This morning we were studying about when God is silent. One of the things that we saw is that God is not silent when there is a sinner who comes and repents and confesses his sins. God will not be silent. God will act in that person's life and He will act immediately. When somebody comes and confesses their sins and repents, God doesn't say wait. God acts immediately to remove guilt and to remove a person from the power of sin in their life, to deliver them from that.

We saw this morning that there are some times when God is silent. We looked at two examples. And we will look at three more examples now. Two of these that we will look at, I believe that we can all relate to and it is very trying for us to go through these experiences where, for a temporary time, we cannot perceive that God is talking to us or revealing anything to us.

Let's look at one in Isaiah 57. Now this is addressing the wicked, it is not addressing the righteous. It is addressing the wicked, those who may claim to be God's children, but they are worshipping idols. Notice what it says in Isaiah 57:11-13. It says, "And of whom have you been afraid, or feared, that you have lied and not remembered Me, nor taken it to your heart? Is it not because I have held My peace from of old that you do not fear Me?"

The Lord says, "How is it," to the wicked, "that you dare to go on and do the things you are doing? Is it because I have been quiet?" Or as the margin says, "That I have been silent? Is that why?" It says in verse 12, "I will declare your righteousness and your works, for they will not profit you. When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry them all away, a breath will take them. But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain." And the Lord says, "I have been quiet. And so you went on and thought you could do whatever you wanted and you are going to find out that you are going to get in trouble and you will cry to your idols to deliver you and I will still be silent. And you won't get delivered."

Now this description of what God is talking about here has been a great distress to many of God's children. Why does God be silent and allow the wicked to just go on and do all of these things? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Did you know that the Bible writers had that same question? More than one. Habakkuk had that question. You can read about it in his book. David did, too. The Psalm writer, look at Psalm 73, this whole Psalm discusses that very question. Why does God let the wicked go on and do all these awful things and the righteous are in trouble all the time and the wicked, they don't have all this trouble? Why does God allow that to be?

Look at what it says in Psalm 73:2-24, "But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped." Well, why was he about to slip and stumble? Notice what he says in verse 3, "For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, (That is they die a quick death.) but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride serves as their necklace; violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth." Have you ever seen anyone like that?

Well, look at the result to God's people. "Therefore his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. And they say,'How does God know?(Ever heard somebody say that? He is silent.) And is there knowledge in the Most High?' Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, (this person says) And washed my hands in innocence."

The righteous person says, "Look, I am trying to live right, I am trying to do what is right and I am in constant trouble. I'm having all kinds of trouble and look at the wicked. They are not in all that trouble." Have you ever had somebody say that? Look at verse 14, "For all day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I had said, 'I will speak thus,' behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children."

Now the Bible writer does what people without inspiration cannot do, he pulls aside the curtain and God lets you look into the future. That is one of our problems as human beings, we live right at the present and we don't take in time like God does. We don't see what is going to happen in the future. You don't even know what is going to happen next week, do you? And I don't either, but God does. What you have to remember when you are doing what this Bible writer is doing and you are looking at the wicked who are so prosperous and the righteous seem to be in trouble all the time, God says remember something, the prosperity of the wicked is very temporary.

We need to always remember that the prosperity of those who do not fear God and who get along wonderfully in this world, that prosperity is temporary. You all know what temporary means, don't you? That means it's coming to an end, it's not going to last, that's what the Bible writer says now.

Verse 16, "When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me--until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, So, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image." They are going through life in a dream, but when they wake up at the end of the dream, it is going to be terrible. That is what the Bible says. Verse 21, "Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory."

Oh, friend, if you are a righteous person, if you are choosing to follow God and obey His commandments, you may be in all kinds of trouble, but the Lord says, "I will hold your hand and I will guide you through all of this. And the day is coming when I will take you to glory; take you right out of this world." Paul says in Galatians that God sent His son to deliver us from this evil world. So, when you see the prosperity of the wicked and it says, like in Isaiah 57, God is silent, and they are doing all these wicked things and yet they are prospering, the Bible says to remember the prosperity of the wicked, the pleasures of sin, are temporary.

Now, at the same time, as we saw here in Psalm 73, as the righteous see the wicked that are prospering and the righteous are in trouble, have you ever been in trouble and you were praying and praying and it seemed like you couldn't get the answer to the need that you had? Have you ever been in that situation? So many people, come to pastors about it, believe you me--and Bible workers. They face this all the time in people's homes. They say, "I've prayed about this and I can't see that God has answered my prayer." Have you ever heard somebody say that? The Bible addresses this, too.

Let's read a couple of texts about it. First, Isaiah 54 beginning in verse 7, it says, " 'For a mere moment I have forsaken you. . .With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,' Says the Lord, your Redeemer." Down to verse 9, "'For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed.' Says the Lord, who has mercy on you."

How do you explain this? Somebody will say, "Why would the Lord hide His face from the righteous, even for a moment? Why would God do this?" I will tell you how to understand this. You will understand it when you look at the experience of Jesus on the cross. Do you know, friend, that Jesus Himself experienced, in a much higher degree than we will ever experience, what it is like to go through trial and trouble and, to all appearance, God is silent? And there is no communication.

The Bible talks about this experience that Jesus had and in The Desire of Ages it talks about it on page 746. It says, "The enemies of Jesus vented their rage upon Him as He hung upon the cross. Priests, rulers and scribes joined with the mob in mocking the dying Saviour. At the baptism and at the transfiguration, the voice of God had been heard, proclaiming Christ as His Son. Again, just before Christ's betrayal the Father had spoken, witnessing to His divinity, but now the voice from heaven was silent."

What do you think about that? Would Jesus have enjoyed hearing His Father's voice at that time? Yes! He would have. But He didn't. "Now the voice from heaven was silent. No testimony in Christ's favor was heard. Alone, He suffered abuse and mockery from wicked men." Now, Jesus told us, He said, "If any man will come after Me, let him," What? "deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

Now what does it mean to take up your cross? It means more than we can study tonight. We can study one thing about the cross tonight. To bear your cross means that you must be willing to go through some trials and troubles that you cannot explain and even God hasn't explained them to you. Are you willing to do that? That is what the cross means.

When Jesus hung on the cross, the voice of God was silent. The voice of God was silent and He longed to hear His Father's voice so much, He wanted to hear that comfort. Notice what He says here in Matthew 27:46, "And about the ninth hour, (that's about 3:00 in the afternoon)Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is,'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' " Why did He say that? Because God was silent.

Part of getting ready to go live with the Lord is learning to have faith and trust in God when you cannot explain the situation that you are in and you are in trouble. Now, we need to always remember when we are going through these experiences, if you are a Christian and it seems that the voice of God is silent in your life right now, remember it is temporary. The cross was temporary. The cross does not go on forever. The prosperity of the wicked does not go on forever, the cross doesn't go on forever, the troubles that the righteous have don't go on forever. If you are following Jesus and you are in trouble, always remember that trouble is temporary.

Bearing your cross, taking up your cross, involves going through trial or trouble when you cannot get around it, when you cannot avoid it and you cannot explain it. God is silent and He hasn't explained everything to you. Did Job go through an experience like that? Now you can read in the Bible, you know exactly what was going on, because it is explained to you. But I want to tell you, it was not explained to Job while he was going through it. He was bearing a cross. He had to bear a cross. It was temporary, by the way, don't ever forget that.

The devil tries to tempt God's people when they're bearing a cross or going through a trial or trouble or tribulation for Jesus' sake, that it is going to go on forever, but remember that is a lie. The devil is always a liar. Even when he tells the truth, his purpose is to deceive. Job had to bear his cross. Bearing your cross involves going through trial or trouble and God hasn't explained it to you. You haven't heard His voice explaining to you about it, but you are willing to go through it because you trust Him.

When Jesus was on the cross, where did He put His trust? He trusted in His Father who had already given Him previous evidence. By the way, if you have surrendered your life to Jesus, before the Lord allows you to go through any trial or trouble, He always gets you ready for it. That is one of the wonderful things about following the Lord, if you surrender your life to Him. That is not true about the wicked, they are never ready when the trouble comes. But if you follow the Lord, the Lord always gets you ready before the trouble comes.

John Wesley was talking about this one time. You can read this in The Great Controversy, how he shows that over a period of years the Lord first allowed him to have a little trouble and then a bigger trouble and then a bigger trouble. The Lord got him ready for what he was going to have to face. The Lord always does that.

If you are walking with the Lord, you are going to hear His voice. Had Jesus heard His Father's voice? Oh yes, He heard it. He had the evidence, but now He had to go through the experience where, for a temporary time. . . (It is like flying an airplane on instruments, if you trust those instruments you know where you are at and you know where you are going and you know where you are going to end up, but you surely cannot see it, you just have to trust them. You have to have faith like that in order to bear your cross and to go through the experience and be ready for Jesus to come.

I want to close this evening by noticing five facts about the cross. Bearing your cross is going through an experience where you bear your cross. To take up your cross, is going through an experience where you have trials, troubles, and tribulation that you cannot explain and God is silent. God was silent when Jesus was on the cross. Let's notice five facts. We have already looked at one, but we are going to prove it from the Bible. We should always, always, always remember this when we are bearing our cross, when we are enduring some trial or trouble for Jesus' sake, we should always remember that it is temporary.

Let's read that in the Bible. The Bible emphasizes this, the apostle Paul emphasizes it in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. (By the way, if you are ever discouraged, the entire chapter of 2 Corinthians 4 is a wonderful chapter to lift you up. If you are discouraged, just memorize that chapter some day and by the time you get it memorized you'll be feeling lots better.) 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says, "Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment," Oh someone says, "That cannot be true. I have been suffering for minutes already."

Listen, when you get on the other side and you are able to look back and the Lord shows you the change that He had to work in your character in order to take you to heaven and you see how much God changed you in such a short time, you know what you are going to say? You are going to say, "It was a moment." That is what you are going to say. Trust Him, that is what the Bible says. When you get on the other side and you look back at the suffering you went through, you are going to say, it was how long? It was a moment. Always remember that when you are in trouble and you are suffering. The Bible says it is for a moment.

Verse 17, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working. . ." and this is the second fact we need to remember about the cross. The first fact is that it is temporary. It's not going to last, it's going to be over. But the second fact is, when you bear your cross, when you go through this period of suffering or trial and you cannot hear God's voice and you cannot explain it, the second fact is that there is great reward in this.

Have you noticed that even in this world there are people in this world that are willing to suffer great hardship and difficulties if the reward is big enough?

Let me tell you, if you bear the cross of Jesus, there is a greater reward in that than in any hardship or trouble you could suffer for anything in this world. Notice what Paul says here, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding. . ." That is a very difficult word to translate, it is like a hyperbole, it is a word that is like saying very, very, very and so it is translated here a far more exceeding, that is a triple superlative word--far more exceeding. In the Greek language you can take all those words and put them all together, so Paul would put them all together and added an emphatic word on to it.

It is just very difficult to get enough superlatives in English to say how emphatic and how superlative it really is. So it is far more exceeding. Try to think that through, what that means. It is exceeding, but it is more than that and it is far more than that. It is "far more exceeding and eternal. . ." that's going to last forever, "weight of glory."

There is going to be a reward, it is going to be an exceeding reward; even more than that, even far more than that and it is going to last forever. The bearing of the cross, going through this period of trial or suffering for Jesus' sake when you cannot explain it and you have to trust in God because right now, temporarily, His voice is silent. Jesus did it. That is what is involved in bearing the cross. But Paul says there is a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory that is the consequence of this. It has great reward.

The second fact about bearing your cross and going through a time of trouble you cannot explain, when God is silent, is that there is a great reward, a great reward. In fact, it is so great you cannot even comprehend how great it is.

He says in verse 18, "While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." Paul says not to concentrate your attention on the cross that you are bearing right now because that is temporary. That is what you can see, your trouble. But concentrate your attention on what you cannot see because that is not temporary, that is going to last forever. The reward is going to last forever. You can read about this in the Desire of Ages.

Jesus, when He was on the cross, He was going through a temporary time, when He was going through great pain and suffering. Are you all aware of the fact that Jesus died from a ruptured heart? The sins of the world were laid upon Him, He did not die from the crucifixion, He died from a ruptured heart, a broken heart.

During that time when He was on the cross and going through this terrible agony on our behalf, do you know one of the things He was thinking about? Ellen White says that by faith He heard the triumphal shout of the redeemed and He realized, "Oh, yes, this is terrible, but there is going to be a great reward for this! There is going to be a great reward! I am going to reap a great reward for this!" If Jesus did it, do you think we should do it? Don't concentrate, Paul says, don't look at your trouble right now, that you can see. Remember that is temporary. Look at what you cannot see, concentrate your mind on what you cannot see. That is what faith is for. That is part of what your imagination is for, too, so you can imagine things that you cannot see. Concentrate your mind, your imagination, your faith on what you cannot see, that is eternal, because there is going to be a great reward for this trial and trouble you are going through right now!

He says, "For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." How big is that reward? How big? We cannot describe it. How very interesting that in the Bible, God knows that we cannot understand what He is trying to tell us, so He illustrates it in human terms. Now Ellen White is very clear that these illustrations in human terms do not come up to what the reality is really going to be. But still it is nice to have these illustrations even though you know that the reality is greater than the illustration because the illustration helps us to understand just a little bit about the reward.

How big is the reward going to be? Look in Matthew 19, Jesus is speaking, Matthew 19:29 says, "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold. . ."

Have you ever made an investment from which you received a hundredfold? Most people think that if your investment raises in value two or threefold that you made a pretty good investment in this world. And if you had an investment that could come back tenfold, you would think you had hit the jackpot, most people would. But this is an investment that is going to return a hundredfold, oh I didn't finish reading, did I? And what else? "And inherit eternal life." You are going to get a hundredfold plus eternal life. Can you take that in? I will tell you, if we could take that in, there is a lot of us that would get over our discouragement really quick. Did you know that? Quick! If we were suffering for Jesus' sake and we realized that for everything that I lose I will get a hundredfold, we would not worry about what we lost. By the way, the apostle Paul got a hold of this principle and look what he said about it in 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10 it says, "And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Paul says the worse off he is, the more he is going to rejoice because he knows he will receive that much more divine power; The more he loses, the more he will gain. If we could get hold of this, do you see the power it has to transform our lives? We would not go stumbling along saying, "Oh no, I'm suffering so much and losing so much and having so much. . ." It wouldn't be like that at all. We would have a firm and elastic step, we would press on to Zion and we would be praising the Lord, because we know that anything we lose, we are going to get a hundredfold so what is there to worry about?

So, the second fact about the cross is that there is a great reward. Paul says that it is exceeding, but it is more than that and it is far more than that. It is far more exceeding and eternal. What was the first fact about the cross? It is temporary. What is the second? It has great reward. Here is the third one. When you are bearing your cross the One who has born the cross before you will never leave you. Now, that one you have to take by faith because remember when Jesus was on the cross, God's voice was silent, but was God there? God was there. God will never, ever leave a person who has chosen to follow Jesus and bear His cross.

Let's read that in the Bible in Hebrews 13:5,6. It says, "Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we may boldly say: 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?' " The third fact about the cross is that when you bear your cross God says that He will never leave you nor forsake you. We belong to Him and He will be with you. And it is an amazing thing, it is an amazing thing that often times, you talk to people who have born many crosses, often times it is when we seem to be suffering the most terrible losses and the most awful things that we have realized the most clearly the power of God in our lives. God will never leave you. That is the third fact about the cross.

Here is the fourth one and this is wonderful. What is the first one? It is temporary. What is the second one? There is great reward. The third one? The Lord will stay with you, He will not leave you.

Here is the fourth one. God will not just be with you, but if you choose to bear your cross for Jesus' sake, He will give you the strength to bear it, to endure it. Look at 1 Corinthians 10:12, 13, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful. . ." Do you like those words? "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

Whatever happens, whatever losses you sustain, whatever suffering you are going through the Lord says that if you follow Him He will give you the strength that you will be able to endure. He will give you the strength so that you will endure whatever He allows to happen. Isn't that wonderful?

The cross is temporary, it has great reward, God will go with you while you endure it and He will strengthen you. But there is one more. A fifth fact about the cross. And this is a fact that is very difficult to communicate by spoken speech. I will do the best I can. It is explicitly referred to in the Bible in Philippians 3. The apostle Paul is talking here about the cross. In verse 8 he says, "But I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ."

Had Paul suffered some losses? Oh, yes, Paul bore a heavy cross in this world. He suffered a very great deal. Few of us, if any, will ever suffer as much as the apostle Paul suffered. Just read his life story in Sketches from the Life of Paul or in Acts of the Apostles or in the book of Acts in the Bible. But notice what it says in verses 9 and 10, "and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." Did you notice that expression where it says, "the fellowship of His sufferings"?

Now this, friends, is an absolutely sacred subject. We need to be guarded in our speech and guarded in our words when we talk about it. But, friends, there are some things that you cannot explain to another person in words. How can I illustrate it? This is a very crude illustration, but maybe it will help.

Let me ask you this, does any man know what it is like to have a baby? Absolutely not! You see there are some things that unless you have experienced it, you cannot completely understand it. You can study about it and you can have people tell you about it, but you cannot really understand it because you have not really experienced it. The cross is one of those things. You can talk about it, you can preach about it and you can say you believe it, but unless you yourself have experienced bearing a cross for Jesus' sake, you can never really understand it.

I want to ask you a question, do you want to know Jesus? If you are really going to know Jesus, you have to bear your cross. He bore a cross for you and for me that was heavier and more painful that anything we would ever bear for Him, but if we are ever going to really know Him intimately, we must bear our cross for Him. We must be crucified with Him and when that happens and we bear our cross for Him, with Him, Paul says I want to know something. What did he want to know? He wanted to know about the fellowship of His sufferings.

Do you realize, friends, there will be some people in heaven who actually, throughout all eternity, will have a closer relationship with Jesus than others. Do you know why? Because they have had more fellowship with Him than others. They have had a fellowship into His cross, His sufferings, that other people haven't had. That does not mean He does not love the others, that does not mean that He didn't give eternal life to the others. But there will be some people, in fact this is so true. . .I don't have the reference with me, I believe it is in Testimonies, vol. 4, along about page 219, somewhere right in there. Ellen White is talking about those who suffer the most in this world, they have born the heaviest crosses. Do you know what she says will be their experience in the future? Remember in bearing a cross there is great reward. She says they are going to experience the greatest happiness, the greatest joy in heaven. Did you know that some people are going to experience more happiness and more joy in heaven than others? They are. And who is it going to be? It is going to be people who in this world, had a heavy cross to bear and they rejoiced to bear that cross just like the apostle Paul did.

The apostle Paul said he had lost everything and just counted it rubbish that he might gain Christ. He wanted to know Him and he wanted to know the fellowship of His sufferings. You know Jesus lost everything for you and for me. He lost everything. He laid aside His glory, He left His throne, He left a place where everyone adored Him and loved Him. He came to a rebel world where people hated Him, He lived a life of poverty and suffering and trial and temptation.

See the devil was trying constantly to get Him to sin and break up the plan of salvation, so He was attacked more constantly than any of us and with fiercer temptations. Finally He went to the cross and when He was on His way to the cross, His last trip down through Galilee to Jerusalem, Ellen White says He pressed His way toward Jerusalem to make that sacrifice for you. He wanted to do it because He wanted to save you.

Until you experience that, until you are willing to suffer because you want to save somebody, (By the way, when people have been martyred for Jesus' sake people have been saved. If people had not been saved, they would never have been martyred. Just keep that in mind. People are not martyred just by the whim of the devil. None of Christ's servants are ever martyred unless somebody is going to be saved out of it.) and until we have that spirit that Jesus had where we say that whatever we had to suffer if we could save somebody that is, we would do it. Until you experience that, you cannot have the most perfect fellowship with Jesus.

The most perfect fellowship with Jesus is fellowship in His sufferings. In the book Ministry of Healing about page 476 Ellen White says that the fellowship with Christ and His sufferings is the highest honor that heaven can bestow upon man. The greatest trust. Are we going to experience that? Well, I guess it is up to us, isn't it?

If we are willing, if we get the right spirit that heaven can entrust to us a cross, where we go through an experience when God's voice is silent and we cannot explain it, but we are willing to go through it to save somebody because we know that it has great reward and we know that it is temporary.

I hope that these thoughts will be an encouragement to you, friend, someday, sometime when you are bearing a cross. I hope that you will remember that it is temporary, it has great reward, the Lord will be with you through it, He will strengthen you to bear it and as a result, you will have a close, intimate fellowship with Jesus that others, who do not bear that cross, can never have.

Do you want to be close to Jesus? Are you willing to bear your cross to be close to Him? If you are, if you want to have fellowship with Christ, and you are willing to go through a time when God is silent in order to get great reward and have fellowship with Him in His sufferings and you want the Lord to lead you in a way so that you can have a close fellowship with Jesus, I want to invite you to kneel down with me now and let's pray.