Faithfulness to Christ in The Age of Opposition Various Texts

That's for Children's Church. About a year ago, I went to a conference down in DeForest, Wisconsin, which is just north of Madison, where John Harris hosted a BNOT-conformed conference. I drove down there with two of my friends and it may have been the most refreshing conference I had ever been to.

It was refreshing because the speakers and the group of people present were united in understanding where the climate is in American Christianity. We were under no illusions. We were united in understanding that American evangelicalism is not in a good place.

Pastors and laymen all over the country are fed up with this because they want to faithfully follow Jesus. As we just sang, the cross before me, the world behind me. And a growing number of Christians refuse to be comfortable living in compromise.

At this time, the organization TruthScript, which is a website that produces articles that are really helpful to Christians everywhere, this website had just started. And when it started, John Harris, the co-founder, asked me to be a regular contributor to the website and I gladly said yes.

There's a great need for a ministry like TruthScript in our day. If we are honest, we must say that mainstream evangelical organizations like Christianity Today, actually John MacArthur called it Christianity Astray, which I think is accurate, the Gospel Coalition, which I used to be involved in and then I realized the Marxist ideas, they really had influenced the movement, quite frankly.

And then I was also very influenced by John Piper's ministry, Desiring God, but even saw some compromise there as well. They were all influenced at some level by the woke movement from the political left in America.

John MacArthur, who has pastored for 55 years and has fought many battles, has said that the greatest threat to the biblical gospel, to biblical Christianity in his lifetime has been the social justice movement, which has invaded evangelicalism.

But this is what American evangelicalism has been swimming in for the last decade. Because of this compromise, certain organizations have arisen and one of those organizations is the one I've already mentioned, TruthScript.

The slogan right next to the TruthScript title is a famous line taken from the book of Ruth, which says, for such a time as this. So this ministry was created for such a time as this. When John Harris held this conference in DeForest, Wisconsin last June, I mentioned to him that our church would potentially be interested in hosting a TruthScript conference in the future.

Not long after that conversation, I went for a walk. And when I go for a walk and some of you see me, I usually cross the highway. I look both ways, of course. And I cross the highway and I walk down a ways and then there's a kind of a foresty area where it's really quiet and serene and I love to go there and pray and just spend time with the Lord on my walk.

And so I'm on this walk. I do my best thinking on this walk as well. And as I'm on this walk, I thought in my mind, what would be a great conference that we would host that would be a blessing to our church and to other Christians?

I thought of four names. Four men who have encouraged me during these days when it is hard to find faithful men that you can trust. One was John Harris. The other, Russell Fuller, Jeff Clewer, and David Wheaton.

These four men understand the world in which we live and they understand the climate of the American church. John Harris was the first one who helped me understand that social justice was really a repackaging of Marxism.

Russell Fuller became an inspiration to me as he stood up to the social justice movement at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which is the largest seminary in the world. And because he stood up to it, he lost his job.

Jeff Clewer became near and dear to my heart because he became the leading voice of fighting against the woke movement in the Evangelical Free Church of America that I and my family have a long history in.

And like Dr. Fuller, because of his stand, he too was canceled by the woke individuals in that movement. They actually censored his ordination, which is the version of being canceled in that movement.

And then David Wheaton, a former professional tennis player who was actually in the early 90s, made it all the way to the semifinals at Wimbledon, if you can believe it. And one of the best tennis players in the world.

In these days, and for the last 20 years or so, he has had a Christian radio program called the Christian Worldview. And on this program, he has really taken a lot of stands. And I'm thinking, he goes places where most people don't go.

And I've been so encouraged by that. He's talked about social justice, COVID -19. He had a guy like Peter McCullough on his program who has really been really influential in exposing a lot of the lies of COVID -19.

And other controversial topics as well he has covered. Each of these men showed courage and risked receiving pushback. And even in some cases, did receive significant pushback from the compromised world and the compromised Christian community.

By the grace of God, it worked out for each of these speakers to come. And this coming weekend, these four men will be here to encourage, challenge and inspire Christians to faithfully follow Christ in this age of opposition.

Since this is the Sunday before the conference, I thought it appropriate to preach a message that will prepare us for the conference this weekend. What you will hear next weekend is a mix of presentations and messages.

And I consider this message this morning to be essentially the first message of the conference. And I figured since my face is on the brochure, I should probably give a message, right? So we are going to take a break from 2 Peter and I'm going to preach a message titled Faithfulness in the Age of Opposition.

And I'm not going to tell you to turn to a specific place in the Bible, but I do encourage you to write down the passages that I am going to mention this morning. So here's our big idea. And this really isn't much of an outline to this message.

This is just a big idea. And the big idea is this. Build a pattern of courage as you experience opposition. Build a pattern of courage as you experience opposition. And the way you'll be able to stand with Christ through thick and thin is through courage in Christ.

The Reality of Spiritual Warfare and the Call to Courage

What we must understand is that we are at war. In the movie, the book Lord of the Rings, there's a scene where Aragorn is talking to one of the kings of Gondor and he tells him, when are you going to realize that we are at war?

As the evil powers in Mordor were rising up, they were denying the danger that was out there. They were denying the evil that was out there. When are you going to realize that we are at war? And are we going to be on the right side in this war?

Or are we actually going to advance the enemy's agenda? Ephesians 6 .12 says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

In the day in which we live, we need soldiers of the cross. We need men, women, and children to be strong. When Moses ended his ministry and God appointed Joshua to lead the people of Israel into the promised land, this is what the Lord told Joshua.

Joshua 1, verses 6 and 7. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all that the law of Moses, my servant, commanded you.

Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. Now, I want to ask you a question. When is it the hardest time to be obedient to God? The answer is this.

It's the hardest time to be obedient to God when it's unpopular. It's when the world will hate you for following God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. What we have found over the last several years is that there's a lack of the fear of God in the Christian community.

I don't have a problem saying that. I've seen it. When we think about exercising biblical courage, at the root of biblical courage is the fear of God. Honestly, in many places, we have not been set a good example as to what biblical courage looks like.

Largely speaking, well-known Christians and well-known Christian organizations have not modeled this. I don't think I'm wrong when I say very few Christian organizations actually fear God the way that they're supposed to.

I don't think that's an overstatement. What we have seen is that too much thought is given to what the world thinks of them. So before we act, we need to think, how is the world going to perceive what we do?

That should never be in our thoughts. What should be in our thoughts is, what does God think about what we are going to do? And if I'm the only person who is still standing, then so be it. Just like the song we sang, though no one join me, still I will follow.

The truth is that many, many within American evangelicalism go right along with the world and then try to justify it by saying they are somehow following Jesus. There's lots of cowardice out there, but the question is, who is going to stand with Jesus even when it costs you?

Who is going to follow the old hymn, as I just mentioned, though no one join me, still I will follow? In America, the path is already narrow and within American Christianity, there's a remnant of those truly faithful to Jesus.

When you think about it, there has always been a remnant down through history. We shouldn't be surprised it is in our day as well. Remember what we see in Elijah. There are 7 ,000 people in this city, the Lord told Elijah this, that have not bowed their knee to Baal.

7 ,000 people in this city. During Jesus' ministry, He told people that it would cost them their life in this world if one followed Him. In Matthew 16, 24 and 25, He said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. And in Mark, it actually says, whoever loses his life in this world. In those verses, Jesus says, things are going to change when you follow me.

I remember when I was in high school, my cross country coach had a meeting at the end of the school year. And the purpose of this meeting was to find out who was interested in joining the team in the fall.

And at this meeting, this informational meeting, he had this sign up sheet. And what he told the class, what he told everybody who came, he said, if you sign your name here, you're showing me that you are interested in cross country, but you are not signing your life away.

But think about it, when we follow Jesus, we are signing our life away. We are signing our life away in this world. To follow Him means submitting to Him and not looking like the world. Jesus gives two commands in Matthew 16, 24 and 25.

He says, deny yourself and take up your cross. To deny yourself means putting the sin that is in you to death. And to take up your cross means faithfully enduring opposition from a world that is opposed to Christ.

What Jesus tells us in a different place in the parable of the sower is that one of the four soils show one's faith to be phony through that person's inability to face opposition from the world when that opposition comes.

Jesus said in this parable in Matthew 13 verses 20 and 21, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while.

And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. Jesus makes it very clear. You cannot have the world and have Him also. He wants you completely. There are people out there who call themselves Christians, who want the world, and they say they want Jesus, but what they are really following is a worldly Christianity, a Christianity that is acceptable to them, a Christianity where they want the world to think highly of them, and they also want the benefits that come from Jesus.

That's American evangelicalism in a nutshell. In other words, they want the world to love them while on earth, and they want to go to heaven when this life is over. But it doesn't work that way. And as I say this, there will be people who love you as you follow Jesus.

It's very important to say that. You're going to have rich friendships, the family of God, the people who are truly standing for Christ will love you. But there's going to be lots of people who are against you as you follow Jesus faithfully.

The world and the compromised church, both groups. It is sobering to think that there are lots of people out there who will hear the words from Jesus. I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

Jesus said that in Matthew 7 .23. Those worldly Christians who are phonies, Jesus will not welcome into His kingdom. Now it is true that every true Christian can struggle with the temptation toward worldliness.

That is the temptation to be accepted by the world. But this temptation must be put to death. 1 John 2, verses 15 through 17 says, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

In this passage, the apostle John is commanding his readers to put to death the worldliness in their hearts. And you might be here today, and you have a lot of this in your heart. The word of God is telling you, put it to death.

True Christians can struggle with worldliness, but where they are different from phony Christians is that at the end of the day, their allegiance is to Jesus. And what you must understand is that one who sets his eyes on Jesus, one who closely follows Him, what you will not experience in this life is love from the world.

I've already explained a little bit the opposition you will face as you walk closely with Christ, but I want to read a few more passages that describe what your experience will be like as you follow Him.

Jesus said in John 15 verses 18 through 21, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name because they do not know Him who sent me.

What did the world do to Jesus? They crucified Him. He tells us clearly that we will face opposition from the world. And as you follow Him, your experience will be like His experience. And there's a spectrum here.

It goes all the way from martyrdom to insults. But there is a spectrum. There is the spectrum of pushback that you will receive. It might be losing a job. It might be losing friendships. 2 Timothy 3 verses 10 through 12 says,.

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, which persecution I endured.

Yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Instead, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. What the Apostle Paul is telling us is that as you follow Jesus closely, you will face opposition from the world.

It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. And many of you already have in some way. Here's another one. Do you know what the world thinks of you? Well, 1 Corinthians 4 .13 says, We have become and are still like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

There's no group of people on earth that the secular, powerful elites hate more than biblical Christians. I remember listening to a conservative political commentator who's not even a Christian himself.

And he said, the radical left hates conservative Christians more than anyone else. If you want to understand who the political establishment in this country is most against, it's you. You can see the collision course coming.

It's already here, and it will not go away, but it will only increase as time goes on. And there's certain places that are better than others. I understand that, but generally speaking, this is true. And do you know what I find interesting?

I mentioned worldly Christians above. One way you can spot a worldly Christian is when they refuse to defend other Christians who are actually doing what they're supposed to be doing. They are either silent or even throw these faithful Christians under the bus.

We're going to see some of these men come this weekend who were thrown under the bus. Worldly Christians are embarrassed of those Christians who hold closely to the Bible because worldly Christians want the world to love them, and these Christians who hold to what Jesus says without compromise make them look bad.

Worldly Christians say, love your neighbor. Do not judge. Worldly Christians say that we have been mean to the society, and that is why so many people run away from the church, and that is why so many people despise Christians.

Tim Keller actually said that, by the way. Why do all these LGBTQ people not like Christians? We've been mean to them. That was his answer. They hate what this says. That's why. That's the real answer.

Let me give you an example of this. I already gave you one example, but on the issue of homosexuality, I've heard this very thing. Now, there are some extreme examples like a Westboro Baptist. They're holding out signs, God hates gays, and we don't want to do that, of course.

But if we speak the truth and love to someone and they hate us, it's not because you did anything wrong. It's because they hate the message. So don't take it personally. It's not really that they hate you.

It's that they hate, frankly, they hate God. And we want them to leave that and actually understand their depravity, understand their rebellion, and that they would come into a relationship with God. The Bible's strong stance against homosexuality is found all over the place.

It's in Leviticus 18, Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6, Jude. And if a preacher preaches the way the Bible preaches, of course, they're going to have a problem with you. It's not that you're mean. It's that you're telling them the truth and calling them to repent and find refuge in Jesus.

In other words, you're truly loving that person. You shouldn't say only condemnation. You want them to know that you love them, but you should say that God has a problem with this. And He wants you. He's calling you to repent so that you would truly have life.

I remember I had a conversation with a guy that I went to high school with on Facebook on the issue of abortion. And I laid out clearly the biblical position. I didn't make any unkind remarks. I just put the truth out there.

And what he told me is that I was casting stones. He was referencing the story of the woman caught in adultery where Jesus says, he who is without sin cast the first stone. I told him in this post that I too was a sinner in need of a Savior, but he didn't care.

My rejection of his immoral position was enough for him to call me a judgmental person who was unloving. Jesus calls us to be faithful to Him and not to be concerned about the world's negative response.

To the one who is faithful to Jesus, because most of the world is going to call you all kinds of names. And the pressure has been increasing rapidly as the years have gone on. A number of years ago, missionary and preacher Paul Washer said something in a Q &A that caught many people's attention.

For those of you who are not familiar with Paul Washer, he's most famous for preaching a message titled The Shocking Youth Message where he preached to hundreds of youth going after the cheap gospel that is sold as the true gospel in our day.

And he went up there and preached the true gospel as he stood before all these youth. And Paul Washer is a man who does not mince words. He really preaches like the biblical prophets and apostles did, which is why much of American evangelicalism doesn't like him.

And when you read the prophets in the Old Testament, John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles, they do not pull punches. They proclaim the truth without fear. And as they proclaim the truth, they are not unloving.

What they are doing is proclaiming urgent words with all seriousness. They are proclaiming the truth in love as Ephesians 4 .15 tells us to do. So over a decade ago, Paul Washer predicted the great persecution coming to America and Christians.

So keep in mind, what I'm about to quote to you, I think it was about 12, 13, 14 years ago. This is what he said. The church in America is going to suffer so horribly. And we laugh now, but they will come after us.

They will come after our children. They will close the net around us while we are playing soccer mom and soccer dad, while we're arguing over so many little things and mesmerized by so many little trinkets.

The net even now is closing around you and your children and your grandchildren, and that does not cause you to fear. You will be isolated from society as has already happened. Anyone who tries to run for office who believes the Bible will be called a lunatic until finally we are silenced.

We'll be called things that we're not and persecuted not for being followers of Christ, but for being radical fundamentalists who do not know the way of Christ, which of course is love and tolerance. You will go down as the greatest bigots and haters of mankind in history.

They've already come after your children and for most of you, they got them. They got them through the public schools and indoctrination and through the university and indoctrination. And you wonder why your children come out not serving the Lord.

It's because you fed them right into the devil's mouth. So little by little, the net is closing around and then it's not little by little. Look how fast things are going downhill in just a matter of weeks.

You must settle this in your mind. And this is one thing I want to say over and over. Do not believe that people were persecuted for their sincere faith in Christ. That was the real reason, but no one ever heard that publicly.

They were martyred and they were persecuted as enemies of the state, as child molesters, as bigots, as narrow-minded people who had fallen for a ruse and can contribute nothing to society. Your suffering will not be noble, so your mind must be filled with the Word of God when all people persecute you and turn on you.

Then he said this that is hopeful. He said, I believe God is raising up young men who are strong in trust in the providence of God who will be able to wade through the hell that's going to break loose on us and it will break on us before we even recognize it.

This is not silly talk. Apart from a great awakening, these things are going to come upon you. Be ready to lose your homes, your cars, and everything. So it sounds kind of alarmist, right? This was 12, 15 years ago.

We have people standing on the Word of God losing positions at evangelical institutions. Think about that. Not secular institutions, evangelical institutions. I never saw that 12 years ago. And here we are.

12 years ago, the transgender movement wasn't even really here. Look where it is now. I mean, you can see how things move quickly. And the pressure... We know what the story of Scripture says. We know that there's a kingdom coming.

It's the kingdom of the beast. This globalistic push that we see in the world. This kingdom is being built before our eyes. The control that they want over us. I'm not saying this to scare you. I'm just telling you what is happening out there.

This is happening before our eyes. And it's increasing at a rapid speed. We should not be surprised at this. Because this is how Scripture said it would be. This was before COVID -19. This was before the big woke push.

Things were pretty good back then. If you look back at it, we thought it was bad back then. In only a handful of years down the road, we might be saying, you know what guys, 2024 really wasn't that bad.

Isn't that scary to think? Everyone must understand this. The federal government in America and governments all over the world, this globalistic government, view biblical Christians as the one group, the greatest group, that is hindering their progress.

We stand in their way as they have all these plans for where they want to get to, which is they want to have a one world government. They want there to be the centralization of power where eventually one man rules.

It's all setting up before our eyes. And we are against their progression. We are the problem. We are the Neanderthals who always live in the past. We are those narrow-minded people who actually believe that this book tells the story of life.

We are those people who believe in fairy tales, not science. We are those people who are going to destroy the planet. I don't know if any of you have driven on Highway 35. There's a sign that says, there's no planet B.

It's the climate change agenda. And it's all connected. The woke agenda, the COVID agenda, the climate agenda, all of it is a part of the B system described in Revelation 13. All of it. And think of how many Christians have fallen for this.

How many Christian leaders who all their ministries were talking about we're going to be persecuted. We're going to be persecuted. And then it comes and they join the persecutors. Now that's strange. That's bizarre.

But that's how it's turned out. And Paul Washer mentioned, Christians are seen as enemies of the state. They will blame you for every ill of society. The racism problem is because of you. The homophobic problem is because of you.

The transphobic problem, science deniers, domestic terrorists, they'll even use that one on you. If you look into the file of the government of what they're looking into the problems with people and these dangerous terrorists that are around us, you look at it and you look at the description and you're like, wait, this sounds like us.

I mean, we pay our taxes. We're good to our neighbors. We go to church on Sundays. We follow the teachings of Jesus. And we're the greatest threat to society. You could write a satire piece on this and it would be hilarious.

But it's true. They actually believe this. Another one they throw out is Christian Nationalists, whatever that means. And the list goes on and on and on. We saw this in the Nashville school shooting last year where three students and three staff members were killed by a radicalized transgender woman who actually once went to this Christian school.

And what the secular world was saying is that these Christians with their radical ideology, they drove this person to this and she suffered so horribly under them when she was younger. That was the narrative.

This is how the elites in the world, this satanic world system, views you as you follow Jesus closely. What does 2 Timothy 3 .12 say again? All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

In this world, you are the problem and there's no time for debate. The prevailing thought is that something must be done about these people. They need to be marked as the problem and they might use negative political language to label you, but when you get down to it, what they really hate is that you're a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the root of it. You won't hear that publicly. That's the root of it. You won't submit to their authority because He is your authority. Authoritarian governments despise those who follow God because authoritarian governments consider themselves to be God.

The Bible tells us that great opposition will come to Christians and we already see it and we shouldn't be surprised that we see evil rising as the days go on. 1 Peter 4, verses 12 -14, the Apostle Peter wrote, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's offerings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. So the world hates you. God approves you. And His opinion is the only one that matters.

So don't be surprised when they call you all kinds of names. Don't be surprised when people say, we need to do something about these people. Jesus said it would be this way. And you only have this experience of pushback from the world as you follow Him closely.

If you don't experience any pushback from the world for following Jesus, then you need to ask yourself, maybe I'm not following Him as closely as I should. Ask yourself that. It's an honest question we should all ask ourselves.

Are you standing unashamedly with the biblical Jesus in a world that is moving further and further away from Him? Now it's important for me to say that as you follow Jesus, not everyone will despise you.

And I said this earlier. 2 Corinthians 2, verses 15 -16 gives us the experience that we will have. We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance from death to death.

Another, a fragrance from life to life. Okay, so some people you're going to smell good. To others, you're going to smell horrible. Some people will see you follow Christ closely and they will be attracted to your love for God, your love for the truth, and your love for people.

And the Lord will use this to lead them to follow the Savior as well. And what's interesting too is that sometimes some of the people that we actually have a connection with, they're not even Christians, but through God's common grace, they can see what's going on in the world, sometimes even more than Christians, and they actually appreciate what you are doing.

So there are circumstances like that where you're going to hear from someone, you know, I'm glad you're doing what you're doing. I'm glad the stand you're taking. I'm glad you're following Christ so closely.

I'm glad you're teaching your kids to follow the Bible, and so on and so forth. That will be one of your experiences, but again, the world is going to hate you. We need to carry ourselves with honor and respect as the world hates us.

When we bring the message of Jesus to people, we should never compromise. And people need to know that we love them, and we love them by saying, you are on the wide path, and I don't want you to go to hell.

I want you to be with me in heaven. You need Jesus, and I would love to help you understand what it means to be a follower of Him, to cross from death to life. What love does is continue to have these conversations with this person, as long as the person is willing to have the conversation.

What love does is continue to pray for this person. But as I have made clear, there will be hostility. And when there is hostility, it's not because you did anything wrong. Don't let compromised Christians tell you that.

They despise you because your message is offensive. And in those cases where people repeatedly reject you and the Lord's message, you are not to waste your time with them. Matthew 10, verses 14 -15 says, Jesus said this, If anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town, truly I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

So there comes a time where we move on. And this is a concern I have with much of what I hear in American evangelicalism. If our message is rejected in certain places, we are pretty much told change your strategy.

We have to become more strategic. And what they mean by change your strategy is soften your message. But that's not the biblical way. We never soften the message. The biblical way is to share the truth and if you receive hostility, move on to those who are willing to hear the message of the truth of the Word of God.

Not only is the gospel message offensive, but so is biblical morality. To say that life begins at conception is radical in our day. Even in the Republican Party, it's become radical. This is one among many hot-button issues.

Many unbelievers think that Christians are too strict with their morality, that we keep people down with our rigidness, but we cannot budge on the gospel or biblical morality. The one who does not budge will assuredly receive opposition.

And frankly, I think much of the persecution that we face, and you've heard me say this before, is not coming from just simply preaching the gospel, but from biblical stands that we take on hot-button issues in society.