Book of Esther - Part 8

Good morning, everybody. Well, turn with me to Esther chapter three.

All right, let's start with verse seven. We studied a little bit of this last time, but I want to just, it won't make sense if we don't kind of get some of the context.

So let's start with Esther chapter three, verse seven. In the first month, that is in the month of Nisan, in the 12th year of King Ahasuerus, they cast poor, that is they cast lots before Haman from day to day and from month to month to the 12th month, that is the month of Adar.

And Haman said unto King Ahasuerus, there is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws are diverse from all the people.

Neither keep they the king's laws. Therefore, it is not for the king's prophet to suffer them or allow them to live, actually is what he meant.

Now, the background of this is that for some reason,

Haman had been lifted up to about the highest place he could be in this kingdom, like the right -hand man of the king.

And we've studied a little bit about this man's lineage. And he came from Esau, and if you study the scriptures, you find that Esau is a picture or a type of the flesh.

And you know, we battle three enemies, the world, the devil, of course, and our own flesh, the carnal part of us, the old man.

And Esau is a picture or a type or a symbol of our old man. And this man,

Haman, is part of the lineage of that, so he pictures that as well. And it's a way that God teaches us through object lessons, and we can look at these men and their whole nation and how they are, and it shows us a picture of how our own flesh is an enemy and can hurt us.

And so here we have Mordecai, which is this Jewish man, who lives right there in the proximity of the palace.

And the king puts out this order that everyone is to bow down and worship Haman when he walks by.

Well, Mordecai wouldn't do it. And being a Jewish man, we studied for two or three Sundays on why he wouldn't do it.

And all the different verses in the Old Testament where God talks about idolatry, and he warns his people, don't worship other gods.

In fact, God said, I've looked around, there aren't any others. I am the one true God. And he said,

I'm a jealous God. And so Mordecai wasn't about to bow down to a man and worship him.

Well, the other people in the court noticed that, and they were doing it, and it made him sort of jealous, but also angry, and so they told on him, basically is what they did.

And they told Haman about it. Haman found out about it, and he hated Mordecai. He hated the Jews anyway, because if you go back and you study

Esau and Jacob all the way up, they fight, the families fight one another. And so he hated the

Jews anyway. So Haman feels that he has the power in this nation to do something about it, and he not only wants to destroy

Mordecai, but he wants to kill all the Jews. He wants to destroy the entire nation. Of course, they weren't a nation at that time.

They'd already been dispersed, and they were just living in this nation. And it's really interesting to think about that in the context of Ephesians, where the book of Ephesians chapter six talks about spiritual warfare.

And it says that we battle not against flesh and blood. In other words, our battle is never with another human.

But it says that we battle against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places.

So it's like a spiritual battle going on. And so here, Satan himself had inspired the mind of Haman to destroy an entire race.

Now, why do you think Satan would want to destroy the Jewish race at this point in history? Because he knew that the

Messiah was said to be coming and going to be born of this race. So therefore, if he could destroy the race in Satan's thinking, he could destroy this whole concept of God and be the victor and defeat

God. Now, how many of you think that's going to happen ever? That's not gonna happen because God is sovereign.

And Satan is like a pawn in God's hand. But Satan doesn't view it that way.

And there's a lot of things we can learn from that right there, because Satan actually has this spirit about himself, where he sees himself as God.

And you know, we have this thing called secular humanism, which our nation is bought into this. And really, the

New Age movement, all of these things, several cult groups, such as Mormonism and others, they are teaching their people that really we will become gods.

And so therefore, that we are the center of the whole universe and the whole thing centers around me. So it becomes very selfish.

And so this is the way Satan is. You see, that's the spirit of the devil himself. He really thinks that he can control everything and everything circles around him.

So he even felt that he could thwart God's plan for the Messiah. And that's not the only time he made the mistake of thinking that.

He thought it when he took Jesus into the wilderness and tempted him, didn't he? He thought he could defeat Jesus Christ right there, but he didn't, why?

Because even though Satan used scriptures to test Jesus with, Jesus came back, gave the proper what?

Interpretation of the same scriptures. And when Jesus gave the proper interpretation of the same scriptures, it defeated

Satan, you see. But the devil doesn't give up, does he? And many, many men and women and boys and girls in this day and age on the planet

Earth have that very same spirit that Satan does. They really do think they're in control.

They don't give God glory for being the sovereign God of the universe who really controls everything and whose plan actually will be fulfilled.

They don't see it that way. They think they can change everything. And people think that all the time. And so this is kind of a study, this little portion of this book of the

Bible is a study teaching us that that is not true. We cannot thwart God's plan, not even for our own lives.

Why would we want to, of course, as Christians? We wouldn't want to. Isn't it true that sometimes, in our view, things go wrong and they don't happen like we thought they should?

Or they don't happen in such a way it makes us comfortable? Or maybe we're under tribulation or trial? And really, our first thought is the wrong thought.

Our first thought is, well, why would God let that happen to me? My family, right?

I mean, sometimes we quickly deal with that like we should. And we say, that's not the right way to think.

Lord, forgive me, take that away. You know, we deal with it. But so often, the very first thought is that we, you know,

God, why, why, why? We don't always have to know the why right now, do we?

But what we find out as we live our lives is that He truly works all things together for good to those that love

Him and who are called according to His name, to His purpose. And so we have to continually remind ourselves of this, don't we?

Because our life here on this planet is gonna be full of tribulation. We're gonna have some seasons of peace.

You can almost watch the nation of Israel, and it's a picture of us. It's a picture of us individual, as an individual

Christian, or as a family, or as a church family. Because Israel went through times of great peace and prosperity.

I mean, look at the days of Solomon. It was the greatest nation on the earth, the most wealthy nation that ever existed, perhaps, in history.

And peace everywhere. But then look at other times, like through the Book of Judges, where continually they would go into captivity and their nation be destroyed.

Or look at them in 70 AD, after Christ, when the Romans came through and destroyed

Israel. And the Jews were dispersed all over the world, where they still are today, for the most part.

There's a few of them in their land now, but not all of them. So we see that it's not always a time of peace, is it?

So we have a season of peace, but then we're always reminded that really we're not in heaven yet.

We're in enemy territory. We're in a battle, and we're here to be trained, for one thing.

And it's gonna be one tribulation after another, one trial, one trouble after another.

So don't you think it'd be wise to learn to deal with that? And the best way to learn to deal with it is from the scriptures, as we sometimes watch other people dealing with it.

Now look at this, look at this. Here we have a man named Haman, who's attempting to use everything in his power to destroy an entire nation.

So look at verse eight. And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, now he'd already won this king over. He had this king in the palm of his hand somehow.

So Haman must have had amazing personality, amazing skills with people and human psychology, and many other attributes that were very good.

Haman comes to the king and he says, there is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among your people.

Now notice the first thing he's trying to do is create a distinctive between God's people and the normal people of the kingdom.

You see what he's doing? He's trying to put a division there and say, there's this group that's mixed in with your people, but they're not your people, they're really a group and they're really bad.

And that's what he's trying to point out here. He said, they're dispersed everywhere. Now that makes them dangerous because they're all over your kingdom.

You don't even know where they all are, but they're everywhere. That's the first thing that he says. And then he says, their laws are diverse.

And it's kind of interesting because if you look at the Hebrew word for that word diverse, it is shana and it means, it can be translated perverted.

So he's telling them their laws are perverted and they don't keep your laws, they have their own laws and they're perverted and strange.

And so they're scattered everywhere, which makes them dangerous. And the last thing he says is, is therefore it's not to your profit to let them live in your kingdom.

Now there is a lot that can be learned from that that can be used for application,

I believe for us moving forward. But let's go on and read a couple more verses first. Verse nine, if it pleased the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed.

What? He said, well, just pass a law that makes it lawful to destroy this entire group of people.

You see, that's foreign to us, isn't it? To read something like that. We've lived in a little parenthetical point in time for a couple of hundred years here in the

United States of America, where we have freedom. For the vast history of the world, it has not been that way anywhere.

The vast history of the world, it's been where one man could say off with your head and it's lawful for that to happen.

No court case, you don't get a lawyer, it's just like one man controls every human and he owns all the land and just lets you use it.

That's the way it's been for the majority of the history of the world. And here we live in America and we're free and we have all this, we take it for granted.

We don't even understand what it's been like for most people that have lived as human beings since the time of Adam and Eve.

And so this was the norm. He said, just pass a law. You're the king, just make a law and make it all right for us to kill all these people.

And so he goes on and says, I will then pay 10 ,000 talents of silver to the hands of those that have charged this business to bring it into the king's treasuries.

And so he's saying, look, make the law be where we can make people rich who will kill these

Jews. Whoever will kill them will make them rich. We'll give them money. Now, how would you like to be the

Jews in a situation like that? Well, picture yourself here. President of the United States says, okay, we don't like Christians, so here's what we're gonna do.

I'll pay everybody who would be willing to do it to kill some of them. I'll give you money for doing it. And they're dispersed everywhere and their beliefs are perverted.

So kill them, it's okay. Now, how would you feel? And this is exactly where the Jews were at this very moment.

They didn't know it yet, but this was happening behind the scenes. And you never know, you may not know it yet.

It could be happening behind the scenes right now to you and me, you don't know. Things can happen so quickly in nations today that it's unbelievable.

I remember when the Soviet Union, when I grew up, being as elderly as I am,

I thought, my generation felt the Soviet Union, the communists would probably win the battle and that we would all become communists someday.

And then all of a sudden, Ronald Reagan was elected and then after he'd been there for a while, within a one week period, he destroyed the

Soviet Union. It was gone, took about a week. You would never believe that could happen to that powerful nation, but it did.

So things can happen quickly and laws can change very quickly. So he goes on to verse 10, and the king took his ring from his hand and gave it to Haman.

And I'll tell you what, that ring was a symbol of the power of the king. So once the king handed that ring to this man, this man spoke as the king, whatever he said.

He gives him the ring and he was the Jews' enemy, the verse says, in verse 11, and the king said unto

Haman, the silver is given to you, so now you can pay people to go kill all the Jews and the people also to do with them as it seems good.

And you read down through this thing and the law is passed and they go out and they announced this to the entire nation.

Now drop down to verse 15 and we'll see that it kind of ends with an interesting word.

It says the post, the men that went out to give the news of this went all out and they were hastened by the king's commandment because king said, let's make this happen now.

You know, let's just get this done. And the decree was given in Shushan, that's the name of the place where the palace was, and the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.

So even they were perplexed by a law such as this that was passed so quickly, a law that would destroy an entire ethnic group within that nation.

And everybody was perplexed with it, but they couldn't disobey it because the king would kill them, so they were just perplexed.

I think that's interesting. Now, what I would like to do the rest of our time today is I want you to think about something and see if you see any parallels here.

Turn to Matthew chapter 10 with me for a moment. And for the rest of this morning, rather than looking back in history at something that's already happened where a law was passed that said that God's people were dispersed everywhere, but they're dangerous and their ways are peculiar and even perverted and they don't keep the laws of the land and they are the problem.

And it's not fitting for you as king to allow them to live in the past.

And let's look forward in the future and to a prophetic passage in Matthew chapter 10.

Let's start with about verse 16. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.

I wanna stop just for a second and ask you a question to be thinking about while we read a little bit here.

Who is he talking to? This is Jesus Christ speaking. He says, behold,

I send you forth. Now I know there's a primary group is the apostles and that's not the easy answer.

I'm not gonna give you the easy answer. That obviously is one group. But who is the secondary group he's talking to?

Because this is prophetic, which means it is designed to provide information to a group of people that's larger than just the 12.

Does that make sense? So I wanna ask you who that group is. Be thinking about it.

Because theologians tell us in their books that it's this group or that group. But I don't want you to read those books.

I just want you to look at the Bible and look at the passage and use the passage in the plain grammar here and the context of it.

And you tell me, who is Jesus talking to here? I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.

Who is ye? Who's he warning? Who is he giving this information to? But he says, be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

Who is he speaking to when he says that? Because if the theologians are correct, who he's speaking to, then it does not even apply to me and you this morning.

We might as well not read it. It has nothing to do with us if the theologians, certain theologians are correct.

Now there are many other theologians that disagree with that. But think about it for a minute.

Does this apply to you and me sitting in this room or not? Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

But beware of men, for they deliver you up to the councils.

And that word is interesting. If you look it up in the Greek, it's actually the Greek word, suned rion, which in English is called

Sanhedrin. We all know who the Sanhedrin is, right? It was the Jewish council of the scribes and Pharisees that decided to kill

Jesus Christ. That's who this is talking about. And so it's talking about Jewish council, a group of Jewish leaders.

And then it goes on and says, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. Now this word synagogue simply means an assembly of people, specifically a

Jewish synagogue or a meeting place for the Jewish religion. It can be an analogy speaking, and I'm reading this from Strong's dictionary.

He says it can be an analogy of the Christian church, meaning in that case, simply an assembly, a congregation.

But in the context of this passage, as Jesus is speaking here, he's talking about councils, which is actually the word

Sanhedrin. And so I believe synagogue is a very good English interpretation.

I believe it is a reference to the Jewish assembly and meeting. And so then verse 18 goes on and says, and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake.

And I ask you again, who is ye? Who is that talking? Who is he warning here? Who is he giving instruction to?

Now let's look at the word governors for a minute. The word governor in the Greek language here simply means a leader or a chief person of a province.

So that's like literally governor is an excellent translation. It's like, think of the governor of Texas or whatever.

That's kind of what this kind of person is. And then it says, you'll be brought before kings. Now the word king in Greek is

Basilius, which literally means the sovereign of an entire nation.

So king is a perfect translation there, don't you think? I mean, it's like the, it's the head man that God has put in place to run an entire nation.

So Jesus warns this group of people that you will be brought before local leaders like a governor, but you will also be brought before kings for my sake, he says, at this particular time in history for a testimony against them and the

Gentiles. Now, I want us to stop for a minute and examine these two words. Jesus is saying there's gonna come a time when you, a particular group of people, are going to be brought before these people that he's already named.

And then he sums it up here and says, for a testimony against them, which is all the people he just named, and the

Gentiles. So he adds another group there. You see that? He adds another group of people. So now we have a group of people that Jesus is saying that this group he's talking to is gonna be brought before in a negative way, a way in which they're gonna be saying the same things that Haman said about the

Jews so many years earlier. They're gonna be saying, look, they're dispersed among you, they're dangerous, their ways are peculiar, and it is not profitable for you to let them live here or to let them live at all.

Well, now, we know the word Gentiles, it's the Greek word ethnos, it means a race of people, but the use of it in the scripture, particularly in the

New Testament scripture, is a reference to non -Jews, isn't it? It's always a reference to the non -Jew.

So there we have a phrase, them and the Gentiles. Now, so what is this here? We gotta look at this. There are four groups of people, then

Jesus says that this other group is gonna be brought before. And I'm trying to ask you to tell me who the other group is.

Who's the group he's talking to and warning and giving instruction to? It's gotta be a group that's not included in the four groups he just named.

Let's look at the four groups. First of all, the word them includes about three of them, and then there's the

Gentiles, that's gonna be the fourth one. So let's see who these groups are. Here's the first group. It is lost

Jews, and when I use the word lost here, I'm talking about non -born -again people, okay? Because I'm bringing this into the future and now we're on this side of the cross.

So these are non -born -again Jews. They're part of the Sanhedrin, which tells us this, these are non -born -again

Jews who are Jewish leaders. Are you with me? That's the first group.

The second group is, it calls it, you'll be brought before the synagogue. Now that is full of just Jewish people, just non -believing, unbelievers who are

Jewish people. So there you have the non -born -again Jewish leaders, and secondly, you have the non -born -again

Jewish people who are of the Jewish religion at whatever time this is talking about. And then the third group, it says, governors and kings of the

Gentiles. So these are non -Jewish leaders. And then the fourth group is, you're gonna be brought before the

Gentiles. That's the non -Jewish regular people. So now think about it. If you've got the

Jewish leaders and you have the normal Jews, just the average Jews, and then you have the

Gentile leaders and you have just the average Gentiles, what is the only group that God has ever created that's left, that's not included in one of those four groups?

Can you think of what group that would be? That's who he's talking to, so let's define who he's talking to. Who is it?

Somebody say it. Christians. Christians. So it's born -again Jews and Gentiles who are different from the other groups because we're a family.

We're connected by the Holy Spirit to Jesus himself and to the Father, and better than that,

I don't mean better than that, along with that, what I mean to say is cool, that we're connected to each other.

Popped out of my mouth wrong. It's not better than that. I mean, it doesn't get better than being connected to Jesus and to the Father, does it, as an individual, but not only that, but connected to each other as a body, the body of Christ.

That's the only group not mentioned in the four groups, so that's who Jesus is addressing and that's who he's warning, and the theologians, many of them today disagree.

They say he's only talking to the Jews here. It's as if that this warning is to the

Jews, and it's not. It's to the church. Now, the church has Jews in it.

The church also has Gentiles in it, and the distinguishing factor of who that is is those who have been baptized into the body of Christ, those who are saved.

That's who he's warning. Obviously, that's who he's talking about, or we would never even read this book in church, in New Testament church, if it's talking to the

Jewish nation, so it's clear that that's who this is at this point.

Now, we know that Jesus is addressing born -again people.

Therefore, we can eliminate the concept that he is talking only to the Jewish nation in this passage.

He is talking to his own sheep, save Jews and save Gentiles, in other words, the church.

Now, let's go to verse 19, and let's see what the message is, and here's what I want you to do. I want you to parallel this with what has already happened in history, where Satan, remember, we battle not against flesh and blood.

It's not people we need to worry about. Satan inspired a man named

Haman. You might as well say a man named Hitler, because he did it again later, kill eight million Jews during World War II.

Satan inspired a man named Haman to try to destroy the entire Jewish race, and the things that he told the king are very similar to what you're gonna see in this passage in the future, that kings of this world are gonna be told about us, about that group he's talking to, the church, us.

Verse 19, but when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you should speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak.

Listen to this, for it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you. Listen, if you're ever chosen by God to stand before a king and not deny the

Lord Jesus Christ, because they're gonna kill you if you say you belong to him, and you don't deny him, you say I do belong to him, and here's why, the part that comes right after that is gonna be placed in your heart and mind by the

Holy Spirit, and you're gonna say it just perfectly. And it's going to be a testimony to Jesus Christ, and it's gonna glorify him and the

Father, and so will your death. Does that make sense? I mean, this is what he's telling them.

And he says, don't worry about what to say. Now, he goes on in verse 21, and the brother shall deliver you, shall deliver up a brother to death.

So now here we have in the same family, one brother will be like Haman, another brother will be like Mordecai, and he'll turn him in, so that the authorities will kill him and say he's born again.

He's one of these that's dispersed out there, that's dangerous, and their laws are different. They don't keep your laws, they got their own laws, and they're peculiar and perverted, killing.

And the brother turns in the brother, and the father shall turn in his own child. You say, that'll never happen.

I've seen examples of that, not exactly like this. But I remember when my mentor, Dr. Rocky Freeman, who was a

Jewish believer, when he got born again and he told his parents about it, who were Jewish people, his parents took a little box and buried it and said, that is the burial of our son, he is dead to us.

Can you imagine a father doing that to a son? Well, listen, people that are inspired of Satan to be religious, you know what

I'm saying? It's not true religion, it's not truly of the Lord Jesus, but it's a worldly religion, they're very zealous.

They're very zealous of their religion. And if your own child says your religion's false,

Jesus is the way, they'll turn him in. And this is what Jesus is prophesying is coming in the future.

Goes on, children will rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And you shall be hated of all men.

Listen, that's all the four groups we've already named. The Jewish leaders, the Jewish regular people, the

Gentile leaders and the Gentile regular people, that's everybody in the world, you will be hated by all of them because you're the one group they hate.

For my name's sake, he says, but he then, he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

We have to ask ourselves, what's the end? And the end is a reference to the second coming and the rapture.

So he who endures to the rapture shall be saved.

Well, that's true, isn't it? But isn't it interesting that the word endure is there, which shows that we're gonna go through something before the rapture.

And I can't say what, I don't know how far, I'm not debating that today. Well, like do we get raptured at the first of the seven years or in the middle or at the end?

Where is that? I can't say. I need to study more. But I can say this, we're going to endure some things before that happens.

And those who endure it until that time comes shall be saved in the physical sense.

In other words, you'll be raptured and brought up and changed in the air and you will never suffer physical death. But there will be many of your brothers and sisters who will die before that happens.

And this is the warning Jesus is giving. Now look what he says, this is very fascinating, talking about this time period.

But when they persecute you, who's you? That's the group that's not in the other four, that's the church, that's

God's people. He says when they persecute you in this city, flee you to another.

Now listen to this, this is something probably, I don't know, if you're like me, you've never given this much thought. Truly, Jesus says to you, you will not have gone over the cities of Israel.

Now what is he telling them to do? He's giving them some information about how to what? Survive, survive.

So it's not as if it's God's will that all Christians be slaughtered. Jesus, on the contrary, is telling us this is coming, be prepared for it.

Know what to do when it happens because when it happens, it's too late if you don't already know what to do. He said the first thing you do is when you start to see persecution happening in the city you live in, run, flee to the next city.

For verily, he says, you shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man comes.

Now that tells us some information. It tells us this time period between when the persecution hits the church and when the

Son of Man comes is not real long. It's not an extremely long amount of time. It's about the amount of time you could go from one city to another in Israel as it was in his day as we studied in Sunday school this morning.

I was looking at a map in my Bible while you were teaching that and it's a little bigger than the modern Israel. But about the time you could go from city to city, not that you'd go to all of them, but you'd flee to one or the other, before you know it, the

Son of Man will come and this time will be over and you'll be saved. So that's kind of interesting.

Now, in this same passage, it says, you shall not have gone over the cities of Israel.

Now, let me ask you this, could you then take that and use that to prove that he is only speaking to the

Jewish nation here as some theologians say? I don't think that's a plain translation or understanding of how

God teaches and how Jesus teaches. To me, it makes a lot more sense that what the

Lord Jesus is doing as he speaks to these 12 people who live right there in Israel and he's teaching them this truth is coming in the future, he is simply using a geographic area that they are familiar with, saying now, if you went to that city over there, to that one and that one and that one and that one, and then

I'm going to come and it lets them understand an approximate time period that this tribulation is going to last, this part that they're in.

And so he's using something they're familiar with, their immediate geographic area to the ones he's teaching right there to teach them this truth of how long the tribulation will last.

That is a very comfortable interpretation of what he's doing. It's the same way when he uses a farming example or planting seeds and teaching a spiritual truth, that's what he's doing.

That is not something that properly should be used to try to prove a theory that this is only talking to the

Jews. If that's true, then none of this applies to Christians because all of it's talking in Israel. Everything Jesus ever said was in Israel to Israelis, so none of it applies to us.

You see, you can't, that's nonsense. And yet some of the greatest thinkers in the church have said and used that, it is a very perilous position to base a theory on, very perilous, very easily picked apart by a thinking

Christian. So there we have that Jesus is simply telling them, when this comes to pass, they're gonna be trying to kill you.

And when you see your particular governor of your little province take part in this and he gets serious about it, he starts to lay out laws and stuff so you'd be killed, flee and go to one where that hadn't happened yet.

And then when you see it start to happen there, go to another one. That tells us a lot. Number one, it tells us you would have time to do it.

You would have the ability to see it happening if you're watchful and to flee and escape and go to the next one.

You don't have to be killed. Let me tell you who's gonna be killed. I mean, you know

I can't prophesy exactly, but I'm saying generally. Generally who's gonna be killed are people who have been taught that you don't need to worry about any of this because you ain't gonna be here.

And so they're not prepared, they don't have a clue what to do. And then when it hits, they just sit there and then before you know it, they're taken away.

So listen, there are gonna be, for every Christian who takes this to heart and reads it and studies it, there are gonna be 10 ,000 who don't.

And those are the one that are gonna go like the lamb to the slaughter. And those of you who take this seriously, all you have to do is pay attention and when you see it happening, go somewhere else.

Now you never thought of it that way because you've read these books, seen these movies about tribulation and like it makes it like, well, just boom, everybody's, anybody that's there is just killed and you don't have a chance.

It's not gonna be that way. The word of God, Jesus said, my truth will set you free, didn't he?

So there is truth about this issue and if we heed it and we walk according to the word, you have safety in that, just like every other area of life.

Jesus is always about protecting his own, but his own have to listen to his word to get the protection.

It's always been that way, always shall be that way. Now, he says, you shall be hated of all four of the different groups and then verse 24, the disciple is not above his master.

Now there's a lot to be learned in that. I want you to think about that for a minute. If we buy into, well,

I tell you, there's a theory out there called the mid -trib theory, which I don't hold to it. I think I've read it, studied it and it's very flaws and it's presupposition that the whole thing's based on is that God's wrath cannot come on his own children.

That's what they say, number one, God's wrath cannot come on his own children, therefore this and this and this. And if you buy into that first one, then you'll believe that they're right.

But the truth is God's wrath has come on his children already. Many times, look at the nation of Israel in the book of Judges.

Every time God spanks, he lets them see his anger. But the thing is, when the

Lord spanks, he does it in love and it has a positive end to it.

And so look at what he says, the disciple is not above his master. We ought not think of ourselves to think that we're going to be freed from tribulation and suffering if the

Lord Jesus himself was brutally beaten and killed for the faith.

So now, if we don't think of ourselves above him, why would we be so prideful as to think, well, that could never happen to us?

You see, that's what he's teaching right here. Nor the servant is never above his Lord. If they come in, listen, if they come in and they kill the

Lord of the land, they're gonna kill the servants, aren't they? If the servants can't fight back and stop it, they're all gonna be killed because they're not above the master.

It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master. Look, we don't have to think of ourselves as being higher than Jesus.

We don't have to think of ourselves as being protected more than Jesus was protected for. It is enough that we say we're like him.

We are like him. I mean, that's an understatement in the scripture. And he said, it's enough.

It's enough for you to understand that you're just gonna be like him. You're not gonna be better or protected more or favored more.

It's great that you're like him. And what did the father do to Jesus? Got quiet in the room there.

Okay, you're like him. You're not above him. Do you see, the Lord himself is teaching this before he went to the cross.

He said, man, if they will crucify me, they're gonna crucify you. All of the disciples were killed that way, except for John.

And they tried to boil him in oil, they just didn't kill him. All of them. Read Foxe's book of martyrs.

The Roman Catholic church has killed more Christians than all of the Roman government ever killed.

It is enough just to be like him. Listen, if you're ever called upon to die for him, do it.

It'll be the greatest thing you ever did in your life. And the Bible promises you'll have a greater resurrection than the rest.

I say it to all of us, but certainly our young people, you guys that are younger than me,

I mean, you're going to see some of this. I have to believe that. Things are in place now for these things to begin to happen.

I think they've already begun to happen. But you have to understand this. Have you ever noticed a family that has just gone through a tragedy?

And you watch your mom and you watch yourself, you watch your children and your family go through that time in those days, the days of the funeral, the days of all that, and you go through it.

And you have a certain power, and we call it grace, a certain ability that you never thought you would have.

Is that true? It is so true. So if you're ever called upon to die for your faith,

God's going to give you such a great grace and power and ability to go through it. You can't comprehend that now.

I understand neither can I. I'm going to be the first fleeing from one city to the next. I'm going to flee.

I mean, they're going to have to catch me from behind if they're going to catch me, all right? Because now I want you to think about this.

Jesus did not say turn and stand and stand against them, did he? He said flee.

We have to do it exactly like he says. You don't get your little army together and try to fight them.

You flee. So anyway, it says, 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

Beelzebub? Now, what is that saying? They call Jesus the devil. They said, you're the devil.

You heal people and raise people from the dead because you have the power of Satan. Now that, by the way, I believe was the unpardonable sin to attribute to God Satan's attributes.

You just can't do that, or the other way around, to attribute to Satan God's attributes. If you do one of those, you're in danger of hellfire.

And so Jesus is telling his people, he says, look, they call me Satan. You're not above me.

They're gonna call you Satan. Now listen, what is that saying? They are going to call you the devil.

In this day that he's out in our future, somewhere out in our future, there's gonna come a time when the society that you're dispersed within, the greater society is gonna say, they're different than us.

They have their own laws. They don't keep our laws and they're dangerous. They're the devil. Jesus said, don't let that surprise you.

If they would call me, your Lord, the devil, they will call you the devil. You're gonna be the devil.

We are gonna be the cause of all the problems in society. We are the evil ones who need to be eliminated just as Mordecai was.

It is the exact picture of it. Fear them not therefore. Now, isn't it amazing that Jesus says that in the context of this passage, verse 26?

Fear them not therefore. You have got to be quite a spiritual person to buy into that verse after reading what we just read and after seeing it already demonstrated again and again in history, even before Jesus came to God's people.

When it happens, don't be fearful. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed.

In other words, if anyone ever touches you, they are going to pay for that, God says.

It will come to light and every creation of God in all the universe will see what they did.

Just think of Hitler. Think of him with regard to this prophecy. There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed.

There is nothing hid that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that I want you to speak in the light.

And what you hear in the ear quietly whispered to you by me, Jesus says, I want you to preach that on the housetops.

And fear not them which kill the body. See, this is information we might need to know.

Don't fear them that threaten your physical life, but they are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both the soul and body in hell.

Who is that? That's the Lord Jesus. That's the one we should fear. We don't fear these people that may kill us because we believe in him.

So you would never want to deny the one who can kill your body and your spirit in hell to deny him in favor of the one who can only kill your body, right?

So you don't fear the one who can just kill you physically. I mean, why would you fear someone who is going to give you an instant ticket to glory?

Why fear someone like that? And that's what Jesus is saying. Now, I understand I don't have the grace to do that right this minute, do you?

I mean, right now, I would be fearful. In fact, you will be until the moment comes because you're supposed to be because that's what makes you flee to the next city or to the mountains or wherever God tells you to flee.

That fear is what makes you flee. But when it comes face to face and you have been caught and you're not going to escape, the fear will be taken away from you by the

Lord and you'll be given this grace and power to handle whatever God has for your life.

Now, he goes on and he says, fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul.

Here's why, verse 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father knowing about it?

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men. Now, what is the context of this verse? We've used it to say we need to make a public profession of faith, but that's not the context of this verse.

This verse is saying when you're under this kind of trial and tribulation where they are threatening to kill everyone that believes in Jesus Christ and you're brought to the point where you fled but you didn't flee well enough and they caught you.

You see what I'm saying? They caught you and they say, do you believe in Jesus? At that moment,

Jesus says, confess me before all men. Which, who is that?

That's the four groups we studied when we started this morning. Him will I confess also before my father, which is in heaven.

At the moment you're faced with that and you do that and you say, yes, I belong to Jesus. Jesus says,

I shout out to all of the heavenlies, he is mine. Look at him, look at her.

There's my best athlete. There's my winner. There's the one who at the last second of the game can just focus and do the right thing and get it done and win.

And Jesus shouts that out to all the heavenlies, if that is you or if that's me. But whosoever shall deny me before men at this sort of time, oh no,

I don't know him, so that you can survive physically. Him will I also deny before my father, which is in heaven.

So we're not allowed to act as if we don't know him, even if we would think that would help us save our lives.

We're not allowed to go that far. We can be wise. We can be wise as serpents. There are things that you can do to divert them and confuse them and I think even lie to them.

If they walk in and say, your wife and kids in that back room? Nope, hadn't seen them today. Nothing wrong with that.

But if they look at you in the face and they say, do you believe in Jesus? You can't say, nope, never heard of him.

At that moment, you now know that you've been called to one of the highest callings God has and that is a better resurrection and you look at him square in the face and when your lips start moving, the

Holy Spirit will be talking to them through you. Now, you've never had a time like that yet. Has anyone ever accused you of being an inspired prophet who writes scripture?

No, that has not happened. I mean, you may say things you learned in the word and that's great, but if you're ever called upon for that moment and they look at you and say, do you believe in him?

The next words you say are going to be inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Bible. Jesus told us that. He said, he will speak through your mouth.

Don't worry about what you're gonna say. Is that wild or what? And so there is some amazing information.

He's told us what to do. He's told us how to do it. He's told us what not to do. He's told us who he's talking to.

He told us who he's not talking to. The only thing he didn't tell us is when this is gonna happen.

But you know what he did say about it? He said, I'll tell you what, you're not going to know the day or the hour, but you know what?

All of you are smart enough to look at a tree in the spring and when it buds, you know that summer is nigh.