John 15:19-21 – “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.  But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

I read the warning of Jesus above and wonder; in a culture that is broken, even in the opinion of pagans, why we do not see more persecution of the church in our country?  I’ve wrestled through that question for a while, and in the end, my fear is that the reason we are largely not being persecuted, is that we are not being faithful to the Word of God.  We spoon feed people “Jesus loves you just the way you are” and portray God as being worried sick, anxious over whether or not you will be saved, hoping, just hoping that you will make a confession.  We say, oh God was just as surprised as we were when those planes flew into a building.  Really?  We push for confessions of faith, and tell people, unrepentant, mired in sin, that if they made a confession, they are saved.  This is heresy, this is blasphemy, and if we do not war against the God of American Culture, we may find that upon seeing the Lord, not only will we have lost everyone else, we too may have been deceived to believe a “different gospel”.

Galatians 1:8-10 – “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.  For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

If I’m honest with myself, I’m guilty of this too.  I have soft peddled the gospel of Christ, I have put forth a different Jesus than the God I know of the Bible because I thought people “weren’t ready” or would reject Him if I did… as if I could TRICK someone into being a true believer of Christ!  So my repentance and resolve is to preach the gospel of Christ fully, expecting persecution ahead because the Jesus I will preach will not be accepted by most.  Here we go.

Acts 17:25-26 – “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

God does not need you.  There isn’t some part of you, in your flesh, that God is jealous for.  God doesn’t look down on you and say, oh what a good person, I REALLY want them to know me.  At your very core, you’re a sinner.  Oh, you may be less of a sinner than your neighbor, but that’s like you throwing two scoops of kitty litter into dinner, and me only putting one… No one wants to eat that.  Even God’s desire for you is rooted in His own glory.  If God loved Adam for something aside from Himself, that would be idolatry.  Think about it.  Why does God love us?  Because we are in His Son, we manifest the love of God in Christ Jesus.  A good start to a feel good Friday message, right!

Psalm 135:6 – “Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.”
Proverbs 16:9 – “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”
Romans 9:9-16 – “For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”  As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”  What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”
John 1:12-14 – “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

God is sovereign, fully in control over all His creation, and especially salvation.  Man is separate from God, and has a will, but God guides that will towards His purposes.  We experience evil, good, natural disasters, famine, war, peace.  There is a time for everything, but to God it is always good, fulfilling His purpose for His glory.  Yes, that means in ways that I do not understand, 9/11, the holocaust, all war has, is, and will be used for God’s glory in a way that God wanted those things to happen, and indeed sovereignly ordained that they did.  HE IS GOD, HE IS LORD.  Now many here, will say, well we deserve better than that.  No you don’t.  Two reasons why.

First, God is your creator.  He has a right to do whatever He wants to do, just as an artist has a right over their canvas to paint whatever they want for their joy.

Romans 9:19-24 – “You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”  Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?  What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?”

Second, The only thing you deserve from God from your birth is righteous wrath.  You’re a sinner.  You were a sinner from birth, and as such, the real question isn’t, why did 9/11 happen or why did the holocaust happen.  The real question is why isn’t that happening ever day, when ever breath taken by a sinner, is an affront to a holy God.  And the reality is, not only are you a sinner, you know you’re a sinner, you know that God is holy, and still you reject Him.

Romans 1:18-23 – “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

God is not responsive, He always acts out of fullness for His glory.  He does not see time like you and I do, He is outside of time, therefore, His plan for His glory is already fulfilled.  He is not surprised by anything, nor does He want for anything.  HE IS GOD, HE IS LORD.  God is the most joyful being in all of the universe.

2 Peter 3:8 – “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Exodus 3:13-14 – “Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”

God simply Is.  He is the alpha and the omega, without beginning or end.  Even time was created by Him and for Him.  Colossians 1:15-17 – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

God is everywhere.  We are seperate from Him, but we are contained within Him.

Acts 17:27 – “‘In him we live and move and have our being’;”

Are you seeing a picture yet of who God is?  He is God, and we are not – we either reckon with Him as He is, as we are, or we perish.  None of us have any hope within ourselves.  This sovereign, all powerful, ever-present God has an infinite passion for His glory, and every moment of every day from the day you were born, you have sought to rob the glory of God, to exalt yourself.

Matthew 23:12 – “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” 

If you reject this God, for a “feel-good” God of your own making, two things will happen.  1)  You will rob yourself of the peace and joy that God means for you to have in intimate fellowship with Him  2)  You will hear these words from the Living God one day – Matthew 7:23 – “‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'” 

Oh that we would not be a generation that seeks to have our ears tickled by “funny pastors” or seek “our best life now”, but that we would be marked by our joy in knowing the One True God, Jesus Christ.  I guarantee you, Jesus is not the Jesus you’ve seen pictures of, I guarantee you Jesus isn’t the Jesus that is preached at most churches on Sundays, but the Truth of who He is, while terrifying, is more glorious, more capable of producing awe-inspired joy, than any Jesus substitutes.  My exhortation to you is this, commit to know the Lord.  Stop resting on a “confession”, resist the apathy of “becoming a better you”, and press on to know the risen Lord, Jesus Christ from the Bible.

Philippians 3:12-16 – “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do:forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.  Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”

Know that I love you all.  My hope and prayer is that we would all be of the same Spirit, pursuing the glory of God in Jesus Christ, preaching the gospel to all, and running the race well that has be set before us.  Expect persecution, but press on towards the goal, Christ is a treasure worth whatever the cost.

Grace and Peace,
Adam