Questions host challenges the notion that obedience always yields immediate earthly blessings, arguing instead that trials like cancer or job loss produce spiritual maturity and intimacy with Christ. While material poverty often stems from sinful systems rather than divine abandonment, true obedience defined by faith and reliance on grace brings sanctification now and eternal reward later. Citing Johnny Erickson Tata's testimony and contrasting North Korea's wicked laws with America's historical prosperity, the discussion concludes that suffering refines character even when physical blessings remain absent in this life. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
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Grace, Glory, and Godly Suffering00:06:40
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Are those who obey the word of the Lord and still suffer in this life blessed?
So that's the obedience blessing thing.
You guys give your thoughts, and I already talked about it.
But I'll do my thought at the end.
So, are those who obey the word of the Lord in this life, obedience, and still suffer?
They get cancer, they get fired from the job.
Are they blessed because of obedience, regardless of the circumstances, situation?
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
I mean, the blessings and curses are promises from God, right?
And so, everybody suffers to some degree and at different times and all of that.
And so, If this was kind of an undoing of the blessings, then nobody would be blessed.
But we know that people are blessed.
And even if you think of our own lives, right?
Oftentimes, when we're in the suffering, we're not thinking.
Maybe we should be thinking how blessed we are, but we're not often.
But regularly, when we come out of it, we recognize God's blessings in our life, His mercy in our life, and all of that.
So, yeah, absolutely.
Okay, so I'm trying to determine.
So, suffering isn't really qualified.
I mean, I was thinking of the Sermon on the Mount.
Blessed are you when men revile and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you for my sake, for great is your reward.
So there's that, right?
But I think maybe this is more focused on this life.
And so, two things.
One is when we are suffering, trials produce endurance.
We gain maturity.
We become closer to God.
Listen to like Johnny Erickson Tata talk about her testimony and how blessed she feels to have this ailment that ended up, this infirmity that made her closer to God.
So that's.
That is part of it.
There is a blessing here, even though that stinks, right?
But then the looking forward to, the anticipation of heaven.
And I don't know, I think that might be heightened.
I get that sense from people that are really godly that suffer, whether it's persecution or whether it's like a medical issue.
Sometimes there is that sense of like they're just so looking forward to seeing Jesus in ways that I can't really imagine.
And so, yeah, I think the answer is yes.
I'm not taken away from the challenge.
I know some people suffering in some very bad ways that it's a struggle.
And so I'm not trying to make it sound easy.
Like, I don't want cancer, right?
But I just, one step at a time.
And if that ever happened, like the Lord would give me grace in that.
So I would say obedience will always be blessed.
And when I say obedience, Romans 14, anything not done in faith is sin, right?
So a common grace, a pagan, can do things that outwardly, in their behaviors, their actions, their speech, They can do things that outwardly align with the moral will of God, the moral law of God, but it's ultimately filthy rags in God's sight because they're not doing it in faith.
They can cure cancer, they can help an old lady cross the street, they can do all these things.
They can keep their vows in their marriage, never cheat on their wife, never cheat on their taxes, all these different things, outwardly aligning with the moral will of God, but it's still actually not obedience because it's not done in faith.
To do something in faith, I would hold, is the simplest truncated definition that I could have.
To do something in faith is to do it with a reliance on God's grace and a desire for God's glory.
A reliance on God's grace, a desire for God's glory.
So, what the unbeliever is going to do is a reliance on his own strength for his own glory, or in a best case scenario, a reliance on the strength of humanity for the good of humanity.
One small step for man, one great.
But not ever with a reliance on God's grace and a desire for God's glory.
So I say obedience is always blessed.
And qualifying obedience, I mean Bible definition of obedience, which means it outwardly aligns with the moral will of God and it's done in faith.
A reliance on God's grace with a desire for God's glory.
It will always be blessed in the life to come.
And I would add in this life, if nothing else, by a heightened sense of the presence of God, the sweetness and intimacy with Christ, further sanctification, endurance, patience, all the things that John said.
But often, I would also say, beyond that, this is what I was getting at in my talk, I would say, ordinarily, It also results in material blessing.
And what I mean by that is, I would say that all poverty is a direct effect of the cause of sin.
And I would say the same thing about sickness.
So remember the disciples, they ask Jesus, they say, Well, whose sin made this man born blind?
His parents or his?
And Jesus, he doesn't say, Notice, he doesn't say sin didn't make him blind.
No, he simply says neither his nor his parents.
But Jesus knows if it weren't for sin, in a general sense, entering the world, nobody would ever be sick.
So, sin is always the cause of sickness, indirectly or directly, right?
And in the same way, sin is always the cause of poverty, lack.
Poverty is simply the lack of provision.
God set up his world and said it was good, he provided, right?
So, whenever somebody's poor, whenever somebody is lacking, it's not because our God set up the world in such a way that the pie can't grow, a zero sum game, and then maniacally and maliciously commanded his image bearing creatures to be fruitful and multiply.
Knowing that their obedience to his commandment would actually lend in their own destruction.
Sitting back, twiddling his fingers, and laughing.
God is not cruel.
He's creator, sustainer, and provider.
So whenever there's not provision, it's not because God failed to provide, it's not because the world is overpopulated, it's not because God failed in his provision, or we're obeying too much and trying to be fruitful and multiply.
It's sin.
And it's either the individual sin, the one who doesn't work, doesn't eat, right?
He's lazy, or.
Or to not oversimplify, it's the sin of other people, right?
So there are a lot of people who would work hard in North Korea but are still hungry.
That's not their sin, but it is someone's sin.
It is someone's sin.
So all I'm saying is obedience always leads to blessing, true obedience, meaning obeying the moral law of God and our outward behavior, but also in faith, relying on His grace, desiring God's glory.
And I believe it always leads towards blessing, certainly in the life to come, and certainly spiritual blessing, even in this life, sanctification, the presence of the Lord, sweetness, and intimacy.
Obedience Produces Blessing00:00:48
And ordinarily, even a material blessing in this life.
But one of the things that sometimes hinders that is sin.
The reason why that has been less hindered in a nation like America, and the reason why the whole world wants to be here and wants to get into America, is because America has ordinarily and historically had less sinful, wicked laws in place.
So, America, I would say, is proof positive that when sin is not hindering people's work and faithfulness and obedience, it produces material blessing.
And that's why this country has been so rich.
Thanks so much for listening.
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