You are a liar if you do not keep our Savior's commandments.

1Jn_2:4  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Remember this from yesterday--

Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

We HAVE to listen to our SAVIOR and He was NOT instructing us to do away with His commandments. Why would He even say those word- the first of ALL the commandment, the second is like- why would He say that if He really just wanted us to do away with His moral ten commandments and just say we know what it means to love? 

How arrogant we are! How presumptuous we are! We dare to imagine that WE know what it means to love! We dare to believe that we do NOT need the moral ten commandments from our Savior!  We dare to question His commandments the very commandments HE LIVED when HE walked the earth!

Why would He tell us this…

Joh 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

If we have decided that to be a Christian simply means living right, not hurting anyone are we following our Savior's commandments? If we put our own commandments in place of His, are we following HIS commandments? IF WE CHANGE the commandments to suit ourselves we are not listening to our Savior. Yet so many want to change them. They won't admit it, they refuse to admit that they are going against our Savior's words, so they talk themselves out of believing they are by throwing up that the only thing that matters is love and nothing else. And they toss in, God knows my heart.

It is true LOVE is everything.
It is true God knows our hearts.

But when we REFUSE to believe that the moral commandments were given from the SOURCE OF ALL LOVE, and are LOVE, then we aren't loving at all. We've thrown up our own idea of love believing we know better than God.

JESUS SAID- IF YE LOVE ME KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS.

1Jn_2:4  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Do you know JESUS?
Do you keep HIS COMMANDMENTS?

You CANNOT know Jesus if you do NOT keep HIS commandments!

Make up your own religion if you want to, but that will mean making up your own Jesus, and that means you won't know Jesus at all.

He will tell people this--

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity

He will tell them He never knew them, and it'll be the truth because they haven't worshipped Him at all but rather a Lord of their own devising.

By the GRACE of God may we through the power of the Holy Spirit keep HIS COMMANDMENTS and NOT the commandments of our own making. May we KNOW our LORD and may HE KNOW US!

All in HIS LOVE!
By HIS MERCY!

LORD JESUS- Be the END of our FAITH- OUR SALVATION

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

'The word te???, (Transliteration: Telos)  end, is often used so as to imply the issue or reward of any labor or action.'  - Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible.

The reward of your faith.

The reward that comes at the culmination of our faith.

Salvation!

Saved from sin!

Reunited with God, no longer separated from Him by sin.

Saved!

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

SAVED!
SALVATION!

To be saved-

(Strong's Dictionary)
--to save, that is, deliver or protect (literally or figuratively): - heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole.

Delivered.
Healed.
Preserved.
Made whole.

Joh 4:42  And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

The Savior of the world!
The Deliverer!
The Redeemer!

If we ENDURE to the END we will be SAVED.
The END of our FAITH is our SALVATION.

For one moment I want you to think about something- WHAT HARM COMES FROM HAVING FAITH IN OUR SAVIOR?

Seriously… believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior causes what harm?

The harm comes in when people THINK they are believing in Jesus Christ and then set about trying to force their beliefs on others.  I emphasized THINK they are believing because they are deceived into believing they follow the true Savior when the truth is the true Savior would NEVER force anyone to believe in HIM, NEVER. They may call their Savior by the same name as the true Savior, but underneath that name they've created a god of their own devising.

The truth of our SAVIOR is love, pure love without any force.

Yes, our Savior OUT of His love desires obedience from His Creatures and that obedience He desires is pure love. The commandments, the moral commandments He's given us are commandments of the PUREST LOVE.

No where in any of the commandments does it read … thou shalt force others to believe in me. 

We are commanded as INDIVIDUALS to obey the LORD and His commands, and those commands are love realized, love actualized.

Remember this--

Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

LOVE.
LOVE GOD.
LOVE OTHERS.

The first four moral commands focus on our LOVE of GOD.
The last six moral commands focus on our LOVE of OTHERS.

Having FAITH, believing in Our God, our Savior, One who is pure love and longs to give us this same pure love, HARMS NO ONE! Why is it silly, stupid, horrible to believe in LOVE that way? That LOVE threatens EVIL, it's DESTROYED EVIL'S ultimate desire. And EVIL HATES that LOVE and wants it completely destroyed.  That EVIL will do all it can to make having FAITH in GOD seem EVIL, to seem wrong, to be stupid, unenlightened, prejudice, and so on. That EVIL has successfully corrupted the minds of millions and millions and millions to outright think that GOD'S LOVE through HIS SON JESUS CHRIST is evil. That EVIL has successfully corrupted millions and millions and millions into believing in their OWN idea of the God of LOVE, and therefore believing in a false god.  That EVIL will have the majority of people on its side when our SAVIOR returns.

PLEASE LORD LET US BE ON YOUR SIDE! LET US LOVE AND BE LOVED BY YOU! LET US KNOW AND BE KNOWN BY YOU! ALL THROUGH YOUR MERCY, YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE, YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS! ALL THROUGH ALL THAT IS YOU- the GOD WHO IS LOVE!

IN YOU!

Be the END of our FAITH- OUR SALVATION.

Our faith will make us whole

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

The end of something, we know that the end of something is very important. If you're working towards something you expect an end, a finish, the finale.  All of us can probably remember various aspects of our lives that consist of beginnings and endings. We can recall them with fondness or sadness, but we can recall them.  When a test was finally over and you passed. When a journey was begun and then over. When a life became part of your life and then that life was over.  We experience so much and the sum of our experience is our life. At the end of our lives people have funerals and almost always speak of the life of the person whose life is now over. People often try to remember the very best of the people that have passed even as they know their lives were just as their own- filled with ups and downs, good and bad things.  Life is filled with so many ups and downs and that is for everyone- no exemptions at all.

Life's ups and downs. People write books on life's ups and downs. Daily we hear about life's ups and downs- just pick up a newspaper and you'll very likely find good stories and sad/bad stories. Constantly in magazines, in tabloids, on television shows,  the radio, and online we are reading, listening, watching the ups and downs of peoples lives.  If there are big group ups they can go down in history, if there are big groups downs they too are written in our history record and told for many, many years to come.

These are life's trials.

Yes, I said these are life's trials, including the good, including those ups to our lives.  Because though a lot of people do not tend to consider anything good a trial it is.  How we live our lives when we receive the good tells so much about us. The glory belongs to God in all things.

Read this-

Luk 17:13  And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
Luk 17:14  And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
Luk 17:15  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
Luk 17:16  And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
Luk 17:17  And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
Luk 17:18  There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
Luk 17:19  And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

He was healed- A GOOD thing!
He was cured- he was having an 'UP' day, not a down day.
And he glorified God with a LOUD voice!
His FAITH made Him whole!

Were the others cured? Yes, but they didn't hear these words of Christ-  'Arise, go thy way; they faith hath made thee whole.' 

The others were cleansed.  'And it came to pass that as thy went they were cleansed.' 

But were they 'made whole'?

Think about it.  Their leprosy was gone but that doesn't mean that they were truly made whole- spiritually, physically, mentally. They did not glorify God. They were Jews, not Samaritans and they did not glorify God upon receiving a cure for this horrendous disease.

We DO have a trial of our FAITH in good things, make no mistake about it.

'Thy faith hath made thee whole.' 

The Samaritan's faith made Him whole.

Our faith can make us whole.  Our faith in God can make us whole.

The END of our FAITH is our being made perfectly whole in CHRIST.

By the grace of our God more tomorrow!  All in HIS LOVE may we have faith that will make us whole in our Savior!

Please LORD, save us!

The end of our faith- SALVATION

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your FAITH, being much more precious than of gold

From yesterday-

'We can look at our lives and the pain whether emotional, mental, or physical - or a combination of any or all of those- and we can know that the pain is from the FIRE TRYING OUR FAITH.

We might call our trials by many names- abuse, fear, hate, depression - there are soooo many names our trials have and everyone of them is made of spiritual FIRE.'

1 Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold THAT PERISHETH, THOUGH IT BE TRIED WITH FIRE

Gold perishes.  People love to think things like gold and precious jewels and such last forever but the truth is they can perish.

You can accumulate storehouses of gold and it can still perish.

All that gold, in fact, all the gold in the world means nothing when measured against the 'TRIAL of our FAITH'.

Our trial of faith is more precious than gold. That means all the pain, all the grief, all the heartache, all the abuse, all the torture of living in this world ruled by Satan is more precious than gold. Every single trial you are called to endure is more precious than gold IF it's the trial of your faith.

I say 'if' because there are those who have no faith. There are those who do not believe in God at all, let alone His Only Son Jesus Christ our LORD and SAVIOR.   Those people suffer too without any faith at all, and Satan loves to use that as an excuse to have everyone believe there is no God. Seriously. Satan loves when people do not believe in God and by lumping us all in the same boat, he succeeds in doing so for so many people. They see no differentiation in those who believe and those who don't so they jump to the conclusion that there is no God rather than there is a God because believing God calls for sacrificing self and people hate the idea of having to sacrifice themselves- their pleasures, their desires, their wants.  When called to choose to believe in the road that leads to self-sacrifice or the one that leads to self-indulgence people more often than not choose to believe in the one that allows them to indulge self.

Whether people believe in God or not, they suffer life's tragedies but this is NO WAY negates the TRIALS of a person who has FAITH in God, who believes in God. 

The trials those who do not believe in God can sometimes lead them to God. When that isn't the case and people go further from God through their trials it is very tragic. When a person who has faith is confronted with a trial it truly is more precious than gold because it will STRENGTHEN their faith if they allow it through their belief.

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

The 'end of our faith' can ONLY be our faith steadfast, our faith strong, our faith fully realized all by the Glory of GOD through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

Nothing is more precious than SALVATION IN JESUS CHRIST, nothing! So is it any wonder that the trials of our faith- though it be tried with fire- is more precious than gold?

All by the GRACE and MERCY of our SAVIOR! All in HIS LOVE!

More precious than gold- the trial of your faith

More precious than gold.

What is more precious than gold?  Not faith, but the TRIAL of your faith.

The TRIAL of your faith.

We just recently read about the various trials of faith that people in the Bible have been called to go through. It's easy to read about others going through their trials and being triumphant, but it's not so easy experiencing trials yourself.  No, you might not be experiencing trials like those we've read but if you are a Christian, if you are following Christ, if you are, by faith, believing in God the Father and God the Son, as well as God the Holy Spirit then you will have that FAITH TRIED.

You can't escape the trying of your faith.

You shouldn't want to escape the trying of your faith.

Yes, it will be PAINFUL, it will be HORRIBLE, it will most likely be the WORST thing you've ever had to experience in your life, but in the end if you hold fast to that faith it will be MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD.


1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God THROUGH FAITH unto SALVATION ready to be revealed in the last time.

1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your FAITH, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the END OF YOUR FAITH, even the salvation of your souls.

Tried with fire.

Can you imagine how horrific it would be to be burned to death?  I've burned myself before- little burns that have hurt tremendously. I've had sunburns that have caused me incredible pain. Yet I cannot imagine being burned worse. I've seen my sister burned worse and it's terrible! I've seen the results burns leave on people, so awful. I know that they put the severely burned into medically induced comas because the pain is just so horrific.  Fire burns and bring pain, a lot of pain.

We can look at our lives and the pain whether emotional, mental, or physical - or a combination of any or all of those- and we can know that the pain is from the FIRE TRYING OUR FAITH.

We might call our trials by many names- abuse, fear, hate, depression - there are soooo many names our trials have and everyone of them is made of spiritual FIRE.

More tomorrow by the grace of God!

In HIS LOVE!

Suffer According to the Will of God

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, DO NOT BE ASTONISHED
at the FIERY TRIAL which is to TRY YOU
AS THOUGH A STRANGE THING HAPPENED TO YOU.

1Pe 4:13  but rejoice according as you are PARTAKERS OF CHRIST'S SUFFERING
so that when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.

1Pe 4:14  If you are reviled for the name of Christ,
you are blessed,
 because the Spirit of God and of glory rests on you.
Truly according to them, He is blasphemed, but according to you He is glorified.

1Pe 4:15  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or a meddler in the affairs of others.

1Pe 4:16  BUT IF ONE SUFFERS AS A CHRISTIAN, LET HIM NOT BE ASHAMED BUT LET HIM GLORIFY GOD BECAUSE OF THIS.

1Pe 4:17  For the time has come for the judgment to begin from the house of God. And if it first begins from us, what will be the end of those disobeying the gospel of God?

1Pe 4:18  And if the RIGHTEOUS ONE IS SCARCELY SAVED, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

1Pe 4:19  Therefore let those who  SUFFER ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD COMMIT THEIR SOULS IN WELL-DOING, AS TO A FAITHFUL CREATOR.

 *******

1Pe 3:17  For it is better, if the will of God wills it, to suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing.

2Ti 1:12  For this cause I also suffer these things; but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard My deposit unto that Day.

*******

1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.  (KJV)

1Pe 4:19  If you suffer for obeying God, you must have complete faith in your faithful Creator and keep on doing right.  (CEV - Contemporary English Version)

Suffering according to the will of GOD.

Suffering for OBEYING GOD.

Faith in our ever faithful CREATOR.

For some reason when you think about suffering for obeying, or if you' d rather- suffering according to the will of God, you automatically think there is something wrong with that verse. 

Don't deny it.

We've been duped by so many false teachers to believe that God should NOT let us suffer because letting us suffer means He wants us to suffer and our God wouldn't be a God of love if He wanted us to suffer-especially for obeying His will.

DUPED.
HOODWINKED.
FOOLED.
TRICKED.
DECEIVED.

It's wrong to suffer.
So if you suffer then something is wrong with the way you believe, something is wrong with the situation.

We've been LIED to!

Suffering for obeying God's will is a BIBLICAL TRUTH!

And if you think that only means suffering if you are being persecuted by those who aren't Christians, think again. Some of the worst suffering will come from fellow believers.

Jesus suffered at the hands of His own religious leaders, those who were a part of His faith.

Today we make the great distinction been Jews and Christians but there were NO CHRISTIANS when Christ was put to death!  Christ HIMSELF was a JEW. He was betrayed and crucified by those of His own religious teachings. He grew up going to the synagogue. People knew Him as a son of Joseph who was an Israelite.

People began to follow Christ's teachings fully after His death and they became known as Christians.  But Christ SUFFERED right up to DEATH by those who were God's chosen people.  People He'd led as God with God before He took on flesh and became the Son of God. He knew these chosen people, He'd chosen them with GOD the FATHER.

So if we get it in our heads that to suffer persecution only comes from those of another faith we are tragically allowing ourselves to be deceived.

Persecution can come from anyone at anytime if you are obeying God's will.

Satan does NOT want us to obey God's will.  Satan hates when we obey God's will. We will be spiritually attack in brutal ways if we choose to obey God's will.

So do NOT for one moment believe that because you believe in God that you are going to be spared suffering, quite the opposite.

If you CHOOSE to obey God's will then you are choosing to suffer.

We will suffer here and now, over and over and over again, but there will be a great reward, we are promised salvation in CHRIST, forever living in God's will in a place where only God's will is done always and forever!

God's will.

God's way.

God's commands.

We can learn of them as we study God's word, we must learn of them as we study God's will. 

HIS WILL BE DONE ALWAYS!


Bless us God as we seek to obey Your will, to do Your will in all things!  Help us to understand the suffering will be worth it in the end when we are reunited with You forever!

Faith in Suffering

Heb 11:32  And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

Heb 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

Heb 11:34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Heb 11:35  Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

Heb 11:36  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

Heb 11:37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

Heb 11:38  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

Heb 11:40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.



FAITH!



Subdued kingdoms.

Wrought righteousness.

Obtained promises.

Stopped the mouths of lions.

Quenched the violence of fire.

Escaped the edge of the sword.

Our of weakness were made strong.

Waxed valiant in fight.

Turned to the flight the armies of the aliens.

Dead raised to life again.

Torture.

NOT ACCEPTING DELIVERANCE THAT THEY MIGHT OBTAIN A BETTER RESURRECTION.

Trials of cruel mockings.

Scourgings.

Bonds and imprisonment.

Stoned.

Sawn asunder.

Tempted.

Slain with the sword.

Wandered in sheepskins and goatskins.

Being destitute.

Afflicted.

Tormented.

Wandered in deserts.

Wandered in mountains.

Wandered in dens and caves of the earth.





READ THAT LIST AGAIN it is what those with FAITH can and have to do and endure.



It's all well and good to subdue kingdoms, do righteousness, receive promises, stop the mouths of lions, quench fire, escape the sword, their weakness was made strong, they were valiant in fight, turn armies to flight, had the dead raised to life…but then we read these things that those with faith were called to endure…torture, cruel mockings, scourgings, bonds, imprisonment, stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain with the sword, wandered in animal clothing, destitution, affliction, tormented, wandered in deserts, mountains, dens and caves of the earth; and you know what that doesn't sound all well and good at all to us.



We just DO NOT believe that God could be OUR GOD and let us suffer.  Why we don't believe it I don't know. The BIBLE is filled with the suffering of God's people. 



But we REFUSE to believe God will let us suffer. We would rather believe that God would have us do anything to get away from suffering, but that's NOT TRUE! There were MANY people of FAITH who did NOT deny God in order to be spared suffering that we don't even want to imagine. They DID not say that God would understand their doing anything and everything to keep from suffering.  If they had said that they would NOT be people of FAITH. How can I be so sure?  This is how…



JESUS SUFFERED!



Mar 14:32  And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.

Mar 14:33  And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;

Mar 14:34  And saith unto them, My soul is EXCEEDING SORROWFUL UNTO DEATH: tarry ye here, and watch.

Mar 14:35  And he went forward a little, and FELL ON THE GROUND, and prayed that, IF IT WERE POSSIBLE  THE HOUR MIGHT PASS FROM HIM.

Mar 14:36  And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; TAKE AWAY THIS CUP FROM ME: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.





Luk 22:41  And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and KNEELED DOWN AND PRAYED,

Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, REMOVE THIS CUP FROM ME: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

Luk 22:43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

Luk 22:44  And BEING IN AN AGONY he prayed more earnestly: and HIS SWEAT WAS AS IT WERE GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD falling down to the ground.





Mat 27:35  And they CRUCIFIED HIM, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

Mat 27:36  And sitting down they watched him there;

Mat 27:37  And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Mat 27:38  Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.

Mat 27:39  And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,

Mat 27:40  And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.

Mat 27:41  Likewise also the chief priests MOCKING HIM, with the scribes and elders, said,

Mat 27:42  He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

Mat 27:43  He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

Mat 27:44  The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.

Mat 27:45  Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?





GOD'S SON! 



Did HE have to take the abuse?



Mat 26:67  Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands



Mat 27:26  ...and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.



Mat 27:29  And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head



Mat 27:30  And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.

Mat 27:31  And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.



GOD'S SON!



I ask again… DID JESUS HAVE TO TAKE THE ABUSE?



Or



DID JESUS CHOOSE BY FAITH TO TAKE THE ABUSE?



Think about it for a few moments.



Our Savior was a man who cried.

Our Savior was a man who agonized.

Our Savior was a man who felt pain.

Our Savior was a man who suffered.



Do you think for one second that it didn't hurt Him when He was whipped, stuck in the head with huge thorns, beaten with a reed on the head, had nails driven into His flesh? Do you really think that our Savior did not feel any pain, that He could endure all that because He had a special power not to feel hurt?



Heb_4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin



JESUS KNOWS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN IN ALL ASPECTS.



When we place Jesus on a special pedestal giving Him special super human powers that make Him less than human, like we are, then we are creating a FALSE SAVIOR to worship and that is a grave sin.



When you are called to SUFFER you need to ENDURE NOT believe you are supposed to be immune to suffering in order for you to believe God is loving you and protecting you.



People have a lot of trouble believing God allows them to suffer and yet re-reading what we've read above how can we believe that to be true?



IF we are called to endure a life filled with suffering so that we may remain God's, just as our SAVIOR endured suffering and remained God's and God, then we must not faint.



We have to KNOW God's will and if it is God's will that we have NO OTHER GODS BEFORE HIM then we better not have ANY God's before HIM!  We cannot choose to have other Gods and tell ourselves that God will understand, HE WON'T! HE CAN'T!



We cannot deliberately disobey God's MORAL laws and then expect God to understand. We are called to SUFFER because we live in a world where sin reigns and we are not to sin. 



We are called to have FAITH that NO MATTER WHAT we go through that there is a better reward waiting.



Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

Heb 11:40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.



WE WILL ALL BE PERFECTED TOGETHER WHEN OUR SAVIOR COMES FOR US!



All the FAITHFUL will receive their reward together.



You might be called to any of these things--



Subdued kingdoms.

Wrought righteousness.

Obtained promises.

Stopped the mouths of lions.

Quenched the violence of fire.

Escaped the edge of the sword.

Our of weakness were made strong.

Waxed valiant in fight.

Turned to the flight the armies of the aliens.

Dead raised to life again.

Torture.

NOT ACCEPTING DELIVERENCE THAT THEY MIGHT OBTAIN A BETTER RESSURECTION.

Trials of cruel mockings.

Scourgings.

Bonds and imprisonment.

Stoned.

Sawn asunder.

Tempted.

Slain with the sword.

Wandered in sheepskins and goatskins.

Being destitute.

Afflicted.

Tormented.

Wandered in deserts.

Wandered in mountains.

Wandered in dens and caves of the earth.



And through IT ALL whatever form your suffering takes you have to remember this always--



DO NOT ACCEPT DELIVERANCE SO THAT YOU MIGHT OBTAIN A BETTER RESURRECTION, just like those in times past.  CHOOSE TO SUFFER IN RIGHTEOUSNESS rather then be delivered from the suffering and only be resurrected to eternal death.



Please LORD help us to CHOOSE LIFE over death even if it means we suffered horrifically, let us NEVER forsake YOU or YOUR ways!  Help  us! IN YOUR LOVE keep us, save us!



All by YOUR GRACE and MERCY!



IN YOU!