When Life Ain't Fair, Part 2

The next time you suffer for righteousness' sake, the next time you suffer because of your faith, the next time you suffer because you do the things to honor the Lord. The next time things around you are crumbling because of your commitment to Jesus Christ, you de blessing. Say, how can that be? If you've got your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 1, and I'll explain it to you.

Because some of you are sitting, wait a minute. I'm supposed to consider my unfair situation and then say, gee whiz, it's so good to be in an unfair situation. I am so blessed to be here. Is that what I'm supposed to say? Is that how I'm supposed to react? What does that mean? I feel no joy. I have no excitement. How can I be blessed? Well let's understand that. Luke chapter 1. What do we have? We have Elizabeth speaking to Mary Elizabeth is pregnant. She's going to have the forerunner to the Messiah.

Mary's pregnant. She's going to have the Messiah. And listen to the words of Elizabeth, Luke chapter 1, verse number 42. She says, She cried out with a loud voice and said, Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Mary. Mary, you are the most blessed woman in all the world. Now you could say, well, of course she is. She's got the Messiah in her womb. She's been chosen by God. As of course, she is blessed. Now turn to Luke chapter 2. In Luke chapter 2, you understand the extent of that blessing.

For when she takes the temple to be presented, the baby, to be presented in the temple after the Messiah, our Lord, is born. And Simeon picks up that little infant in his hands and praises his God. Listen to what he says in verse number 34. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed. Here it is, verse number 35. And a sword will pierce even your own soul to the end. Mary is the most blessed of all women because her soul will be pierced through to the end with great sorrow.

How can that be? Because blessedness deals with privilege. Blessedness deals with honor. And Mary was honored and privileged to carry the Messiah. And to be his mother for the time while he was here on earth. Peter says: if you suffer for righteousness' sake, You have divine favor upon you. You are a privileged person. You are the most honorable person. That's your blessing. See the difference? He says, think about it. Just think about it for a minute. If you're suffering for the sake of righteousness, If you're doing the right things, if you're honoring your God, if you're living for your God, if you're doing all you can for your Lord, and you still suffer for the sake of righteousness, if life seems to be crumbling all around you and things And people are treating you unfairly.

Consider it a privilege, an honor, because you've been bestowed divine favor by the Lord God of the universe. That, my friend, is wonderful. How do you handle your difficult circum? Ponder your blessing and then continue to passionately pursue that which is good for your fellow man. Point number three.

If you didn't like the first two, you won't like the third one either. But it's scriptural, and these are what Peter tells people who are going through severe persecution. That's what he says. Verse number 14, the latter half. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not Be troubled. He refers to something. He says, I don't want you to be seized with terror. I don't want you to run and take flight. I don't want fear to consume you. And I don't want you to be agitated. I don't want you to be filled with stress.

I don want you to be filled with trouble. I don want you to be uneasy. I don't want you Be easily shaken, either, Peter says. Don't do that. Psalm 118 has said it well. Psalm 118, verse number 5 reads as follows. From my distress, I called upon the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord. Is for me. I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me. Therefore I shall look with satisfaction on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. Saul said, The Lord's for me. I'm going to take refuge in Him. He's for me. He's behind me. He's with me. He's my guide. He's my protector. If you fear man, it's going to bring nothing but a snare. It's going to do nothing but bring you down and lead you the wrong way. Don't fear man. Fear the Lord. And Peter says, don't be fearful of their intimidation. Because they're going to try to intimidate you. And don't be troubled by them.

Don't do that. Instead, he says, but do this: sanctify Christ as Lord. In your hearts. Don't be afraid and don't be troubled. Instead, put Christ. In the highest place of your life. That's principle number three.

Put him first, put him in his proper place. Consecrate him, set him up as Lord of your life. That is, exalt him, extol his greatness, recognize his sovereign control. Submit to His plan and purposes and fear only Him. When you sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart, it's an internal thing, not an external thing, it's an internal thing. You're putting Christ in the highest place of your life and submitting to his rulership and saying, Lord, you're number one.

You're the one I serve. You're the one I adore. Listen to what the psalm said over in Psalm 34. I love this. Psalm 34. Verse number 9. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for there, or for to those who fear him, there is no want. For those who fear him, there is no want. So Psalmist says, Fear the Lord, you saints. Over in Proverbs chapter 14, verse number 26, it reads as follows. In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and his children will have refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life that one may avoid the snares of death.

So you sanctify Christ as Lord. He is a supreme ruler. Submit to his kingship. Submit to his plans and purposes. Put him in his proper place in your life. Don't fear man. Don't fear what man can do to you. Don't even be troubled or agitated or uneasy about what he might say to you. Instead, sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. And then you will be bold. Then you will be courageous. The secret of calmness, the secret of tranquility. is to sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Maybe Peter's thinking back to John chapter 14 on the eve of the crucifixion when Christ says, Let not your heart be troubled.

You believe in God, believe also in me. Trust me. He goes on to talk about that in my father's house are many mansions. Christ was concerned about his disciples becoming uneasy, fearful, agitated, and troubled. He says, believe me, trust me, lean on me, follow me, and serve me. Peter says the same thing. Don't fear their intimidation, but do this. Set Christ apart in your life as the supreme ruler of your life and ser only him. You have two options. Either have a troubled heart or a tranquil heart.

There is no in-between. What do you have? Is your heart troubled? Agitated? Une? Shaken, or is it tranquil, calm, smooth? At ease because you have sanctified Christ as Lord of your life. Lord, you are the ruler, you are the king. Lord, you orchestrate all the events of life. You're in charge here. I'm not. What's happening to me? I don't like it. What's happening to me? If I had to say it, Lord, yes, I'll say it. I hate it. I don't want it. I don't like it. But The Lord, your King, your ruler. And I set you up in the proper place of my heart that I might fear only you and serve only you.

Now you will note that in your Bible, this is a reference to a verse in Isaiah chapter 8. In Isaiah chapter 8, this is what it says: It says. And you, verse number 12, are not to fear what they fear or be in d of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy. Or, in other words, it is the Lord of hosts that you should sanctify in your heart. And he shall be your fear, and he shall be your dread. Our Lord God was telling. The people of Israel, do not fear what man can do, but set me up as holy in your lives.

Honor me. Fear me. I should be your dread, no one else. And then listen to what God says. Then he shall become a sanctuary. He becomes our place of refuge, you see. Alexander McLaren, in his commentary on Isaiah, says this: The sanctuary was an asylum where men were safe. And if we have made our hearts temples in which Christ is honored, worshipped, and trusted, then we shall dwell in him as in the secret place of the most high and in the inner chamber of the temple if we'll and in the inner chamber of the temple it will be from the she what darkness may lie around.

If we take Christ into our hearts, and reverence and love Him there, He will take us into His heart, and we shall dwell in peace, because we dwell in H. There's a certain dwelling in God, a certain safety in a sanctuary, a certain protection that God gives us when we fear only Him. For he is our dread. He is our king. And we fear not what man can do. But Christ. First, above all else, when life isn't fair.

And then, put number four: prepare to answer. Prepare to answer. Peter says, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account. For the hope that is in you with gentleness and reverence. Listen.

If you don't show it, you can't share it. If Christ is not sanctified in your life, nobody's going to ask you any questions. About your God. Always be ready to give an answer. Always be ready to give a defense. Of what? The hope that lies within. The hope? Yeah. Remember chapter one? The living hope. We've been born again by a living hope. It's a hope that's active. It's a hope that's aggressive. It's a hope that's attractive. It's a kind of hope that's alive. It's the living hope. Well, listen, if you are passionately pursuing that which is good, and on top of that, sitting back and realizing that What's happening to you is happening for righteousness sake, and therefore, you are an honored person.

You have been shown divine favor by God. And therefore, you say, Okay, Lord, you are number one in my life.

You are sovereign ruler in my life. I'm going to give my life to you, follow you, honor you with all that I have. People are going to say, Whoa, wow, how do you do that? You see, if people don't ask you any questions, it's because your life doesn't give any answers. Right? If nobody's saying, hey, you know what? How do you do that? How can you say, how can you endure that? How can you not retaliate? How can you not speak ill of that person? How can you not treat them with contempt? How can you forgive them?

How do you do that? It's because you sanctified Christ as Lord in your heart. That's why. And they're able to see a hope that's alive, vibrant, aggressive. Unfortunately, for the most part, people don't see that hope. Because we act so much like the world. We're vengeful. We act in carnal ways. We say things that are so vile and wretched. And the looks that we give to people are looks that are no better than the world would give to someone once they are offended. Yet we expect to be a testimony for the Lord.

And then we dare to ask, why me? Why am I treated unfairly? Why are these things happening to me? And Peter says, listen, this is what you got to do. This is how it happens. This is where you need to be. And you've got to be prepared to give an answer. People got to know. Well, I like what he says: always, always be ready. You know, we're not always ready, are we? You know why we're not always ready? We're not prepared to give an answer because we're preoccupied with our affliction. That's why. We're preoccupied with ourselves.

We're preoccupied with the fact that, oh, this isn't right. How come it's happening to me? How come we're not having that guy over there? He's worse than I am anyway. He could use some affliction in his life. And we're not prepared to give an answer. Well, we can't be prepared to give an answer if our lives aren't answering the questions that people are asking. And what kind of life gives answers to people's questions? The kind of life that sanctifies Christ as Lord. Sets him up as supreme ruler.

And shows that you're a citizen of his kingdom. That's his kind of life. He says you do it with gentleness and with fear, with great reverence, devotion to God. And deep regard for the truth. One more: pos a good conscience. Possess a good, clear, pure consci. He says, and keep or possess or maintain a good conscience so that In the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. But we put to shame. But only if you maintain a clear, pure conscience.

It deals with a man's integrity. Every man has a conscience. The conscience is the internal mechanism that tells you when something's wrong, when something's not right. Every man has a conscience. And Paul would say in Acts 24:1, I do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men. The conscience is that which. that which accuses or excus a person. It acts as a source of conviction or affirmation as to how you live your life. It's important to possess a clear conscience.

It's the conscience that comes because of a godly life. You know, an impure conscience, listen, is an uncomfortable conscience. Did you know that? You say, well, how do I know my conscience is clear? It's good. It's comfortable. An uncomfortable conscience is an impure conscience. Also note that an impure conscience is unable to withstand listen Stress that originates from trials and persecution. And the impure conscience is unable to handle the stress because it knows down deep. They're at fault, for at least some of it.

But a clear conscience, a clean one, a good one, is one that's right before God and before man. That's why Paul would tell Timothy. He says, I thank my God, whom I serve with a clear conscience. He talks about dealing in sincerity and in truth. Truth governed your life. And you're sincere about how you live your life. And then Peter says, listen, it is better. If God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. If you suffer for doing wrong, you get what's coming to you.

But It is better, if God wills it so, for you to suffer for doing what is right. Maybe God's willed that for you. If you have it, He has. Let me close with this.

Remember Proverbs 16, 7 I quoted to you earlier? When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him? Enemies is a unique word. It's pronounced I in the Hebrew. I means to be host. It's in reference to a personal fo. There is a word in the scripture that's very closely associated with that. It's the word I. E is the name of a person in the scriptures. His name, how we would pronounce it, is Job Job His name means object of enmity. Herbert Lock, in his book All the Men of the Bible, says it means he who weeps.

Now think about that for a moment. There is no better example of a man who suffered at the hands of the enemy in such an unjust Way as Job? Is there? And has he not become the most revered man even in worldly circles? For they always refer to the patience of who? Of Job. He became an object lesson of unfair t. He walked with God. He was a man of integrity. Then all of a sudden, all hell broke loose in his life for no reason at all other than the fact that God said to Satan, Have you considered? E considered him.

And he received such unfair treatment. He didn 't do anything wrong. Nothing. He was the most godly man on the face of the earth. And yet, we admire him. He won the he of people all around the world on how he responded to an unjust situation. And James would write this about Job. Behold, we count those blessed who endure. You have heard of the endurance of Job. And have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of comp and is merciful. You've seen Job, you've heard about him, and you see how the Lord dealt with him.

We spend so much time. Asking why. Why me? And God doesn't give that answer because you don't need to know why. Job never got an answer to the why question. And none of us has suffered nearly as unjustly as he has, or did. But boy, he was a blessed man. And I wonder if we want to be blessed as he was.