Do we have the burden for the work of God that we once had? During the Sunday services, are several of us standing in the vestibule visiting while the Word of God is going forth? That might very well be an earmark of a backslidden condition. Maybe we haven't gotten that bad, but the same spirit which has taken some that far, is working on us if we don't have a real, burning soul burden. Was there a time when we wouldn't miss services for anything, but now, at the least little thing, we run off here or there? We're not getting any joy out of that kind of living---we're just enduring it. Maybe our soul is blessed a little bit when someone's cup runs over; however, we need something coming out of our own cup.

I could speak smooth things , and speak deceit. Deceit can come from two ways. First of all, the preacher can preach something he's not living and say how he loves God and how consecrated he is to God's cause, while all the time he's living a selfish life; and then the saints can work a deception when they hear truth preached and know they don't do it, but they amen it. Let's throw on the brakes! Let's do a little checking up! Let's fill up that which is behind.

All we have to do is set aside some time and get right down to business with Jesus, and say, "Lord, I want to fellowship your Passion," and we all know what happens. There will be a multitude of things for us to do, "just like that", beyond what we may feel the human strength can do. Why does God bring it on? We ask for it. But all we have to do, is to go a few days without that definite time spent alone with the Lord, and we begin to get calloused to the needs of others.

Agonizing for Souls

It's nothing to be invited to somebody's house for a meal or ice cream, but how long has it been since we've asked one of our Christian brothers or sisters to, "Come over and let's suffer...let's agonize before God for a lost community"?

It's in the picture that as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children (Isaiah 66:8). Travail means under great mental stress and heart burden; agonize. Paul said that he agonized for Rome. Does that sound like Jesus? "And being in an agony, he prayerd more earnestly" (Luke 22:44). Old-fashioned agonizing is almost a lost virtue.

We can never heal the need that we don't feel. Before anybody was touched and healed in Jesus' time, He had to be moved with compassion. It's so easy to live selfishly today and feel that we're all right all the time. When our sympathy loses its pang, we can on longer be servants of Jesus' Passion. Tearless hearts can never be heralds of the Passion.

I want to quote Luke 22:41-45 and show Jesus in agony. We're studying on filling up that which is behind in the sufferings of Christ in our flesh. "And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayer, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. [He was getting hold of the real load of the world's sins and sorrows and sicknesses. God promised that He would not let any of us be tempted beyond that which we are able to bear, and the same thing was true with His Son. An angel appeared from heaven, strengthening him.] And being in a agony [that terrible stress of mind and a broken heart] he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow."

Do we see two kinds of things there? When the heart is right, when the heart is reaching with a real burden, the burden of the hour will put us in the place of agonizing in prayer. However, when the heart is not really burdened, the weight of sorrow will put us to sleep. There are two ways that the physical man reacts. Christ had the real burden, and when it got heavy, it drove him into deeper agony; but the disciples didn't have the real burden, and the weight on their physical being wore them out and they went to sleep. They didn't have the living Spirit of God within their hearts at that time.

People without the living Spirit of God or without an up-to-date experience yet don't enter into the burden. They go to sleep. In the church services, when the going gets tough, the burden gets heavy, and the preacher is having a hard time, the burden will affect people in two ways. People who have a real burden will be praying for him (they will enter into it). As for the others, it affects the flesh and the other way, "Oh the sermon is dry today." The shape the heart is in has all to do in how the flesh reacts. Real supplication leaves one tired and spent. It will do something to us physically when we get right into it.

Back to the Stones

There's another association between Paul and Christ that we need to consider. "Then after that said he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again. His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?" (John 11:7-8). What did the disciples say? "Let's go anywhere but Judaea. We just came out of there, and they stoned us. Are your going to go right back where they stoned you?" Well, that's exactly where they went.

We're in a day and time when it doesn't take many stones until people are on their way. However, the vital Spirit of God will cause us to want to be right where the battle is the hottest. The disciples didn't want to go back to Judaea and be stoned again; but Jesus said that he must go, stones or no stones.

Was that Paul's attitude? "And there came thither [to Lystra] certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe" (Acts 14:19-20).

Thank God for good disciples who will stand with the preacher. God has ordained that we encourage one another. Maybe he would have stood up anyway, but we don't know that. We just know what the Word says. The disciples gathered around him, and he stood up and came into the city. What do you think of that? He acts just like Jesus, doesn't he? They said, "Paul, don't go back in there. There are a hundred other places that you can preacher where the people appreciate you."

"I'm going back to Lystra." The Spirit of God doesn't run as people run today. Let's just face some facts---they are just fleshly works. If I would have listened to the flesh, I would have run many, many times since I have been in the ministry. I know what Paul means about dying daily.

Verse 20 states that the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. However, verse 21 reads, "And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lysara..." right back again. They held a meeting at Derbe and had good success; and Paul's helpers said to him, "Where are we going next?" "I think we ought to go back to Lystra."

What would take him back there? As sure as people fight, they see something. Paul remembered how he fought the Church, and he saw precious souls behind that battle they were putting on. Thank God, he was true to hearts when the question was asked, "Where are we going to preach now, Paul?"

"I'm going back to Lystra."

"Well, there won't be anything waiting for you but stones." If he had had a board to call together, they would have said, "Now listen, this isn't wise, wasting your body and your strength on people who don't appreciate you---where are you going, Paul?"

"Back to the stones." Why did he go back to the stones? He needed to fill up that which was behind. "Why, Paul, they about killed you the last time." "I'm still behind. I'm going back to take some more."

The Holy Spirit sent him back, and some stones fell both ways. Paul laid the stones of judgment out, and men and women were moved to salvation. There was a congregation raised up, right in the midst of the stones, for God.

Jesus went with His face set toward Jerusalem, and Paul went with his face set toward Lystra.

Men and women are not going to be born into the Kingdom of God through a "campaign." They may hit the altar, but be left short of a real, born-again experience. They will be brought to the birth, but not delivered, because Zion must travail before the children are born in. They don't receive that real, living experience with God that delivers them from sin and makes new creatures out of them without a mother to travail through the spirit of suffering.

We can never know our Master as we ought until we kneel among the driving stones. Paul said that the only way that we can really know the power of His resurrection is to fellowship His suffering.

For Your Consolation

God allotted a portion of suffering to us, first of all, for our good. He won't let us suffer for nothing. When we're brought to a place of suffering for the cause of God, it's going to be for our good and somebody else's good, just the same as Jesus' suffering was.

Isaiah said that he saw the travail of His soul. When there has been a true travail in the Church, we see the birth of a soul. We can't come under a true travail without a baby coming forth. God allotted a portion of suffering for each one of us for our good.

In 2 Timothy 2:12, Paul told Timothy, "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us." Many deny Him by refusing the suffering. If we suffer with Him , we will reign with Him. The way to reign in a greater way with God is to go through some hard places. We know by the Bible what God will do, and we will put it to the test and go through the hard place. However, if we deny Him or refuse Him, He will deny us.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 reads: "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all 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" We can't help anyone else with something if we haven't gone through something. It's just that simple.

The principle is the same on any line. A young man may buy a full kit of mechanic tools, build a new building, and put a sign out; but there will be many a day before he gets any job. Why? People want someone who has experience.

We who have had a tribulation and found the comfort know that it's there, because we went through it. The comfort is all in the Holy Spirit; but how are people going to know what the Holy Spirit will do? Only by our putting Him to the test and going through the suffering. It's then that they can know that there's One who can take them through every circumstance and situation.

"For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. [The depth of consolation that we receive from Christ is measured by how much tribulation we go through.] And whether we be afflicted, it's for our [speaking of the Church] consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it's for our consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation" (2 Corinthians 1:5-7). The consolation of Christ is geared according to the suffering. Not only does it do good for you, but you are helping someone else. It helps people to be saved.

The Scriptures which have the most to say about tribulation and loss also have the most to say about rejoicing. Paul lets us know in Romans 5:2-5 that we have glory in tribulation, because tribulation (suffering) worketh patience, patience worketh experience, and the experience brings the greater amount of the glory of God into our life.

I read one time of an old man who died as a martyr. In the flames, he looked to those people and said, "You have been looking for a miracle for years. Take a look at me." He was standing right in the flames. It was cooking his flesh, but he said, "I'm as easy as if I were lying on a bed of down. You talk about a bed of roses; I am in it." He had the consolation of Christ, and he kept on singing until his voice became so cooked from the fire that he could not form any words. A miracle that the world needs to see is someone who can bear the same suffering that Christ bore, and do it in the same manner that the martyr did and not be affected by the heat, but rejoice in the consolation that comes while the suffering is going on.

Our sufferings are not only for our good, but also for the good of the Church. Notice the text again, "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church." Suffering was not only doing Paul good, but it was doing the Church good.

Suffering confirms the faith of new converts. Heaven has the only record that I know of for those who started on the way and who had a pretty good hold, but they got their eyes on some older "saint" who could not take the pressure and acted ugly. That was all the devil needed to discourage a soul. Certainly, we are to keep our eyes on Jesus, but if we profess an experience of Christ, people are going to watch us. Being true and taking suffering will confirm the faith of a convert.

The More They Suffered the More They Multiplied

Great hearts can only be made by great troubles. Why do we look at and get such an uplift and strength from Job, Daniel, the Hebrew boys, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Paul, Peter? They suffered and, through the Holy Spirit, stood true. I know that God puts a new heart in us, but when I speak of a great heart, I mean an enlarged heart, a heart that is great in the Kingdom of God. How is it made? By going through circumstance and problems and trials. We like to be around aged people who have been true and showed the right spirit and been faithful. We like to talk to them. They're an inspiration to us. Why? Because they have a great heart. They got a great heart as they went through hard places. They suffered the sufferings of Christ. The same sacrificial spirit that brought Jesus through brought them through.

The spade of trouble digs deeper into the reservoir of comfort and makes more room for the water of consolation. Someone may think that that kind of suffering will wipe the Church out. However, it never did. Consider a type: The more the Egyptians afflicted the Hebrews, the more they multiplied. Their labor was hard, and they counted it a privilege to get home and be with their companions. That closeness with their companions kept children coming right along, and that nation multiplied to the degree that it frightened Pharaoh.

The Bible says that the more they suffered, the more they multiplied; and the same thing is true with you and me. Let real suffering hit the Church, and it will draw us close to God and close to one another. We'll forget the little fanatical things that we think we can't look over.

Let's get to the place that we really feel love in our heart. And let's be honest about it. John said to love not in words. The word love hits deep. Love will cause the Church to progress.

The more the Egyptians afflicted the Hebrews, the more the Hebrews multiplied. There's a truth that shines forth: The devil's way of extinguishing goodness is God's way of advancing it. So the devil doesn't want us suffering in the manner I'm preaching about, because that's God's way of advancing the Kingdom. Carnal pride, pomp, and show are not going to advance the Kingdom.

Sometimes, we may face this: If I make this move, the Church is going to be hurt, but if I make the other move, I'm going to be hurt. We make the decision quickly, "Lord, I'll take the hurt. Don't let the Church suffer."

Are we in the succession of suffering? Are we filling up that which is behind in the sufferings of Christ? They're doing it in China. They're doing it in Russia. Little handfuls gather together, hid away in basements, in shops, or in woods; and all the time they're gathered together they can't sit freely. They live every moment waiting for the crowd to come in with clubs and bring death on them. But they love God's Kingdom, and they love God's cause. Therefore, God's cause is furthered in Russia, and the Russians can't stop it. Devils can't stop it, when God's people get where He wants them.

Are we filling up that which is behind in our sufferings for Christ? A missionary once suffered untold agony and faced death many times. After long years of hardship and difficulty, these are this last words before he died: "Recall those years again. Give me the shipwrecks. Give me the standing in the face of death. Allow me to stand again surrounded with spears and clubs. Give me the spears in my side and the clubs on my head, knocking me to the ground. Give it back to me! God, if you'll give me life, I'll be their missionary that many years again." That's the Spirit of God.

Here's a poet's expression that I want to leave with you: "A noble army, men and boys, the matron and the maids, around the Savior's throne rejoice in robes of light arrayed. They climbed the steep ascent of heaven through peril, toil, and pain. Oh, God, to us may grace be given to follow in their train."

[The End]