The lesson this morning will
be taken from Luke chapter 21. We've had quite a few lessons
from these first several verses. And the lesson is about trouble
being turned to testimonies. Let's read these verses together.
Luke chapter 21, beginning with verse 10. Then said he unto them, nation
shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and
great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines,
and pestilences, and fearful sights, and great signs, shall
there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall
lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the
synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and
rulers for my name's sake. And it, that is this particular
persecution, delivering you to these kings and courts. It shall
turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts
not to meditate before what you shall answer. For I will give
you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not
be able to gainsay or resist. And in these verses, our Lord
assures us of impending trouble. So long as we live in this world,
we're going to be confronted with trouble. You can't escape
trouble. Trouble don't ever hang. Everything
you do, your business, your children, everything you do, there's trouble
involved. And the more godly a man is,
and I say that understanding what godliness is. But the more
a man will live and follow after Christ, and try to live a life
honoring to him, the more persecution you're going to suffer. And especially
those who insist on the gospel of God's free grace. We're going to have troubles,
and our Lord assures us of it. He begins with national troubles. How are we going to suffer national
trouble? Greedy kings. Greedy kings, emperors,
presidents, leaders of countries ready to war over policies, whatever
their policy might be. Territory. They're going to rule
over a strip of land. They're going to go to war over
a little strip of land. They go to war over policies
and territory and power and nations. They're ready to go to war over
oil, access to oil, gold, or any number of things that they
might want or need. It's my understanding that the
latest of the wars brought on by Russia over there, it's nothing
in the world except they want the riches of that particular
part of the of the nation. They want it and they're going
to take it. And sometimes these wars and
these national troubles are brought about by religion. That's what
the Crusades were all about. And wars are big troubles. We're not at war right now, and
they've taken away the draft. But back during Vietnam and World
War II and so on, they had a draft, and it didn't matter who you
were. If there was a war going on, they took you into the military
and you went and fought. There are very few things that
would keep you from having to do that. There are big troubles. Men and women die in war. It's different over in the jungles
of Vietnam than it is out here on the streets. There's troubles
out here, but they ain't like them. Men and women are enslaved in
war. I see all the time license plates
on cars where they were prisoners of war. Who knows how many years
they spent enslaved in bondage. And he said nations shall rise
against nations and kingdom against kingdoms. Why? Because of disagreements? Because of greed? Because of
religion? Yes, but that's not the real
reason. Men go to war because the providence of God brings
it to pass. That's why they go to war. If
a nation finds peace in this fallen world, they need to give
thanks to God and pray that He'll preserve
it. And all through the prophets, He calls these warlike nations
His servants. He called Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar
destroyed all these God-given things, the temple and the city
of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel. He swept down and God
called him My servant. My servant. In Psalm 72, David
writes and tells us about the real King, the Lord Jesus Christ. King of kings, Lord of lords. And this is what he says, He
shall have dominion from sea to sea. Where does Christ rule? Does He rule in these nations?
Does He rule out here among the heathen? Where does He rule?
Does He only rule in Zion? Does He only rule when men will
allow Him? He rules, and here's what He
says from sea to sea. He rules over everything. And
from the river unto the ends of the earth, They that dwell
in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick
the dust. Yea, all kings shall fall down
before him, all nations shall serve him. Nebuchadnezzar was a servant
carrying out his command, and the Jews rebuilt the temple,
and here's what it says over in Ezra chapter 6. You might
want to read this after a while. They rebuilt the temple according,
it says, to the commandment of God, now listen, and the commandment
of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. God commands,
and then they commanded. It's the grand and glorious purpose
of God to save sinners for the glory of His name, and that purpose
has been unfolding from the foundation of the world. And while we might
find a thousand reasons in the moment, God's eternal purpose
of grace is what and why things are the way they are. And there's
a just and righteous reason behind these wars and they shall continue
to come until the end of time. The book of Proverbs says this,
the king's heart, what king? Every king, is in the hand of
the Lord just like the rivers and waters. He turneth it whithersoever
he will. National troubles, and then we
got planetary troubles. Earthquakes in diverse places,
famines, pestilences, they're all fearful sights from God. And all these things are going
to come from heaven. And heaven is where these fearful
sights are born. Science, so called, will give
you all sorts of explanations and reasons, but the Holy Ghost
tells us where they come from. They come from God. Paul tells
us in Romans 1.18 that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness, even if it's just the truth of creation and
conscience. He holds men accountable for
it. And these storms and catastrophes that we see, they're not accidents,
they're not freak happenings of nature. These things are commanded
of God. It's the wrath of God. The wrath of God destroyed the
old world half with water. That's a planetary problem, isn't
it? Started to rain. It never rained. But now it is. Pouring down. Didn't stop. Just kept on pouring
down. Sodom and Gomorrah was fire.
He turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt. And then that's not
even to speak of the plagues of Egypt. You remember our studies
on the plagues of Egypt. Disasters are not freak accidents
or the offspring of Mother Nature. Disasters are sin of God and
are sent to reveal His wrath against sin. Powerful, irresistible,
terrible sights. And troubles are, have been,
and shall continue to be the evidence of a coming judgment
and a righteous end to all things. When shall these things be? Well,
he said, I'll tell you. I'll tell you. But there's more. Verse 12 of our text. Before
all this stuff begins to happen, before you even have a consciousness
of this wrath of God falling, these disasters and so on, he
said, before all these, they shall lay their hands on you. on you. They're going to persecute
you. They're going to deliver you
up to the synagogues and into prisons, and they're going to
bring you before kings and rulers from my namesake. This is religious
persecution. And persecution, especially the
religious kind, is a frightful thing. We seem and know very
little about it nowadays. We're so small, the movement
of God in this world is so small that men don't even take notice
of it. He likens it in prophecy under two prophets dead in the
street. They're not disturbing anybody,
they're just there, you know. And our Lord said in verse 16
of our text, and you shall be betrayed both by parents and
brethren, and kinfolks and friends and some of you shall they cause
to be put to death and you shall be hated of all men for my namesake."
And we know very little about persecution because we're just
not seen as a threat. But it was a, I'll never forget
the first time I got even a little grasp of what the gospel was. saw something of the love and
glory and mercy and grace of God in the gospel. And it was
an unexpected and frightening thing to see my father's reaction
to it when I come home. I expected him to grab this like
I dug up a treasure in the backyard. But his face turned red as blood. And his eyes got real serious.
He got this stern look on his face. And his voice took this
deep, deep tenor. Boy, he was angry. Now it's one thing if a Catholic
priest, I get up here and preach and some Catholic priest heard
me on the sermon audio or some Nazarene preacher, I wouldn't
think twice about them getting angry. But it's a different thing
when somebody you love and that you know loves you, vents that
anger at you. And that's what the Lord's telling. You're going to be betrayed by
parents. Huh? My dad told my sisters about
it. It was like I joined a cult or something. You're going to be betrayed by
your parents and your brethren and your kinfolks and your friends. And some of them are going to
put you to death. Isn't that something? You're going to be
hated of everybody. Everybody's going to hate you.
Nobody's going to love this gospel unless I enable them to. You see somebody hears this gospel
and tears are rolling down their cheeks and a smile comes on their
face and all of a sudden they start to eat it with a full appetite. Huh? God done something for them.
But the rest of the world, you're not going to get that reaction
from. They may tolerate it a while, but they can't live on gospel
truth. And they can't sit where it's
preached. They'll find a reason. Let me tell you something. It's a fearful thing. Religious
persecution is a fearful thing. upset at me, wanted me gone. And I left. I did leave, but
it didn't go very far. And a group from that assembly
come with me. And I went out there to preach,
and they went out where I worked and tried to get me fired from
my job. Huh? And they'd done worse than that
if it had been legal. That's the only reason we don't
see Some of these things brought about, it's just not legal. And
the Jews ran into that under Roman rule, too. It wasn't legal.
They'd have put Paul to death in a heartbeat. Well, why would
God allow such things to happen? Why would he allow his people
that he loves to suffer this kind of persecution? Well, I
believe this. to show both us and them that
the carnal mind of man is enmity against God. Do you believe that? Tell somebody
they're God haters and see what kind of reaction you get. But
that's exactly what the scripture says. He said, I know you. Now he's not talking to a bunch
of heathens. He's talking to religious folks.
And here's what he told them, I know you that you have not
the love of God in you. It ain't in there. But you tell
everybody you love, I love God. In 2 Thessalonians 1, Paul tells
the church, we ourselves glory in you. And in the churches of
God for your patience and faith and all your persecutions and
tribulations that you endure. Now listen to this. Which is
a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God that you may
be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which also you suffer. Everybody don't suffer persecution.
But God's people do. And it's evident. Seeing it is
a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them
that trouble you. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with His mighty angels and flaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God, that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. You just rest in that. Rest in that. Vengeance belongs
to me, the Lord said. I'll repay. I'll repay. One of
the prayers of the saints recorded in the scripture is how long,
Lord? How long? How long must we suffer? And these men, there's no recompense. There's no... Oh, it's coming.
Judgment's coming. Religious persecution is the
worst persecution of all. Why? Because they who persecute
you make their persecution out to be doing the will of God. They destroy both you and those
who may have had some confidence in you. They shut up the kingdom
of heaven against men, for they neither go in themselves, neither
suffer them they that are going to enter in. And the closer to
the end we come, the more this type of persecution we're going
to have Persecution. But in our text, the Lord's not
pointing out percentages. He's not talking about how much
greater the persecution is here. He's not talking about percentages.
He's simply describing the last days. What part of the last days are
we going to suffer persecution? Any one of them. Right up to
the last day. So how are we to look on and
deal with these troubles? Well, turn with me to Philippians
chapter 1. Should I hide from it? Should I just try to hide from
persecutions? Should I just ignore them? Or what about just denying it
altogether? How are we to deal with persecution? Philippians 1 verse 27. Let your
conversation, your behavior, your attitude and conduct every
day be as it becometh or adorns the gospel of Christ. That whether
I come and see you or else be absent, I might hear of your
affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind,
striving together for the faith of the gospel. You're going to
stand as his church, as his assembly, as his people, gathered together
in his name. That's how you're going to stand.
That's how you're going to live. That's how you're going to act.
And in nothing, verse 28, terrified by your adversaries, which is
to them an evident token of perdition, but to you a salvation and that
of God. For unto you it's given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer
for His sake. It's the gift of God. I suffer persecution. I'm not
to grumble. I'm to look at it. It's a gift.
Now on Christmas morning, those of you who to any extent enjoy
this day of the year. And you're giving to one another. And you get up and here's a gift.
You don't say, well, I don't want that. Why have I got that sitting here?
No, you can't wait to get inside and see what it is. Is that right? I used to rip a paper, boy. I've
seen people, you know, save every ribbon. Not me, boy. I'd rip
that. I wouldn't see what was in that
box. Persecution is the gift of God. That's how we're to receive
it. What? What's the end of this? What's
God got for me in this? Oh, He counted you worthy. Boy,
that's worth opening up, ain't it? He counted me worthy to suffer
for Him. He's given me an evidence that
I have life eternal. That's worth opening up, isn't
it? Boy, I'd tear the paper off the package for that. You see
what he's saying? This is the gift of God. How
are we to receive these persons? They're gifts! Gifts of God. Nobody can touch you apart from
your Lord. Satan said, yeah, sure, you got
him hedged about. He said, but you take those hedges
away. He couldn't touch him until God
granted it. Oh, when God granted it, how'd
it turn out? He had twice as much in the end
that he had in the beginning. Is that right? He didn't lose anything that
he didn't need to lose. He thought he had a faithful
wife. And she said, why don't you just curse God and die? She
didn't love the Lord. She didn't love him. She just
loved the fact he was wealthy. He was a good provider. Oh, my
soul. These are gifts. Nothing terrified
by your adversaries, which is to them a token of perdition,
but to you of salvation. For unto you it's given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer
for his sake. And it's an evidence of our salvation. He said, if you were of the world,
the world would love its own. I had three brothers, two of
which were drunks, idolaters, adulterers, dishonest men. They'd cheat you and then laugh
at you. But in our family, we had nine
kids. And there was hardly a sibling
that they didn't take advantage of somewhere down the road. Caused needless suffering. Yet every one of them loved them.
They all loved them. The world has an affinity for
its own. And no matter how they live,
They're loved and treated as one of their own, but not a believer. Saints are hated of all men for
his namesake. Verse 17 of our text, you be
hated of all men. Why? For my namesake. They know his name. They preach
his name. They honor his name. They live
for his name. And I'm talking about men and
women who hold their ground concerning the gospel of Christ. I'm talking
about men and women who confess him plainly to others, who point
out the difference between truth and a lie. I'm talking about
men and women not afraid to congregate with and be identified with Christ
and his people. True godly persecution is an
evident token of our salvation. And secondly, these persecutions
are a testimony. Now, the church I went to when
I was just a kid, they'd have testimony night. And they'd get
up and these testimonies, what I believe was a testimony, is
when they got up and started describing their experience in
what they called salvation, or their experience in conversion. And I'd listen to them. And when they got up, they'd
tell you what they felt or thought, where they was at, what they
were doing. And perhaps this, in some small
way, does give a testimony. Paul talks about his conversion,
doesn't he? He talks about the Lord unhorsing
him and throwing him in the dirt and so on. But listen to our
text. You're not going to sit down
and say, now, all right, all right, I'm going to suffer persecutions.
And they're going to bring me up before the courts and the
judge. So I'm going to get me a speech prepared. I'm going
to sit down and prepare this little speech. And when he says
this, I'm going to say that. When he says this, I'm going
to say that. And I'm going to get my reply ready. The Lord said, don't do that.
Don't do that. Number one, Satan more powerful
than you are. And Satan who's working in them
to persecute you. He's wiser than you are. He's
more mighty than you are. And he's more deceitful. Settle it therefore in your hearts
not to meditate before what you shall answer. I'm going to give
you a math. and wisdom, and all your adversaries
should not be able to gainsay or resist what I give you to
say. And these persecutions and troubles, verse 13, shall turn
to you for a testimony. How? Well, the fact that you're
suffering for His name's sake is an undeniable token of their
perdition and your salvation. That's personal. of their ignorance and your wisdom,
of your rejoicing and their anger. I used to read about the suffering
saints and wonder why nobody I knew was upset with me. Did
you ever think that? Some of you have been in religion,
but I was in religion and I'm just reading the Bible and taking
it at face value and I'm looking at these things and these men
They were healing the sick. They were doing all kinds of
things. Feeding the hungry, clothing them, taking up offerings for
widows and distributing it out, selling their properties so they'd
have all that. Man, they were doing many wonderful
works. And these men were hated. They
were despised. And I did everything they told
me to do. I read my Bible. I prayed. I did all these things.
Nobody hated me. They were commending me. They were saying, why don't you
come over here and tell our folks? You ever wonder about that? Nobody hated me. Nobody's upset
with me. I give my testimony and they
smile and pat me on the back. Oh, but when God called me out
of darkness, gave me faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I brought my gospel into my father's
house. Then I experienced persecution.
I began to learn something about the carnal mind being enmity
against God. My cousin pastored a little church,
and he invited me up to hold a revival for him. And I agreed
to it because I didn't know any better. And I got up there and
preached on Romans 9. Nobody said a word. Nobody shook
my hand. sat there and glared at me. The
next morning before daylight, I heard somebody outside the
trailer I lived in. I went over and looked out the
window. It was my cousin. He was walking
back and forth outside the open door. I said, won't you come
in and get you some coffee? No. He said, I need to talk to
you. I said, all right. So I put my
coat on, went out there and started talking. And I said, well, What's
going on? And he said, well, basically,
he said, they told me if you come back, I couldn't. I said,
well, what's your decision? He said, maybe you better not
come back. I started to learn something about persecution. But this persecution turned to
me for testimony. That was a testimony. This was an evident token of
their prediction. Was it not? That's what he says
here. The very fact that my father
and my mother and my sisters and my brothers not only disagreed
with me, they not only disagreed with what I said, but they treated
me like a heretic. Paul said, fight the good fight
of faith. There's a war going on. lay hold
on eternal life, whereunto thou art called, and hast professed
a good profession before many witnesses. He said, I give thee
charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before
Christ Jesus, now listen, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed
a good confession. What did he say? He didn't say anything. You remember Pilate? You got
nothing to say? Don't you know who I am? Yeah,
I know you. I got power to release you or
power to crucify you. No, you don't have any power
at all, except my father gave it to you. He didn't really say
much to Pilate, did he? He mostly just silent. Our Lord
silently suffered the persecutions of men, fulfilling both the will
and purpose of God in his death. And in doing so, he witnessed
a good confession. He witnessed a good confession.
What's your confession before this world? You love the gospel of Christ.
You love Christ. You love his people. Do you suffer? Do it silently. Just do it silently. It'll turn to you for a testimony.
You want to say something to your loved ones, don't you? Oh,
you said something that all their wisdom, it can't get to first
base with when you suffer silently for Christ's sake. It's what's settled in the heart
concerning Christ that enables His saints to confess Him before
the enemies of God. And though you're hated of all
men for His name's sake, He said not one hair of your head is
going to perish. What's the worst thing? What's
the worst thing, Larry? You go out here and you preach
the gospel and these men get upset and boy, what's the worst
thing that they could possibly do to you? Usher you right into
glory. Uh-huh. That's the worst thing
they could do. They got Stephen down. They wasn't
satisfied to throw them big rocks at him and crush his skull. They
couldn't stand what he was saying and ran on him and gnashed on
him with their teeth. And what did they see? The face
of an angel. That's what it says. He was sent
to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation. And he
ministered to the Apostle Paul even though he held the coats
of those who stoned him. You think he had a good testimony?
A good confession? Oh, my soul. May the Lord teach
us something of his sovereign grace and give us what we need
to testify to men. Ask it for Christ's sake.