Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
The Lord Jesus Christ “learned obedience,” by the things He suffered. Though the Lord was never disobedient , He had never before wore the outer garments of flesh and walked the world as a man. And in that capacity, He learned in the Garden the full weight of His calling which was to bear the cross for all mankind. We must learn from this brothers and sisters. We must understand the nature of suffering and its value to us as eternal beings. It is easy enough to say that we would never deny our Lord, it is quite another to not deny our Lord in the flames of trial and tribulation and suffering.
Just as the Lord Jesus put on flesh to come to earth, so we must put off flesh to go to heaven. We know the instructions from the Lord, take up your cross, daily. If any man or woman would follow Him, they must also follow Him by learning obedience in the midst of suffering. It is, to coin a phrase, a required class. Those who suffer with Christ will reign with Him, It is a door we must pass through, it is for the testing and refining of our faith. Blessed are those who suffer for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. The valley of Achor is the valley of tears and it is a door of hope brothers and sisters. In the wilderness and in the midst of suffering He will come to us, He will visit the very depths of our souls.
In that place you will learn intimacy in ways you could never truly understand. And in the depths of this intimate relationship you will learn to stand. You will take on Christ and the armor of God as He meets you there. You will set your face like flint for the joy set before you, for as He endured then so shall you. He endured the cross and the shame and He sat down at the right hand of His Father. By the strength that comes through suffering and by the obedience that we learn in the midst of it, we shall be empowered to radical obedience. An obedience not born of passivity but rather an active obedience. The former is good, the latter is great. Let us learn together brothers and sisters so that we can say along with brother Job, even if He kills us yet shall we trust Him.
If we walk in the Spirit we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Gal 5:16)
Our life shall thus be transformed from a defensive warfare, in which we are always attacking evil, to a glorious consciousness of God only, which shall exclude the evil from our thought as well as from our life. We shall not have to constantly clear the sunken rocks from our channel, but on the high and full torrent of the Divine life we shall rise above every obstruction and move, as in Ezekiel’s vision, in a river of life which shall be above our ankles , and above our loins, a river to swim in, carrying us by it’s substantial fullness.( A.B.Simpson)
Walking in the Spirit, walking in the obedience of God. Coming into the fullness of His glory. Engulfed in a river that flows from heavens eternal majesty. Being carried by its “substantial fullness.” Glory to God. Is that not what we want brothers and sisters? Leaving behind the cursing of the darkness and proclaiming instead of God’s ineffable glory. Rather than fighting through the thickets and dense forests of life, we should be engulfed and taken by the depths of His river. Paradoxically, walking in the Spirit is to flow in the glory of God’s river of life.
One of man’s most natural fears is to drown, to be taken by the depths and given over to it. To open up ones lungs is to be immediately drowned. To walk in the Spirit, to flow in Ezekiel’s river is not that much different. To be swallowed whole by the Spirit of God, to be fully given to Him fills us with great fear. What will happen to us? Where shall this take us? We have been so used to hanging on, we have no idea what letting go even looks like. To no longer stand upon our own two feet is to walk in the Spirit and be engulfed in heavens purpose, which is to be fully focused on gazing into impenetrable light in which God dwells. And from that place ceaseless streams of praises flow. Open up your lungs and breathe the rarefied air of heaven brothers and sisters.
The ultimate judgement of God and the ruin of man is when God gives a person or nations up to their own uncleanness that flows from the lusts of their own hearts. They are consumed by their vile affections, so we are told in Romans chapter one. The morning has come for the nations and the day shall have its end. The rising sun of the morning casts a light upon their corruption. It is clearly seen. No longer is it hidden in the shadows. It does not skulk in the dark recesses of the alleyways. Rather, it marches boldly down Main St. It celebrates its sin openly and brazenly and not content with that, compels others to bow before it and acknowledge it as their own.
A disaster, a singular disaster is at the door (Ezek 7:5) and it will effect all of the nations. It is the beginning of the end when this disaster strikes. God will not spare, the nations shall know that He is the God who strikes. Pride budded on the rod and now it has come into full bloom. There is no longer any pretense. God is wholly and fully rejected by the nations. Once they had for a pretense an honor of God but now the halls of their power, their institutions and all their ways have become corrupted. It is one thing to conspire in the shadows, it is quite another to break into open rebellion and raise an angry mocking fist at God. And therefore God will strike, He will rob the rebels of hope and they will be overtaken with fear. Their legs will not work under them for fear and they will not be able to run or stand and fight.
Men have always sought solace in the usual hiding places. They hide within the confines of their own bravery. In their pride they hide. In rebellion and hope for tomorrow they find their last stand,but they cannot stand from the God that can and will strip them of all of these things. They have put much stock in their wealth and their prosperity. They have built castle after castle with them. Yet one by one these castles will fall as the sanctuary of their wealth is taken from them. Up to this point it has been the solid ground upon which they stood, now the very ground beneath them shall give way. In that day it will be better to have “fields of corn rather than mines of gold.” Their gold will be useless to them.
Men seek no messenger to rebuke them of their sin rather they seek council from lying prophets who will tell them what they want to hear, for a price. And these prophets promise them peace but peace shall not come. Men have despised God with rebellion and mixture, mixture being a thing that God despises. Therefore in the coming days of their calamity there shall be no help from God for He is the author of that very calamity and those who speak against it speak against God. The kings of the world shall mourn and its princes shall be dismayed but they will not repent. Rather they shall turn on God’s remnant saints. This singular disaster shall usher in the days of the great tribulation. There shall be no pre-tribulation rapture. They shall make war on the saints and the saints shall be overcome as they fall into their hands (Rev 13:7)
Yet take comfort in this brothers and sisters, the Lord Himself shall be with us in the midst of the fire. Our tormentors shall look and see and know that Christ is in us and with us. The whole world shall look and see that Christ is in us. As we are martyred then we shall be a witness to the whole world. Those who endure to the end shall be saved. The world will witness Christ in us and their guilt shall be sealed. The Kingdom shall be demonstrated to all the world as a witness and then the end shall come (Matt 24:14)
Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. (2Ti 3:11-12)
Paul says that out of all his persecutions the Lord delivered him. Amen. Yet, before you wholeheartedly agree with me with your own modern day amen to these deliverances, you must ask Paul to remove his shirt. You see, Paul’s notion of deliverance and the modern evangelical notion of deliverance are two entirely different things. It is even more different than the Charismatic view of deliverance. Yet essentially the Evangelical and the Charismatic view are the same. In their view there are no scars. Deliverance does not, for them, come in the midst of suffering or persecution, rather it comes by avoiding them altogether.
Paul and Silas were delivered in the dungeon, not from the stocks but from the darkness of hopelessness. They sang out in the midnight hour, they rejoiced that they were found worthy to suffer for Jesus as did the disciples. And in this they elevated themselves above the storm, they were delivered from the storm in the very midst of it. Victory comes not by avoiding storms or avoiding persecution or suffering, for all who would live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Victory comes in the presence of our enemies. Deliverance comes when the fire does not consume us. Deliverance comes when we can cry out with Stephen ” hold not this charge against them.” Deliverance comes when you can say”forgive them Father for they know not what they do.”
When Paul was beheaded had he been abandoned? No, he was delivered. When the saints were burned at the stake had they been abandoned? No, we could hear their deliverance in the spiritual songs that they sang in the midst of the flames. Paul says this “what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me.” We do not like that word endure or the notion that the deliverance comes after endurance. Saints, we who live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution and we are called to endure, to overcome, it is to those who do that all the promises are made which include deliverance. Endure today brothers and sisters like good soldiers and glorify God in the midst of your suffering and great will be your deliverance.
In our childhood many of us roamed through the native woods and seen some old fallen forest tree rotting where it lay. Through the decaying wood, the earthworms and insects burrow, and perhaps the adder has built its nest and raised its poisonous brood, so that we have feared to sit down on the old, putrefying mass, and have thought of it as a type of corruption and decay. That mass of putrefaction may well represent the ruin of our sinful nature. But have we not sometimes seen a little shoot of unsullied whiteness in the early spring growing up through the rotten wood, and rising out of the mass of corruption as undefiled as the sunny wing of a dove, or the gentle hand of a babe, beautiful and pure, and unstained even by the touch of corrupting elements around it, until it has grown into a tree and covered itself with luxurious green , and our hands have plucked from its branches the luscious berries of the summer woods? It was life in the midst of death, purity amid corruption, having no connection whatever with the soil in which it grew and incapable of mixture with its defilement. Precisely so is the life of holiness in the soul (A.B.Simpson)
Can you glimpse into the words of this dear old saint? He is talking about your sanctification. How out of death and corruption rises the holiness of God. The old man is decaying and dying and rotting where it lies as unattended death does. The dying and the death. The dying of the cross was a long business, it was designed to be so by those cruel Romans. They had perfected the art of having nailed a man to a tree but keeping him alive as long as they possibly can. This is the death of the cross. The flesh does not go quietly. It shouts and it screams its protests and we we hear it, dont we saints? We hear our flesh as it wars against our spirit. We long for its death to be done and even then for its body to be laid in the grave. Our spirit is willing and will live forever, but our flesh is weak and knows it already defeated but still it shall not go quietly, but go it shall.
In the natural the sicker someone becomes, the closer to death they get, the less that they can do. They can no longer climb a flight of stairs, no longer walk around the block, can barely bend over and if they sit down they have great difficulty getting back up. Old age and sickness robs the flesh of the strength that it once had. Yet, are you not glad that the Scripture tells us that the outer man may be perishing yet his spirit is being renewed each day. The dying of the flesh has no bearing on the life of the spirit, quite the opposite. Your spiritual tree should be covered with luxurious green. Fruit should hang from every branch. You roots should be fed directly because you abide beside the river. In season, out of season, you are a tree planted by the waters. A tree that grew out of corruption which you threw of daily by means of the cross until you rendered it all but harmless. The old corrupt tree lies formless on the ground. You, dear saint, no matter how old you are, stand tall and strong in the Kingdom of God. In the Kingdom you can run and not grew weary, you can walk and not faint and you can rise up with wings as eagles. Rise up today saints, you who have waited upon the Lord.
Psa 42:5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Many know the depths of despair. Many have been touched by a creeping darkness that threatens to overwhelm your soul and pull you downward. On such an occasion in my life the Lord spoke directly into the darkness and pierced it with this Scripture. He asked me a rhetorical question “why so downcast Frank, put your hope in me for you will yet praise me.” It struck me to my core. My tears had been my food day and night and my soul longed to be away from that place. And there, in a moment of time, My Lord came to me in the depths of my soul and lifted up the head that hung low. He dried my tears and I was like the deer that had panted for the water brooks and found it and found therein the waters of life that revived my soul.
If the waves and the billows of the deep are washing over you, know this brothers and sisters, they shall not drown you. You shall cry out to the Lord your God in the days of your distress and He will command His lovingkindness to envelope you through the day and in the night His song will keep you as you sleep. Many will say in the depths of your distress “where is her God now, where is his God when he needs Him.”And the answer that they will not be able to see is that He is in the very depths of your heart, keeping you and holding your head above the waters as you go through them. When they take their eyes off your situation and look upon your face, they will see the peace of our Lord. For out of the heart that belongs to God, shines the beauty of holiness that overcomes the darkness.
Many years ago my son Daniel, who has down syndrome, was attending a summer day camp. This particular morning they were going on a trip to play Frisbee golf. Needless to say he was very excited. When we got up that morning it was apparent the weather was not good. As we left at 9am for camp the skies grew really dark in a way that you would have to live in the Mid-West to appreciate. As we drove down the highway it was as dark as midnight and then the torrential rain came. There was thunder and lightening, it was a full on classic Mid-West storm, the kinda storm your eyes are pealed for clouds coming down in the beginnings of a tornado. It was clear there would be no Frisbee golf this day.
On our way to camp Daniel and I would always have a worship service and that morning was no exception. Daniels hands raised in worship, tears flowing down his face. About half way there he reached over and tugged my shirt. I turned the music down. Daniel says, with his broken language skills “I’m gonna sing to the storm.” It penetrated deep into my spirit. I knew what he was saying. He was telling me he was not afraid of the storm and that he was gonna sing it away. I turned the music back up and we continued to worship. Suddenly tears began to roll down my face. I thought about the very simple yet profound faith of my son. There was only five minutes until we got to the camp but in my spirit I asked “Lord is it possible you are about to suddenly calm this storm.’
Brothers and sisters, before we got to that camp, the light broke through the darkness and the rain suddenly stopped. I was quietly shedding a few tears at the Lord’s dramatic response to Daniels prayer , not Daniel. He gets out of the car and he is muttering and he is speaking for God to the storm and he says “see storm, you’re not the boss of me.” And as soon as he said it I thought of the Scripture, Mark 4:39– And He awakened and rebuked the wind and said to the sea “Peace be still!” And the wind ceased and there was great calm. I had such a time with the Lord on the way home as I considered who He was. When was the last time that you “sung to your storm,” brothers and sisters?
Maybe you are in the midst of a storm right now. Maybe it’s as dark as it ever has been in your life. Saint, this storm does not have mastery over your life. We serve a God that in the midst of the most violent storms can say “Peace be still.” And suddenly there is peace. Can you sing to your storm today? Can you praise God even in the midst of your greatest trials? When the enemy of your soul says “let’s hear you sing now,’ can you confound him and sing out? When your back is to the sea and there seems to be no way of escape, can you, in faith, begin to praise Him because you know that all power belongs to Him?
Our God has commanded that light would shine forth from darkness. This storm that you are in the midst of has a Master and it is not the enemy of your soul, it is the Liberator of your soul. Invite the Holy Spirit to speak through you by faith to the storm. Remind yourself that you will not be identified by this storm that you are in. Your identity is in Christ alone. Declare that to the storm. These momentary light afflictions works in us an eternal depth of glory, a holy heaviness if you like where the head is bowed in the glory and trembling hands reach up and touch the light that shines in the darkness. “You are not the boss of me.” Christ shall shine into that storm and the darkness will flee as peace floods your soul rather than darkened trouble waters.
Mar 4:39-40 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?
Have you ever stood beneath a violent storm? The lightening fractures the sky above and sends down bolts that touch earth and sky. The ground shakes as the thunder roars. The dark clouds swirl in violent contortions. Tornado’s begin to form as the earth is battered by giant hailstones. The immensity of the power that surrounds you overwhelms you. Have you ever been caught up in a storm as sea? Waves of tremendous power rise to towering heights and fall with unspeakable power. The wind howls as it drives the waves into a frenzy and the noise is deafening. You quickly understand your place in this world. Fear and humility course through your veins.
When a man encounters God he is quite simply undone. Everything he knows about himself convicts him in an instant. His very existence crumbles as he encounters the immensity of God. He falls to floor as if dead. He is man and God is God. He dare not speak unless he is spoken to. He understands that the very voice of God, a single word could totally destroy both body and soul. Does this God offend you? This is the God of the Bible. Not a kindly grandfather with silver hair. Not the “man upstairs.” He is God and you are man and when man encounters His Majesty then you are undone. In Christ alone we stand. In Christ alone we are ushered before the throne. In Christ alone we are swallowed up in the glory. Christ is the fire from the altar that has refined us and given us voice before Majesty.
God’s righteousness reflects upon our humanity. The righteousness of Christ in us reflects upon a a dark world untouched by the glory of God. Is there a fire that burns within you brothers and sisters and does the fire light up the dark deeds of this world? Does it reflect upon the shadows and the shades of grey? There is but one reason for the fire, one reason for the light. We have been called to go into the darkness of the valley. This world is the valley of the shadow of death. Yet we fear no evil, for we are bearers of the light. He has restored our souls and He leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name sake. In an ever darkening world, remember your calling brothers and sisters.
Twenty eight years ago, just two years after being saved and six weeks after Daniel, our son with Down Syndrome was born, I began to have difficulty breathing. After the initial X-ray, it seemed likely I had lung cancer. I had been a heavy smoker from the age of fourteen until I got saved at twenty seven. Much of that had been smoking cannabis. The X-ray was followed up with a cat scan and then finally a lung biopsy. They discovered I had a disease called Sarcoidosis. It mainly effects African Americans in this country, I later discovered I had 5% African blood in my DNA.
Sarcoidosis can affect any of the organs in the body, and in my case it manifested itself as pulmonary fibrosis in my lungs. These fibrosis are irreversible and as they begin to build up in your lungs, your lung capacity is diminished until at some point you die. A third of my lungs already exhibited irreversible fibrosis. I was told by my Pulmonologist that I was stage three of a stage four disease. There was no cure. There was, however, a treatment that could prolong your life. Very high daily doses of prednisone. IN my case, 60 mg a daily.
As Christians we understand that the more we rely upon Jesus, the deeper our relationship is with Him. Dependence is the key to the depth of our spiritual life. We often see the martyrs testify of how their relationship with the Lord grew to greater depths in the dungeons of this world. When everything is stripped away, when we lose the ability to control our own lives, then we discover that Jesus is fully in charge. As the old adage says, we have to let go and let God. The letting go part is the battle, it is the refining fire, it is our sanctification.
After less than two weeks of taking the steroids, that still small voice spoke into my spirit. “Frank, come away with me, I am your life, I am your stillness, I am your peace when all around you is falling apart, trust in me….trust in me.” I knew exactly what the Lord was asking of me, asking mind you. I was to stop taking the pills. I was to trust in Him, I was to put my life fully into His hand. As you can imagine, the opposition to this was great. My son with Down syndrome was only a few months old and had life threatening issues that would require more than one surgery. My wife was devastated at this decision of mine. She was not a Christian. Yet even Christians did not agree with me and let it be known. The pulmonologist was very angry and told me bluntly that I would die and that it would not be a pleasant death.
Several weeks passed, and the many voices seemed to be right. My ability to breathe declined. It is imperative to note that the still small voice of the Lord made me no promises, my only command was to “trust ,” Him. A well known man of God from the last century said this “Lord, may I be an ox on the altar or an ox in the field.” None of is really know our purpose here in life, what we do know is that we have been called to bring honor to the name of Jesus, regardless of our situation. Whether we live or whether we die we have been called to glorify Him. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
There will be times, in every Christians life, when the Lord will “make you lie down in green pastures.” You may think to yourself, what is so “Green Pastures,” about an incurable disease? I do not have the words to describe to you the place I found myself in. Enough to say that it was glorious. The warmth of the sun upon my face was indescribable. The blueness of the sky was glorious. The little sparrow sitting on the wall was altogether fascinating. I became super aware of things that I had routinely overlooked or had taken for granted. I was in this mysterious place called “under the shadow of His wing.” I had to rely upon God for every breath that I took and it took my spiritual breath away. I was not burning at the stake and singing psalms and spiritual songs, but I glimpsed into that realm.
The pulmonologist was part of a national study on this disease and had been taking X-rays of my lungs every two weeks, he wanted to chart my regression. He told me that this way, my decision would at least do some good. He was quite angry with me and never tried to hide it. One Monday morning, at 5.30am I was awoken by a call. It was my mother calling from four thousand miles away in Scotland. She apologized for calling so early, but she had been compelled by the Holy Spirit. She very simply stated “The Lord told me that He is going to heal you.” The Lord had instructed her to attend a certain prayer meeting the following night and have me held up in prayer. I find it significant that my mom was instructed to call and tell me beforehand. This was an act of faith, a “stepping out.”
As she spoke, I was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, I fell to my knees and in my spirit I knew that I was to be healed, I had no doubt whatsoever. I went for an x-ray two days later. The Doctor called me into his office, he seemed subdued. I had shared with him months before that I was putting my life in the hands of the Lord. He paused before flicking the lights on that would light up the X-ray and said words that i will never forget. “I do not know what you are going to call this.” He flicked the light on and pointed to my lungs, they were completely clear. Apparently the Lord does not know the meaning of the word ,”irreversible.”That was twenty eight years ago. Trusting God is the key to life. When glorifying Him becomes more important that anything else, including your own life, you will be propelled into new heights of glory.
Rom 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
In this particular case we see that Abraham and his wife are well beyond the age of bearing a child. Sarah’s womb was dead, it could carry no life. We oftentimes run into situations that defies hope, that stands diametrically opposed to any solution. All the evidence of the rational world and the expert opinions of men dash any chance upon the rocks of hopelessness and despair. Yet brothers and sisters, it is a glorious thing to remember that our hope is not the hope of the world. We are not left to chance. Our hope is founded upon our God and His word and His promises. His word is not broken, His promises cannot be broken. And it is this hope that is a wellspring of joy and peace and love and a sound mind.
Abraham, the father of faith believed God that life would spring forth from death. Now from the first promise until the fulfillment of it took 25 years. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 when Issac was conceived. This defied all the evidence of the rational world. In the world Abraham would have had no hope. In the world we too would have no hope in certain situations, yet praise God we may be in the world but not off it. We walk according to the Spirit of God, we stand upon the Word of God. We believe in the promises of God and we walk in the Kingdom of God. This kingdom is and always has been a place of miracles and a wellspring of hope. His will, whether to raise us up or slay us, towers above the dictates of men. In that, we rest, not as the world rests.
The birth of Issac is the birth of a nation. It is this line that would give us Jesus, the seed that would bless all the nations of the world. It sprang forth from the impossible which is the realm of the miraculous. This realm has a throne and upon that throne sits our heavenly Father. Can hope step into hopelessness? Yes indeed. Just as Jesus came forth from His heavenly realm and stepped into our world, then sight can come forth from blindness, joy can come forth from despair and Lazarus can come forth from the grave. Jesus is my blessed hope, all other ground in sinking sand. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. When darkness veils his lovely face I rest on His unchanging grace. Rest today saints, rest.
For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:(Col 2:9-10)
You are complete in Him. In Jesus we find fulfillment. We find everything that we need to live this life. In Jesus dwells the fullness of God and that fullness dwells in us. Circumcision was the sign of the Old covenant, and in the new our hearts are circumcised. The proof of this circumcision of the heart is found in verse seven. It says that those who are in Him are rooted and grounded in Him and established in Him. And it says that they are abounding in thanksgiving. That word abounding in the Greek means to “superabound.’ Its an excess, filled to overflowing, flooded. If you are complete in Him one of the major signs of this will be a life lived in extravagant thankfulness.
A thankful heart is a healthy heart. One who is abounding in thankfulness is rooted and grounded in the reality of what the Lord has done for them. It dominates their thinking. It directs their emotions. It counteracts self pity. It focuses the mind. It keeps the smile on our faces despite our circumstances. It affect the countenance. A thankful heart shines out from our face and it radiates light into the darkness of every situation. It gives us a youthful spirit. Thankfulness leads to joy. And this joy, the joy of the Lord is our strength. We all know people who are not thankful, who are in fact grumblers. They abound in grumblings. They are self focused. They are miserable. They are fearful. They are angry and discontent.
Brothers and sisters, beware lest anyone steal away your thankful heart. In verse eight we are warned where this theft could come from. Philosophy. We get out word sophistry from this word. And in this case it was Jewish sophistry. Much talking and arguing and debating. This will steal away your thankful heart and draw you away from the simplicity of the faith that was established in you. The traditions of men, whether it was Jewish traditions or whether it is the traditions of religious men who are professors of Christianity today and in the last several centuries and millennia, are nothing more than the basic principals of this world. Only as we find fulfillment in Christ alone shall we walk in thankfulness. It is by revelation and not the clever arguments of religious men. One is supernatural and bound in Christ, and the other is natural and bound in the vain imaginations of men. One is life, the other ids death. Beware brothers and sisters and guard your thankful hearts.
2Co 1:8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
This scripture is often overlooked, passed over rather quickly I think. Perhaps we do not want to think of someone like Paul being in such dire straits? Paul faced death many times in his life but here we see something far more intense, far more spiritual. It touched him to the depths of who he was. Even Paul had to find out that the extremities of this life is the opportunities for God Himself to show Himself strong. If we serve a God that can raise the dead, and we do, then surely we must be able to trust Him to bring us back from the kind of despair that sees only one way out. He has made us able and we can trust Him.
I love Paul’s honesty in addressing this subject. It takes humility and a great deal of security to acknowledge this level, this depth of despair. We see very little of this kind of raw honesty with one another. We are covered with layer over layer of flesh and blood and pride and ego. It is no mistake that we hear this admission from a man that has had, literally and spiritually, the flesh torn from his back. Paul could not only show you his actual scars, he could also tell you about the assaults upon his very mind and soul. So brothers and sisters. If the darkness has come to you and threatens to swallow you whole, there is a light that shines in that darkness. A brilliant shaft of light that pierces even the gross darkness of our hearts and minds, it is the light of God Himself. He has a way of escape for you, even from the gates of hell.
Paul says this a few verses earlier…..For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ…..as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolations. Brothers and sisters, God Himself will come to you and console you. He will comfort you and one day you will comfort others with this same comfort. And share with others how the Lord Jesus came to you like a shaft of brilliant light in the darkness and raised the head that hung low. That lifted up trembling hands as if to touch heaven itself and then be filled with its glory. This is a promise to the saints. You have not been left as an orphan brothers and sisters. I can personally testify to the truths here written and what he has done for Paul, and what He has done for me, He will do for you. God bless you saints. Let us stand together and encourage one another.
Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Col 2:15)
That word disarmed or spoiled means, in a sense, to strip. He stripped them of their power in a very public setting. Jesus , although naked and nailed to a cross, triumphed over principalities and powers. Jesus may have been literally naked, but the raw naked power that the principalities had over humanity was gone, broken, just as they had tried to break Him. In His dying, He caused us to live by forgiving us of our trespasses and wiping out “the handwriting of requirements.” The curse of the law was the handwriting against us, it required to be fulfilled. The writing was on the wall for humanity, yet Jesus took our place and blotted out our required punishment. Victory for all those who would repent, accept and receive the sacrifice, Victory in Jesus.
In the natural, this scene did not look like victory at all, quite the opposite. Perhaps your own life does not look very victorious. There may be no great achievements, no ministry the world would see and recognize. You may even think “what is my life all about, what was it all for.” Can I tell you brothers and sisters. Your love for God no matter what your circumstances, is the victory of God in your life. It stands as a testimony. It strips away the lies of spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Satan said of Job that he only loved God for what God had given him. Strip him of all that he had and he would curse God to his face. Liar. No matter what the loss, Job actually does the opposite. He worships God. No one was stripped more than Jesus, and yet He stripped them of their power and made a spectacle of them. Your life of devotion and love to Jesus, despite your circumstances, is a mighty testimony to the truth. God loves you and you love Him.
This reality found in the Body of Christ is the greatest testimony of all. We are all witnesses to His love for us and our love for Him. Whether rich or poor. Whether young or old. Whether on the mountaintop or in the depths of the valley. Whether young and healthy or sick and bedridden. The light of His love for us and our love for Him shines out like a mighty beacon, like a city set on hill for all the world to see. Your love for Him, despite your circumstances is your primary calling. Stand fast in this and you will hear these words that will echo throughout eternity “well done good and faithful servant.” Stand fast brothers and sisters. God sees your life. The enemy also sees your life. His primary objective is for you to curse God and die. He wants to strip you of your testimony. Rather, brothers and sisters, let us strip them and triumph with Christ in victory.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? (Act 2:36-37)
The phrase “cut to the heart,” comes from the Greek word katanussō. A better and more appropriate reading would be “stabbed in the heart.” It is a very violent phrase, when you consider the word nusso was the word used to describe Jesus being run through with a spear. Imagine a word used by the Holy Spirit to conjure an image of something even more violent than the death blow of a spear. Why the violent reaction from the crowd? Well, Peter gave a marvelous sermon by the power of the Holy Spirit and ends with him telling the crowd that they themselves crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. As this truth from the Spirit violently pierces the hard hearts of men, they cry out in agony and anguish over the realization that they have indeed caused the death of Jesus and yet…….there was mercy to be found, love and forgiveness from God as they repented.
We see this again with Stephen. He gives a marvelous sermon in Acts chapter seven. It is all encompassing and is a sweeping story that spans the ages and the crowd are engrossed, until the stabbing comes. Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers………… When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth (Acts 7:51-54) You see the same phrase cut to the heart, only in a slightly different form, this time it means to saw asunder. So when anyone is faced with the knowledge that they themselves, through their sins, crucified the Christ, they are violently agitated by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Can I put it to you that we, for the most part, stop well short of Peter and Stephen. In the end it is often what we do not say that makes the difference. And why do we not say such things? Why are men and women today rarely confronted by the reality that they personally crucified Jesus? Fear of man. Fear of losing the relationship. Unwilling to risk it all by sharing the truth that would actually lead to many being saved or lead to us ending up like Stephen. How does this work out practically in our lives today? In our families we shall go so far and no further. We will often excuse it by saying we are loving them into the Kingdom. Was Peter lacking in love? How about Stephen, the man full of the Holy Spirit? The opposite was true. They were so full of love for Jesus and that He would have the rewards of His suffering that they spoke the truth in love. How about you and I? Do we have this king of love? Do we speak with this kind of power? I challenge you today saints. When the opportunity arises, speak the truth in love and risk it all for Jesus, for He already gave His all for you.
A Call To The Remnant 