The Fellowship of His Sufferings - Part 3

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. You know, Christians, the church, we're going to have to adapt, right? We can't just sit around and complain and, oh man, back in the day, you know, it was so much better back then.

We have to adapt and we have to follow the Spirit's leading. But if the time comes where Christians are specifically targeted, you know, right now everyone is kind of dealing with these things. You know, we're all in this together, as they like to say.

But if the time comes where Christians are specifically targeted, have you ever asked yourself, then what? If the time comes where publicly professing Christ as your Lord and Savior, if that would get you fired from your job, you'll lose your pension, you'll lose friends, family.

What would you do? We all like to say, well, I would stand, you know, I would never back down. You don't know until you're in that situation. You remember Peter? Lord, I'll never deny you. Everyone else will, not me.

Then that night he denied the Lord three times. But what happens if you faced fines or imprisonment for expressing biblical viewpoints? What happens? Would you be willing to pay a price for Jesus' sake?

Because that's the case in first century Judea. We've talked about this, how a Jew living in and around Jerusalem, if they professed faith in the Lord, what would happen? They are put out of the synagogue.

They would be shunned by their families. It would be near impossible to do business. And then you had the Jewish authorities and then later the Roman authorities who were persecuting and eventually executing high-profile church leaders.

That's the way it was. And that's the way it is even right now in certain Muslim countries and communist countries. And the common response people have, that could never happen here. We have a constitution.

The constitution is a piece of paper. If the people in power are not upholding it, it means very little. Now listen, I don't want to be all pessimistic. I see you guys, you're like, oh man, this is bad.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic, okay? Realize a few things. Number one, I want you to be able to relate to what's going on in the scripture. Number one. And number two, yes, the spiritual condition in New England is pretty bad.

But as an individual, you can still thrive. You can still thrive. You can still be blessed by God. And all these times of adversity, I can say I've been through three periods of great suffering in my life.

And at the time, it's not a lot of fun. But it really grows you and challenges you. And you kind of have to overcome or just roll over and die. And when you look back, you can see how those are maybe the three greatest things that ever happened.

Not because they're good, but because all things work together for good to those who love God. And to those who are the called according to his purpose. So sure, the spiritual condition in this country is terrible.

But as an individual, you can still thrive. You can still be blessed by God. But we need to be able to relate to the things that we're reading about. Paul suffered for Christ's sake. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what does that have to do with me?

Would you be willing to suffer for Christ's sake? It is relevant. The scripture is always relevant. If it serves no other purpose, reading about Paul and everything that he did and went through, it should inspire us.

You know, pray to God that I could be one-tenth of the man that Paul was. So the Lord says to Ananias, look at verse 15. But the Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. So we know that Paul was a true Christian, a true apostle, based on the things that he was willing to suffer for Christ's sake. So Paul is blinded by the light, struck down on the Damascus road.

He meets with Ananias, who lays hands on him. Paul is then filled with the Holy Spirit. He receives his sight back. He rises up. Immediately, he's baptized. He has something to eat. He's strengthened.

He spends a few days with the disciples. And then look at verse 20. Immediately, what did he do? He preached the Christ in the synagogues, that he, Christ, is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed and said, is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem and has come here for that purpose so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?

Yeah, that's him. But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this, Jesus, is the Christ. You notice that? This, Jesus, is the Christ. Not some other Jesus.

This, Jesus. Back in 2 Corinthians 11, Paul, speaking of the false teachers, he warned that they were preaching what? Another Christ. And a different gospel. Another Christ, you say, well, how many Christs are there?

There's a lot. There's a lot. Some of you may remember this. Our former pastor, Larry Riddle, told a story years ago. There was a local guy who was just kind of giving him a hard time. This man professed to be a Christian of the Unitarian Universalist variety.

He was an interesting fellow. I met him once, and within five minutes, he was challenging me to a public debate. In my flesh, I kind of wanted to do it, but based on Proverbs 26, verse 4, I declined. You can look that verse up later.

But you know what he said to Larry? He pointed up to the hill, pointed up at the church. You guys can have your Jesus up there. We will have our Jesus down here. But he's right. He was right. You have a different Jesus, or we have a different Jesus, than you.

You know, I appreciate the honesty. We don't worship the same God. And he was absolutely right. And you know, there's no shortage of people out there. What are they doing? They're shaping and molding a God of their own making.

It's called idolatry. And it doesn't happen that often, where people will take a block of wood and shape and mold it, and then bow down and pray. That generally doesn't happen much today. But what does happen?

People shape and mold a Jesus or a God in their own imagination. And the Jesus they believe in affirms them in everything that they say, do, and think. It just so happens that their God is just like them.

Have you talked to people? Well, my God would never do this. My God thinks this way. Well, how do you know that? Well, that's what I think. So obviously God thinks the same way. It doesn't work like that.

When a person truly comes to Christ, they understand they have to change, not God. The Lord does not, I love you, but the Lord does not conform to you. We conform to him. Hebrews 13 verse 8 says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

When Paul experienced Jesus, he knew that he had to change. He didn't expect the Lord to jump on his program. So there's only one true Jesus, one true gospel, a Jesus that isn't divine. That's not the Jesus of Scripture.

A Jesus who did not rise from the dead, that's not the Jesus of Scripture. A gospel of faith plus works, that's not the true gospel. So who is the true Jesus? The virgin born son of God who died on the cross for your sins, rose again the third day.

And he offers salvation by grace through faith. That by believing in him, you're saved. You ask the average person, if you died today, do you know that you would go to heaven? Some people say, I don't know.

That's true, they don't know. There's only one right answer if you are on your way to heaven. Say, I know I'm going to heaven because I know I'm a sinner and I know Jesus died for me. And I know that's my only hope.

That's the true Jesus, that's the true gospel message. And in preaching that, Paul became a partaker of the sufferings of Christ because that's not a popular message. Here's the popular message. You're a great person and God loves you no matter what.

No matter what. Not the message of Scripture. You must repent and believe in him. You must believe in Christ. And Paul did that and he was persecuted. Paul said in Philippians 3 .10, this is part of the Scripture reading.

That I may know him and the power of his resurrection. We all want the power, we love that part. And then what does he say next? In the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. Alright, we're almost done.

Look at verse 23. Now after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.

And of course, Paul is recounting this story in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. For what reason? To brag about how courageous he was? I don't know. That's kind of a, I don't know. It's not an action movie. You see people doing all sorts of things.

Being let down in a basket in the middle of the night. I don't know. That's not really bragging. Maybe the false teachers would have spun it that way. Why is Paul recounting the story though? He's pointing to how much he suffered.

How much he was willing to suffer for Christ's sake. So again, I'll ask you the same question. Are you willing to do the same? So in closing, you know, it's my prayer that the Lord would continue to allow us to live a quiet and peaceable life as he has been allowing us to do for all these years.

But given the way things look, I just want to leave you with these two thoughts. Number one, right now, while things are good, be thankful for what you have. Be praising the Lord for what you have. Praise God for all his blessings.

Don't take anything for granted. That's number one. And number two, if things changed and we were placed in a situation where we may have to suffer for Christ, it's a mark of a true believer. A true believer is willing to endure hardships for Christ.

So whatever happens, let's pray for one another. Look around, see who's here. Pray for everyone here. Pray for everyone who's not here. Pray for your friends and your family and those you haven't seen in a while.

Those who are backslidden. Those who you want to see safe. Pray for one another and for the saints. Pray that God would give us the strength to persevere. Let's close. Our Father, how thankful we are for all that you've done.

And we thank you that you have given us your Holy Spirit to, as the scripture says, to seal us till the day of redemption. Lord, I pray for our nation. I pray for its leaders. I pray for the local churches and for the pastors and the deacons and for every believer, Lord, that you would build a hedge of protection around your people.

And when we feel like we've been given too much to handle, that you would give us additional strength, comfort, mercy, and peace. And I pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.