I will try to finish our look at Affliction and how GOD uses it to train and equip us for service of man and His kingdom restored within the soul of those who will become His again. This has been hidden from the common man held in the slavery of mans religion because when these people experience affliction of any sort the first thing they do is to rebuke the devil. And this gives him a glory he does not deserve when it GOD working within them to cause His perfection of their restored awakened spirit to grow in the true knowledge of Him. And again I will turn to a teaching by Pastor Hoekstra on the subject of the LORDS Grace in action as an aid to what I have stated here. It is titled, "Following Jesus as a Disciple."
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . . Follow Me . . . If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." (Matthew 28:19; John 1:43; and Luke 9:23)
"Living daily by God's Grace depends more upon getting to know Him and then walking in the humility and grace that are consequences of growing in fellowship with Him. We have reflected upon four ways to relate rightly to the LORD in humility and faith: living by the Spirit, living by resurrection power, living by the sufficiency of GOD, and living by the Promises of God. Another example is following Jesus as a disciple.
When our LORD was about to leave His disciples, He gave them the marching orders that were to guide the lives of His people until He would return. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." Jesus had been calling out people to follow Him as disciples. Now, they were to continue doing the same. A disciple is a follower of a Master, Who guides and shapes the lives (in our case this is accomplished through Afflictions) of His followers. Jesus is the ultimate Master, Who gives us a new life in Him — Life Eternal. Jesus' invitation to discipleship was "Follow Me." Along with this invitation, Jesus often explained the terms of discipleship: "If anyone desires to come after Me." This would inform the willing and interested about how to respond. These terms dramatically depict the necessity of relating to the LORD in humility and faith.
The first aspect of being a disciple of Jesus is renouncing the self-life. "Let him deny himself." This amounts to a refusal to attempt to develop a life that can be produced by natural human resources (which everyone inherits from Adam through physical birth). This is a repudiation of self-righteousness, self-sufficiency, self-help, self-exaltation, and the like. Our willingness to embrace this term of discipleship will be seen by a humble agreement with similar biblical pronouncements. "Make no provision for the flesh" (Romans 13:14). Those denying self are not wanting the flesh to have opportunities to indulge itself. "The flesh profits nothing" (John 6:63). Those who renounce self confess its total spiritual bankruptcy. We "have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3). Those who repudiate the self-life do not want to place any hope in the spiritual resources of the flesh. "That no flesh should glory in His presence" (1Corinthians 1:29). Those denying the self-life agree that nothing of the flesh can ever boast in itself before the LORD GOD Almighty."
Affliction:
Sufficiency of GODS Divine Grace:
2Corinthians 12:1-10 "I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the LORD. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, GOD knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, GOD knows—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the LORD about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, "My Grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Fellowship in Christ's Sufferings:
1Peter 4:12-19 "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial (afflictions) when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed (restored within us). If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of GOD rests upon (within) you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify GOD in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of GOD; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the Gospel of GOD? And "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" Therefore let those who suffer according to GOD's Will entrust their souls to a Faithful Creator while doing good."
Membership in the Company of the Redeemed:
Revelation 7:9-12, 13-17 "I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our GOD Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped GOD, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our GOD forever and ever! Amen."
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. "Therefore they are before the throne of GOD, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He Who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and GOD will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
The Final Deliverance from Sorrow and Pain:
Revelation 21:1-4 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea (the worldly population of mankind) was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from GOD, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of GOD is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and GOD Himself will be with them as their GOD. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
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