The Sentence of Death

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

“For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.” 2 Corinthians 1:8-12 ESV

I have been there before. Have you? I have had times when the persecution and abuse was so overwhelming that I literally wanted to die, not to take my own life, but I just wanted Jesus to take me home, for I just didn’t want to live in this world anymore. I am not there now, but I am ready to go to be with Jesus whenever he is ready to take me to be with him. But I am ready to remain if he still has work for me to do, despite the persecution and how much harder things are going to get, for the Bible says they will get worse.

But I love what this says next. “But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” And that is the absolute truth! When we go through these difficult times, especially in times when we feel as though we just can’t keep going on, we learn that we can keep going on in the strength of the Lord. And it teaches us to rely on the Lord, not just for physical strength to carry on, but for everything in life. And we learn to depend on him in all things and to seek his counsel in all situations.

But God doesn’t always deliver us from the trials. Sometimes he says to move on and other times he says to stay and to just trust him. Paul faced both. And sometimes we get through one trial and then we are hit with another from a different source. But the Lord always delivers us through our trials if we will put our trust in him and let him direct us in what we are to do next. For the deliverance comes more in the form of endurance and in perseverance and in the confidence that we are in the will of God.

And it is always good if we can find people who will allow us to share our burdens with them, not to gossip, not to be whiners and complainers, but so they will pray for us. Sadly today Christians are being encouraged to stay away from anything negative and to only take in what is positive, and many are discouraging the sharing of our persecutions and our trials because that is negative. And so we have a lot of hurting people out there who have no one to pray with them and to share their burdens, and that’s sad. For we should be praying for one another and bearing one another’s burdens.

But we should also be people of integrity who not only are sharing the truth of the gospel of our salvation with the people of the world, but we should be living what we are teaching, by example. We should behave in godly sincerity and not in falseness, not in pretense, and no putting on of shows, but being completely honest and upright and morally pure and faithful in all that we do. And we should speak the words of God from the Scriptures, in context, and not teach the teachings of man. We should be trustworthy.

And then if anyone has an accusation against us, we can stand secure with our consciences clear that we are obeying the Lord, that we are walking in his ways, that we are teaching his truths, and that we are not liars and manipulators who twist the Scriptures and who teach false gospels, even if people are speaking falsely against us. For they spoke falsely against Jesus Christ, and then they put him to death, not because he had done anything wrong, but because they just didn’t like his message and who he was.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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