The Great Benefit of Suffering for Christ by F.B. Meyer
F.B. Meyer, Joseph
The Great Benefit of Suffering for Christ
Of sufferings and as it related to the life of Joseph, son of Jacob, F.B. Meyer wrote:
“But besides all this, his religious notions added greatly to his distress. He had been taught by Jacob the theory which comes out so prominently in the speeches of Job’s three friends, and which was so generally held by all their teachers and associates in that olden, Eastern, philosophic, deeply-pondering world; that good would come to the good, and evil to the bad; that prosperity was the sign of the Divine favour, and adversity of the Divine anger. And Joseph had tried to be good. Had he not always kept his father’s commandments and acted righteously, though his brethren were men of evil report, and tried to make him as bad as themselves? But what had he gained by his integrity? Simply the murderous jealousy and hatred of his own flesh and blood. Had he not, in the full flush of youthful passion, resisted the blandishments of the beautiful Egyptian, because he would not sin against God? And what had he gained by that? Simply the stigma which threatened to cling to him of having committed the very wickedness it was so hard not to commit; and, in addition, an undeserved punishment. Had he not always been kind and gentle to his fellow-prisoners, listening to their stories, speaking comfort to their hearts? And what had he gained by that? To judge by what he saw, simply nothing; and he might as well have kept his kindness to himself.
Was it of any use, then, being good? Could there be any truth in what his father had taught him of good coming to the good, and evil to the bad? Was there a God who judgeth righteously in the earth? You who have been misunderstood, who have sown seeds of holiness and love to reap nothing but disappointment, loss, suffering, and hate – you know something of what Joseph felt in that wretched dungeon hole.
Then, too, disappointment poured her bitter drops into the bitter cup. What had become of those early dreams, those dreams of coming greatness, which had filled his young brain with splendid phantasmagoria? We these not from God? He had thought so – yes, and his venerable father had thought so too; and he should have known, for he had talked with God many a time. Were these imaginings the delusions of a fevered brain, or mocking lies? Was there no truth, no fidelity, in heaven or earth? Had God forsaken him? Was he to spend all his days in that dungeon, dragging on a weary life, never again enjoying the bliss of freedom: and all because he had dared to do right? Do you wonder at the young heart being weighed almost to breaking?
And yet Joseph’s experience is not alone. You may have never been confined in a dungeon; and yet you may have often sat in darkness, and felt around you the limitation which forbade your doing as you wished. You may have been doing right, and doing right may have brought you into some unforeseen difficulty; and you are disposed to say, “I have been too honest.” Or you may have been doing a noble act to someone, as Joseph did to Potiphar, and it has been taken in quite a wrong light. Who does not know what it is to be misunderstood, misrepresented, accused falsely, and punished wrongfully?
Each begins life so buoyantly and hopefully. Youth, attempting the solution of the strange problem of existence, fears nothing, forbodes no ill. The minstrel, Hope, keys her chords to the loftiest strains of exultation. The sun shines; the blue wavelets break in music around the boat; the sails swell gently; Love and Beauty hold the rudder-bands; and though stories of the wreckage of the treacherous sea are freely told, there is no kind of fear that such experiences should ever overtake that craft. But presently disappointment, sorrow, and disaster overcloud the sky and blot out the sunny prospect; and the young mariner wakes as from a dream, “Can this be I, who imagined that I should never see ill?” Then come several tremendous struggles of the soul to wrench itself free. The muscles are strained as whipcord; the beads of perspiration stand on the brow: but every effort only entangles the limbs more helplessly. And at last, exhausted and helpless, the young life ceases to struggle, and lies still, cowed and beaten, as the wild denizen (citizen) of the plains, when it has lain for hours in the hunter’s snare. Surely there was something of this sort in Joseph’s condition, as he lay in that wretched dungeon.
II. THESE SUFFERINGS WROUGHT VERY BENEFICIALLY. – Taken on the lowest ground, this imprisonment served Joseph’s temporal interests. That prison was the place where state prisoners were bound. Thither court magnates who had fallen under suspicion were sent. Chief butler and chief baker do not seem much to us, but they were titles for very august people. Such men would talk freely with Joseph; and in doing so would give him a great insight into political parties, and a knowledge of men and things generally, which in after-days must have been of great service to him.
But there is more than this. Psalm 105:18, referring to Joseph’s imprisonment, has a striking alternative rendering, “His soul entered into iron.” Turn that about, and render it in our language, and it reads thus, Iron entered into his soul. Is there not a truth in this? It may not be the truth intended in that verse, but it is a very profound truth, that sorrow and privation, the yoke borne in the youth, the soul’s enforced restraint, are all conducive to an iron tenacity and strength of purpose, and endurance, a fortitude, which are the indispensible foundation and framework of a noble character. Do not flinch from suffering. Bear it silently, patiently, resignedly; and be assured that it is God’s way of infusing iron into your spiritual make-up.
As a boy, Joseph’s character tended to softness. He was a little spoilt by his father. He was too proud of his coat. He was rather given to tales. He was too full of his dreams and foreshadowed greatness. None of these great faults; but he lacked strength, grip, power to rule. But what a difference his imprisonment made in him! From that moment he carries himself with wisdom, modesty, courage, and manly resolution, that never fail him. He acts as a born ruler of men. He carries an alien country through the stress of a great famine, without a symptom of revolt. He holds his own with the proudest aristocracy of the time. He promotes the most radical changes. He had learned to hold his peace and wait. Surely the iron had entered his soul!
It is just this that suffering will do for you. The world wants iron dukes, iron battalions, iron sinews, and thews of steel. God wants iron saints; and since there is no way of imparting iron to the moral nature than by letting his people suffer, He lets them suffer. “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Are you in prison for doing right? Are the best years of your life slipping away in enforced monotony? Are you beset by opposition, misunderstanding, obloquy (contemptuous speech), and scorn, as the thick undergrowth besets the passage of the woodsman pioneer? Then take heart; the time is not wasted; God is only putting you through regimen. The iron crown of suffering precedes the golden crown of glory. And iron is entering into your soul to make it strong and brave.
Is some aged eyes perusing these words? If so, the question may be asked, Why does God sometimes fill a whole life with discipline, and give few opportunities for showing the iron quality of the soul? Why give iron to the soul, and then keep it from active service? Ah, that is which goes far to prove our glorious destiny. There must be another world somewhere, a world of glorious ministry, for which we are training. “There is service in the sky.” And it may be that God counts a human life of seventy years of suffering not too long an education for a soul which may serve Him through the eternities. It is in the prison that Joseph is fitted for the unknown life of Pharoah’s palace; and if he could have foreseen the future, he wold not have wondered at the severe discipline. If only we could see all that awaits us in the palace of the Great King, we should not be so surprised at certain experiences which befall us in the earth’s darker cells. You are being trained for service I God’s Home, and in the upper spaces of the universe.” F.B. Meyer, Joseph, p. 44-48
In His book Joseph, F.B. Meyer captures and conveys a treasure chest of truth concerning the blessed benefits of suffering.
“JOSEPH’S COMFORT IN THE MIDST OF THESE SOFFERINGS. – “He was there in the prison; but the Lord was with him.” The lord was with him in the palace of Potiphar; but when Joseph went to prison, the Lord went there too. The only thing which severs us from God is sin; so long as we walk with God, God will walk with us; and if our path dips down from the sunny upland lawns into the valley with its clinging mists, He will go at our side. The godly man is much more independent of men and things than others. It is God who makes him blessed. Like the golden city, he has no need of sun or moon, for the Lord God is his everlasting light. If he is in a palace he is glad, not so much because of its delights as because God is there. And if he is in a prison he can sing and give praises, because the God of love bears him company. To the soul which is absorbed with God, all places and experiences are much the same. “If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night (of sorrow and of confinement) shall be light about me; yea, the night shineth as the day.”
Moreover, the Lord showed him mercy. Oh, wondrous revelation! … God our Father has often to turn down the lights of our life because He wants to show us mercy. Whenever you get into a prison of circumstances, be on the watch. Prisons are rare places for seeing things. It was in prison that Bunyan saw his wondrous allegory, and Paul met the LORD, and John looked through heaven’s open door, and Joseph saw God’s mercy. God has no chance to show his mercy to some of us except when we are in some sore sorrow. The night is the time to see the stars.
God can also raise up friends for his servants in most unlikely places, and of most unlikely people. “The Lord gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” He was probably a rough, unkindly man, quite prepared to copy the dislikes of his master, the great Potiphar, and to embitter the daily existence of this Hebrew slave. But there was another Power at work, of which he knew nothing, inclining him towards his ward, and leading him to put him in a position of trust. All hearts are open to our King: at his girdle swing the keys by which the most unlikely door can be unlocked. “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” It is as easy for God to turn a man’s heart, as it is for the husbandman to turn the course of a brook to carry fertility to an arid plot.\
There is always alleviation for our troubles in ministry to others. Joseph found it so. It must have been a welcome relief to the monotony of his grief when he found himself entrusted with the care of the royal prisoners. A new interest came into his life, and he almost forgot the heavy pressure of his own troubles amid the interest of listening to the tales of those who were more unfortunate than himself. It is very interesting to notice what a deep human interest he took in the separate cases of his charges, noticing the expression of their faces, inquiring kindly after their welfare, sitting down to listen to their tale. Joseph is the patron of all prison philanthropists; but he took to this holy work not primarily because he had an enthusiasm for it, but because it gave a welcome opiate to his own griefs.
There is no anodyne (medicine) for heart-sorrow like ministry to others. If your life is woven with the dark shades of sorrow, do not sit down to deplore in solitude your hapless lot, but arise to seek out those who are more miserable than you are, bearing them balm for their wounds and love for their heart-breaks. And if you are unable to give much more practical help, you need not abandon yourself to the gratification of lonely sorrow, for you may largely help the children of bitterness by imitating Joseph in listening to their tales of woe or to their dreams of foreboding. It is a great art to be a good listener. The burdened heart longs to pour out its tale in a sympathetic ear. There is immense relief in the telling out of pain. But it cannot be hurried; it needs plenty of time; it cannot clear itself of its silt and deposits unless it is allowed leisure to stand. and so the sorrowful turn away from men engages in the full rush of active life as too busy, and seek out those who, like themselves, have been “winged,” and are obliged to go softly, as Joseph was, when the servants of Pharoah found him in the Egyptian dungeon. If you can do nothing else, listen well, and comfort others with the comfort wherewith you yourself have been comforted by God.
And as you listen, and comfort, and wipe the falling tears, you will discover that your own load is lighter, and that a branch or twig of the true tree – the tree of the Cross – has fallen into the bitter waters of your own life, making the Marah, Naomi, and the marshes of salt tears will have been healed. Out of such intercourse you will get with what Joseph got – the key which will unlock the heavy doors by which you have been shut in.
And now some closing words to those who are suffering wrongfully. Do not be surprised. You are the followers of One who was misunderstood from the age of twelve to the day of his ascension; who did not sin, and yet was counted as a sinner; concerning whom the unanimous testimony was, “I find in Him no fault at all”; and yet they called Him Beelzebub! If they spoke thus of the Master of the house, how much more concerning the household! “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.”
Do not get weary in well-doing. Joseph might have said, “I give all up; of what profit is my godliness? I may as well live as others do.” How much nobler was his course of patient continuance in well-doing! Do right, because it is right to do right; because God sees you; because it puts gladness into the heart. And then, when you are misunderstood and ill-treated, you will not swerve, or sit down to whine and despair.
Above all, do not avenge yourselves. When Joseph recounted his troubles, he did not recriminate harshly on his brethren, or Potiphar, or Potiphar’s wife. He simply said: “I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the hole.” He might have read the words of the apostle, “Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.” “If when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” We make a great mistake in trying always to clear ourselves; we should be much wiser to go straight on, humbly doing the next thing, and leaving God to vindicate us. “He will bring forth our righteousness as the light, and our judgment as the noonday.” In Psalm 105:19 there follow words which, rightly rendered, read thus: “The word of the Lord cleared him.” What a triumphant clearing did God give His faithful servant.
There will come hours in our lives, when we shall be misconstrued, misunderstood, slandered, falsely accused, wrongfully persecuted. At such times it is very difficult not to act on the policy of the men around us in the world. They at once appeal to law and force and public opinion. But the believer takes his case into a higher court, and lays it before his God. He is prepared to use any means that may appear divinely suggested. But he relies much more on the divine clearing than he does on his own most perfect arrangements. He is content to wait for months and years, till God arise to avenge his cause. It is a very little thing for him to be judged adversely at the bar of man: he cares only for the judgment of God, and awaits the moment when the righteous shall shine forth in the kingdom of their Father, as the sun when it breaks from all obscuring mists. “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Ah! what a clearing-up of mysteries, what dissipating of misunderstandings, what vindication of character shall be there! Oh, slandered ones, you can afford to await the verdict of eternity; of God, who will bring out your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noon day.
In all the discipline of life it is of the utmost importance to see but one ordaining overruling will. If we view our imprisonments and misfortunes as the result of human malevolence, our live will be filled with fret and unrest. It is hard to suffer wrong at the hands of man, and to think that perhaps it might have never been. But there is a truer and more restful view, to consider all things as being under the law and rule of God; so that though they may originate in and come to us through the spite and malice of our fellows, yet, since before they reach us they have had to pass through the environing atmosphere of the Divine Presence, they have been transformed into his own sweet will for us.
It was Judas who plotted our Saviour’s death, and filled the garden with the capturing bands and flashing lights; and yet the Lord Jesus said that the Father was putting the cup to his lips. And though He was murdered by the chief priests and scribes, yet He so thoroughly acquiesced in the Father’s appointment, that He spoke of laying down his life, as if his death were entirely his own act. There is no evil to them that love God; and the believer loses sight of second causes, so absorbed is he in the contemplation of the unfolding of the mystery of his Father’s will. As the dying Kingsley said, “All is under law.” F.B. Meyer, Joseph, p. 48-53
The More I Suffer, the Freer I Become
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Articles
The High Treason of False Leaders [podcast]
PWT = Preach, WARN, Teach
“Whom we PREACH, WARNING every man, and TEACHING every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:” Colossians 1:28
Did you catch what the apostle Paul did to prepare the church to meet Christ?
- Preach
- WARN
- Teach
Letting God Speak for Himself
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Matthew 7:15
Bible truths/words you never hear from wolves: Repent, obedience, the cross – crucified life, holiness, judgment, eternal Hell, the lake of fire, being spotless and ready for Christ’s return, etc..
Many today preach the crown but not the cross, the promise without the condition. They perpetually peddle half truths as they use words like “soar” and “rise up” and “elevation,” a going upward but never the essential non-negotiable condition of going downward before God will raise one upward (Isaiah 37:31; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12). Their misleading cross-less messages are “another gospel” and we know that because there is no cross, no mention of dying downward, no crucified life (2 Corinthians 11:2-5; Galatians 1:6-9; Philippians 3:18-19). The LORD will raise no one upward who doesn’t first humbly bow downward before His Majestic holiness (Luke 9:23-24; James 4:6-10). | Myth of Elevation without the Cross
“MANY pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 11 They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.” Jeremiah 12:10-11
Were we not warned repeatedly to beware of those who would spoil us (ruin us eternally)?
This “famine” is here and has been induced by the “MANY false prophets” Jesus and His apostles foretold (Amos 8:11; Matthew 24:11; Isaiah 9:16; 2 Peter 2:1-3, etc.).
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:” Amos 8:11
Self-induced “famine”: Those rebels who refuse to repent and get into God’s Word for themselves are starved out and deceived by the false gospel of the apostate modern church world. In contrast, every true disciple will study God’s Word diligently for themselves and feast in the midst of this prophesied “famine” for the Word of God.
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
PAUL GAVE LITTLE PLACE TO FALSE LEADERS (GALATIANS 2:4-5). THEY ARE TO BE IDENTIFIED, REBUKED, REJECTED, AND MARKED UNLESS THEY REPENT (ROMANS 16:17-18; TITUS 1:13).
Jesus warned:
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening (devouring) wolves.” Matthew 7:15
The false leaders Christ speaks of here would have all the trappings of a true Christian leader so as not to be detected. But the true remnant cling to Christ and therefore His Word and are thereby able to discern (Ezekiel 44:23).
“The majority has always believed the lies, gone the wrong way, never changed, and suffered great devastation. The pattern is repeated every third or fourth generation. People warning them are always considered alarmist or fools (conspiracy theorists). But God ordains faithful people. They will not cease to warn them until repentance is no longer an option.” C.
Paul Speaking to the Ephesians
“Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. 27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. 28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. 32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Acts 20:27-32
God’s Word informs us that Christ’s true servant-elders WILL TEACH God’s people to discern by weighing all against the standard of the Word of God (Ezekiel 44:23; Acts 17:10-11; 1 John 4:1, etc.). Therefore we know that any man in leadership not teaching people to discern between the holy and profane, between true and false, is himself a wolf!
“Even the very elect! We need to be guarding our hearts every moment because the devil loves an idle mind.” Charles Pray
“DISCERN”
“And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” Ezekiel 44:23
For a moment, let’s explore what true ministry is so that we can see what is not true ministry. Perhaps one good definition of what true ministry is would be: Giving people God’s Word in order to endear them to Him by His very own words. Is not the divine Person of the Holy Spirit integrally involved in that exchange? Did He not orchestrate it?
Watch closely at what the elders of Israel did when they stood before the people:
“So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly (directly, literally), and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” Nehemiah 8:8
Truly God-fearing servants of Christ get people into HIS Word so that they follow Him and not them – mere men. Note that in this important passage in Nehemiah 8, we see the principle for leadership: Leading the souls of men to Christ, not to self.
Those who flatter you by refusing to preach the absolute necessity of repenting, taking up the cross daily and following Jesus…. Are setting you up for the kill …. You may vainly believe that it’s all fun and games now but judgment is coming if you don’t repent and diligently study and adhere to the whole counsel of God’s Word. When you do truly repent, you will no long put yourself under a smooth talking wolf who refuses to preach the whole counsel of the original Gospel of Christ (Isaiah 30:9-10; 2 Timothy 4:2-4).
“A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.” Proverbs 29:5
All ministers who soft peddle and do not endeavor to unapologetically declare the whole counsel of God’s Word, are deceivers. Run.
JUST because a preacher has a few good quotes does NOT at all mean he’s not a false teacher. If he has one false doctrine, he is false. Speaking of false doctrine, Paul wrote: “A little leaveneth the WHOLE lump” (Galatians 5:9). Example: There are many teachers/pastors of old who left behind good quotes and yet were false teachers. Examples would include the often quoted wolf C.S. Lewis, the diabolical monstrostity John Calvin, and the vile legalist Charles Finney. Also, there are many today who say a lot of good things and yet, then you find out they believe calvinism or the lie of eternal security/OSAS. Run.
One minister of Christ declared:
“People think that because I skin the brethren alive when I preach, that I’m not showing any love. That’s because they’ve been brainwashed by the glass toilet (the TV), and they respond to the tone of my voice much as my German Shepherd would. But I do love the brethren. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t preach against their sins. I would preach on coping and sharing and family values and let them hit a bonfire at the Judgment Seat of Christ.”
Think about how many people are promoting THEIR ministries and how much money is wasted on such trash.
“For THE LEADERS of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.” Isaiah 9:16
Leaders who betray the LORD and His people.
Remember that according to the record of the Gospels, it was the wicked religious leaders, the Jews of Christ’s day, who betrayed the Son of God their KING to the Roman authorities, calling out for His crucifixion (Matthew 27; John 19, etc.).
The kingdom of God is not about mere men’s ministries or churches or church organizations. Reading the history of Israel and the New Testament plainly reveals that false leaders have done inestimable damage – they have done so very much to oust Christ right out of the hearts and minds of the people they are misleading while posing as those who are leading them in the ways of the LORD (Isaiah 9:16).
“And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer (true worship); but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Matthew 21:13
Today is no different – In fact we are told it will get even worse in these final days at the hands of deceivers (2 Timothy 3:13). Like the wolves of old who were constantly exposed by Israel’s prophets, modern beguilers are intercepting the heart affections and resources of those they have misled. Listen to God’s prophet Ezekiel:
“There is a conspiracy of her prophets (false leaders) in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening (devouring) the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. 26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening (devouring) the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.” Ezekiel 22:25-27
Ready to Magnify Christ?
“O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.” Psalms 34:3
The eternal kingdom of God is all about KING Jesus.
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil (ruin) you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power … Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.” Colossians 2:6-10, 18, 19
Most men in ministry are “not holding the Head” of the body – Christ – and therefore have intercepted the affections of the people in order to exploit them to build their own ministry business.
Any leader who is not constantly doing every possible thing he can to get YOU into God’s Word for yourself, is an absolute wolf of the worst kind.
Revelation: People don’t need you and me – they need the LORD – and He reveals Himself through His Word.
Christ must be magnified, not mere men – “And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another” (1 Corinthians 4:6).
IT’S SO very important not to over aggrandize any mere man. We must rid our hearts of all idols (Ezekiel 14:3). The personality cults must be seen for what they really are and shunned by Christ’s true remnant. Think about the personalities so many (most) modern popular ministries are built upon? Think about the ingratiating, manipulative, and flamboyant personalities of circus clowns like Jesse Duplantis, Joel Osteen, and Joyce Meyer, Rick Warren, and a host of other false leaders who have built their enterprises/empires on THEIR own personalities and telling people what THEIR unrepentant hearts want to hear instead of what God says in the full counsel of His Holy Word (2 Timothy 4:2-4). Others we could name are more subtle and yet nevertheless draw people to THEMSELVES, not Christ! This is robbery – robbing Christ of the glory due only to Himself.
The great apostle went out of his way – he made sure and steadfast provision – to never draw or entice the affections of men’s hearts to himself. That would be theft – high treason against Heaven. In the holy fear of God, Paul took great precaution not to endear the hearts of men to himself, a mere man, but rather he espoused them to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2-5). Listen to him:
“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2
Have you memorized the above verse yet?
“I Have Espoused You to … Christ”
Let’s again listen closely to the heart of Paul to the people of God, Christ’s messenger/apostle:
“For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. 5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. 6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things. 7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?” 2 Corinthians 11:2-7
Paul espoused those he oversaw to Jesus, not to himself. He caused them to trust Christ through His blessed Word and invited others to compare what he taught to the Holy Scriptures (Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15; 3:15-17). Is this what your pastor is doing?
In a recent conversation with my friend Tim, he was edified to hear the encouragement that every time he gets someone into the Word of God for themselves, he is doing much more than most pastors or “Christian” authors who make people dependent upon them – so that they get repeat customers for their business.
Are you in the Word daily friend?
How can God’s Word get into you if you don’t get into it?
Are you drawing and remaining close to the Savior in this late hour like the wise virgins who kept the oil of His presence in the lamp of their lives and were therefore ready when He returned? (Matthew 25:1-13)
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly (abundantly) in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Colossians 3:16
Listen to this audio message: Esteeming the Words of His Mouth | Colossians 1:28 PWT Preach Warn Teach
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Apostasy
Why Did God Give Us His Word? [podcast]
The 4 Pillar Purposes for the Holy Scriptures
There are 4 reasons detailed in 2 Timothy 3:16 for the Holy Scriptures being given to us by God. Under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the apostle Paul wrote:
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16
According to this verse, the Bible, God’s very Word, has been given to the people of God for 4 reasons: Doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. Let us take a brief look at these 4 reasons for the written Word so carefully presented here concerning the very purpose of the Bible.
Doctrine – (Gr. DIDASKALIA): that which is taught; teaching, instruction. An individual’s doctrinal body of truth consists of that which he has been taught and holds to be true.
Reproof – (Gr. ELEGMOS): proof, proving, test. As the noble Berean believers demonstrate and John commands, to test every doctrine that comes from the mouth or pen of men, against the holy Standard – the Scriptures. This is, in part, what is being spoken to us by the Holy Spirit in this verse at hand. Therefore, we conclude that we have been given “All scripture” in order to exercise “reproof,” or the testing of men’s doctrines against Holy Writ and to test every notion of belief we currently hold against the divine standard of the written Word which is final divine authority (Acts 17:10-11; 1 John 4:1).
Correction – (Gr. EPANORTHOSIS): a restoration to an upright state or right state. The Scriptures are “given by inspiration of God” to bring correction into our own hearts, and into the hearts of all who heed the divine message (James 1:21-25).
Instruction in Righteousness – (Gr. PAIDEIA): training in righteousness is what is meant here. The Bible is given to train us in the ways of the One who inspired the same. The divinely given Precepts of life can never fail anyone who would search out and do its commands (Isaiah 34:16). All of life’s answers, as pertains to man, are found within its pages (2 Peter 1:3-4; Psalms 119:128a). Millions of godly pilgrims, journeying through this earthly life, has found the perfect divine will and direction by studying the words of Holy Scripture (Psalms 119).
The verse following this monumental 16th verse, v17, also reveals to us another reason for the Scriptures – “That the man of God may be perfect (mature), throughly furnished (equipped) unto all good works.” This maturity will come as a result of the workings of God as we walk with Him. He will teach our hearts His doctrine, His correction, His reproof, and instruct us in righteousness.
In review, what are the 4 reasons that God gave us His Word in written form?
- doctrine
- reproof
- correction
- instruction in righteousness
The Bible was written to CHANGE you – TO CORRECT FALSE THINKING – and not to accommodate the lies you believe. Are you washing your mind of every false notion – by daily study of God’s Word, OR are you backslidden? (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 5:26) Repent now and conform to Christ by learning, embracing, adhering to, searching, studying, and obeying His truth (2 Timothy 3:16-17). WHY DID GOD GIVE US HIS WORD? WHAT are the stated 4 reasons God gave us His Word? Do you know this truth, and are you ready to share it with others?
You are obviously saved when you are putting God’s Word as final divine authority of your life and that’s pleasing to the LORD (John 8:47). When we allow God’s Word to correct us, we prove He is authentically the LORD of our lives (2 Timothy 3:16).
SOFT-PEDDLING, HALF-TRUTH preachers are Satan’s agents. No conviction, no cross, no holiness, no repentance, no readiness for the return of Christ, no judgment to come, no hell, no lake of fire! RUNNNNNN
WHY did God give us His Word? It was to establish His truth in and to protect His people from the many deceivers – “them that seduce you.”
“These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.” 1 John 2:26
God gave us His Word so that we may be established in him and kept safe from the “Many false prophets” He so often warned us about. He provided His written Word, his tangible revelation, so that we may fear Him (Deuteronomy 4:10), and so we can know Him (John 5:39). As you study Scripture, be on the look out for the many divinely stated reasons our LORD gave us His written Word.
Beloved saint, will you now teach these Bible truths to others? Share this.
Memory Verse: 2 Timothy 3:16
God gave us His Word in written format so they’d be no confusion and also, no excuse on Judgment Day (John 12:48; Romans 2:16; 1 Corinthians 14:33; 2 Timothy 3:16-17, etc.). The Word of God is the basis by which the LORD shall judge each of us.
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
“Read your Bible for yourself. Please. A YouTube sermon clip is not enough. A podcast is not enough. Your favorite preacher is not enough. Know your Bible.” Biblical Man
“Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail…” Isaiah 34:16
Read God’s Word itself, yourself (KJB). THAT is God speaking. Every time you read His Word, God is speaking to you.
In Christ’s Love.
PASS IT ON
Memory Verse: 2 Timothy 3:16
LET’S LEARN GOD’S WORD TOGETHER – ONE TRUTH AT A TIME: Are you tired of reading Scripture or hearing a good message from the Word and not retaining any of it for yourself and to help others? This message was sent out to each person on our Moments For My Master email devotional list. We would love to add you and have the privilege of nourishing your heart with God’s Word (1 Tim. 4:6). Sign up here.
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Christ’s true followers are known in that they love Him truly and therefore hear and are corrected and guided only by His voice, His written Word (John 8:47).
“He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” John 8:47
God will Never Anoint and Bless Us to do our Own Thing! Watch this Closely …..
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:18-20
Did you catch what Jesus just said? – That God is with His people to the end of the world to help them do what He said – teach His Word to all!
LOTS of people on social media claiming and preaching their own visions and dreams and not the Gospel! Beware.
When I hear someone speaking live or in a video, if the Word is not coming from their mouths, I soon close it out and unfriend. What is it that we don’t understand about the divine command to “Preach the word”? (2 Timothy 4:2) Wolves entertain goats while true under-shepherds of Christ feed sheep. Beware.
IF we stick with God’s Word, if we do things His way and no other way, we will be involved in the preaching, the teaching – dissemination – of His Word (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-20).
“That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. 7 For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.” Philemon 1:6-7
“The bowels of the saints are refreshed” when God’s people communicate His Word!
The Waste of the Modern Church World
If you are born again and abiding presently in Christ, you have “mansion” in glory awaiting you! (John 14:1-6) Did you know that you also have an “account” in Heaven? Now, what’s in that “account”? Is it empty or full?
“Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.” Philippians 4:17
Paul, Christ’s apostle, wanted to see the heavenly accounts of God’s people full!
God is not going to reward you good for not contributing to that which He stated is most important.
ANY leadership curriculum that isn’t literally the Scriptures – and learning THEM – is a scam! (Psalm 119; 2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21, etc.) How long shall prop of the wolves and their self-agenda “ministries”? How long shall we be be deceived?
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
“Read your Bible for yourself. Please. A YouTube sermon clip is not enough. A podcast is not enough. Your favorite preacher is not enough. Know your Bible.” Biblical Man
“Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail…” Isaiah 34:16
Read God’s Word itself, yourself (KJB). THAT is God speaking. Every time you read His Word, God is speaking to you.
Today we see LOTS of clowns raising money to continue to fund their circuses they have and are building using the name of Jesus in vain to do so (Exodus 20:7).
Looking around us and perhaps beginning with our own lives, we see a biblically illiterate generation of Christians – people who can’t quote 10 Bible verses. Yet, those same people have been good church members for many years.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” Hosea 4:6
The vast majority of “churches” today are simply not teaching God’s Word to the people which alone makes them disobedient frauds. Fruit.
“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” Titus 1:16
If you help a “ministry” that is not instilling God’s truth in people, you are bidding Godspeed to these workers of iniquity and will be judged with them (2 John 10-11). The teaching of God’s Word is paramount and for the divine purpose for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom in the hearts of men (Colossians 3:16).
“And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, 31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.” Acts 28:30-31
Many today campaign aggressively to raise money for and promote things that do not involve the communication of God’s truth into the hearts of men. In fact, very little “ministry” being done today even has the unchanging divine goal of instilling God’s Word into the hearts and lives of His people. God will only reward that which is in keeping with what He’s clearly stated – which will never change. His New Testament Gospel program is plain. Are you walking in it?
- “Preach the gospel.” (Mark 16:15)
- “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
- “Preach the word.” (2 Timothy 4:2)
- “Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly (abundantly).” (Colossians 3:16)
Saints, God forbid that we waste the wealth on the waste of spreading the false modern gospel and the trinkets used to promote it!
If it’s a ministry and they’re not the teaching of God’s Word, it’s not of God (John 8:47).
“Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.” Acts 8:4
If people are not literally learning and obeying and speaking God’s truth, it’s not of God! (Joshua 1:8; Proverbs 12:17)
The “Success” of Christ’s Saints Depends on This….
“This book of the law (God’s written Word) shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1:8
Can you personally name just 5 “Christians” you know who can quote 10 Bible verses from the King James Bible?
I can’t.
The Danger of Endorsing – Bidding Godspeed – to False Teachers, False Ministries
“For MANY deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” 2 John 7-11
Wolves entertain goats while true servants of Christ feed sheep! (John 21:15-17)
Prayer: Holy Father, I come now to You in the name of the LORD Jesus Christ. LORD, this moment I stop this life You gave and I ask You to make me truly, authentically Your disciple. Teach me Thy Word and forgive me for the sin of supporting, for bidding Godspeed to anything claiming to be of You while not truly and literally teaching Your people Your Word and to know it thoroughly for themselves. Please forgive me of this sin Father, in Jesus’ name. I love You Jesus. Thank You for dying for me, for finding, and for saving me by Your blood. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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