This Is Why! -1 Corinthians 15:30

 And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? - 1 Corinthians 15:30

    Paul is nearing the end of one of the greatest apologetic soliloquies for the resurrection of Jesus Christ ever written. He has broken down every conceivable objection to the idea of life after death that could be imagined. And during his articulate destruction of the opposition’s arguments he uttered one simple but gloriously powerful sentence as living proof of our faith. Why, indeed? Why would we as Christians place ourselves in jeopardy every hour.
    “Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” - 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 Yes. Paul is boasting here but he is boasting in Christ because now Paul proudly recalls the many times and instances when he faced persecution and death because he preached the resurrection of the elect, with Jesus Christ being the first fruit of that resurrection!
    In this day and age when we Christians truly are being persecuted for our faith in Christ. Christians are being stood up, asked of our faith, and summarily executed for being believers in Christ. Yes, yes! Why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? Why do we stand before our critics? Why do we stand before our accusers? Why do we stand before our persecutors? We do so because of the empty tomb of Christ Jesus, our Savior. We do so because we have the assurance of our Holy Father in heaven that we will share in that resurrection when the time comes. We do so because the Holy Spirit indwells us and gives us both hope and strength. We stand upon the rock of God’s assurance and if our blood should be spilled upon that rock we can look our critics, our accusers, and our persecutors in the eyes and say to them, “This is why!
    May our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and all the saints assure that our tribulations, our suffering, even our deaths will never be in vain.   

Perfect Assurance - John 10:10

 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. - John 10:10
               
    When I was young man, many, many, many years ago I was a boxer. Each Tuesday night I would go to the Miami Beach Auditorium, check in with my trainers and proceed to prepare for the night’s bout. And each night, before I walked out to the ring, my lead trainer would grab my wrists, hold my fists up in front of my face and growl at me, “It’s yours to win, kid!” I would nod stoically and go forth to meet my opponent in the ring. Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose, but as my trainer so aptly put it, as far as it was up to me, the responsibility to win, to persevere, was mine. It was quite a frightening supposition. At 18 years old I was given the task of securing the outcome of the fight. Quite a tall order, no matter how good you are.
    As an older man now (notice I said, “older,” not “old”) I am secure in my knowledge of my own salvation and I thank my God that the task of securing that outcome is not left up to me!
“Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”- Romans 8:33-35 In a word, no one. No one and nothing can separate me from the love of God and therefore nothing can take away my assurance of salvation. I certainly can not earn it on my own nor can I lose it on my own! That is perfect assurance.
    Such assurance has been promised to us by our Savior, Jesus Christ. By His very words we are assured - “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” - John 10:28. This is Jesus talking. It doesn’t come with greater assurance than that! He said we shall never perish. Never means never! In this case we can say, “never.” My gratefulness is extended to God on two fronts: one, that I can never lose my salvation; and two, that it’s not incumbent upon me to keep it secure. To quote Dr. John MacArthur - “If I could lose my salvation, I would.” God preserves me and God preserves you. God preserves us all who are truly saved. And what of those who genuinely have lost their faith? “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” - 1 John 2:19. Truly, those who are genuinely saved will persevere through the love of Christ. Let us give thanks to God for our salvation and the perseverance of the saints.

Called To Judgement - John 7:24

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. - John 7:24

    It is not a sin to make a judgment call. All too often Christians are accused of “judging others.” And in most cases this is probably true. The mantra for unbelievers and believers of the liberal vein has probably seen more use than a coffee cup. “Judge not, that you be not judged.” - Matthew 7:1. This is the most powerful weapon in their armories. “It’s in the Bible; it’s in the Bible!’ They scream with near hysterical conviction, as though these were the only words Jesus ever uttered. But we know that contention to be false. We need to remember the circumstances under which Jesus made the comment to judge with righteous judgment.  It was during the Feast of Tabernacles that He “secretly” arrived in Judea amidst the people who were strongly divided as to whether He was “good” or whether He should be killed. Remember that there had already been talk of killing him among the pharisees. Still He stood among them, teaching as He had before. Ultimately He would remove Himself from the scene as they once again attempted to take Him before His time had come.  Christ was referring to Himself when He called for the crowd to judge with righteousness. “You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.” - John 8:15. Jesus was simply declaring that mankind, by its very nature, judges according to what it sees. The inference then is that we tend to judge others by an arbitrary standard that we put in place according to our specific “moral or ethical whims.” This we cannot do. We are told to judge with righteousness! From where does this righteousness come? “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” - 2 Corinthians 5:21 Yes, from Jesus Christ! Jesus is righteousness in the flesh. Our judgments need to be tempered by the righteousness that IS God. Therefore our judgments must follow the righteousness prescribed by God’s holy word. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” - 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Given by God, for righteousness, that a man may be equipped for every good work! The terminology is clear; the message is clear. When we judge, our judgments must be based upon the righteousness of God as given to us in the Bible. And when we judge, the measure that we judge others by will indeed be used to judge us, but we will have nothing to fear if we are living testaments to Jesus Christ, or Lord and Savior!
We are called to judge. We are called to be discerning in our lives. And discerning means making righteous choices, decisions, and judgments about others as we are guided by God’s word on the matter. Christ, Himself, calls us to make righteous judgments and there is no sin or danger of judgment if we do so according to His command. May we always remember that it is not what we see, hear, or perceive that calls us to judge but the word of God that demands a righteous judgment.