Knocked Down But Not Knocked Out

Acts 14:19-21 ¶ And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. 20 Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe 21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,

2 Corinthians 4:7-4:10

(7)But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

(8)We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; (9) Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; (10) Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

We open this message with a most powerful statement concerning the power of God in us

2 Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

This verse sounds a note of victory in our spirits.

It has sister verses like:

1 John 4:4Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

And 2Co 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

And an all-time favorite...

Lu 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

I love this verse, but to be honest, it does perplex me sometimes, because, sometimes my experience just doesnt line up with this verse.

And thats where I have my problem. I know Gods word is true, but he said nothing shall by any means hurt me. Thats where I question, what does Jesus mean when he says nothing shall by any means hurt me?

I dont want to be doubtful, Im trying to be strong and keep up my faith confession. But if Im being honest. Ive been hurt more than a few times.

First of all, Ive been hurt physically. Ive got scars on my body to prove it. And some of you do too. I've also had my heart hurt. Ive felt the pain of losing someone close to me.

So I tell you the truth, Ive wrestled with this verse, because I know Jesus is right. But what about Paul and Silas and the beating they took. What about James who Herod killed.

So here's where I found my solid ground concerning this truth. The problem comes in when we define for ourselves what Jesus means when he says, nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Our humanity wants to say that means: Ill never be sick, and Ill never be rejected, and Ill never get into financial straits or situations that cause me pain.

The first problem with that is that it leads people to believe that the Christian life is problem free, and the Bible tells us clearly that is not true.

—All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

—Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

So the problem is not with what Jesus said, it is with our interpretation of what he meant. Jesus never meant that life wouldn't deal us some hard blows, and cause us grief and pain. He meant that it doesn't matter what life throws at us, or the devil tries to do to us, it cannot separate us from him. It cannot injure the relationship we have with him.

If we think that Jesus means we'll never experience hurt in this life, we can develop a dangerous mentality that looks at people and says: If you were living right you wouldnt be sick, if you were living right you wouldnt have gone through that divorce. If you were living right your children wouldn't be hooked on drugs, or caught up in a homosexual lifestyle.

Then on the other hand, when everything's going good for us, we can become self-righteous and look at people who are hurting, and say... You must not be living right, or you wouldnt be hurting.

Thats what Jobs comforters came to tell him:

Job 8:6 If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.