Enduring When Obeying Hurts

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. (Hebrews 12:2)

What faith performs is sometimes unspeakably hard.

In his book Miracle on the River Kwai, Ernest Gordon tells the true story of a group of POWs working on the Burma Railway during World War II.

At the end of each day the tools were collected from the work party. On one occasion a Japanese guard shouted that a shovel was missing and demanded to know which man had taken it. He began to rant and rave, working himself up into a paranoid fury and ordered whoever was guilty to step forward. No one moved. “All die! All die!” he shrieked, cocking and aiming his rifle at the prisoners. At that moment one man stepped forward and the guard clubbed him to death with his rifle while he stood silently to attention. When they returned to the camp, the tools were counted again and no shovel was missing.

What can sustain the will to die for others, when you are innocent? Jesus was carried and sustained in his love for us by “the joy that was set before him.” He banked on a glorious future blessing and joy, and that carried and sustained him in love through his suffering.

Woe to us if we think we should or can be motivated and strengthened for radical, costly obedience by some higher motive than the joy that is set before us. When Jesus called for costly obedience that would require sacrifice in this life, he said in Luke 14:14, “You will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” In other words, be strengthened now in all your losses for Christ’s sake, because of the joy set before you.

Peter said that, when Jesus suffered without retaliating, he was leaving us an example to follow — and that includes Jesus’s confidence in the joy set before him. He handed his cause over to God (1 Peter 2:21) and did not try to settle accounts with retaliation. He banked his hope on the resurrection and all the joys of reunion with his Father and the redemption of his people. So should we.

John Piper

Don’t Be Unaware of the Enemy’s Plan

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” EPHESIANS 6:11

 
PONDER THIS

The Greek word for “wiles” is methodeia. It’s the word we get “methodical” and “methods” from. Satan is methodical. In warfare, he is strategic. He may even step back two steps to go forward three steps. He may let you think you’re getting away with your sin. He may even seem to bless you and help you along your way. But don’t be fooled. He has made a plan to sabotage your life and your home; the dynamite is in place, the fuse is laid, the match is struck, and Satan is working on you. He is wily, and he is subtle. Apart from the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God, Satan would deceive even the children of God.

When have you experienced the strategy of Satan working in your life?
How have you sought to stand guard against these methods of the devil?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of ways you’ve seen the schemes of the devil in your life. Write out a few times you relied on God and were enabled to stand firm. Note also any times you relied on another source of strength, or did little to resist, and were deceived by Satan.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Philippians 2:8-11

[8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Isaiah 53:11-12

    [11] 
    Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
    by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
        make many to be accounted righteous,
        and he shall bear their iniquities. 
    [12] 
    Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
        and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
    because he poured out his soul to death
        and was numbered with the transgressors;
    yet he bore the sin of many,
        and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:3-5

    [3] 
    He was despised and rejected by men,
        a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
    and as one from whom men hide their faces
        he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

    [4] 
    Surely he has borne our griefs
        and carried our sorrows;
    yet we esteemed him stricken,
        smitten by God, and afflicted. 
    [5] 
    But he was pierced for our transgressions;
        he was crushed for our iniquities;
    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
        and with his wounds we are healed.

Hebrews 1:3-12

[3] He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, [4] having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

[5] For to which of the angels did God ever say, 

    “You are my Son,
        today I have begotten you”?

    Or again, 

    “I will be to him a father,
        and he shall be to me a son”?

    [6] And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, 

    “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

    [7] Of the angels he says, 

    “He makes his angels winds,
        and his ministers a flame of fire.”

    [8] But of the Son he says, 

    “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
        the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. 
    [9] You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
    therefore God, your God, has anointed you
        with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

    [10] And, 

    “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
        and the heavens are the work of your hands; 
    [11] they will perish, but you remain;
        they will all wear out like a garment, 
    [12] like a robe you will roll them up,
        like a garment they will be changed.
    But you are the same,
        and your years will have no end.”

 

A Hiding Place for the Helpless

How abundant is your goodness, which you have . . . worked for those who take refuge in you. (Psalm 31:19)

The experience of future grace often hangs on whether we will take refuge in God, or whether we doubt his care and run for cover to other shelters.

For those who take refuge in God, the promises of future grace are many and rich.

None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. (Psalm 34:22)

He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. (2 Samuel 22:31)

Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:12)

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. (Nahum 1:7)

We do not earn or merit anything by taking refuge in God. Hiding, because we are weak and need protection, is not a work to commend our self-sufficiency. All it does is show that we regard ourselves as helpless and the hiding place as a place of rescue.

In all those promises I just quoted, the condition of great blessing from God is that we take refuge in him. That condition is not a meritorious one; it is the condition of desperation and acknowledged weakness and need and trust.

Desperation does not demand or deserve; it pleads for mercy and looks for grace.

John Piper 

Jesus is Praying for You

Pray Over This

“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Hebrews 7:25 

Ponder This

You want a blessed thought? You are on Jesus’ prayer list. There’s nothing much more comforting than for somebody to tell me he is praying for me. How immeasurably more comforting is it to know Jesus prays for us? 

There are almost eight billion people on Earth. Some people have never been prayed for one time. If you’re on anybody’s prayer list, you’re blessed. I can tell you for sure that you’re on Jesus’ prayer list. The Lord Jesus knows you by name, and He calls you by name. Did you come to God by Jesus? Then you’re on His prayer list. And what is He doing? The finished work of Jesus is Calvary. The unfinished work of Jesus is His prayer ministry.

How does it encourage you to know Jesus is interceding for you before the Father?

How does this free you in your own prayers?

 

Practice This

Spend time today in prayer, thanking God that Jesus continually intercedes for you even when you don’t know how to pray.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Bible Study

John 14:6

[6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Hebrews 9:24

[24] For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Romans 8:34-39

[34] Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written, 

    “For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

        we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

    [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 10:3-10

[3] But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. [4] For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

[5] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, 

    “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

        but a body have you prepared for me; 

    [6] in burnt offerings and sin offerings

        you have taken no pleasure. 

    [7] Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

        as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

    [8] When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 

The Fear That Draws Us In

“Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” (Exodus 20:20)

There is a fear that is slavish and drives us away from God, and there is a fear that is sweet and draws us to God. Moses warned against the one and called for the other in the very same verse, Exodus 20:20: “Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.’”

The clearest illustration I have ever seen of this kind of good fear was the time one of my sons looked a German shepherd in the eye. We were visiting a family from our church. My son Karsten was about seven years old. They had a huge dog that stood eye to eye with a seven-year-old.

He was friendly and Karsten had no problem making friends. But when we sent Karsten back to the car to get something we had forgotten, he started to run, and the dog galloped up behind him with a low growl. And of course, this frightened Karsten. But the owner said, “Karsten, why don’t you just walk? The dog doesn’t like it when people run away from him.”

If Karsten hugged the dog, he was friendly and would even lick his face. But if he ran from the dog, the dog would growl and fill Karsten with fear.

That’s a picture of what it means to fear the Lord. God means for his power and holiness to kindle fear in us, not to drive us from him, but to drive us to him. Fearing God means, first, fearing to abandon him as our great security and satisfaction.

Or another way to say it is that we should fear unbelief. Fear not trusting God’s goodness. Isn’t that the point of Romans 11:20? “You stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.” That is, what we should fear is not believing, not having faith. Fear running away from God. But if we walk with him and hug his neck, he will be our friend and protector forever.

John Piper