Rejoice and Be Glad

Matthew 5:11-12 ESV

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

I live in the United States of America. We do not have the kind of religious persecution here that many people are experiencing in other nations, but that does not mean that Christian persecution does not exist here. It does! It just comes in a different form here from what many people here would consider to be persecution. And largely they don’t recognize it as persecution because they are spiritually asleep, and because they are largely being deceived by clever enchanters who have convinced them otherwise.

So, what is our situation here in America? It is that the Word of God is under fire, it is being persecuted, it is under attack by the enemy, and so it is what is being injured. For many charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing are those who are leading “church” congregations, and who are the ones feeding lies to the people in place of the truth of God’s word. For they are reducing (diluting, altering) the truth of God’s word in order to attract the people of the world to their gatherings, and in order to appease human flesh.

So Christian persecution here is largely in the area of deception, and of convincing those professing the name of Jesus to believe the lies in place of the truth. And since Satan is the author of this persecution, it is also very subtle and convincing and manipulative, and so it has a hold on many people’s lives who are professing Jesus as Lord and as Savior. For they are reducing the gospel of our salvation to a mere acknowledgment of who Jesus is and of what he did for us in dying on that cross for our sins.

Thus, there are multitudes of professing Christians here in America who have been convinced that a one-time in their lives confession of Christ as Lord is enough to secure them heaven for eternity, to forgive all their sins, and that nothing can take that away from them, but regardless of how they live. In fact, many are teaching that we do not have to repent of our sins, and that we do not have to obey our Lord and his commands, and that there are no works required of us at all if we “believe” in Jesus Christ.

Therefore, we have multitudes of people professing faith in Jesus Christ whose lives have not been transformed of the Spirit of God, who have not been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and who have not been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. But they are continuing in deliberate and habitual sin against God and against other people without conscience and without remorse, who then just claim who they believe they are in Christ as a means to alleviate guilt and shame for their sinful practices.

And since the Scriptures teach us that we must deny self, die daily to sin and to self, and follow (obey) Jesus Christ, in practice, if we want to come after Christ, and if we want to have eternal life in him, those who are buying into the lies and who are rejecting the truth are not going to inherit eternal life with God, but hell will be their eternal destiny, instead. So this is really one of the most evil and cruel persecutions of all because it is not just killing people physically, but it is killing them spiritually so they will go to hell.

But some people here in America have had their spiritual eyes opened to the truth, who are now also discerning the lies of the enemy, and they are under a different kind of persecution. They are being treated as though they are the enemy while those who are lying to the people are those who are being treated as the “good guys” because they are telling the people what they want to hear and what will make them feel good about themselves. So, if you are a truth teller, then you largely get discarded and cast aside.

For the people are being trained that the truth is the lie, and the lie is the truth, and they are also being trained to reject those who are speaking the truth while they are being trained to accept and to embrace those who are feeding them the lies. And so we have a large number of professing Christians here in America who are living no differently from those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ. It is largely indistinguishable between the church and the world here in America.

But Jesus said that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, in practice, then we have eternal life with God. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God in heaven (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

And all throughout the New Testament we read that if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, that we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips have professed. Jesus taught it and his NT apostles taught it. But this does not necessitate that we will never sin (1 John 2:1-2), but that if we deliberately and habitually sin against the Lord, and if obeying the Lord, and if living righteously in moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness are not what we practice, that we will not inherit eternal life with God.

But, again, those who are teaching the truth here in America are largely being persecuted for telling the people the truth while those who are speaking lies to them are being raised up and heralded as those who are kind and loving. And that is because they tell the people what they want to hear, but not what they need to hear. So we need to be people of God who speak the truth of God’s word, and not the lies, who are willing to be hated and persecuted and cast aside because we dare to stand on the truth.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296