Introduction: Daniel is one of the most debated books when it comes to its prophetic sections. There are some cryptic passages about which there’s no paucity of debate. But what is clear in the section I want to look at in this piece is Daniel 11:32-35. These four verses speak to a vital issue, namely, the alternatives facing a people. Follow me …

Text:

32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. 33 And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, 35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time. (Dan 11:32-35, ESV)

Most scholars with which I’m familiar teach that the man referred to here is Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the 160s B.C. and the Maccabean revolt that resulted due to Antiochus’ destruction and profanation of the temple in Jerusalem.

First, what interests me here is how “the wise among the people” (v. 33) behaved. What does the text say about them? It says they “knew their God” and that they “[stood] firm” and “[took] action” (v. 32).

Second, the wise helped others understand because destruction was afoot (v. 33).

Third, a winnowing occurred as part of judgment (vv. 34-35). In other words, purification.

God was refining His people. He was separating wheat from chaff. He was using suffering to purify His people. He was teaching them.

Encouragement: The alternative was made plain, in other words. God’s people could either bow to the pagan forces and capitulate or they could stand firm in the Lord, and fight for truth and light. This is simple but not easy. Simple, I say, but not easy.

The Issue: The Matter of Separation vis-à-vis the Truth

Background: For over a year now I have been teaching the saints from class. We are near the end now of Matthew’s gospel. This Sunday we will be in Matthew 26. This is where the chief priests and elders plot together to kill the Lord Christ. It is also the section in Matthew’s gospel where a woman anoints Jesus’ body with very expensive ointment she pours from her alabaster flask. And do you know what’s happening? A separation is occurring. A division between the spiritually hardened (the chief priests and elders) and the spiritually regenerate and tender (the woman with the flask of ointment) unfolds in real. Two types: those hostile to the truth vs. those who embrace the truth.

Jesus’ Words about the Woman:

10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her” (Mt 26:10-13, ESV).

Teaching: In sum, Jesus was rebuking those who were more concerned with criticizing the woman than with embracing Him as the only Savior. They were more concerned with external appearances and finances. Meanwhile Jesus says this woman’s obedience will remain forever lauded wherever the gospel is proclaimed. How’s that for a commendation?

Encouragement: When your desire is to please the Lord, rest assured that separation will occur. Those whose longing is for the approval of man will resent you. But your obedience is known by the Lord Christ. Stay true, stay humble, and trust the Lord.

Introduction: We Soldiers love lists. We have packing lists, lists for manifests, lists of personnel and equipment, lists that accompany various pieces of equipment, etc. I carry a little black notebook nearly everywhere with me that contains, you guessed it, lists that I have for each day—everything from my Bible-reading plan, to Soldiers I counsel, to what I’m teaching on at church, to reminders to contact my dad for his birthday this week.

Segue: The Apostle Peter provides a list, too, and it’s for the Christian.

Here’s the text:

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pt 1:5-7, ESV).

Teaching: In plain terms, all Peter is teaching is that our theology is made visible by our lives, our behavior. “What a man believes, he lives; everything else is just talk,” is a way I’ve heard it and even phrased it myself.

To what does the phrase “For this very reason” in the beginning here refer? The reality of true repentance and saving faith that God grants to His people. Peter’s saying to us, “If you’re born again, live like it.”

Encouragement: What encourages me so much is that Peter knew his own weaknesses. He wasn’t too big for his britches. I mean, think about it. The Apostle Peter was also the man who denied his Lord three times on the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested—just as Jesus had predicted. It was fulfilled in precise detail. Don’t we think that Peter always carried that shame with him? I do. I don’t think he ever forgot how he betrayed his Lord. But Peter was still a ransomed sinner and apostle of Christ. Be encouraged, is what Peter’s saying. Why? Because he, too, blew it. And yet Christ restored him. May we learn from Peter’s list, just like the Apostle Peter did. He gave his life in service to the Redeemer. What an honor.

Text from 1 Peter 4:

¹² Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. ¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. ¹⁶ Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. ¹⁷ 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? ¹⁸ And

“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
    what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

¹⁹ Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Context: “Suffering as a Christian” is the superscription editors have placed in most English Bibles. As a summary headline. It summarizes the big idea(s) of what immediately follows. Therefore, let us examine what follows in these sentences from the Apostle Peter, especially the phrase “insofar as” found in verse 13.

Here are the “big ideas” from the passage as a whole:

• The wisdom of spiritual vigilance (v. 12)
• The necessity of suffering due to one’s Christian witness, not suffering due to one’s folly (vv. 13-16)
• Judgment of the Christian/church (v. 17)
• Trusting God as sovereign (v. 19)

This Phrase: “Insofar as” is crucial as a phrase. It appears in v. 13: “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” Grammatically speaking, it functions here as a conjunction that essentially means, “to the degree that” or “to the extent to which.” It’s a meausement, in other words, a comparison.

Why It’s Important: Context, context, context; that’s why “insofar as” is vital. What’s Peter’s main point in his first letter? Joy amidst suffering. Don’t forget that. It’s not to be a fake joy, a sort of perfunctory facade of “Too blessed to be stressed” nonsense platitudes. No, none of that silliness.

Rather it is a divine joy imparted to the Christian who has learned to understand that trials come by the providence of God who ordains even evil for His purposes. Isaiah 45:7 (ESV) reminds us of this truth:

I form light and create darkness;
    I make well-being and create calamity;
    I am the Lord, who does all these things.

Encouragement: “Insofar as” is important, dear reader, because, as a conjunction, it links the thoughts of joy and suffering. We’re not to be surprised at the fiery trials (v. 12) because they’re part of God’s plans for His people. He uses our sufferings for His glory. Admittedly, this is a hard lesson of Scripture, but it is there nonetheless. Learning to persevere in God amidst the fiery trials burns away spiritual fat in our lives, conforming us to the image of God the Son. We don’t like suffering, but it is (we must say it) good for us when it’s part of God’s plan. Not self-inflicted suffering, mind you; that’s our own folly. But the text says that when we suffer as Christians, then we should rejoice and be glad. That’s a hugely important distinction.

Are you struck down? Are you amidst fiery trials? Are you persecuted? If you’re a follower of the Lord Christ, rejoice, Christian pilgrim, for God has His hand upon you and is using those sufferings to draw you to Himself.

Question: Ever heard of a counterfeit? Perhaps it was a piece of paper currency (see below, e.g.). This is the way counterfeit is defined:

c. 1300, countrefeten, “pretend to be,” from countrefet (adj.), Old French contrefait “imitated” (Modern French contrefait), past participle of contrefaire “imitate,” from contre- “against” (see contra-) + faire “to make, to do” (from Latin facere “to make, do,” from PIE root *dhe- “to set, put”).

The Apostle Peter wrote to address, in particular, Christians dispersed across what is now present-day Turkey. Why? To encourage them to persevere. But there was a way they’d know if they were the real deal.

Text from 1 Peter 1:

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Pt 1:3-7, ESV).

Observations: Will we notice how understated Peter’s opening salvo is? These persecuted Christians, dispersed across Turkey, fearful of political persecution, might be grieved just a bit by “various trials.” Um, yes! We need to know our church history; we need to know what it cost to be a believer in their generation. It could easily have cost them their lives, and the lives of their families. In sundry cases, it did.

How different from our day! For that, we should be grateful, right? Or should we? A case could be made that fake Christianity (i.e., no Christianity at all) is a plague upon the house of professing Christianity in much of the West. That is, nothing stinks quite like hypocrisy.

Encouragement: This is what Peter’s teaching us, dear ones, namely, that our genuineness will be tested.

May we come forth like the man David described in Psalm 19:14, ESV: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart/be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

Press on, Christian pilgrim, and prove you’re the real deal.

Bottom line up front: The benefit of trials.

Context: Rome, Italy. Circa 60-68 A.D. The Apostle Peter pens two letters of the New Testament. Their themes revolve around several related themes: perseverance, endurance, suffering, and contending for the truth amidst false worldviews. For this short piece, I just want to focus on perseverance.

Text from 1 Peter 1:

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹ obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Pt 1:3-9, ESV)

Connections for Us: No matter how many times I go through this text, it encourages me because Peter, a man who was such a saint of the Lord also had some really bad days and nights. He denied the Lord three times, e.g. He walked on the water . . . for a bit. But then, once again, his faith waned. We could go on. Peter was, dare we say it, a fellow sinner, a man with feet of clay. Can you relate? I certainly can.

Encouragement/takeaway: In the opening salvo of his first letter, Peter reminds us of a few things:

• God keeps His people (1 Pt 1:3)
• We are guarded by no one less than the triune God (1 Pt 1:5)
• Perseverance is rewarded (1 Pt 1:6-7)

In short, we are to press on in persevering faith, knowing that our Commander is good, gracious, and sees our labors. Rest in that truth, and work hard.

Introduction: I was again focused on Mark 15, and Mark’s account of the crucifixion of Christ. The mockery of Christ was staggering:

• A placard with “The King of the Jews” was affixed to the cross above His head called the titulus (Mk 15:27).
• Criminals were crucified on both sides of Him (Mk 15:27)
• The crowds mocked Him still, even as he was on the cross: And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” (Mk 15:29-30, ESV)
• “So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe” (Mk 15:31-32a, ESV).

Let that sink in. The King had come to save a people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. And yet the religious leaders, the political establishment, and the vast majority of people rejected Him.

And what was revealed was the stony hearts of the people. They were in love with their traditions, with their perceived power, with their sin.

Mark uses powerful verbs in illustrating the naysayers’ natures; he says they “mocked” and “derided” Jesus.

Can you fathom the evil of taunting the Holy? Can you fathom the evil of dressing the Lord Jesus in a purple cloak and crowning Him with a crown of thorns (Mk 15:17) and kneeling before Him–but all in mockery?

And Scripture says the crowds spat upon Christ (Mk 15:19).

Public shame. Mockery. Taunts. Then made to carry a cross until He had to have help, on his ascent up Golgotha (Mk 15:21).

One great hymn describes it this way:

“Bearing shame and scoffing rude, / In my place condemned he stood, / Sealed my pardon with his blood: / Hallelujah, what a Savior!” (“Man of Sorrows”)

And yet . . . this was God’s plan from before the foundation of the world. Here’s the way Peter lays it out:

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:22-24, ESV).

Encouragement: There are many, many reasons I am a follower of Christ. And I am glad to provide those reasons to any sincere questioner. But one of the most comforting of those reasons is found here: Christianity is clearly of divine origin. If this were a manufactured religion, it would make man the hero rather than a God of the cross. But Christianity alone has the God of the cross who came for sinners, and who died in our stead, and then triumphed over judgment, proving Himself to be the sole sufficient, acceptable offering to God. It hinges on His penal substitutionary atonement for all who will come in repentance and faith.

Introduction: At my core, I’m a man of the soil. I tend to be suspicious of perceived elites–whether they’re that (‘elites’)– labeled that way taxonomically due to wealth, status, power, looks, or whatever.

I’m very much at home with folks who know what it’s like to have worn dungarees, shelled peas with Grandma, and used a weed eater/trimmer when it was known as a sling blade. Some folks are ashamed of sweating and of having shopped at Walmart. I’m not one of those. (I’m a soldier. I sweat daily, and there’s no telling how much money I’ve spent at Walmart over the last 40 years. Maybe their actuaries could tell you.)

Slice of life: Once again I was blessed to be part of serving the saints in a small called-out assembly. They were like me–sinners, hungry for the word from the Lord, hungry to know someone cares about them and puts in the work on their behalf.

We were in Matthew 24 this morning at our assembly. The precious saints again turned out, and we assembled under the authority of Scripture. In short order, we came to highly-controversial sentences:

Then . . . this:

So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, ¹⁸ and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ¹⁹ And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! ²⁰ Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ²² And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ²³ Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, I have told you beforehand. ²⁶ So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷ For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸ Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. (Mt 24:15-28, ESV)

So what? The So what? is this: Don’t be a fool; be discerning. Be wise. Be a man/woman of understanding and redemption.

Encouragement: Christian pilgrim, are you down? Same here. Are you overwhelmed by the news of your day? Do you feel the temptation to give in to evil, to feel like ‘this present darkness’ overpowers you?

Takeaway: Have you ever read about when Paul was in prison in Rome? Have you read of Bunyan imprisoned in England? Have you read about when Edwards was fired from his church in Massachusetts? Have you read about how he (an intellect like few others) was fired from the church he served for decades? Have you read of Spurgeon’s spiritual darkness in London, or of Sproul and MacArthur, fighting for the sovereignty of God in Orlando, FL and Los Angeles, CA in the 1970s-2000s?

Probably not. It’s glossed over. But it was real. There were warriors in our past. When you think of how the medical Dr. Lloyd-Jones left off his career in medicine to be a doctor of men’s souls, it puts steel in your Christian spine. May we learn from these faithful ones–learn to persevere, endure, and discern wisdom from folly, the genuine from the false, and depth from distraction.

Introduction: I was reading Mark 7 from the New Testament recently and was again struck with how often Jesus the Christ teaches on reality vs. appearance. In short, God hates hypocrisy and posing. God wants righteousness that issues from a gospel-transformed nature. The standard of righteousness is God’s holiness; it is never human vainglory. Nothing is quite so despicable as a man who thinks he is quite something. My precious but now-deceased grandmother might have said, “Rooster, that fella’s too big for his britches.”

Here’s the text from Mark 7:

Traditions and Commandments

7 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, ² they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” ⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their heart is far from me;
⁷ in vain do they worship me,
    teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

⁸ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” (Mk 7:1-8, ESV)

Teaching: The Pharisees and scribes were guilty of what, according to Jesus? External righteousness and internal rottenness of soul. Their hearts were cold and hard. But they appeared righteous to the undiscerning.

But whose standard is supreme? The Pharisess’ standards? The scribes’ standards? The standards of Thursday afternoon? Or Tuesday morning’s standards? How about Saturday’s standard? Whose standard is supreme? The question answers itself, if one is faithful to Scripture.

Secular sinful standards fluctuate based upon nothing more than the druthers of the sinners issuing them.

Takeaway: The Lord Jesus told these hypocrites to their faces that they honored Him with their lips but that their hearts (their true natures) were far from Him. In other words, they were rejected by the Holy One, because they loved the applause of man rather than the commendation of God. Let the reader understand. (Nothing quite teaches like authenticity.)