Transfiguration: Finding Joy and Strength in Suffering
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"Back in 1820, there was a little six-week-old baby who had an inflammation of the eyes, and the doctor applied hot poultices and burned the corneas so that the child was blind for life. When she was nine years old, she wrote these words: 'Oh what a happy soul am I, although I cannot see. I resolved that, in this world, contented I shall be. So many blessings I enjoy that other people don't. To weep inside because I'm blind I cannot nor I won't.'" [00:09:41]
"And that little girl grew up to write 8,000 hymns, among them 'To God Be the Glory,' 'Blesséd Assurance,' 'Rescue the Perishing,' 'Face to Face.' Her name was Fanny Crosby. I had heard the story of Fanny Crosby years ago, but I hadn't come across that little poem until just recently, written at the age of nine. 'To weep inside because I'm blind I cannot nor I won't' -- I love that." [00:51:40]
"If we receive the things that God wants to give us, if we thank Him for them, and if we make those things an offering back to God, then this is what's going to happen: transfiguration -- the great principle of exchange, which is the central principle of the Christian faith, the cross. We know that the cross does not exempt us from suffering." [00:52:42]
"But if your faith rests on the character of Him who is the eternal I AM, then that kind of faith is rugged and will endure. I'm very keenly, painfully aware of the fact that this series of talks on suffering is barely skimming the surface, and I think of the words of the -- one of the ancient mystics who said that 'God is a mountain of corn from which I, like a sparrow, pluck a single kernel.'" [00:59:59]
"The principle is that of the cross. Life comes out of death. I bring God my sorrows, and He gives me His joy. I bring Him my losses, and He gives me His gains. I bring Him my sins; He gives me His righteousness. I bring Him my deaths, and He gives me His life. But the only reason God can give me His life is because He gave me His death." [01:15:00]
"Jesus took that opportunity to turn His disciples' idea into glory upside down. The world has an idea of what's important, what really is the glory of God: do all the miracles that you can, get everything all sorted out, and healed, and paid for and solved, and that's God's glory. And of course I believe in a God who can make the sun stand still, and He can turn water into wine, and make dry land out of rivers." [01:30:54]
"Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Now that is the principle of the cross. He was on His way to the cross. Is there anything less significant and distinctive than a seed? You've seen one corn of wheat, you've seen -- seen them all." [01:45:31]
"Some of you, I'm sure, know the story of George Matheson, the hymn writer, who became engaged, and while they were engaged, he went blind. And his fiancée, not wanting to be saddled with a blind man, broke the engagement. And it was then that George Matheson wrote those wonderful words: 'Oh love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee.'" [02:02:10]
"He exchanges my weakness, my losses, my sins, my sorrows, my sufferings. When we offer them to Him, He has something to give us in exchange, and that might feed a multitude. So the principle of exchange is the principle of the cross, and that principle goes all the way back to before the foundation of the world. The Lamb was slain, the blood sacrifice was made, in the mind of God, before there was such a thing as sin." [02:11:20]
"Life comes out of death. It is the principle of the universe, the principle of exchange. Even stars die. We're being told more and more these fascinating things that astronomers are discovering. But there's a verse hidden in 2 Chronicles 29:27, that has been a great encouragement and cheer to me ever since I found that verse back when I was a senior in college, and dying a thousand deaths over the fact that I was in love with somebody that I didn't think was ever going to be in love with me." [02:23:18]
"Now, take note of this: Christ suffers in me, now, if I suffer, because I am a member of His body. I may be a sore member, but He suffers with me, and for me, and in me. And when I suffer, He suffers. Christ suffered on the cross, He bore all my sins, all my griefs, and all my sorrows, and yet there is a full tale yet to be fulfilled. I don't understand it. I simply affirm it. I accept it." [02:28:00]
"There is, in fact, no redemptive work done anywhere without suffering. And God calls us to stand alongside Him, to offer our sufferings to Him for His transfiguration, and to fill up, in our poor human flesh -- if I'm not given the privilege of being crucified, if I'm not given the privilege of being martyred in some way, some literal way, for God, I am given the privilege of offering up to Him whatever He has given to me." [02:41:19]
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"And that little girl grew up to write 8,000 hymns, among them 'To God Be the Glory,' 'Blesséd Assurance,' 'Rescue the Perishing,' 'Face to Face.' Her name was Fanny Crosby. I had heard the story of Fanny Crosby years ago, but I hadn't come across that little poem until just recently, written at the age of nine. 'To weep inside because I'm blind I cannot nor I won't' -- I love that." [00:51:40]
"If we receive the things that God wants to give us, if we thank Him for them, and if we make those things an offering back to God, then this is what's going to happen: transfiguration -- the great principle of exchange, which is the central principle of the Christian faith, the cross. We know that the cross does not exempt us from suffering." [00:52:42]
"But if your faith rests on the character of Him who is the eternal I AM, then that kind of faith is rugged and will endure. I'm very keenly, painfully aware of the fact that this series of talks on suffering is barely skimming the surface, and I think of the words of the -- one of the ancient mystics who said that 'God is a mountain of corn from which I, like a sparrow, pluck a single kernel.'" [00:59:59]
"The principle is that of the cross. Life comes out of death. I bring God my sorrows, and He gives me His joy. I bring Him my losses, and He gives me His gains. I bring Him my sins; He gives me His righteousness. I bring Him my deaths, and He gives me His life. But the only reason God can give me His life is because He gave me His death." [01:15:00]
"Jesus took that opportunity to turn His disciples' idea into glory upside down. The world has an idea of what's important, what really is the glory of God: do all the miracles that you can, get everything all sorted out, and healed, and paid for and solved, and that's God's glory. And of course I believe in a God who can make the sun stand still, and He can turn water into wine, and make dry land out of rivers." [01:30:54]
"Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Now that is the principle of the cross. He was on His way to the cross. Is there anything less significant and distinctive than a seed? You've seen one corn of wheat, you've seen -- seen them all." [01:45:31]
"Some of you, I'm sure, know the story of George Matheson, the hymn writer, who became engaged, and while they were engaged, he went blind. And his fiancée, not wanting to be saddled with a blind man, broke the engagement. And it was then that George Matheson wrote those wonderful words: 'Oh love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee.'" [02:02:10]
"He exchanges my weakness, my losses, my sins, my sorrows, my sufferings. When we offer them to Him, He has something to give us in exchange, and that might feed a multitude. So the principle of exchange is the principle of the cross, and that principle goes all the way back to before the foundation of the world. The Lamb was slain, the blood sacrifice was made, in the mind of God, before there was such a thing as sin." [02:11:20]
"Life comes out of death. It is the principle of the universe, the principle of exchange. Even stars die. We're being told more and more these fascinating things that astronomers are discovering. But there's a verse hidden in 2 Chronicles 29:27, that has been a great encouragement and cheer to me ever since I found that verse back when I was a senior in college, and dying a thousand deaths over the fact that I was in love with somebody that I didn't think was ever going to be in love with me." [02:23:18]
"Now, take note of this: Christ suffers in me, now, if I suffer, because I am a member of His body. I may be a sore member, but He suffers with me, and for me, and in me. And when I suffer, He suffers. Christ suffered on the cross, He bore all my sins, all my griefs, and all my sorrows, and yet there is a full tale yet to be fulfilled. I don't understand it. I simply affirm it. I accept it." [02:28:00]
"There is, in fact, no redemptive work done anywhere without suffering. And God calls us to stand alongside Him, to offer our sufferings to Him for His transfiguration, and to fill up, in our poor human flesh -- if I'm not given the privilege of being crucified, if I'm not given the privilege of being martyred in some way, some literal way, for God, I am given the privilege of offering up to Him whatever He has given to me." [02:41:19]
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