say, Lord, save my husband. And help me to judge myself. I'll tell you a true story. There was a woman who had a husband like this. Always unconverted, always troubling her. And one day, he beat her and banged the door and went outside. But he didn't go away. He came around the house to the window of the bedroom. And wanted to see what is my wife doing. And he saw his wife coming to the bedroom and kneeling down. And prayed loud. She was praying loud. She did not know that her husband is listening. He was outside listening. And she prayed like this. Lord, I don't know why my husband is treating me like this. But I want to judge myself. I don't want to judge him. Maybe there is something wrong with me. Please show me how I can be a better wife to my husband. How I can have a meek and a quiet spirit. And her husband heard it. Really broke his heart. And thought, what a good wife I have. I beat him, beat her and she is still judging herself and not me. And he got converted. I want to say to you, don't judge others. Even if they are evil towards you. I remember these people who took me to court for 10 years. My wife and I prayed for them for 10 years. That they would repent. And we didn't have an evil attitude towards them. Even today we don't have it. Because, when the spirit of God fills you, nobody can make you hate another person. Let me ask you one question. Very simple question. Is the Holy Spirit more powerful or is Satan more powerful? Oh, definitely the Holy Spirit. So, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit and He fills you with love in your heart because God is love. And Satan, Satan is not inside you. He is coming from outside. And he is trying to make you hate, hate, hate, hate that person, hate that person. And the Holy Spirit inside is saying, love that person, love that person. In your life, who is winning? Holy Spirit or Satan? I hope God is winning in your life. Love your enemies. Remember that God will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability. He says, yes, you'll have tribulation. But it's only for 10 days. What should you do? Verse 10. Be faithful until death. Even if somebody kills you. You know, in the early days, many Christians were killed. Even today, in North India, some of our fellow believers are being killed. Some of our fellow believers in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan are being killed. In China, we don't have it so bad here. But even if it comes to that, say, Lord Jesus, I'll be faithful to you until I die. You know, if I die to myself everyday, I'll get so used to dying that when they kill my body, I say, okay, it's alright. Because we get so used to dying. So that's why we need to learn to die everyday. Be faithful until death. And the Lord says, I'll give you a crown of life. And he who has a ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying. That's what protected that church. That church became a good church because it faced tribulation. Look at this other church. In Laodicea. Chapter 3, verse 17. You say, I'm rich. I've become wealthy. I need nothing. I've got so much money. My children are well off. I've got a big house. I've got everything. I have no trials. And the Lord says, you don't know your real condition. You're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked. What's the use you got a promotion in your job? What's the use that you got so much money? Look at your spiritual condition. I want to make you an anointed servant of mine. Every time I give you a little trial to make you an anointed servant, you complain. When I send some little trial to break you, to humble you, to give you my grace, to give you my grace, to break you, to humble you, if I give you a little trial, why do you love this? Then you remain wretched, miserable, poor and blind. The Bible says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. What is the mighty hand of God? The mighty hand of God is those trials that he has permitted to come into your life. David is not our example. But we can learn something even from him who did not have the Holy Spirit like we have. Let me show you an example. 2 Samuel chapter 15. Sorry, chapter 16. There was a time in David's life when his own son Absalom rebelled against him and kicked him out of the throne. Can you imagine what a trial that is when your own son kicks you out of the house? Have any of you sitting here experienced that where your own son kicked you out of your house? Not from his house. There are some cases like that. The son invites you and there is some fight with the daughter-in-law or something and the son says, go. This is your house where your son is living and he kicks you out of the house. What a trial that is. David had it and he had to run for his life because his son wanted to kill him. Anybody here like that whose son wants to kill you? Oh, you think you have so many trials? These are all mosquito bites compared to what David was facing. You read these stories and you will be encouraged. And while he is running for his life, there is another fellow there. A relative of the old king Saul. He was so happy to see this David who kicked out my relative Saul. Now he is also being kicked out. So he says in verse 5, 2 Samuel 16, 5 A man from the house of Saul whose name was Shimei he came out continually cursing him and verse 6 he threw stones at him and David was surrounded by soldiers and Shimei says, get out, get out you man of bloodshed you worthless fellow The Lord is now punishing you for removing Saul from the throne. Accusing him of all types of lies. Have you had people like that accusing you of lies which you never did? And one of the soldiers said, let me go and cut off his head. King said, no. This is a wonderful verse, verse 10. You must remember it all your life. God showed it to me when I was a young man about 25 years old. David said, the Lord has told him, curse David. How can I fight against him? I will be fighting against God. When somebody curses you, can you say, the Lord has permitted it? David was in the old covenant, he couldn't understand it properly. He said, the Lord has told him to curse me. The Lord never tells anybody to curse. We are in the new covenant, we understand it better. The devil told him to curse me, but God permitted it. And if God has permitted it, I will accept it. And see the end of the story, how God delivered David and brought him back to the throne. And the same man Shemiah comes and asks David for forgiveness. God determined how many days David should be running away from the throne. And one day he will come back. You know, even a man like David, God had to break him even after he became king. And even if you are the most godly elder brother, when somebody in your church curses you, what do you do? David was old covenant, you are supposed to be new covenant elder brother. What is your attitude when somebody in your church curses you? And you've got all your loyal soldiers in the church to support you? And they come to you brother, let's teach him a lesson? Do you reply like David or do you reply like all the politicians in the world? Yeah, teach him a lesson. Take him out of the church. Teach him a lesson he will never forget. Let his family suffer, so that he learns not to curse me, the man of God. Brother, you should join politics, you are not fit to be in the church of Jesus Christ. Are you following Jesus who said, I am an ordinary man, did you call me prince of devils, you are forgiven? Our fundamental problem is, we don't have enough people who want to follow Jesus Christ. Ask yourself, have you at least come to that low old testament standard of David? Or are you lower than that also? Dear brother, sister, sister, when your husband curses you, hits you, learn from David. Lord, you have permitted him to do that. First of all, I want to forgive him. I want to pray that he will be saved. That is a godly man. That is a shepherd after God's own heart. He will build Zion. The others, with all their wonderful gifts, will only build Babylon. Yes, so God wanted Paul to build Jerusalem. So he gave him some trouble. I don't know what the thorn in the flesh was. It may not have been a sickness, it may have been a sickness. It may have been one or two brothers who were always troubling him. And you are saying, Lord, get him out. Lord says, no, they are going to be here. Because you need to be humbled, Paul. You think you are a wonderful brother. I have kept those brothers to humble you. Love them. Jesus loved Judas Iscariot till the end. And even when he came to betray him, he put his arm around him and said, friend, why have you come? Have you come to betray me with a kiss? He loved until the end. See John 13, verse 1. That's a great verse for all true disciples. Is your husband troubling you? Is your wife troubling you? Follow Jesus who loved until the end. John 13, verse 1. He knew that he has come from the father and he is going back to the father, so he loved people until the end. I didn't come from the father. I came from the pit. A child of the devil. But I know one thing, I am going to my father, that I know. And therefore, I will do what Jesus did. I will love until the end. Even my betrayer. And you read in the rest of the verses, Jesus began, verse 5, to wash the disciples' feet. Picture this now. He is washing one by one the disciples' feet. And now he comes to Judas Iscariot. He did not hesitate one moment. He didn't stop and say, should I wash his feet also? Just like John and James, he went and he took Judas' dirty feet in his hand and washed it. I cannot understand how even that did not melt Judas Iscariot's heart. What a hard man he was, because Judas entered his heart in verse 27. After Jesus washed his feet, he is still so hard. Even then, Jesus did not expose him. I want to love until the end. I may not agree with certain people, but nobody can have a fight with me. Because I will only fight with the devil. My duty is not to fight with human beings. My duty is to love human beings until the end. Because if God allows a trial in my life, that is for my good. That is to humble me. Because he sees I am in danger. So he gives me that troublesome person. To humble me so that I can get grace from God. I want it. I want to embrace Judas Iscariot. Because they are the means by which I get grace from God. Maybe your husband. Maybe a son. Maybe a wife. Maybe a neighbor. Maybe a boss. Maybe a troublesome person in your church. God wants to give you grace. In the past, you have missed it. Because you thought you are okay. You are not okay. You have tried to resist that gift of God. You did not think that thorn was a gift. I hope God opens your eyes today. That's great. Let's bow our heads before God. Whatever problem you face in your life or in your home. Learn to give thanks. Lord, I never knew till today I had to give thanks for that person. I want to give thanks for that trial. I want to give thanks for that difficulty. I want to see your mighty hand trying to humble me. Judas Iscariot does not want to humble himself. That's his business. I want to follow Jesus who humbled himself. Lord, I am ready to wash the feet even of Judas Iscariot. Thank you. In Jesus name. Amen.