Being Prepared for Suffering

1 Peter and the Call to Be Ready for Suffering

Alpha and Omega Ministries presents the Dividing Line radio broadcast. The Apostle Peter commanded all Christians to be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within us, yet to give this answer with gentleness and reverence.

The Dividing Line is brought to you by Alpha and Omega Ministries, the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church, and Bethany House Publishers. Your host is Dr. James White, director of Alpha and Omega Ministries and an elder at the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church.

With today's topic, here is Dr. White.

The Apostle Peter wrote an epistle to believers who were under persecution, and in that epistle he wrote the following words. Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed.

And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.

And keep a good conscience, so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

It's certainly plain in listening to the words of Peter that he expected that Christians would have difficulties. He expected that people would suffer for the sake of righteousness, and that they are blessed because of that.

That they would experience intimidation. That they would suffer persecution. They would be slandered by those in the world. The command to give a defense is couched in a passage that speaks of the hatred that the world has for the Christian faith.

Peter warns that Christians are to be prepared to suffer for doing and believing what is right. He himself experienced that suffering in his own life. Indeed, as his fellow apostle Paul said, all who wish to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

The Lord Jesus likewise said that we should not be surprised when the world hates us, for it hated him as well. And I might add, it continues to hate him. The past week has given anyone with ears to hear much reason to consider their ways.

False Religion, Media Hostility, and the Murder of Matthew Shepard

Two events came together earlier this week to cause me to again consider the role of apologetics in our world, and how it is that every Christian is called to give an answer. The first event, you might have missed it.

This week in Conyers, Georgia, around 150 ,000 people were said to have gathered for the annual message from the Virgin Mary given to a woman named Nancy Fowler. The crowd was especially large this year, since Fowler had announced that this was the last year for the apparitions.

It seems Mrs. Fowler is moving to Florida next year. Why Mary won't go to Florida was not explained. Many would expect me to comment on such an event, given my work in responding to Roman Catholicism and in light of my recently published book, Mary, Another Redeemer, but it was the conjunction of this spectacle of false religion, wherein Mary is again seen to take precedence over Christ and is given a position utterly foreign to the Christian scriptures and the very spirit of the Christian faith, with another event that truly caught my attention.

It was the contrast, I guess you could say, of this event, with the sudden outpouring of blatant, obvious hatred toward the Christian faith and God's right to determine right and wrong, that really struck me.

I am referring, of course, to the events in Laramie, Wyoming, where Matthew Shepard was killed by two attackers. The front pages of all the newspapers, the headlines in all the major media, announced the death of the young homosexual, while you can't beg the same media outlets to even mention the constant persecution, imprisonment, and execution of Christians in Islamic countries, in China, and elsewhere.

There seems to be no end to the outrage being expressed at Shepard's death, but what makes this incident even more troubling is the target chosen by the media, the group they are making responsible for the murder, and it's not the murderers.

Point of fact, as you've listened to the news coverage, it's quite obvious that the murderers have already been excused. Well, in what way? Well, they're just simply pawns. They did what they did because of an atmosphere that was created by the true people that we need to address, the true people we need to pass laws against.

And who are they? Why, they're Christians. Indeed, anyone turning on their television to the morning news programs knows this to be the case. When Katie Couric was interviewing the governor of Wyoming on Monday morning on NBC's morning program, she directly asked him if he did not agree that the efforts of such extreme right-wing groups as Focus on the Family or the Christian Coalition were responsible for creating an atmosphere of hatred that helps to spawn such acts of violence.

The next day, NBC dutifully set up a little debate replete with Katie Couric setting up a lesbian representative with carefully worded leading questions, all meant to continue the idea that Christians are hate mongers.

They're hate mongers for saying homosexuality is wrong. They're hate mongers for saying that God says certain behaviors are right and others are wrong. If you say that, you're a hate monger. We dare not miss what all this means.

This murder has sparked new debate over hate crime laws. There are many in our land who, while hiding behind free speech claims in their defense of pornography, would gladly see those same rights rescinded for those they find guilty of spreading hate, which they then define as those who say God says some things are right and other things are wrong.

The idea that there is an objective standard of sin is, quite simply, no longer acceptable in this society, and anyone who would dare to proclaim that truth is now being labeled a purveyor of hatred. We have the freedom, at least this day, to be here on the airwaves to discuss God's truth and to discuss the fact that if God is who he claims to be, if God is the maker of all mankind, he is our creator, if we are his creation, then he has every right, every right, to determine the bounds of our behavior.

He has every right to say, I have created you in this fashion, and therefore these are the ways in which you are to behave. That is his right as our creator. In fact, that is the very foundation of law.

That is why we are supposed to be a nation of laws, is that it had been deeply impressed upon the minds and thinking of the founding fathers, whether they were Christian or not, that because we are the creation of God, God has the right to determine the bounds of our behavior.

He has the right to tell us how we are to act. That is the foundation of law itself, is that God is creator and we are his creation. He has sovereign authority over us. But now, in our land, there are those who would say that if you were to dare proclaim that truth, if you were to dare say that in the public setting, in the public forum, that is an action that purveys hate, that you are in some way, shape, or form liable, some people would like to see, to the very penalty of the law that they then undercut in so doing.

We have the freedom to discuss this today. We better enjoy that freedom. When I was listening to the news coverage, I turned to my son and I said, you watch. Within your lifetime, you will see individuals who want to make it illegal to preach the gospel in its fullness, which includes the message of what sin is.

You cannot preach the gospel without calling men to repentance and you cannot call men to repentance without identifying what sin is. And I said to him, I think you will see the day when to open your mouth and to proclaim all of the gospel, including God's law and his statement that homosexuality is a sin.

It is not a lifestyle. It is a choice, a sin against the holiness of God and against oneself for that matter. You'll see a day when that may well be illegal in our land. We have the freedom to speak about it now.

We better take advantage of it while we can. What we see around us in our society calls for us, calls from us an apologetic. You see, as our society becomes more and more hardened in its hatred of God and its hatred of his law, we will have more and more opportunities to share his truth.

Well, those may cost us. Those opportunities may cost us a lot. Are we willing to take them? You see, the natural man hates God's law and hates the fact that God's his creator. I realize that many in evangelical circles today no longer believe this, but it's plainly the teaching of the scriptures.

The scriptures make it very, very plain that man rebels against God's sovereignty. He rebels against God as his creator. What man basically does is he wants to climb up upon the throne, cast God off, and sit as if he himself is his own creator.

As if he has the right to determine what is right and what is wrong for himself, rather than God determining those things as the sovereign creator of all things. That's what the natural man does. He does it in many different ways.

Sometimes he does it through religion, false religion that assuages his conscience and gives him the opportunity of controlling God. But many times he does it in the way we see it in our society right now, where under the guise of tolerance, under the guise of loving others, God's truth is trampled underfoot and cast out into the streets.

The idea that God can tell us what is true behavior and what is wrong behavior is really the object of the hatred of the natural man. Because you see, the natural man knows that God exists. Just read Romans chapter 1.

God has revealed himself to the natural man. But the natural man, the person outside of Christ, whatever their religious affiliation might be, I don't care if they attend a Christian church or not, if they have not bowed the knee to the lordship of Christ, they have not been regenerated, they are a natural man.

And that individual hates God's law, hates God's righteousness, and hates God's word. And so just look around you. What would happen if you were to open your mouth and clearly proclaim God's judgment upon the sins of very popular people in our society?

You're looked upon as being a backwoods fundamentalist. You're looked upon as being a hate monger. You're looked upon as being someone who just simply doesn't understand. And now, if some people have their way, someone whose mouth should be closed for daring to hold such opinions.

The scriptures make it very plain that man will do everything in his power to shut God up, to metaphorically stick his fingers in his ears so he does not hear what all of creation shouts to him, and that is, you are a creation, God is your creator, you owe to him thanks and glory and praise, but man doesn't want to give any of those things.

And so he makes up ways to get around it. And now in our society we see the natural man becoming very, very open in his blatant rebellion against the true God that he knows is there, but will not bow down to, will not worship.

We shouldn't be surprised at any of this, really. Not only does the Bible tell us that these things are coming, that this is how men are going to behave, but certainly, given the fact that many today who are taking positions of leadership have been taught all through their life, there is no objective standard of morality, there is no objective truth, man is merely an animal, the result of millions of generations of natural selection.

He's not created in the image of God, he holds no responsibility in God's sight. Should we really be surprised in light of the constant false teaching that has been a part of our society now for a number of generations, that this is the result?

That man no longer is even attempting to make a farcical attempt at holding on to objective standards of morality? Does it really surprise anyone who knows the Bible, and who knows what it says about man, that seemingly the majority of people in our nation sit back, recognize the depth of the actions of our own president while in office, and yet, despite all of that, just go, well, you know, my mortgage is okay, I've got money in the bank, I've got enough money to fix my car, my house is alright, you know what, I'm pretty happy.

Things are good. What kind of judgment should fall upon a nation that is more concerned about its bank account, and more concerned about the amount of change you have in your pocket, than about the integrity of the leaders of the nation?

How can we pray for blessing upon a nation like that? The only blessing that a nation like that needs is repentance and judgment, and frequently those two walk hand in hand. So we shouldn't be surprised.

We shouldn't be surprised at the response that we are seeing in regards to the hatred of the Christian faith, the hatred of Christians who would dare open their mouth and say something that was true. I recently received an email where the chaplain in the Kansas State Legislature, as I recall, had given a tremendously solid biblical prayer.

It was a prayer confessing how we have become so adept at twisting words to make them mean something that they don't really mean, so we can cover up our sin, cover up our evil. And I could not, again, I can't say I could not believe, I was shocked, but shouldn't have been shocked to read that in the midst of that prayer, and it was not a long prayer, but in the midst of that prayer, people were getting up and walking out.

I guess that shouldn't shock me at all. What does it say though, to those of us in the church? How should we respond to this? How do we give an answer? Because we are being asked to give an answer. Oh, it's always couched in hatred, it's couched in negativity, but the simple fact of the matter is, is if we are going to communicate with the world around us, if we're going to live our lives as Christians, then we have no choice whatsoever than to give an answer for the hope that's within us.

And it may cost us. It may cost us dearly. What does the situation say to the church? Well, I'll talk about that in just a moment, but first I just wanted to remind you that the Dividing Line radio broadcast doesn't just appear on your radio dial at 1 .30 every Saturday afternoon.

We're very thankful to the support of my home church, the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church at 3805 North 12th Street in Phoenix for making this program available. You're invited to our worship services.

We have Bible study Sunday mornings at 9 .30 a .m. The morning worship service is at 10 .45. The evening worship service at 6 .30. And we gather for a word of exhortation from the Book of Psalms on Wednesday evening and a time of prayer at 7 o 'clock.

You can call the church at 26 Grace, that's the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church, 26 Grace. And you can also access our webpage at www .prbc .org, that's www .prbc .org. And the program's also brought to you by my publishers, Bethany House Publishers, way up in now rather cold Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minnesota, a place of my birth, in fact.

And Bethany House is just about ready to release The Forgotten Trinity. I think that's my seventh or eighth or ninth, I think it's my ninth book with Bethany House Publishers now. And The Forgotten Trinity will provide you with a biblical defense of the doctrine of the Trinity.

How to explain it both to yourself first and then to others from a biblical perspective. And I'm really looking forward to seeing that book come out. What does our current situation in our world say to the church?

What do we need to do? Well, the first thing it says to us is we have to take stock. We have to take stock, first of all, of the message that we have been preaching. Why is it that there are many in our land who call themselves Christians, who see no problem whatsoever in identifying homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle?

Why is it that the church's testimony has been so muted for so long? I think we have to look to ourselves. It is a scriptural principle to look first to the house of God in regards to judgment before we look at unbelievers.

And we have to ask ourselves the question, how has the church treated the gospel? What I mean by that is, do we consider it our greatest treasure? Do we consider it something that we have a stewardship of?

Or do we see it as something that in reality is in the way? What is the function of the church? What is the church supposed to be doing? Well, I would submit to you that the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth, according to the Apostle Paul.

A pillar and a foundation hold something else up. Our job is to hold up God's truth. It is not our job to edit that truth. It is not our right. It is not our place. The church is to worship God in spirit and in truth through the proclamation of his word.

All of his word. Every bit of it. It is not the church's job to try to artificially make itself big. You see, God's the one who joins people to the church. He does so sovereignly. Every time we attempt to use programs, we attempt to use Madison Avenue techniques to help God out, there's one price we have to pay.

And that price is the purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That sacrifice of purity has resulted in the fact that there is a muted testimony on the part of the church in regards to what is evil in God's sight.

Anytime a person in the media wants to go out and find a quote-unquote Christian to disagree with the Bible, they don't have to look very far. It's very easy for them to find some scholar, some priest, some minister, some preacher someplace, who will say, oh, well, you can be a Christian and not really believe these things.

You can be, in fact, a better Christian if you don't believe these things. We shouldn't be surprised that in a nation that hates God, there are many hypocrites within what calls itself Christianity. Many who do not believe that the word of God means what it says or that God really meant what he said in his law.

The result of that is that many of us feel a fair amount of embarrassment, a fair amount of pressure to be careful what we say and how we say it. Yet, if we follow the apostolic example, it is very plain, it is very clear.

The apostolic example is that you are to speak the truth, you're to speak it plainly, you're to speak it in love, you're to speak it with gentleness and respect, but you're to speak it. Now, I don't believe that when Peter says we're to do it with gentleness and respect, that what he means is that we're to be a doormat or that we're to be really quiet in what we say.

I think what he means is, since we are handling such a tremendous truth as God's truth, as God's gospel, that we must handle that truth with respect. We should never take it lightly, but neither should we ever fear to proclaim it, for the apostles did not, and they were willing to pay the price.

The price for the church may be a smaller church. The price of fidelity to the gospel and preaching all that it has to say, especially in a society that more and more hates God, may very well be a smaller church.

Maybe a church without as many things. Maybe a church that's not nearly as popular. The simple fact of the matter is, both the Bible and history show us, when the church speaks God's truth, the church is persecuted.

When the church speaks God's truth, the church is, well, not popular with the world around it. What price are we willing to pay? Are we willing to give up our comforts? Are we willing to give up those things that are not a part of the ministry and function of the church, so that we can focus upon true worship in spirit and in truth, upon God's word, and a willingness to stay together, encourage one another in speaking the truth in love?

How much are we willing to give? How much are we willing to sacrifice? That may be the question that the Lord is asking of His church in our land today. I don't see any evidence that hatred for true Christianity is waning.

I don't see any evidence that things are going to change in the near future. In fact, I am reminded of the Lord Jesus' words, do not be surprised when they hate you. They hated me before they hated you.

And I said earlier that the world continues to hate the Lord Jesus, and many might say, oh no, there's many who don't mind talking about Jesus. There's many who don't mind being associated with the name of Jesus.

Well, the problem is, what Jesus? You see, the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus who taught God's law, the Jesus who spoke of repentance, the Jesus who looked at people straight in the eye and said, unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins, the Jesus who spoke much of hell, damnation, and punishment, that's not the Jesus the society likes.

That's a Jesus that continues to this day to be the object of the hatred of the natural man. When we proclaim that Jesus, not just a milquetoast Savior, but the Lord and Creator of all things, That's a Jesus that continues to be the object of the hatred of the natural man.

And if you don't believe that Jesus, well, you know what the result of that is. You know that people hate that message. It costs something to be faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But our Lord is faithful to us.

We have the promise that when we are faithful to His message, He will be faithful to us. He will bear us up. And we must remember that any suffering that we experience in this world, any suffering that we encounter from our fellow man now, is nothing in comparison to the glory that awaits us.

And so really, today folks, on the dividing line, we're asking you, you need to draw a dividing line. You need to be thinking about the fact that you're called to faithfulness to God's truth as a Christian.

Do you know His truth? Do you love His truth? Are you willing to speak His truth even when it might cost you dearly in this life? It's a good question. It's a question we all have to ponder. And we all have to recognize the only way that any of us can do it is by the grace of God, freely offered to us in Jesus Christ, all those who claim His name and believe in Him, they are the ones who have the promise that He has said, I will be with you even until the end of the age.

That's a promise to His people. That's a promise to His church. The Lord Jesus said it was necessary that He die upon the cross. He fulfilled the prophecy. He was faithful to His word. He was faithful to His word to rise again from the dead as well and He'll be faithful to the promise to His church that He will be with them to the end of the age.

That's a wonderful promise that we have.

Closing Appeal and Program Sign-Off

The Dividing Line is a presentation of Alpha and Omega Ministries. You can contact us at 602 -973 -0318 or you can write us at P .O. Box 37106, Phoenix, Arizona 85069. We are easy to find on the World Wide Web at www .aomin .org.

That's www .aomin .org. You can also find a complete listing of James White's books, tapes, debates and tracks on our website. We hope you will join us again next Saturday afternoon at 1 .30 p .m. for The Dividing Line.