Reference: I Peter 1:9-11
The Bible reveals very plainly of the factthat a person who truly loves God will have to suffer for him on his behalf. Weof course know what the word suffer means, but unless you are truly sufferingfor the cause of Christ then you will never truly understand what it means tosuffer as to what the Bible reveals about it. Most people today do not realizethat one must suffer for the cause of Christ. Some get the idea that to sufferfor Christ is to give up a certain habit for a certain length of time. Duringthe time of Lent of which a certain church holds as a tradition, it is taughtthat their converts must give up a certain thing for so many days and this tothem is considered to be a time of suffering. Most people do not truly knowwhat it means to suffer for the cause of Christ. Some get the idea that tosuffer for Christ is to have everybody against them for their stand of thegospel, but unless you understand the fact that you can suffer for the wrongcause then it's very possible that you are only making enemies thinking it isfor the sake of the gospel when all the time it may not be for the gospel ofChrist. Many are in the land today making enemies thinking they are beingpersecuted for the sake of the gospel of Christ, but they are not truly sufferingfor him according to the revealed truth of what the gospel calls the sufferingof Christ. The word of God tells us in Romans8:17 that we are heirs of God, andjoint heirs with Jesus Christ if sobe that we suffer with him.
Many today are claiming to be christians but Idoubt that a small percent of them are truly suffering for Christ as to how theBible reveals they will and must. When most people are confronted with thetruth of the gospel they will not receive and obey it, because they are not willingto make that much of a sacrifice. They will say that God does not require thatthey are to give up all their earthly pleasures etc. When confronted with thefact about the television set they will say that it is alright to watch certainprograms that does not contain obscene and down right filthy language etc. Theyare forevermore coming up with excuses so they will not have to give up thingsthey enjoy. To put it straight to the point, they simply are not willing tosuffer a little for the sake of the gospel of Christ. It is very easy to allowthe flesh to rule over your every move and thought. But if you do not allow theflesh to overrule your every move and thoughts then you will have to suffer forit. Overcoming your fleshly desires is a battle that you must win in order foryou to receive the crown of victory. The Bible tells us that Christ is comingfor overcomers. An overcomer is a person that has crucified his flesh with itslusts and desires. Galatians 5:24 tells us that they that are Christ's have crucified theflesh with the affections and lusts.... Also in Romans 8:10 we are told that if Christ be in us, the body is deadbecause of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness... Have youkilled your fleshly desires of your body my friend, or are you one partaking ofthe pleasures of sin thinking you are going to come up with excuses at the dayof judgement when you stand before Christ? Your puny excuses won't mount to ahill of beans at the judgement seat of Christ. The word of God tells us thatsome mens sins go before to judgement; and some mens, they follow after. (I Timothy 5:24)Your sins will either go before you or they will follow you and will be at thejudgement to condemn you on the spot. You may be able to fool man of your sinsbut you can't fool Almighty God. You may think that you are getting away withyour sins but you are not. When someone tells you the truth of the gospel youcan reject it if you wish, but the day is coming when you will hear the wordsto depart from me you worker of iniquity; I never knew you... You will eithersuffer for Christ here on earth by receiving his word, or you will suffer therevenge of eternal fire where the worm dieth not nor is the fire ever quenched.You can blaspheme the truth of the gospel all you want but the time will comewhen the table will be turned on you. When most people hear the truth of thegospel they will refuse to receive and obey it because they are not willing tooffer their bodies unto God as a living sacrifice as the Bible reveals that wemust. To suffer for Christ means to crucify your body of its affections andlusts. The flesh love the pleasures of sin more than the things of God and toovercome the flesh is a suffering process that very few will do. To receive thetruth of the gospel will crucify your flesh, because the word of God isdirectly opposed to your fleshly desires. You will never come to the knowledgeof the truth unless you have the determination to know nothing but Jesus Christand him crucified. This means that you must desire the word of God more thananything else in the whole wide world. You must feast on the word of God as ifit is bread. God's word is the spiritual food for the soul that will make a newcreation out of the believer and receiver of it. Most people will not standstill long enough to hear the truth of the gospel because it will bruise theirhead like a hammer. The word of God tells us that his word is like fire and ahammer that breaks into pieces... Theword of truth will simply cut like a knife to them that has rejected to receiveand obey it somewhere along the line of their life. A deceived person willdespise the truth because it will reveal their position and condition as theword of God lays them open showing them where they stand. Most people willrefuse to be reproved by the word of truth calling it false doctrine of thedevil. Many have sealed their own doom by their refusal to allow the truth toreveal to them where they stand in God's sight. People who refuse to bereproved are called scorners in the book of Proverbs9:7-8. If you try to reprove a scornerhe will utterly hate you with a passion. Any person who fails to listen to thetruth will be destroyed and without remedy they will be eternally lost. Manyhave sealed their own destination by their refusal to allow the word of truthto show them their position with Christ. The truth will be rejected because itwill reveal to the people that they must die to sin in order for Christ tobecome their life. The way of truth will be hated and despised by the greatestmajority of people because the truth reveals that we must present our wholebeing unto God as a living sacrifice. In order to do this one must have a truedesire to know nothing but the word of God as it is revealed in the holyscriptures. People are too busy with this life and its pleasures to receive theword of God in their hearts and lives. Receiving the truth will crucify thefleshly desires of the body and for this very cause few will find the narrowway.