Suffer For Well Doing.

 

Obey God First Always.

 Now how about being subject to the powers yet not always obeying them? 

Take a familiar example. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon, and his was certainly a government ordained of God, for God had given all the lands over which he ruled into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and all nations were to serve him and his son and his son's son. Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and commanded that when the music sounded all the people were to bow down to it. It was told to the king that the three Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, had not fallen down and worshiped the golden image. The king called them to him and told them that although they had disobeyed him, he would overlook that offense, if when the music sounded again, they would worship the image. "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy god nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

They did not resist the king. He gave them an alternative. They could do one of two things--bow down to the image or be cast into the furnace. They disobeyed the order to bow down to the image, but they did not resist the alternative to go into the furnace. And moreover they told the king that their God was able to deliver them out of his hand, but they did not know whether He would or not. That would not matter anyway. If He did not choose to deliver them, they were to be burned. That was all right. They would yield up their lives, triumph in death, and in that way be delivered out of his hand, if in no other.

What is the relation of Christians to civil government?

Christ is the anointed One. For what was He anointed? "To preach good tidings [the gospel] unto the meek . . . to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Now there will be a time when the kingdoms of this earth will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, as is stated by the prophet.

In the second Psalm, we read, "Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." But what is He going to do with them? Dash them in pieces. That time has not come yet; therefore Christ, the Mediator, has nothing whatever to do with the governments of earth.

His rule is a spiritual rule in the hearts of His people. His kingdom, for He sits upon a throne and rules, is a rule over the hearts of His people. He rules in the hearts of men, where it is impossible for the kings of the earth to rule. Strife may rule there all the time, but they cannot prevent it, or peace may have dominion, and they cannot disturb it. He sits upon a throne of grace and there He dispenses grace without interfering with the governments of earth and in a way which they cannot hinder.

The great men of this earth exercise lordship over others, but Christ has commanded that it be not so among His people, but he that would be greatest among them, should be the servant of all.

Take Daniel as an example of how men should be subject to the powers that be and still be subject to God. There was a decree established that whosoever should ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days after the passing of that decree, save of the great king Darius, should be cast into the den of lions. Daniel occupied a high position in the government and he was a peaceable citizen, as every Christian must be. It would have been very easy for him to say, "I do not need to ask anything of any man for thirty days, and I can shut myself up in my house where no one can see me, and there I can worship God quietly and so I will carry on my religion and worship the God of heaven and still not stir up the anger of the king against me.

This is a question of vital importance to us. When persecution is liable to come upon us, shall we cease to work openly in our fields on the first day of the week as we have been doing and do something quietly in our houses, so that no one will see us, or should we do as Daniel did? He opened his windows and did exactly what they told him not to do--make petitions to the God of heaven. He did it openly where his enemies could see him do it, although the decree had been passed that for following such a course he should be cast into the den of lions. Are we not, when for fear of persecution, we work quietly in our houses where no man can see us--are we not hiding our light under a bushel? Some say that there is no need of being foolhardy. That is very true, but shall we be foolhardy if we do as Daniel did? Shall we say that he made a mistake?

In 1 Peter 2:13, we are told, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as servants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king." This is parallel with the statement in the 13th of Romans, as is seen by verse 7.

Rom 13:7  Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 

Peter carries this same principle into the minor things of life, and immediately after speaking of the duty of obedience to the king, he speaks of the duty of servants to their masters. If we find ourselves subject to a master and there is no difference whether he rules over one or over millions, we must all be subject to him. But supposing that the master be a bad man and he commands those who are under him to do something that is wrong, then what? "For this is thankworthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." 1 Peter 2:19-20.

If a man finds himself the subject of a bad master and he does everything that that bad master tells him, how can he suffer for it? He is a willing tool in the hands of his master, but the suffering is brought by the fact that he will not do the wicked things commanded, and this is what is acceptable in the sight of God. He has disobeyed the power and because he has disobeyed it, he suffers, but he suffers for well doing.

If he obeys that wicked master, he must disobey God. 

This we know would be wrong. 

But it is perfectly right to disobey the wicked decree of a master or government, provided always that when the punishment comes, we take it patiently. 

This is acceptable with God. The very fact that a man suffers for well doing shows that he is the servant of God and accepted of Him. Then how is it that we can be subject to the powers that be and yet go directly contrary to what they say? By submitting to the punishment, but not doing the evil thing they commanded us to do. As Christians we owe allegiance to God, the highest power, and to Him alone.

Follow Peace With All Men

 

Christ In Us- Our Hope.

'The great trouble with us is that sometimes we are afraid that Christ will gain the victory. Why? We have some darling sin that we do not want to give up; we are willing we think that all the rest should go but that, and so we are afraid that Christ will gain the victory and that that sin will have to be given up.

Just think of it! We call Christ in to help defeat our enemy, and when He comes, he finds us on the side of the enemy. 

But if we will give up all these things, Christ will give us something that is infinitely better. When we make up our minds from the word of God that all that God has to give us is in Christ, that He is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all (Eph. 1:23), we will realize that the meager things of this earth are not worth having, compared to what is going to be given us.

In 1 John 4:2-4 we have reference to the wicked spirits with which we have to fight, and this assurance is given to the children of God: "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." 

So with Elisha we know that they that are for us are more than they that are against us. "This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith." 1 John 5:5, R. V.

Do we believe that Christ has conquered everything and that when we have Him we have everything and that there is no power of darkness that can do us any hurt?

When this has been done, we are crucified with Him. (Gal. 2:20) Our own lives have been given up to Christ, but we still live. Then it must be some other life that we live, and that life is the life of Christ. That is the life in which we glory. Christ is our life, and He has the victory and therefore we have it. "Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Ephesians 6:11.

What is it to put on the whole armour? To stand in Christ complete, that is what we mean.

He is the truth, the Lord our righteousness. Shod with peace, He is our peace. It is Christ all through. Then take the sword in your hand and it is the word of God and Christ is the eternal word.

"And ye are complete in him." Having put on the whole armour which is Christ, we are complete in Him. "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ!" (Ro.13:14) He is the armour and the armour is He. Thus it is that in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave His life for us (Ro.8:37). There is nothing that can take the armour away from us. "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ro. 8:38-39)

Excerpt E.J. Waggoner

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1 John 4:4 'Ye are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is IN YOU than he that is in the world.'

1 John 4:13 ' Hereby know we that we dwell in him and HE IN US because he hath given us of his Spirit.'

1 John 4:16 ' And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us, God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and GOD IN HIM.'

1 John 3:24 'And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and HE IN HIM. And hereby we know that HE ABIDETH IN US, by the Spirit which he hath given us.'

John 10:27-30 'My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish  neither shall any an pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand I and my Father are one.'

John 14:17-23 'Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him for HE DWELLETH WITH YOU AND SHALL BE IN YOU. I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more but ye see me, because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall now that I am in my Father and ye in me and I IN YOU. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him. If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM.'

John 17:23 'I IN THEM, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.'

Romans 8:10,11 'And if Christ BE IN YOU, the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirt of him that raised up Jesus from the dead DWELL IN YOU, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that DWELLETH IN YOU.'

2 Corinthians 6:16 'And what agreement hath the temple of God with dols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will DWELL IN THEM and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall by my people.'

Ephesians 3:17 'That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love.'

Matthew 10:20 'For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father, which speaketh in you.

John 15:4 'Abide in me and I IN YOU. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except y abide in me.'

John 15:8 'If ye abide in me and my words ABIDE IN YOU ye shall ask what ye will and It shall be done unto you.'

1 Corinthians 3:16 'Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God DWELLETH IN YOU?'

1 Corinthians 16:19 ' "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is IN YOU, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?'

2 Corinthians 13:5 'Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith prove your ownselves. Know ye not yourselves how that Jesus Christ IS IN YOU, except ye be reprobates?'

Galatians 4:19 'My little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed IN YOU.'

Ephesians 4:6 'One God and Father of All, who is above all and through all, and IN YOU all.'

Philippians 2:13 'For it is God which worketh IN YOU both to will and to do his good pleasure.'

Colossians 1:27 'To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is CHRIST IN YOU the hope of glory.'

Hebrews 13:20,21 'Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working IN YOU that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.'

Faith Is the Victory.

 

More Than Conquerors.

 More than conquerors through Christ.

We live for eternal things, not temporal.

When we are caught up in the temporal we are not caught up in the eternal.

IF we are Christians our focus must be on the eternal and we forget this all the time-- all the time.  Satan focuses our lives on the temporal in any way he possibly can- from the smallest, to the greatest possible way Satan will work things so that we lose sight of eternity. 

We are truly more than conquerors through Christ, and we conquer the temporal through Christ. 

We aren't going to be filled with earthly riches and have the best lives here in our temporary lives. We are going to suffer in many various ways- large and small. We have conquered all the suffering by the realization that eternity is ours. We suffer now, endlessly, we can't escape the many millions of ways of suffering in this temporary life, we just can't. The suffering doesn't mean that we are abandoned by God. We are held always in the arms of our Great Shepherd, right now, as a once lost, but now blessedly found sheep. And we will be held by Him until that day we truly enter miraculously, abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

We must believe in the promises of the UNSEEN. This is faith, belief in the UNSEEN, belief in the ETERNAL which is UNSEEN.  More than conquerors through CHRIST.  All by His grace!

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'In Christ are mercy and truth met together. The same hand that holds the law, holds the pardon also. 

Brethren, remember this, that when the law was spoken from Sinai in thunder tones, it was in the hand of a mediator, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Then the same hand which holds the justice and that which convicts of sin, holds also the pardon. Thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." That idea of "much more" which is so prominent in chapter five, is found again in these verses.

We often hear the expression, "If I can only get inside the gates of heaven, I will be satisfied." I am so thankful that we don't have to just get in, as if we wished to apologize for our presence after we were there. Why not? Because He has promised that "an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

"We have enemies to contend with," says one. Don't talk about them or your trials and temptations, but talk of the power of Christ. All power has been given to Him. so when we wrestle, we will remember that it is not an even-handed battle, but we fight a fight of faith and the power is given unto us whereby we can be more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave Himself for us. Where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound.

Satan Accuses Because We Are Forgiven.

 The excerpt today made me very happy because it brought a truth home to me that I'd not realized before.

I know we are to confess our sins so they may be forgiven-

1Jn_1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God tells us this is the truth. 

Throughout my life as a Christ follower I have confessed many sins. Sometimes however, even though a sin is confess and forgiveness sought for, later on the same sin will come to my mind and trouble me as if it had not been confessed and forgiven at all. The guilt overwhelms me and I confess it again and again and it seems quite awful, as if the weight of the sin will never quite leave. I bring to mind murderers and those who commit unspeakable horrors and how they are forgiven should they confess and seek forgiveness in sincerity. And I tell myself if they can be forgiven then surely I can be forgiven. Have you ever had sins you've confessed haunt you?  Well, then this excerpt should help you as it has helped me.

May God bless us all as we seek ONLY His truth! All praise and glory to God for the blessed revelation of enlightenment we are given. Truly, all glory to God!

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Excerpt- With the psalmist we can say, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." Psalm 46:1-3. Can we say that? 

Brethren, that time is coming. The earth will reel to and from like a drunken man and be removed like a cottage and the mountains will skip away and pass over into the ocean. This is going to happen and there will be some people at that time who will feel perfectly calm and trustful, but they will not be composed of men and women who have never learned to say that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose. The man that doubts God now will doubt Him then. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."

He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He [not] with Him freely give us all things? That promise includes all.

"Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's." 1 Corinthians 3:21-23.

This is not in the future. All things are yours at the present time. Everything is ours and therefore we can say with the psalmist, "The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage."

Yes, we have everything; we are children of the King, of the Most High. What difference does it make if people do not own us? God owns us, and He knows us, and therefore if men heap on us reproach and persecution, the only thing we can do is to pity them and labor for them, for they do not know the riches of the inheritance.

"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." Well, there is one that will do it surely. We have his name, Satan. Here is a testimony concerning him. "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night." Revelation 11:10. Yes, Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He has done it day and night and he is doing it still--laying everything he can to the charge of God's elect. But he is cast down and now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of God and the power of His Christ. Christ has all power; how good that is.

But says one poor, discouraged, desponding soul, "I believe all that, and I have confessed my sins, and I believe that God is faithful and just to forgive them and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness; but these sins keep coming up before me all the time!" Are you sure that it is Satan that brings them up? That is an important point, for if you are sure of that and they do come up, you ought to be one of the happiest creatures alive.

Why does Satan bring these things up? Because he is the accuser of the brethren, and he is a false accuser; he is a liar and the father of it, and therefore if Satan brings these sins up and accuses you, then you know that they are forgiven, because he would never have brought them up if they had not been forgiven. He could not tell the truth if he tried, and unless they had been forgiven he never would bring them up, never in the world, because he would be afraid that you would confess them, and they would be forgiven.

Well, another query: "I don't know; perhaps it is not Satan. It must be God." No, "It is God that justifieth." If God justifies, He cannot condemn. Who has any right to condemn but God? No one. God is judge alone. Then there is no other soul that has any right to condemn, except God. He shows us our sins and we confess them and give ourselves to Him and He justifies us, and in Him is no variableness nor shadow of turning; therefore, when He justifies, who is there in the universe that can condemn? Who will do it? Satan. But what have we to do with him? If we would only give more credence to God's truth and less to Satan's's lies, it would be better for us.

"Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Who is going to condemn us, then, since God justifies and Christ died and rose again as a pledge of that justification. Christ died and rose again and is even now at the right hand of God to make intercession for us. Don't you see there is not a possible loophole left for discouragement for the Christian?

There is a time when God brings sins up before us, but it is when they have not been confessed. That is the only time. But it is the Comforter that convicts of sin, so He comforts us in every place, and in the very act of calling to our remembrance the wrongs that we have done. Then when God brings sins to my notice that I have not confessed, I will thank Him for the comfort, and when Satan brings them up again, I will praise God again, for if they were not forgiven, Satan would never bring them up, but if they have been confessed, they have been forgiven.