Counting the Cost in Following Christ

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We come now to our second session and I am delighted to have my friend and fellow pastor Andy here tonight to preach to you all.
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Andrew Smith is the pastor and teacher of Christ Reformed Community Church, that's right.
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Christ Reformed Community Church, a new church plant in St.
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Augustine, Florida just south of here.
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He's a fourth generation Baptist preacher from West Virginia.
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He received a B.A.
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in Bible from Clearwater Christian College in 2003 where he also lettered in soccer.
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He also has an M.Div.
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from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary which he received in 2009 and is currently seeking a doctorate in ministry from the Masters College under Dr.
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John MacArthur.
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His ministry is rooted in expository preaching.
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He has always enjoyed all things related to West Virginia sports.
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He's an avid runner, competed in races from time to time.
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I think I can outrun him.
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No.
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He is married to his beautiful wife Corrie and together they have four children, Gracie, Jackson, Preston, and is it Copeland or Copeland? Copeland.
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Brother, I want to invite you now to come and bring the word.
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He's going to be preaching on the subject of counting the cost and following Christ.
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Well, Keith does such a wonderful job at introducing the speakers.
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Keith, would you mind preaching my funeral whenever I die? I appreciate that brother.
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I appreciate the opportunity to be with you here this evening as I appreciated the opportunity last year to be with you and one thing that I remember about this church is how friendly you all are and how much you have servants hearts.
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And so I've looked forward to coming here for quite some time really since the conference ended last year to have another opportunity to share some time with you this evening.
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Brother Sonny, thank you for your message.
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Wow, that was awesome.
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I think people were pretending to go to the bathroom and then they just exited out into the parking lot because he said it all.
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There's nothing else that I really can add to that.
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Thank you so much for that.
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If you have God's word with you tonight, I invite you to take it and be turning to Matthew chapter 10.
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Matthew chapter 10.
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This evening we're going to look at a small section of scripture, namely verses 24 through 31 of Matthew chapter 10 as I speak on the subject of counting the cost in following Christ.
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Follow along with me as we begin reading in verse 24.
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Jesus says, A disciple is not above his teacher nor a slave above his master.
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It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher and the slave like his master.
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If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household? Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.
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What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light, and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.
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Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
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Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
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So do not fear.
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You are more valuable than many sparrows.
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Now this evening I need to be honest with you as I look at the current state of the culture in the United States of America.
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And as I look back at history, the comparisons abound between the United States today and the Roman Empire of yesterday.
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When you look at all of the categories, culturally, socially, ethically, the similarities are absolutely staggering.
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In terms of political persuasion, in terms of military might, the United States matches her brother in the past, the great Roman Empire.
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But let us also remember tonight that all earthly kingdoms will fade.
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All earthly kingdoms will be conquered.
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In his famous book entitled The City of God, church father Augustine wrote that the Roman Empire was a city of man, not a city of God.
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In fact, Augustine said that the Roman Empire was a godless society, a godless kingdom.
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And he was criticized for being politically incorrect.
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Before that term came to be popular.
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And today we find ourselves in a culture much like the Roman Empire.
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Increasingly growing hostile toward Christianity.
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Increasingly falling further down the slippery slope of immorality.
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And I want to remind you tonight that we are citizens of a greater kingdom.
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And we shall not get too attached to the things of this world, or even to our citizenship in this great country.
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In fact, it is true that even the preaching of the gospel is beginning to be viewed as politically incorrect.
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The truths of Scripture are beginning to be viewed as a threat and politically incorrect.
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Even the promotion of basic morality is viewed as politically incorrect.
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And we may find in due time that just like Christians in the Roman Empire, we will be persecuted for our faith, possibly unto our deaths, even in this generation, even in our lifetime.
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Will it result in persecution? Will it result in the shutdown of churches by the government? The outlawing of Christianity altogether? When you look at the Roman Empire, you see initially that Christians were basically viewed as a non-threatening extension of Judaism.
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But the Jews did not like being associated with Christians, and so they began to slander Christians with false accusations.
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And sure enough, the Roman government followed suit with the Jewish people, and they began to slander Christians.
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Pagans in that culture said that Christians had their worship meetings at night so that they could plot anti-government revolutions.
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Pagans in that culture labeled Christians atheists because they would not offer incense in the name of the pantheon of Roman gods.
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Pagans in that culture were accusing Christians of being cannibals because they claimed they were eating the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ at the Lord's Supper.
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Christians were rumored to be incestuous and to be sexual addicts because of their great love for one another and because they greeted one another with a holy kiss.
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And since most Christians in the Roman society were in the lower classes, the elites in the Roman Empire used that as an opportunity to mock and to heap scorn upon the lowly Christians.
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Christians were even viewed, I'll remind you tonight, as a threat to the economy since they reputed the making of idols and the prostitution that was so often associated with those pagan religious practices.
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Idol making and prostitution provided revenue for the Roman Empire that Christians were not willing to contribute to.
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This led to many more slanderous accusations.
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And when Emperor Domitian came to the throne, he declared himself Dominus et Deus, that is, Lord and God.
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And eventually it became a crime if you were a citizen of the Roman Empire and you refused to declare that Caesar was Lord.
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It became a crime.
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Christianity became religio elicita, that is, in the Latin, an illegal religion.
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These were the times of Christians in the Roman Empire.
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And moved by such commitment at the counting of the cost and following Christ, seeing that it was worth it, one historian wrote these words, and I quote, those were times of heroism, not of words.
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An age not of writers, but of soldiers.
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Not of talkers, but of sufferers.
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And I ask you tonight, are we entering a similar age of persecution? If so, will we be heroes or will we be cowards? Will we be professors of Christ merely or will we also be followers of Christ? Will we only preach and speak of what it means to be a Christian or are we willing to bear up our sword and follow our Master into the battle even if it means persecution unto death? These are the serious questions we must ask ourselves this evening.
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I do not pretend to know the future.
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And to be frank with you tonight, I'm not interested in serving as some sort of cultural analyst on all the pointers that might point forward to the potentiality of persecution within our generation.
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But I would encourage you to just watch the news.
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And I would also encourage you to be a reader of history, because historically speaking, I want you to know that the Bride of Christ, when she finds herself in deep hostilities and persecution, she is more beautiful than ever.
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She is bold.
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She is strong.
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She is tender.
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She proves to be gracious.
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She is willing to suffer for her Lord and for her Master.
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And the Bridegroom bears her up under the heavy weight of the flames of persecution to be a shining light in a dark world so that revival can occur.
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And rather than feel sorry for ourselves tonight, let us pray to God Almighty that the persecution would come, that the church of God would be revived, that souls would be saved, that the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ would be proclaimed from the housetops in a bolder way than we have seen in the last two or three generations.
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We may be on the brink of persecution, but let us rejoice, not run.
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Let us be emboldened, not frightened.
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Let us proudly bear the sword of the Lord and march as brave soldiers in the army of our King, for the battle belongs to the Lord.
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And let me just remind you tonight that Jesus never presented Christianity as a half-hearted endeavor.
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He never deceived His followers into thinking that it would be easy, and yet somehow Christianity today has become Christianity-lite.
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It is the Splenda of sugars.
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It is not strong.
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It is decaffeinated.
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It is weak.
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It is effeminate.
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It has a soft underbelly.
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But when persecution comes, it is a time for the people of God to stand up and to stand strong.
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Peter says, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing is happening.
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And in our text tonight, our Lord, in the context, is sending the original disciples out into the world to preach repentance for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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He has given them power, in chapter 10, tells us to cast out demons and to heal people.
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We are not given those same powers today, but we are given the right, we are given the privilege, we are given the prerogative to preach repentance to a lost and dying world, even in a culture that is hostile to the message that we preach.
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And in Matthew chapter 10, our Lord gives some of the harshest sayings He ever uttered while He walked this earth.
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After sending the ten out, in verses 16 through 23, our Lord gives to us the cost of following Him.
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He says in verse 17 that they would be handed over to courts and they would be scourged in synagogues.
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He says in verse 18 that Christians would be brought before governors and kings for His namesake.
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He speaks in verse 21 about brother betraying brother to death, father his child, children rising up against their parents and causing them to be put to death.
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In verse 22, notice your Bibles, He says you will be aided by all because of My name.
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And they are going to persecute you.
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That is the cost of following Christ.
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And then in verses 32 through 42, our Lord speaks about the conditions of following Him.
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Notice verse 32, He says everyone who confesses Me before men, I'll confess Him before My Father who is in heaven.
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Verse 33, but whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father.
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Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth.
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I didn't come to bring peace but a sword.
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I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
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And a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.
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And verse 37, he who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.
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And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
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And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
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He who has found his life will lose it and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.
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These are the conditions of following Christ.
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There are conditions to following Christ.
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And there is a cost of following Christ.
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But sandwiched in between the cost of following Christ in verses 16-23 and the conditions of following Christ in verses 32-42, we find in our text tonight, verses 24-31, the comfort in following Christ.
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The comfort in following Christ.
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I want you to imagine tonight a rather horrific thing occurring.
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I want you to imagine 20 men dressed in black with long beards and black masks barging into our service tonight and lining every single one of us up against the back wall.
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And as they held machine guns in their hands and machetes in their hands, they make this statement.
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They say, we belong to ISIS.
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We have invaded your country and now we have invaded your church.
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No one is leaving this building unless they recant the name of Christ.
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What would your response be? What would your answer be when it came your turn to answer that question? Obviously a fake scenario that I hope would not happen tonight or really happen at any moment.
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But tonight I want to encourage you that if something like that were to occur, you have reason not to fear.
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Jesus has spoken about the cost in following Him.
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He has spoken about the conditions in following Him.
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But now He speaks about the comfort in verses 24-31.
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And there is great comfort.
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Notice your text again because Jesus mentions a phrase three times.
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Notice the beginning of verse 26.
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He says, therefore do not fear them.
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Who is them? The persecutors.
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Do not fear them.
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Notice verse 28.
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Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul.
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Notice verse 31.
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So do not fear.
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Three times Jesus says, do not fear.
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Do not fear.
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Do not fear.
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And surrounding these three expressions of Jesus saying do not fear, we find four reasons that we don't have to fear persecution when and if it comes to us in our lifetime.
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And I want to share these with you tonight as we walk our way through this text.
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And I want you to write these four reasons why you don't have to fear persecution.
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I want you to write them down and I want you to keep this in your Bible.
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Because the day may come when you need to pull this back out.
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And you need to remind yourself of the comfort that comes from the Word of God for you as you face persecution.
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The first reason we as His disciples should not fear persecution is because persecution affirms our loyal devotion to Christ.
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Persecution affirms our loyal devotion to Christ.
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Notice this in verses 24 and 25.
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Verse 24 first, Jesus says this statement, A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.
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Now what was true in Jesus' day is true today.
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A disciple is not above his teacher in either position, experience, or authority.
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He is in a position of learning, never teaching.
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And a slave is never above his master.
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A master is always above a slave in terms of authority and rank in society.
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And what Jesus is getting at is simply this.
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We are His disciples.
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We are His slaves.
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We are beneath Christ in every conceivable frame of reference you can possibly think.
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We are His servants.
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We are His students.
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Therefore, we should not think that we will receive better treatment than Jesus did when He walked this earth.
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That's what Jesus is driving at.
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And notice, as He says in verse 25, He highlights this more.
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He says, It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master.
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In other words, a faithful disciple seeks to learn from his teacher in order to become like his teacher.
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And a slave becomes like his master because he works for and works with his master.
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And Jesus' point is simply this, as His disciples and as His slaves.
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It's obvious.
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The point of Christianity, as Sonny brought out so well, is to be like Christ.
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To be like our Master.
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1 John 2.6 says, The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
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Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11.1, Be imitators of me as I am an imitator of Christ.
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And John tells us in 1 John 3.2 that when Christ returns, we will in a moment be exactly like Him.
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We will become like Him when we see Him as He is.
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This is the goal of Christianity.
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Our glorification.
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Our entire sanctification.
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To be like Christ.
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But Jesus' point is that if we want to be like Christ in holiness and in character, that is not enough.
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We also need to be willing to be like Christ in the sense of being persecuted.
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Notice what He says at the end of verse 25.
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He says, If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household? In other words, Jesus is saying, If they slander me, they are going to slander you.
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If they malign me, there is no telling what they are going to do to you.
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Jesus said in John 15.20, A slave is not greater than his master.
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If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
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Jesus says, If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul.
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The head of the house is a reference to Jesus.
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He is the head of the church.
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Colossians 1.18.
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And the word house there refers to the household of God.
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The family of God.
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Those who are members, fellow citizens with the saints and are part of God's household.
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As Paul says in Ephesians 2.19.
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And they called the head of the house, that is Christ, Beelzebul.
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Now that term originated in 2 Kings.
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It was a nickname for the pagan god Ekron.
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He was called Beelzebub.
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Which literally means, Lord of the flies.
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And later on, Jews changed the spelling to Beelzebul.
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Which means, Lord of the dung heap.
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And I think you can see the connection between a dung heap and flies.
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Because flies are attracted to dung.
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But it was a term directed to this pagan god as a contemptuous insult.
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But in Jesus' day, the Jews nicknamed Satan Beelzebul.
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But here Jesus says, they've called me Beelzebul.
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They've called me Satan.
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That's how severe the slander was toward our Lord.
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And all you have to do is go back and look at Matthew 12.
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Where they accused Jesus of casting demons out in the name of Satan.
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Or Mark chapter 3 where they said that He was possessed by Beelzebul.
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Or possessed by Satan.
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Jesus was accused of being possessed.
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Jesus was accused of doing His works in the power of Satan.
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Does this not sound familiar to you in our culture? That often times, Christians are accused by the culture as being haters, as being evil.
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Even people in churches, religious people, accuse Christians of being too judgmental.
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And too harsh.
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Well, I want to comfort you tonight that if you've ever been accused of being possessed by the devil, you're in the company of Jesus.
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Praise the Lord.
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And the comfort we can draw from verses 24 and 25 is that we should not fear persecution.
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You know why? Because it proves and affirms our loyal devotion to Christ.
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Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
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Amen? You remember the apostles when they were persecuted by the Sanhedrin in Acts 5.41? The Bible says they were rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.
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Listen, beloved, we must willingly embrace persecution.
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And if you are being persecuted tonight by the government, by family, by friends, by children, by parents, maybe even by a spouse, by those in your neighborhood, do not think that some strange thing has occurred to you.
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You must be doing something right.
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And Jesus predicted this day would come.
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He said, an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think he is offering service to God.
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Does that sound familiar? Whether it's Muslim terrorists seeking to kill us physically in the name of their false god Allah, or it's the US government seeking to silence Christians verbally, we are living in the last days.
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And if you are being persecuted for standing up for the cause of Christ, you can rejoice for you are in the company of Jesus.
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For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who is tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
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The great English preacher Joseph Parker, he lived during the late 19th, early 20th century, said this, and I quote, No blow falls upon you that does not also fall upon your Lord and Master.
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Your tears flow through His eyes.
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And that is true.
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Be encouraged if you are being persecuted.
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And the flip side to this is, of course, if you are never criticized, never slandered, never mocked, never persecuted for Christ, then perhaps your loyalty to Him is waning, and repentance needs to take place.
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But when we willingly, boldly, and resolutely identify with His shame, He will raise us in due time.
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Do not fear persecution.
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Because persecution affirms your loyal devotion to Christ.
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Number two.
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A second reason not to fear persecution is found in verses 26 and 27.
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Persecution anticipates our final vindication before God.
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First, it affirms our loyal devotion to Christ, therefore we should not fear it.
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Secondly, persecution anticipates our final vindication.
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You know, the world does not treat Christians fairly.
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It is unavoidable.
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But notice what Jesus says in verse 26.
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He says, therefore do not fear them.
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And that therefore points back to what He said in verses 24 and 25.
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And it points forward to what He is saying in verses 26 and 27.
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Therefore do not fear them.
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There is His favorite phrase in this passage.
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For there is nothing, Jesus says, concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be made known.
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What is Jesus saying here? He is saying that the hidden plots, conspiracies, lies, slanders, false accusations against Christians will finally, on the final day of judgment, be revealed before the world to see.
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On the final day, all our prayers for deliverance will be answered.
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God is much like the judge in the parable who answered the woman's persistent request for legal protection.
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And at the end of that parable, Jesus said, now will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night? Brothers and sisters, that day is coming.
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The day is coming when the truth will come out.
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As 1 Corinthians 4 and 5 says, therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will bring both to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's heart.
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And negatively speaking, God will bring to the witness stand the guilty verdict of all of those who have persecuted Christians, both historically for the church as a whole, as well as personally for each member of His church.
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Jesus will bring it to the forefront.
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And positively speaking, He will bring out of the darkness and bring to the light all the good works that you performed in His name.
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And you will hear those words, well done thou good and faithful servant.
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So both the bad persecution we receive and the good of the works we demonstrate will be revealed.
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As Ecclesiastes 12.14 says, God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether good or bad.
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And I tell you tonight that such a truth should cause the Christian to be marked by patience under persecution, not panic.
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A faith in God instead of fury and anger toward the world.
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Waiting in hope instead of worrying in despair.
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For God will come and make all things right, fully vindicating His people.
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And if that is true, we must never be ashamed to loudly, publicly and boldly proclaim His truth.
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May we never be guilty of covering up the light on the lamp stand.
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Notice what verse 27 says.
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Jesus says, What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light.
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And what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.
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Jesus often would take His disciples away and whisper truth in their ears.
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And Jesus whispers truth in our ears every time we meditate and read His Scripture.
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And every Lord's Day we sit under the preaching and the teaching of God's Word away from the light of the world.
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His truth is whispered in our ears.
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And beloved, that truth is not to stay in the church, it is to go outside of the church, into the world, and we are to speak it.
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In New Testament times, Jewish rabbis would train their students in public speaking by standing beside them and whispering truth in their ear, and then they would repeat that truth.
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Our rabbis speak truth in our ears today and it is not to be kept to ourselves.
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We are to proclaim it from the housetops.
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Why a housetop? Because that is a perfect platform for people to hear your voice.
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It's where an announcement can be made.
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It's where you can be heard.
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Beloved, you need to find a place at your job where your voice can be heard.
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You need to find a place at your school where your voice can be heard.
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You need to find a platform in your neighborhood where you can preach the glorious gospel of the light of Jesus Christ.
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Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it up with a container and puts it under a bed, but he puts it on a lamp stand so that those who come in may see the light.
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Beloved, the world needs to see the light because the culture is a dark and damp and scary place for sinners to be in.
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And the result after this life is far worse.
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Listen, we need to proclaim the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, holding nothing back.
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God does not want editors of the Bible.
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He wants publishers of the Bible.
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Simply taking His Word with no apology and preaching the truth of God.
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And why not? We have nothing to lose.
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God is taking note of every threat, every lie, every accusation, and your day of glorification, your day of vindication, your day of exaltation is coming.
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Amen? Look forward to that day.
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Have eyes to eternity.
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And speak forth God's truth boldly.
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And understand as you do that there will be consequences.
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It will not be easy.
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Because the truth both cuts and convicts.
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It grows the believer, but it gags the unbeliever.
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It feeds the true believer, but it frightens the false believer.
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It's sweet to the true lover of Christ, but it's sour to the hater of Christ.
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The true convert hopes in it, but the fake convert is hindered by it.
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Listen, some of your greatest persecution may come from people within the church who claim you are too radical for the church.
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And do not let them shut you down.
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Do not let them silence you.
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Do you remember the words of James 4.4? You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
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Those in the church who want to silence you are friends with the world.
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Don't be friends with them.
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Don't try to mesh with the world so that you can relate with them and come in through the back door and manipulate them into saying some prayer that's not going to stick because they're not going to mean it.
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Preach the glorious truth of Christ crucified and resurrected and leave the consequences to God Almighty.
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We should not fear persecution, number three, because persecution avoids our eternal extermination.
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It avoids our eternal extermination.
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Verse 28, a rather obvious point, notice it.
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Jesus says, Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
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There have been many nations, there have been many kings, there have been many people who have tried to stamp out Christianity but all the further they get is killing the body.
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Amen? They can never kill the soul.
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What did Martin Luther write? Let goods and kindred go.
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This mortal life also.
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The body they may what? Kill, but God's truth abideth still.
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Therefore we're not to fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul.
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And what is the secret to not fearing man? The secret to not fearing man is to fear God.
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That's what verse 28 says.
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Don't fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
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It was the great Scottish reformer John Knox who stood up to Queen Mary and her diabolical support of Roman Catholic unbiblical practices.
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On his tombstone it reads, Here lies one who feared God so much that he never feared the face of any man.
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Is that you this evening? Do you fear God? Do you fear His holiness? Do you fear His wrath? Psalm 110 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
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Now I need to point out just a technical thing right quick here in verse 28.
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There have been many who have taken that word destroy in verse 28 where it says that we are to fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
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They have taken that little word and they have created a cute little doctrine called the doctrine of annihilation.
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Annihilationism teaches that hell is the destruction of the human body where the human ceases to exist.
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There is no conscious eternal torment.
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Let me just tell you that is not what the Bible teaches.
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Jesus said in Mark 9 verse 48 that in hell the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
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He said in Matthew 25 and verse 46 that heaven is eternal life and hell is eternal death.
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The point of verse 28 is that there is conscious eternal torment.
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That hell is a real place.
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That God does send people there and we aren't to think from this that the Christian can ever be sent to hell.
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Far be it from that.
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But the reality is the more we are acquainted with the power of God to cast people into hell, the more aware we are going to be of His power to do anything because no one has that kind of power save God alone.
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And my friends, it is that sort of holy, reverent fear of God that will cause you and I to never fear man no matter what his threats may be.
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And it was this reality that led people like Jim Elliott to write, He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
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Jim Elliott, great man of God, also wrote this prayer.
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He said, God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life that I may burn for Thee.
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Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine.
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I seek not a long life, but a full one like You, Lord Jesus.
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How true was that? Jim Elliott cut down a young man in his twenties by the spear of an Akka Indian as he took the gospel with other great men into the jungles of Ecuador.
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He wasn't afraid to lose his life.
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He wasn't afraid of men.
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Neither was Paul.
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Paul said, I don't consider my life of any account as dear to myself so that I may finish my course in the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
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Can I ask you tonight, how dear is your life to yourself? Do you love your life, your wife, your husband, your children, your father, your mother, your hobbies, your job more than Christ? Because if you do, you will fear man more than you will fear God.
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And Jesus says in this passage, He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
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And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
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John Hus is another great man in church history.
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He is known as the morning star of the Reformation.
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And John Hus lived 100 years before the Reformation.
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He actually stood for truths that Martin Luther would later stand for.
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And he was strongly influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe.
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And he got himself in trouble.
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You know why? Because he denounced the corruption of Roman Catholic clergy.
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He pointed out the unbiblical teaching of the sale of indulgences.
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But what made him probably more unpopular than anything in the Roman Catholic Church was the fact that he said he believed that the Pope and 90% of the priests were not part of the true church.
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And they were not truly elect of God.
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Not part of the pure bride of Christ.
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And even in the midst of all of these things he preached, he became a great preacher at Bethlehem Chapel in Prague.
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And he used this 3,000 seat auditorium as a platform to denounce Roman Catholicism.
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And in a day before the word Calvinism was pejorative, he was accused of Wycliffism.
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Of holding to the teachings of John Wycliffe.
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And when a council threatened him with his life, he said this, the council desired me to declare the falsity of my books.
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And I refused to do so unless they should be proved false by Scripture.
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And then he went on to say, I refuse to be the enemy of the truth and will resist to the death all agreement with falsehood.
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It is better to die well than to live badly.
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Is that your heart tonight? Would you rather die well than live badly? Or are you too afraid of man and not fearful enough of God? We need to be fearful of God because man can only kill the body.
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He cannot touch the soul.
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Why should we not fear persecution? Number one, we should not fear persecution because it affirms our loyal devotion to Christ.
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Secondly, it anticipates our final vindication before God.
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Third, it avoids eternal extermination.
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And fourth and finally, let me leave you with this, persecution assures our providential protection.
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These are the sweetest verses in this passage.
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Notice with me verses 29 through 31.
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Jesus reminds us of God's providential protection of us.
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Verse 29, he says, Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? He's asking a question.
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It's a rhetorical question.
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Not everyone knew during Jesus' day that you could buy two sparrows for a cent.
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In fact, you could go to the marketplace and sparrows were sold, roasted.
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And you could buy two sparrows for one cent.
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A cent was the smallest coin in Roman currency.
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It was one-sixteenth of a denarius.
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You could buy two sparrows for one cent in the marketplace.
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They were sort of like chicken nuggets.
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Cheap, but really good.
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And people bought them.
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Jesus says, are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And you can see the head shaking.
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Yes, obviously.
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And then Jesus says, here's his point.
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And yet, not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father.
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That is, even when a sparrow falls to the ground in its death to be roasted quickly, to be handed to someone to eat, God is sovereign over it.
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He is aware of it.
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And he is even compassionate toward that meaningless little sparrow.
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Now you say, what's the point? We need to ask Jesus what the point is.
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In order to see that, you need to look at your Bibles.
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Verse 30, Jesus says, But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
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This is amazing.
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God is so meticulous in his sovereignty, in his care for his creation, that when a measly old sparrow falls to the ground to its death, God is there.
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He is sovereign over it.
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He is compassionate toward that little sparrow.
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But how much more compassionate and sovereign is he over you? He numbers the very hairs upon your head.
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And depending on where we're at in life, it may be a few.
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But at any given time, God knows how many hairs are on your head.
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That's his care for you.
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And notice verse 31.
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Here it is again.
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So do not, what? Fear.
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Because you are more valuable than many sparrows.
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Way more valuable.
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The point is this.
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If God cares for the tiniest details of his universe like sparrows, and keeping track of them and when they die.
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And if he cares for you so much that he knows how many hairs are upon your head tonight.
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Don't you think he is aware of every slanderous remark that is made toward you for being a follower of Christ? Don't you think he hears? Don't you think he sees every person that desires to do you harm, and that succeeds in doing you harm? He sees the persecution.
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He's aware of the persecution.
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And shall I say this? At times he ordains the persecution.
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He knows the pain of the persecution.
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And he is always there with us in the persecution.
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What comfort! What devotion of our sovereign God! Therefore, we shall not fear persecution.
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He is watching after us.
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And caring for us.
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Christian, this passage is for you.
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Know tonight that as you reside in an increasingly hostile culture toward Christianity, God will not allow anything to happen to you that he has not already ordained.
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And that he has not already figured out how he is going to give you the strength to bear up and get through it.
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We know that God calls us all things to work together for good.
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To those who love God.
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To those who are called according to his purpose.
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So in light of this, be a brave soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Be a submissive slave to your Master.
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Be a faithful disciple or pupil to your Master.
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Because it is an historical fact that the glory days of the Church always occur when she is under immense persecution.
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Leave tonight with no fear.
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Jesus says three times, Do not fear.
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Do not fear.
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Do not fear.
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We should not fear persecution because it affirms our loyal devotion to Christ.
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It anticipates our final vindication before God on judgment day.
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It avoids eternal extermination, even if it leads to physical death.
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And it assures us of God's providential protection over us.
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Charles Spurgeon once said, and I quote, You can never preach a sermon and fail to quote Spurgeon.
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That is sacrilegious.
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So I am in my conclusion.
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I am going to quote him.
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I could have quoted him earlier, but I left that quote out.
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Spurgeon says, God will not waste the life of one of his soldiers.
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No, nor a hair on his head.
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If we die in God's battle, we live in the grandest sense.
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For by loss of life, we gain life.
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Historically, men and women who understood this had the greatest impact on the world.
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I told you earlier about John Hus, and I want to finish the story about John Hus in conclusion.
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On July 6th, 1415, a church council condemned John Hus for believing in the Bible as his sole authority, and for denouncing the Pope.
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Hus was subjected to a humiliating ceremony.
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He was stripped of his priestly garments by six bishops, who also shaved his head.
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And then on a little piece of paper that had images of demons all over it, they made a little hat and put it on top of his head.
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And on this hat, this paper hat, it simply read one word, heretic.
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And after they committed his soul to the devil, John Hus boldly turned to them and said, you may commit my soul to the devil, but I commit myself to my gracious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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And then, as the sticks were lit to literally burn him to death, Hus, whose name means goose in Czech, declared these words, and I quote, today you are burning a goose.
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However, a hundred years from now, you will be able to hear a swan sing, but you will not be able to burn him.
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You will have to listen to him.
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And Fox's Book of Martyrs tells us that as he was burned to death, he sung these words, Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me.
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Now, no one could know that day how literally Hus' words would come true.
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But almost exactly 100 years later, another rebellious cleric in the Roman Catholic Church, a man by the name of Martin Luther, on October 31, 1517, nailed the 95 theses on the church of Wittenberg in Wittenberg, Germany.
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And Luther himself is noted in his writings as seeing himself as the fulfillment of Hus' prophecy.
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He is the swan that they could not silence.
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Listen, God is raising up men and women, boys and girls, who will sing the gospel truths like a swan in a hostile culture.
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Who will join the ranks of God's army to willingly be His martyr? Who will willingly sacrifice, if need be, shed their blood for Christ? Our sacrifice may not lead to death, but will you be part of the next great generation of Christians that refuses to be silent about the gospel, and about the Word of God? If so, we may read about you someday in an updated version of Fox's Book of Martyrs, and it will be sold on Michael Gaydosh in the bookstore.
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Would it be worth it to you? Let me tell you, the cost of following Christ is always worth it.
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You will never fail in being devoted to Christ, no matter what the cost, it will be worth it.
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Let us pray.
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Our Father, may we persevere tonight by marching forward in the battle, no matter what lies ahead.
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Lord, may we trust in our sovereign general who has been to hell and back for us already at the cross.
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Therefore, Lord, whatever the cost is in following Him, we know that it will always be worth it, because of the great reward You have for us that's been secured by the blood of Your dear Son.
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We're so grateful for Him.
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May we learn to live for Him in a greater way, we pray in His precious name.
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Amen.