Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right, let's get our Bible and go to the Book of Matthew, chapter number 10.
[00:00:08] Matthew, chapter 10.
[00:00:10] Going to pick up where we left off before our mission conference in verse 16.
[00:00:21] Matthew 10, verse number 16.
[00:00:26] I'll read down to verse number 25.
[00:00:29] This morning our Lord speaking here, says, behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.
[00:00:40] Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
[00:00:47] But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils and they will scourge you in their synagogues.
[00:00:55] And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
[00:01:03] But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak, for it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
[00:01:22] And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death. And the father, the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.
[00:01:32] And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
[00:01:41] But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.
[00:01:45] For verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come.
[00:01:52] The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord.
[00:01:57] It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Let's pray together.
[00:02:11] Lord, in heaven. Thank you once again that we, as your people, can meet together in your name. Lord, we look forward.
[00:02:17] We look to you as being present with us.
[00:02:21] Lord, manifest your presence here even as we study the Word. Be among us to teach us, to encourage us, to charge us, to reprove us, to guide us in your way.
[00:02:34] I pray for each and every person here. Lord, that's hearing the Word. They would hear it with good and attentive hearts, honest hearts that would receive the Word and.
[00:02:43] And grow from it. Lord, if there be one among us who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ, you know who that person is? That person stands out.
[00:02:52] Stands out in stark contrast to the saints. And I pray that you would prick the heart of that person and that they would see their need for the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:03:02] And so, Lord, we commit this time to you. Lord, help me to say all the things your people need to hear.
[00:03:08] And that your people might be edified and strengthened in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:03:14] Now, I covered this to some degree, just touching on it here and there as we were approaching this section at the beginning of Matthew, chapter 10.
[00:03:22] But there are several.
[00:03:24] Just remember, there are several layers that are at work here in these verses. And we're going to. We'll cover some of them, but probably not all of them. But specifically, there are three layers in the context here. And this is not an uncommon thing in Scripture where there's one block of text or one passage of Scripture and there are multiple things happening simultaneously. And if you pay attention to what is being spoken, you can see all three of them. So, of course, the first and most obvious thing that's happening here is Jesus is speaking to his 12 disciples. And that's seen in the first verse of the chapter. He had called his 12 disciples, and he gave them power to do basically the works that he had done and sent them out to preach in the places that he himself would come later.
[00:04:13] But what's interesting, and we saw this before, is that many of the things in verse 16, down to verse, actually down to verse number 42, many of the things listed here, the disciples never personally experienced, at least not before the Lord went to the cross and rose again from the dead. Now, they would later experience some of them, but even that some of these things listed here were never experienced by the disciples at all. And so you have that one layer, the disciples. This is a message to the 12 disciples.
[00:04:43] And then you have.
[00:04:45] And just to reiterate because of that fact, because obviously some things did not actually happen to the 12 personally, we see then that there's a broader meaning beyond just the 12.
[00:04:59] It expands beyond that. Okay, that's the first thing.
[00:05:02] The second thing is we know that from verse 23 specifically, that the Lord is also speaking of a time far into the future, because from our perspective, at least verse 23 says this.
[00:05:17] But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another. For verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come.
[00:05:29] Now, we saw already that this could mean he's referring to his coming after them in their preaching in the immediate context. But it also is definitely referring to a time period far into the future at the second coming of Christ.
[00:05:45] Else this makes no sense whatsoever. And we're not going to try to spiritualize this and make this coming like some sort of spiritual thing. This is referring to his literal coming. Okay, that's what it means on its face.
[00:05:57] So this is also speaking to a time far into the future, the time of the coming of Christ. And there are things in here that directly reference to that, and we will touch on that at some point as well.
[00:06:08] But the third, and really the one I want to concentrate on this morning, is that Jesus is also speaking generally of persecution that would come upon his disciples.
[00:06:21] Now, we know that this persecution did not happen to the disciples while they were.
[00:06:26] While they were following Christ. It happened later.
[00:06:30] They were brought before kings and Gentiles and scourged in the synagogues and so on. But it did not happen for a little time, a little while later.
[00:06:40] But what's more broadly than that is the persecution that the Lord describes that speaks to all of us, every person who seeks to serve God. And this might be kind of unwelcome news to some of us.
[00:06:56] I feel like modern Christianity has massaged us into thinking that really following the Lord Jesus Christ is really supposed to be easy. It's really supposed to be without conflict. And really, I think that to a large degree, we have come to judge the rightness or wrongness of what we do and how we live based upon how others respond to it.
[00:07:24] Even though we read verses like this. And maybe it's because this is a passage of scripture that is just kind of unpleasant, is it not?
[00:07:33] I don't know anybody that would look forward, not even the disciples themselves who experienced these things ever really looked forward to that.
[00:07:43] That's really a fantasy, kind of a romanticization of history, as if the martyrs wanted to be martyred. They did not.
[00:07:53] They were not looking for that.
[00:07:55] They were trying to get out of it. And in fact, if you look at verse 23, it says, when they persecute you in this city, what does it say? The next word, flee, verse 16 says, be wise as serpent and harmless as doves. In other words, do everything in your power to keep yourself safe.
[00:08:12] Right? Do everything in your power, use wisdom, use gentleness, because you don't want these kinds of things. But they're still going to happen. They're still going to happen. And this is a kind of an unpleasant truth to modern Christianity. But it's what the Lord said.
[00:08:28] What's also interesting, moving forward on this, on this third meaning of these verses is this.
[00:08:35] This is the very first time that Jesus reveals any detail, at least that his disciples would be persecuted, as he would be persecuted.
[00:08:48] So up until this time, with one exception. Anybody know what the exception is? Where Jesus mentions persecution off the top of your head, it's in the Beatitudes where Jesus says, blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely. But again, that was in passing along with other things, and you know, that could be easily overlooked. And it was spoken to a huge group of people that were listening to him, not just to his twelve, to the twelve disciples, but here the Lord is speaking to them directly.
[00:09:18] Not just to them, but also to us. Verse 24 says this. The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord. He's speaking now generally, right? You're a disciple of Christ, I trust. If you trusted in Jesus and you're trying to follow him, you're a disciple of Christ, as I try to be a disciple of Christ. So these verses 24 and 5 apply to us just as much as to the 12, inasmuch as we try to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:09:46] So the Lord is introducing fully this truth, this reality that not only He Himself would suffer, but that also those who are his disciples will be subject to the same hatred and the same suffering that Jesus suffered.
[00:10:08] Now remember, the vast majority of Christians will never suffer what Jesus suffered, right? But the persecution that our Lord suffered was not just the cross.
[00:10:19] There were many, many, many acts of persecution that he suffered of a lesser degree during his ministry. And that's also true of most believers. You know, what if someone has cut off their relationship to you because of your faith in Christ, that's persecution of some kind.
[00:10:38] If someone has ill treated you because of your faith in Christ, because of your association with his name, that's a form of persecution, you know. Did you know there are people that have suffered divorce as a direct result of following Christ? You know that that's a form of persecution. There are people who suffer all kinds of loss of, loss of money, loss of business. And persecution comes in many different aspects and forms. And you see it here. But it's not just the martyrs. We think of the martyrs as you know. But that's like the. That's to the greatest extremity that that happens. But that's not so common as compared to the more regular ways of persecution.
[00:11:22] But what we read in these verses describes a Christian life. That is if we are actually following the Lord and a work of God that is one of conflict, not of ease.
[00:11:38] In fact, look at verse number 34.
[00:11:41] Just read that a minute.
[00:11:44] You think about all the things that come in Christmas and around Christmas time and peace on earth. And of course, that's a Bible verse. And we know that in its proper place. It's good and right, of course.
[00:11:55] But this idea that the world holds that Jesus came to just peace and harmony and love and Kumbaya and all that stuff, verse 34 is not really all that consistent with that. Is it says this, think not that I am come to send peace on earth.
[00:12:13] I am not. I came not to send peace, but a sword. In Luke it says variance, division, dissension.
[00:12:23] And that is the effect.
[00:12:25] That is the effect of someone who puts their faith in Christ, confesses openly their faith in Christ.
[00:12:34] That's verse 32.
[00:12:36] And then follows Christ.
[00:12:39] It is the inevitable result.
[00:12:43] It is the inevitable result. And I know in this room, because I know, I know most everyone in here and I know many of your stories and I'm glad to know them. But I know for a fact some of you have suffered because of your faith in Christ. You have been ill treated, you have been hurt, harmed, some of you physically as a result of your faith in Christ. I never have. I've been called a bunch of bad names.
[00:13:06] I've been mistreated in that way. But some of you have. So some of you. This definitely rings true.
[00:13:12] The Christian life and serving the Lord Jesus Christ is not a service that is one of ease, but of conflict. If there's anything we can take away from that, that is the truth from these verses.
[00:13:29] Think about what the Lord says in verse number 16. Behold, I send you forth as sheep. In this is not an incidental happening. No. Jesus is saying, I have a job for you. I have a mission for you to perform. Mission conference, Right. And as an act of the will, with foreknowledge, knowing full well, because of verse 16, knowing full well, the Lord says, I know what I'm sending you into.
[00:14:00] You are sheep and you're going to be among wolves, and I'm sending you there.
[00:14:06] So much for the idea that Jesus wants us to live our best life now and he wants us to make sure that we have plenty of money in the bank and everybody treats us nice and all of those things, that is a falsehood. That is a lie.
[00:14:20] That is a lie.
[00:14:22] I'm sorry if that bothers or grates on anyone in this room, but that is not biblical truth.
[00:14:29] Now one day that will all come to pass.
[00:14:32] But while we are in the service of God, this is what our Lord tells us.
[00:14:38] He's sending us into a world that is hostile to him and is therefore hostile to us. He's sending us into a world like this to Labor.
[00:14:48] Revelation, chapter 2. Verse 13 describes the church being where Satan's seat is.
[00:14:56] Second Corinthians 4, 4 says that it describes Satan as the God of this world, world, the prince of the power of the air that worketh in the children of disobedience. This is the group among whom the Lord sent his disciples to labor.
[00:15:13] Not a friendly group, but a group at enmity.
[00:15:17] A group that is unfriendly. And here's the thing. I just, I know I'm a child of the South. Listen, yesterday we were knocking doors, we went to that park I mentioned in Sunday school. But the park was, was for the different mills. It had plaques that described the history of the various mills around Greenville, which is super interesting to me because my family came up in the shadow of Woodside Mill. And so I wanted to see the history of it and I was walking through there. So listen, that's me, right? Many of you that were raised in this area are mill people at some point or another. You have mill life in, in your past.
[00:15:56] But in the south we have been lulled into thinking that this world is our friend.
[00:16:03] They are not.
[00:16:06] They are not church going people, are not the friends of Christ. I'm going to prove it to you in just a minute.
[00:16:15] Because so many people go to church and they're members of churches and all that kind of thing. And we often get this idea that, that the mean old people that hate Christians are the people who are pushing evolution or secular humanism or something like that in some college in UCLA or something like that. But that's not the way. It is rather the opposite. Historically. Do you know who were the people that most hated Christians?
[00:16:40] People who had the name Christian, those that claim to fear God.
[00:16:49] And this culture is all about that.
[00:16:54] But I just challenge you. Live for God.
[00:16:57] Live for God. It will not take long for you to see that this is true.
[00:17:05] So the first question I want to ask you is this. What are you looking for in your Christian life? What are you expecting? What are your expectations?
[00:17:14] Have you come to understand and believe that you're going to go to heaven? On, as the song says, on flowery beds of ease, the Lord said yea. And all they that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
[00:17:34] You see, the disciples had a similar idea that we often have.
[00:17:38] They thought that Christ's kingdom, he said the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. And they were envisioning, you know, like a kingdom like, you know, where Jesus is king and everybody does what he says and everybody likes them because they're his disciples. And, you know, everything's good and he holds power and everything goes their way.
[00:17:54] And indeed that will happen, but not yet.
[00:17:59] His kingdom would be a spiritual kingdom to begin with.
[00:18:03] And so that idea that they had, like we often have, this prosperity was something that they had to be talked out of as well, because that is not what.
[00:18:14] That is not what the Lord is saying here. Look at verse 17.
[00:18:18] I read verse 17, and it struck me. It just like.
[00:18:22] It's like getting hit with a Taser.
[00:18:24] Just let the first four words just sit on you a little bit.
[00:18:29] But beware of men. Just period. You see that?
[00:18:33] It's a colon. Excuse me, but beware of men. Just let that sink in a minute.
[00:18:39] Beware of men.
[00:18:42] It doesn't matter if they're Democrat or they're Republican.
[00:18:46] It doesn't matter if they're religious or they're atheistic.
[00:18:50] Doesn't matter if it's men or women, for that matter.
[00:18:54] This is a striking reminder.
[00:18:56] Practically all the problems that touch our faith and following Jesus will come from men.
[00:19:04] You know that.
[00:19:06] It won't be from health problems that you might have. And we will all have them at some point or another.
[00:19:11] The things that are really going to touch your faith and make your life hard are going to be things that you experience from men. And the Lord says, beware.
[00:19:19] Forget about what label they carry. Forget about the patch on their sleeve. Forget about what they. How however they might sound and how flowery and beautiful their words might be. The Lord says, just as a statement, as a general statement, beware of men. They're going to cause you a lot of problems.
[00:19:37] Beware of men.
[00:19:40] So it should not surprise us when we find that men are the chief problem that we have to deal with when we're trying to serve the Lord.
[00:19:48] And the opposition here in verse number 17, he says, for they will deliver you up to councils, and they'll scourge you in their synagogues, and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. So you have this official opposition, that is from those in power. But then you also have verse 21.
[00:20:12] And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father to child, and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.
[00:20:21] Then you go down to verse number 35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. So you have official oppression and opposition, but then you also have personal oppression and opposition.
[00:20:44] Look back at verse number 17. Again he says, for they will deliver you up to the councils. Now stop for a second. What is the council being referred to? The most immediate reference to council in this passage, it was the Sanhedrin. It was referring to the Jewish council. Jesus himself will stand before this council. Paul the apostle will stand before this council. Peter and John will also stand before this council. They will be beaten. They will be whipped. You know who makes up the council?
[00:21:16] The elders of the Jews, all of whom are, are nice synagogue going religious people.
[00:21:25] Look at what it says further.
[00:21:27] Deliver you up to the councils and they will scourge you. The councils in their synagogues.
[00:21:34] They will scourge you in their synagogues.
[00:21:40] What's the synagogue for? Synagogue is a place of Jewish worship.
[00:21:45] And yet at the center of the religious worship is the source of the persecution of Christ's disciples.
[00:21:56] That's why I say religion is no friend to the disciple of Christ.
[00:22:02] And you know what has been true is these words have been proven true over and over and over again. Take a peek at Revelation chapter two, if you would. Don't lose your place here because we'll come back.
[00:22:13] Revelation 2, verse number 9 says this. Revelation 2, 9. Jesus speaks to the church in Smyrna. He says, I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
[00:22:50] Ouch. Look at chapter three, verse nine.
[00:22:55] Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee.
[00:23:08] We could go into the mention of jezebel in Revelation 2 and 3. Here's the thing I want you to see.
[00:23:16] It is no surprise that it is the religious crowd that is the chief persecutor of God's people.
[00:23:27] And just as we see the words synagogue of Satan, I think it would be. It is not a leap to refer to churches and religions, Christian religions, as churches of the devil. Because this is in no way different.
[00:23:42] It just has a. It has Christ over the name. It's really Antichrist, but it's really a church of the devil.
[00:23:48] And these people have historically used their religion as a pretext, as the pretext to gain power and then to persecute God's people.
[00:23:59] And this is totally contrary to God's. Word.
[00:24:04] The Protestants are especially guilty of this, even though they themselves were persecuted for a time. And yet once they gained power, such as in Geneva and in other places, once they gained the civil power, they turned it against people. And that persecution lasted even into the United States of America before it was the United States of America. I have proof of that.
[00:24:28] Some of you have heard this before or are aware of this.
[00:24:32] On September 5, 1651, Obadiah Holmes, a Baptist minister, was publicly whipped in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, for holding an unauthorized religious service in Lynn.
[00:24:49] Holmes, along with John Clark and John Crandall, was arrested for preaching Baptist doctrine. Listen. Which conflicted with the Puritan establishment's practice of infant baptism.
[00:25:01] After their trial, Holmes refused to let friends pay for his fine of 30 pounds. Viewing it as an admission of guilt, he was sentenced to 30 lashes with a three quartered whip at Boston Common.
[00:25:14] Despite the severe punishment, Holmes preached during the whipping and later declared, quote, you have struck me as with roses.
[00:25:22] Claiming divine strength sustained him, he said, it was as if I felt it not.
[00:25:29] The brutal flogging left him unable to lie down for weeks. This is not a whipping. With a belt resting only on his knees and elbows, the event drew sympathy and criticism, contributing to growing calls for religious tolerance. This is what is often termed the first Baptist blood shed on American soil. Here's the thing.
[00:25:50] Who was doing that?
[00:25:53] It was a church.
[00:25:55] Throughout history, it's always been a church. There's always been people claiming that they do service to God.
[00:26:01] They justify it on all sorts of doctrinal grounds. And for those of you that are in the doctrinal sphere and you like to grapple with those things, the doctrine directly led to that what they believed on a doctrinal level led to the justification of them using the civil power to. To grasp the civil power and then wrench people into kneeling to the civil power. And here you have the disciples of Christ saying, well, we don't like it, but we knew it would happen. Jesus told us In Matthew chapter 10 this would happen. And he told us the source from which it would happen as well. So it's no surprise to us, even in this country, not just in the old country, but in this country as well, the disciples would find themselves, verse number 18 of Matthew 10, in situations in which they are not the authority, but standing before the authorities.
[00:26:57] And as a result, the disciples, because they hold no power whatsoever, no civil power, they would be maligned and vilified as criminals and evildoers.
[00:27:09] Indeed, they would be on the wrong side of the law. And I think this is the thing about persecution that a lot of people don't really fully appreciate. Verse number 18, look what it says. And you shall be brought before governors. That's a civil power. And kings, for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
[00:27:28] This idea that this persecution happens and God's people are brought before these civil leaders and these civil leaders are like, I am persecuting you because you are a Christian. No, it never goes like that.
[00:27:40] It's always. They tweak the laws so that you're the criminal.
[00:27:45] And in that pretext they bring you before the judge. And everybody that's watching, everybody sees it. And this is the way Satan works. This is how he operates, right? The design is to turn society against us, to bring to bear pressure, pressure to get us to yield. Surely we will yield in front of all of them when the pressure gets hot enough because they see the Christian coming, being persecuted. But it's not because of his faith. It's because he had an unauthorized religious meeting. Or it's because he was proselytizing and spreading some sort of idea. Or in our day, it's because he's preaching that a man is a man and a woman is a woman. He's preaching that homosexuality is still an abomination in the sight of God. Or he's praying in front of an abortion clinic, for crying out loud, silently. It's always in that pretext God's people are persecuted.
[00:28:47] It does. This does raise an interesting question, though.
[00:28:54] When we see the disciples brought before kings, someone there might be some that the response, they think the response should be, well, then we need to take the civil power.
[00:29:03] We need to get our guys in there so they won't do that anymore. The Lord didn't say to do that.
[00:29:10] He didn't say to do that. If we got our people in there, we could make the laws and we could outlaw those people.
[00:29:17] The Lord didn't say to do that.
[00:29:22] We can outlaw those with whom we disagree on these matters. But that was never the church's job. Not one time did the Lord tell the disciples to be involved in that kind of thing.
[00:29:34] In fact, the reverse is what is described here.
[00:29:39] Did our Lord command us to or encourage us to seek to overthrow the powers that be to escape the persecution that he describes. No, he doesn't.
[00:29:52] All we have ever sought as the disciples of Christ is liberty.
[00:29:58] Liberty to love and to serve Jesus. That's what it's about. It's about liberty to follow the Lord.
[00:30:09] Look at verse number 22.
[00:30:12] Now I know some of this goes into a prophetic things, but just follow with me here and you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
[00:30:22] Hated of all men.
[00:30:26] That's what the world does. That's what the powers that be do. They take God's people and what they believe and what they practice and what they do. And they pass laws that forbid it. They pass laws that criminalize it.
[00:30:38] Then they punish them and they seek to sour society's view of them.
[00:30:46] To turn the government and the society against the saints. Look at Acts chapter 16 really quick.
[00:30:54] I want to show you this in practice. Acts 16, verse 20.
[00:31:04] Acts 16, verse 20 says this.
[00:31:15] This is in Athens.
[00:31:18] They say of Paul, for thou bringest certain strange things to our ears.
[00:31:22] I'm in 17. No wonder.
[00:31:26] Alright, let's get re centered.
[00:31:28] Verse 20.
[00:31:29] And brought them to the magistrates saying, these men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe. Being Romans, Paul himself was a Roman, so that's false on his face. But you see how it makes him. Look how it's presented.
[00:31:48] Look at chapter 17, verse number seven, verse six rather says this. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, these that have turned the world upside down are come hither also whom Jason hath received. And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. See how they twisted it to make him look like what? Insurrectionists?
[00:32:15] Criminals.
[00:32:17] Look at chapter 25, verse number four says this. But Festus answered that Paul should be okay. I obviously have the wrong verse here.
[00:32:44] Maybe it's 20.
[00:32:48] Okay, I wrote down the wrong verse. The point I'm making is this, is that even in the book of Acts you can see where the way the disciples are described, they're described as being criminals.
[00:33:00] Matthew Henry said this. This was interesting. Persecutors would be ashamed in this world if they did not first dress up those in bearskins whom they thus bait and represent them in such colors as may serve to justify their cruelties. In other words, once you put a bearskin on a Christian, you it's okay to shoot him. He's a bear after all. And that's how it's done.
[00:33:23] That's how it's done.
[00:33:27] So my question to you is this.
[00:33:30] Are you okay with being labeled as such?
[00:33:34] Would you shrink away from Jesus if it meant you had a criminal record that we could do a Little search on sccourts.org and find a record in your name where you broke this law and that law and this South Carolina code and that South Carolina code. You say they would never, never do that.
[00:33:51] I beg to differ.
[00:33:55] I beg to differ. You know what? There is no guarantee that at some point in our country, the things the Lord describes would happen.
[00:34:04] There's no guarantee that they wouldn't happen.
[00:34:07] You say that just couldn't happen.
[00:34:10] There is no guarantee of that.
[00:34:15] You know, I asked myself that question as well when my son and I, when Josh and I went to China. What was that, 2018?
[00:34:23] Yeah, 2018. We visited brother McBryer, Josh McBryer in China.
[00:34:30] And I remember Josh and I, we went to a hotel, and we were staying at a hotel. And Brother Josh, he knew these underground churches. Just so you know, underground churches are not actually underground.
[00:34:44] If anybody's curious about that.
[00:34:46] I used to be curious about that. Maybe they dug a hole and they had a cave and they met underground. They're not underground.
[00:34:53] The underground church we went to was in an apartment, and we went to the underground church. And I remember.
[00:35:01] I remember the morning of.
[00:35:04] I remember the morning, that Sunday morning that we were supposed to go to this underground church. This is illegal.
[00:35:10] If the authorities show up at this church, they arrest all of those people. Right? They arrest them all.
[00:35:16] It's illegal. It is against the law for them to meet for church.
[00:35:21] And there was a group there. How many people were there? You think?
[00:35:25] There may be 20 people there in this apartment.
[00:35:28] Some of them were like North Koreans. But anyway, they had a service there. And that Sunday morning, I was getting ready in the hotel room, and for the first time in my life, the very first time in my life, I had to make a decision about whether I would go to church.
[00:35:49] First time in my life where a question mark was in my mind, do I really want to go to church today?
[00:35:57] Maybe that means I'm. I don't have very much faith. You can think what you will. I'm telling you, that's what happened.
[00:36:04] For the first time in my life, I thought, is it worth it?
[00:36:08] Is it really worth it to go to church? And, you know, it's easy to think about that in the theoretical. Right?
[00:36:14] It's easy to think, well, yeah, it's fine. Yeah, of course I would.
[00:36:18] But when I was actually faced with that question, that I could actually get in trouble, like, very, very unhappy trouble, is my duty to be in the assembly of the saints on the Lord's day worth this risk?
[00:36:43] That's the first time I'd ever had to think about it. You know what? That was a. That was a kind of a tough decision.
[00:36:48] And it actually flashed through my mind.
[00:36:51] Maybe I should just tell Josh that we'll just sit this one out.
[00:36:55] You can think what you will, but it did flash through my mind.
[00:37:02] But I thought about these kinds of verses.
[00:37:05] We have never had to think that way.
[00:37:09] Most of us, not one time in our life have we ever had to think, is it worth it? How important is obedience to God? You know, we get so bogged down with just trivia. Just trivia, just uselessness.
[00:37:24] I mean, any little thing, we have a sniffle or one nostril is stopped up from allergies, and we just. We can't do it. Can't read a Bible, can't pray, can't serve the Lord, can't go to church, can't do anything.
[00:37:39] And yet people, literally people around the world are having to weigh their personal freedom over something that we so lightly dismiss. And this is a free fact.
[00:37:50] This is a fact our Lord tells us about it.
[00:37:55] I think it probably accounts for why it seems that Christianity, at least where we are, just seems to be so lethargic, does it not? So weak, so sissy, so.
[00:38:11] So passive.
[00:38:14] It cost us nothing.
[00:38:16] Any little thing will take it away from us.
[00:38:19] So the question is, And I know, I'm just. I'm posing a hypothetical and, you know, that's all I can do. But the question is, if you were in that place and you could potentially have a criminal record, what would you do?
[00:38:34] If you knew that it would cost you something, would you do anything?
[00:38:37] The answer to that question is answered in this. Does your faith now cost you anything at all?
[00:38:44] Do you pay any price?
[00:38:46] Because all of us have times where our faith costs us something.
[00:38:50] Do you pay any price in those circumstances?
[00:38:53] Are you willing to suffer that thing or pay that price to follow the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you? Now?
[00:38:59] The answer to that is the answer to the other.
[00:39:03] That's the truth of it.
[00:39:11] Look down at verse number.
[00:39:14] Verse number 20. For it is not ye that speak, speaking of the Lord tells them not to meditate beforehand, but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
[00:39:25] And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father, the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. Let me. I just want to make a comment about family relations.
[00:39:40] It's also seen in verse 34 to 37. We'll look at it in a second. But I want to remind you of something that MANKIND Remember, verse 16. Don't forget that I have grounds, I have Bible, right? So what I'm about to say about man, you need to pay attention to, right? Beware, but beware of men.
[00:39:59] I'll tell you something. Mankind is at his core extremely self centered.
[00:40:05] He puts up a front as if he's giving in kind. And most of the time, this might sound dark and might sound unkind, but I'm telling you, most of the time the good that people are doing, they're doing it for themselves, for their own to itch their own personal satisfaction.
[00:40:22] When the Lord says all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, he's saying something there, the good that we do marred by evil, right?
[00:40:34] Beware of man, but beware of men.
[00:40:37] Man at its core is extremely self centered. And most people, the vast majority of people, if they are threatened with punishment of law, would turn over their own relations out of fear of harm or retribution that might come on themselves. Well, and there's a thousand excuses, but this has been demonstrated over and over and over. Jesus says it here, and I'm telling you, when the pressure gets up, blood is no longer thicker than water.
[00:41:06] We might assume that family relations are unbreakable, but the Lord says exactly the opposite.
[00:41:14] Out of love of self and of hatred for Christ, family relationships, they will choose to divide themselves from their dearest loved one who lives for God rather and withdraw and distance themselves from them.
[00:41:33] In other words, when they weigh the relationship in Christ, do I want to hear about Jesus and see them and associate with them and deal with that, or can I just let them go because I don't want to hear about Jesus? That is literally the question that goes through people's minds. And I want to tell you something.
[00:41:52] I have lived that you, many of you have lived that family relationships that have said, yeah, you know what? Nah, I'm good. I got other people I can hang out with.
[00:42:03] And all of a sudden the blood goes thin. It's no longer thicker than water anymore. It goes thin for Christ's sake.
[00:42:12] Because they love, rather they love themselves and they hate Christ more than they love their family member. You say, well, that's a dark thing to describe. I'm saying nothing but what our Lord has said. He says in verse number 36, verse 35, rather, I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. Would a person really turn against their daughter? Yes, it happens.
[00:42:43] Would they turn over their Own blood relative. Yes, it happens. This is real. Now in our country, it's not as common in its extreme version, but when you have your blood relation withdraw from you and say, you know what? I don't really want to have a relationship with you. This is what we're talking about.
[00:43:05] So then we must choose, as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, if our family relations will hinder us in our pursuit of him, or if our love for our family, which is good and right. Let me say that clearly. Love for your family is right.
[00:43:24] But will that love for our family surpass our love for the Lord Jesus Christ because he demands supreme love? Look at verse number 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. The Lord demands supreme love. And there is no relationship which should supersede that which we have with the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:43:52] So if they cannot abide you as a believer who is also following Jesus, I'm not talking about a sunshine patriot who has the name of Christ but refuses to live for Him. But if they refuse to abide you as a believer who's trying to live for God, even though you're trying to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove, you must let them go.
[00:44:21] You cannot lay the Lord Jesus Christ and your relationship with him on the altar of sacrifice for your family.
[00:44:29] The Lord says you're not worthy of me if you do that. Verse 37.
[00:44:35] Now look down at verse number 23.
[00:44:47] But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another. You see that word flee?
[00:44:55] Note that it doesn't say fight, it says flee.
[00:45:02] Verse 16 says, we should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. That speaks to gentility, that speaks to gentleness.
[00:45:12] Do no one any ill, any harm.
[00:45:16] So I want to say something. The idea that is being okay, that is being pushed around among political conservatives that have kind of blended with religion.
[00:45:31] They're kind of blurring this.
[00:45:33] I want everybody to be. Because I know there are people in here that are. That are keyed in. I myself am keyed in on political matters. It's interesting to me. And some of you are like that.
[00:45:43] Beware of men.
[00:45:47] Beware of men.
[00:45:49] You hear words like, we're going to take our country back, right?
[00:45:56] We're going to make America a Christian country again.
[00:46:01] How are we going to do that?
[00:46:06] They come for the Christians. What are you going to do? Get your ar perch at the crest of your Roof, shoot the cops when they come, kill you when they come to pick you up. Is that what you're going to do?
[00:46:17] Is that consistent with what we read here?
[00:46:20] But yet it is being promoted in the politically conservative world, this kind of blending. I want to tell you something.
[00:46:30] Look, I have Bible verse 16. But beware of men.
[00:46:34] Beware of political conservatives, because the moment they have power, they will turn on Christians. Beware of men. And listen, I'm as conservative as they come when it comes to voting and political things, and I know most of you are too. But beware of men.
[00:46:49] Beware of men.
[00:46:51] The people that our Lord is describing are not friends to his disciples.
[00:46:59] Beware of men.
[00:47:01] And beware of the tone and the attitude that you hear in the political world, especially as it relates to America. As if America was some sort of like Israel, like some sort of God, the inheritance of the Lord or something. America has been a nation of liberty. Thank the Lord for that. But Thomas Jefferson was a deist.
[00:47:23] He's likely not in heaven.
[00:47:25] You know our founding fathers were sinners, right? That's it.
[00:47:34] And you know what?
[00:47:36] Our country, as much liberty as we have, could turn on Christians just as any other.
[00:47:41] Just beware.
[00:47:44] Just beware.
[00:47:47] This takes priority to political matters. Right here.
[00:47:51] The Lord says flee. Not fight, not fight.
[00:47:55] Again, we can do what we can to preserve liberty, and indeed we should vote to that end to whatever power we have. But when the rubber meets the road, if it comes down to it, and we have that choice, Lord says flee.
[00:48:10] We might not like that.
[00:48:12] You remember the time when Jesus was.
[00:48:15] He told them, now I want you to sell a garment and buy a sword. And they said, hey, we got two swords. And he said, okay, that's good. That's enough. And then they came to arrest Jesus. Remember that Peter took one of those swords and he tried to cut the head of Malchus off. Malchus was quick enough to dodge, just lost an ear. Remember that? And what did Jesus tell him to do?
[00:48:35] Says the wrong time, wrong use, wrong use. You should be fleeing. Maybe not in that case particular, but you shouldn't be fighting, not with the sword. That's the wrong use of it.
[00:48:50] Last thing I want you to see is in verse number 24 and 5.
[00:48:53] He says, the disciple is not above his master, nor a servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servants as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Look at John chapter 15 John 15 verse number 20 says this. Remember the word that I said unto you. The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake because they know not him that sent me.
[00:49:52] This is a pretty clear verse where the Lord says those who persecute his disciples do not know God regardless of what name or patch they have.
[00:50:04] See it so in closing, how important is your faith and your walk with God? Not just your faith but how important is your exercise and practice of your faith if you have to pay a small price now, what hope do you think there would be if the price was much steeper?
[00:50:36] Are you living for the Lord now when the price is relatively low?
[00:50:44] What would it be if the price was high?
[00:50:48] Let's pray together.
