Final Words

We'll turn now in that trusty sword to Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21 can be found on page 881 of the

Pew Bible. We'll be looking particularly at verses 13 through 15. I'll read 10 through 19 for context.

Go ahead and stand when you have that. Then he said to them, nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

There'll be great earthquakes and in various places famines and pestilences. There will be traitors and great signs from heaven.

But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons.

And you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness.

Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

You'll be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends and some of you they'll put to death.

You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Amen. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for the preparation it gives us for both the things we face in our daily life and those things which which many of us may never face.

Yet in preparing for them we are equipped for more. We ask that you would help us to understand these words.

We pray that you would help us to understand them as they apply to your original Apostles and also as they apply to us.

Pray that it would not be lost on us what the application is. We know that all of Holy Scripture is breathed out by you and therefore is profitable for instruction, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness that we may be complete, equipped for every good work.

We ask that you would equip us for every good work, that you would build us up in your word reminding us of the gospel of Jesus Christ, how by his grace we are not only forgiven but empowered to live courageously before him.

In Jesus' name, amen. The Christian life entails persecution.

This is something that is evident as you read Scripture. Some people treat persecution as something that only a few people experience.

A lot of times when people will talk about the sort of persecution that we experience here in America, they will be derided or mocked because the persecutions that some people face elsewhere are far greater and that seems like the real kind of persecution.

However, it is ironic because mocking and deriding is one of the kinds of persecution that Scripture describes.

More than that, the Bible explains persecution in such a way where it is evident that one cannot truly claim to be a

Christian unless he experiences persecutions. When Jesus says, blessed are those who are persecuted in Matthew and Luke, that same statement is given but then attended also by woe to you if people speak well of you.

In other words, those who do not experience persecution are not truly believers.

Those who are truly believers will experience persecution. It may not be in the greatest measures but it will be in some measure and so you must be prepared to face it rightly.

And likewise, it may be the case that you will face some greater persecutions. Even the

Bible describes persecution unto death, following the Savior in the greatest way imaginable, carrying our cross, not just living your life before him but even offering it sacrificially before the time that you may expect.

And it is important that we all prepare for such things not because we will necessarily face them but because having that mindset will equip us even in the daily task of the believer.

In verse 13, Jesus says, this will be your opportunity to bear witness.

In context, he has spoken of persecution. If you recall, last week the important point was that while great cataclysms are signs that the end is coming, great persecution is sign that the end is here.

Now we have not experienced the great persecutions that this is speaking of for the return of Christ.

The disciples in his generation experienced the great persecutions that were to come before the destruction of the temple.

Yet we will, of course, face persecutions that we must be ready to endure.

And these are to be seen as opportunities to bear witness. They are not things that we are to be avoiding and running from but rather they are opportunities for us to take advantage of when we see them.

Remember also one of the main applications that I was making from last week's passage was that if you think that great cataclysms are the sign of the end, then that encourages a sort of checking out when you see the end coming.

Yet if great persecution is the sign of the end, that encourages preparation, that encourages sort of a checking in and engagement with the faith in the battle that God has called us to.

So these are to be seen as opportunities to engage, not opportunities to flee, but opportunities to engage.

Verse 14 says, Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer. So he tells them how they are to approach these things, that they are to prepare by not preparing.

They are to prepare for such things by knowing that they will be provided with everything that they will need.

This is not to say that all kinds of preparation are wrong. In fact, in stating this, he is telling them in a way to prepare.

Yet he is assuring them that they will be supplied by God with everything they need, including the very words that they are to say, the answer that they are to give.

The word here for to answer comes from the same word that we get apologetics, apologia, right?

So it's talking about making a defense for the faith, that they will be provided with whatever defense is needed in that moment.

For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

Okay, a mouth describes the physical capacities in order to give this answer.

Isaiah 32 for describing the blessings of the gospel says that the hasty will understand and know in the heart of stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.

Part of what God does in empowering people with the Spirit is teaches them how to speak.

On one hand, this is very simply no longer speaking lies to speaking truth, but beyond that many people have found that they have become bolder through the gospel, that they have become clearer spoken when it comes to speaking about the things of God that before where their mind has been so confused that they have a clarity about it that allows them to communicate more clearly to others.

And these are provided not only through conversion for the everyday task of the

Christian life, but upon greater persecutions are provided in greater measure, and upon the greatest kinds of persecution provided in the greatest measure.

And adversaries will not be able to withstand or contradict. This is not saying that adversaries will not try to contradict or that they will all be converted by the words that are spoken, but rather that they will not be able to refute in a absolute way the things that are spoken.

They will not be able to mitigate the effects of those things. Those apostles that will face death will have words that are stronger in death than in life, and those who attempt to kill

God's people will find their effects, the effects of their activity with a counterintuitive result that rather it will only make the message more powerful.

This is something that many people are aware of. This is the effect of martyrdom. When one is martyred, typically it is not the case that that squelches the message, typically it's the case that it amplifies it, and this is so much more true with the message of Jesus Christ whom

God is providentially watching over to ensure that it goes forward more powerfully.

There are some who are martyred and their movement dies out completely, but that is not the case with Christianity.

It goes forward more powerfully, and every attempt at persecution only empowers the gospel more.

It makes the message more powerful. So who are all these things being spoken to?

All these things are being spoken to his immediate disciples. Remember just after this it says in verse 20, but when you see

Jerusalem surrounded by armies, etc., and he speaks of the destruction of the temple, the disciples have asked about two different things, perhaps not even realizing that they're asking about two different things, when is the destruction of the temple and when is your return?

And so Jesus answers each of these, but he also at some times speaks truths that apply to both, because the destruction of the temple is a microcosm for the destruction of the world as the true temple, the true

Zion, is protected. And so here while he will immediately begin to speak about the temple, it is right to regard this as not only applying to those immediate disciples, but applying to all disciples who will face persecution and in their moments of persecution.

So we should apply this to ourselves. We should take away from this passage not just that God provided for them, but likewise that he provides for us.

Firstly, the testimony of the persecuted is powerful. It is powerful.

Why is it powerful? It's powerful, first of all, because it shows God's righteousness.

When one is persecuted unjustly, that contrast between wicked injustice and justice is made known clearly.

Often even those who are watching from the outside who do not believe and do not even come to believe will recognize that such things were wicked on behalf of the opponent, the persecutor.

This will often be the case. Moreover, Scripture says directly in 1st

Peter 2, in 1st Peter 2 19, for this is a gracious thing.

When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. This is a gracious thing.

How is it gracious? It's gracious because it shows the gracious empowerment of God, that God has blessed his people so much that they are able to endure persecutions for his namesake.

Who could do that if their power is coming from themselves, right? If the only thing they have to live for is in themselves and the only power they have is coming from themselves, when persecution is happening towards them in themselves, the right response would be self -defense.

The right response would be self -preservation that would either engage in warring back in ways that God has not authorized in situations of persecution when he's called for turning the other cheek, and in ways where it just demonstrates that the only person, the only thing this person has to live for is their own life.

Yet if God is gracious and has granted us his spirit by which we are righteous, then it displays his righteousness as we're willing to undergo injustice.

This is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

Moreover, it demonstrates the confidence that believers have. Believers have a great confidence in the life that God will provide.

This is, of course, most true of those who face martyrdom to death.

Jesus explains here in Luke 21 in verse 19, by your endurance you will gain your lives.

He says this right after he says that some of them will die. Even though some of you will die, you will gain your life.

That hope that the believer has in that ultimate life frees them from the fear of death.

Hebrews 2 explains that we were always encompassed by that fear of death throughout our life as unbelievers, but having been set free for a glorious life after this one, we may act courageously because this is not the life that we're living for.

So it demonstrates the great hope that believers have. Matthew 10 28 says, do not fear him who can destroy the body, but rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul and hell.

Once you have that mindset that's thinking about the next life and not this one, you are empowered to act courageously.

And this is something that is only true of believers. Now others may end up going through a martyrdom, even to death for a false cause, being led by lies to hope in something that is not right.

Yet for the believer, embracing truth, you will see this in far greater measure.

The strength of truth and the the hope of truth is something that exists in Christianity in far greater measure, both in scope, the number of people who would be willing to do this, and the degree to which you see

Christian martyrs willing to face death courageously. In fact, many of the accounts of martyrs throughout

Christian history are such that they are facing the death that they are going to with an incredible confidence.

Sometimes these accounts will speak of some level of trepidation.

Undoubtedly there are many who face martyrdom with some degree of trembling.

Yet many of these accounts include descriptions of just incredible courage.

Perpetua, one of the first Christian martyrs in 203 AD, she was she was beheaded by a gladiator, and while that gladiator was supposed to swing his sword, he was young and he himself was very nervous, and his hand was trembling, and so she took his hand and guided it to her neck to let him know what he was supposed to do.

Can you imagine that? A woman so courageous and empowered by the gospel that she was guiding the hand of the trembling executioner, ready to face death.

People are filled with an incredible courage through the work of the

Spirit, and so this demonstrates the power of God in them.

It demonstrates the righteousness and the great hope that we have.

There are things that we should be looking at in Scripture that give us examples of this truth.

First of all, there's the word martyr itself. Okay, the word martyr comes from the word in Greek that just means to testify.

Okay, in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1, when it says, so we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

Remember, this is coming right after Hebrews 11, which is known as the Hall of Faith, right? It includes all these saints of old who had suffered great things and lived faithfully, not receiving what was promised, though they hoped for it.

We having received Christ, having received what was promised, but them just looking forward to a Messiah.

It calls them a great crowd of witnesses. What is that word for witnesses there? It's simply the word for martyr, that they are martyrs.

Now, not every one of them died for the faith, but that word martyr refers to basically witness.

Why is it that martyrs have such powerful testimony? That is the inherent nature of martyrdom.

We see with Stephen that as God is empowering him, they are not able to confound him.

In Acts 6 verse 10 and then in Acts 7, when he gives his final speech, it is incredibly powerful.

But even though Stephen is the first Christian martyr, there are martyrs that come before.

Those who following God without, before the incarnate Christ, all the way back to Abel, Abel himself dying for his faith.

And Abel had no particular words that are given to us, and yet Hebrews 11 4 says that though dead, he still speaks.

In other words, the very nature of martyrdom is something that speaks in itself, where the power is not coming specifically from the words, but coming through the testimony of the one who is willing to die for that faith.

One who has a great willingness to die must have a great faith.

The one who has a great faith must have a great God, and the one who has a great God has a great testimony.

This is the nature of martyrdom. You may have heard the statement that the medium is the message.

You know, that's kind of a profound statement about media in general, and the changing shape of television, etc.

But think about that as it applies to martyrdom in particular. Persecution in itself speaks, and then with attended with words, it speaks in a special way.

The medium is the message when it comes to martyrdom, when it comes to encountering persecution.

And this gives power against the adversary. It says none will be able to, none will be able to withstand or contradict the mouth and wisdom that Christ will give through his

Spirit to his disciples. Once again, this is not saying that none would be able to, none would try to contradict it.

They will try to contradict it, but none will be successful in actually contradicting it. And as far as the public observation of this thing goes, it will have the effect that God intends.

His words come from his mouth. They do not return to him void, and so as he speaks through his people, it will accomplish his purposes.

They will not be able to mitigate the effect. It's like a grease fire.

Okay, you might try to throw water on a fire to take it out. Christianity is not like that. It's not like a normal kind of fire.

It's like a grease fire. The more water you throw on, the higher it splashes, the greater it goes. This is what happens with persecution.

So as you see persecution, you should be willing to take that opportunity. Christ himself faced death knowing what it would accomplish.

He knew and told his disciples often of the death that he was headed towards. Satan no doubt thought that by killing

Christ, that would accomplish some kind of win for him. But what happened?

It is particularly through the cross that victory was accomplished, that death of Jesus Christ did not squelch the movement.

That is what created the whole movement. That's what established the gospel. And so it is as we follow in Jesus's footsteps, as we are willing to face persecution, the message advances.

It goes farther, more powerfully. Now the testimony of the persecuted is powerful.

It's also the case that the testimony of the persecuted is providential. It is something that happens by the orchestration of God.

This is not something that we can bring about ourselves. It's something that God brings us into. Just like the disciples and Acts were pleased that they were counted worthy of such things, this is not something that could bring upon themselves.

The persecutions that they faced were things that God had to bring upon them. And they are good things.

They are gifts from him. First of all, consider that all things that happen are gifts to his people.

Romans 8 28 says that all things work together for good to those who love him.

Okay, so this is first of all true of all things. It is true in a special way of trials on believers.

James 1 17 says that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming from the

Father of lights, with whom there's no variation or shadow to change. James' point in that context is that when you see trials and you think this might be the opposite of a gift from God, it actually is a gift from God to his people because he is light and there is no shadow or variation or flickering in him.

He is not a light that kind of wavers and varies. He is a beam of constant goodness.

And so when you receive a trial from his hand, it is particularly for good. But now this is even more especially the case with that special kind of trial that comes in persecution.

In Philippians chapter 1 verse 12, Paul says, I want you to know brothers that what happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial garden to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

Paul's imprisonment advanced the gospel. God cares for all things.

He cares particularly for his church. All things are for the good of his church, but most particularly trials are for the good of his church, and most particularly among those trials, persecution is for the good of his church.

That's something that should be recognized, taken note of. You want to recognize that providence.

It is not something that is appropriate for man himself to produce.

In the early church, there were, of course, great persecutions. And so one of the questions that came up was, is it okay for Christians to seek persecution?

Remember, those who are persecuted and endured, whether living or dying, were thought of very highly.

And so there's this question, would it be good for a Christian to seek persecution itself? The answer is no.

Jesus says in Matthew 10, 23, when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next.

For truly I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Okay, so Jesus himself instructs to flee persecution when it is to be fled, right?

Once you are, when you are in the midst of persecution, it is not to be fled. There he says to turn the other cheek, but he does not encourage us to seek it out or to proactively seek persecution.

And this was considered wrong to do in the early church, and even later on you can see throughout church history that those who sought persecution did not have a very good testimony.

It wasn't the same kind of injustice that was being done to them that shows forth the gracious righteousness of God.

One of the matters that I've studied was a situation in medieval Iberia, Iberia being the peninsula with Spain on it.

All right, so in medieval Iberia in Cordoba, which is a city now in Spain, there were,

Muslims had taken power, and in 850 AD there were two different people who were persecuted.

One was lashed very severely for his faith, and the other was killed. The year after that, someone decided that they wanted to become likewise a martyr, so they went to Cordoba, began speaking things against Muhammad intentionally in order to be persecuted, kind of deceptively asking to be taught about Muhammad, and then speaking, you know, what would be considered in Islam blasphemies against Muhammad.

Basically this person was seeking persecution. And then after that, another person did it, and another person, and another person, until after 80 years, 50 people had gone to Cordoba and intentionally gotten themselves killed.

And this is probably something that almost everybody in here has never heard about. You would think that 50 people dying over 80 years would be a, if martyrdom is so powerful, that that would be something that would carry on throughout the annals of history in a way that just speak very loudly, but but these people are mostly forgotten, because they sought persecution themselves and were not thinking of it as a providence that must be brought to them by the gracious hand of God.

Okay, so you should be thinking about it that way, which will entail two things. Not only will it mean that you will not proactively seek persecution, but it also means that when you do experience it, you will see it as a gift that you could just not take it any time, right?

If you are thinking of this as something that you can take at any time, you will not see those opportunities as especially gracious and lean into them.

However, if you realize that this is not something that you are allowed to take for yourself, but must be brought to you, you will take those opportunities.

This is something that is providential from the hand of God.

So this persecution, yeah, is providential, comes from the hand of God. It is a gift from him.

It is not something that we can take for ourselves. Something else I wanted to say about that that I need to pull up here, because I'm blanking at the at the moment, right?

It entails a certain kind of strategy, right? You should be recognizing what is going on.

You should be looking for it. When persecution comes, you should be aware of it, and you should be aware that it is amplifying your voice, okay?

It's like wood, right? If your life is like a wood pile that's put into a fire to keep that wood burning, and you only have a limited amount, okay?

If God decides to take all that wood immediately and burn it up all at once, that means that your life will be very short, but it means you have a great flame to work with.

And what are we supposed to do? We're not supposed to put our light under a basket. Rather, we are to set it out for all to see, and this is what

Paul did, right? Paul was willing to go all the way to Caesar.

He could have gotten free. Agrippa said to Festus in Acts 26, 32, this man could have been set free if he did not appeal to Caesar, but Paul recognized his opportunity, and so he decided to go to Caesar because he was already in that state of persecution.

For myself, just considering thinking about my own life and opportunities that I have had in persecution,

I'll say that one thing that I regret is during COVID, when our church was worshiping together much sooner than almost any of the other churches, the other churches that were known to be worshiping pretty early on, many of them were actually doing it later than we were, and we had an opportunity to advertise this on social media instead of just word -of -mouth, right, to advertise this and welcome people in when a lot of people were looking for a place to worship.

And it seemed best to me at the time not to, you know, invite, not to invite the hand of the government against us, given that we weren't following all the rules particularly, in order that we could gather together and worship.

But then what happened for all those churches who were so large that they didn't really have that option, right, those churches that were so large that they didn't have the option of just flying under the radar, everything worked out well for them.

Satan's spark was far worse than his bite. They became very well -known, lots of people came to them, and the gospel was proclaimed greatly, and even though we were willing to meet together, etc.,

there was an opportunity that was lost because as we were facing the persecution of the regulations written against us, it had seemed best to avoid unnecessarily bringing the government's attention.

But we were also flying under the radar more than we should have. I look back at my own actions in that, and I think there was an opportunity that was lost.

And I mention that because I think it's important for us to really think about those opportunities.

When you see the opportunity, and you are already in the midst of persecution, do not run from that.

God does great things through that. Lean into it. Now, that testimony of the persecuted is also provided by the

Spirit, and this is one of the most important things it says here. It says here in this passage,

I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

None of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. God will give this testimony. It's not said explicitly, but this happens by the

Spirit. How will Christ give this mouth, this wisdom? By the Spirit of God. This is not saying that in every instance of martyrdom that one would be speaking inspired words that are new revelation.

However, it is saying that God will provide every bit of wisdom that is needed in order that someone might say something that is true and powerful.

It's true and powerful. And why is this the case that he would have them not prepare? It's so that it wouldn't be their own words, so that it would actually be words that are the power of God and not man's own wisdom that is shining.

It's God's wisdom that's supposed to shine, not man's wisdom. Furthermore, consider if you believe that you were supposed to be ready.

If this is the job of the martyr, if the word martyr just means witness and you're supposed to be a witness and you're supposed to have good words, what happens to the one who has an opportunity in persecution but then does not have words already prepared?

They might think, well this is my excuse to avoid persecution. What he is saying is that this is not a prerequisite.

You do not have to have words. I will supply the words, so this is not an excuse to avoid persecution.

This is something that you should be willing to to fall into when it comes to you, that persecution.

A good analogy for this, to see God's prerogative in having his word goes forward, is preaching.

This is the main way that his word goes forward, and how is it that he would have it go forward? It's by the weakness of individuals proclaiming his word.

A lot of people think about the task of preaching as being primarily just a task of communication in general, and the most powerful kind of communication in any sense would be the best kind of preaching.

I was actually recently talking with someone else about certain practices in preaching, and there was one I identified as being less, as being a not good practice.

This other person said that in his experience, everyone that had this practice was actually a better preacher.

This is interesting because a lot of conversations I have with people, they will be coming at things from a practical foundation,

I'll be coming from a principled foundation. This person is essentially saying that in my experience people who have this practice are better speakers, but what

I was trying to say was something more definitional about what is most faithful preaching, not which would communicate the most of the emotions, or the most felt impact.

If we wanted to do that, we could take more things into our hands. If you think about the different ways that people try to communicate, they'll use lots of props, or maybe there's a lot of videos that are played during the sermon, or we could decide, if you take it in theory, that we just want to communicate as powerfully as possible using whatever means that we see fit, maybe we could replace the sermon with a very well -produced video that had lots of effects, lots of music that really tugs at the heartstrings.

We could do that, but God would have it be that his word goes forward by a power that's not coming from man's wisdom, that's not coming from man's machinations, it's coming from his own.

So in 1st Corinthians, Paul speaks of this. He says in 1st

Corinthians 2, verse 1, Now, preachers should seek to be good communicators, they should seek to be eloquent in the right sort of way, meaning clear, but it's not in man's eloquence that the power of God rests as it goes forward in preaching.

Paul similarly says in 2nd Corinthians of the super apostles, they say of him,

It's very interesting that this is what's being said of Paul, that when he takes the time to prepare in his writings, he sounds very powerful, but when he's speaking, he doesn't sound that powerful.

Now, we know that God worked through him powerfully, but as far as that immediate sense of the power of God and what

God was doing, maybe it wasn't always the way that people expected with human rhetoric, and this is what

Jesus is saying. He's saying you might think in your wisdom that what's needed is a lot of preparation beforehand where you get down the exact right word, you deliver it with the exact right emphasis, but he wants to be the one to speak through them powerfully.

Now, this is not to say that there is no preparation that is needed.

Preparation in some sense is good. Consider this, using the same word that Jesus uses for the word answer, but in your heart, at least the same root word, but in your hearts, honor

Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect.

So he says make a defense, that's the same thing that Jesus says when he says give an answer, make a defense.

So Peter is instructing them to always be ready to make a defense.

There is a preparation you can do. You should be full of the Word of God so that on that day, the

Holy Spirit, he's not going to give you new revelation, he's not going to bring to mind things that have never come to mind, right, in terms of he's not going to tell you what the words of God are that you haven't read.

He's going to use his word that has already been given to you and stir that up within you in order to speak what needs to be spoken.

Likewise, the anxiety that Christ is dealing with by saying settle it, not to be anxious about this, not to worry about this, is essentially telling them that they need to prepare themselves to not be anxious, to prepare themselves by reassuring themselves that he will provide.

If you do not go to the Lord in prayer, if you do not read his word and remember his promises and grasp onto his promises, you will not be assured of such truths.

This is why a lot of people deal with anxiety in their life and a lot of people deal with worry, depression, all kinds of things, is because they are not going to the

Word to receive those things that God has for them. They're not spending time with him in prayer preparing for the difficulties that would come.

So Jesus is not advocating against any form of preparation. He's talking about a particular human machination that we should not prepare with.

In Matthew chapter 10, he says something very similar. He says when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next.

For truly I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the

Son of Man comes. Okay, so that's the verse I read earlier. So in this passage, he's talking about persecution, and he says, 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. This is at a different time.

This is not the same discourse where he is saying this. So he's prepared them at different times, not just for the end, but just for any kind of persecution.

He's told them that they will receive the words that they need in the right hour. Now, many people would say that this is just the apostles that are given this guarantee.

We're not, the Holy Spirit's not going to speak through us the same way. Once again, if you don't take this as inspiration in the sense of recording

Scripture, new revelation, but just think of this as the wisdom that the Spirit gives all his people, but most especially in times of need, it is a guarantee.

And when you read the rest of this passage and you realize how much of this we apply to ourselves, even though it was spoken to the first disciples on the first mission,

I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. We apply that to ourselves, right?

Be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves. A disciple is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master.

This is an assurance that we will face persecution. We apply these things to ourselves. Why would we apply to ourselves the warnings that Christ gives, but not the promises to be upheld in those dangers that he's telling us?

Okay, he's not giving to the Apostles guarantees of difficulties and provision in those difficulties than giving us just guarantees of difficulties.

Okay, he's also giving us a guarantee about the provisions that we would receive in those difficulties.

Go forward with confidence as you face persecution. I think it would be appropriate for us to end with some words from from various martyrs.

I think these things are really powerful. You know, you read these words individually and a lot of them don't sound very powerful, but if you think about them facing death and being able to say these things in the hope of God, what powerful confidence.

Paul Eckhart, who is the first recorded martyr after the

New Testament, it's the first recorded one, of course there are plenty of others. As he was to be burned at the stake, he said, eighty and six years

I have served him and he never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme my King and my

Savior? It's a very famous one, maybe you've heard that one before. I mentioned

Perpetua before that was 203 AD. She said to others, to believers, stand fast in the faith and love one another, all of you, and be not offended at my sufferings.

Felicity, who is her servant, also this is the Felicity that my daughter's named after, she gave birth in prison a few days before that she was to be executed and the guards had mocked her and asked her if she, you know, was groaning during her own birth how she was going to face the beasts in the

Coliseum. And her answer was, now it is I that suffer what

I suffer, but then there will be another in me who will suffer for me because I also am about to suffer for him.

So she was assured that Christ would bear her the wrath that she would otherwise have to bear and so she was willing to suffer knowing that he had suffered far more for her.

Jan Hus killed in 1415. He was, he had a lot of condemnations against him, although it was the public opinion that the primary reason that he was burned was because he had exposed the simony of the, which

I mentioned earlier, the merchandising of the things of God that existed in the higher ranks in the church.

He said, I have never thought nor preached except with one intention of winning men, if possible, from their sins.

And the truth of the gospel I have yet written, taught and preached. Today I will gladly die.

William Tyndale in 1536 said, Lord, open the King of England's eyes.

You know, these people were just not concerned with their own lives. It's just the last thing on their mind. They were concerned with the lives of others.

Lady Jane Grey, who was killed for her Protestantism in 1554, she was beheaded.

There are a lot of details about how she was beheaded, but she gave a speech on her way up to the platform where she was beheaded.

She quoted the words of Christ, Lord into thy hands I commend my spirit. Thomas Cranmer, 1556, similar situation for his

Protestantism, and he was associated with Lady Jane Grey. He had been given an opportunity to recant, and he had written up a recantation, and he had given a sermon that was associated with this meeting where he was recanting, and near the end of the sermon he changed course entirely, restated all of the the gospel he believed in, and he proclaimed that his hand would go into the hand that wrote the recantation would go into the fire first, and as he went into the fire he put his hand in first, and he said, and he quoted the words of Stephen, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

I see the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. You know, it's only the gospel that can empower people to do this.

It is only by the gospel that one can be so forgiven and no longer fear death, knowing that death has been taken care of.

If you don't have that kind of courage, and I know there are gonna be difficult things in your life where you don't see all that courage, but if you can't say honestly that you would be willing to go take up your cross and follow him to the end, then you have to ask whether or not you truly know him.

He has forgiven us of such things that we can be free from the fear of death.

Man goes around enslaved by the fear of death all his life. You can be free of that if you trust in Jesus Christ, knowing that he has paid the penalty so that death is nothing.

Death frees you. It ensures that you will be further clothed, as we read in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5.

It is only good that comes to the believer through death. To live as Christ, to die as gain, it is better to be with the

Lord. These people can fearlessly face death, being concerned for the lives of others rather than their own life.

Deal with that fear. Prepare yourself. There are probably ways that you need to be preparing, regardless of whether or not you will face that ultimate martyrdom.

Be preparing. Be spending time with the Lord in prayer that you would be grasping onto those promises, that you would know that they are true, and that you would not be anxious as you face persecution in whatever form it may come.

Mocking from a friend, or whether it be the greatest form of persecution, that martyrdom to death.

Go forward. Take the opportunities that you have. Recognize those opportunities and lean into them when they exist, because they are gifts from God.

They are not things that you can take to yourself. It is said that a good crisis should never go to waste.

That is especially true in the Christian life, that the crisis of persecution should not go to waste.

Do not run from it when it comes to you. When it comes to you, that is your opportunity to speak, and do so confidently, knowing that the

Spirit will give you whatever wisdom and words that he would speak through you. Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the power of Christ in the gospel, that he has forgiven us of our sins, that we might be free from the fear of death.

I ask that anyone here who does not trust in him would turn to him now, knowing that they need to be free from that fear.

We thank you likewise that through Christ we have his Spirit, whereby we have great courage, that we might not be the cowardly who are thrown into the lake of fire, but rather that we would be courageous who are upheld with Christ, carrying our cross, him having borne wrath in our place, in order that we might, with him, be able to suffer and receive the inheritance that he inherits.