General Session 5: Triumph through Persecution - Phil Johnson
00:00:00.000 | Well, I love the theme of this year's conference, "Truth Triumphs," which of course, that is
00:00:09.360 | the victorious end note of biblical eschatology.
00:00:14.720 | Truth will defeat every lie and every false ideology.
00:00:19.480 | Christ wins, righteousness prevails, evil is defeated forever, virtue is eternally vindicated,
00:00:29.260 | and Christ is enthroned as Lord of all, and God is endlessly glorified.
00:00:35.360 | And no matter what eschatological scheme you favor, if you are a true believer, you affirm
00:00:41.280 | that much.
00:00:42.880 | Christ, who is the truth and the life, will be absolutely victorious in the end.
00:00:50.480 | Evil will never again trouble God's creation.
00:00:54.440 | The devil will be consigned to eternal punishment.
00:00:59.920 | Truth triumphs, Christ guarantees it.
00:01:02.760 | And one of the great truths of the New Testament is that no matter what trial or hardship you
00:01:09.200 | might be facing right now, if you are in Christ, you are already a participant in His triumph.
00:01:17.320 | If you simply see things from heaven's perspective, you can always rejoice in that triumph.
00:01:23.960 | In fact, here's an example for you, and full disclosure, they assigned me a passage from
00:01:30.080 | 1 Peter 4, and I'm going to get there.
00:01:36.880 | But I want to introduce this whole concept with a passage from the Apostle Paul.
00:01:41.840 | In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul is dealing with some of the most difficult trials any church leader
00:01:48.880 | could ever face.
00:01:49.880 | He's writing to a church that he founded, but they were on the precipice of apostasy.
00:01:56.000 | They had fallen under the influence of false apostles.
00:01:59.380 | They had been too tolerant of sin in their midst.
00:02:02.640 | They had apparently also botched a church discipline case, because Paul has to remind
00:02:08.300 | them in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 8 to reaffirm their love for this sorrowful but apparently
00:02:15.720 | repentant brother, and he's so troubled by the state of things in the Corinthian church
00:02:21.400 | that, according to verses 12 and 13, even though the door was wide open for him to do
00:02:28.100 | gospel ministry in Troas, Paul says, "I had no rest in my spirit."
00:02:34.440 | He had, you know, hoped to meet Titus in Troas, because according to 2 Corinthians 7, Titus
00:02:41.720 | had been in Corinth, and Paul wanted to know the state of the church in Corinth, and so
00:02:46.060 | Paul says, "Not finding Titus, my brother, I went to Macedonia."
00:02:50.760 | Now, follow this, he is explaining to the Corinthian church how deeply troubled he was
00:02:59.720 | about the spiritual state of things in their church, and when he picks up the account again
00:03:04.280 | in 2 Corinthians 7 verse 5, he says, "Even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had
00:03:10.620 | no rest, but we were afflicted on every side, conflicts without, fears within."
00:03:18.480 | He's describing an unbearable bodily fatigue, "Our flesh had no rest."
00:03:24.160 | John Gill says it this way, "Paul was continually fatigued with preaching and disputing and
00:03:29.620 | fighting, what with false teachers and violent persecutors.
00:03:34.680 | Afflicted on every side," Paul says, "external disputing with the enemies of the truth, and
00:03:41.520 | internal unrest because of his deep concern for the spiritual dangers the Corinthians
00:03:47.280 | had let into their assembly," and so he was afflicted on every side.
00:03:52.280 | Every kind of adversity was assaulting him from every possible angle, but he was not
00:03:58.880 | in a state of despair.
00:04:01.140 | In chapter 4 verses 8 through 10, he describes it this way, he says, "We are in every way
00:04:06.500 | afflicted but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck
00:04:15.820 | down but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the
00:04:21.620 | life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."
00:04:27.100 | Paul's triumph, giving new life and energy to overcome the bodily weariness of an afflicted
00:04:34.540 | soul, and back in chapter 2 after describing his soul's unrest when Titus wasn't in Troas
00:04:41.780 | and Paul had to go to Macedonia to make sure he could intersect with Titus, Paul interrupts
00:04:47.260 | himself at that point.
00:04:48.740 | He won't come back and finish the story until chapter 7, but notice he interrupts his description
00:04:55.440 | of his own misery with this jubilant declaration, 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14, "But thanks be to
00:05:04.540 | God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ."
00:05:10.580 | Or if you, like me, memorize the King James, "Thanks be unto God who always causeth us
00:05:16.540 | to triumph in Christ."
00:05:19.480 | And one thing you've undoubtedly noticed about the Apostle Paul, every time he ever mentions
00:05:25.080 | his trials, troubles on every side, conflicts without, fears within, he always punctuates
00:05:32.660 | the mention of his adversity with this powerful proclamation of triumph.
00:05:39.880 | Here in 2 Corinthians 2, "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession
00:05:45.060 | in Christ."
00:05:46.300 | In chapter 4, afflicted but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing.
00:05:52.100 | Even in chapter 7, immediately before, he says in verse 5, "We were afflicted on every
00:05:58.020 | side, conflicts without, fears within," just before that he says, verse 4, "As emphatically
00:06:03.760 | as possible, I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction."
00:06:10.360 | And that's how Christians are supposed to live, always carrying about in the body the
00:06:15.820 | dying of Jesus so that the life and the triumph of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.
00:06:24.680 | And for the Christian, there is this perpetual triumph, even in affliction and persecution,
00:06:32.280 | triumph through persecution.
00:06:35.380 | That's actually the theme of the passage they've assigned me this year, 1 Peter 4, verses 12
00:06:40.640 | through 19.
00:06:43.000 | So turn there with me.
00:06:44.480 | While you're turning, I'll read the passage from the Legacy Standard Bible.
00:06:48.800 | "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial among you which comes upon you for your
00:06:54.760 | testing as though some strange thing were happening to you.
00:06:59.700 | But to the degree you are sharing the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that at the
00:07:05.940 | revelation of his glory, you may rejoice with exultation.
00:07:09.960 | If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory
00:07:14.840 | and of God rests on you.
00:07:17.620 | Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or a troublesome
00:07:23.760 | meddler.
00:07:24.880 | But if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be put to shame but is to glorify God
00:07:31.480 | in this name.
00:07:33.200 | For it is time for judgment to begin with the house of God.
00:07:36.940 | And if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the
00:07:42.480 | gospel of God?
00:07:44.520 | And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless
00:07:49.940 | man and the sinner?
00:07:51.800 | Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God must entrust their souls
00:07:57.880 | to a faithful creator in doing good."
00:08:03.000 | Eight verses, and notice every one of them mentions afflictions of some kind.
00:08:08.240 | This passage is full of words that evoke the idea of human suffering.
00:08:14.840 | Four times in the English versions, you have some variant of the word "suffering."
00:08:19.840 | And he also mentions testing, trials, insults, difficulty, and judgment.
00:08:26.320 | But the word he doesn't use is "persecution."
00:08:31.240 | And yet, it's obvious from the context that the main kind of suffering he's talking about
00:08:37.560 | here is persecution, suffering for righteousness' sake, bearing insults and attacks, verse 16.
00:08:46.080 | Suffering as a Christian.
00:08:48.600 | And it's a theme that runs through the entire epistle of 1 Peter, and our passage is actually
00:08:54.760 | the pinnacle of that theme in 1 Peter.
00:08:57.920 | Peter's writing to people who are living in exile, chapter 1, verse 1, "To those who reside
00:09:04.320 | as exiles scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia."
00:09:11.240 | So these are Christians whose lives have been interrupted.
00:09:14.880 | They've been dispossessed of their homes and their livelihoods.
00:09:18.960 | They've been driven by the threat of persecution to the outer edge of the Roman Empire.
00:09:24.960 | And in fact, those five districts, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, that
00:09:30.080 | covers virtually all of Asia Minor, that's the Turkish peninsula.
00:09:36.160 | And by the way, that's a large land mass.
00:09:41.040 | These people are truly scattered.
00:09:43.480 | Asia Minor is twice the size of California.
00:09:46.960 | So they're all over the place.
00:09:48.680 | And furthermore, this is a part of the Roman world that we would normally associate with
00:09:54.160 | Paul's ministry.
00:09:56.360 | And it appears Peter is writing here to a predominantly Jewish group of believers.
00:10:02.520 | They're not really a group because they're scattered like this.
00:10:05.160 | He is, after all, the apostle to the Jews.
00:10:09.080 | And so these are Jewish exiles.
00:10:12.760 | Circumstances have forced them to flee to a predominantly Gentile region of the Roman
00:10:18.520 | Empire, and so they reside as exiles scattered.
00:10:23.040 | And he uses the word "scattered" in the Greek.
00:10:26.280 | It's diaspora, which even in the first century was an expression that was used distinctively
00:10:32.960 | to speak of Jews who had been forced into exile away from their homeland.
00:10:38.680 | So these people had most likely been driven away from Judea and Galilee because of a massive
00:10:44.260 | wave of government-sanctioned persecution against Christians under the Emperor Nero.
00:10:53.080 | Most New Testament scholars date 1 Peter around the second half of A.D. 64 or sometime in
00:10:59.680 | the year 65, and this was a particularly volatile time.
00:11:04.200 | On July 18th of the year 64, a catastrophic fire had started in Rome's Circus Maximus,
00:11:13.080 | the chariot stadium there.
00:11:16.680 | And by the time the last flames of that conflagration were extinguished, nine days later, more than
00:11:24.880 | 70 percent of the city of Rome had been reduced to ashes.
00:11:29.280 | It was one of the worst urban conflagrations in human history.
00:11:34.620 | And historians say that the fire was deliberately started by the Emperor Nero to make way for
00:11:41.280 | an urban renewal project, and the fire got out of hand.
00:11:45.880 | Tacitus, who was a first-century Roman historian whose life overlapped Nero, wrote in his history
00:11:53.960 | book Annals that in order to deflect the public wrath away from himself, Nero blamed Christians
00:12:02.160 | for starting the fire.
00:12:04.880 | Roman Gentiles generally held all of the Jewish people in contempt.
00:12:09.860 | There had been tension between Rome and Judea going back before the time of Christ's birth.
00:12:16.800 | And Rome, in fact, at this time was already gathering its military might for a campaign
00:12:22.560 | that ultimately would result in the total destruction of the city of Jerusalem.
00:12:27.260 | In fact, less than six years after the great fire of Rome, Titus Vespasian would reduce
00:12:34.000 | the temple in Jerusalem to rubble; it's never been rebuilt to this day.
00:12:40.200 | The Roman army pillaged everything that had any value in Jerusalem and left the entire
00:12:46.080 | city just a pile of smoldering ruins.
00:12:49.940 | So anti-Semitism was a strong undercurrent in pagan Roman society, and because the earliest
00:12:58.120 | Christians were all Jewish, Rome had always been a place where hostility to the Christians,
00:13:06.240 | in particular, festered just under the surface.
00:13:09.880 | And Roman officials, you know, regarded the Christians as secretive, dangerous kind of
00:13:15.760 | misfits and even criminals.
00:13:19.320 | Justin Martyr records that when the people of Rome overheard Christians talking about
00:13:25.440 | the Lord's Table, many of them concluded that the Christians were practicing cannibalism.
00:13:32.400 | Christians were typically regarded as atheists because they refused to worship the pantheon
00:13:39.080 | of Roman gods and they were also accused of incest because they called one another brother
00:13:45.640 | and sister and spoke of being united together in one body and the depraved pagan ears interpreted
00:13:52.960 | all of that in the most sinister possible way.
00:13:56.720 | So there was this comparatively tiny community of believers in Rome, but Roman officials
00:14:02.400 | regarded them as a sort of dangerous, fringe sect of Jewish extremists.
00:14:09.280 | So Nero's lie intensified the public's contempt for Christianity, and the whole catalog of
00:14:15.760 | lies and false speculations about Christians circulated, starting in Rome but went throughout
00:14:21.600 | the whole Roman Empire, first as rumors, then as urban myths, and finally these false tales
00:14:29.480 | became the dominant narrative about Christianity.
00:14:32.520 | And that's why Christians in first-century Rome were typically looked upon with deep
00:14:38.120 | distrust and dislike because most of the pagan public literally regarded Christians as criminals.
00:14:47.200 | And all of this made Christians an easy scapegoat when Nero needed one to explain the Great
00:14:54.400 | Fire, and under his authority, Roman officials began to sanction and participate in the harshest
00:15:01.800 | forms of persecution against Christians.
00:15:06.320 | Tacitus, who lived in that era, is the secular historian who recorded that Nero would bind
00:15:13.880 | Christians in thick wrappings of sackcloth and then tie them to poles, coat them with
00:15:20.720 | tar and oil, and set them ablaze, and he used them like candles to light his garden parties.
00:15:29.120 | He also crucified believers.
00:15:31.440 | Peter was ultimately one of Nero's victims, probably not very long after Peter wrote this
00:15:37.600 | epistle.
00:15:39.240 | Nero also put Christians in the gladiatorial arenas to be eaten by wild animals for the
00:15:44.920 | entertainment of crowds.
00:15:47.080 | And so the cruelty that was suffered by these saints is unimaginable to us.
00:15:53.160 | The level of persecution where, you know, people were actually being burned alive and
00:15:58.360 | eaten by animals, that was confined mainly to Rome and the surrounding region.
00:16:03.240 | But meanwhile, this notion that Christians are criminals actually reached to the outer
00:16:09.600 | edge of the empire, and in fact, that is precisely what was happening when members of that first
00:16:15.800 | generation of Christians in Jerusalem began to emigrate to Asia Minor.
00:16:22.680 | These were the exiles that Peter is addressing his epistle to.
00:16:26.480 | And even in Asia Minor, believers were not allowed to live and worship in peace.
00:16:33.720 | These beleaguered saints fleeing the threat of persecution in their homeland would face
00:16:40.000 | several more decades of persecution in Pontus and Galatia and Cappadocia and Bithynia.
00:16:47.320 | In fact, some 45 years after Peter wrote this epistle, the governor of Bithynia and Pontus
00:16:54.480 | was Pliny the Younger.
00:16:57.920 | People whom Peter wrote this epistle to were no doubt still alive and still in permanent
00:17:04.080 | exile in Pontus and Bithynia.
00:17:06.680 | And their governor, Pliny, wrote a letter to Trajan, who was the first Roman emperor
00:17:12.960 | of the second century, and Pliny asked Trajan for advice on how do we deal with these Christians.
00:17:21.120 | And it's clear from the questions he asked that Christians were regarded as outlaws.
00:17:27.720 | Pliny doesn't charge them with any specific crimes.
00:17:31.480 | It's evident that he believed just bearing the name Christian, affirming that Christ
00:17:37.480 | is Lord, that was crime enough.
00:17:40.880 | And that is the environment in which these exiled saints were living.
00:17:45.520 | That's the main reason why suffering is the theme that dominates not just our passage
00:17:51.240 | but the whole epistle.
00:17:53.320 | Peter mentions suffering in every chapter of this epistle, starting in chapter 1 verse
00:17:58.160 | 6 where he says, "Now for a little while you've been grieved by various trials."
00:18:03.840 | As you read the epistle, you realize that's an understatement, grieved by various trials.
00:18:10.320 | They were living under the worst kind of persecution.
00:18:13.840 | And Peter is empathetic.
00:18:15.840 | Peter knows that he himself will die as a martyr.
00:18:21.240 | Enemies of the gospel will take away his liberty and then end his life.
00:18:26.120 | And he knows this because Jesus told him in John 21 verses 18 and 19.
00:18:31.800 | Immediately after he commissioned Peter with the words, "Tend My sheep," Jesus said to
00:18:37.920 | Peter, "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and
00:18:42.840 | walk wherever you wished, but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone
00:18:48.320 | else will gird you and bring you to where you do not wish to go."
00:18:52.840 | And the Apostle John, commenting on that, adds this, "This he said signifying by what
00:18:59.320 | kind of death he would glorify God."
00:19:03.120 | So Peter knew that martyrdom and persecution were in his future.
00:19:07.800 | Living under vicious persecution is a subject that Peter no doubt thought a lot about.
00:19:14.120 | He's the perfect pastor to compose this epistle to encourage these suffering saints in exile.
00:19:21.320 | And he brings the subject up at the very start of the epistle, but it remains his central
00:19:26.960 | theme really until his closing words when he writes at the end of the epistle, "Resist
00:19:32.960 | the devil, firm in the faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being
00:19:37.720 | accomplished among your brethren who are in the world."
00:19:41.240 | In other words, you're not alone.
00:19:43.560 | "And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you
00:19:49.480 | to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore and strengthen and confirm and ground
00:19:56.680 | you to him be might forever and ever.
00:19:59.480 | Amen."
00:20:00.480 | It's a great benediction.
00:20:02.320 | And notice, he's basically taken the theme I've been assigned, triumph in persecution.
00:20:09.140 | And that closing benediction then summarizes all of his main points throughout the epistle,
00:20:16.120 | really.
00:20:17.120 | One, that suffering is the common experience of those who are truly saved.
00:20:23.280 | Number two, that the pathway to glory is strewn with suffering.
00:20:28.120 | But for believers, all of our suffering will give way to eternal glory.
00:20:33.840 | And point three, our suffering is just for a little while in comparison with eternity.
00:20:39.520 | It never seems like a short thing, but it really is just a little while in comparison
00:20:45.260 | with eternity.
00:20:46.720 | It's not even a nanosecond.
00:20:48.880 | In the words of the Apostle Paul, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are
00:20:53.480 | not worthy to be compared with the glory that's about to be revealed to us."
00:20:59.840 | Now notice, those three themes that I just named, those are standard Pauline themes as
00:21:04.840 | well.
00:21:05.840 | One, suffering in this life is the common experience of all believers.
00:21:11.480 | Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12, "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will
00:21:17.680 | be persecuted."
00:21:20.240 | Number two, our suffering prepares us for glory.
00:21:24.320 | Romans 8:17, Paul says, "We suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."
00:21:30.380 | And three, the hardships of this life are really nothing in comparison with heaven's
00:21:36.400 | glory.
00:21:39.160 | Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17, "Our momentary light affliction is working out for us an
00:21:46.860 | eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison."
00:21:51.160 | So those same three truths you see in Peter and Paul, they're also all three alluded
00:21:56.200 | to in the opening verses of our text, Philippians 4:12 to the end of chapter 4.
00:22:02.680 | One, all true Christians suffer, this is an inevitable feature in the life of faith.
00:22:08.400 | You see that in 2 Peter 4:12, "Do not be surprised at the fiery trial, as though something strange
00:22:14.320 | were happening to you."
00:22:16.680 | Number two, suffering paves the way to glory, that's verse 13, "To the degree you are sharing
00:22:22.680 | in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of His glory
00:22:28.040 | you may rejoice with exultation."
00:22:30.920 | Because after all, verse 14, the spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
00:22:37.040 | And number three, the hardships pertain to this short life only, the glory is eternal.
00:22:45.680 | And that means, verse 13 again, that even in this life you can keep on rejoicing and
00:22:50.680 | at the revelation of His glory, you can rejoice with exultation.
00:22:57.460 | Or as the New International Version has it, you can be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.
00:23:04.040 | I love that.
00:23:05.680 | Now notice the twin themes, suffering and glory, those are Peter's twin themes throughout
00:23:11.600 | this epistle, and of course those are common themes throughout the New Testament.
00:23:16.120 | Suffering is a necessary prelude to glory.
00:23:20.080 | Christ suffered for us, and therefore if we hope to have a share in His glory, we must
00:23:26.240 | also partake in the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
00:23:31.840 | Yea, and all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
00:23:37.840 | And Peter's counsel to these suffering saints is intensely practical.
00:23:44.920 | And to most, it will seem counterintuitive, because the response Peter calls for here
00:23:52.720 | is not the natural reflex response for any of us.
00:23:57.400 | This epistle is full of encouragements for those troubled saints to be full of joy, to
00:24:04.440 | be patient, to be thankful, even to be submissive.
00:24:09.840 | Bear the insults and the injustices of your tormentors and do it patiently.
00:24:16.000 | And verse 12, "Do not be surprised, it's not as though some strange thing were happening
00:24:21.480 | to you."
00:24:22.480 | Verse 13, "You are sharing the sufferings of Christ, so keep on rejoicing."
00:24:27.780 | Verse 14, "You are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you."
00:24:34.080 | And verse 19, "Entrust your souls to a faithful Creator."
00:24:39.800 | Now remember, he's writing to sojourners and exiles, people who have been dispossessed
00:24:45.360 | of home and comfort.
00:24:47.760 | They're literally outcasts.
00:24:50.240 | They're persecuted people seeking refuge, but still living under intense hostility from
00:24:56.680 | the culture all around them.
00:24:58.460 | The conventional wisdom of our generation would encourage them to make the most of their
00:25:04.160 | victim status, you know, milk it for political advantage, protest and demonstrate and demand
00:25:12.280 | reparations and fight for social justice and rise up and devote your energies to political
00:25:18.620 | and legislative remedies, perhaps even retaliate.
00:25:23.740 | Pick up arms to resist the tyrants and put a swift end to this systemic injustice.
00:25:31.820 | And in fact, he does notice, he does start this chapter by saying, "Arm yourselves."
00:25:37.940 | But what he's saying is this, "Prepare your minds and your hearts to suffer.
00:25:43.460 | Equip yourselves with the same resolve Christ took to the cross.
00:25:48.740 | Since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same purpose."
00:25:54.180 | And verse 12, "Do not be surprised by the fiery trial, and don't be indignant or bitter
00:26:00.680 | when you're called to suffer as though some strange thing was happening to you."
00:26:05.940 | All of that is totally contrary to the spirit of the culture all around us, and it wasn't
00:26:12.700 | much different in Peter's time.
00:26:15.540 | Believers in our generation really need to learn this and take it to heart.
00:26:20.420 | You know, believers today are routinely told that the church needs to change its strategy
00:26:28.100 | in order to avert the hostility of the world.
00:26:31.940 | Some say we need to, you know, edit and adapt our message, contextualize, cater to the felt
00:26:37.540 | needs of the unchurched, soften the tone, don't tell people they're sinners and they
00:26:43.180 | won't hate you as much.
00:26:45.680 | You know, winsomeness is the key to avoiding persecution and gaining the approval and affirmation
00:26:52.480 | of the world, even if that means you have to censor the hard parts of the gospel message.
00:26:59.580 | And that's, I would say, actually the dominant evangelical strategy, and it's been that way
00:27:04.580 | for decades.
00:27:06.460 | And it has clearly failed.
00:27:09.260 | So now we have this growing chorus of other evangelical voices proposing that, no, the
00:27:17.860 | church should get aggressive and openly antagonistic with the world and we should endeavor to commandeer
00:27:24.020 | the reins of power away from Caesar.
00:27:27.500 | They want the church to use the machinery of statecraft and use our collective political
00:27:34.120 | clout to build the kingdom of Christ on earth through the force of law and government, and
00:27:39.860 | I suppose if it becomes necessary even with military might.
00:27:44.300 | You know, basically they're saying, "Render unto God the things that are Caesar's."
00:27:49.960 | But notice, Peter says none of that.
00:27:53.660 | Instead, this whole epistle is loaded with exhortations urging these exiled sufferers
00:28:00.780 | to bear patiently the cross of grief and pain, to rejoice with joy inexpressible and full
00:28:08.700 | of glory, even while they are being persecuted, to count themselves privileged to suffer for
00:28:15.780 | Christ's sake, to rejoice that they've been considered worthy to suffer shame for His
00:28:21.500 | name.
00:28:22.500 | And he also urges them to lay aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and
00:28:29.520 | all slander and to keep their conduct excellent among the Gentiles so that in the thing which
00:28:36.640 | they slander us as evildoers, they may because of our good works glorify God.
00:28:44.380 | In other words, Peter is concerned about their sanctification, not their lack of political
00:28:50.140 | clout.
00:28:51.580 | He writes, 1 Peter 2 verses 11 and 12, "I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain
00:28:58.180 | from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul by keeping your conduct excellent
00:29:04.120 | among the Gentiles so that in the thing that they slander you as evildoers, they may because
00:29:08.260 | of your good works as they observe them glorify God."
00:29:12.540 | That's his strategy.
00:29:14.540 | He's saying our best testimony to a hostile world is our sanctification, not our collective
00:29:23.320 | political clout.
00:29:25.460 | And furthermore, persecution is not something to rise up and resist.
00:29:31.820 | It's an instrument by which God blesses and sanctifies us.
00:29:36.820 | Chapter 3 verses 14 and 15, "If you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you
00:29:42.060 | are blessed and do not fear their fear and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as
00:29:49.580 | Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to
00:29:54.180 | give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and fear."
00:30:00.120 | And by the way, Peter is not the least bit interested in to know whether these strangers
00:30:06.020 | and pilgrims are influencing the arts and entertainment world as they fan out into the
00:30:12.700 | Roman Empire.
00:30:14.540 | He doesn't urge them to try to redeem popular culture.
00:30:19.020 | He doesn't want them to try to find redemptive themes in Greek drama.
00:30:24.940 | He doesn't hope that they'll learn to use enticing words of man's wisdom in order to
00:30:30.540 | win the respect of the leading philosophers of the day.
00:30:34.300 | And he doesn't propose a strategy whereby they might wrest power away from Caesar and
00:30:40.780 | give it to him so that Peter can rule over Rome as a pope.
00:30:46.460 | To say it bluntly, Peter is not a Christian nationalist and he's not an insurrectionist.
00:30:55.660 | Peter of all people understands that Christ's kingdom is not of this world.
00:31:02.080 | He doesn't respond to this massive wave of unjust government-sponsored persecution by
00:31:09.960 | trying to make Christians more militant.
00:31:13.880 | Peter is obviously aware of what Jesus said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world.
00:31:19.300 | If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting.
00:31:24.300 | But as it is, my kingdom is not from here."
00:31:27.640 | And to me, this is remarkable, coming from Peter especially because we know that Peter
00:31:33.420 | as a natural man did have a dose of carnal insurrection in his heart.
00:31:40.320 | You know, he's the guy who cut off Malchus' ear.
00:31:43.860 | And the soldiers came to arrest Jesus.
00:31:46.260 | But this is a different Peter now, with a superior strategy.
00:31:50.900 | As I said already, Peter's counsel sounds counterintuitive to carnal ears.
00:31:57.540 | You know, he exhorts these persecuted exiles, suffering mistreatment and intimidation and
00:32:04.780 | contempt, and sometimes even torture and death.
00:32:08.460 | He exhorts them, 1 Peter 2, 13 through 15, to be subject for the sake of the Lord to
00:32:13.940 | every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as
00:32:19.980 | sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do good.
00:32:24.540 | For such is the will of God that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish
00:32:31.140 | men.
00:32:32.140 | "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's."
00:32:35.900 | Paul gave the same instructions, of course, in Romans 13, "Be in subjection to the governing
00:32:41.940 | authorities.
00:32:42.940 | For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist have been appointed
00:32:46.700 | by God."
00:32:48.380 | And this is not as confusing as our generation has made it out to be, you know?
00:32:54.620 | When Caesar acts within the sphere wherein he has rightful authority, submit, obey, show
00:33:04.940 | respect to the office even if the ruler who occupies it is a fiend like Nero or a half-wit
00:33:12.660 | like some of the government officials we live under.
00:33:18.420 | Now we know, don't we, that Peter holds firmly to the principle that when there is a conflict
00:33:25.500 | between that which is Caesar's and that which is God's, we must obey God rather than men.
00:33:32.420 | He's not going to forsake the assembling of the saints, or he's not going to stop singing
00:33:37.380 | hymns of praise just because some government official tells him he has to.
00:33:43.100 | And when he gets sent to prison for worshiping a God whom Caesar despises, Peter continues
00:33:49.780 | singing praise, even in prison.
00:33:52.520 | He's not living by the sword anymore.
00:33:55.300 | He's not slicing off the ear of the captain of the guard.
00:33:58.940 | And as he writes this epistle, years after that night in the garden when he brandished
00:34:03.700 | his sword against Malchus, now the persecution of the saints has attained almost an apocalyptic
00:34:13.500 | ferocity.
00:34:14.500 | It's worse.
00:34:16.700 | He could see clearly how bad things were for these Christians and for Peter himself.
00:34:23.540 | Chapter 4, verse 7, "The end of all things is at hand."
00:34:28.700 | So what should these suffering saints do?
00:34:32.100 | Arm themselves for Armageddon?
00:34:35.060 | Organize a protest march on Palatine Hill or hold a rally in the Roman Forum?
00:34:42.300 | No.
00:34:43.960 | Peter says, "Therefore, be of sound thinking and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.
00:34:53.260 | Tie your mind with the truth and devote your heart to prayer."
00:34:58.020 | That's his remedy.
00:35:00.940 | That answer wouldn't be very satisfying to the average evangelical activist today.
00:35:06.900 | But Peter had taken to heart the words of Jesus, "Blessed are those who have been persecuted
00:35:13.040 | for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
00:35:17.020 | Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of
00:35:22.700 | evil against you because of me.
00:35:24.780 | Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great."
00:35:31.060 | And Peter wants to remind these scattered saints of that blessed beatitude.
00:35:37.340 | He sums up the message in our passage, and so now I want to look at this passage point
00:35:42.280 | by point.
00:35:43.280 | I see five imperatives that are either stated or implied in these eight verses, and I want
00:35:50.420 | to point them out to you.
00:35:51.700 | Five simple imperatives.
00:35:53.380 | The first is this, be ready...be ready, verse 12, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery
00:36:00.340 | trial among you which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were
00:36:04.940 | happening to you."
00:36:05.940 | This is contrary, by the way, to much of the American evangelical experience.
00:36:13.660 | We tend to think that persecution is some kind of anomaly in the Christian life.
00:36:18.860 | It's not.
00:36:19.860 | It's what normal Christians have always experienced.
00:36:24.940 | This is what is normal.
00:36:26.380 | As long as we live in this world as strangers and aliens, we're citizens of heaven, we're
00:36:33.420 | slaves of Christ, and none of that fits neatly into the hierarchy of earth's social pecking
00:36:40.780 | order.
00:36:41.780 | It's not supposed to.
00:36:43.180 | Again, as Paul said to Timothy, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will
00:36:48.540 | suffer persecution."
00:36:50.620 | Even in our generation, two millennia after Peter wrote this, you realize, I hope, that
00:36:56.700 | the trajectory of this world's constant spiritual decline is following the pattern Paul outlines
00:37:04.700 | in Romans 1 and it is a descent into deeper and deeper depravity.
00:37:10.340 | And friends, it's going to get worse.
00:37:14.440 | If you're alert at all, you ought to be able to see signs that suggest the persecution
00:37:20.060 | of Christians is going to intensify.
00:37:23.820 | And in fact, if you count the statistics worldwide right now, the truth is, persecution of Christians
00:37:31.240 | today is worse than it's ever been.
00:37:34.900 | Did you realize that in the 20th century alone, more Christians died for their faith than
00:37:42.100 | in all of the previous 19 centuries combined?
00:37:46.460 | That's a fact.
00:37:47.460 | Ted Johnson, who's a professor of global Christianity and mission at Gordon-Conwell Theological
00:37:52.620 | Seminary says it like this, quote, "More than 70 million Christians have been martyred over
00:37:58.740 | the last two millennia," that's more than half of them died in the 20th century under
00:38:05.160 | fascist and communist regimes.
00:38:08.120 | He says, "We also estimate that one million Christians were killed between 2001 and 2010,
00:38:14.780 | and about 900,000 were killed from 2011 to 2020."
00:38:22.100 | It's getting worse.
00:38:23.620 | Now we live in a kind of cocoon in North America where the threat of dying for our faith doesn't
00:38:29.700 | seem all that imminent.
00:38:32.180 | And meanwhile, we ignore what's happening worldwide.
00:38:36.460 | But Christians are currently being killed for their faith by the thousands in Nigeria
00:38:42.040 | and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in other places in Africa.
00:38:47.500 | We don't hear about it from the mainstream media, but Google it and you'll see dozens
00:38:53.020 | of news items about the slaughter there.
00:38:56.540 | Last Christmas, just this recent Christmas, 100 believers were killed in Nigeria because
00:39:02.580 | they refused to recant their faith on Christmas.
00:39:07.380 | At that time, I tweeted a news item about it from the New York Post, and that article
00:39:12.660 | in the New York Post opened with this sentence, quote, "A never-ending massacre of Christians
00:39:19.060 | being killed for sport is reportedly happening in Nigeria, yet the world appears to be largely
00:39:26.460 | deaf to the matter."
00:39:27.820 | It's a sad state of affairs, really, when the New York Post is more aware of the mass
00:39:35.020 | slaughter of Christians than most of the churches in America.
00:39:39.780 | But that is the current state of this world's contempt for Christ.
00:39:43.980 | And despite all of the clever strategies of stylish American megachurches on the one hand
00:39:50.260 | and this evangelical political activism on the other hand, despite all of that, this
00:39:58.140 | world's contempt for Christ is speedily getting worse, not better.
00:40:04.780 | And Scripture gives us every reason to think it's going to continue in that vein.
00:40:10.420 | Now if you're a post-millennialist, you're going to say, "That sounds like eschatological
00:40:16.340 | pessimism."
00:40:19.180 | But it's not.
00:40:20.180 | You know, we believe truth triumphs.
00:40:23.300 | That's the theme of our conference.
00:40:25.700 | Truth triumphs not by the wisdom of this world or the scheming and politicking and social
00:40:31.620 | leverage of mere mortals.
00:40:33.620 | And in fact, just right after he says, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will
00:40:40.260 | be persecuted," the Apostle Paul adds this, "Evil men and impostors will proceed from
00:40:47.300 | bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."
00:40:52.220 | You can call that pessimistic, and it might sound that way to those who rely on horses
00:40:58.300 | and trust in chariots, or to those who think large armies of people wielding political
00:41:04.320 | power are going to be necessary for the truth to triumph, or to anyone who thinks that righteousness
00:41:10.820 | comes through the Law.
00:41:12.860 | If any of those ideas are the key strategy you have in mind for winning the world, it's
00:41:19.460 | true that large portions of biblical eschatology are going to sound pessimistic.
00:41:25.100 | But as I've said more than once, I'm not a pessimist, I'm a Calvinist.
00:41:32.540 | Greta Thunberg is a pessimist.
00:41:36.300 | I'm not.
00:41:38.580 | Calvinists can't be pessimistic because we know that God is still sovereign.
00:41:43.500 | He is always in control.
00:41:45.460 | He always works all things together for good, and His truth will triumph in due time.
00:41:53.580 | That's a certainty.
00:41:54.940 | God's inerrant, infallible Word says so.
00:41:57.700 | There's no room for pessimism there.
00:42:01.740 | Now let me be clear, I am totally and enthusiastically in favor of voting for laws insofar as possible,
00:42:10.100 | also electing candidates with values that reflect the influence of biblical principles.
00:42:18.100 | Candidates like that seem almost non-existent today.
00:42:22.420 | But I am not in favor of thinking that that's the key strategy by which the church can remedy
00:42:28.360 | what's wrong with human society because if righteousness comes through the law, then
00:42:32.900 | Christ died needlessly.
00:42:35.420 | The gospel is the power of God for salvation.
00:42:39.380 | Truth triumphs not because Christians expend all their resources and energies to elect
00:42:44.940 | the right political candidates.
00:42:47.780 | Truth triumphs because Christ is Lord, and He who is called faithful and true will strike
00:42:54.740 | down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron.
00:42:59.500 | And He'll accomplish that victory with a two-edged sword that proceeds out of His mouth, not
00:43:05.660 | by a proxy who sits in the oval office.
00:43:09.980 | Which is to say, in this time of political turmoil with an overabundance of zeal coming
00:43:16.020 | from every corner of Caesar's realm, 21st century evangelicals need to adjust our expectations.
00:43:26.060 | We need to stand athwart the winds of culture as society rushes headlong into those judgments
00:43:33.900 | that Paul describes in Romans 1.
00:43:36.940 | But earthly strategies designed to turn aside this world's hatred for Jesus, those are all
00:43:44.420 | a vain hope.
00:43:46.260 | You don't improve the effectiveness of our testimony or the efficacy of the gospel by
00:43:52.220 | dressing the church up in the latest fashions, or by cultivating an obsession with academic
00:43:58.860 | prestige, or by campaigning for political clout, or by pretending that we are paragons
00:44:06.180 | of cultural savvy, or by using any other strategy to curry favor or seek friendship with the
00:44:13.180 | world.
00:44:14.180 | The world is enmity with God.
00:44:17.260 | And persecution is inevitable, Scripture says, if we seek to live godly lives in an ungodly
00:44:25.460 | culture.
00:44:26.460 | "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you."
00:44:30.220 | Jesus said, "If the world hates you, know that it hated Me first.
00:44:35.300 | If you were of the world, the world would love its own.
00:44:37.580 | But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this
00:44:43.180 | the world hates you.
00:44:45.540 | Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master.
00:44:49.460 | If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you."
00:44:54.260 | That's John 15 verses 18 through 20.
00:44:56.380 | Or back to our text, "Do not be surprised as though some strange thing were happening
00:45:02.620 | to you."
00:45:04.020 | Persecution is inevitable, be ready.
00:45:08.020 | Imperative number two, be glad, verses 13 and 14.
00:45:12.420 | But to the degree you are sharing the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also
00:45:17.660 | at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.
00:45:21.740 | If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory
00:45:26.740 | and of God rests on you.
00:45:28.300 | Now again, this is counterintuitive counsel.
00:45:32.420 | When you're persecuted, be glad.
00:45:36.420 | But Peter is only repeating here what he heard Jesus preach, Luke 6, 22 and 23, "Blessed
00:45:43.340 | are you when men hate you and exclude you and insult you and scorn your name as evil
00:45:48.500 | for the sake of the Son of Man.
00:45:50.380 | Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.
00:45:55.620 | For their fathers were doing the same things to the prophets.
00:45:59.620 | Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs
00:46:03.980 | is the kingdom of heaven."
00:46:06.780 | One of the great birthrights every Christian inherits is the ability to rejoice always.
00:46:14.740 | In Colossians 1:24, Paul says, "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and I fill
00:46:20.580 | up what is lacking of Christ's afflictions in my flesh."
00:46:25.180 | And that verse is often misread and sometimes mistranslated.
00:46:30.060 | The ESV and the New American Standard Bible both have Paul saying, "I am filling up what
00:46:34.580 | is lacking in Christ's afflictions," as if he's doing something to the once-for-all sacrifice...he's
00:46:41.980 | adding something to the once-for-all sacrifice that Christ made.
00:46:45.620 | But that's not the point.
00:46:48.100 | Nothing whatsoever was lacking in Christ's afflictions that Paul or anyone else needed
00:46:54.060 | to compensate for.
00:46:55.340 | But you read it carefully.
00:46:56.740 | Here's the Legacy Standard Bible again.
00:46:59.140 | "I fill up what is lacking of Christ's afflictions in my flesh."
00:47:05.460 | In other words, Paul is...by suffering for the sake of the church and suffering in the
00:47:11.200 | name of Christ, Paul is entering more fully into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings,
00:47:18.020 | being conformed to His death.
00:47:19.420 | He's filling up what he lacks, not something that Christ lacked.
00:47:23.180 | And that's a reason to rejoice and be glad when we are persecuted.
00:47:27.300 | We are entering into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings.
00:47:31.940 | And nothing is more Christ-like, nothing does more to conform us to the likeness of Christ
00:47:39.100 | than when we suffer and bear it gladly, which is precisely what Peter has in mind right
00:47:44.820 | there in the text when he says we should rejoice and be glad when we're persecuted.
00:47:50.620 | We are sharing the sufferings of Christ, he says.
00:47:53.860 | And furthermore, Peter says that that joy that we have even in the midst of our suffering
00:47:59.340 | will be multiplied by infinity at the revelation of Christ's glory.
00:48:05.420 | And the knowledge that this is what the future holds, that should be enough to make any Christian
00:48:11.420 | glad.
00:48:12.700 | Frankly, that's precisely what keeps me from being pessimistic.
00:48:18.260 | Here's another reason to be glad, verse 14, "Because the spirit of glory and of God rests
00:48:23.340 | on you."
00:48:24.500 | So if you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed.
00:48:28.700 | It's actually a token of God's favor.
00:48:33.380 | So be ready, be glad.
00:48:36.140 | Here's a third imperative from our text, be steadfast.
00:48:40.020 | Verses 15 and 16, "Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer or a thief or an
00:48:44.140 | evildoer or a troublesome meddler.
00:48:46.200 | But if anyone suffers as a Christian, he's not to be put to shame, but is to glorify
00:48:52.500 | God in this name."
00:48:54.980 | Now I have to abbreviate these last three points in order to make sure I don't go over
00:48:59.060 | time.
00:49:00.060 | But this one, this one is vital to Peter's argument.
00:49:04.580 | Again, the way he wants them to convey their message to the world is not by marches and
00:49:12.020 | demonstrations or any other of the common tools of protest and political activism.
00:49:17.960 | But instead, he wants them to answer the world's contempt by putting their sanctification on
00:49:24.500 | display.
00:49:26.760 | And it's okay, it's more than okay.
00:49:29.460 | It's a divinely bestowed blessing to suffer as a Christian for Christ's sake, to suffer
00:49:38.020 | in the name of Christ and for His honor and glory.
00:49:41.940 | There is frankly no higher privilege than to suffer as a Christian.
00:49:47.220 | This is true triumph, to glorify God in this name.
00:49:51.460 | In other words, thank God that you bear Christ's name.
00:49:56.420 | If people cause you to suffer because you're called a Christian, be thankful that you have
00:50:01.700 | that name.
00:50:03.780 | And so, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing
00:50:09.420 | that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, your suffering is not in vain either.
00:50:15.000 | Glorify God for it.
00:50:17.120 | So follow the logic of these imperatives, be ready, be glad, be steadfast.
00:50:24.660 | Number four, be humble.
00:50:28.360 | Persecution is not only a blessing, it's also a tool by which God proves and purifies and
00:50:34.600 | strengthens the church.
00:50:36.260 | And that's what Peter means by the word "judgment" in verse 17.
00:50:40.840 | What he has in mind might entail an element of fatherly discipline, but it doesn't imply
00:50:47.780 | even a hint of condemnation.
00:50:50.940 | Romans 8, 1, there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
00:50:56.300 | But nevertheless, there is a need for testing and strengthening and even correcting the
00:51:02.180 | church.
00:51:03.660 | And the church is what Peter means when he speaks of the household of God.
00:51:08.140 | Remember verse 17, "It is time for judgment to begin with the house of God and if it begins
00:51:13.780 | with us first, what will be the outcome of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
00:51:19.140 | And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless
00:51:23.780 | man and the sinner?"
00:51:27.180 | Now what does this mean?
00:51:28.600 | It is with difficulty that the righteous is saved.
00:51:33.100 | Understand, he is not suggesting that God has a hard time saving us, though in all candor
00:51:40.260 | as I peer into my own heart, I have to confess to my shame that I haven't always made it
00:51:46.400 | easy for the Spirit of God to conform me to Christ's likeness.
00:51:51.220 | But that's not what Peter is saying here.
00:51:53.180 | He's saying that if life is hard for the redeemed, if honoring Christ and following Him always
00:52:00.260 | entails taking up a cross and suffering, if it always subjects the saints to persecution
00:52:07.020 | and anguish and hardships and even death at the hands of the wicked, if it's that bad
00:52:12.680 | for us, how much more severe will God's final judgment be for the godless man and the sinner?
00:52:21.540 | And if you realize all of that, what should that compel you to do?
00:52:25.700 | It should compel you to be humble and sober-minded and zealous for the salvation of the lost.
00:52:34.180 | It's quite a humbling realization when we see that even for redeemed people on the scale
00:52:40.780 | of what we actually deserve, persecution isn't really a cosmic injustice.
00:52:48.540 | It's a tool that God providentially uses for our sanctification.
00:52:53.340 | It's literally a means by which He brings us into an eternal triumph, an eternal glory
00:52:59.720 | that frankly we don't deserve.
00:53:03.780 | And Peter is going to underscore this principle in chapter 5 verse 5 when he says, "Clothe
00:53:08.780 | yourselves with humility, for God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble."
00:53:14.820 | Gird yourself with humility.
00:53:16.780 | I love that expression, gird yourself with humility.
00:53:19.900 | There's no doubt thinking of that night when Christ girded Himself with a towel and washed
00:53:26.020 | Peter's feet.
00:53:27.860 | That was Christ on the eve of His death facing persecution with humility.
00:53:36.580 | That's our example.
00:53:38.580 | So be ready, be glad, be steadfast, be humble, and now fifth and finally, be faithful, verse
00:53:47.620 | 19.
00:53:48.620 | "Therefore those also who suffer according to the will of God must entrust their souls
00:53:53.500 | to a faithful Creator in doing good."
00:53:57.440 | You serve a faithful God.
00:54:00.820 | So be faithful in doing good.
00:54:03.740 | That needs very little exposition here.
00:54:06.060 | Nothing I could say could improve on what John MacArthur said yesterday anyway.
00:54:10.640 | So I'll just leave it at that.
00:54:12.540 | Be faithful, as Jesus said to the church at Smyrna, "The devil is about to cast some of
00:54:18.860 | you into prison so that you will be tested and you will have tribulation for days.
00:54:24.460 | Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life."
00:54:29.500 | Be faithful, brethren.
00:54:32.140 | And let me say one other thing in closing.
00:54:34.980 | There is nothing elegant or impressive about suffering persecution.
00:54:40.620 | I mean, even if you follow all five of these imperatives, it won't win you many accolades.
00:54:49.080 | Paul suffered so much that no one but Luke even wanted to be closely associated with
00:54:53.940 | him anymore.
00:54:54.940 | And in fact, suffering itself is a powerful reminder that we should never regard the Christian
00:55:03.180 | faith purely or even predominantly as an academic matter.
00:55:09.300 | It's not merely an academic matter.
00:55:11.580 | Ever since the Puritan era ended, the quest for academic respectability and an illicit
00:55:18.940 | craving for academic honors and intellectual status has actually undermined the faith and
00:55:27.820 | weakened the testimony of the church.
00:55:31.240 | On the other hand, persecution, if it's well-received, is a powerful practical affirmation and an
00:55:40.220 | unanswerable testimony to the world that our faith is real, that the gospel is true, that
00:55:47.200 | heaven's glory will ultimately triumph over all the evils of this world.
00:55:53.140 | May God give us grace no longer to live in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the
00:56:00.140 | will of God.
00:56:01.140 | Let us pray.
00:56:03.740 | Father, we confess that our natural instincts run contrary to every admonition contained
00:56:12.220 | in this passage.
00:56:14.700 | Give us grace to respond to this world's contempt with pure Christ-like grace and steadfastness
00:56:23.440 | and humility, and grant us wisdom to see and to embrace with a whole heart the reality
00:56:30.320 | that it is truly a blessing to suffer for Christ's name.
00:56:34.680 | May we live by that name, may we glorify you in that name, and may we live lives that truly
00:56:41.680 | honor that name.
00:56:43.500 | In the name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
00:56:45.840 | Amen.
00:56:46.340 | Amen.
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