Transcript

1 Corinthians chapter 16, let’s review for just a second and, and get to where Paul has us so far, and first of all we talked about understanding the will of God, means you’ve got to become a person whose filled with the Spirit. You’ve got to become a spirit filled person. Now that’s the will of God. Because the spirit filled person is the person who knows and loves Jesus Christ. It means in your daily, moment by moment lifestyle, you’re in fellowship with him, you’re yielded to him, you’re honoring him, you’re seeking to honor the truth of his words, you’re living a spirit filled life. And it’s not legalism, it’s not under law, it’s a relationship. That has to be there. If you do everything else and miss that you don’t know anything about the will of God. First it’s knowing Jesus and walking with him or becoming a spirit filled person.

Now the spirit filled person must make major decisions in his life. A young person makes a major decision about college, a major decision about the person they want to establish a relationship with to see if it’s God’s will to marry. Major decision about what kind of career field they will go into or what kind of job they may take or maybe about moving from this place to another, or a business man may make a major decision about changing his business, or starting a new business, leaving one job and taking another one. There are major decisions we have to make. And if you are a spirit filled person, then secondly you must initiate scripturally based plans. You must have a plan about that college or that life partner or that next business venture or whatever it may be, and check it out according to the principles of the word of God. And we laid that out very thoroughly in the second message and I, if you were not able to get all of these messages I would exhort you so strongly to get them, and listen to them well, because I think they are so foundational to what we are about as children of God.

And then thirdly after you initiate that plan and you begin to take the first step down that plan, I said this morning, first of all, Roman numeral one was you’ve got to look for God’s red lights, green lights, and turn signals. Don’t wonder if God’s going to give you some stops and some gos and some turns, they are going to happen. And more than likely the, the place you set out to arrive at, you’re not going to arrive there, you’re going to arrive way over here somewhere, and it’s going to be infinitely better than you ever thought. Expect, look for, red lights, green lights and turn signals.

Now we come to the second major point, “Follow the Sovereignly Steered Path”. Follow the sovereignly steered path, we’ve looked at Roman numeral number one, which is look for the lights, red lights, green lights and turn signals. Now Roman numeral two under following the sovereignly steered path is, view adversity as a confirmation of the will of God. View adversity as a confirmation of the will of God. Now don’t misunderstand me. I do not mean in an absolute sense. There are exceptions. But generally speaking, adversity confirms the will of God.

Now look at the text again with me, and we’ll just read all of it, 1 Corinthians 16:5-9. “But I will come to you after I have passed through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia; and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, that you may send me on my way wherever I may go. For I do not wish to see you now just in passing; for I hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits. But I shall remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” Now what’s Paul said. Paul’s told the church at Corinth, now I have a plan. My plan is to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost because there’s a wide door for effective service that’s opened, and because there are many adversaries. He said, then I plan to go to Macedonia, then when I come back from Macedonia, I plan to stop in Corinth and when I stay in Corinth, I expect to stay about the winter with you, and then I want you to send me on my way with a special love gift. That’s basically his plan. But notice he gives us there at the end of verse 7, he says, I’m going to do all these things “if the Lord permits.” So what is he saying again. I’m going to follow God’s sovereignly steered path. I’ve got a plan, and ye, and I’m initiating it, but God may sovereignly steer me, right, left, stop, go, I don’t know. If the Lord permits it, that’s where I’m going.

Now, he was convinced though that he was to stay in Ephesus and continue to minister there at least until Pentecost. And he gives us two reasons for that in verse 9. Reason number one, because “a wide door for effective service has opened to me.” He says, there’s a wide door for effective service. All Paul means by that is this, is that there is a great possibility of seeing a lot of people coming to Jesus. I see it happening, I see the doors opening, many are already saved, and I believe many more are going to be coming to the Lord, so I’m going to stay here because I see God blessing the preaching of the gospel. Man, I’ve been in some revival meetings, I do not preach evangelistic meetings any more, but I used to preach evangelistic meetings, and I can tell you by Wednesday night God just wasn’t working. I mean nothing was happening. I mean, no one was moving, I mean it was one of those revivals where it would have blessed your heart if a little girl would have just gotten up and gone to the bathroom. Just any movement would have been welcome. But Paul says man in Ephesus, he says everywhere I go I’m seeing people saved, I’m seeing relatives hear about their friends and relatives getting saved and they’re coming to the gospel, he said man, there’s a wide door for service, I know God’s on it.

Then he mentions another thing that confirmed to him that it was the will of God. The last part of verse 9. “and there are many adversaries.” Now that’s interesting, isn’t it. Paul says I know it’s God’s will for me to stay here, because the gospel’s being blessed, and the enemies are all around. Now that phrase many adversaries literally means they are lined up against me. He said, it’s just one after another, critics, persecutors, folks work against me, folks working against the preaching of the gospel, he said, there just seemed to be lined up against me. Now folks, this is Paul’s reason for staying in Ephesus, not for leaving. Adversity is often a confirmation that you’re in the will of God.

Look at 1 Corinthians 15:32. Just a page or so over, 1 Corinthians 15:32, reflecting on these adversaries in Ephesus, I believe Paul here is using figurative language. And he says, “If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me?” Now I do not think Paul literally was thrown into the coliseum with wild beasts, there’s no record of that, but I think he’s using the figurative language to say man, these people that oppose me and worked against me and lied about me and persecuted me, it was like wrestling wild animals.

And then if you will, look at 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Verses 8 and 9. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. Again reflecting on this same situation. He says “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” So it says man, it was tough, it was difficult. And that’s why I know it’s the will of God. But there was lots of adversity. And matter of fact, Paul throws in a little insight in verse 9 that God’s sovereign and even up to something when adversity comes, what does he say at the end of verse 9. “that we would not trust in ourselves.” In other words, God kept me humble and dependent upon him, my physical strength was gone, I was at the end of myself, so when I went out and ministered I had to trust completely in God and in his power and in his strength.

Now let me talk a little more specifically about some of the persecution Paul experienced in Ephesus. There was a man named Demetrus, Demetrus was a seller of metal wares, and Demetrus worked with a lot of craftsmen. Demetrus’ merchandise was chiefly selling idols. He sold little idols of the temple goddess Diana or Artimus, they would call her, and this was a very profitable business. But all of a sudden so many folks started coming to Christ in Ephesus that they stopped buying the idols. And so Demetrus and the other craftsmen really caused a riot in the city and they were after the apostle Paul’s head. And they end up grabbing Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s two coworkers and dragging them before a mob in the theater, and they missed Paul and the disciples were keeping Paul back, Paul wanted to go run right in the middle of it, but the text says that they kept Paul out of that mob, they would have killed him. And that’s the kind of stuff he dealt with. Not to mention the Jewish exorcists, the Bible tells us who were working in that region who were constantly harassing and demeaning the ministry of the apostle Paul, because these Jewish exorcists were trying to perform magical acts using the name of Jesus. And then there were other practitioners of other sort in a city like Ephesus in this day, paganism, idolatry, occultism, demonism, superstition, sexual vice and racism. So Paul said, man, I knew it was God’s will because he was blessing the gospel, and also there’s a lot of adversaries. But God really blessed. In Acts 19 verse 20, right in the middle of all this adversity, the Bible says “So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.” So once again, what’s Paul saying. Paul says, I know it’s the will of God cause there’s an open door to preach the gospel, and there are many enemies. Many adversaries.

Now my first subpoint under viewing adversity as a confirmation of the will of God is the common experience of the early church. The early church, it was their common experience to view adversity as a confirmation, as a part of being in the will of God. Number one, the Lord Jesus taught us to expect this. The Lord Jesus himself made it very clear. In Matthew 5:11-12, let me just read that to you. Jesus said, “Blessed” that means well-off, happy, you’re doing good. Well-off, happy, you’re doing good “when men cast insult you and persecute you”, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” On another occasion, Jesus speaking to the disciples said, John 15:20, “A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” It’s going to happen, it’s not if it’s going to happen, Jesus said it’s going to happen. So the early church understood this very well, their Lord taught them to look for it and expect it. He said, as you’re living for me, honoring me and walking with me, expect the same kind of persecution that I’ve endured.

Secondly we know the apostle Paul particularly expected persecution. In Acts chapter 9 verse 16, the context is that God has spoken to a man named Ananias and Ananias is to go and lay his hands on the apostle Paul, remember Paul was saved by a bright light from heaven knocking him to the ground. And then Ananias was to go and lay his hands and pray over Paul and then his eyes would be open. But when God told Ananias to go to this Saul of Tarsus, and lay his hands on him and pray, he said, now wait a minute God, I’ve heard about this Saul of Tarsus, he hates Christians, he has Christians run out of their homes, he’s persecuting the church everywhere, if I go to this man, he’ll kill me, and here’s what God responded by to Ananias, Acts 9:16. “for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” No, he’s going to be a servant of mine, the Lord Jesus says, and to follow me and serve me, which means he will suffer much for my name’s sake.

Now look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians 11, verses 23 through 27. Here Paul says that the persecution and the adversity he faced was proof that he was a true Apostle, implying what. Implying that I’m in the will of God and one of the proofs I’m in the will of God is that I have a lot of adversity in what I’m doing. 2 Corinthians 11:23. “Are they servants of Christ, I speak as insane”. Now he’s referring to others who claim to be servants. He said, “I more so in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death, five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” Doesn’t sound like some of our modern TV evangelists does it. Paul says I can prove to you that I’m a true Apostle to Jesus Christ, one of the ways I can prove it is by the adversity I faced. Now that’s not the only criteria obviously, but it’s one of the criterion that can affirm to you when you’re in the will of God.

Another insight on how Paul must have expected this kind of adversity as he served and lived for Jesus. In Galatians 1:13, he tells the churches of the Galatia region how he use to persecute the church of God before he was saved. So he understood how those still walking in darkness hated and would bring persecution upon those who know the Lord Jesus and preach and teach his truths.

So we see it’s the common experience of the early church. That the Lord Jesus taught that when you’re in my will and honoring me, adversity is going to come. The Apostle Paul expected that as he was in the will of God, adversity would come. And then thirdly the other New Testament apostles also expected that adversity would come when they were in the will of God. Acts chapter 5 verse 41 is a text and in its context the Apostles have been greatly persecuted, they’ve already been locked in prison, but God supernaturally delivered them after they were locked in prison they brought them before the leaders of the Jewish authorities rather. And those Jewish authorities the Bible says, flogged them, that means beat them with a cat of nine tails, a whip with a stone, or glass or rocks in the leather strains and they beat them with that flog. And then the Bible says this about those Apostles, as they left having endured that. Acts 5:41. “So they went on their way, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.” These Apostles weren’t saying, man, we must have done something wrong, we must not be walking right, we must have missed one of the biblical principles, it’s not working out right, what are we doing wrong, why aren’t we right with God, because we’re experiencing all this adversity, no, they said hallelujah, this is what’s expected of a man of God. We must be right on track they say. Because when the name of Jesus, the name of truth marches through a world of error, it’s going to bring adversity. You see, ministry flourishes in the soil fertilized by persecution. And always has and it always will. So, adversity in the will of God was the common experience in the early church. And there’s so much, much more that we could use as proof text. But I think we have sufficed with what we’ve given.

Now the second subpoint B, the reasons the will of God brings adversity. The reasons. Now I’m not giving all of the reasons perhaps, but here are four key reasons why when you’re in the will of God, now I’m not saying as an apostle, I’m not necessarily saying as an evangelist, or as a pastor, but just as a lay person. What are the reasons why even as a lay person, if I’m in the will of God should I expect adversity and that even to be a confirmation that I’m in God’s will. Number one, well first of all, as a preference to all four points, I want you to jot down Matthew 7:13. In Matthew 7:13 the Lord said, “there’s a broad gate and many are those who enter that broad gate, and then he said, “there’s also a narrow gate and few are those who enter the narrow gate.” Now obviously the broad gate is the way of the world, and the narrow gate represents following Jesus or being in the will of God. Now I have always viewed and you probably also, viewed the broad gate as the great big broad way over this way, and the narrow gate is a little bitty narrow gate that heads out over this way. But I believe it’s not like that at all. I believe it’s one big broad gate heading this way, and right in the middle of that broad way is a little narrow way heading back in the other direction. So as the whole current of the world living for self, living for this world is heading in that direction, right in the middle of them all you’re heading in the opposite direction. No wonder the will of God brings adversity. The world is floating down the lies and the errors of Satan and you’re in a motor boat charging with God’s truth right up stream. I like what old Billy Sunday said, they said Billy Sunday “when you preach, you stroke the fur on the cat the wrong way”. Billy Sunday said, “the old cat is headed toward hell, if he’d turn around I’d be stroking it the right way”. Well, that’s the way your life is. Your life rubs against the fur of this lost and sinful world.

Reasons the will of God brings adversity. Number one because when you’re in the will of God you expose false doctrine. Now I’m not saying that you start preaching and teaching and pointing out from scripture false doctrine. But directly or indirectly, every child of God that is in the will of God is participating in God’s process of proclaiming truth and therefore exposing heresy. And I’m telling you that stirs up the enemy and that will bring adversity. In 1 Timothy 4:1, Paul exhorts the young preacher Timothy to beware of those “doctrines of demons,” doctrines of demons. You see, Satan and his demons constantly work the deceptions of corrupting and perverting the word of God. Now, I’m not saying they don’t use Bible, they use Bible all the time, but they are twisting, they are corrupting, they are perverting, they are taking out of context, they are taking truths out of balance, to teach the doctrines of demons. And as you walk the will of God whether it’s a homemaker or a factory worker, or an executive, or a professional, as a student, as you’re living out the will of God, you are participating in and helping the proclamation of God’s truth either directly or indirectly. For number one, you’re going to join a church that preaches God’s truth. If you’re in the will of God. And you’re going to give your tithes and offerings and services and use your spiritual gifts, to help the advancement of that church and its preaching. By you coming here and giving your tithes and offerings, we proclaim truth over radio and television in a lot of places. And therefore indirectly you’re helping advance the preaching of the word of God by being in God’s will and having joined in this church. And I’m going to tell you, that will stir up the enemy. He does not want his doctrines exposed.

I was sitting in an office not too long ago, and a man called me, he was an associate pastor of a church in our area. And he had heard me say some things about some popular preachers in the world today who were teaching some very heretical things. And I just talked about them and somewhat exposed them. Now he was very kind, but as we were talking on the phone he said, “now, I just wanted to tell you that you’re a problem, and you’re causing trouble, you’re causing disunity in the body of Christ”. And I said, “have you ever checked out all that they’re teaching”. He said, “well, not really”. I said, “before you say I’m wrong, check out thoroughly with the word of God all that they are teaching”. And I gave him some literature. Well he hung up the phone and called me back about three months later, he said “brother Jeff, I want you to know something, I’m leaving my church”. I said, “you are”. He said, “yes I am”. He said, “I want you to know I went to some crusades with some of these great leaders were and they were doing all kinds of things in there”, and he said,” I want to tell you, it was phony, it was made up, it was gimmicks, it worked on emotions, it wasn’t based on sound teaching from the word of God”, and he said, “I want to thank you for helping me start on the track of investigating everything by scripture”. And someone told me just the other day he started a church and already has about 150 in attendance. What happened. As we preached and taught the word of God, God used that to expose false doctrine. Expose Satan’s false doctrine. Listen to me friend. If you join a church that purposes to stand on the word of God and preach and teach the word, you will receive some adversity, because Satan doesn’t like that. Now you can join typical Baptist church and play a little Baptist program games all you want, you’ll never awaken Satan out of his slumber. When you get serious then he’ll get fired up.

Well, first of all, first reason the will of God brings adversity, it exposes false doctrine. Number two, it convicts the world of sin. It convicts the world of sin. Now, if you’re in the will of God you’re full of the Holy Spirit. And the Bible says in John 16:8, the Holy Spirit is going to “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;” As you walk through this life your life is a conviction to those who are willfully living in sin. Jesus said “let your light shine before men”. Let the truth of who you know and how you walk shine forth and you’ll be a conviction to those around you. And they will, you’ll find that as your life is a conviction to those living in sin that they will attempt to bring you down in order to appease their own conscience. So you can expect the adversity of criticism and ridicule and mockery, because they are just trying to bring you down to make their own conscience find some type of appeasement. Two things you’ll see out of people like this, number one, you’ll see a lot of fault finding. Fault finding. I mean, they are walking in sin, they are living in sin, in order to make them feel better, they are going to try to find some little fault in your life, and they are going to magnify it and put great emphasis on it, they tried to do this with Jesus. Jesus was coming along one day, and his disciples came to a grain field and on the Sabbath they pulled off some of the grain and was eating it and all of a sudden the Pharisees who were convicted by the holiness of Jesus said “aha, your disciples are working on the Sabbath”. Just a little fault finding stuff. They will always do that. They tried to do it with Paul. They talked about Paul, the fact that he wasn’t a real leader of God, the false teachers did. They said, “why Paul’s weak. Paul’s not even charismatic or dynamic when he leads the church, why he’s not a good leader”. Just little fault finding spirits that they had.

The second thing you’ll find this group doing is giving you false accusations. False accusations. Remember when they looked at Jesus and said, well, we know you’re something, we know you’re powerful, we’ve seen the miracles, but they said, here’s what we believe. We believe what’s going on through your life is the power of Beelzebub, in other words the devil has given you that power. They looked at Jesus and said Satan is your power. Now friend, I want you to listen to me. When folks in our area call us a cult, that’s the equivalent of saying Satan is your power. What they are saying is, something’s going on, you’re reaching a lot of people, people are excited, lives are changed, but it’s not God, it’s Satan. Expect false accusations when you’re purposing to live in the will of God.

Oh, I love the story of Elijah. And the Bible says that Ahab became king of Israel, and the Bible says he was the most wicked king that had ever sat on the throne of Israel. He built the prophet to the pagan god Baal, and he and his wicked wife Jezebel, Jezebel the cold adder that sat on the throne beside her wicked toad husband Ahab. They would go up and worship Baal, the old pagan god, on that old pagan altar and, then the Bible says that God spoke to Elijah and said, Elijah, you go tell king Ahab, it’s not going to rain until you say so. Elijah went down to king Ahab, said Ahab, God said for me to tell you that it’s not going to rain until he says so. Elijah’s just doing what God told him to do. And I’m going to tell you, Jezebel and Ahab went on a quest to try to kill and destroy Elijah, but God just spared him. Then on a certain occasion, God told Elijah, it’s time for you to confront king Ahab again and so Elijah sent a servant, said go tell Ahab to meet me here and, Ahab, the old wicked king met Elijah and here’s what Ahab said when he saw Elijah. The wicked king Ahab of Israel looked at the godly prophet Elijah and said, “you, you troubler of Israel?” You’re the problem. You’re the reason our country’s in a mess. I’m telling you, that’s exactly what’s happening in America today. I’m telling you the powers that be will look at the people who are trying to walk with God, try to stand on the word of God, and try to honor the teachings of scripture, they’ll look right at you and I today and say, you’re the problem with this country. It’s your values and your convictions. I like what Elijah did. Elijah just responded right back and said, no, I’m not the trouble in Israel, king Ahab you and your fathers and all the wickedness you brought into this kingdom. False accusations.

I was fellowshipping with a family in our church after service some time ago, and they were telling me a little bit about how they knew God had led them here. And they had had a little medical problem in their family that could have been serious, but I think God’s been gracious and it’s not been as serious as they once thought, and they said, you know something brother Jeff. Some people have told us that this sickness in our family is God’s judgement for joining. That’s the honest to God’s truth. Just heard that. Folks, when you’re purposing to walk in the will of God, expect adversity. Expect it. It’s going to come, and a lot of it will come through fault finding and false accusations.

Well, not only do, should we expect adversity because it exposes false doctrine, and it convicts the world of sin, but thirdly it plunders Satan’s kingdom. It plunders his kingdom. Now what do we mean by plundering Satan’s kingdom. When you’re walking the will of God, either directly or indirectly, you’re going to be involved in winning people to Jesus Christ. When you’re walking the will of God, when you’re in the will of God, either directly or indirectly, you’re going to be a part of seeing people brought to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now look at Acts chapter 26 with me. Acts 26:16-18. Now here’s the Saul of Tarsus, at least at this time that was his name. He’s been converted, he’s come to saving faith and here God’s going to tell Saul, going to change his name to Paul, but he’s going to tell him, now here’s what you’re to do, here’s what you’re to be about. He says there in verse 16 of Acts 26, “‘But arise, stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness'” that means a witness of Christ and a witness of salvation, so others can be saved. He says, “‘not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,'” Now here’s what his ministry’s going to do. Verse 18. “‘to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God”, to God “that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'” So here’s what God told Paul. He said Paul, you’re to be my minister, and as my minister, you’re my witness, you’re to go out and witness of Jesus Christ, to everybody you can. And when they get saved, their sins are going to be forgiven. And when a person gets saved, they’re taken out of the dominion, the kingdom of darkness, and they’re placed in the dominion and in the kingdom of light. And my friend, when you’re walking in the will of God, you are directly or indirectly a part of seeing people come to know the Lord Jesus Christ and increasingly souls are snatched out of Satan’s kingdom, and souls are placed in the kingdom of God, and I’m telling you, that stirs up the adversary. He doesn’t want you to do that.

Now I’m not saying that every single one of you are going to be bold John the Baptist type soul winners, but all of us ought to be purposing to verbally share the gospel when God gives us the opportunity. But there are many, many other ways you can be involved directly or indirectly in bringing people to Jesus. Your life can be a witness of the Lord Jesus. I can’t tell you the number of people that we’ve baptized in this church who said something like this. Brother Jeff, I worked with so and so who goes to your church. And they weren’t perfect, but I saw something in their life that I didn’t have. And pretty soon they or somebody else got to verbally explain the gospel, and that person was saved. You see, if you’re in the will of God, you’re going to be helping bring people to Jesus. It’s just going to happen. You can’t keep it from happening. If you’re walking in the will of God, number one, you’re going to join a church that’s a soul winning church. And by joining that church and serving in that church and supporting that church with your giving, you’re helping the winning of souls. If you’re walking in the will of God, you wanna giving to missions, and by giving to missions, you’re helping win souls around the world and you’re plundering Satan’s kingdom. And of course he’s going to bring adversity against that. When you’re out there serving in your small group, in our church here, and maybe you’re not the kind of guy that can be the out front, bold verbal witness on Monday night—now you can learn to verbally witness though, you can go as a silent partner until you’re comfortable, everybody ought to learn to do that—but listen, start where you are, do what you can where you are, don’t feel pressure, don’t feel like your arm’s twisted, just start where you are and witness the way you can now. But nevertheless, in your small group, no matter what your gift is, you can be a part of that small group, as a team, trying to win people to Jesus Christ. And as you are, that’s going to stir up the adversary. Because you’re plundering Satan’s kingdom.

It is consistent with biblical teaching, and with my own experience that wide doors for effective ministry are often accompanied by the attempted discouragements and distractions of persecution. It’s going to come. Listen to what some great men said about the adversity that comes when you’re in the will of God. Matthew Henry said, “Great success in the work of the gospel creates many enemies. The devil opposes most and makes them the most trouble, who most hardily and successfully, set themselves to destroy his kingdom.”

G. Campbell Morgan, the great expositor said, “If you have no opposition in the place you serve, you’re serving in the wrong place.” Pastor, preacher boy, you want to serve somewhere where they all love you, forget it, that’s not the will of God. I’m telling you, it’s not the will of God. At least once a week somebody tells me in a very clear way, I don’t like you or appreciate you. At least once a week. That used to bother me, but now I just take a half a baby aspirin and go right to sleep at night.

R. G. Lee used to say before he died, Dr. R. G. Lee, the great pastor of the Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, bold, gospel preacher, loved Jesus, honored God in his life, he said, “if a man preaching my funeral looks down at me in that coffin and said, here’s a man that had no enemies, he said, I’ll kick the lid off of that coffin, I’ll jump up and call him a liar before everybody”. R. G. Lee said “a man’s known by his enemies”. And of course, the great Charles Haddon Spurgeon said this. “Never did the church so much prosper and so truly thrive as when she was baptized in blood. The ship of the church never sails so gloriously along as when the bloody spray of her martyrs falls on her deck. We must suffer and we must die if we are ever to conquer this world for Christ.”

Well, I’ve given you three reasons why walking in the will of God is going to bring adversity. First of all, I told you it’s because directly or indirectly you’re a part of preaching sound doctrine, so you’re exposing false doctrine, and the enemy loves to get false doctrine out there, and he hates it when his false doctrine is exposed and corrected.

Secondly, your life, if you’re walking in the will of God is going to convict the world of sin, Satan doesn’t want people being convicted. And they are going to fight back and work back against you and bring adversity.

Third we talked about the fact that as you walk the will of God, you’re going to be a part directly or indirectly of winning souls to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that’s plundering Satan’s kingdom. Taking people out of his kingdom and placing them in God’s kingdom. And that’s going to stir up the adversary.

Now here’s the fourth reason. Why being in the will of God brings adversity. It keeps us from sinning. It keeps us from sin. Now I do not mean sinless perfection, but there’s something about facing enemies, there’s something about being persecuted, that causes us to walk closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. That must mean I need a lot of help. There’s something about that. You know when you stand under fire, your heart stays warm. Have you noticed that. Your heart stays warm with Jesus, when you’re standing and you’re under fire. Look at Peter, 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 1. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 1. I believe this verse has two major meanings. In 1 Peter 4:1, the apostle Peter says, “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh,” in other words, your head, your Lord, your King, walked this earth in truth, honoring the will of his Father. And to walk in truth and to honor the will of his Father meant he suffered in this physical flesh while he was here. He says, “arm yourselves also with the same purpose”, and here it is “because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,” Now ultimately that means if the enemy comes against you and brings such persecution and such adversity against you, that he takes your physical life, that’s victory, because when he takes your physical body, you get rid of that old sinful body and you’re free from sin forever more. You just go on to heaven. So whatever the enemy can do, the most he can do is take your body and only if God allows it, by the way, and then that’s just victory, because you get free from the old sinful body. You see friend, the only problem you’ve got is you. Are you hearing me. It’s not your wife, it’s not your husband, it’s not your kids, it’s not that job, the only problem you’ve got is you, your old sinful flesh. You are your problem. Look in the mirror, you’ll see your problem. And when you go to heaven, you get rid of the old you and you get a new glorified you. A perfect you without that old sin nature, without that old self nature.

Now I think also this text implies that as we walk with Jesus and it brings adversity—now folks, note very careful that I’m not talking about some people we’ve all seen before, who go into the high school or junior high, young people, or that person that goes into the office or the factory and they’re just obnoxious for Jesus. Amen. And they get adversity and they get persecution, but they’ve earned every bit of it. It’s not because they are godly, it’s because they’re a pain in the neck and they are obnoxious and they’re irritable and they’re in the flesh. And they are just trying to rub people the wrong way and sticking the Bible in folks’ face and their holy spirit is wrong, that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about humbly purposing to honor God, because you love him and his word. That’s going to bring some adversity.

Spurgeon said, “Suffering is infinitely better than sinning. The Lord may therefore send us sorrow, to keep us from iniquity. Better to be taught by suffering than to be taught by sin. Better to lie in God’s dungeon, than to revel in Satan’s palace.” So once what’s the fourth reason of being in the will of God will bring adversity? It keeps us from sinning.

Last verse, 1 John chapter 2, verse 17 and we’re through. 1 John 2:17. “And the world is passing away”, now think about that. “And the world is passing away, and also its lust”. But he who does the, what’s the word. Will. “But he who does the will of God”, that’s what we’re talking about isn’t it. “Abides forever”. We need to understand the will of God.