In this sermon, the speaker shares a personal story about his son going skydiving and the intense emotions he experienced during the jump. He relates this to the need for believers to have a deep and unwavering faith in God's salvation. The speaker then references Psalm 31, highlighting the concept of long-suffering and the impact it can have on one's faith. He emphasizes the importance of enduring through trials and not doubting God's goodness, even in the midst of prolonged suffering.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. You're welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply. And I thank him for his awesome presence in this place all day. I thank him for his presence in my life. You thank him for that. And the prayer I know of many that sit here today is, Jesus increase your presence, your abiding presence in my life. I have a word today, it's called the glorious opposites, the glorious opposites. And as I was writing this message last night, I said to my husband, the purpose of this word that the Lord gave me, it's for a group of people and this is who it's for. This group is those that are in a trial of suffering because they are determined to trust God all the way through. There are people today that either are or will be going into a time of suffering. And that suffering will even be increased because there is something in you that you have determined that you are going to glorify God in it and through it. It's for every heart that is sincere and says, God, I want to never stop believing in you. But it's a heart that says, God, I'm needy and I'm poor. I know who I am, but I'm going to look to you and Jesus, lead me to a place I've never been before. Lord, it's got to be all of you because to glorify you, Lord, if I if I get mixed into it, then flesh wants to glorify itself. But Lord, I throw myself wide open to you and the enemy will try to paint a picture of what all that means. But I'm going to shut out his voice and I'm going to learn to walk with you and let you take me to a place only you can bring me. And when you bring me there, your presence will be enough and it will be a glory in it. Hallelujah. You pray with me, Lord Jesus, I thank you today for your presence. And I thank you for this word that you have given. Lord, I pray that. A wellspring of praise and the ability to magnify you, Lord, over and higher than every situation in our heart and in our lives will be granted to us by your great mercy. Lord, we thank you for a living word that creates faith. We thank you that Jesus, who is our living word, will come and be revealed. Holy Spirit revealed Jesus to us. Lord, let us desire him. Let us want him, O God. Let everything else pale in comparison to a Jesus that gets bigger in us and through us every day. Lord, I thank you for the call of many in this place today to come up higher and to go to a place in you and with you, Jesus, that will astound us. And I and close the mouth of our enemy. And Lord, we do thank you for it all in Jesus name. Amen and amen. When we determine to trust the Lord, that means we're trusting Jesus Christ, his son. And when we decide that we want to trust him through our times of adversity and trial, we are now inviting ourselves. We are we're entering crisis and entering is inviting us to enter into a battlefield we may not have known before. And he's going to be there. And he's looking for a people that he can lead to this place. You see, I believe that there's many here who have been very well taught. And because you have received a living word and Christ is in your heart by faith, and there's a growing desire to live for him as never before. God's saying there's that kind of people that. That for the elect's sake, for the body's sake, I can take this kind of people into ground that I can't lead everybody there. And because your willingness to follow me and because of the trials and some of the sufferings that that will entail. It is like you are offering yourself. For my glory, and I'm going to receive much glory if you will do that. And it's like for the elect's sake, many are going to feed off our lives. Many are going to look into our lives and see Jesus. And many are going to want him. This morning we heard an incredible message on suffering, but it wasn't a message. It was much more than a message. It really was a life. That has been offered on an altar. And saying, Lord, for those that I minister to, for the call of my life, do what you want. And we come and we feed off a life like that and a surrender like that. But it's not for the one or the two. This kind of glory that Jesus is inviting us to is for all those that can hear and will be led. Now we have to know right off the bat, we're all poor and needy. Those that say, Jesus, lead me wherever you have to lead me so that I may exalt you and magnify you. We understand that we are poor and needy. And that's what trusting God is about because our very weakness is our source of strength. The scripture says, when I am weak, then I am strong. Truly becomes a living reality to us. There's always going to be a pull back to trust ourselves. And when we trust ourselves in a time of suffering, in a time of trial, that's the ground for defeat. That's the ground where we lose the lesson and the power and the beauty of what Christ wants to teach us in the midst of our suffering. You know, to trust means to change. To trust means an exchange. To trust means something in us must die, that something of Christ will live in us in its stead. In 2 Corinthians 1.9, it says, but we have the sentence of death in ourselves so that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. And this is the journey that we're on. God is saying that those that I'm going to lead in, you're in suffering right now. You are in a trial. You're in adversity. God says you are on a glorious ground and you don't know it because you're coming to the end of yourselves in this suffering. It's a purifying. And you're realizing that you can't trust yourself and I can't trust myself in this place. And God says that's good because now a holy exchange can come on and the fear or the rebellion or the self-centeredness can be exchanged for my heart and life. Something of me will be replaced when something of you goes. And we have a sentence of dying in ourselves and that's a good thing, but we don't realize how good it is till we get in a place of suffering because we get stripped in suffering. And the things that are matter and all-consuming to us get revealed for what they are. How so much of it is just a diversion and so much of it is just a vanity to take us on another path. But if we've truly given our heart to Christ and we say, Lord, ride on King Jesus. No man will hinder me because I have heard, oh God, that when I would follow you into your death, burial and resurrection, there is a glorious life where you will prove yourself to be resurrection and life in me and through me all the time. That doesn't mean there aren't times of despair or darkness or loneliness, but it means a whole new way of living. It means that we conquer the fear that keeps us back. Suffering will do that. Because suffering takes away our options. Our strength to come to Christ in times of suffering is knowing our need and we begin to crave his presence in our suffering. When we suffer, nothing else satisfies and we begin to crave him. And faith that is produced exalts in this time is a faith that can exalt Jesus Christ above every difficulty. You see, when our difficulties are ever before our faith, it's hard to escape them. When our time of suffering and trial, when it's our hour to be in that place, there's no running from it. There's no hiding from it. It is there. And Jesus will come to us in such a sweet and strong way in that time. And he gives us through his word, all of a sudden, we can begin to hear him say, exalt me over what's facing you. Magnify me, put me and who I am and what I have done for you and what I am doing in you and what I will do for you through this. Put this above everything that you are facing. And when we can learn to exalt him and magnify him above everything, he becomes a God that we can bend our knee gladly to. He becomes a God that takes away the fear because every time we bend our knee and saying, God, right at this moment, you know what it costs, but I will exalt you over my fear and I will exalt you over my questions. He comes as King Jesus. He comes as the Prince of Peace. He comes as a comforter. He comes so strongly and so sweetly. Beloved, we get weaned. We get weaned of that which used to trap us and cause us to fall all the time. He's teaching us that our first response in times of suffering will be Lord, we turn immediately when the pressure, when the pain, when the fear comes. Lord, teach me a first response right away is, Lord, I will turn my heart to you and I will exalt you in that moment. You know, in Canada, there's a place, I won't tell you where, but there's a place we go fishing and there's huge fish. And the average catch is 10, 12 pounds, but occasionally we have hauled them in 30, 35 pounds. And when you haul these huge monsters in, without a doubt, they all have scars. You see, they got that big because they learned some things. They learned that everything that dangled and glittered before them could be a trap, could be something other than what it appears. And these big fish are scarred and they're that big because they have learned some lessons. And beloved, I want to, I want the Holy Spirit to bring out this today that the most successful Christian walk is not those that have made, that has had the least trouble. That's not the most successful Christian walk. That's had the least trouble. No, the successful Christian walk is those that have the most of Christ. And those that have the most of Christ means they have made a choice to trust Him. That they have learned something. That they have grown to be this size in Christ. Because they have learned some things. And when we choose to trust Christ, the Holy Spirit says, I can teach a heart like that. I could teach a heart like that. Now the Psalms is an incredible teaching manual on what I want to say today. And the number one lesson for today's lesson that I feel the Holy Spirit wants me to share is that in our time of suffering, whatever the devil is whispering to us, to a sincere heart in a time of trial and suffering, is that the exact opposite of what he's saying is true. That what the devil is whispering and painting a picture, the exact opposite is true. There's times in every believer's heart when we are fighting the good fight, and there's a battle without. And if we're saying, Lord, I want your will for my life, and put me in a place where I can witness. Lord, put me in a place where I'm learning of you. Lord, teach me. Teach me what it is to walk with you. And there's a desire to be out there. There's a desire to obey him and follow him. Beloved, know one thing. As we turn our eyes to the battle without, the enemy will turn and try to stoke up the battle within. And the battle within will intensify. And many times, you know, there's many kinds of suffering. And if we would look to your neighbor, to your left or to your right, their countenance would not tell you the whole story. In fact, the story that they choose to share with you probably wouldn't be the whole story. You see, there are different kinds of suffering. But when Christ is in it, and Christ is leading us in this suffering in time of adversity, it leads to a glorious end. But when we determine to trust God in this suffering, know that the battle within will intensify. Because the devil now sees something that he fears greatly. A person who decides to trust the Lord Jesus Christ through it all is an incredible threat to him. And the first thing they will begin to feel, or we will begin to feel many times, is our own failure. And the things that I'm going to share with you, they don't come in any certain order. But they are things that are shared by the whole body of Christ. And many things at the beginning are shared by newer Christians. And when we step out, we are going to feel our own failure. And that's part of the reason why we suffer. And there will be a besetting sin. And there'll be something that there is repeated neglect in our life. And we can be overcome with shame. Why? Because it's a signal or a sign of a tenderized heart. It's a sign that Christ really has come in. And he has changed our heart. And so now when we sin, and when we want him, and we fail, we feel it acutely. And that's part of the suffering. And the enemy will come and magnify and magnify our failure. He will magnify what we have done wrong. And his goal is to cover us with shame. To swallow us up. To get our eyes on ourselves in that time where we know we have failed. And we know that because of our failures, others have suffered. And when we begin to see ourselves in the stark light of truth, it's like standing in the middle of a noonday sun with no shadows. No covering. And many with a tenderized heart end up crying out like David did when he saw that because of his sin, now his generation, his son Absalom was going in a path so far from the heart of God. And the scripture says at one point he cries out, Oh Absalom, Absalom. From the gut, from the depth of who he was, there was a cry. And beloved, it was a kind of cry that was beginning to paralyze him and take away his faith and trust in God. It was a kind of gut cry where he was almost inconsolable. Where the enemy wanted him to keep focusing on what was happening now because of his failure. When he could see no covering and no covering for his shame and his sin. But beloved, when our enemy begins to paralyze us with regret, turn with me quickly, we're going to look in Psalm 35. When David began to experience this kind of suffering, this kind of uncovered, naked shame in his own sin and seeing what he had done wrong with a tenderized heart. In Psalm 35, the Holy Spirit stirred David to write this truth against his enemy and God's enemy. And he said in Psalm 35 verses 24, he says, Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness and let them not rejoice over me. Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so we would have it. Let them not say we have swallowed him up. Let them be ashamed and be brought to confusion. Together that rejoice at my hurt. Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me. And the Holy Spirit is stirring David up. And he's saying your enemy seeks to magnify you. He wants to cover you with that kind of shame and dishonor because of your sin. But David says in verse 27, the Holy Spirit reminds them, Let them, that's those who trust in me, shout for joy and be glad that favor my righteous cause. Yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. And God's saying, I want you to now magnify when the enemy comes and magnifies your sin. If you belong to me, if we trust Christ as our Savior today, when the enemy magnifies our sin and causes us an intense suffering because of past failure, and he wants to cover us with a shame and a dishonor that it paralyzes us. God says you magnify me and you magnify my son. You remember what, one more time, how I have clothed you. I have covered your sin and I have clothed you. And do not let this kind of shame and regret clothe you that it paralyzes you. He says it is your right, it is your heritage to turn to the enemy and say the shame you are trying to put on me, let it be on thee. He's saying that when the enemy comes and says, You're going to all your life live in confusion. You're going to live in shame. And that failure will ever be before your eyes. God says magnify me and remember my cross, remember my blood. He says let me be magnified. And he says then remember the Lord has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. For those who have a contrite spirit, God says I can't give enough to you. When the enemy comes in and says, and reminds us constantly of that open sin and regret, say God I thank you that it is my heritage to be clothed, that it can be covered. That Lord, when I have a contrite spirit, you've given me a new heart and you are now going to show me, God, you're going to lead me out by your spirit. You're going to show what was the root in me, but you're going to come and your spirit changes me. As we heard this morning, as I behold you, as I look to you, Jesus, and your word lives in me, you change me and I don't live in the shame of the past because I'm a new creation. Hallelujah. Says the Lord has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. That means the Lord has great pleasure in letting us know we are secure. That he brings us success against our enemy. That our well-being, he gets pleasure in our well-being. He gets pleasure with a harmonious state of soul and mind. God is glorified when there is a peace in our soul and our mind. And when we remember to magnify the Lord over the enemy's magnification of repented sin, of sin that has been covered, it is our glory to say, My God, I thank you. You take pleasure in prospering me. You are for me. Now, for many, they say, Well, if the Lord has such pleasure in my prosperity, why one battle after the other? Why for a season is there an unrelenting assault? And in Psalm 37 verse 12, we see this. And it says, The wicked plot us against the just and gnash upon him with his teeth. You see, beloved, God is saying now that those that are willing to trust God in suffering, He says you have to know something. That the wicked one and the ones he control plot against the just. He plots. He meditates. He schemes. He resolves. He, we are an unholy obsession with him on how he can trap us and shame us and confound us. There are situations conceived in hell to trap us so that we will dishonor Christ. So we will lay down our testimony. So then in our hour of greatest need, people will say, Where is your God now? It's great when it's going well to praise your God. But when you need him the most, where is he? And I tell you, plots conceived in hell come against those that are determined to trust him in their suffering. And the scripture says, And gnashes on him with his teeth. And this tells me this is this is a very personal time. This is a very personal attack. This is painful. This is a time of agony, of ripping. It is a time when to live is to bear the burden of life. Some people know what I'm talking about. When to live is to bear the burden of life. When it would be so much easier to run away, to hide, to give up. And it's a plot conceived in hell. We can't begin to know the depth of it. We can't begin to understand it in our own mind. We can't begin to even share it one with another because we don't understand the half of it. And they can't feel what we're feeling. And there's that kind of suffering. So that finally, we give up. We may never say the words. That clearly. But we say the words. In our hopelessness. In our despair. In our not turning to him anymore. And are not talking to him anymore. And are not crying out, God. God. You alone can rescue me. God says, I wrote like this. So that you would know, I know the depth of this pain. I wrote it like this. So that I know how personal this attack is. So that when he comes with this plot. With this thing from hell. He's gnashing on us with our teeth. When it is a savage attack. God says, I have given this type of suffering to those whom I have prepared for it. There is a work of grace that goes on in a prepared heart. You see, a prepared heart is a person who's starting to hunger for the word. Who's starting to desire to pray like never before. It's a person who, they can't explain it. But it is a yearning so deep going on, they can't get enough. That's a prepared heart. Because God knows we cannot make it without a continual cry for his spirit. That it be his presence. And that his word would bring light to us. And that only his word would bring light to us. Because of this kind of attack. You can't have a neighbor on the phone. And you can't have a counselor holding your hand through this one. And God says that those are determined to trust me through this. And will glorify me in this. He says an awesome thing. You are declaring to all the world that I have prepared you for this. It has not caught you unawares. He says I'm going to be there like a Niagara. He says that those are facing this kind of attack. If you will stop and say, God, you know, you understand. I may not have realized you were preparing me. But this hunger, this desire to pray, this thing to say, God, no matter what you have to do in my life, do it. I don't care. I want you to be magnified. I want you to be glorified in me. That's a prepared heart. And I love what God says to this one in verse 13. Because as ferociously as we are attacked, we need to know the end of the story. It seems like such a story of tears. But verse 13 says the Lord shall laugh at him. That's our enemy who's attacking us. For he seeeth that his day is coming. Our suffering is temporary. We've got a heaven. We've got a glory. We've got a Jesus to comfort us. But we've got an enemy that has been plotting and conceiving against us that he may sully the name of Christ. And Christ says, I see your day coming. And it is without end. I see your day coming. And for reasons known only to him, there is a bride in the fire that I'm going to lead through that are going to glorify my name. And it's going to make your time in hell twice as bad when you remember them. Hallelujah. Says verse 14, the wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy. That's us. That's those trusting in the fire. And to slay such as be of an upright conversation. Their sword shall enter into their own heart. And their bow shall be broken. And God's saying everything that the enemy planned in this wicked thing from hell. When he took that sword to run us through, God says, no, no, no, no. It doesn't go through your heart. It goes through his. If you'll trust me, when he says, I'm taking you down, we can remember, my God, you prepared my heart and your word is a shield to me. And when he runs at me, what he thinks is the final blow that will take me down. I'm going to trust you. And that word is going to be a shield to me. And it's going to bend and turn around and enter his own heart. God, that what he said he's going to do to me. There is a glorious opposite at work. God, everything he prophesied over my life. If I trust you and I won't let go in this fire, it comes on his own head. Hallelujah. Their sword will enter their own heart and their Bible shall be broken. And why? Because verse 14 to slay such as such as be of upright conversation. Of those at the time of the fiery trial will say, God, by your grace, keep my mouth. Keep my lips. Keep my testimony. God, I'll pour my complaint out to you. God, I'll let you know it all because you know it anyway. But God, I'm going to have that upright conversation that will magnify you. I choose to magnify you when hell breaks in. I'm going to magnify you. God says you're going to see bows broken when you magnify me because they can't get at you. As you lift me up, I am your shield and the glory and the lifter of your head. Hallelujah. Those that be of upright conversation, those that have that manner of life that will say, God, I have to hang on to you because I won't make it through otherwise. But God says, I'm going to be rich in that time. I'm going to be rich in that time to you. The Lord laughs. This assault will utterly backfire. You know, sometimes at the worst of moments, we have to laugh. And I pray God will open our ears to hear holy laughter. God says, I have prepared you. Trust me, I will keep you and your testimony will cause their plans to backfire. Those in the fire will magnify the Lord above their pain. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now, many upon hearing this will start to think, God, I don't know if I can withstand such an assault. I mean, I'm hearing, God, how your word will bring about glorious absence. But I think when I hear of how the enemy so ferociously goes against those that are determined to glorify him in their suffering, I don't know if I can withstand an assault like that. That's for the brave and the powerful. God says in verse 36, no, he says in verse 14, it's for the poor and the needy. Fear builds. If I face a plot conceived in hell, I'm never going to stand because Lord, there are times before even my time of intense trial and adversity or suffering. There are times I can barely stand now. And beloved, if we're honest, we would say I fall as much as I stand at times. Oh, yes. I want you to know everybody has that in their testimony. And that's why the gray hairs among us minister with such love. I love my husband's testimony at the Bible college. He says, well, when I'm talking about the grace of God, he says, all I can say is that I've served him for 25 years, failed him 10,000 times. And the plan for my life goes on. And we fall as much as we stand. But, you know, for a prepared heart, beloved, there's something extraordinary that goes on in a time of suffering, in a time of intense trial and pain. There is another thing at work. You know, the enemy says, you're going to fall. You're not going to make it. You're going to, you are going to fall right into my arms. You're going to fall into my clutches. You can't survive this kind of attack. Others you could, but you can't, you're not going to survive this one. And beloved, that is the tactic the enemy uses against us all. That is the recurring fear among godly people. Yes, there's been a history of testimony of God's faithfulness to you, to me. But this time, this time, you're not going to make it because you know your own heart and I know my own heart. And we know that we have fallen as much as we have stood some days. And the enemy says, you're going to fall right into my arms. You are not. You're going to be swallowed up. I have a plot that will take you down. And if we don't know the depth of our own weakness, yes, we are very vulnerable. But the Lord has a word in the time of the hottest part of the fire. And it says in verse 17. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. And he says, you're going to fall into my arms. I'm not just going to, you're not just going to hold on. I'm going to keep you down. And the Lord says to those in this fire, he says, no, no, no, in this fire, in this trial, he says, I want you to know that I have broken the arms of the wicked one. He can't hold you, let alone keep you. He can't hold you to keep you, him close to you. And he can't keep you down. His arms are broken. But the Lord upholdeth the righteous. The Lord said, it is me that is going to hold you. In this time, if you will seek in this time of your greatest trial to glorify me, underneath are the everlasting arms and I will never let you go. And where the enemy for a season was allowed to oppress and seem to put his arms around you. He says, when I come in this trial and this fire, I break his arms. He won't be able to hold you and he won't be able to keep you down. Hallelujah. God says you will not be utterly cast down. He says, it is me who is holding you. I will uphold you and you will fall down, but you will only fall so far. You will only fall enough to get the fear and the pride knocked out of you. Hallelujah. And when I began to read these verses, there was like a faith arising in my soul. It was like, Lord, for a minute, I stood on high ground. And I saw these glorious promises. I see how unstoppable you are in the time of our trial and fire. And it was like, I was like this little kid jumped up and down. But then I remembered a story. My son, this past summer, he decided to go skydiving. He wanted to jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet. And some staff members went with him from this church. And he was sitting on the edge of the plane, 10,000 feet up with the door open. With his legs dangling over the edge of the plane. He said that was a bad moment. Wondering why did I agree to this? And he got voted to go first. And he looked over the guys behind him. He goes, I want you guys to know if this doesn't work, there's a few jobs on the line. But he said when he jumped out of that plane, somewhere from the depth of his being, a scream came forth. He didn't think he was capable of screaming. Everything from the roots of his being came out at the top of his lungs at full force. He was screaming in absolute fear a third of the way down. And then at the end, he just kept screaming for joy, for release. Because when all of a sudden, when that chute opened up, and all of a sudden the adrenaline rush hit him, by the time he hit the ground, he said he was jumping up and down. I want to go again. I want to do it again. He said the euphoria that came over him was incredible. All he wanted to do was get back up in that plane and jump again. And I thought, God, this is the, what we've been describing here in some ways. Oh God, when we will trust you and leap out of that plane, for it's the worst moment of our life. And it's the best moments of our life. When the enemy oppresses like that from hell, it's like we'll never make it. But something pushes us out in that time. And when we let out a cry for him, he answers it. And when we touch on his ground, it's God, do it again. God, do it again. Give me the grace to obey you again. Give me the grace to trust you again. God, you were so awesome in the fire. You were so awesome in the trial. I want to do it again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. But Psalm 35 verses one and three says, plead my cause, oh Lord, with them that strive with me. Fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of the shield and buckler and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear and stop the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Now, beloved, when that word plead is an awesome word. It's a word that means physical, verbal or legal combat. And it's saying, God, come on every dimension and fight for me. And you can hear this warrior fight against them that fight for me. It's a combat word. When I plead God, come and fight against those that fight. Fight them that fight me. And the verse two says, stand up for my help. And verse three says, stop the way against them that persecute them. And I could see me and my faith jumping up and down like Jared on the ground. But then that verse that says, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. And God said to me, Teresa, there's something you'll want you to understand in all this. You and I, when we trust God in our fire, God says there's going to be a testimony produced in us that all the world is going to recognize and all the power of the enemy will have to bow down before when we can say, God, when God can say to us, I am thy salvation. And I realize that when God takes us through these trials that I've just enunciated and we begin to see that God says when the enemy speaks to us, the glorious opposite is true. And get in my word and find out what he's saying to you, how it can be turned against him. And I will see you through. But God's saying there's something greater and deeper than that. He's saying, I want a people in the end that's not just light, but heat. That can say that when God says, I am thy salvation, they know it to the core of their being. And my last scriptures are Psalm 31. I want to show something to you that the Lord showed me. It says in Psalm 31, it begins in verse nine. It says, have mercy upon me, O Lord. For I am in trouble and my eye is consumed with grief. Yea, my soul and my belly for my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing. My strength faileth because of my iniquity and my bones are consumed. Beloved, I want to close with this last one. You see, in the fiery trials, when we are determined to glorify him in our suffering, we have to understand one thing. Our times are in his hand. And there are going to be times when we are going to declare the works of God. And we're going to see every weapon of the enemy formed against us, not prospering and turn back into the soul of the enemy. But God was saying to me, there is one thing, Teresa, that in order to have this kind of magnifying me in the suffering, right through to the end, means we have to go right through to the end. Because there's a kind of a grief. There is a kind of a weeping that does not go away quickly. There is a kind of suffering, beloved, that is longstanding. There is a longstanding pain. There is a longstanding grief. There is the kind of thing that there is a, there is something going on in this one that we can almost sound trite when we speak to them, because everything I've said to you, this point is gloriously true. But there are some people that God has specially chosen and marked, and they're in it for the long haul. And God is saying, there are some people that are not going to see a resolution quickly. And I'm going to prepare their heart, but they have a special place in the body. They are needed in the body. We need their testimony. We need to know this. We need to understand that there is a kind of a suffering and a trial that is not over in a day. It's not over in a week. It doesn't have a Pollyanna ending. It's not 30 minutes with a happy ending. But there is a time that God is saying in verse 9 and verse 10, it says, my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing. And this now is a picture of something that we need, the long suffering of God, a special grace, the most special grace. And it says, God, because of my iniquities, my bones are consumed. Let me tell you what that means. It means that under the pressure, that under the weight of this period of suffering that is long. It says there's an iniquity of that time's giving way to fear and despair, to doubt the goodness of God in my life. Even though you've proved yourself over and over. But a long standing suffering and grief has made an inroad and God knows that. And it says my bones are consumed. It says there's no skeleton left. I can't stand anymore. And beloved, if we will know this kind of trust where we will glorify him and magnify him in the suffering, there's going to be some who are appointed to have to go all the way through in their praising him. And the scripture describes these people. It says in verse 11, I was approached among my enemies, but especially among my neighbors. I can understand, you know, those that dislike me don't like what I stand for. Don't want my testimony. Don't want to hear or see or know me. But he says, when it's my neighbors and I was a fear to my acquaintance because there's not a quick resolution, people begin to pull away. Because it's not this kind of happy ending. But there seems to be a suffering, a grief that is a constant thing. People pull away from that. It's almost like by association. I better stay away. Something might happen to me. It's talking about a loneliness and an aloneness in this kind of thing. And the scripture says in verse 13. For I've heard no verse 12. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I am like a broken vessel. And verse 13, for I've heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side while they took counsel together against me. They devised to take away my life. No one wants to know me. The word always seems to me to be wait. That's what these people would say. My word is always wait, wait. Seems God has all the patience and ours has run out. You know, because when we wait, we have to fight voices. And this scripture says these voices are slanders. And they're going to slander God. They're going to slander everything about our lives. Slander is lies that breed fear. And there is going to be a battle, not just with our grief and long suffering. But there is going to be a battle that these lies that are forever pressing in on us. Not create a fear where we will let go. Not create a fear where we'll turn away. Not create a fear, God, where one more time we take spiritual inventory every so often. Because when others get delivered and our word is wait, we start taking spiritual inventory. God, did I displease you? Have I sinned away my chance? Have I sinned too grievously? And at our weakest, the scripture says that the enemy now plans to take away our life. That means the life of Christ in us. He's going to wait till we look like the weakest when the questions are the biggest. For those that whose word is wait. For those that have it year upon year upon year. For those that don't have this life that others seem to have. But God says something so precious to these ones. He says, verse 14. But I trusted in thee, O Lord. I said thou art my God. Verse 19. Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou has laid up for them that fear thee, which thou has wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men. Thou shall hide them in the secret of thy presence. God is saying that those that are caused to bear a testimony of a long suffering and await. God's saying that those ones, he says, I'm going to hide you in the secret of my presence. God is just. And he says those that are in this place where for many years standing, there is a suffering. God says it's to those that I'm going to hide in the secret of my presence. He says it's to those that I will reveal myself the clearest and the most sweetly and the strongest to. He says it's to those I'm going to hide. And we're going to go to a place. I'm going to reveal myself to you. And you're going to come out with revelation. Nobody else has. He says the God of the earth shall the judge of all the earth shall do right. And to those that are called to be in long suffering. He says, I'm going to reveal myself to you. I'm going to hide you away. In a secret place. And you're going to dwell in my presence. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. He says over time, I'm going to learn to take you to a place where those that slander and those that speak against you and those that judge and every lie from the pit of hell conceived against you, he says, I'm bringing to you to a place where their words are not going to affect you anymore. But your words, your words are going to have a power to break the enemy. Your words will have the power to break the back of the young, the old, the sick, the infirm, the healthy, the wealthy, the wise go through that trial of long suffering and say, God, I'm trusting you through it. Hang on to me so I can hang on to you. God says, I will hide you in my presence. And your relay, your revelation of me will be glorious and your words will break the power of the enemy. Hallelujah. Psalm 35, 10 says it this way. All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee? When the enemy said, you've got no more backbone, you've got no more bones to stand. God says, I'm going to send my quickening spirit upon you. Hang on, glorify me. Be determined to trust me in your suffering. You'll have a new skeleton. Those bones I will make as new and you will stand in the fire and you will glorify me and all my bones. The ones you restored Lord shall say, who is like unto thee? Hallelujah, which deliver us the poor from him that is too strong for him. Yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him. Oh, beloved. When we seek to magnify him, lift him up. When we choose to trust him in our suffering, in our fire, in our trial, no matter what the length, no matter what the duration. Beloved, there is going to be a glory in our soul. We're not just going to be light, we'll be heat. You know, when we come to Christ, our battle is not sin anymore. That's taken care of at the cross. If we've come to Christ and we trust him and he accepts us and washes us in his blood and now we have access with the father, our battle is not with sin anymore. The sin question was settled, but our battle is belief and trust in our time of trial. That's our battle. That we'll keep on believing him and we'll keep exalting him over what comes against us. Our battle will be to believe and trust him. That God will be faithful. God will be faithful. He will uncover the lies of the devil and he's going to let us exalt him and magnify him in our trial. Beloved, there are many here that God's going to trust you with suffering for his glory. Because we heard it this morning so well, because those that can follow him down this path and glorify him, you're going to touch people, the untouchables. You're going to reach the unreachables by who we are. Our whole lives are going to save you could know his love. It is enough. You know, we're not saved because we suffer. We're not better because we suffer. But we have entered into the best school in the kingdom. When God takes us to that path of suffering and we say, God, by your grace, I am determined to trust you and glorify you. Will you stand with me? It's not a coincidence that the Lord has spoken two words on suffering. We're a society. We fear it. And we're being taught so much better. We are a society that seems to think we're a leper if we suffer, but we're being taught so much better. And those that are saying, you know, God, I thank you for this grace. I'm going to trust you. Beloved, God needs this testimony and he's going to be so glorious in it. But there are some today that are saying, God, I want to be able to trust you. I want to. I want to be able to determine to trust you no matter what. But there have been things. That you know, even now that you have placed trust in other things. Some of you that actually you've placed your trust in fear and you think if you look the other way, God won't call you. God won't see you and you won't have to walk it. No, it is an incredible love that we get to walk the way Jesus did. He is, he, I'll tell you something. It is a gift. I read a book once where it was called The Gift of Pain. It was an incredible book. Beloved, suffering will come to us all. But the Holy Ghost is saying, who will let a true heart search go on that say, God, every any area where I fear this. But God, you know that I want to trust you in it. God, you know, I do. I'm coming to this altar now and I'm going to ask you to search my heart. You know, my reigns, you know, my life. You know, it's in the core. God, I thank you that as I come before you open that, Lord, you will reveal things to me so that I may go all the way through magnifying you and glorifying you in my time of trial. This is your heart's cry. You come as the singers sing. Those that have come to this altar. I know that you were saying, God, I want the heart to trust you through it all, not halfway and not secretly in my heart, angry at you and solemn and resentful. God, I want you to do that thorough work that may glorify you and know your glory and presence in my life. There's a scripture in Jeremiah 17, it says, Curse be the man that trusteth in man. Beloved, cursed is the man that trust in men, because when you trust in man, you only get what man can do. That's why they're cursed. But we determined to trust God. We get what God can do. That's why we're blessed. And God will be faithful to you. God will be faithful to you because we're going to trust a God that cannot fail. He will be faithful to us. And he is going to teach us how to glorify him in our suffering all the way through, whatever he appoints for us, however he appoints for us. He said he will be more than there. And beloved, we are going to have a testimony of his love. People are going to be so drawn because our eyes are on Jesus. And there's a love that flows through. It's a healing love. It's a giving love because we've received. And beloved suffering opens our hearts. It opens our minds. It opens us up to him. That's why we thank God for every trial and tribulation, because Jesus reveals himself to us. Now, you know why you've come and you know what the issue is. Many of you here. I'm just going to ask you if you'd raise your hands. Before the God who sees all before the God that knows us before the God who tries us before the God who says the fruit of your life, look at it. That's really what's in your heart. And now we come before a God who sees that and knows that we say, God, I offer you all Lord that where I'm trusting in other things other than you and Lord God, I curse it because it's a curse because it's a trust not found in you. But Lord, those that will trust you will be blessed. Those that trust you will be blessed. And God, I thank you that you're going to give me the grace to go right through that. Lord, I'm going to be able to call the devil a liar, that everything he whispers to me is the glorious opposite, that everything he says to me will happen to himself and that Lord, I'm not going to fear what he says. He should fear what he says. And the Lord, I'm going to trust you. I'm going to let your word be my meat and my drink. Come now, those of you come and say, Lord, I just want to be able to let your this. You're the Bible and your spirit to be my meat and drink. I thank you. You'll teach me the Bible. You will teach me what it means. You will give me understanding. And Lord, I'm going to feed on it. And Lord, I'm going to grow big in you. Lord, I may have scars from the enemy, but I wasn't captured by the enemy. And then Lord, I'm going to grow big in you. And there's going to be a glorious testimony of you in my life. That's going to break the power of darkness for many who will see my life. And Lord, I'm going to say it's all you, Jesus. It's all you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now praise him, beloved, for this truth. Praise him for this truth. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Glory to you, Lord. Glory. Glory. We magnify you, my covenant God. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. This is the conclusion of the message.