Hebrews chapter 12. Let's dive right into the text. Verse 1 says, Wherefore, seeing
we are encompassed about, we also are encompassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses. Wherefore? And as we've stated so many times,
when you see a wherefore or a therefore, see what it's there for, and
the reason why it's there. Wherefore? Wherefore? See, and we also are encompassed
about with so great a cloud of witnessing. In chapter eleven,
we like to call chapter eleven the chapter of faith, that great
chapter of hall of faith, the hall of faith where God commends. Yes, God in his Word commends
so many people in this chapter for the very faith he gave. So great a cloud of witnesses,
witnesses to the truth of God, people who actually believed
God and laid down their lives for that faith, believed the
gospel. They didn't just say they did,
they believed. They didn't just believe in God,
they believed God. witnesses to the certainty of
what Christ said when he said persecution will come. These
people, they went through it. Look back at chapter 11, verse
34 through 38. Look at some of them. It says
that they quenched the violence of fire. And many people, women
and young people included, were literally, literally burned alive for believing this
gospel that we take for granted. Literally. Quench the violence of fire.
That means their bodies, you know, bodies full of water, and
water as the fire consumes their body, it quenches some of them. escape the edge of the sword. Some did not escape. Some were
thrust through. Out of weakness were made strong,
waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of alien.
Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured,
not accepting deliverance. Tortured that they might obtain
a better resurrection. had trial of cruel mockings and
scourgings. Some didn't live through the
whippings they took, bonds and imprisonments. Some died in prison
by abuse. They were stoned, that is, their
brains beaten out by rocks, people throwing rocks at them. They
were sawed asunder, literally cut in half. They were tempted
slain with a sword, wandered about in sheepskin and goatskin,
being destitute, afflicted, tormented, verse 38, of whom the world was
not worthy." This evil, our Lord calls it
evil, wicked, violent, God-hating world, despisers of those which
are good," Paul said to Timothy. This world was not, nor is worthy,
is not worthy now, of one believer, one true child of God. It's not
worthy of it. Our day, this world is not worthy
of one true believer. They're called the salt of the
earth, and they are. They are. And the world doesn't
recognize them as such. They didn't back then. They do
not recognize them as such. That's what John said in 1 John
3, 1. He said the world doesn't know
us because they didn't know him. They don't recognize a child
of God, and they'll do everything they can to disprove them as
such. They used to kill believers.
They used to literally actually kill them. That's the reason
our Lord said to his disciples, Don't fear them that kill the
body. They're going to. Don't fear them. And after that,
they can't do anything. They can't touch you. Oh, that's
your coronation. They kill you. Don't fear them
that kill the body. He said, Fear him. that cast
both body and soul into hell. Fear God. Don't fear man. They
kill you. They're going to send you to
glory. They used to do that. They used to kill people. Now
all they can do is kill your reputation, kill your character,
kill your name, kill your honor. That's all they can do. But it
says here in verse 1 of chapter 2, seeing them. You see that?
Where for? Seeing. That we are encompassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses. to the truth of God, the truth
of the gospel, the truth of persecution, to the truth of God's sustaining
grace. And it'll get you through it.
You say, I couldn't, I didn't know where I could go to the
stake. Well, if you were called on to
do it, God's grace is sufficient. I told you that story of that
one man who was a preacher of the gospel, and they were going
to burn him at the stake, and on the way to the stake, His
people, his members of his congregation were lined up weeping. He said,
don't weep. And he said, if I so much as
wince in those flames, don't believe a word I preach to you
up to this point. And those that saw him said,
he didn't wince. Stephen didn't either. Looked
steadfastly toward heaven while they were hitting him in the
head with rocks. And I see Him sitting at the right hand of
the majesty on my heart. Seeing then that we are encompassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us, all right? Look at it. Let us lay aside
every weight. You got problems? Cares? Oh, my. Seeing we are encompassed about
was so great a cloud of wind. They had cares, weighty troubles,
heavy burdens. You have anything that weighs
you down with fear and anxiety and depression? Those that were tortured and
in prisons, think about them, he says. Seeing we are encompassed
about. Let us lay aside every weight.
Lay it aside. Forget about it. Let us lay aside
every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us." Do
you see that? The sin which doth so easily
beset us. What is this sin? The sin. Scripture talks in many scriptures
about there is a sin unto death. The sin which doth so easily
beset. The sin against the Holy Spirit. What is it? It's one
thing. It's apostasy. And is that not
what so easily besets you? I quit. I'm leaving. I've had it. Isn't that it? It's the sin of unbelief. Number
one, Christ upbraided the disciples. Very few times did he upbraided
them. But he did one time. He upbraided them. Remember when
the ladies came back and told him he had arisen? told them
he had arisen and he appeared to them. He said, Oh, and he
abraded them. He said, Oh, ye of little faith
and slow to believe all that the prophets said. Sin we are encompassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses from Genesis to Malachi, from
Matthew to Revelation. So great a cloud of witnesses.
Sin of unbelief. Oh, me of little faith. Let me lay aside the weight I
think that's a weight. It's a light affliction. And the sin which does so easily,
I'm going to quit. Why? You get a little persecution.
Persecution? Persecution? I haven't yet resisted
unto blood striving at sin. Some did. The sin of apostasy. I quit. I'm going fishing. Oh, what's the use? Why go to
all this trouble? That easily besets us, doesn't
it? Let us lay aside that sin which does so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience. Read on. Let us run with patience. Patiently run the race that is
set before us. I never would have made a good
distance runner. I was pretty good in the sprint. pretty fast because I wouldn't
have made a good distance runner because I like to get where I'm
going and get there now. You see, I don't want to run
for hours. I don't want to do that. You've got to have patience to
run a distance race, don't you? Not a sprint. It's over. It's
done. Well, this race of life he's
talking about. This race of life, a course.
Paul said, I've fought a good fight. I've kept the course. I've finished the race. The race
of life. Life goes on. This race of life,
this course that you have. What is this course you have?
It's the course of God. What you have? He gave you life. There's a purpose for it. There's
a direction you're headed. There's things to be done. Put your hand to the plow, don't
look back. Look right on. Run the race. Don't quit. I quit. Who said
you could quit? You'll quit when God says it's
over. Right? And aren't we all prone to do
that? I just quit. God didn't say your time was
over. As soon as He does, it will be. You won't have to quit.
So quit yourself like men. Don't quit. Real men don't quit. Real women. Sin of apostasy, sin of unbelief.
Run with patience. How do you run with patience?
Run with patience. Patience is that one thing that
every believer needs, probably as much or more than anything
else. You know, patience is just another word for waiting on God. You know what it means to wait
on God? Same thing as the word patience. What is the most immature quality
or the sign of immaturity in children? The thing which children
possess the most is the sign of their immaturity. Impatience,
right? Your kids, when you go on a trip.
How many times? Do they ask you, how much longer? Are we there yet? We'll get down
about 20 minutes down the road and they'll say, are we there
yet? You know, we're going to Florida,
14 hours. Are we there yet? Is it close? Honey, it's not
even close. So just go to sleep, just rest.
If you rest, if you go to sleep and rest, we'll be there. spiritual lesson for us, isn't
it? We'll just rest, wait on the Lord. The Lord said, Jehovah,
I'll see to it. Wait. Waiting on, and what it
means to wait on the Lord and run with patience. The race,
the life God has given you, run, waiting on the Lord. What that
means is, wait and see the outcome before you quit. Wait and see
the outcome. Something happens in the race,
you know. You stumble, and Kevin, I'm picking
on you. He's a distance runner. If you're
running along, all of a sudden you stumble and fall, and you
say, I'll just quit. No, not if you want to finish
the race. Don't quit. Wait on the outcome. Wait on
the outcome. Come. God's daily providence. There's this old saying that
says the wheels of God's providence move very slowly. Have you ever
been in a hurry for something and looked at your clock over
and over again? You know, if you look at it right
now, you look at the second hand and you think, one, two, three. Boy, it's so slow. Boy, I'll be glad when this is
over. And you keep looking. Two minutes
haven't gone by. Come on. But if you just Walking
right on, you look, where'd the time go? Right? Wait on the outcome. God's daily providence. See what
the result says. Don't quit. Don't stop. He says,
"...these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceedingly weight of eternal glory." They're
going to tell us in heaven somebody's going to come up to us and say,
oh, what great trial you went through. Trial? You're going
to say, what? I didn't, I didn't do anything. What long, agonizing things you
went through. What? Not too, just a moment,
in light of God's providence and this way of eternal glory. Lay aside that weight which does
so easily beset you, all those cares and anxiety. How do you
lay them aside? I'll tell you how you lay them
aside. You lay them on him. You cast all those cares on him.
You say, cast your care on me. He cares for you. Why carry something
when somebody says, I'll carry it? Huh? I remember doing that. My daughter doing that as a young
child, you know, she wanted to carry some. I said, you sure
you can carry it? Oh, yeah, I can carry it. You sure about that? I know she can't. You might carry
it five steps, but she'll quit. And I offered at the very start,
I said, honey, I'll carry it for you. I'll carry it for you. No, I can get it. All right. And that's what the Lord does
to His people. Cash you carry on, I'll carry it. Are you sure? Can you drink the cup that I've
drunk? Oh, yeah, Lord, we can drink
it. Well, we'll go right on then. And we stumble and put it too
heavy. Yes, I told you. Cast it on me. Here. Cast all your care on him. He
careth for you. And the weight's lifted, right? The weight's lifted. Weight on
the Lord. That's what it means, the weight on the Lord. Wait
on the outcome of God's daily providence, which moves slow,
but it's moving. How is it moving? Moving in the
direction of conforming you to Christ and getting you to Him.
Moving slow, but it's moving. He's working. He's moving. Oh, my patience. We need that,
don't we? We want to act on everything. We want to quit about everything.
Our example in patience, look at verse 2, this is it, looking
unto him, looking unto Jesus, the author. He's the one that
authored this whole thing. He wrote the book. Your name
is written in the book of life, but you know, all of those things,
the book of remembrance. about you. Every aspect, every
moment, every second of your life was written in a book of
divine providence before he was ever on the scene. As they say,
before he was a glint in your daddy's eye. Before he was a
glint in your daddy's eye, you were a glorious love in the heart of
God Almighty. And he wrote a book about you,
and in it is everything concerning you. ordered in all things insure." And you can't pass those bounds?
Believe me, you don't want to. He worketh all things together,
slowly as they may be, slowly. Have patience. Let's be mature
enough and wait on the Lord. Let's just wait and see. I remember
my dad saying that all the time. Wait, just wait and see. Just
wait. Just wait. Looking unto him. If you do get down, you get troubled,
and this weight comes on you, and the sin so easily besets
you, you feel like, look unto him. Look to him. Look not to
the right. That's what Proverbs 4 says.
Look not to the right, to the left. Look straight on. Let your eyes look straight on.
Once again, if you're running a race, what kind of progress
would you make if you're just looking around? You'll stumble and fall, won't
you? Oh, look at that. Get sidetracked. If you're pursuing
Christ, the knowledge of Him, to be with Him, don't get sidetracked
so easily. Run this phrase. Let your eyes
look straight on, straight to Christ. There's nothing else
worth looking at anyway. Look at everything in light of Him.
Look at everything as it relates to Him. Enjoy it, but just momentarily. Keep looking to Him. Don't turn
to the right, don't turn to the left. Let your feet straight
on. Be straight on. Ponder your path.
Walk toward Him. Look on Him. Don't look back
either. He said, forget those things. Well, look how far I've
come. Don't do that. You've got a little ways to go
yet, right? You haven't arrived yet. Don't
look at your past. Paul said, forget any of those
things with your past. Press on forward. Look ahead. Forget that old whatever. Forget your past sins. Forget
your past profession of faith. Forget that. Forget that. Look straight on. Don't look
down. Oh, my shoe's untied. Don't look down. Don't look within.
My britches are sloppy. Or look within. Oh, I'm such
a sinner. No, he said, look on. Look straight
on. Look straight on. No runner I
know yet who's quit a race because he thought he smelled bad. Oh, I'm sweating. I'm dirty.
I'm going to quit. Get a shower. Head for that finish line. There's
a shower awaiting you. The author of our faith and the
finisher. He's the one that wrote the book on you, and he's the
one that finished it. He's the one that finished our
faith. He's the one that lived our faith. He's the one that
established righteousness. He's the one that put away our
sin. He's the one. He's the one. Yes, there's one, only one. He's
the one, the author and the finisher of our faith. He that hath begun
a good work and he that hath finished it. He's the one. Look
to him. Look to him. Who? Look at him
now. He's our example, too. He's the
object of our faith. He's the example of our faith.
Look unto him who for the joy that was set before him endured.
What did he endure? Oh, how we like to talk about
what we have to endure, don't we? Look to Him who endured. Look
what He endured. What was the joy that was set
before Him? To do His Father's will, to glorify
God, to make you His people. It pleased Him to make you His
people. Look what He endured. Look at
it. It says He endured the cross. the most, the cruelest form of
punishment known to man is crucifixion. He endured it, it's said. And
he didn't just merely endure it. I mean, he just didn't merely... It's not like he didn't have
to, and so he put up... I mean, it's not like he had
to. So He endured it like us. You know, things come on us,
and we have to endure them, don't we? We have to. Nothing we can
do about it. We must endure them. He didn't
have to endure the cross. He voluntarily did it. Now, think
about that, if we're prone to quit. He didn't have to, but He endured. And it says He endured the cross,
despising the shame. Despising the shame means He
didn't think anything about it. And there's nothing a human being
would rather do without than shame. There's nothing which
gives us more, brings us down more than anything else than
shame. You don't want to be put to shame. Don't embarrass me.
It says that Christ wasn't embarrassed to hang naked, to be lied on,
spit on, hang naked before the world so
he didn't think anything about it. Why? He was doing something
that gave him great joy. And I'm going to quit. He did
this for me. And he did this for you, Barbara.
You're going to quit him when he went through that? You see
that? See what he's saying there? He
went through that. For you, it would be like me laying down
my life for my daughter and her being ashamed to be seen in the
car with me or something. Are you ungrateful? Are you going
to be ashamed of me for something as small as that? And it says he endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself. Do you see that? Contradiction
of sinners against himself. Turn over to Matthew 5 with me.
Matthew chapter 5. Turn over there quickly. I'm running out of time. Contradictions of sinners against
himself. Have you ever been wrongfully
accused or maligned or slandered or hated by somebody? Hated without
a cause, have you? Yeah, I believe you have. I believe everybody has to some
degree. I mean, lied on, slandered, hated without a cause. But our
Lord said His disciples would be the special targets of this.
Look at Matthew 5, targets of this world's slander and hatred. Look at Matthew 5, verse 10.
He says, "...Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness'
sake. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you,
and say all manner of evil against you falsely, or lying on you
for my sake. Rejoice, be exceeding glad."
That's how they persecuted the prophets. Revile you and persecute
you. Oh, how they reviled the Lord. Isn't that what, I believe it
was Paul said when he was reviled He reviled not again. He reviled,
oh, how they talk bad-mouthed. Have you ever been bad-mouthed,
Stan? No matter how bad-mouthed you are, oh, what about the Lord? You know, we might deserve a
little bit of that. Like Spurgeon said, if somebody
talks bad about you, you better be glad they don't tell the whole
story. Right? Well, they talk bad about
you, and all of it was lies. Oh, well, they reviled him, as
Scripture says. He reviled not again, but committed
himself to him who judges righteously. He reviled not again. They said,
You're mad. What they meant was, You're insane.
You're crazy, man. He's the only one that wasn't
insane. Right? He's the only one that wasn't.
Everybody else was. He wasn't the only one in his
right mind. And they said, You're crazy. Well, if you went into an insane
asylum stand, everybody's laughing at you. Look at that crazy man. You'd say, you're the one crazy
here, not me. Well, they said that about him.
They said, you have a devil. Remember that? You're full of
the devil. They called him a son of a bitch. Didn't he? A bastard. They said,
you were all together born in sin. You don't have a father. They said, you're a bastard. He had a father. Isn't that gracious? What they said about him. And
he didn't answer them back. Oh, how they slandered him and
lied on him. They drummed up false witnesses
in Scripture 6. They paid them false witnesses. Turn over to Matthew 10, Matthew
chapter 10. Paid these people, paid slanderers,
to come and make up lies and rumors on him and tell all manner
of things against him and say, didn't answer back. Didn't answer
back. Did not defend himself. That's for sure. He said this. Now, look what
he said to us. Look what he says to us. First,
Matthew 10. He says, verse 16 and 17, he
said, Now, behold, I will send you forth as sheep in the midst
of wolves. Be wise as serpents now, harmless
as doves. Beware of men, now beware of
them. Beware of them. This world is a dog-eat-dog place. That's the way they refer to
it, isn't it? Dog-eat-dog. Beware of dogs. They'll devour you. Beware of
men. He said, Watch out. And I'm telling
you, in the same sense, watch out who you confide in. Watch
out who you I think is your friend. Watch out what you say. Watch
out what you do. Watch out where you go. Watch
out. They're watching you. They're
waiting to catch you. David said, they've laid a net
for my feet. A snare. There's nothing they'd
like more. Henry, there's nothing somebody'd
like more than to see you quit. Right? Oh, we better look to Christ,
didn't we? We better cast our care on Him.
They're watching you. Scripture says, "...all that
will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." People,
a believer's not perfect. And he will fall. She will fall. Yet the difference in a believer
and the worldling is, a believer's going to get up. will fall in
sin. A believer's not perfect, they're
going to fall in sin. Yet, but the scripture says,
though a righteous man falleth seven times. And that's just
a number for an infinite number. Yet he'll rise again. He's not
going to stay wallowing in it. A believer's not perfect, yet he
will not live in sin. He'll fall in it, but he won't
live in it. And here's the root for all this enmity. And I'm
going to deal with this a great deal tonight. The root of all
this enmity—look at Matthew 10, verse 22. Look over there. It
says, You shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. Joe, he didn't say, You might.
He didn't say, You might not have to go through this. He said,
You will. The disciple's not above his
master, nor the servant above his Lord. It's enough for the
disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord.
If they called the master of the house a devil, what are they
going to call you? You see, people, here's the root
of it. The world hates the God of the Bible. They just do. They hate the God of the Bible.
They hate this gospel of sovereign grace. They hate it with a passion. But they can't disprove it. Certainly
not from the Scriptures. So what are they going to do?
Disprove you. If they can disprove you, You know, the one that they tried
to disprove the most was who? Who did they try to bring down?
If they could bring him down, they'd bring the whole thing
down. Who? Christ! Well, he stood, didn't he? Oh,
when the whole onslaught of the universe came against him, he
stood there. Anybody else? Somebody laid another charge
to me, I'll disprove it. Heaven, earth, and hell, devils,
men. I said, Which of you convinces
me of sin? Because he stands, I'm going
to stand. He said, Not because I fall,
he'll fall. No. I stand because he stands. I
stand because he stands." The one they tried to disprove the
most was Christ. And Christ said, now they're
going to try to do it to you. They can't disprove it from the
Scriptures. They can't deny it. So what they're going to try
to do is catch you. And if they can disprove you,
Deborah, if they can bring you down, then they think that disproves
everything you believed. And next to Christ, the ones
they assaulted the most were who? The apostles, ministers
of the gospel. I remember years ago, Brother
Don Fortner saying this to me before I'd ever started preaching
or anything. He said, those whom God greatly
uses, Satan will oppose the most. And they said lies and slanders
on the prophets. on the apostles on the. Martyrs on the. The reformers everyone. Everyone. And I'm sure you've
heard some only. Had a fellow call me. Yesterday day before yesterday. And he proceeded to call me every
name in the book and falsely accused me. We've got a lady in here who
works with some other people who jokingly call me Jim Jones. You know what that means about
you, doesn't it? I mean, you're a bunch of ignorant man followers,
too. This man called me every name
in the book. Did it hurt? Does it hurt when you hear somebody
say that? You're trying to be... In a generation when there ain't
nothing left of Jim Jones's out there. You're trying. Does it hurt? Wouldn't be human if it didn't
hurt. What hurts the most is some people believe it. You heard from your family member
growing up that they said some things to me concerning my father.
You know, little children, they said all manner of things, made
up all kinds of rumors about my daddy. That hurts. And you think that
other people might believe it. Offended? Was I offended? So only by the grace of God he
wouldn't stand in my face. Untrue? Everything he said was
an out-and-out lie. I couldn't believe it. He said,
I've heard some things on you. I've heard this and that. I couldn't
believe it. I said, what? Consider him. who endured such
contradiction of sound. You know, this message, I wouldn't
have considered him if that hadn't happened. Make me mad? Oh. Offend me? Oh. I couldn't. I was starting to work on something
else, and I could not get my thoughts back. I could not get
control of myself. I started reading the Scripture.
Lord, you've got to speak to me. And my eyes lit right on
this wreck. Considered him. who endeared
such contradiction of centers against himself, lest you be
weary." And I thought, what's the use? I did, that came, why
am I doing it? Why not just join the crowd?
Nobody will hate you that way. And you go through the same thing.
Every one of you are going through the same thing. All, not just
the preacher, all. Go through the same thing. Barbara,
they're talking about you behind your back. To your face, she said. Hurts,
doesn't it? Consider him. Endured such contradictions. None of it was so. None of it. Look over at 1 Peter, and I'll
quit with this, all right? 1 Peter chapter 2. And you know, like we read this
more perfect love cast out fear. I don't have to. I don't have
to fear. John Baker's fallen for any of
that stuff. I just don't. Why? John loves
me. He loves me. I know that. And if he goes out from us, it's
because he was not of us. If he had been of us, he, no
doubt, would have remained with us. If he loves me, he will, no doubt,
continue to love me. Right? Look at 1 Peter 2, and I'll quit
with these thoughts here. It says, 1 Peter 2, verse 19,
he says, now, this is thankworthy of a man for conscience toward
God. Or that is, a man is just trying
to do what God says, just trying to preach what the Bible says,
just believing God in opposite—who cares what other
people say and think? Just trying, just believing God,
saying, you just believe God, and these people think you're
nuts. If a man for conscience toward
God, for the glory of God, endured grief, suffering wrongfully,
oh, that's thankworthy. And that's what he's—that's what,
when God's going to say to Albany, well done, now, good and faithful
servant, that's just what Jesus Christ did. What glory is it, though, if
you be buffeted for your faults? Now, if we fly off a handle,
if I'd have flew off a handle and cursed that fellow back,
Boy, he had some ammunition, went, see? Oh, the grace of God, it's real,
Rick, it's real. Sovereign, restraining grace
is real. It's real. Now, don't, you know, when you
do well and suffer for it and take it patiently, this is acceptable
with God. Verse 21, I want you to look
at this. Are you looking? Even here unto where you called. Because Christ also suffered
us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.
Here it is. He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth,
but when he was reviled, he didn't revile again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. He committed himself to him that judges righteously. God said, Vengeance is mine. I will repay. And you know, in light of those
scriptures, I think I keep waiting on fire to fall. Don't you? I do. It wouldn't surprise me a
bit. I've seen it. Other men don't
see it. Righteous perish, and no man
takes it to heart. And the unrighteous are condemned
and judged and perish, and men don't take that to heart either.
I've seen it. I've seen it as clearly as a
bell. God's judgment on men that touch
his anointed. There were five men. I've told you about this before.
There were five men. Ganging up on the men that we
know and love and hold in such high esteem, gospel preachers,
name them all. Maurice Montgomery, Henry Mahan,
Todd Nyberg, just name them all. Don Fortner, ganging up on them,
saying they weren't preaching to grace preachers, so to speak.
Every one of them are out of the ministry. Divorced their wives, left town
in shame. Vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord. Don't take matters into your
own hand. Believer, don't take matters
into your hand. Don't fight that man who's reviling
you. Don't do it. Don't talk back
to him. Talk to your God about it. Talk
to your God about it. You know, the scripture says,
Woe is unto you, men speak well of. That's always troubled me,
that verse of Scripture, isn't it? Because I want to get along,
don't you? I don't want to be like one of
these pious... You know, Rick, we go to great
extents to try not to appear to be religious, because nobody
hates religious people, or nobody likes religious people. And I
want to get along. I want to be one of the guys It doesn't matter. You can't. You just can't. You can't be. Scripture says, listen to this,
if you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you're not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore The
world hates you. So he says, rejoice and be glad. Why? Oh, but everybody hates
me. I'm the only one that doesn't.
The only one that matters. We're the only ones that should
say smile. God loves me. How do you know? Everybody else hates me. Huh? Now, I ain't no Jim—you
know, Jim Jones probably may have preached along these lines.
Jim Baker, when he was put in jail, he said he was suffering
persecution for the gospel's sake. He suffered persecution
because he's a crook! Because he took people's money! Here's the difference. Christ
said, if you be persecuted for my name's sake—not because you're
Wickedness, but they're my namesake. And if a man or woman can ascertain
that, they hate me. I don't understand why they hate
me. They hate me without a cause. No, there's a cause. They hate
your blood. And they can't get their hands
on Him, so they've got to bring Him down. Right? But I'm not worried. Are you? Joe if you picked out a song
anything come to mind. Two fifty two. Two hundred fifty two. Yep that's a good one. I've seen
that any time. Two hundred fifty two. You come
out tonight and hear tonight's message.