Those who suffer as believers should trust God and trust in Christ today that our sins are forgiven and that what we are receiving is not punishment. God never is

punitive toward his blood-bought children. He does chastise for our good, but he does not punish what has been punished in Jesus.

There's no double jeopardy. If my sins are on the cross, the bad things that happen to me are not more cross.

I think a lot of believers can carry this quiet fear that their pain means God is still holding something against them.

But as John Piper just said, there's no double jeopardy with the cross.

I'm Dan Kroover.

In this episode of Light and Truth,

John Piper shows us how to trust that even painful providence isn't punitive

when we belong to Christ.

This message was originally delivered at the Cove in Asheville, North Carolina,

on July 15, 2000.

36, 6 to 15.

What's so helpful about these verses is that Elihu helps us get a category in our minds that's so hard for us when we read the Old Testament, especially the Psalms, of righteous sinners.

Aren't you bothered by how frequently the psalmist protests their righteousness?

The righteousness and the righteous that.

And you're a Christian.

You know the cross and you know your sin.

And you just choke on putting yourself in that category of the righteous.

The psalmist are always dividing the wicked and the righteous.

Psalm 1, right?

It comes toward the end with his delight in the law of the Lord.

He meditates on it day and night.

...