A Call to Persevere Pt. 2 (Our High Calling Part 5)

I recently wrote about our call to persevere in the faith, and I feel the need to follow that up with another message, as the Lord seems to keep impressing this onto my mind.  This article is long, but I believe it's worth it.  Following Jesus can be difficult at times, and the Bible has a lot to say to keep us moving forward.  I personally have had many seasons where I felt I simply could not go on, but God is always faithful.  Jesus does not forsake his own, and as the scripture says in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, we comfort other with the comfort we ourselves have received.

Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.  And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. - Luke 12:35-40

Jesus says, that we must let our waists be girded and our lamps burning, and be like one who is so expectantly waiting for his master, that when his master comes, he is ready. As if he were standing at the door the moment it was opened.  Jesus said that in this world, we would have tribulation, but that he spoke so that in him we would have peace (John 16:33).  Wars are long and exhausting, and the soldiers that fight in them are often eager to get out of them.  Those who belong to Jesus will find themselves often engaged in long battles against our sin, the devil, and the temptation to go along with the current of the world.  Our Lord knows that in these seasons, we may, like soldiers, desire to escape the battle and be tempted to look for comfort in the world and ease through life.  Anything but another day battle!  Jesus says that rather than doing this, we should gird ourselves and be like one who waits for his master.  The imagery is of servant who is so desirous to see his master that, rather than giving up and seeking pleasure elsewhere, he sets his hope on his master's return.

To a weary soul, this may seem to be the exact opposite of what is needed.  A soldier exhausted with the fierceness of battle may be convinced that what he needs most is to escape and escape immediately.  God's grace, however, is typically given to enable us to endure hardship, rather than to escape it. I have been surprised many times to find that the soul refreshment and inner strength that I needed, came not by escaping my sufferings, but through the hopeful expectation of Christ's return, and the realization of my identity in him; looking forward to that day when I will be with him.  The Bible is filled with such exhortations: 

1 Peter 1:13

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

 Colossians 3:2-4

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Romans 8:18

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 

2 Corinthians 5:1-5

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

Romans 8:24

Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Hebrews 10:35-39

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 'Yet a little while and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.'  But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Hebrews 11:8-10

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

Hebrews 11:13-16

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. 

And most compelling of all, Hebrews 12:2

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

What we need is not to give up and escape the battle, but, by faith, to look to what is unseen and rest our hope fully on the grace that will come to us at the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We must set our minds on things that are above and not of this earth, and seek first the Kingdom of God and all of it's righteousness.  God has promised that he will supply all of our needs if we do this (Luke 12:24, Luke 12:27-28, Philippians 4:19).  When I hear Jesus' words, I can rejoice in the promises that they come with.  Even his toughest commands are laced with glorious promises, if we have eyes to see.  Jesus is always calling us to himself, that we may abide in him, follow him, and trust in him.  When we do the things Jesus says, we will have more of Jesus and less of the world (John 14:21, 23); the best thing God can do for us is give more of himself.

In Hebrews 6:13-18, we are told that God desired more abundantly to show the heirs of promise, the immutability of his counsel, that we who have fled for refuge might have great consolation:

For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. 

That passage has truly given me strength in difficult times.  God, wants his children to know the surety of his promises.  He has demonstrated the immutability of his counsel to us, who are in Christ,  by confirming his promises with an oath.  And God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19)!  To those who do not believe in Jesus, the stain of sin remains on you, and the hope God offers cannot be yours until you believe.  Know that Jesus came not for the righteous, but for sinners; as he said it is the sick who are in need of a physician (Mark 2:17).  The blood of Christ is sufficient to make even the most vile man clean, and I implore you to heed the words of the Lord: 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).

The kingdom of God has come near, but you must come to him.  He alone can give you the rest you need from trying to earn God's forgiveness; Jesus alone can take away the heavy burden of sin and it's consequences in Hell.  He is the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody can go to the Father except through him.  Jesus is the lamb of God, who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).  He is God, and only through him can one know the Father (Matthew 11:27, John 14:6); he unwaveringly called men to himself, because there is no hope apart from him.  Let today be the day of salvation (Hebrews 4:6-13); if you can come to him, come today.  Jesus said he would by no means cast out anyone who came to him (John 6:37).  For those who do believe, Christ Jesus lives in us, and this is the hope of Glory (Colossians 1:27, Galatians 2:20).  God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:13).  Whatever reason you think you have for giving up, it is not from God.  His word instructs us to endure, to keep believing, and to zero in on our hope when Christ returns.

Our hope, brethren, is not in ourselves, nor in this life, but in Jesus and the grace that will come to us when he returns.  Never forget that Christ's triumphant victory on the cross, and his resurrection are victory for us.  Jesus said: "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33)."  Remember what the Lord said: "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.  I have power to lay it down and power to take it again.  This command I have received from My Father (John 10:17-18)."  Jesus gave himself for our sin to deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of the Father (Galatians 1:4), and through death he destroyed him who had the power of death, the Devil (Hebrews 2:14).  God in mercy and love has saved us who believe, and given us hope that is no longer in this passing world, but in himself (1 Peter 1:21).  Christ is our life and because he lives, we will live also (John 14:19).

Finally, I would like to close with a story about one of many saints who suffered hard in this life, yet endured the hardship by the grace supplied to them by God.  First, there are many examples in the Bible, that I would suggest you read about (Cloud of Witnesses, Hebrews 11; Apostle Paul 2 Corinthians 11:24, 2 Corinthians 1:8-10), none more so than our Lord and our God, Jesus Christ.  This story is about Adoniram Judson, missionary to Burma.

In 1813 Adoniram Judson and his wife Ann moved to Burma to begin ministry among the Burmese, and quickly faced difficulty with the locals, and language.  Six years would pass before Adoniram was first able to preach, and saw someone come to faith.  Throughout the years, Judson was harassed by local officials, until the year 1824 when things took a turn for the worst.  A war between Britain and Burma, lead to an 18 month imprisonment of Judson; charged with spying for the British.

Each night Judson and the other prisoners were shackled and had their feet elevated to prevent them from escaping.  Upon release, Judson returned to ministry, only to find the small church absent and scattered, and the missionary property destroyed.  Less than a year later his wife died of Fever, leading to a severe depression; a darkness that would last 3 years and drove Adoniram into solitude and isolation.  God used the news that his younger brother had found Christ before passing away, to bring Adoniram out of this darkness.  Judson would later lose a second wife from childbirth complications, and a total of three children during his lifetime.  Through all of this suffering, Adoniram did not return to the states until 33 years had passed from his first departure in 1813. 

Judson contracted a lung disease, and doctors prescribed ocean air as a remedy.  During this voyage, Judson's pain grew more and more intense, one of his last recorded words were: "O, how few there are who suffer such great torment - who die so hard!"  On Friday, April 12, 1850, at the age of 61, Adoniram Judson died at sea.  Thirty-seven of his 61 years of life were spent on the mission field, through sickness, death of children, death of wives, imprisonment, dark depression, and laboring for the lost, Adoniram Judson endured the suffering, and more importantly God remained faithful to him until the end.  God will also be faithful to us until the end, Amen!