Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 3,512
“Each evening they come back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.
There they are, bellowing with their mouths
with swords in their lips—
for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”
“But you, O Lord, laugh at them;
you hold all the nations in derision.
O my Strength, I will watch for you,
for you, O God, are my fortress.
My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.” (Psalms 59:6-10 ESV)
The subject matter today is the enemies of God who are also the enemies of those whose lives are committed to serving the Lord Jesus and to doing his will. These enemies are those who willfully do harm to the loved of God who are following him in his ways. They plot evil against the servants of righteousness who are following the leading of the Lord in sharing his gospel message with the people of the world. And they are those who like to stir up strife against the Lord’s messengers who are speaking truth to the people.
Why do they do this? Because they hate the truth. For the truth calls them to turn away from their sins and to now follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his ways, to his will, and to his commands. Since they are enemies of the truth, they are also enemies of God and of all who are speaking the truth in love to the people, in the name of the Lord. And many of them are very persistent. They won’t attack just once, but they will come back in their pride with swords of rebuke coming from their lips, time and time again.
They are a lot like Jesus’ persecutors, and those who persecuted the New Testament apostles. For they like to set mental traps for their enemies to fall into in hopes of having cause to accuse them of wrongdoing. And, in some areas of the world, they are coming against the Lord’s servants physically to imprison them and/or to put them to death for their walks of faith in the Lord Jesus and for their testimonies for him. In America we aren’t quite all there yet, but it is coming. We will not escape such persecution.
But this is not to say that those who are of genuine faith in the Lord Jesus here in America are not facing any persecution. We are. For if you are one who stands on the truth of God’s word, and who then shares that truth with your friends, family members, neighbors, and people of the world, you will face opposition, even from others who profess faith in Jesus, and even from some pastors, especially those who are teaching a diluted gospel message which appeals to human flesh and which does not offend the ungodly.
For so many pastors and “church people” today are buying into a very diluted gospel message, and so they are rejecting the gospel message that Jesus taught and that his New Testament apostles taught (in the appropriate context), for it requires not only that we put to death our former lives of living in sin and for self, but that we now surrender our lives to Jesus Christ to follow him in obedience to his commands in holy living. No longer are we to live for the pleasures of the flesh, but rather now to please our Lord.
Since this is contrary to the flesh of humans, if we are bold in our witness for the Lord Jesus in getting out the truth of the gospel, we will have enemies, even within the gatherings of “the church” and amongst its leadership. And some of this persecution will take place out of the sight of other people and thus is much harder to prove with no witnesses. But God sees. He knows the truth of what happened to whom and who said what (in full context). And he will judge the unrepentant who work against him and against his truth.
So we are not to fear being hated, persecuted, rejected, falsely accused, and cast aside as unnecessary and as unwanted. For our obedience to our Lord and the salvation of human lives has to be more important to us than what others will think or say about us or how they might treat us. We just need to keep on surrendering our lives to the Lord and continue in doing his will in speaking the truth of his words to the people, regardless of how we are treated in return. And we can do this in the strength of the Lord.
Persecution of Christians: [Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]
Come, Ye Disconsolate
Lyrics by Thomas Moore, 1816
Arr. by Thomas Hastings, 1831
Music by Samuel Webbe, Sr, 1792
Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that heav’n cannot heal.
Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,
“Earth has no sorrow that heav’n cannot cure.”
Here see the bread of life, see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above.
Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing
Earth has no sorrow but heav’n can remove.
Caution: This link may contain ads
The Lord is My Strength
An Original Work / February 3, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.
There they are, bellowing with their mouths
with swords in their lips—
for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”
“But you, O Lord, laugh at them;
you hold all the nations in derision.
O my Strength, I will watch for you,
for you, O God, are my fortress.
My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.” (Psalms 59:6-10 ESV)
The subject matter today is the enemies of God who are also the enemies of those whose lives are committed to serving the Lord Jesus and to doing his will. These enemies are those who willfully do harm to the loved of God who are following him in his ways. They plot evil against the servants of righteousness who are following the leading of the Lord in sharing his gospel message with the people of the world. And they are those who like to stir up strife against the Lord’s messengers who are speaking truth to the people.
Why do they do this? Because they hate the truth. For the truth calls them to turn away from their sins and to now follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his ways, to his will, and to his commands. Since they are enemies of the truth, they are also enemies of God and of all who are speaking the truth in love to the people, in the name of the Lord. And many of them are very persistent. They won’t attack just once, but they will come back in their pride with swords of rebuke coming from their lips, time and time again.
They are a lot like Jesus’ persecutors, and those who persecuted the New Testament apostles. For they like to set mental traps for their enemies to fall into in hopes of having cause to accuse them of wrongdoing. And, in some areas of the world, they are coming against the Lord’s servants physically to imprison them and/or to put them to death for their walks of faith in the Lord Jesus and for their testimonies for him. In America we aren’t quite all there yet, but it is coming. We will not escape such persecution.
But this is not to say that those who are of genuine faith in the Lord Jesus here in America are not facing any persecution. We are. For if you are one who stands on the truth of God’s word, and who then shares that truth with your friends, family members, neighbors, and people of the world, you will face opposition, even from others who profess faith in Jesus, and even from some pastors, especially those who are teaching a diluted gospel message which appeals to human flesh and which does not offend the ungodly.
For so many pastors and “church people” today are buying into a very diluted gospel message, and so they are rejecting the gospel message that Jesus taught and that his New Testament apostles taught (in the appropriate context), for it requires not only that we put to death our former lives of living in sin and for self, but that we now surrender our lives to Jesus Christ to follow him in obedience to his commands in holy living. No longer are we to live for the pleasures of the flesh, but rather now to please our Lord.
Since this is contrary to the flesh of humans, if we are bold in our witness for the Lord Jesus in getting out the truth of the gospel, we will have enemies, even within the gatherings of “the church” and amongst its leadership. And some of this persecution will take place out of the sight of other people and thus is much harder to prove with no witnesses. But God sees. He knows the truth of what happened to whom and who said what (in full context). And he will judge the unrepentant who work against him and against his truth.
So we are not to fear being hated, persecuted, rejected, falsely accused, and cast aside as unnecessary and as unwanted. For our obedience to our Lord and the salvation of human lives has to be more important to us than what others will think or say about us or how they might treat us. We just need to keep on surrendering our lives to the Lord and continue in doing his will in speaking the truth of his words to the people, regardless of how we are treated in return. And we can do this in the strength of the Lord.
Persecution of Christians: [Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]
Come, Ye Disconsolate
Lyrics by Thomas Moore, 1816
Arr. by Thomas Hastings, 1831
Music by Samuel Webbe, Sr, 1792
Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that heav’n cannot heal.
Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,
“Earth has no sorrow that heav’n cannot cure.”
Here see the bread of life, see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above.
Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing
Earth has no sorrow but heav’n can remove.
Caution: This link may contain ads
The Lord is My Strength
An Original Work / February 3, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
