Reference: Matthew 10:22
Jesus, in the above verse of scripture,made a very deep and mysterious statement that very few people can understand.I say this because most people today can't see the truth about how a true bornagain child of God will be hated and utterly despised instead of being thoughtof as a very good outstanding citizen of the community.
The average person today is led to believethat a christian is a person that will be looked upon as being a very goodperson that will not be involved in controversial matters concerning the Bible.Any person who is constantly saying things in opposition to the church worldtoday will not be accepted as being a christian.
Now Jesus said that the person who enduresunto the end, then that person will be saved. There are many people todayconfessing to be christians that are beginning to give up their stand for beinga child of God. The reason for this is because of the things that they arefaced with in their everyday life while confessing to be children of God. Thesethings that I am referring to are the hardships and many dissapointments thatthey are faced with.
Please notice that Jesus said that thosewho endure to the end are the ones that will be saved. Now why do you supposeJesus made such a statement such as this, seeing that most people today thinkthat a christian will not be looked upon in such a manner as this?
If a christain is like most people thinkthey are to be like, why then did Jesus make the statement of saying that thosewho endure shall be saved? Now if you will look up the word endure in adictionary you will find that it means to have the ability to withstand greatstress or strain or to suffer patiently.
To endure something easily proves thatthere has to be some sort of suffering that one must put up with. My friend areyou aware of what one must endure in order to be a true child of God? Can youexamine your own life and come to the conclusion that you are enduringsomething for your stand as a confessing christian? Now there are many peoplein the world today who are totally ignorant of what one must endure in order tobe a child of God.
Have you ever examined your life andalmost come to the conclusion that you are not a child of God based on the factthat you are not manifesting the great miracles that Jesus performed in hisday? Have you ever been told that you are not a true believer if the signs of Mark chapter sixteen arenot following you? There no doubt has been many times that you desired to havethe gifts of the Spirit operating in and through your life. You may have manytimes doubted that you were a child of God if these gifts are not beingmanifested through you, but have you ever considered the fact that if thesegreat works were being manifested through you then the whole world would thinkthat you are a great person.
Now would the world reject a person thatcould truly manifest the spiritual gifts in their ministry? Does the world ingeneral reject the ministry of Oral Roberts or any other confessing miracleworker of today? Now you should know that the world would not reject a personif they manifested the great miracles that Jesus performed. Since this is atrue fact what then will the true child of God manifest in order for the worldto hate and utterly despise them like Jesus said they would? Jesus said ye shallbe hated of all men for his name's sake. If this be true then what in the worldwill the child of God do in order to be hated and despised? Now if you will read the remaining portion ofthis tract I will try to tell you what you must endure in order to be a childof God and hated by the world.
Now if you examine your own personalconfessing christian life, you will have to come to the conclusion that it'sthe plain and simple truth that will cause the world to hate and despise you.The word of God plainly reveals that it's the truth that will cause people tohate you and cast out your name as evil and not the miracles that the Biblementions.
Now just what are you enduring in yourlife as you confess to be a christian? Are you about to think that you are nota child of God if the miracles are not being manifested through you like it didthrough Christ and the disciples? Now I am quite sure that it would be verywonderful to possess one or more of the spiritual gifts that the Biblementions, but is this the measuring stick that one must be measured with inorder to know that you are a christian and approved of God?
Now friend in order to be one that isenduring something then it's a fact that you would have to be suffering in theflesh in order to be the true christian like the Bible reveals. Now to sufferin the flesh does not necessarily mean that you will suffer physical pain. Ofcourse it's very possible that you will have to suffer physical pain, but thesuffering that is mostly referred to pertains to the crucifying of the fleshlydeeds of the body.
You absolutely must kill out or crucifyyour body by your abstaining from sinful pleasures that the flesh so loves andcraves. To deny the flesh of the things that this world contains will cause youto suffer greatly. The flesh despises the things of God, but we are told thatwe must through the Spirit mortify our fleshly deeds in order to inheriteternal life. Paul tells us in Romans 8:12-13 that we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after theflesh, but rather we are told we will live "if" we through the Spiritmortify the deeds of our body.
Now friend there may be a number of thingsin your life that you are failing to overcome, but what you do about the matteris entirely up to you. The christian life consists of constantly crucifying theflesh of its deeds, but if you fail to do this you will absolutely not inheritthe kingdom of God.
If the christian life is like most peoplethink it is, then there would be nothing to endure like Jesus said. Theenduring consists of crucifying the body by abstaining from the things of thisworld. Many times you will think that God should be manifested in your lifethrough and by great miraculous works, but this is not the criterion to lookfor in your life.
The world today is totally void of thetruth as to what the true gospel is and what it will do for the believer.Millions have been led astray by false prophets claiming to have mighty miracleworking ministries, but the truth that will set the captive free is not beingproclaimed today in the realm of the religious world.
You may wonder many times about why Goddoes not seem to manifest himself to you through the gifts of the Spirit, butthe true child of God does not base his or her salvation on this. The word ofGod reveals that these things will be done if God so permits. It's anestablished fact that Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and thechild of God will covet earnestly for the gifts of the Spirit to be manifestedthrough them.
But the truth that the world will notaccept today is the fact that to become a child of God is a progressive workwrought through and by the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ....