Category: encouragement

Never Look Back

Monday, April 29, 2013

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,” (Philippians 3:7,8 KJV).

I was recently encouraged to hear two dear brothers in Christ discuss their transition from being denominational preachers to grace preachers. The Apostle Paul summarized his in today’s Scripture.

Saul of Tarsus was a religious zealot: he was a religious leader of Israel, a wealthy Pharisee (Jesus had condemned Pharisees as self-righteous and greedy.) Jesus Christ and His Jewish believers were a threat to Saul’s religion; thus, Saul mercilessly hunted down and dragged these Messianic Jews to prison. In Acts chapter 7, through the prophet Stephen, the Holy Spirit pleaded with Israel’s leadership to accept Jesus as their Messiah. Alas, unbelieving Israel stoned Stephen to death—Saul witnessed it with pleasure! (Saul was highly influential in Israel’s fall before God.)

God’s wrath on wicked Saul of Tarsus, the whole world, and especially Israel, was swiftly approaching. Just before that wrath fell, God’s grace and peace interrupted it.

In Acts chapter 9, once Saul thought he had arrested every Jew in Jerusalem who had believed Jesus was Messiah, he headed north to Damascus to arrest Messianic Jews there. Before he reached Damascus, he personally met the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ and was never the same again! He trusted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour, and he quit his silliness in religion. For the next 35 years, he preached the grace of Jesus Christ, the Person he had so vehemently opposed.

Once he made the transition from the traditions of men to the message of God’s grace to us in Christ, Paul lost his fame and fortune (sounds familiar, huh?). His salary as a denominational leader dwindled, his “friends” scattered, and he was branded a “heretic” (sounds familiar, huh?). So what! In his own words, that was all “but dung” (today’s Scripture)—he “won Christ,” and never looked back… May we follow his ensample. 🙂

The End of Job, Israel, and the LORD #4

Saturday, April 27, 2013

“So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses” (Job 42:12 KJV).

During the Tribulation period, the nation Israel will gain valuable insight from today’s Scripture….

When one trusts the Lord Jesus Christ alone as personal Saviour, the Holy Spirit takes this individual and baptizes him or her into the Church the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). He or she is no longer in Adam, but “in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17): this is the new nature, the new identity, the new position the Christian has before God. Lost people even sense a change in the person, and thus, family and “friends” are no longer comfortable around the person. Every Christian has felt that division—(lost) family and “friends” now avoid them.

There is neither fame nor fortune in being a King James Bible-believing Pauline dispensationalist. If one takes a stand for Jesus Christ, and especially for His sound doctrine, family and “friends” will scatter and “depart far hence.” Yes, dear Christian brethren, we have lost the world and its approval, but we have gained much, much more valuable things. We are “known of God” (Galatians 4:9), we are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3), and we are “complete in [Christ]” (Colossians 2:10). We have the Lord’s unconditional love, His grace, His forgiveness, His life—possessions that will last forever!

Just as believing Israel will suffer great loss for Jesus Christ’s sake during the Tribulation (as Job did), they will be restored even more in Christ’s earthly kingdom (as Job was; today’s Scripture). Likewise, we members of the Body of Christ, will lose family, “friends,” fame, and fortune for being Christians zealous of sound Bible doctrine, but we too will be rewarded one day—we will inherit the government of the heavenly places (Romans 8:17; Ephesians 2:6,7; 2 Timothy 2:10-12), just as believing Israel will inherit the government of the earth (Matthew 19:27-30; Revelation 3:20,21).

Beloved, like Job, let us patiently wait for “the end of the Lord….”  🙂

The End of Job, Israel, and the LORD #3

Friday, April 26, 2013

“So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses” (Job 42:12 KJV).

During the Tribulation period, the nation Israel will gain valuable insight from today’s Scripture….

Job, a type of believing Israel, suffering intense calamity due to Satan, a type of the Tribulation, and Job’s restoration, a type of Christ’s earthly kingdom, is an historical narrative that will provide great comfort to God’s people who are yet future from our day. Satan targeted Job because he was a man of faith in the God of the Bible (Job 1:1,5,8,20-22; Job 2:3,10). Likewise, Satan will persecute Israel’s believing remnant for Jesus Christ’s sake during the Tribulation (Matthew 10:22; Mark 13:13; 1 Peter 4:12-19; 1 Peter 5:8,9).

As the Apostle James comforts them in James 5:10,11, these believing Jews should be patient: JEHOVAH, albeit seemingly quiet and unresponsive to their situation (as He was with Job), is aware of their sufferings (as He was of Job’s), and He will restore them in manifold ways in due time (as He did with Job; today’s Scripture). They need not grow weary or discouraged, for though they have lost their possessions for being Christians (and some will lose their very lives), when Jesus Christ returns at His Second Coming, they will be ushered into that glorious kingdom and receive “an hundredfold” what they lost during the Tribulation (Matthew 19:29,30)!

Although these Scriptures are not to or about us (members of the Church the Body of Christ in the Dispensation of Grace), we too suffer for the name of Jesus Christ. Like believing Israel, let us allow the Holy Spirit to teach us to look at the broader picture, the overall view, and not be sidetracked by the current state of affairs. We may lose our material possessions, our family and “friends,” and our lives, but like believing Israel, we have gained things that are of far greater importance and value, possessions that we have right now in Jesus Christ that will never pass away….

A Doxology of Doctrine During Distressing Days #7

Sunday, April 7, 2013

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” (2 Corinthians 4:17 KJV).

A brief, light annoyance—an everlasting, much heavier weight of praise and worship….

While difficult circumstances are not enjoyable, they can be learning opportunities. Even the Apostle Paul needed spiritual growth. He finally learned how to change his outlook on suffering: “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:11-13).

The “treasure in earthen vessels” of 2 Corinthians 4:7, the “power of Christ” of 2 Corinthians 12:9, and the “inward man being renewed day by day” of 2 Corinthians 4:16, are summarized in Philippians 4:13—“Christ which strengtheneth me.” Hence, Paul wrote, “for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

God’s abundant grace (2 Corinthians 12:9) enabled Paul and Timothy to endure suffering in order to minister to these Corinthian believers: “For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:15). God strengthened them, which caused other believers to be thankful to God for giving Paul and Timothy provisions in Christ that got them through their difficult circumstances.

The spiritual fortitude and spiritual growth that resulted in these believers helped them to better understand how to deal with their own troubles, and it stored in their inner man the capacity to eternally function one day in the heavenly places for God’s glory. Therefore, this doxology—this praise to God—is not only here and now, but literally “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (today’s Scripture).

Remember, the issue is not the vessels—our frail, perishing physical bodies—but rather the treasure—the life of Jesus Christ—they contain. A doxology indeed! 🙂

The End of Job, Israel, and the LORD #2

Thursday, April 25, 2013

“So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses” (Job 42:12 KJV).

During the Tribulation period, the nation Israel will gain valuable insight from today’s Scripture….

Before Job lost it all, the Bible says he had, “Seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses” (Job 1:3). Compare this with today’s Scripture. As Job 42:10 says, “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.” In addition, Job’s deceased seven sons and three daughters (1:2) were replaced with seven new sons and three new daughters (42:13).

The Apostle James, writing to believing Jews experiencing the seven-year Tribulation (see James 1:1-12), draws a parallel between them and Job of old. Both are saints of God experiencing satanic affliction, both are under intense persecution, both are weary, and both have lost family, friends, and/or material possessions. Still, James takes them back to the Scriptures that teach Job’s outcome, the LORD’s mercy and pity on him, and the LORD restoring him twofold. James 5:11 says, “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”

Near the midpoint of the Tribulation, Israel’s “little flock” (Luke 12:32), her believing remnant, will flee for their lives and abandon their homes and material possessions in Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15-21; Mark 13:14-20). But, God will take care of them for the remainder of the Tribulation (42 months; Revelation 12:5,6,13-17). Furthermore, at Jesus Christ’s Second Coming (and His subsequent earthly kingdom), He will restore their possessions “an hundredfold” (Matthew 19:27-30). They will receive 100 times what they gave up earlier—this is much, much more than Job’s restoration!

Although this is Israel’s doctrine, we can remind ourselves that our losses for Jesus Christ are well worth the losing….

The End of Job, Israel, and the LORD #1

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

“So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses” (Job 42:12 KJV).

During the Tribulation period, the nation Israel will gain valuable insight from today’s Scripture….

Job is one of the most well-known Bible books. Satan afflicts its protagonist, a believing Jew who lived before Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, via a series of calamities. Job loses his material possessions (1:14-17), then his seven sons and three daughters (1:18-19), and finally his health (2:7-8). He becomes increasingly depressed, especially upon the visitation of his three “friends,” whom he called “miserable comforters” (16:1). For 35 chapters, God is silent as Job and his friends engage in philosophical twaddle. The book draws to a close with God’s response, and Job’s restoration (today’s Scripture). Why is this historical narrative even in the Bible?

The Apostle James, writing to believing Israel enduring the testing of Satan during the Tribulation, explains in his epistle: “Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:10,11).

James reminds these believing Jews that, while they, like Job, have lost their material possessions because of Satan’s evil world system, the LORD restored Job. Like Job, they need to patiently wait for the LORD’s deliverance. The Lord Jesus Christ amplifies this in Matthew 19:29,30: “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.”

While Israel’s believing remnant will lose their possessions, family, “friends,” and some will lose their lives during the Tribulation, they will gain so much more when Jesus Christ returns….

Good Riddance! #10

Thursday, April 18, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Originally, mankind had the spiritual light of God’s Word. Once he fell into sin in Genesis chapter 3, his heart was darkened. When God gave up the unthankful and willfully ignorant Gentile nations in Genesis chapter 11, in chapter 12, He created a new group of people, Israel, through Abraham, who would accomplish His will in the earth (Adam’s original purpose before sin entered). For 2,000 years, as we Gentiles groped in spiritual darkness (Acts 14:16; Acts 26:17,18; Ephesians 2:11,12; Ephesians 4:17-19), Israel had God’s Word and God’s light (Romans 3:1,2; Romans 9:4,5). Alas, Israel too rejected that wisdom!

And so, we come to today, the Dispensation of the Grace of God, which has been operating for nearly 2,000 years. While Israel is temporarily blinded (Romans 11:25), God is forming the Church the Body of Christ, an agency of people who will do in the heavenly places in eternity future, what Israel will do in the earth in eternity future—rule for Jesus Christ’s glory.

As people who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, we are members of the Church the Body of Christ. When we teach God’s Holy Word and the principles found therein, we are actually publishing the original laws and social structure that existed before sin entered. We are not “bigoted” for opposing the sins of the world; actually, they are presumptuous for defending and engaging in activity that never belonged in creation in the first place!

The lost world wishes we members of the Body of Christ were not here—they want to tell us “good riddance” for being hindrances to “progress.” One day, when the Lord Jesus catches us away to be with Him in the heavenly places, as we leave this earth, we can say, “Good riddance!” to this evil world system! 🙂

Good Riddance! #8

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

While today’s Scripture is not written directly to us members of the Church the Body of Christ in the Dispensation of Grace, what John wrote is just as applicable to us as it is to his audience, Israel’s believing remnant during the seven-year Tribulation (which is still future). Regardless of the dispensation, lost people always hate God’s people.

Just as Abel withstood Cain’s unbelief by rejecting his “form of worship,” Israel’s believing remnant will refuse the antichrist’s “form of worship” (the religion in which apostate Israel will participate in the Tribulation). Both Abel and Israel’s little flock are persecuted for obeying God’s Word, and both are executed for believing God’s Word.

Moreover, this has been true for many members of the Church the Body of Christ. Currently, Jesus Christ is sitting at the Father’s in heaven’s glory (Colossians 3:1); nevertheless, Jesus Christ is here on earth in the form of us Christians. Just as Jesus Christ resurrected and ascended back into heaven as a hated exile, the lost world also wants to get rid of us! They cannot harm Him, but they can (and do) attack His people, the Church the Body of Christ.

Ever since Adam and mankind’s fall in Genesis chapter 3, man has become dumber and dumber spiritually: “when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). The result? Read verses 22-32, which mention, among other things, homosexuality, fornication, envy, murder, deceit, haters of God, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, those without natural affection [abortion, for instance!], unmerciful, “[who] not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (verse 32). We just outlined the social “progress” in “progress” today, and like Abel and believing Israel, we receive flak for opposing it….

Good Riddance! #7

Monday, April 15, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

The unsaved, hell-bound world around us complains, “Jesus preached love! Why are you judging? You Christians need to stop trying to force your beliefs on others and just focus on the wonderful things Jesus did and said.” To these “defenses,” we reply to them, “Where is your love for Jesus, for His people, for His Word? Why do you hate Jesus’ people for repeating His wisdom?”

Of course, our questions to them are rhetorical—we know the answers (lost people hate Jesus Christ, they hate His people, for sinners and saints are from two very different families!). Their questions, on the other hand, are just desperate attempts to avoid accountability to a holy righteous God, to ease one’s conscience, to discredit the message, to ignore their sin problem, to blame shift, et cetera.

Beloved, this thoroughly confused, lost, and dying world still needs the forgiveness and soul salvation only found in the Lord Jesus Christ, and His death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for their sins. Like Cain, they use religion to cover up their sins (to no avail). They, like Cain, ignore God’s “words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Like Cain, they want to change the laws God has already established and replace them with “alternate” beliefs, and get rid of those who speak out against it. They, like Cain, live their lives the way they want, but without coming by faith in Jesus Christ, they will never come to know their Creator God. They can die in their sins and go to hellfire denying God’s Word forever and ever, but it will still be true. They can even hate and murder God’s people, the Christians, but the message the saints preach is authoritative, relevant, eternal, and true!

They know they cannot get rid of God’s Word, so they attempt to get rid of God’s people….

Good Riddance! #6

Sunday, April 14, 2013

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13 KJV).

God’s people have never been welcome here in “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4) because He has never been welcome here. In short, if lost people could utter two words to us Christians after we have been raptured out, it would be, “Good riddance!”

Satan is God’s enemy (Satan is Hebrew for “adversary”); hence, Satan’s children hate and oppose God’s children. Recall Jesus’ rebuke of Israel’s unbelieving religious leaders, Satan’s counterfeit Jews: “If God were your Father, ye would love me…. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning [referring to Cain killing Abel], and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:42,44).

The conflict between lost people and Christians is actually the visible manifestation of the invisible spiritual battle that Satan’s lie program is waging against God’s truth. Unbelievers have slaughtered millions of God’s people throughout the ages. Even today, Christians worldwide are imprisoned, tortured, and slain for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of heaven and earth. (Fret not, for He knows the names of all, and His righteous judgment will be expressed in due time!)

In the context of today’s Scripture, John is comforting his believing Jewish audience who will experience the seven-year Tribulation. He instructs these Jewish Christians to neither be startled nor distressed when the apostate Jews embrace the antichrist and shun and persecute them for rejecting him as false (cf. Matthew 10:16-42). As satanic Cain hated and slew godly Abel (1 John 3:11,12), so unbelieving Israel will despise and betray the believing Jews, the Israel of God. John consoles them to be strong by faith in Jesus Christ, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

The satanic opposition that Abel faced and that Israel’s believing remnant will face, is what we Christians face today….