Yes there is a better day coming. ( John 14 v1 - 6 ) (2)

In 2 Corinthians 4 the apostle Paul writes ,'We are hard pressed on  every side,but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair,persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed' In chapter 11 , he tells of more suffering, of being flogged, being exposed to death constantly,of  being  being lashed on 5 separate, occasions,of being stoned.of being shipwrecked,of  facing dangers.Of experiencing hunger and thirst ,of being cold, without enough clothing to keep  warm. In chap 12 he writes of having a thorn in the flesh,  I wonder what the prosperity gospel people would say to that,they should bow their heads in shame.Of course Paul was sustained by the Grace of God,but also by the fact that there was a better day was coming, In Iran there is a pastor Anooshavan Avedian who has been sentenced to 10years in prison,and a further 10 years of what is called,'' deprivation of social rights',( e.g. severe restrictions on employment when he is released)For that dear brother there is a better day coming. Here is what the  apostle Paul wrote ,'So we do not lose heart. Though are outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed  day by day. For this momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison'

                                                                

                                                   'Yes there is a better day coming'

Yes there is a better day coming. (2 Corinthians 11 v 30 ) ( 1 )

For millions of people life is hard ,yes that includes Christians, millions are starving,for many dear people, there appears no hope. Only God knows ,it may get worse, for all of us,we will have to wait and see,the question is how can we face the challenges of life?.In 2 Corinthians 4 the apostle Paul writes as regards the difficulties that he and  his companions were experiencing,here is what he wrote,' v7 He writes of his being like a clay pot,but the wonder of that is,Christ  dwells within that body.he may be the great apostle,accomplishing great things,but it has come from the power of God, not him..We like Paul, are weak,everyone one of us,make no mistake about it,we are all without exception ,weak beyond measure,we are all  like clay pots. So stop your boasting ,arise, give God the glory,let Him increase ,and let us decrease. Without Him we can do nothing, but through Him, we can do all things that God would have us do.We will continue this next time,exalt your weakness, don't be ashamed of your weakness ,and glorify the one who uses the weak things of this world,to accomplish great things, even through us clay jars.

It's that important.( Philippians 1 v 29 )

Martin Luther said,' We will suffer our goods to be taken away, our name, our life,and all we have;  but the Gospel, our faith, Jesus Christ, we will never suffer to be wrested from us'. Many of the epistles were written in defence of the Gospel, written by men like Paul, and Peter,who not only proclaimed the Gospel but also were prepared to lay down their lives for the gospel,Paul was beheaded Peter was crucified.I am remined of Polycarp who was a disciple of the apostle John, he became a bishop in the church of Smyrna( (Izmir  in modern Turkey). In his 80s he was arrested,because he would not swear that Caesar was lord , if he did, he would be set free,this was what he said,''Eighty six years have I served Jesus,and he never did me an injury, how can I blaspheme my king and Saviour'' .He was pressed on this, being threatened to be devoured by wild beasts,or to be consumed by the fire,he refused.and said,'' Hear me declare with boldness,'I am a Christian'.So they gathered the wood, the Jews especially joining in ,and they burnt him to death. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,is more precious than worldly riches,world fame, may our dear God grant us grace to live for Christ ,and if necessary to die for Christ.

The reason. ( Psalm 51 )

 Yesterday we asked why mankind is so violent?,we mentioned one aspect of our violence,war,but we never mentioned murders,robberies,rapes,abuse of all sorts,and so on,plus our evil thoughts.It is in the book of Jeremiah we read,'The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it it is (17 v 9) One may say I know a lot of nice people,but I also know that everyone is a sinner,the fact is we are all in it together ,and we all manifest  to some extent our sinful nature.Remember when we say that,we are not judging our being by other people.That is not the answer,we may say that we are good citizens,we are honest as the next person we pay our taxes.That is not the answer ,it is how we stand before a holy God,that's what makes us sinners,we come short of His glory .When David sinned  he confessed,'Against you, You only have I sinned,and done this evil in your sight' Psalm 51 v 4,he said that because it was God's law he had broken'.The words in Romans 3 makes it clear the way we are toward God.and that has an affect as to how we are with other people.The cross reminds us of the awful condition of humanity,a condition that will not change, because we cannot change,we do not want to change, because we love darkness rather than light.People will continue on their sinful way refusing to respond to God's offer of salvation,apart from Jesus there is no hope,and let me say again ,things will not get any better.

                                                 ' I heard the voice of Jesus say,

                                                  I am this dark worlds light,

                                                  Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise

                                                  And all thy day be bright.

                                                  I looked to Jesus and I found

                                                  In Him my Star, my Sun;

                                                  And in that light of life I'll walk,

                                                  Till travelling days are done.

                                                          Horatius Bonar.

The reason ( Romans 3 v 23 )

 The English poet Julian Grenfell wrote,' I adore war', His poem,'Into Battle', anticipates the 'joy; of combat. He was killed in May 1915.During the 20th century we have had two world wars,but there have been hundreds of minor wars and conflicts.Think of how many people have perished in those conflicts,it is impossible to say,possible 150 million, could be more.The fact is we live in a very,very violent world,and its not getting any better,the question is why,the Bible tells us the reason,in that great chapter in Romans 3 we are told this ,'all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.'the writer highlights or describes aspects of that sinful nature ,most of what he describes ,is to be found in passages in the OT.  I want to write them all out, so here goes,

                                      ''No one is righteous,not even one,

                                       No one is truly wise; no one is seeking after God.

                                       All have turned away; all have become useless.

                                       No one does good not a single one. 

                                       Their talk is foul,like,like a stench from an open grave.

                                       Their tongues are filled with lies.

                                       Snake venom drips from their lips.

                                       Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.

                                        They rush to commit murder.

                                        Destruction always follow them.

                                        The don't know where to find peace.

                                        They have no fear of God at all.''

The suffering Servant. ( Galatians 6 v 14 )

 The Lord during His lifetime manifested great power, He had power over nature Mark 4 v 35 -41,He raised the dead Luke 7 v 11- 16/ 8 v 53-56/ /John 11/. He healed countless number of people,He turned water into wine John 2,and fed on two occasions thousands of people with just a few small loaves and fishes John 6 /Mark 8. If He did all that surely he could have saved Himself from all that suffering?,but He didn't,surely He failed?,no ,when He told the disciples he would die , they couldn't take it in,and Peter reprimanded Him, for saying such things Matthew 16 v22  ,and Jesus rebuked him.To those disciples His death appeared a failure ,the Messiah they had in mind was not meant to die,but one who would rule by His great power,He would put down all who opposed Him, by force, they the Jews would reign and rule with Him.. But no, Jesus did not come to set up an earthly kingdom, John 18 v 36, His kingdom would be a spiritual kingdom,ruling in peoples hearts, it would be an eternal kingdom Daniel 2 v44. As to His death no one could take his life from Him,in John 10 v18 ,Jesus declares,'No one can take my life from me,I sacrifice it voluntarily.For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again  John 10 v 18. In John 10 v27 Jesus says,'Now is my soul deeply troubled.Should I pray,',  Father save me from this hour?But this is the reason I came!. He did not fail, His suffering on the cross was a victory for us sinners,our sins could be forgiven ,Satan and death would be defeated

                                                 Thanks be to God who give His only

                                                 begotten Son,that we could be saved 

                                                 eternally.

The suffering Servant. ( Romans 5 v 1 )

 Now we have touched on the physical suffering of Christ, but there is more to it than that,let us remember every sinner has the wrath of God upon them,John 3 v 36.While sin remains unforgiven wrath remains on them for ever,no entrance into heaven,but there will be an entrance into hell and all that it means, unless that wrath is removed no one can be saved.So it is that Jesus suffering on the cross involved Him taking the punishment of sinners,paying the full price for our transgressions.William Hendriksen ,writes the following,'by the shedding of his blood, a wrath -removing or propitiatory' sacrifice took place.Our Saviour told the story of a man who cried out to God ,'Be merciful to me a sinner',Luke 18 v13 .one has put it this way,'God be propitiated for me a sinner'. Compare Romans 3 v25 ' Whom God hath sent forth to be a propitiation', WH  writes ,'that the Greek word he chose is the English equivalent meaning,;Wrath removing ( or propitiatory)sacrifice'.He goes unto write,'Christ's propitiatory sacrifice does not go into effect automatically. If a person wishes to obtain this great blessing- the turning away of God's wrath,forgiveness, acceptance with God-they must exercise genuine faith in Christ,in and through whom God Triune reveals himself'.

                                                    'Simple faith in Jesus saves'