Faithfulness!

(2Timothy 2:12) “It is a faithful saying-If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him”

As Christians we are to be solely dependent on free grace to get us home, but in order to walk in obedience we need to follow God’s Word to the best of our knowledge at any given time. The Bible is full of warnings, red flags if you like; Wolves in sheep’s clothing, tainted doctrine, misguided lusts, or believing a lie to be the truth i.e. pretending that we have received something when in fact we haven’t. It is this thought that I want us to consider; “It is a faithful saying-If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him” and not the lie from the wolf in sheep’s clothing, which is, without blessings of material wealth we cannot be sure of our salvation. That is not sound doctrine but false!

Since I became aware of my need to depend upon the Lord Jesus as my God and King, I have often prayer for someone or something, to be more accurate every day consist of this type of dialog between the child of God and the only true God, or at least it should! I suppose we all may lose focus at times, not that this will excuse us. Every day is filled with various challenges that look to get us to forget Calvary and we need to find grace from the "throne room of grace" to overcome our deficiencies, which in turn will help us focus on our hope, heaven, instead of the distracting trial. The trial is there to teach us to look up, it is a help and not a hindrance. We must put on the mind of Christ! It is the God the Holy Spirit that leads us into these trials teaching us what Christ endured here on earth.

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1): - We are also taught to pray like this; “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13): - It is then obvious we need to seek God’s face in prayer to avoid times of trial through temptation, but there must also be times in our lives where the trials must come to train us up in the ways of righteousness. This must be clearly understood!   

  

We must explore all that is faithful, trustworthy! Times will get harder for the Christian; we must pay solemn attention to this, our basic training. It is the fit healthy soldier who has trained with due diligence who will reap the reward when asked to perform. There were ten virgins with lamps, but only those with oil in their lamps were ready for the bridegroom, the other five found themselves scrambling when they should have been ready; "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, 'Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.' And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.” (Matthew 25:1-10): - Yes, I am suggesting that our view with regard to the trials in our lives, will leave us in either camp. Constantly run from them and we will lack oil when called upon.

What then is my point? We must latch on to all that is faithful and disregard suppositions and the like. We must view the trial of life not as an isolated incident but we must see it as it works in conjunction with all that is faithful. What then is faithful? Here are some faithful sayings…

“Paul has four of these “faithful sayings.” The first occurs in 1Ti_1:15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” The next is in 1Ti_4:6, “Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation.” The third is in 2Ti_2:12, “It is a faithful saying-If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him”; and the fourth is in Tit_3:3, “This is a faithful saying, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.” We may trace a connection between these faithful sayings. The first one lays the foundation of our eternal salvation in the free grace of God, as shown to us in the mission of the great Redeemer. The next affirms the double blessedness which we obtain through this salvation-the blessings of the upper and nether springs-of time and of eternity. The third shows one of the duties to which the chosen people are called; we are ordained to suffer for Christ with the promise that “if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.” The last sets forth the active form of Christian service, bidding us diligently to maintain good works. Thus we have the root of salvation in free grace; next, the privileges of that salvation in the life which now is, and in that which is to come; and we have also the two great branches of suffering with Christ and serving with Christ, loaded with the fruits of the Spirit. Treasure up these faithful sayings. Let them be the guides of our life, our comfort, and our instruction. The apostle of the Gentiles proved them to be faithful, they are faithful still, not one word shall fall to the ground; they are worthy of all acceptation, let us accept them now, and prove their faithfulness. Let these four faithful sayings be written on the four corners of my house.” (C.H.Spurgeon)

Therefore let no one tell you that as Christians we shouldn’t suffer, that is a lie from pit of hell itself. It may not be pleasant; it was never intended to be. But remember this encouragement; “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12): --And— “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1Peter 4:12)

Signing off

Tyrone