Most people have made their resolutions and ushered in the New Year with jubilant. There is a anticipation that the new year holds better promise as we shake of the last one. 2018 was a rough year for the church, Scandals descended on top Americano pastors (from Joel Osteen being ridiculed for not helping duding hurricane, to pastors stepping down over sexual scandals), our Catholic cousins having major scandals that has caused a major exodus from RCC and has started an en mass distrust of the Church both Protestant and Catholic, surveys revealed 70% of Millennial are Nones (affiliate with no religion), major leadsrs who serve Christ like Billy Graham reposed and went to be with the Lord Jesus, martyrdom is up with Christians in Pakistan. Syria, and Nigeria being executed, China’s Govt. went into major crack down gear on State and House churches while reviving Maoist state religion , Canadian Govt. cracking down on Bible studies, Australia falling into the shadow of apostasy despite Hill Song, and more. It is evident the Preterists are wrong, and that Jesus is right, “I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"” (Luke 18:8) and “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:9-14). Our Lord paints a future where there will be major falling away from the faith (apostasy) and warns us of the major Antichrist movement that is here and coming (2 Thessalonians 2:1-11, Revelation 13:7).
To endure these end times, we need to adopt a new attitude. We must forgo affluence and the prosperity doctrine and adopt the reality that from Christ our Lord to His disciples, suffering not sacks of money was the norm. Our God Jesus was scourged and crucified, the most torturous death that was designed to make you affixiate and suffocate after being nailed up on a wooden pole with a horizontal cross beam fixed to it. Christ our Lord did rise from the dead, but His ultimate work of salvation for mankind was suffering. The Apostle Paul, the most prolific apostle who wrote most of New Testament was constantly beaten and abused, “Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.” (2 Corinthians 11:25 NLT). John the Apostle was boiled in hot water and because he dis not die, his layer of skin was down to second layer and to be touched was agony. All the disciples were beaten and suffered at the hands of those who are enemies of the cross, there was an entire empire against them, the Roman Empire and their own Israelite people turning on them; the apostles being assailed from within their Hebraic communities and from without by Rome.
We must embrace the cross, and harken to Christ’s words, “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me,” (Luke 9:23 NKJV), and “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” (Matthew 24:24-27). The cross is the symbol of our faith, that Jesus nailed our sins to the stauros and gives us eternal life through faith in Him. This is first beam and meaning of the cross, that only Jesus our Lord can cleanse us of sin and save us, “ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin,” (1 John 1:7), and “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). The second beam and meaning of the cross is that to follow Jesus we will have fo shoulder our own cross, to endure and keep faith in Christ in this world that is turning antichrist we must be subjected to persecution (Revelation 14:12), torture (Matthew 24:9), and perhaps death. To keep our freedom in Christ, in the Gospel of Grace (Acts 15:6-11, Ephesians 2:8-10), we must embrace the suffering to keep our pire and simple faith, and see it as the apostles did, an honor, “But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name,” (1 Peter 4:16), “if you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you,” (1 Peter 4:14), and “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name of Jesus.” (Acts 5:51). I am not using “take up the cross,” as Puritans, Pietists, and Monastics have done in a message of suffering to add merit, no, “I do not nullify the grace of God, if salvation could come from works of the law then Christ died for no reason,” (Galatians 2:21), and “if you believe you can be saved by the works of the law, you are cit off from Christ, you have fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4). I am saying to keep our faith in Christ who alone saves us and did all that is necessary to give us eternal life (Hebrews 9 and 10, Chapters), we will have to bear the cross of persecution, and enmity. To out it another way, to keep our relationship with our beloved Jesus, we shall have to suffer much in this antichristic world. So hold on and stand firm! Keep faith in Jesus no matter what! He loves us and He died for us when we were His enemies, “ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6-11), and so let us have such profound relationship and depth in Christ (Philippians 3:8-15) that we are willing to die for Him, “For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.” (Philippians 1:19-24 NKJV). For while we live on earth we make disciples (Matthew 28:19) and grow close to our Lord Jesus, but should we die for Him we will be with Him, “In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8)
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