Inevitable Opposition Part I 1 Peter 4:12-19

This morning, we have, of course, Jewish missionary Trevor Rubenstein with us.

And Trevor, of course, ministers to the tens of thousands of Jews who live in the

Twin Cities. He lives in the epicenter of the Jewish community in St.

Louis Park. And what Trevor shared in the previous hour and recently is what we have all heard in the news since Israel was attacked on October 7th.

Southern Israel, along the Gaza Strip, experienced a surprise attack from the terrorist group

Hamas. Hamas, for many years, has had the desire, along with other nations, to wipe

Israel off the face of the earth. They have a deep hatred for the people of Israel and a desire to possess the land that Israel possesses.

It is an obvious statement to say that Hamas is a satanic group that desires to destroy what

God loves. The nation of Israel started about 4 ,000 years ago when the

Lord called Abraham to leave the land in which he lived to go to a land that he had never been to before.

The land to which he was called to go was the land of Canaan, and the Lord made promises to Abraham in Genesis 12.

Genesis 12, 1 and 2 describes this account. Now the Lord said to Abraham, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

And the Lord's call to Abraham to leave his land to go to a new land that would be his and his offsprings, the

Lord told the world something. He told the world this in Genesis 12, 3.

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you

I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

There is blessing for those who bless Israel, and there is a curse for those who curse

Israel. Right now that curse is upon Hamas and anyone who sympathizes with them.

As a church, we stand with Israel. In the Old Testament, God made promises to the people of Israel that he is going to keep.

The people of Israel sadly rebelled against God, but the Lord made forever promises to Israel that he is going to keep.

What Romans 11 communicates is that a hardening has come over the people of Israel, but one day this hardening will be removed and they will believe in Jesus as their

Messiah. The Lord is not going to just save Israel, but he is going to fully restore them to their land.

This is when Christ will reign from Jerusalem for 1 ,000 years.

But before this day comes, the people of Israel, even though their hearts are hardened, they have been a people that have experienced constant opposition.

This is so because Satan knows, even though their hearts are hardened, that they are still

God's people. Satan knows what the Bible says about their grand future. He's been studying the

Bible for thousands of years. He knows what it says. Down through history, maybe the most clearly demonstrated opposition was the

Holocaust. The world has hated the Jews because the one who temporarily rules the world is the devil.

There is a term that has been formed for hatred of the Jews and it's called anti -Semitism. Now the

Jews have been greatly persecuted down through history, but it is not just the Jews, but also the people of God who came after Israel, the church.

It is estimated that more than 70 million Christians have been martyred since Jesus walked the earth.

True Christians have always been opposed by the world and they always will be until Christ returns.

This is the experience of God's people, whether Israel or the church.

Now in our sermon series, we are in 1 Peter and one of the big themes of 1

Peter has been the persecution of the church. Peter is writing to Christians in Asia Minor and he knows the difficulty they are experiencing.

We have already seen in this letter that he has given them instructions to prepare them and sustain them for the opposition they are already experiencing and the continued opposition that is coming.

So we are going to see Peter highlight once again this reality of what Christians experience and will experience.

So at this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to 1 Peter chapter 4. This is the first sermon in a longer sermon in 1

Peter chapter 4 verses 12 through 19. If you don't have a Bible, we do have the red Bibles in the pews.

This sermon is titled, Inevitable Opposition. I'm going to begin by reading these verses.

We are not going to cover every one of these verses today, but I'm going to read the whole text here. 1 Peter 4 verses 12 through 19.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify

God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.

And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?

Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.

Here's our big idea. What this text and what this sermon is calling you to do.

Understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer.

Persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer. And we're going to see seven reasons why this sermon is going to take us at least two

Sundays, possibly three Sundays. But this morning, we're going to look at the first three reasons why persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer.

But before we jump in and zero in on these verses, let me give you a little recap of where we have been.

We looked at verses 7 through 11 last Sunday. And in those verses, we saw Peter describe how

Christians are to live in light of the nearness of Christ's return. What we saw is that we are not to be survivalists who stock up on supplies and block themselves out from community.

But rather, as the reality of Christ's return is on our minds and hearts, this is the time to draw nearer to our local body of believers.

What Peter highlighted is that we are to carry out certain responsibilities. We are to be sober -minded, fulfilling the purpose that God has for each of us.

We are to show love by forgiving. We are to show hospitality. And we are to use the spiritual gifts that the

Lord has given to each of us in order to build up the body of Christ in these days.

You and I are to fulfill our Christian responsibilities as the end nears. Now, this leads us to our text this morning that we've already read, but now

I'm going to begin by zeroing in on verse 12, where once again,

Peter says, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

And he starts off by saying, Beloved. When he says Beloved, we know that he's talking to believers.

And what he's saying is, this is going to be your experience. What he tells believers is that they are not to be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you.

This is where Christians need to understand that the normal experience of believers in this life is not one of ease, where everyone approves of you.

Rather, it is a life that is lived upstream. A couple months back, I told you about the movie released in the summer titled

The Essential Church. This movie was a documentary about what happened during COVID -19 to pastors who stood up against the government intrusion upon churches.

These pastors believed that the church should meet, given what we knew about COVID, that the government had an agenda.

As time went on, not to meet was to be disobedient to the Lord. These pastors were persecuted by the government.

Several pastors in Canada, in fact, served time in jail. And John MacArthur's church in California, which was the centerpiece of this documentary, of course, faced great opposition from the state of California.

Throughout the movie, there was a comparison between what happened to Christians in church history, specifically in the 17th century, and they compared it to what happened to pastors and their churches during the height of COVID -19.

A church historian who was an expert in 17th century Christianity in England, when the

Puritans were persecuted by the state church, said a profound statement in this movie about how

Christians are viewed by the world and the importance of Christians understanding this.

He said this, God's truth is enduringly true through all generations.

It transcends culture. The church is always going to be an embattled people.

If it's swimming with the tide, it's not being the church of Jesus Christ. Look to the past, learn from the past, because the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

This will be the experience of those who follow the Lord, and the closer you follow him, the more this will be your experience.

So Peter tells his readers not to be surprised when this comes. He says, don't think it's strange as though something strange were happening to you.

Opposition from the world will come, and the believer needs to embrace it and not run from it. As believers, and my prayer is that everyone in this room is a believer, one who has trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, because of what he did at the cross and through his glorious resurrection.

As believers, you will face opposition. It will come. Mark it down.

And how much more now in this nation that we live in? What Peter tells his readers is that they are not to be surprised, and he gives one of the reasons the

Lord puts you through this. Peter writes that he puts you through this to test you.

The Lord desires to strengthen our faith through trials, and one of the major trials that believers face in the life of faith is the trial of persecution.

As I've stated before, persecution comes in different forms. You can be persecuted through being called all kinds of names, all the way to being martyred for the sake of Christ.

I was actually talking to Trevor about this this week when we met, and he said that the heart is the same. Whether it's martyrdom or whether it's name calling, there's a hatred.

There's a hatred for the people of God. And remember, they don't hate you so much as they hate who you're associated with.

They hate God. They hate Christ. And because you're a Christian, they hate you.

And as you stand with Christ, the Lord strengthens you. And the more you stand with Him, the stronger you will be to stand with Him in the future.

The Lord doesn't plan for His people to be cowards. He plans for His people to be strong, to be soldiers of the cross.

I love that hymn, Am I a Soldier of the Cross? That hymn is about counting the cost.

And, of course, it gets the words from Jesus about counting the cost.

He plans for you to be strong. And when we fail, He plans for you to be stronger in the future and to repent when we fail, when we're supposed to stand strong for Him.

So He sends opposition along your way, and He wants you to pass the test. And as one in the early stages of faith, one will be timid.

And even mature Christians can be timid at times, but He calls us to stand with Him and to trust

Him to take care of us as we go through the suffering of persecution, the suffering of opposition from the world.

So understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer. And the first reason why is that the believer should not be surprised that the

Lord uses these trials to test your faithfulness. That's the first point. He uses these trials to test your faithfulness.

That's the first reason why. The second reason why you are to understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer is that your experience is similar to that of Christ.

Your experience is similar to that of Christ. We'll see this in verse 13 where, once again,

Peter says, But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when

His glory is revealed. As a believer faces opposition from the world, what you and I must understand is that there is a joy in following Jesus down this road.

This sounds strange. How can there be joy in suffering as people oppose you because of your faith in Jesus?

Don't we all want to be liked? In our flesh, by the way, that's what we want.

We want everyone to like us. But we need to remove that right now as Christians.

Not everyone's going to like you. What Peter writes is that you can rejoice because you share in His suffering.

Think about this. As a Christian opposed by the world, you are linked to the most important person who has ever walked this earth.

Every person who has ever walked this earth has been sinful, but Jesus was without sin. What we know so clearly from the

Bible is that Jesus is not only a man, He is God. Of all people to be linked to,

Jesus is the one you want to be linked to. He's the author of life. What Jesus makes clear in the

Gospels is the experience of His followers will be similar to His experience. That cross right there.

His cross is all over the world. His cross is in churches. What does the cross symbolize?

Suffering. John 15, 18 -21, Jesus said to His disciples, and He tells us as well,

If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the world will love you as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you, A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted

Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will also keep yours.

But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know

Him who sent Me. Jesus was a polarizing figure.

That's not the Jesus we get from the culture, right? He just loves everybody. He just wants them to stay in their sins.

He just loves everybody right where they're at. He doesn't care what religion you follow. That's the

Jesus of society. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. Jesus was a polarizing figure.

Some people loved Him. And some people hated Him. And people say,

I want to be like Jesus. If you were to go down on Main Street of St. Croix Falls and ask people,

Do you want to be like Jesus? I bet 10 out of 10 would say yes. Depending on what

Jesus that they're thinking of. Think about that. Everybody wants to be like Jesus.

Jesus was a polarizing figure. Do you want to be a polarizing figure?

Because if you truly follow Jesus, you will be. That hits me as I think about that.

That should hit us. As you experience opposition, because remember, you're polarizing.

Half the people, maybe less than half, I don't know. Some people are going to love you, because you're following Jesus. And that's what's so wonderful.

You're going to find out who your true friends are. But then there's going to be these people on this side who are going to hate you.

And as you experience opposition, you are to rejoice, because your experience is that of Jesus, the author of life, the

King of kings, and the Lord of lords. As you go through this experience, your future could not be brighter.

This is what Peter is saying at the end of verse 13. Once again, at the end of verse 13, he writes that you also may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

You can rejoice now, because you will be rejoicing later. You have this future expectation that the opposition is only a reality in the present.

Trevor shared that this morning. The worst experience for the believer is in this life.

Because in the age to come, there is no suffering, there is no sorrow, there is no pain. It's glory. It's forever happiness in the presence of the

Lord. It sounds almost too good to be true, right? But the one who never lies promises that.

So you can rejoice now, because you will be rejoicing later. When Christ's glory is revealed at his return, any suffering and persecution that you experience now will be a thing of the past.

Anyone who thinks you're just a horrible person because you believe Jesus is the only way, because you believe the

Bible is the Word of God, that's going to be a thing of the past. Any opposition you receive is going to be a thing of the past.

Because everybody who populates this future kingdom is going to be a follower of the

Lord. Nobody's going to oppose you then. Isn't that amazing to think about? Sorry, my voice usually isn't this high.

As you go through any suffering in life and walk with him through it, you can rejoice knowing that he is taking care of you.

That he is going to work this suffering for good. And what Peter has in mind here is the suffering of opposition from the world.

I mean, we face lots of suffering, right? Health, mental issues. But what he is focusing on is opposition from the world.

None of us wants to be opposed by the world. But as we saw in the previous point, as you stand with Christ, you will be opposed by the world.

It is not as if you are looking for trouble. But rather you are looking to be obedient to what he calls you to do.

And as this happens, the world notices. And this is where hostility comes. It came to Jesus.

They hung him on a cross. And it will come to his people as you follow him closely.

Understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer. And the second reason why is that your experience is similar to that of Christ.

The third reason why you would understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer is that God's favor is upon those persecuted for Christ's sake.

When your experience is similar to that of Christ, we need to understand that God is on your side. We read that this morning.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Verse 14. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

To say that you are blessed means the Lord's favor is upon you. Peter has already said this very thing in this letter on a couple of occasions.

In 1 Peter 2, verses 20 and 21, Peter wrote, If when you do good and suffer for it, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you may follow in his steps.

He also wrote in 1 Peter 3, verses 13 and 14, Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed.

As we stand with Christ through suffering, the apostle Peter in all of scripture is very clear how the world views you and how the

Lord views you. The world views you one way and the

Lord views you another. The Lord looks on you with approval and his favor is upon you.

And we need to keep this in mind because opposition will come to the one who follows Jesus closely.

2 Timothy 3 .12 says, All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Isn't that interesting how Paul says that? He doesn't say that every Christian will be persecuted. He said all who desire to live a godly life.

Because sometimes Christians, we can be on the sidelines and then you're not persecuted. But if you are actively living out your faith, not private about it, but public, this is when opposition will come.

Was Jesus private about his faith? He's going out and preaching in the temple courts.

He's preaching to the crowds. Everybody knew where he stood on everything because he told them.

And they hated him for it. Now I have said this as we have already gone through this letter, but we might think that opposition from the world is this far off thing.

That it is those who live in Islamic nations where they're governed by Sharia law. And to be a

Christian is a death penalty. And that happens all over the place in these Islamic nations. But what about the

West? Persecution is very much in the West. The part of the world where Christianity used to be the most dominant force.

Our experience in this country is much more the experience of hostility through words rather than hostility through violence.

Jesus said this in Matthew 5 .11 that some of the persecution we receive is through words. He said, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

In other words, you're presented as one thing when you're really another. They present you in the most negative possible light when you're really another.

Right now, in our community, as you follow Jesus closely, this is the kind of pushback you will receive.

Myself and others have personally received pushback recently with the St. Croix Falls homecoming controversy.

And I have wondered if I should even share this because I don't want to bring attention to myself. I want Christ to be glorified, not me.

But in sharing this, I think that Christ will be glorified because this is a very close, real -life example that ties in with this text.

And it should grip each one of us that what Scripture tells us about the world's view of Christians is happening right in our midst.

And we need to prepare ourselves by fearing the Lord and not man and understanding that His blessing is upon us as we stand with Christ and His Word.

He is glorified because He is the steady rock that holds us up and leads us to do

His will. And if you don't know anything about this controversy, let me briefly explain and then explain what happened at the school board meeting two weeks ago where this topic was discussed.

During homecoming week, one parent's daughter came home from school during the

King and Queen voting and she told her mom that they are going away from King and Queen to be more inclusive.

And this led this parent, who has been very involved in the school district, for decades, to post on her social media, our

St. Croix Falls School District has changed from homecoming King and Queen to gender neutral under the direction of our high school leadership.

Now I wanted to verify the truthfulness of this, so I did some digging to find out what was going on. I and others communicated with the school board president and found out that on July 11th, the school board changed the homecoming policy per request from the student leadership and the high school principal.

In the previous school year's handbook, it states that a King and Queen would be crowned, while the new policy did not include the terminology

King and Queen, but rather royalty. It's a subtle change, but it is a significant change.

It should cause Christians in the community concern because this subtle change could open the floodgates where you could have two kings or two queens chosen in the future.

You could have a young man crowned a queen and a young woman crowned a king. Chaos. And what this change does is it blurs the differences between men and women, which the

King and Queen tradition holds to and signals approval to the LGBTQ agenda.

There are many, many traditions in America, including in schools, that were greatly influenced by biblical Christianity.

This change led many parents in the community to be concerned.

The reason I care about this is because I have always said that the church needs to be involved in their community to advance good and defend against Satan's agenda.

If the church doesn't do it, who will? We have a responsibility.

What happened from here is that a couple of Christian parents who have kids at the school and Amy Herring, who was once homecoming queen at St.

Croix Falls, planned to address this at a future school board meeting. And I told them that I would be glad to help them in any way

I could. A Friday came and we received notice that we were on the agenda for Tuesday.

The Christian ladies that I have been communicating with on this topic asked if I would say a few words at this meeting, and I agreed to do so.

And as I went to this meeting, I was glad that Mark and Doug came along with me, but none of us knew what we were walking into.

A group of us met outside 15 minutes before the meeting to pray. Included in this group were pastors from New Life, Osceola Community, and First Baptist of Taylors Falls.

And as we walked into the room, the place was full. Typically these meetings are incredibly boring, so there usually has to be something going on, right, to draw people there.

There were not enough seats, and so me and a few others stood in the back. There was a police officer, and I asked him if he comes to all these meetings, and he said, only the ones

I'm asked to attend. The school board was concerned that there could be tensions, but what

I told the police officer was that we were there to be respectful, and there should be no issues here.

Our desire was to express our concerns with civility. Then we got to the portion where everyone shared.

There were probably about 15 people who spoke, and each person had three minutes. Now if there was any question to whether the

LGBTQ agenda was being pushed by the school leadership, it was cleared up with crystal clarity here.

The change royalty, that's exactly what they were going after, and everybody who was there can attest to that. Everyone was saying we need to be inclusive, we need to welcome these people.

We had about five to six people who spoke who were concerned about the change and desired the school board to return to the old student handbook that clearly outlined that a king and queen would be chosen.

But now let me explain what happened when I got up there. People asked me if I had a prepared statement.

I did not. I think I was the only one who didn't have a prepared statement. And I wanted to follow what

Matthew 10, verses 16 through 20 says. There Jesus said,

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my namesake, to bear witness before them and to the

Gentiles. And when they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.

For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father speaking through you.

I could sense the Lord's hand upon me as I spoke. What I told all three principals, the elementary, middle, and high school, the superintendent, and the school board is that we are all shepherds.

And a good shepherd leads children to green pastures. Then I said that what

I heard from the other speakers is that the student leaders wanted this change and the adults went along with their desire.

But what I said is that if young people want the wrong thing, this is where adults need to step in.

You don't let your kids do whatever they want. Adults, parents, shepherds, lead them down the right path and keep them from going down the wrong path.

Then I explained that this change to the student handbook confuses children for the reasons already mentioned.

It is not God's design to have two men, two women, and a woman in the position a man is supposed to be and a man in a position a woman is supposed to be in.

Then I said that a comment earlier said that transgenders are committing suicide at high rates because they are not being included, but I said that's not correct.

And this was the most controversial comment. They are committing suicide because they are going against God's design.

And anybody pushing them in that direction is not loving them. And this is where things got tense.

A lady in the first row shouted at me, and at this point Mark, who was standing behind her, said let him finish, let him finish.

Then the school board president told me that I had one minute. What I did here is the whole time

I was talking I was looking at the principals and the superintendent. Now I turned my attention to the lady who shouted at me, and for the next minute

I just talked to her. I just felt like I was led to do that. And this is what

I said to her. And of course I'm talking to everyone as I'm talking to her. I said that I am a dying man speaking to people who will stand before the judge.

And then I was able to share the gospel, that we are sinners, that we are in need of a

Savior, that Jesus is the only Savior. And then another young woman shouted at me, are you the judge?

And I said that God is the judge, and we all will stand before the judge, and we are all sinners in need of Christ.

And I said that following Jesus is the path of blessing. People will only be blessed as they follow his truth.

Then I closed by saying this statement, 2 plus 2 equals 4. The sun rises in the east, and Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

And that was left out of the paper. Surprise, surprise. And to be fair, by the way, the lady that shouted at me, she did get up there and she did apologize, and so I appreciate that she did that.

And so it's worth noting that. And as you might expect, there has been conversation about this in the local community, and some have taken to social media to voice their thoughts.

And here is what one person said concerning what happened that night.

At last night's school board meeting, a local Baptist minister spoke. He had some very negative and degrading comments about the

LGBTQ community. I did not sense any love of all mankind in his statement.

Only love and follow God. He and his congregation are 100 % allowed to express their opinion.

However, myself and others felt it was inappropriate and not on topic. As the leader of a community of faith, he should respect the opinions of others.

I must try to express my opinion, especially on this. Public school is a state -run institution.

Our country was largely founded by people fleeing the persecution of the Church of England and its monarchical leader.

Reading up on the history of the Baptist faith, I discovered that Baptists had a huge role in the separation of church and state in our country.

This leads me to believe that perhaps some have no idea about the history of their own religion. It is odd to me that they then try to influence the shaping of school policy.

If there were any LGBTQ members in the audience last night, please know that man was only one viewpoint.

You have the full, unwavering support of myself and many, many others within our community. To say

LGBTQ kids commit suicide because they don't follow the Bible rather than due to the hate, judgment, isolation, and lack of support from others is asinine, in my opinion.

You can believe as you wish, but religion has no place in public school. I don't see the

Jehovah Witnesses asking to remove all holidays and celebrations from public schools, but I do see a lot of Christians trying to influence public school districts and children with their beliefs.

The minimization and judgment from one religion to the next is responsible for so much hate in this world.

It is a large reason for wars starting. Hello, Israeli -Palestinian

War. An excuse for immoral or illegal behavior. An excuse as tradition across the globe.

The fact is humanity changes over time. Perhaps religion should as well. I believe we should support our fellow humans first.

I believe we should support those in our communities, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, and the like.

If you value life, how can you turn around and condemn or, worse, kill another human based on your faith?

The increase in selfishness and narrow -mindedness of people in our country makes me sad.

As my friend says, seek to understand. And for decades I have tried. I can't understand and accept the tenets of any religion to commit to any one of them.

I cannot stand for the hate and judgment of fellow humans done under the guise of faith, especially when it comes to children.

End quote. So there you have it.

What's interesting is there was a reporter there who did actually report on this.

Some of you maybe saw what I wrote on my Facebook page. The picture of me was not the most glamorous picture in the world.

In fact, do you know when my face was like that? It was the moment I was interrupted and shouted at.

It just happened to be the picture that they included in there. And I don't think that's by accident.

But it's interesting that they put that in there. So it's not just me who's experienced pushback.

On October 8th I talked about this controversy in that sermon. And what I mentioned is that Tammy Wanderer, a woman who got married in this church under Pastor Helwig, and her daughter attended

VBS here, she has experienced lots and lots of mean comments. And what she told a few of us is that if I had a quarter for each time

I've been called full of hate and judgmental lately. What we need to understand is that it is not ultimately we that the world opposes.

It is Jesus. Everyone who was there that evening can tell you of the spiritual battle that was taking place.

It was a debate between God's view of the world and man's view of the world.

The paper said tradition versus change. That's a very polite way of saying it.

How about good versus evil? That's not a politically correct way of saying it, but it's true. We don't have any right to change what

God has put forth in his book. We don't have any right to change things that not only the

Bible says clearly, but science says. Not surprisingly, science backs up the

Bible every step of the way because the Bible tells the real world. And we're only loving people if we tell people the word of God, the way of truth, the way to Christ, the way of blessing.

We want people to be happy forever. And that happens for anybody who puts their trust in Christ and follows him.

In your presence there's fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Before that statement, the psalmist says, you make known to me the path of life. In your presence there's fullness of joy.

At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. This is what Christians are about. We are about people being happy forever.

But Satan is deceptive. And we can see how he communicates.

He presents those who are truly loving as unloving, and those who are truly unloving as loving. Everything is backwards.

The world opposes you because they oppose Christ. And when

I was there that evening, what I felt in my heart is what Jesus said at the cross. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

They are sheep without a shepherd. As they oppose his followers, they are really opposing

Christ. But we as a church need to be those who stand with Christ, understanding that with him is blessing.

We are not to fear man. Everyone will stand before the judge. Only God's opinion matters.

While it is true that in this life Christians are in the minority, I was reading a quote recently that said that anyone who is with God is with the majority.

He wins the victory in this world. And anyone allied with him will be victorious as well.

But as we go through this world, the Christians will always experience opposition. And we are seeing it in our own backyard as we stand for the truth of God's word.

And every Christian should be in line with each other. And that's maybe the most disappointing part of all of this.

We expect the world to be the world. But anybody who professes faith in Christ, this should be a slam dunk.

We should all be linking arms together 100%.

Imagine if every Christian was on board. Evil would not be able to advance.

There would be enough of us where we could push back and prevent bad things from happening.

So understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer. But as you meet opposition, the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

As Peter writes in verse 14. And we always need to keep that in mind. The spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

So understand that it's a part of the normal experience. And the third reason why is that God's favor is upon those persecuted for Christ's sake.

We need to set that in our minds. Because when the world hates you, you're going to say,

I don't care. God approves. And his opinion is the only one that matters.

And what you will find is the sweetness of the fellowship that comes from those who are with you.

Who have that fellowship with you. Who are going to have your back, even when everybody else turns on you.

Next Sunday, we will be looking at a couple more points. We're going to see that God's favor is not upon those who do wrong and suffer for it.

And those who suffer for Christ have no reason to be ashamed. I look forward to looking at that with you next

Sunday. But this time, let's bow our heads in prayer. Father in heaven, what a wonderful God you are.

You tell us, Lord, what life is going to be like in this world. You don't put us on an island where we just live it up and live a life of ease for a handful of years before we enter glory.

You tell us that every one of your followers has their own cross to bear.

We all do. We are an embattled people. Just as Israel is an embattled people.

And every Christian needs to come to grips with that. We will face opposition.

We will lose friends. We will have insults hurled at us.

We might even face physical harm. But it's all worth it.

Because being obedient to you is always the best path. Having your blessing over us is always the best path.

Because we know, Lord, that if your favor is upon us, that's the greatest joy we can have.

And we know what the future holds for those who walk with you. So my prayer,

Lord, is that our church should be ready to face anything that comes our way. Individually and as a church.

And may you be glorified through it all. And may we draw closer to you as a result of any opposition that comes our way.

Always keeping in mind that your opinion is what matters. And that we would long to have your blessing over us.