You Endured a Hard Struggle

“But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,

“’Yet a little while,

    and the coming one will come and will not delay;

but my righteous one shall live by faith,

    and if he shrinks back,

my soul has no pleasure in him.’

“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Hebrews 10:32-39 ESV)

For the past five days, the Lord has been having me focus on messages related to one-sided relationships, abuse of power, abuse of people, the hurting and abused, overcoming the difficulties of life, healing of damaged emotions, forgiving the people who have mistreated us, fighting the good fight of faith, conquering the enemy of our souls, victory in Jesus Christ, deceiving spirits, people who lie, trick, and deceive, who are masters of manipulation, and faith and hope and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, the writings and video talks from the past five days have, in part, if not in whole, covered some of these subjects to some extent, which then is a good segue into today’s lesson. For the life of a true follower of Jesus Christ is going to involve abuse, mistreatment, persecutions, rejections, reproaches, false accusations, hard struggles, sufferings of many kinds, and afflictions, and the like. For Jesus promised us that if we follow him with our lives that we will be hated and persecuted as he was so mistreated.

So, although painful when we are going through these times of difficulty, we should not be overtaken by them. They should come as no surprise to us, for we were forewarned about them. And if we have overcome and have had victory over a specific trial, and then things seemed okay for a little while, but then they got bad again, or worse, or they came from a different source this time, or a different method of trying to destroy us, we should not let that overtake us, but we are to remain strong in our faith and persevere.

So, who are our enemies? Who are those who are opposed to us and who are against us and whose desire it is to do away with us? Well, the main enemy is Satan, but our enemies are also some human beings. And they can be our parents, our spouses, our siblings, our children, our “friends,” our neighbors, our co-workers, and others who profess faith in Jesus Christ and who are in the gatherings of “the church,” and they can be pastors and elders and government heads and the news media, etc.

For not everyone is who they claim to be. Many masquerade as servants of righteousness, but their hearts are far from God. Many are those who are mean, cruel, malicious, and despicable, but who masquerade as those of genuine faith in the Lord Jesus and as those who are teachers or preachers of the true faith. Outwardly they may appear righteous, but inwardly and in true nature and practice they are servants of the devil, and they are the self-indulgent, deceivers, liars, and manipulators who fake their Christianity.

They blend in with Christianity so that they appear as though they are Christians, but more like a chameleon blends in with his environment, but is someone who changes his colors depending upon whom he is with. And what they teach others is also a blending of the truth and the lies and deceptions so that what they teach has the appearance of truth while it is truly lies of the enemy. They profess to know God and to be in intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, but it is all a performance in order to lie and to deceive.

They pretend that what they are teaching is the true gospel of our salvation, but what they teach is really a lie of Satan intended to lead people away from pure devotion to Jesus Christ, while claiming who they say they are in Christ, and while claiming heaven as their eternal destiny. Part of what they teach may be truth, but it is blended in skillfully with the lies so as to appear as truth, but not really truth. And they will, thus, be opposed to us who are teaching the truth and who are exposing the lies for what they are.

But we are not to be those who run away from these situations, but we are to be those who are proclaiming the truth that Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught, that we must be crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. We must be refuting the lies of the enemy and warning the people that if they continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in obedience to God, they will die in sin.

We must be people of God who love God and who love our fellow humans above wanting to “play it safe.” We must care enough about people to tell them the truth that can save their souls from hell, even if we get rejected and mistreated and even lied about, in return. And we must be willing, too, to stand with others of true faith who are genuinely (in truth) being persecuted for righteousness’ sake and for speaking the truth of the gospel. We must be willing to give it all up to follow Jesus and to share his gospel.

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13; Romans 6:1-23; Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23; Galatians 5:16-21]

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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