“LIKE YESHUA WE CAN OVERCOME ALL TEMPTATIONS AND CONFLICTS!” 

OPENING STATEMENT by Robert 

That though the church seemed to be wholly overrun and overcome with lukewarmness and self-confidence, yet it was possible that by the reproofs and counsels of Yeshua (Christ) they might be inspired with fresh zeal and vigour, and might come off conquerors in their spiritual warfare.  

(1) That, if they did so, all former faults should be forgiven, and they should have a great reward. And what is that reward? They shall sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and have sat down with my Father on his throne, Revelation 3:21.  

Here it is intimated,  

[1] That Christ himself had met with his temptations and conflicts  

[2] That he overcame them all, and was more than a conqueror  

[3] That, as the reward of his conflict and victory, he has sat down with God the Father on his throne, possessed of that glory which he had with the Father from eternity, but which he was pleased very much to conceal on earth, leaving it as it were in the hands of the Father, as a pledge that he would fulfil the work of a Saviour before he reassumed that manifestative glory and, having done so, then (pignus reposcere) he demands the pledge, to appear in his divine glory equal to the Father  

[4] That those who are conformed to Christ in his trials and victories shall be conformed to him in his glory they shall sit down with him on his throne, on his throne of judgment at the end of the world, on his throne of glory to all eternity, shining in his beams by virtue of their union with him and relation to him, as the mystical body of which he is the head. 

The date of their honour, which fixes the time when it should commence not immediately from the day of the date of these presents, no, they must continue a while in obscurity, as they were. But when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory and to this some refer that, in the regeneration “You who now have followed me, shall, in the regeneration, be thus dignified” Christ’s second coming will be a regeneration, when there shall be new heavens, and a new earth, and the restitution of all things. All that partake of the regeneration in grace (John 3:3) shall partake of the regeneration in glory for as grace is the first resurrection (Revelation 20:6), so glory is the second regeneration. 

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31   

What gifts await us? Dignity calls for duty. Those that are stars in Christ’s hand had a need to be always in motion, dispensing light to all about them. For my name’s sake, thou hast laboured, and hast not fainted, Revelation 2:3. Christ keeps an account of every day’s work, and every hour’s work, his servants do for him, and their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord (2) For their patience in suffering: Thy labour and thy patience, Revelation 2:2. It is not enough that we are diligent, but we must be patient, and endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ. Ministers must have and exercise great patience, and no Christian can be without it. There must be bearing patience, to endure the injuries of men and the rebukes of Providence and there must be waiting for patience, that, when they have done the will of God, they may receive the promise: Thou hast borne, and hast patience, Revelation 2:3. We shall meet with such difficulties in our way and work as require patience to go on and finish well.  

We shall meet with such difficulties in our way and work as require patience to go on and finish well. For their zeal against what was evil: Thou canst not bear those that are evil, Revelation 2:2. It consists very well with Christian patience not to dispense with sin, much less allow it though we must show all meekness to men, yet we must show a just zeal against their sins.  

This their zeal was the more to be commended because it was according to knowledge, a discreet zeal upon a previous trial made of the pretenses, practices, and tenets of evil men: Thou hast tried those that say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them, liars.  

True zeal proceeds with discretion none should be cast off till they are tried. Some had risen in this church that pretended to be not ordinary ministers, but apostles and their pretensions had been examined but found to be vain and false. Those that impartially search after truth may come to the knowledge of it. 

The apostle, having said that God’s dwelling in and with us may be known by the Spirit that he hath given us, intimates that that Spirit may be discerned and distinguished from other spirits that appear in the world; and so, He calls the disciples, to whom he writes, to caution and scrutiny about the spirits and spiritual professors that had now risen  

1. To caution:“Beloved, believe not every spirit; regard not, trust not, follow not, every pretender to the Spirit of God, or every professor of vision, or inspiration, or revelation from God.” 

Truth is the foundation of simulation and counterfeits; there had been real communications from the divine Spirit, and therefore others pretended thereto. God will take the way of his own wisdom and goodness, though it may be liable to abuse; he has sent inspired teachers to the world, and given us a supernatural revelation, though others may be so evil and so impudent as to pretend the same; every pretender to the divine Spirit, or to inspiration, and extraordinary illumination thereby, is not to be believed. 

To scrutiny, to the examination of the claims that are laid to the Spirit: But try the spirits, whether they be of God, 1 John 4:1. God has given of his Spirit in these latter ages of the world, but not to all who profess to come furnished therewith; to the disciples is allowed a judgment of discretion, in reference to the spirits that would be believed and trusted in the affairs of religion.  

A reason is given for this trial: Because many false prophets have gone out into the world, 1 John 4:1. There being much about the time of our Saviour’s appearance in the world a general expectation among the Jews of a Redeemer to Israel, and the humiliation, spiritual reformation, and sufferings of the Saviour being taken as prejudice against him, others were induced to set up as prophets and messiahs to Israel, according to the Saviour’s prediction, Matthew 24:23, Matthew 24:24.  

It should not seem strange to us that false teachers set themselves up in the church: it was so in the apostles’ times; fatal is the spirit of delusion, sad that men should vaunt themselves for prophets and inspired preachers that are by no means so! 

The false apostles are charged as deceitful workers (2 Corinthians 11:13), and that upon this account, because they would transform themselves into the likeness of the apostles of Christ, and, though they were the ministers of Satan, would seem to be the ministers of righteousness.  

They would be as industrious and as generous in promoting error as the apostles were in preaching truth; they would endeavour as much to undermine the kingdom of Christ as the apostles did to establish it.  

There were counterfeit prophets under the Old Testament, who wore the garb and learned the language of the prophets of the Lord. So, there were counterfeit apostles under the New Testament, who seemed in many respects like the true apostles of Christ.  

And no marvel (says the apostle); hypocrisy is a thing not to be much wondered at in this world, especially when we consider the great influence Satan has upon the minds of many, who rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience.  

As he can turn himself into any shape, and put on almost any form, and look sometimes like an angel of light, in order to promote his kingdom of darkness, so he will teach his ministers and instruments to do the same. But it follows, their end is according to their works (2 Corinthians 11:15); the end will discover them to be deceitful workers, and their work will end in ruin and destruction. 

By their fruits, you shall know them, Matthew 7:20. The apostle warns people against such, very frequently: I have told you often. We so little heed the warnings given us that we have need to have them repeated. To write the same things is safe, Philippians 3:1. 

An old sermon may be preached with new affections what we say often we may say again, if we say it affectionately, and are ourselves under the power of it. He gives us the characters of those who were the enemies of the cross of Christ, Whose God is their belly. They minded nothing but their sensual appetites. 

A wretched idol it is, and a scandal for any, but especially for Christians, to sacrifice the favour of God, the peace of their conscience, and their eternal happiness to it. Gluttons and drunkards make a god of their belly, and all their care is to please it and make provision for it.  

The same observance which good people give to God epicures give to their appetites. Of such he says, they serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, Romans 16:18. 

The apostle Peter: I exhort; and, to give force to this exhortation, he tells them he was their brother-presbyter or fellow-elder, and so puts nothing upon them but what he was ready to perform himself.  

He was also a witness of the sufferings of Christ, being with him in the garden, attending him to the palace of the high-priest, and very likely being a spectator of his suffering upon the cross, at a distance among the crowd, Acts 3:15. 

He adds that he was also a partaker of the glory that was in some degree revealed at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-3) and shall be completely enjoyed at the second coming of Jesus Christ. Learn: 

1. Those whose office it is to teach others ought carefully to study their own duty, as well as teach the people theirs 
2. How different the spirit and behaviour of Peter were from that of his pretended successors! He does not command and domineer but exhorts. He does not claim sovereignty over all pastors and churches, nor style himself prince of the apostles, vicar of Christ, or head of the church, but values himself upon being an elder. All the apostles were elders, though every elder was not an apostle. 
3. It was the peculiar honour of Peter, and a few more, to be the witnesses of Christ’s sufferings, but it is the privilege of all true Christians to be partakers of the glory that shall be revealed. 

Learn, the eminent dignity of the church of God, and all the true members of it. These poor, dispersed, suffering Christians were the flock of God. The rest of the world is a brutal herd. These are an orderly flock, redeemed to God by the great Shepherd, living in holy love and communion one with another, according to the will of God 

In opposition to that filthy lucre which many propose to themselves as their principal motive in undertaking and discharging the pastoral office, the apostle sets before them the crown of glory designed by the great shepherd, Jesus Christ, for all his faithful ministers. Learn,  

1. Jesus Christ is the chief shepherd of the whole flock and heritage of God. He bought them, and rules them; he defends and saves them forever. He is also the chief shepherd over all inferior shepherds; they derive their authority from him, act in his name, and are accountable to him at last  
2. This chief shepherd will appear, to judge all ministers and under-shepherds, to call them to account, whether they have faithfully discharged their duty both publicly and privately according to the foregoing directions 
3. Those that are found to have done their duty shall have what is infinitely better than temporal gain; they shall receive from the grand shepherd a high degree of everlasting glory, a crown of glory that fadeth not away.  

The pastors of the church ought to consider their people as the flock of God, as God’s heritage, and treat them accordingly. They are not theirs, to be lorded over at pleasure; but they are God’s people, and should be treated with love, meekness, and tenderness, for the sake of him to whom they belong. 

Those ministers who are either driven to the work by necessity or drawn to it by filthy lucre can never perform their duty as they ought because they do not do it willingly and with a ready mind 

(4) The best way a minister can take to engage the respect of a people is to discharge his own duty among them in the best manner that he can and to be a constant example to them of all that is good.