Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 50

 Suffering for Jesus Part 20

1 Peter 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. KJV Note: NKJV=New King James Version 

When we are persecuted (in our tents/house/body) for walking/living in the truth of the Word of God, we can let ourselves be certain that our Father in Heaven will bring us through it with and by His Mighty Power. We have already heard continuously from the Apostle Peter how our salvation is from God to us and nothing done to us by the enemy of our souls the devil 👿 and his demons and the human two-legged devils who have given themselves over to him can ever defeat us. Remember at the very beginning of his letter ✉️ when he wrote these words to us, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, who are kept by the Power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious 💕 than gold 🪙that perishes, though it is tested by fire 🔥, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love 💕. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy 😹 inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:3-9) (NKJV). Everywhere in the New Testament the theme of our redemption 'in Christ' is 

His substitute, sacrifice, and surety of the salvation of our souls for all eternity. This being known and understood by us should give us resolve to walk through every trial with boldness and confidence that our souls (which matter the most) are in the Hands of our faithful Creator God and nothing visible or invisible 🫥 can touch our soul or bring harm to our souls which is in the Hands of Christ Jesus our Lord. So, we find Peter reminding us of who we belong to and telling us to be calm, to be cool, and to be composed, "Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator." (1 Peter 4:19) (KJV). The little English phrase 'commit the keeping of' the Apostle Peter uses here is translated by the Greek word paratithemi meaning (as used here) to deposit (as a trust or for protection). In other words, our soul (the real us) is deposited to our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal protection. This word is also well summed up by these words written by the Apostle Paul to Brother Timothy, "Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the Gospel according to the Power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an Apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." (2 Timothy 1:8-12) (NKJV). We are to live our daily lives being conformed to Christ's holiness despite the harassing, hateful, heinous, and harmful treatment we will receive from the world 🌍, that is, the human sinners that have yet to receive the gift 🧧 🎁 of grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). All of us who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus our Lord will be persecuted, no ifs and or buts (2 Timothy 3:12). So, knowing this we must be able to say with these lyrics of a worship song, "It is well with my soul." Amen!!!

Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 1 Peter 4:19, "The Apostle links a holy life most closely with this trust in God. In well-doing commit your souls unto Him. No otherwise can His guardianship and aid be hoped for. But the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, and with Him to know is to watch over and help. Nor should men sorrow when they suffer according to God's will. Rather it is cause for gladness. Fo conscience must tell them that they need to be purged from much earthly dross which clings about them. So the fire 🔥of trial may be counted among blessings." Here is what Albert Barnes had to say of 1 Peter 4:19, "As Creator particularly; as One who has brought us, and all creatures and things into being, we may be sure that He will be 'faithful' to the design which He had in view. From that design He will never depart until it is 🌕 accomplished. He abandons no purpose which He has formed, and we may be assured that He will faithfully pursue it to the end. As our Creator we may come to Him, and look to Him for His protection and care. He made us. He had a design on our creation. He so endowed us that we might live forever, and so that we might honor and enjoy Him. In that path in which He has appointed us to go, if we pursue it, we may be sure of His help and protection. If we really aim to accomplish the purposes for which we were made, we may be certain that He will show Himself to be a 'faithful Creator;' One in whom we may always confide. And even though we have wandered from Him, and have long forgotten why we were made, and have loved and served the creature more than the Creator, we may be sure, if we will return to Him, that He will not forget the design for which He originally made us. As our Creator we may still confide in Him. Redeemed by the Blood of His Son, and renewed by His Spirit after the image of Him who erected us, we may still go to Him as our Creator, and may pray 🙏 that even yet the high and noble ends for which we were made may be accomplished in us. Doing this, we shall find him as true to that purpose as though we had never sinned." 

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray 🙏 this from your heart ❤️ to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn 🛞 from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart ❤️ and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen!!!

Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Beliervers Volume 49

 Suffering for Jesus Part 19 

1 Peter 4:17-18 For the time is come that judgement must begin at the House 🏠 of God: and if it is first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" KJV Note: AMP=Amplified Bible; NKJV=New King James Version 

Our Lord and God renders judgement upon His own true Body of Beliervers because He is preparing a Bride for Himself that will be without spot or blemish, therefore, the Apostle Peter who has already warned us and commanded us to live lives that will render glory to God and not to live lives that will blaspheme His Holy Name, so Peter once again says this same concept with these sobering/serious words now approaching the end of his 1st letter ✉️, "For the time is come that judgement must begin at the House 🏠 of God: and if it is first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1 Peter 4:17-18) (KJV). The Apostle Paul made this comparison of Christ and His Church to the way husbands are to love 💕 and care for their wives, as Paul wrote with these words, "Husbands, love 💕 your wives, just as Christ also loved 😍 the Church and gave Himself for Her, that He might sanctify and cleanse Her with the washing of water 💦 by the Word, that He might present Her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that She should be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:25-27) (NKJV). Just as the human body needs regular cleansing from dirt and filth, so does the Body of Christ need to be regularly washed and made clean by the Water 💦 of the Word of God. The Apostle Peter is reiterating something he has already said earlier on in this same letter ✉️ just using a different way of communicating it to us, for we have been saved not with any earthly things of great financial value, but we have been redeemed, regenerated, and resurrected from spiritual death by the most precious 💞 thing in all of God's Creation and that being His very own Blood (Acts 20:28). Therefore, we must be a 'spiritual house 🏡' that renders to our Father in Heaven a life that brings Him glory as Peter said with these words earlier in this 1st letter ✉️, "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.' And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear 😨; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptable things, like silver or gold 🪙, from your aimless conduct received by the tradition from your fathers, but with the precious 💞 Blood of Christ, as of a lamb 🐑 without blemish and without spot." (1 Peter 1:13-19) (NKJV), and also these words from this same Apostle Peter in this 1st letter ✉️, "You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house 🏡, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:5) (NKJV). All of this is why judgement will begin at God's own House 🏠. Now all of this being said, Peter ask the sobering question ⁉️ of what the judgement will be like for all the human sinners who do not obey the Gospel of God. For the men and women who continue in their loving to live in sin and rejecting, refusing, and resisting the convicting and convincing of God the Holy Spirit (John 16:8-11) they will suffer the eternal punishment of being excluded from the presence of God forever which is exactly 💯 what every unrepentant sinner actually wants. Well the Apostle Paul gives us an answer to this question ⁉️ with what he wrote to the Church @ Rome with these words, "But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness; indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish 😦 😧, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;" (Romans 2:8-9) (NKJV). So in the end we see that the trials, tribulations, and troubles of we who have obeyed the Gospel of God are of but for this period of time we live in now which means they all have a beginning and an end, however, for the unbelieving and unrepentant and unjustified sinner loving unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:12) there will only be a beginning to eternal judgement with no relief and no end to the 2nd death, as it is written here, "Then Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book 📖 of Life was cast into the lake of fire 🔥." (Revelation 20:14-15) (NKJV). If you have been led to read these words, I pray 🙏 that you would listen to the Spirit of God convincing you of this truth and that you would regret, repent, and renounce your sinful life against a Holy God and turn to Jesus Christ and receive new life from Him and have all your sins covered forever by His Blood. Amen!!!

Here is what the JFB Commentary had to say of 1 Peter 4:17-18, "Another ground of consolation to Christians. All must pass under the judgement of God; God's own household first, their chastisement being here, for which they should glorify Him as a proof of their membership in His family, and a pledge of their escape from the end of those whom the last judgement shall find disobedient to the Gospel. Judgement is already begun, the Gospel word, as a 'two-edged sword 🗡️,' having the double effect of saving some and condemning others, and shall be consummated at the last judgement. 'When power is given to the destroyer, he observes no distinction between the righteous and the wicked; not only so, but he begins first at the righteous' [Wetstein from Rabbins]. But God limits the destroyer's power over His people. If even the godly have chastening judgements now, how much more shall the ungodly be doomed to damnatory judgements at last. Compare 'so as by 🔥' (1 Corinthians 3:15); having to pass through trying chastisements, as David did for his sin. 'The righteous' man has always more or less of trial, but the issue is certain, and the entrance into the Kingdom abundant at last. The 'scarcely' marks the severity of the ordeal, and the unlikelyhood (in a mere human point of view) of the righteous sustaining it; but the righteousness of Christ and God's everlasting Covenant make it all sure. The ungodly having no regard for God and loving sin, for the same man is at once God-forgetting and sin-loving appearing in the final judgement (The Great White Throne) (Revelation 20:11). 

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray 🙏 this from your heart ❤️ to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart ❤️ and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen!!!

Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 48

 Suffering for Jesus Part 18

1 Peter 4:15-16 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. KJV Note: AMP=Amplified Bible; NKJV=New King James Version 

Just as the Apostle Peter exhorted and encouraged us to be exulted when we suffer for the cause of Christ Jesus our Lord, that is, for the witness of the Gospel of Grace and living a set apart holy life to Him, he now warns us against the sufferings we would endure for living a life that would bring reproach to the Name of Christ and regret to ourselves. Peter warns us with these words, "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters." (1 Peter 4:15) (KJV). The fact and reality that 'born again' sons and daughters of our Beloved Lord Jesus can fall back 🔙 into our old man ♂️ or old woman ♀️ is something we are warned of by not only the Apostle Peter but all of the other writers of the New Testament. This is the ongoing war we have with our 'indwelling sin' (see LaCrae's old song 'Indwelling Sin') that must be mortified and put to death by our yielding our whole selves to the Spirit of God. Remember Matthew 5:29-30. When the old nature is fed more than the new nature then we can live in the same manner we did before we were 'born again' by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Here are just a few of the warnings/commands from the Apostle Paul; (1) "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." (Romans 6:12-13) (NKJV). (2) "For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13) (NKJV). (3) "Therefore put to death your members on the earth 🌎: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Colossians 3:5) (NKJV). The Apostle James even addresses these very sins to brothers and sisters 'in Christ' that Peter speaks of here in 1 Peter 4:15 with very direct, determined, and demanding speech 💬 as it is written declaring to us to destroy the filth that remains in us, that is our 'indwelling sin', so as to keep it from being expressed in our lives, "What leads to [the unending] quarrels and conflicts among you? Do they not come from your [hedonistic] desires that wage war in your [bodily] members [fighting for control over you]? You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your lust goes unfulfilled; so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain [the object of your envy]; so you fight and battle. You do not have because you do not ask [it of God]. You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires. You adulteresses [disloyal sinners - flirting with the world 🌍 and breaking your vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world's friend [that is, loving the things of the world 🌎] is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world 🌍 makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think 💬 that the Scripture says to no purpose that the [human] spirit which He has made to dwell in us lusts with envy?" (James 4:1-5) (AMP). When we suffer for unrighteousness, we may not receive the grace we need from our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us through it triumphantly, for we have brought disgrace and a cause for those outside of Christ to slander His Holy Name. 😭😭😭😭 Here is what Matthew Henry said of 1 Peter 4:15, "That they should take care they did not suffer justly, as evildoers. One would think 💬 such a caution as this needless to such an excellent set of Christians as these were. But their enemies charged them with these and other foul crimes: therefore the Apostle, when he was settling the rules of the Christian religion, thought 🤔 these cautions necessary, forbidding every one of them to hurt the life or the estate and property of anyone, or to do any sort of evil, or, without cause and necessity, to play the bishop in another man's charge, or busy himself in other men's matters." Also let us remember the Christian brother in the Corinthian Church that was having sex with his earthly Father's wife (his step Mother) (1 Corinthians Chapter 5), but he repented and turned away from that sinful behavior and Paul's entire second letter ✉️ was written to that Church for that very purpose to have them restore him into their fellowship and to fully forgive him as Paul himself had done, even in his absence from their physical presence. Of course we know our Lord Jesus Christ had forgiven him and cleansed him from that unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Amen!!!

The Apostle Peter once again declares to us that when/if we suffer for living the set apart holy life that honors our Lord Jesus Christ, then we are to not consider ourselves to be of misfortune, but instead fortunate to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake, as Peter declares with these words, "Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." (1 Peter 4:16) (KJV). Peter was no doubt recounting his own beginning sufferings for Christ when he and the other Apostles were beaten by the Jewish hierarchy as recorded for us with these words by Luke, "And they agreed 💯 with him, and when they had called for the Apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the Name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name." (Acts 5:40-41) (NKJV). For us who have been resurrected from spiritual death there is no shame or disgrace in suffering for holiness and righteousness (that is, for Christ) on the contrary we are only full of shame and disgrace when we dishonor the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ with any unclean living that springs forth from our lives. Here is what Adam Clarke said of 1 Peter 4:16, "If he be persecuted because he has embraced the Christian faith, let him not be ashamed, but let him rather glorify God on this very account. Christ suffered by the Jews because He was Holy; Christians suffer because they resemble Him." Here is something on our suffering from the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary as we witnessed in the Book 📖 of Acts, "The Book 📚 of Acts is in a real sense a book 📖 of renewal, calling the Church 🔙 to its roots, setting a pattern for faithful discipleship, for witness in the footsteps of the Master, and a wholehearted commitment to sacrifice and suffering. It speaks to us even in times of deep discouragement, reminding us of the reality of the Sovereign Hand ✋ of God bringing His Will and purposes for our lives to pass, reassuring us of the reality of the presence of His Spirit in our lives. It challenges us to faithful witness, regardless of what may come our way."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray 🙏 this from your heart ❤️ to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart ❤️ and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen!

 

Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 47b

 Suffering for Jesus Part 17

1 Peter 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy 😁 are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified. KJV Note: AMP=Amplified Bible; NKJV=New King James Version 

Christ came to the earth 🌎 and became a Man ♂️ to put Himself in the place of every sinful man ♂️ and woman ♀️taking God the Father's Eternal wrath against sin upon Himself so that everyone of us who would come to Him in repentance and faith would not have to do so eternally. How then can we shrink back from suffering His reproach as Peter declares with these words, "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy 😁 are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified." (1 Peter 4:14) (KJV). We have just gone by the Christmas 🎄 🎁 season and the little baby 🐥 🍼 Jesus is not the Jesus that suffered 'reproach' and this English word is translated by Greek word oneidezo which means to defame, that is, rail at, chide, taunt. It is the full grown God/Man who walked out of obscurity and into the world 🌍, with His first Words this, "Now after John [the Baptist] was arrested and taken into custody, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good 👍 news 📰 of [the Kingdom of] God, and saying 'The [appointed period of] time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent [change your inner self, your old way of thinking 🤔, regret past sins, live your life in a way that proves repentance; seek God's purpose for your life] and believe [with a deep, abiding trust] in the good 👍 news [regarding salvation].'" (Mark 1:14-15) (AMP). When the Apostle Peter here says in verse 14 that we are being defamed or railed upon or taunted (as was our Lord Jesus Christ) because the Spirit of Glory and of God 'resteth' upon us, we understand that this little English word is translated by the Greek word anapauo which means (reflexively) to repose (literally or figuratively) (remain); by implication to refresh: take ease, refresh, (give, take) rest. We have been refreshed by the Spirit of God with a 'new nature' completely contrary to our 'old nature' we were born with, for we have been 'born again' or 'born from above' and that is why we are persecuted by the devil 👿 and his demons who still have influence and control over unrepentant, unregenerate, and unsaved men and women. This reminds me of these lyrics in one of LaCrae's earlier songs when he wrote, "Everybody got a problem with God, but when you mention 'The Christ' they really get to turning the nod, but some rappers say they roll with Christ believing He was cool with all the sin in their life." We must remember who we were (before 

Christ gave us the gift 🎁 of salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9)) and continue in prayer 🙏 and supplications for all of those still on the outside of His marvelous grace. Paul the Apostle reminds us of this fact and reality with these words he wrote to Brother Titus, "Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good 👍 work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love 💕of God our Savior toward man ♂️ appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done ✅, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:1-7) (NKJV). Can everyone of us who have received this spiritual washing say Amen!!! 

Here is what Albert Barnes had to say of 1 Peter 4:14, "It means that they were to regard their condition or lot as a blessed one; not that they would find personal and positive enjoyment on being reproached and vilified. It would be a blessed condition, because it would be like that of their Savior; would show that they were His friends; would be accompanied with rich spiritual influences in the present world 🌍; and would be followed by the rewards of Heaven. That they might expect that the Holy Spirit would rest upon them, or abide with them, if they were persecuted for the cause of Christ. There may be some illusion here, in language, to the fact that the Spirit of God descended and abode on the Savior at His baptism (John 1:33); and, in like manner, they might hope to have the same Spirit resting on them. The essential idea is, that, if they were called to suffer in the cause of the Redeemer, they would be left or forsaken. They might hope that God would impart His Spirit to them in proportion to their sufferings and that they would have augmented joy and peace. This is doubtless the case with those who suffer persecution, and this is the secret reason why they are so sustained in their trials. Their persecutions are made the reason of a much more copious effusion of the Spirit on their souls. The same principle applies, doubtless, to all the forms of trial which the children of God pass through; and in sickness, bereavement, loss of property, disappointment in their worldly plans, and death itself, they may hope that larger measures of the Spirit's influences will rest upon them. Hence, it is often gain for the believer to suffer. On their part- So far as they are concerned; or by them. He is evil spoken of -That is, the Holy Spirit. They only blaspheme Him, (Greek;) they reproach His sacred influences by their treatment of you and your faith. But on your part He is glorified - By your manner of speaking of Him, and by the honor done to Him in the patience evinced in your trials, and in your purity of life." 

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray 🙏 this from your heart ❤️ to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn 🛞 from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart ❤️ and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen!

Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 47a

 Suffering for Jesus Part 17

1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. KJV Note: AMP=Amplified Bible; NKJV=New King James Version 

Not only does the Apostle Peter want us to not think 💬 it is something strange happening to us when we suffer as followers of Christ Jesus our Lord, but he wants us to instead be full of cheer, that is, to express great 😃 joy as he writes with these words, "But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy 😹." (1 Peter 4:13) KJV. This is because we are sharing in Christ's sufferings and as we are being persecuted, He (Christ) is being persecuted because we are members of His Mystical Body. Before Paul the Apostle was converted by our Lord Jesus Christ, he was zealous for chasing after the followers of (at that time known as 'the Way') Christ as it is written Paul bearing testimony of his own violent behavior, "I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city 🌆 at the feet 🐾 of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our father's law, and was zealous towards God as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the High Priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains ⛓️even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished. Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light 🕯️ from Heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?' So I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.'" (Acts 22:3-8) (NKJV). Notice that our Lord Jesus never said to Saul (at the time), 'Why are you persecuting My followers?' Our willing suffering for Christ sake comes when we adhere to His Word no matter what or where we are and who opposes us or disdains us for declaring and endeavoring to walk out or live out the truth of His Holy Word as Paul said when he wrote this, "Indeed, all who delight in pursuing righteousness and are determined to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be hunted and persecuted [because of their/our faith]." (2 Timothy 3:12) (AMP). Here is what John Wesley had to say of 1 Peter 4:13, "For the measure of the glory answers the measure of suffering; and much more abundantly." Here is what the JFB Commentary had to say of 1 Peter 4:13, "By suffering are we partakers of Christ's sufferings, that is, by faith enter into realizing fellowship with them; willingly for His sake suffering as He suffered. If we will not bear suffering for Christ now, we must bear eternal sufferings hereafter." 

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray 🙏 this from your heart ❤️ to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn 🛞 from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart ❤️ and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen!

Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 46

 Suffering for Jesus Part 16

1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you!" KJV Note: AMP=Amplified Bible; NKJV=New King James Version 

During the time the Apostle Peter wrote these words to our brothers and sisters 'in Christ' in those early days of the beginning of the Church, the persecutions they were experiencing were very serious, even into death, that is, being murdered for being followers of Jesus Christ. Peter wanted to warn them, especially New believers to not be shocked 😳 at the treatment they would receive from Jews and Gentiles alike who were still 'dead in their trespasses and sins', for they were aliens to the life of God as Paul the Apostle wrote with these words to the Ephesian believers, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds,  having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart ❤️; who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." (Ephesians 4:17-19) (NKJV). The Apostle Peter wanted those early believers to be aware that the people outside of Christ would act in very hostile, heinous, and hateful ways towards them because they were still under the power and control of the prince of the power of the air Satan (Ephesians 2:2). This truth is still active for those of us today who truly belong to Christ and for all true born again sons and daughters of Christ Jesus our Lord of every era and generation since the Cross. We who are Christ' have been 'delivered from the power of darkness' (Colossians 1:13), therefore, us and them are like oil 🛢️ and water 💦 which do not mix, so we find Peter writing these words to them and to us to warn us of what to expect in our sojourn and pilgrimage on our way home 🏠 to Heaven and to Jesus, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you!" (1 Peter 4:12) (KJV). The little English phrase 'fiery trial' Peter uses in this verse is translated by the Greek word purosis meaning ignition, that is, (specifically) smelting (figuratively conflagration (a very intense and uncontrolled fire 🔥) , calamity as a test): - burning, trial. One of the reasons the Apostle Peter used this word is because at that time he penned this letter ✉️ Nero was Emperor of Rome and it is documented in the history of ancient Rome that he had many Christians captured bound and set on fire 🔥 to light 🕯️ up areas around his place of residence. Today the fiery trial 's for some believers are not less horrible, haunting, or horrifically carried out as we see hundreds of thousands of people/born again believers in our Lord Jesus Christ in northern Nigeria being murdered/martyred simply because Christ Jesus our Lord brought them out of the lie of Islam and into His marvelous light 🕯️ just as the Apostle Peter said earlier in this same first letter ✉️ with these exact words, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness' into His marvelous light 🕯️; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10) (NKJV). It was the mercy of God that brought those thousands of former Muslims out of that lie and into the truth (John 14:6), so then those remaining Muslims being energized by Satan acted in violence to take their physical lives (as I said earlier of oil 🛢️ and water 💦). Our Lord Jesus Himself warned us and affirmed to us that despite the things that will happen to us on our sojourn that we can rest in His peace, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world 🌎 you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world 🌎." (John 16:33) (NKJV). We can rest in these words of our Lord Jesus Christ and these words that He wrote through our brother 'in Christ' the Apostle Paul, "For we know that if our earthly house 🏠, this tent ⛺, is destroyed, we have a building 🏢 from God, a house 🏠 not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. For in this we groan 😮‍💨, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation,/dwelling which is from Heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent ⛺ groan 😮‍💨, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee/down -payment. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home 🏠 in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, and not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:1-8) (NKJV). Therefore, when we keep these words in mind we can then not think 💬 it is strange or foreign that those who are darkened in their minds are doing these things to us as we follow Christ. Amen!!!

Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of 1 Peter 4:12, "After the benediction in 1 Peter 4:11, might have supposed that the exhortations of the Apostle were ended. But he now proceeds to make general application of the lessons which above (1 Peter 2:18-19) he had confined to a particular class: the Christians who were in great tribulation. St.Peter speaks here, more than in any other passage of the Epistle, as if persecution were afflicting the whole Christian body: 'Beloved'-the word embraces them all-'think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you...as though a strange thing happened unto you.' His strong word implies extreme suffering. St. John uses it (Revelation 18:9; Revelation 18:18) of the burning up of the mystical Babylon, and it is found no where else in the New Testament. A trial meriting this description was harassing the Asian Christians; but spite of the intensity of suffering, which may be inferred from his language, he bids the converts not to wonder at it or deem it other than their proper lot: 'Think it not strange.' He does not enter upon reasons for his admonition, or he might have selected a goodly list of Old Testament saints who for their faith were called to suffer. For the Jewish brethren, Joseph and David, Elijah and Micaaiah, David and his companions in exile, Job and Nehemiah, would have been forcible examples of suffering for righteousness. The Apostle, however, selects only the loftiest instance. Christ, the Master whom they were pledged to serve, had suffered, and had said, besides, that all who would follow Him must take up the Cross. Need they wonder, then, if in their case they found the Lord's teaching come true?" 

If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart ❤️ to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart ❤️ and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen!!!