Reference: Romans 8:35-39
People who think and believe that thechristian life is a bed of roses where nothing ever goes wrong, are in for asoul shaking surprise as they meet the first obstacles that their flesh isfaced with. Reading the above scriptures that was written by the apostle Paul,we find that the christian life is a life faced with many perils, but we arecomforted by the fact that we become more than conquerors through Christ as weovercome these places of hardship.
Paul names some very trying circumstancesthat will come in our new way of life, but all of these obstacles can beconquered and we can be victorious having overcome the fierce trials of ourfaith. Unless we realize that the christian life is a life of conquering thelustful desires of the flesh, then we will be easy prey to the tactics of theenemy of our soul, which is Satan the devil. God's word tells us that hispeople are destroyed because of lack of knowledge. This lack of knowledgeproves that we would be in error not knowing the ways of God. We are told in Hebrews 3:7-12 these verywords of warning and exhortation that says, "Wherefore(as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not yourhearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: Whenyour fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore Iwas grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart;and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, they shall not enterinto my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heartof unbelief, in departing from the living God."
Itseemed as if the children of Israel was forever more complaining about somehardship they had to go through. Their constant complaining proved they weretotally ignorant of God's ways. We are told in God's word that our ways andthoughts are not God's ways and thoughts. If we think that things should go inthe way that we want them to go, then this easily proves that we would befollowing the leading of our own heart.
The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:28 that all thingswork together for good to them that love God, to them who are the calledaccording to his purpose. This simply means that all things will work out tothe good of God who has called us to do his will. The will of God is directlyopposite to the desires of the flesh. If we walk after the flesh then we wouldonly do things that's pleasing to the flesh, but when we are led of theSpirit, we will obey the things of theSpirit, which are things the flesh may not approve of.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:21 that only thosewho do the will of God will be the ones to enter into the kingdom of heaven.Most people are totally ignorant of what the will of God is for their life. Inorder for anybody to find out the will of God in their lives, then they mustpresent themselves unto God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable untohim. To present ouselves unto God as a living sacrifice is done only by perfectobedience to God's revealed word of truth. Obedience to God's word will renewthe mind and crucify the lusts and desires of our flesh.
Doing the will of God is doing things thatthe carnal man will not and cannot do. This is because the carnal mind isenmity against God and is not subject to the laws of God. To obey God's wordwill kill the fleshly desires, which are things that the flesh loves. A truesincere believer will love righteousness and utterly despise evil. It takes avery odd person to love the things of God and hate the things of evil. This iswhy the word of God calls his people a peculiar people.
Unless we are aware of the fact that tofollow in the footsteps of Jesus is a way of suffering to the desires of theflesh, then we can very easily be discouraged to the point where we willactually fall away from God. This is why Paul tells us about taking heed thatthere be no evil heart of unbelief in us that will cause us to depart from theliving God.
Reading the parable of the sower we canfind that Jesus spoke about different people who would hear the word of God,but would not endure long enough for the word to take root and begin to producefruit. Most people are totally ignorant of the tactics of the enemy, which isSatan the adversary of the soul. The apostle Peter tells us in his epistlesthat Satan is like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour.
Satan is devouring many simply because ofthe fact that he is causing many to be misled from the truth of God's wordrevealed in the Bible. If you will listen to the average confessing preachertoday you will not hear them preach God's coming judgement of taking revenge onthem that know not God and who do not obey the truth of the gospel of Christ.About all you can hear the average preacher say today is that God loves everybodyand that nobody can cease from sin completely. Just how many people do you knowthat can say that they are more than conquerors through Christ? What is theaverage confessing christian suffering today for the sake of Christ and thegospel? The apostle Peter tells us in his epistle that as Christ hath sufferedfor us in the flesh that we are to arm ourselves with the same mind and realizethat we too must suffer in the flesh in order to cease from sin. ( I Peter 4:1 )
The average preacher today will tell youthat Christ did all the suffering for us and that we don't have to do anysuffering. They will tell you this simply because they are not willing to cometo the light of the truth about the sin question in the believers life. Jesussaid that many love darkness more than light and for this reason they will notcome to the light lest their deeds would be made manifest.
Very few people realize what thesufferings of Christ is that we as confessing christians must be faced with andovercome. To suffer in the flesh as the apostle Peter tells us means that wemust crucify our fleshly desires. The crucifying of the flesh is our dying outto sins pleasures. The flesh wars against the soul, but we are told in I Peter 2:11 to abstain fromfleshly lusts that wars against our soul. Most preachers today will say thatnobody can cease from sin, but God's word teaches the very opposite to this.
Peter tells us of those who have eyes fullof adultery, and that cannot cease from sin and beguiling unstable souls. Theworld today is filled with preachers and teachers who are itching the ears ofmany with their social gospels that soothes the flesh and eases the conscience.The broad way that leads to destruction, of which Jesus said many would go inthereat, are ways that's appealing to the flesh, but the way that's strait andnarrow is a way that requires obedience and this obedience will mortify thedeeds of the flesh. If we obey God's word, this makes us more than conquerors.