God Never Said It Would Be Easy

If there's something that we see in the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation, is that God told those that would follow Him, that it was never going to be easy.

So God made it clear to follow Him, it was going to take sacrifice, dedication. We're going to be tested. We're going to have to overcome many things. So God never said it would be easy, but He said it would be well worth it. That's what's so important.

Notice in John 16, verse 33, this is what Christ told us. He said that people would go through tribulations and trials.

John 16, verse 33, He said, 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. So we have the best help possible. If we rely on Him, if we walk with Him, He's going to be there. And of course, God the Father is helping us as well. So we have the two most powerful beings who created the whole universe and everything imaginable, visible and invisible. And they said, Be of good cheer. We're going to be with you. We're going to help you out.

Notice in Psalm 34, Psalm 34, starting in verse 14. David also went through a lot in his life, and he said, Psalm 34, verse 14, So God knows He's in charge. Now sometimes we might be puzzled. Sometimes the trials last longer than imagined. Just think about Job, how he thought he was going to die. He had a terrible sickness from the top of his head down to the bottom of the soles of his feet. Everything hurt. As they say in Spanish, even the hair hurt, if you can imagine some of that, the follicles of hair. And yet God delivered them. God intervened. So God has the last word.

And I think Christ put it in a very succinct way in Mark 10, verse 28. This is what God promised us. This is what we're going through presently in life. Mark 10, verse 28. Then Peter began to say to him, See, we have left all and followed you. And here in the congregation, people have sacrificed to come into the church. Some people sacrificed families, wealth, position, many rewards they could have received. They sacrificed when they entered the church. And so he said, so Peter said, Well, we have left all. And so this is what Christ answered, verse 29.

We're saying we're going to put you first in our lives. We're going to sacrifice what is necessary. And many of the things that people accumulated and positions and all kinds of benefits, they left those behind. And they said, we're going to put you first. And as a result, you get to have a new church family, brothers, sisters. In that sense, we are all part of the same family. We're going to have properties as a person comes into the church. God blesses people who take him into consideration, who are faithful to him. But there are going to be persecutions. There are going to be difficulties, tests and trials. And in the age to come, when Jesus Christ comes back, you're going to receive eternal life. Can you imagine what it's like to have eternal life? It means that you will never have another pain in your body. It means that you will not watch yourself deteriorate physically. And many times what happens is that as a congregation, we age and time creeps up on us. And eventually, it's like an old used car that the parts have gone through a lot and they get worn out. Even though the body replenishes itself, but it never gets back to that pristine condition in your twenties that you once had. And that is just a fact of life. As we age, get into the sixties and seventies and eighties, there are more chances. Things go wrong with our bodies. That is a natural situation. Every person since the time of after the flood, when God limited man's time on earth to the maximum of 120 years. And after that, it's been went down to 80, 70, many times because of infectious diseases. People sometimes they died in their forties and fifties. So it has never been easy. And yet, we have to remember, we have been greatly blessed. Although we will suffer trials and afflictions. Notice what it says in Zechariah, in the Old Testament, Zechariah chapter 2. Zechariah chapter 2. One of the last books in the Bible, in the Old Testament. Zechariah 2 verse 8. It says, For thus says the Lord of hosts, He sent me after glory to the nations which plunder you. For He who touches you touches the apple of his eye. I always wondered, what does that mean? Apple of your eye. And I thought, well, how can an eye have an apple? What does that mean? But it actually means this little corner part here, where you have the gland where tears come. And there's this little section there, which is very delicate. And so it's used in this way, talking about something that God considers special. All of you, God considers special. You are part of the people He calls the apple of my eye. Notice another scripture where it talks about the same thing in Psalm 17.9.

Now, men usually don't deal with the apple in your eye, but I can tell you, women do. They look into the little baby's eyes, and they look and see how that little apple is. It's a little reddish. Actually, very special part. Psalm 17 in verse 9, David said he was part of God's people that are the apple of God's eye. Psalm 17, verse 9, it says, They have closed up their fat hearts with their mouths. They speak proudly. And in verse 8, he says, Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wing. So he's saying, protect me, just like that special part of your body, that you are something special to God. Proverbs 7 talks about the apple of the eye, but it mentions something now that is not God who does it. It is us who should do something, who should consider something as the apple of the eye. Notice in Proverbs 7, verse 2, it says, Keep my commands and live in my law as the apple of your eye. Be very careful. Guard it, protect it as you would the apple of your eye.

Of course, much of the tribulation comes because Satan hates us and has blinded those in the world. So Satan tries to get at us one way or the other. He's the great tempter.

He's always there trying to damage things. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3, Paul says, talking about those who do not see the truth, but even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. Those are people who are just going to die natural deaths without coming to the knowledge of the truth. Whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. And so, yes, that precious truth is shining in our hearts. God has called us. But Satan still is out there, and he will persuade people to persecute God's own as much as possible. John chapter 16, notice here how Satan is going to deceive people to the point where they're thinking that persecuting God's actual people, the apple of God's eye, they're actually doing a service to God. In John chapter 16, verse 1, he says, These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues. The term here can be used for churches, because it just means assemblies. That's what synagogues mean, places of assembly. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things I have told you that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. And so notice they have not known the Father and me. Where is the Holy Spirit here? It's not talking about a trinity. It's talking about God the Father and Jesus Christ. And so you need to be in a church where they're teaching about God the Father and Jesus Christ, and not as the Holy Spirit, as a person, because it would have been insulting if Christ didn't say, well, they have not known God the Father or me or the Holy Spirit. After all, if the Holy Spirit is the one that's a person and has his own personhood, then he should be also included. But no, it says they have not known the Father nor me. And so we should always, in the midst of trials, remember the incredible privilege of being called now, of having these wonderful blessings. Our bodies are going to get old, they're going to get sick, but inside we've got these precious treasures that nobody can take away from us. Notice in Matthew 13 and verse 17, Matthew 13 and verse 17, and we need encouragement, and the Bible offers encouragement in the midst of our trials and difficulties. Notice what it says, starting in verse 16, it says, But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. You're able to listen to the truth and understand it and accept it. He says, For assuredly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desire to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. So even the Old Testament prophets, they only had an inkling of the precious truths that now have been fully blown up, have been fully exposed. So we have the great privilege.

Now any of you would go out there and you would know so much more than all of these theologians in all these churches. If you were planted, if God opened up people's ears and eyes, you would be the revealers of truth. You would change all of their lives. Now there will be a time you will do that.

And you're preparing for that. But just think about the privilege that you understand truth that kings and wise men never got to understand. Notice in Luke 12, verse 31, Luke 12, verse 31. Christ said, But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things, all the physical things, shall be added to you.

Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, those that are humble, those who accept God's calling and His truths throughout this life.

God has given us every good gift, but we live in a world where there's a lot of bad things that go on. And we know we're all subject to physical laws, sometimes accidents can happen, sicknesses, sometimes infectious diseases that a person can have. So all of these things, we are subject to them. But just remember what we have to give things about. It has never been easy. Take, for instance, in Jesus' day, what was it like? Some people idealize and think, oh, that would have been wonderful to live in the time of Jesus. You think so? Let me give you some descriptions of what life was like in Jesus' day some 2,000 years ago.

First, if you were part of the Israelite people, you were in captivity. You had been in captivity for approximately 60 years since the Romans had invaded and taken over the country. So you were actually in a country that you couldn't claim to be ruled by yourselves. You were being ruled by others. And who was the one who was governing? It was Rome. The fourth beast of Revelation 2, right? The one that crushed everything that was just so powerful and beat everything down. So how would you like to be under the rule of the Romans, where they just had these armies that would come? And if you became a rebel, you knew it was crucifixion. It was the worst death possible. That was the worst torture they could come up with. Four men, women, whoever it was. So you think it was easy to be a Christian at that time? When the Roman government prohibited private meetings, everything had to be done in official places like the synagogues. And then in house meetings there you were suspect, and the Romans had spies everywhere. It was like a big mafia where they controlled everything. They had spies. And as long as you let them govern, they wouldn't bother you. Except, of course, that you had to pay taxes on your land, taxes on your produce, taxes for using roads, taxes for not being a Roman citizen. So you had a tax for that as well. And by the way, when Joseph and Mary, when the decree from Augustus Caesar went out, everybody should go to their places of birth and there go through a census. It wasn't just, oh, I'm going to Bethlehem, and I'll just mention that, yes, I live, I was born in this town. It wasn't a census. It was so the Romans would have all the information on you. How many people were in your family? Where did you live? What kind of land did you possess? Because according to the land was the tribute, the taxes you had to pay for.

They wanted the goods on you. And so it was a way to control people this way. And that's why they had to make this big journey while Mary was pregnant. And by the way, it's one of those strange truths in the Bible that usually they think, oh, Joseph and Mary got there and oh, you know, she was having birth pains. And they're running around trying to find a place and everything's busy. And no, it wasn't that way because it says they arrived in Bethlehem. And then afterwards, she had her the birth of her son. So there was a time between when they arrived in Bethlehem and they had it. There wasn't this big rush. The problem was, where was she going to have the birth? And so we go into that sometimes. But even that type of idea that, oh, she just is about ready to have the baby when she gets to Bethlehem is not true. You can read that in Luke and Matthew.

So what happened if you didn't pay your taxes? Well, it wasn't this tax man that would come in and say, well, we're going to give you a little fine. You're going to have to pay. No, no, it was jail. It was getting beaten.

The Romans had thugs that were hired just like in the Mafia. If you didn't pay that tax, you were going to get beaten up.

And if you refused to pay back the money, you ended up in a jail and you could even be killed. So there wasn't this soft pedaling and niceness to them.

They were ruthless when you defied anything. And so Rome got the taxes from all their conquered territories, but they were pretty smart because they didn't do it directly with the people.

And so they hired from the people the tax collectors, which were called the publicans. And so the publicans were the Jews that made sure that everybody paid all the taxes.

And the Romans said, now, this is how much we need from Israel or Judea in that section. This is how much money has to come in every year.

Now, if you can make a lot more money out of getting it from the people, the rest is yours. And of course, they all worked to extort and take a lot more out of it.

Well, how'd you like to live in that area? How was it living in a typical house? Most of the houses either had just one floor and then they would use the roof.

There was usually, though, if a person had a profession, they lived in a two-story house. But the first story was for the animals.

Because you couldn't just let the animals and pens out at night. They had thieves. And so what'd you do? You had to close them in. And you had them in the first floor of the house. And that's why there was this manger or that was the feeding trough that was inside the house there. And the animals would go to sleep and all that heat would rise up and warm. The second story, where you got to live with your family. Many times, more than one family lived in this basically like two rooms in the second floor. No privacy, no bathrooms. You had to go out into the field and they had these little outhouses that they would use at that time. And so you didn't have nice cushy beds. Basically, you had a mattress, a mat, that you just extended out on the floor. And then you slept with your cloak. That was your blanket.

And so the houses were pretty smelly. That's why people like to go outdoors during the day. You didn't have dishwashers and washing machines. And so most people, maybe they had two tunics.

And that was it. And then, of course, you had a robe on top of that. And then you had the third outerwear, which was more of a cape or something like a jacket that you would put.

How about work?

Most of the day, from sunup to sunset, the men would go out in the fields and work until sunset. The women would work, doing all the housework, going to the main square with their jars, where there's this well that you have to dig and pull out the water and buckets, because there was no piping and all the nice conveniences at that time. It was backbreaking work. The men came back, and basically you worked 12 hours a day because your survival depended on the crops. There was no refrigerators. If you had bad crops, you could starve. And so you worked with very elementary tools. How about what did you drink? Most of the time, they drank wine, which was watered down. One part wine, two parts water, because the water wasn't very good.

You had bacterias and amoebas and all of this. Many times, all these cities or towns, you just have a river, and everybody would wash and throw trash and whatever. And so don't think it was this ideal life at all. Notice in 1 Timothy chapter 5, what Paul tells Timothy for his stomach aches. He probably had some type of amoebas in his system because this was recurrent affliction. 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse 23, he says, He says, So here we have Paul. Why didn't he just heal? Timothy. No, Timothy was not being healed. That was just a fact of life. Not everything is healed like you would like to. Paul, with all his faith, he had his faithful companion, and he says, well, you've got all these infirmities. And so he says, do something physically for it in the meantime. And of course, wine is an antiseptic. It was used for the water because it contained a bit of alcohol, and that killed some of the bacterias and amoebas in the water. It also helped with any type of infections that he might have in his stomach as well. In those days, physicians were of only partly useful abilities that they had. But they did have physicians in every village. The Jews in the Talmud mentioned about the physicians they would establish somebody. Somebody broke a bone. Somebody who had an illness. There was always somebody there that was in charge, and they needed to have a license for that to be able to practice. In Matthew 9, verse 12, Christ said, when he heard that, he said to them, talking about the Pharisees, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So he was recognizing that the person, if he's healthy, he doesn't need the help of a physician. But those that are sick do need the help of a physician. And so this idea that everybody just had to depend on God for everything is not a biblical principle as such. In Luke chapter 4, verse 23, again, talking about in Christ's day, how things were, in Luke chapter 4, verse 23, He said to them, You will surely say, this proverb to me, Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum do also here in your country. And so they had this idea that you should first apply the remedy to yourself. The physician should be an example. And so that was a common statement that first apply it to yourself. We want to see how you recover from it before you begin prescribing and recommending these remedies.

In Colossians chapter 4, one of Paul's followers was a physician. Colossians chapter 4, in verse 14, it says, Luke, the beloved physician and Demas greet you. So Luke had knowledge. Paul didn't disparage him. But Luke had a lot of knowledge in this way. His gospel has the most medical terms of all the rest of the gospels or in the New Testament.

This one medical term after another. He knew when people had different diseases, he could properly identify them. And so in Christ's day, it was not easy. And the Romans required emperor worship, which meant that you had to go and offer a sacrifice in order to be at peace with the Roman government. And the Christians refused. And many of them died because of that. Are we under that type of pressure? Are we going through the persecution like they did in that first century and centuries afterwards as well?

No. We live in a nice, cushy society. Everybody's protected with the freedom of religion. You have rights. And we're very thankful because in Christ's day, if I was speaking and talking in this way, the Romans could come in and drag me out because I was not honoring Caesar. I was not talking about go, offer a sacrifice to Caesar. In those days, ministers were martyred. They were killed very often. Somebody else would have to substitute for them, just like they did with all the apostles eventually died. Paul was killed by the sword and many others. So we're not being persecuted as bad at all. And yet sometimes we think, oh, woe is me. I'm going through the worst situation imaginable.

So we should put it all into perspective. Every century has had its trials and difficulties, just as we have in our day. There are trials now that they didn't have in Christ's day. Let's go to Luke, chapter 17, verse 26.

They didn't have it very well. If you asked me, I wouldn't have wanted to live in Christ's day. I would have loved to follow Christ and been there, but not the world that they lived. It was not very easy going at all. In Luke, chapter 17, verse 26, Jesus Christ described right before he would return. Again, going to verse 25, just to get the sentence in context.

But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married wives that were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. So Christ talked about that it was going to be like in the day of Lot, which was characterized by the immorality of society and by the time of Noah, which was characterized by the violence that filled the earth.

And those two things are happening now in tandem. Together they're acting this way. And so in Christ's day, they didn't have a Sodom and Gomorrah or Noah's day type of society. People were more decent, more normal. It was more of a rural society. Sure, they had a lot of limitations. Life could be snuffed out so quickly in so many ways. You didn't have all of these hospitals and protection if you got injured. But it's not like today where we are living in a virtual Sodom and Gomorrah.

We have a lot of comforts, but we're also saturated with so many dangerous chemicals in the air, land, food, and water. Just think what we have read this past week. There's an arms buildup that is starting up. Russia and China, and now the United States, are trying to catch up because with the treaties, especially the mid-range treaties with Russia, the Russians have cheated. They have built missiles that they were not supposed to, and now they finally said here in the States, no more.

You've been cheating long enough, but this is going to start an arms race again. Now we're talking about arming space. And I just heard from the US government that they don't discount that there are going to be nuclear weapons in space one day. Why? Because if we don't do it, the other ones are going to do it. It's always this race to do it, get it in there first. And so we live in a very dangerous age.

So, brethren, we have to count our blessings. We are so thankful that God called us and we're able to apply biblical principles to our health. How much worse would we be if we would have taken another path in our lives? Just follow the world. How many things would be going wrong in our lives that we see around us? I look at my family and they've got all kinds of problems. We've got all kinds of issues that are constantly happening. I'm the oldest of four and I can tell you stories about what has happened to all the rest of the siblings.

Not all of them are in bad shape, but I'm just saying there's a lot of things that have gone wrong. Bankruptcies, all kinds of problems, immorality, drug problems. So that's pretty much common nowadays.

Remember, sin has long-lasting consequences. Many diseases are related to the mind or the body. We start doing wrong things with our minds or with our bodies. That's going to have consequences on our health. Galatians 6, verse 7 gives us this principle. Galatians 6, verse 7 says, It's an everlasting life. So what we sow, we're going to reap the consequences. That's why it's important to repent before those consequences build up. And many people end up with broken health because of all the things that have happened in the past. Let's go to James, chapter 5. We're concluding here. The principle that God tells us. Many times we need to be healed. We need to go to God and do our part. Galatians, chapter 5.

By the way, I didn't mention Sheri Mayer in our prayers. She's here today. Please remember her. She's doing okay, but I wanted to bring that up as well. In Romans, chapter 5, verse 14. Well, in verse 13. Let's start in verse 13. Because sometimes you start in verse 14 and you forget that. Verse 13 also has to do with our health. He says, is anyone among you suffering? What's the answer? Let him pray. So it doesn't say, well, others are going to do all the praying. No, let him pray. Let him get close to God. Is anyone cheerful? It says, let him sing songs, things that edify, that praise God. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church. Notice, it doesn't say go ahead and do it yourself. It doesn't say go ahead and get your neighbor. It says, call the elders of the church, talking about ministers, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. So that's why ministers carry oil. We carry olive oil and small little flasks, so that at any time when people need prayers, we can pray and we anoint the person, because that is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, that God is going to do the healing. It's not the oil that heals, but it's a reminder oil in the Bible is a symbol of God's Spirit. And so, just like physically being applied spiritually, God is going to apply his Holy Spirit. And the prayer of faith will save the sick. That doesn't mean that everybody's going to be saved physically at that time, but God is going to take care of that person. Just like Mr. Armstrong said, sometimes it will be with a resurrection that the person will be healed. And the Lord will raise them up, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven, because those sins have consequences, and God can remove the consequences of sins. Verse 16, Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another. It's talking about when we're sick. Well, this has happened to me, and I need your prayers.

And then it says, the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. So never underestimate what prayer can do in this respect.

So, we have so many important principles that God reveals in the Bible.

Please go over those seven laws of radiant health.

I'm just going to mention real quick, we had a booklet on this. The first one is food and fasting. Number two, cleanliness and dress. Three, sunshine and fresh air. Four, exercise. Five, sleep and rest. Six, avoid bodily injury. And seven, maintain a positive attitude.

So, to the question, is it worth it?

Brethren, God never said it was going to be easy. But He said it was going to be well worth it.