Leaning On The Everlasting Arms

Introduction

Jesus has just finished telling the disciples that the world would always hate them. Mankind is steeped in the original sin and determined to be its own god. A message of repentance and salvation in Jesus, a salvation which makes Jesus Lord of your life, is never going to appeal to the natural man.

Those determined to live in sin and go to hell will only respond to the Gospel with hate.

A life in the midst of such circumstances might seem overwhelming. We might fear the world and feel like failures when so few accept our message.

So Jesus speaks a message of hope by which to encourage us. He begins with the Holy Spirit

Counselor — The Holy Spirit is referred to as the “counselor” and this legal imagery is important to our understanding of this verse. The Holy Spirit conducts Christ’s case for Him before the world.

We don’t conduct the case. We don’t convince anyone. Christ calls them to Himself. The Holy Spirit is the power which convicts, convinces, moves and woos the heart of people.

We can depend upon this fact — The work of conversion…the work of moving someone from error to truth…the work of moving someone from death to life…is in the hands of God’s Holy Spirit. The Spirit testifies.

We must testify — But we have a part to play. We have a vital role…a beautiful privilege given us by Christ Himself. We testify as a witness to the truth of the Holy Spirit’s case for Christ. We are ministers of reconciliation and are one of God’s means through whom the Spirit makes His case.

The Spirit is the one doing the work but He does so through us. You cannot remove believers from the process of salvation.

The norm is this — God makes His case for salvation through human beings.

So we cooperate with what God is doing to save humanity but the power necessary for doing so rests in Him not us. The responsibility for the success of our witness is on God alone.

“There is a responsibility resting on all Christians to bear witness to the facts of saving grace. They cannot evade this. But the really significant witness is that of the Holy Spirit, for he alone can bring home to people’s hearts the truth and the significance of the truth.” Morris, L. (1995). The Gospel according to John (p. 607). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Must bear witness — This is an imperative statement in the Greek language. An imperative statement is something “of vital importance; crucial; it is an authoritative command.”

Morris, L. (1995). The Gospel according to John (p. 607). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

We heard the word of truth...

So we cooperate with what God is doing to save humanity but the power necessary for doing so rests in Him alone.

We hear the Gospel through the voice of believers in Christ. The Holy Spirit moves upon us through that word, convicts, convinces and saves us. Then seals us until the day of redemption, making our salvation sure for all time.

The witness of the disciples was of vital importance to all generations to follow. And our witness is of vital important as well both for our own generation and those which follow us.

Being a witness for Christ is not optional for the believer in Christ. We are commanded by Christ Himself to do so. It is of vital importance that we obey. God has chosen to use us as the mouthpiece by which the power of the Holy Spirit will come to bear upon the heart of a lost world.

Jesus knew the task would be hard. That we would be opposed on all sides just as He was. He knew the persecution which He had upon Himself would be transferred to His followers once He left the earth. So He made certain that we knew the importance of our mission and the power in which it was to be done.

But Jesus wanted us to understand…“The work of the Holy Spirit in the church is always done in the context of persecution.”

“The work of the Holy Spirit in the church is always done in the context of persecution.”

Religion Kills

Jesus wanted us to know something else too. It would not just be the obvious anti-christ world which would come against us. There would be another group of people who would oppose us as well…religious people.

You have probably heard it said somewhere that “religion kills.” Sometimes this is literally true…religion really does kill.

We aren’t about religion but relationship with God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ!

Religion and actual relationship with Christ can be two different things. There are a lot of people caught up in a religion of some kind…some even use the terminology of Christianity… but they have absolutely nothing to do with Christ. They may call themselves followers of Christ but they are simply following a legalistic system which employs the language of genuine Christianity.

It is ironic that the later church burned, drowned, or otherwise killed many who had been judged guilty of heresy, and did so in the name of God. In 1527 Roman Catholic authorities captured the Anabaptist leader, Michael Sattler. Sattler was condemned as a heretic for rejecting infant baptism, the bodily presence of Christ in the elements of the Lord’s Supper, and other standard Roman Catholic doctrines. At his trial the leading official concluded, “You desperate villain and arch-heretic, I tell you if there were no hangman here, I would hang you myself, and think that I had done God service.” Sattler was then tortured by having his tongue cut out and being burned with red-hot iron tongs. He was tied to a ladder and burned at the stake. A few days later his wife was executed by drowning. How tragic that the Christian community has been guilty of such abuses of power!

Bryant, B. H., & Krause, M. S. (1998). John (). Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co.

In the disciples day terrible persecution came from those who followed Jehovah in Judaism and rejected Jesus as Messiah.

Today this group includes any religious organization which opposes the truth of the Gospel…cults like Mormonism and Jehovah Witnesses, Islam, atheists, and even some who claim to be Christians but have denied the truth of the faith.

According to the word of Jesus in our passage, these people will come against us viciously. They will even kill us thinking they are doing a service for God by silencing us.

Our persecutors oppose the truth and true followers of Jesus out of ignorance. They have never submitted themselves to the actual truth of God, repented and given their life to Him.

Jesus knew the task would be hard. That we would be opposed on all sides just as He was…even at the hands of those claiming to know and follow God.

Interject here — We must remember that our war is not with the people who oppose us. We love them. We forgive them. We pray for them and continue to bear witness to the truth before them…in love.

Our war is with the spiritual forces of darkness which seek to keep our persecutors in the darkness.

Jesus knew the task would be hard. That we would be opposed on all sides just as He was…even at the hands of those claiming to know and follow God. But we must fight the battle rightly…praying for our persecutors…loving them…praying for them…and praying against our common enemy…the powers of darkness

William Tyndale — He was instrumental in translating the Bible into English and for his work, in 1536, he was convicted of heresy and executed by strangulation, after which his body was burnt at the stake. His dying prayer was that the King of England's eyes would be opened; this seemed to find its fulfillment just one year later with King Henry's authorization of the Matthew Bible, which was largely Tyndale's own work...In 1611, the 47 scholars who produced the King James Bible[8] drew significantly from Tyndale's work, the Matthew Bible, as well as from translations that descended from his.[9] One estimate suggests that the New Testament in the King James Version is 83% Tyndale's and the Old Testament 76%.[10][11] His translation of the Bible was the first to be printed in English and to be translated from the original languages to English; it became a model for subsequent English translations.

Our war is not with flesh and blood…a fact Tyndale knew well. He prayed for those in darkness that their eyes would be opened…and we are called to do the same…pray against the forces of darkness…love and pray for your fellow human beings!

Jesus knew the persecution which He had upon Himself would be transferred to His followers once He left the earth. Jesus made certain that we knew the importance of our mission and the power in which it was to be done so we would stand strong under the persecution sure to come

Up to this point Jesus had been with the disciples. He had taken the persecution and opposition on Himself. They had been spared. He was with them to encourage them when they were down…Soon He would be gone and these words would be their comfort and encouragement.

When the persecution came, wherever it came from, they would remember these words and their faith would be strengthened.

And we should never dismiss persecution as something that happens elsewhere or at another time. Thousands of Christians die all over the world every year for their witness. Sometimes it happens right here in the United States...

Life or death was determined by the answer to a single question: are you a Christian?That was the question asked by an anti-Christian gunman who stormed into a classroom at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College. Kortney Moore was inside the classroom. She told the Roseburg News-Review that the shooter ordered students to get on the ground -- and then told them to stand up and state their religion. “And they would stand up and he said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second,” Stacy Boylan said in a televised report. “And then he shot and killed them.” “The shooter was lining people up and asking if they were Christians,” the message read. “If they said yes, then they were shot in the head. If they said no or didn’t answer, they were shot in the leg.” Christians were martyred for their faith -- on American soil -- a fact mostly ignored by most of the Mainstream Media and the White House. The New York Times only mentioned that the gunman inquired about people’s “religions” and one cable television news channel opined that the shooter’s motive was unclear.

When it comes for us…Let us remember the words of Jesus and be strengthened

That was the question asked by an anti-Christian gunman who stormed into a classroom at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College. Kortney Moore was inside the classroom. She told the Roseburg News-Review that the shooter ordered students to get on the ground -- and then told them to stand up and state their religion.

“And they would stand up and he said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second,” Stacy Boylan said in a televised report. “And then he shot and killed them.” “The shooter was lining people up and asking if they were Christians,” the message read. “If they said yes, then they were shot in the head. If they said no or didn’t answer, they were shot in the leg.”

Christians were martyred for their faith -- on American soil -- a fact mostly ignored by most of the Mainstream Media and the White House.

The New York Times only mentioned that the gunman inquired about people’s “religions” and one cable television news channel opined that the shooter’s motive was unclear.

Conclusion

The Counselor has come — God is making His case by, in and through the power of the Holy Spirit…and the primary means by which this power is being conveyed to lost mankind is the witness of the church.

Do you believe God has given you an imperative? Do you believe God has given you a task “of vital importance; crucial?” Do you believe He has given an authoritative command to you…to go forth and share the Gospel?

Are you living as though you have received a command or a suggestion from Christ? Are you sharing your faith?

Who’s Your One?

The power of the Holy Spirit is ours to depend upon for what to say, how to say it and when. God is the one doing the work, we simply cooperate with Him.

We will be persecuted for being a witness…the enemy of the souls of mankind will hate us, come against us and lead those humans blinded in the darkness to come against us as well…take it as a badge of honor…a sign you are doing something right…and allow it to be used in the hands of God to strengthen your faith.

Someday all of this will be over…this is simply the dress rehearsal for a far finer and perfect life that is yet to come. What we do here matters there…

We must be careful not to hold so tightly to this world that we miss our opportunity to be a part of God’s plans for the next! When we understand this we will bear persecution in a much different light, with faith, courage and even joy.