"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." 1 Timothy 2:5
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ARE
THERE FEW SAVED?
THE
DEFINITION OF GOD
"IT IS GOD'S WILL THAT YOU HAVE IT TOUGH!"
I'll never forget that statement. It was made in a sermon by one of the few genuinely born again preachers I encountered not long after my new birth. I heard this particular sermon about a year after I was born again, and I had the pleasure of spending quality time with this preacher for a few days. It is clear that the Lord brought him into my life to confirm me in my doctrine, which I had already learned by the Spirit and Word. The Lord in his grace brought us together for genuine, Spirit-filled fellowship and instruction, and to thus edify me before sending me onward. This particular sermon was on the topic of "God's Will," and this truly regenerate, Spirit-filled preacher accordingly in this expostion expressly overturned the popular notion of the false Jesus of modern Christianity, that is, the false Jesus who asserts that God wants the Christian to be healthy, wealthy, and happy.
In fact, God wants none of those three things for the vast majority of his elect. Not in this life.
Do you mean to say, you will ask, that God wants us to be sick?
Maybe. It all depends. In fact, the affliction of sickness is a MAJOR tool that God uses in bringing revelation to his chosen ones. Just ask Paul. 2 Corinthians 12:7
Actually, I can't recall - off the top of my head, anyway - a single man that God has really used who didn't go through physical affliction of some sort during his lifetime. There were Bunyan, Whitefield, Spurgeon, Calvin, and so many, many others, all of whom underwent sometimes very severe physical affliction, not including the other persecutions they endured, such as Bunyan's imprisonment, Whitefield's dodging rocks, eggs, tomatoes, and other projectiles, and so forth. The truth is, physical affliction humbles a man like no other tool, and thus is ofttimes the method God employs to bring his servants low enough to be thereafter exalted by the Spirit of Jesus Christ to heretofore unheard of and unexpected heights. Indeed, there is great treasure to be gotten through the medium of physical affliction, as long as it is sanctified affliction, that is, and those who are brought into this realm by the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ need no further explanation from me.
Do you mean to say, you will next ask, that God wants us to be poor?
Possibly. It all depends:
"Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?" James 2:5
If not poor, at least dependent, for while there are a very, very few chosen ones - God's true elect, in other words - that God blesses with the material goods of this world, for the most part God keeps his chosen ones dependent upon himself. Very dependent, so that often times the servant of Jesus Christ can look only to the Father for his needs, and no one else. In fact, there are hardly any types of praises in such great numbers made to God than those which are the fruit of God meeting substantive needs at precisely the right time. Indeed, heaven will be overflowing with the praises of saints who were forced by God's providence to subsist totally upon him when they walked this world, and trod this earth, always in need, yet every need met at the critical time by the Lord's invisible but tangible hand, and all in response to prevailing, fervent prayer, prayer which was forced on them by the very Lord who answered them, but only after initially putting them into the position of need in the first place. Oh yes, heaven is overflowing even now with this type of praise, Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! Just wait until all is revealed in that day, and you will see how true and efficacious these words prove to be.
Do you mean to say, you will finally ask, that God wants us to be unhappy?
Much of the time, yes. Absolutely. Not unjoyfull, but unhappy, and there is a vast difference, as all who have experienced both of these emotions well know. Let's hear from the Lord Jesus on the matter:
"He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that HATHETH HIS LIFE IN THIS WORLD shall keep it unto life eternal." John 12:25
Do you HATE YOUR LIFE IN THIS WORLD? Hmm. I wonder. Do you sigh and groan often about your sojourn in this world while simultaneously longing for the world to come? If not, something is drastically wrong. Jesus did this often, as any careful reading of the gospels will reveal. So also did the writers of the New Testament, who recorded their desires plainly. Philippians 1:21
That's why the Lord Jesus also spoke so often and in so many varied ways about the difference between the peace of this life, of this world, and God's special peace, which he reserves for his special people, that is, his elect:
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. IN THE WORLD YE SHALL HAVE TRIBULATION: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33
Do you have true tribulation in this world? If you truly belong to Jesus Christ, you do. 2 Timothy 3:12
Then again, if you truly belong to Jesus Christ, then you have also experienced that supernatural peace that Jesus Christ gives only to his elect, even if you don't experience it often, or experience it enough, at least according to your own desires, for Jesus reserves his special peace for special times, and thus his special peace comes with special refreshings, as all who are born of the Spirit of Jesus Christ know, and that infallibly. John 14:27
But YOU - whoever you are -- YOU will NEVER have this peace if you aren't born again, if you haven't EXPERIENCED the UNMISTAKABLE SUPERNATURAL MIRACLE of the NEW BIRTH. Not in this life, nor in the life to come. Do you HEAR the words in this Scripture?
"Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." Luke 13:24
Nobody expounds this verse better than John Bunyan, and if you want to be born again, and to make sure that you are, you cannot do yourself a better favor than by reading this work by him:
Farewell, and the Lord Jesus give you a prosperous journey.