Wake up. There is a world of articles, books, and information out there when it comes to Christianity, but we are mostly stuck with rhetoric and double talk when it comes to our relationship with the Lord, our new identity as believers, and the security and finality of the work of Christ. Are you getting everything you need spiritually from your church? Or do you find yourself feeling hungry for more? Wake up. Join Lenny as he unpacks what Scripture really taught about our Lord Jesus Christ in context and why this matters to you. Wake up, wake up, wake up to grace.

Welcome back, everyone. We've now made it to the fifth message in our study on John 15, verses 1 through 6. We see the word abide being used by Christ in John's gospel, but in other places we see different terms being used to describe abiding in our faith. Stand firm, hold fast, endure are commands expressed with urgency from the apostles to their churches at the end of the age. Terms like stand firm would certainly hold a similar definition as abide in our scripture. Thayer defines the Greek word translated stand firm as to stand firm, to persevere, to persist, to keep one standing. And let's look at a few examples of this idea that we see in our scripture. Matthew 24 13, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. Hebrews 10 23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 2 Thessalonians 2.15. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. When we imagine a healthy branch abiding in the vine, we would see it standing firm, wouldn't we? Even through severe storms, a healthy branch can remain unmoved. In my last several messages, we've come to understand that our call to abide doesn't come with a threat of punishment, as many in error have led others to believe. Christians don't find themselves as withered branches to be thrown in the fire. We're encouraged in our John 15 passage to stand firm. But how do we apply this to ultimate suffering? The author of Hebrews paints an interesting picture in the twelfth chapter of their letter. When referring to the persecution of the righteous, the writer proclaims that God chastises those he loves. We know that Yahweh wasn't doing the scourging. It was those who rejected Christ doing the scourging. Yet the writer seems to make Yahweh responsible and then encourages the sufferers to endure, while affirming that the Lord is pleased with their suffering. Are we to think that our Lord is up there delighting while we're in agony? Surely this would have to apply to his own son as well, as his suffering is referenced in the context of the statements made in Hebrews 12. How do we reconcile such things in our scripture with a loving God? Do we just ignore those parts and focus on more happy thoughts? That's not going to help us much when we're called to stand firm in our suffering. In order to be properly encouraged by our scripture, we need to properly understand its context. After Yeshua taught the disciples his important vine and branches analogy, he opens chapter 16 saying, I've said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he's offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. This certainly stresses the importance of his message. Yeshua wanted them to reflect back on the things he told them, when times of suffering would come upon them. This would be situations like we see in our Hebrews letter. Yeshua wanted the disciples to remember the Father pruning for fruit bearing when suffering begins. And the author of Hebrews exhorts the recipients of the letter to stand firm in the face of severe persecution, remembering that the Lord chastises those he loves. It's the same situation, isn't it? Suffering for Christ is the topic. Later in John's Gospel, Yeshua adds, For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. That's John 16, 27. Yeshua tells the disciples that because they love him and believe in him, that the Father Himself loves them. In other words, this is what would reconcile them to Yahweh. They would know that the Lord loved them as they face their trials in the future. Their future trials and tribulations in the world would come because they proclaim Christ to be the Messiah. As Yeshua pointed out, their persecutors would believe they were doing a service to Yahweh by killing them. This is why Christ made it clear that they were the faithful ones, not their persecutors. It was those who suffered in his name that would please Yahweh. So Yeshua confirms Yahweh's love for the persecuted. But along with this good news, he also makes another promise. In John 16, 33 we read, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I've overcome the world. In this place, Yeshua calls their future suffering the tribulation of the world. He places the cause of the disciples' future suffering on the world, while also proclaiming that he has overcome the world. We must understand that the author of Hebrews refers to Yahweh scourging faithful Christians in a similar sense. Many in the unbelieving world see Christ Yeshua as being killed by the Romans for blaspheming against the Jewish belief system. Capital punishment, like crucifixion, would have been seen as a curse. About this, Paul writes in Galatians 3.13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. So what we find is that Yahweh turned what is seen as a curse, through a worldview, into the greatest blessing in human history. And we must remember also that nobody took Christ's life. In John's gospel, Yeshua declares, For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. That's John 10, 17. And we see that it plays out exactly like that in the end, don't we? Was it really any different when the first century Christians devoted their lives to preaching Yeshua's gospel of grace? They knew death was on the line. Peter was told by Yeshua himself of his ultimate fate. The apostles taught of a Christian's suffering as the ultimate sacrifice. It was pleasing to God. Nobody took their lives from them, they gave their lives for the sake of the church. Stand firm in Christ and do not be moved. Our Lord works out all things for good. In Romans 8 28, Paul writes, And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose. There's a hidden treasure in this writing from Paul that pertains to the suffering we've been discussing in our study. For what people does Yahweh work out all things for good? It's not all people, is it? No, it's those who are called according to his good purpose. It's those who believe in Christ. Suffering will happen to all people, but the Lord will make good of it for his children. This is how we see suffering differently than the world. Another key point we can extract from this text is the word purpose. According to Paul, all things have purpose. If things just happened at random, there would be no purpose. We're assured here that all things have purpose. We can find purpose even in suffering. This is why we can understand what our Lord meant when he said, You heard me say to you, I'm going away, and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I'm going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. That's John 14, 28. We have the privilege now of knowing our final destination, don't we? We have a sense of direction that leads to a final destination. The rest of the world doesn't know where they come from or where they're going. We have all these answers in Christ, who is the beginning and the end, according to Revelation 22, 13. We don't have to grieve like the rest of the world. We do grieve, just as our Lord grieved for Lazarus, but we don't have to despair. We stand firm because we know where we come from and where we're going. We can rejoice in things that the rest of the world would call tragedy, not because we love tragedy, but because we trust that our Lord is working in these things for good. We can place our focus on what is unseen rather than what is temporal. 2 Corinthians 4.16 reads, So we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. And prior to that, in our John 14 28 passage, Yeshua said, Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also, and you know the way to where I am going. How could they know the way? It was because he was the way. In his own words, he was the way, the truth, and the life. They just didn't have clarity on that yet at the time. Toward the end of the fourteenth chapter of John's gospel, Yeshua says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. We have no need to be troubled or afraid. The Lord has given us peace, but he makes clear that it is not the peace that our world gives us. It's a spiritual peace, the peace that allows us to stand firm, the peace that allows us to abide in the most challenging of times. I think Stephen was a shining example of this abiding. We read of him standing firm in the face of death in the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 7 54 reads Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them, and when he had said this he fell asleep. We see the Jewish leaders here covering their ears. They couldn't handle the truth and had no interest in holding debate, but Stephen never lost his focus, did he? He was considered to be of great faith among the believers. His abiding in Christ bore fruit that would abide unto eternity. It sustained him through the most challenging of times. Stephen stood firm in the face of death because he knew that death was not the end but truly a new beginning. It is in suffering that we must stand firm, isn't it? It's in these times that we are thankful for the time we have spent investing in our faith. Renewing our minds with truth regularly protects us from falling away. Falling away is not something that's impossible for a Christian to experience. Falling away from receiving salvation is not what I refer to here, but rather a temporal falling away. I discussed living out our belief in Message 67 and 68. From these studies we gain clarity on what it means to stand firm. It's through our spiritual growth that we gain this ability. It's the pruning for fruit bearing that allows us to wake up to grace and stand firm in our faith. The fruit we bear will sustain us, because it will always remain in us. In Message 63 and 64, we studied the Antioch incident where Paul rebuked Peter for falling away from the message of grace. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote to a church where many were following in Peter's footsteps. There was a mindset emerging which was contrary to the vine and branches analogy. Rather than looking to the vine to produce fruit, many were being instructed to look to the works of the law. As we see the vine and branches analogy playing out in our New Testament letter to the Hebrew Christians, we gain much insight into the paradigm that the apostles held in the face of their suffering. As we live guided by the Spirit of God, suffering will come upon us, whether it be losing a loved one, battling a health issue, facing persecution, being slandered for truth, getting cast out of your church, struggling with sin, or even just getting through the weak as we're faced with life challenges. As Christians, we're called to stand firm. In Hebrews we find Christians surrounded by persecution and unbelief. The sin in the world was closing in on them, and many were being tempted to let go of what they know to be true. We read in Hebrews 12, 1 through 4, therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted, and your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And placing further emphasis on the urgency and severity, the writer adds, in verse 12, therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. And how do we strengthen ourselves in such a way? What if we're not strong people? We abide in the one who is strong in our great weaknesses. We stand firm in the truth. We look to the vine for strength, and in so doing we bear fruit through the worst that life can throw at us. Continuing, in verse 14, strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. This passage is about living out our belief and not thinking twice. It's a call to stand firm in grace. Bitterness and suffering stems from an unfaithful attitude. It's seen as contagious here. The Hebrews were being tempted to believe their suffering was punishment. There's no doubt the Christ rejecting Jews would have planted this idea in their minds. They're being encouraged by the writer of our letter to not allow that way of thinking to take root among them. The writer continues, in verse 16, that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. Esau sold his birthright because he was hungry. He faithlessly sold his entire inheritance for a meal. These suffering Christians are being encouraged to not live as unfaithful, but to have faith in the power of Yahweh to strengthen them. Esau here probably represents Christ hating Jews. Esau was a Jew but was not faithful to Yahweh. He gave away his promised inheritance just as the Jews did when they rejected their own Messiah. The strength that those who were suffering needed was not a strength that could be produced by them, but it was dwelling within them as believers should they simply depend on the vine, Christ Yeshua, to produce it. We can always know that our loving Lord does not delight in our suffering, but suffers with us as a father does with his children. He's proud of us when we cling to him through our trials. He's pleased to give us strength to endure when we call on him. We all have this strength within us. Don't doubt this, my friends. You have what it takes to stand firm in Christ. Your life has purpose, and the creator of all things adopted you into his family. Yahweh is always on your side. He's not working against you. Don't believe the lies. Stand firm in what is good and true. We'll close with 2 Corinthians 1 3 through 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. The content of this message can be found on my blog post at wakinguptograce.com. My writings include linked references and visual aids, which will give even more valuable insight, and it's always free of charge. The comment section below each message is a place where we can share mutual encouragement and insight with one another outside of the social media med. My blog post is always a click away, linked right in the description section of each episode in your podcast ad. And don't forget to support us by leaving a review.