Ye Became Followers and Suffered

Review of the Thessalonians' Saving Response to the Gospel

0:02 But as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up their sin all way, for wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

0:45 Last week, as we studied verse 13, we saw that in a very real sense, it was a throwback to the thought initiated way back in the first chapter, when the Apostle Paul said in verse 2, We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, and then he proceeds to enumerate those things for which he gives thanks in the presence of God. And we could summarize those things under the general heading of the fruits of a saving response to the gospel. He thanks them for their work of faith, their labor of love, patience of hope, for the perseverance in the truth of God, and all of those things that we studied in detail in the first chapter. Then in chapter 2, as you'll remember,

1:28 he lays out the kind of ministry and ministers whom God uses to bring to pass the wonderful things that transpired at Thessalonica. Now, he returns to the theme of thanksgiving, this time, not merely thanking God for the fruits of a saving response to the gospel, but in particular, for the essence of that saving response. In chapter 1, he's praising God for the fruits of that response. Now, he's thanking God, for the root of that response.

2:01 And we saw that it involved three things, as set forth in verse 13. We thank God that when you receive the word of God, there was an initial reception of the word. No one will ever be a Christian who throws off the word of God like the duck's oiled feathers throw off water. The first indication that a man or woman is in the way to life is when that person begins to seriously, adhere to the word of God, seriously regard the teaching of Holy Scripture.

2:35 This is why when I preach, and I see people making no determined effort to give undivided attention to the word of God. I see young people who are content to look out the window, and adults who are content to be distracted. I know something. I know that in nine cases out of ten, that this is an indication they are not in the way of life.

2:55 For the man that's in the way of life is the man who receives the word of God. And Paul thanks God for that. But then he says, they not only gave it an initial reception, but notice he says, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. There was this hearty embrace of the word as a word from heaven.

3:17 Not only an initial acceptance of the word, but a hearty reception of that word as the very word of the living God. They realize we're not dealing with Paul in his life. We're dealing with his companions. But when he opens to us the scriptures and speaks of Christ, we're dealing with the living God who made us and who has sent his son to us.

3:38 And then in the third place, he thanked God that there was not only this initial reception, this hearty acceptance, but there was this fruitful assimilation of the word. He said this word which effectually works in you that believe. Now it's that third thought that we could not develop last week, but we want to develop this morning. What is involved in this fruitful assimilation of the word of God?

The Fruitful Assimilation: Becoming Followers and Suffering

4:05 Well, in the case of these Thessalonians, it was this. Notice. For ye, brethren. For ye, brethren.

4:12 What we're saying is connected with this thought. The word of God effectually worked in you that believe for. This is what it did. This is the token of your fruitful assimilation of the word.

4:24 Ye became followers of the church of God which in Judea are in Christ. Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye have suffered the like things of your countrymen. The two thoughts in germ form are these.

4:37 The word of God was fruitfully assimilated into your life because ye became followers because ye suffered. Notice the two phrases. For ye, brethren, became followers for ye also suffered. What then is the main thought of this passage that we're going to develop this morning?

4:59 Here it is. A God-given faith in a God-given revelation will always produce God-glorifying results even adherence to the truth at any cost. That's the message of this passage. A God-given faith for this cause we thank God that you people received the word this way.

The Thessalonians as Mimics of the Judean Churches

5:25 A God-given faith in a God-given revelation the word of God will always produce God-glorifying fruits even the fruit of adhering to the word at any cost. Now let's see how Paul develops that thought in this portion. In the first place he says for ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. Now this word follow is the exact same word that we studied in some detail in chapter one when Paul says in verse six ye became followers of us and of the Lord and I hope some of you can remember

6:09 back to the dark ages when we were in chapter one when we said that this word follow literally means mimics. In fact the Greek construction the Greek word for which our English equivalent mimic from which it is taken is simply taking that word over from one language into the other transliterating it not even attempt to translate it. So he says ye became mimics you followed the pattern of the churches which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. Now does this mean that they consciously did it that the people at Thessalonica got a written report of what was going on down in Judea or an oral report and they said now let's see how they are conducting themselves and then we'll outline it

6:53 point one point two three four five and then we will consciously mimic them one two three four five no it doesn't mean this at all. What it probably means is that because the people in Judea had received the same gospel which came later to the people at Thessalonica and because the same Holy Spirit who had worked in bringing people to faith in Judea had worked in bringing people to faith in Thessalonica and because the same human hearts who hate the truth were there in Judea as were there in Thessalonica the persecution that came to the people at Judea also came to Thessalonica but because the faith was of God in a revelation it was of God the perseverance in spite of opposition

7:37 that was evidenced at Judea was also evidenced at Thessalonica. In other words their becoming imitators was not so much a conscious activity but an inevitable result of the same basic blueprint. If I give two architects identical blueprints maybe one is drawn up by the draftsman and I go and I have it copied under a copy machine and I give it to two architects and these two architects go out one to California and one down to the southernmost tip of Florida and they hire two contracting firms to take these plans and to build a house

8:19 the contractor here may have no knowledge of the contractor working out in California but when their houses are complete if the one contractor goes to look at the other with but few minor variations you will have a house that is a replica of the other. Why? Because they both sprang from the same blueprint. So because the same gospel came at Thessalonica that came at Judea because the same Holy Spirit was at work because there was the same opposition to truth why you can't help but find the similarity and so this is what Paul is saying in this passage that you people became mimics imitators of the churches now notice those that he uses as the pattern he says you became followers

9:04 of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus just a little aside here if the doctrine of the church of Rome is true this verse would be terribly embarrassing for the Thessalonians did not follow the pattern of a church at Rome but they followed the pattern of churches in Judea the whole idea you see that the church at Rome became the pattern for all the other churches finds absolutely no support in scripture notice how he describes them first of all as the churches of God that are in Judea he didn't say the church at Judea as though there was one church under some kind of

9:47 ministerial hierarchy he called them churches simply translated it would be assemblies assemblies of believers that were in the geographical area of Judea including Jerusalem of course and the immediate environs around Jerusalem and just by using that little phrase Paul gives to us two glorious truths about the nature of the church and I don't want to digress from the main thrust of the message but I'm not preaching the word if I don't sit here for a couple of minutes this morning he shows us first of all the independence of the local church he says you became followers of the churches plural not the church of Judea people talk about

10:31 the Presbyterian church of the United States of America such concepts are not biblical he didn't say the church of Judea he said churches individual assemblies each one an independent autonomous unit under the sovereignty of Jesus Christ each one a body of believers subject to the church under the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven but though there was independence there was not isolation there was also interdependence he calls them the churches of Judea and he says you people became like them now it wasn't as though one was going in this direction in Judea another one going that direction another one this direction there'd be no unity

11:16 no symmetry no similarity but wonder of wonders there was not only independence there was interdependence there was not only this position of being subject to Christ his head with no intermediary a hierarchical structure but there was this beautiful sense of oneness in the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul describes the church that way now notice what he says about the churches they are of God they are not a social group they are not a humanitarian organization they're not some kind of a political group they are churches of God literally churches of the God the article is there in the original they are churches of the one true and living God

12:00 who is described in scripture in other words there is no true church where the God of biblical revelation is not worshipped honored obeyed and served whatever these so called religious bodies are today that are being led by God by men who reject the revelation of God in scripture who say that the God of scripture is no longer to be worshipped those groups over which they preside as ministers are not churches they are something other than churches for Paul's description of a church is this they are assemblies of God God the living God of scripture

12:43 is the author of their existence and the end of their existence and then he qualifies it further notice by saying they are churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus and that word in Christ Jesus simply means they are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ for a true church is not only a body of people committed to biblical theism that is the Bible doctrine of God but it is a body of people committed to biblical Christology the Bible doctrine of Christ his person his work his glory his salvation Jesus Christ is the object

13:27 of the church's trust the source of the church's life the basis of the church's faith he stands in the midst of his church as a prophet to speak the words of God and his words are heard he stands in the midst as a priest by whose blood and by whose intercession the church has access to God he stands in the midst of his church as a king who speaks and when he speaks his subjects obey what is a church? here is a beautiful description you see people say the book of Thessalonians the first Thessalonians has no theology in it no doctrine what doctrine is here? I've had to restrict myself in preparation from wanting to just expand this little phrase

14:11 as he describes the church they are churches of God and they are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ so that we are warranted to say anything that professes to be a church that rejects the historical God of scripture and the historical Christ of scripture or that giving lip service to God and to Christ falls short of vital union with Christ it is not a true church well so much then for that first phrase he says you became followers of these churches now in what specific way did they become followers? he is going to tell us for ye also have suffered

The Suffering of the Judean Churches and Thessalonica

14:55 the light things of your countrymen even as they did of the Jews you became followers in general but in particular in the area of suffering now what happened up there at Judea? we want to know what happened at Thessalonica he says you people did like they did you became followers of that group of folk well what happened to that group of folk? turn back to the book of Acts for a few minutes this morning that we might see what happened to the churches at Judea and therefore we will appreciate what Paul is saying to the church at Thessalonica after that first outpouring of the Holy Spirit

15:39 in the day of Pentecost and the adding to the church of three thousand and then some others God in his common grace held back the reaction of men's heart to the truth so that even people who were not converted to Christ and to the Christian faith were generally sympathetic to it notice Acts 2 and verses 46 and 47 and they speaking of the believers continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house to eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart praising God and having favor with all the people

16:24 now here was a situation in which the people were very sympathetic to the Christians but that didn't last too long for when we come to chapter 4 we find that the religious leaders begin to oppose the leaders of the Christian movement they haven't touched the rank and file yet their attack is directed first of all at the leaders so when we come to chapter 4 we read in verse 5 and it came to pass in the morrow that their rulers and elders and scribes and Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander what did they do they called the apostles to them and they said wait a minute you've healed this man by what name by what authority by what power do you do this and they told them by the name of Jesus

17:08 and then preached the gospel to them and these people taking note that they were ignorant people they marveled couldn't deny that a miracle was done so they go aside to say what are we going to do with these fellows we can't deny the miracle but we don't want this message to spread so we read in verse 18 of chapter 4 they called them and commanded them not to speak nor teach in the name of Jesus now sense the mounting pressure first of all everybody favorable to them then they begin to get disturbed because this new sect is gaining such tremendous influence that they call the leaders in and they just give them a little veiled threat and they say now look we're commanding you don't teach anymore in his name and they say

17:53 but Peter says I'm sorry we're going to obey God not man we're going to teach in his name so they move from mere threatening with words to actually giving them some physical abuse so we read in chapter 4 and I'm sorry chapter 5 then and verse 17 the high priest rose up verse 18 laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison verbal abuse then they beat them then they beat them then they put them in prison then the Lord delivers them and this thing begins to build up pressure until after the death of Stephen in Acts chapter 8 we find a general persecution breaks loose

18:37 and it's recorded in chapter 8 in verse 1 and Saul was consenting unto his death and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which is at Jerusalem and they were scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles now do you see the spectrum here they had favor with all the people a little verbal opposition then some threatening then some beating to the leaders until now all hell breaks loose as it were against anyone who names the name of Christ and so just to save their lives the believers scatter into all of the regions round about now what did this mean well it meant whatever happens

19:22 I mean it meant exactly what happens whenever this kind of situation develops it meant that some people were left absolutely destitute of their physical necessities that's why a little later Paul around the different churches takes up collections for the poor saints at Jerusalem you read in Hebrews 10 in verse 32 that it involved a taking away of their goods it meant mockings it meant scourgings we read in Galatians 1 21 to 23 something of what it meant hatred threats being ostracized from friends privation physical abuse even in some cases death now that's what happened to the people who professed the name of Christ at Shadid now when that happened

20:07 what did they do well you had some that turned away you had some that said well look everything was fine when we were believing the word and we had favor with the people I'd buy that but look this is getting kind of hot now this is getting kind of inconvenient to be stripped of one's goods to have one's friends turn against him and so some of them kicked over their profession of the Christian faith but for the most part suffering did what it always does to the true people of God it just made them more the people of God and more zealous in their desire to follow the Lord Jesus Christ their faith was strengthened in the crucible of suffering and persecution now Paul says you became followers of those people for when you turn to Acts 17 to read the account of what happened at the church it says you became followers of those people for when you turn to Acts 17

20:52 to read the account of what happened at the church at Thessalonica you don't read that even in the beginning did they have any favor with the people but right from the very start the moment Paul came in and began to preach and some people believed there was opposition from the very outset to the word of God suffering abuse ostracization all of these things that follow because of the wickedness of the hearts of men now this has been historical background and we've said all of this to try to bring into focus this tremendous principle as Paul observes those believers at Thessalonica and he thinks of how opposition and suffering have broken loose he says oh how I thank God

21:36 that when you received the word of God you received it not as the word of men but as the very word of God which effectually works in you that believe and he says I thank God that I know your reception was genuine when clinging to that word led you straight down into the fires of persecution and opposition and hatred and privation you didn't relinquish the word but you clung to it all the more tenaciously and he says that's proof to me that you really received it as the word of the living God oh dear ones that's the core of what the apostle is saying as he opens his heart to these people

The Nature of God-Given Faith: Whole-Souled Response at Any Cost

22:21 and he said it because he's following principles of truth number one Paul understood the nature of God given faith and he wants us to understand it what is God given faith it is a response of the whole man to divine truth at any cost God given faith is not the nodding of a head to a few propositions to be taken or left at will God given faith is a response of the whole man his intellect his affections his will to the truth of God at any cost that's what faith

23:06 is when it says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ it means nothing more but nothing less than that the whole man throws himself upon Jesus Christ to cling to his faith to cling to him no matter what the cost and so Paul knowing the nature of God given faith rejoices that these people evidence the genuineness of that faith for you see faith saving faith not only embraces the promises of mercy as being worthy of confidence when the Bible says he that believes

23:51 on the Lord Jesus Christ should be saved that's not just the word of the preacher that's not just the word of some religious philosophers that's the very word of God though I'm a sinner and I've got to stand before that very God in the day of judgment I'm so confident that that word of promise is the word of God that I'll trust my soul to it for eternity I'll flee to Christ and believe that even when I stand before God not one sin will meet me but the promises of mercy ah but listen it also involves the absolute equal degree of confidence and submission to the demands of the word of God for the same word

24:35 that says come says take my yoke the same word that says I'll give you rest says take up the cross and you see faith does not sift the words of God and say well I'll take these as the words of God but the commands I'll regard as something less no faith doesn't do that compartmentalize and sift and separate the words of God Paul says I thank God that when the word of God came you embraced it not only the promises of mercy but the commands to follow at any cost and so the nature of saving faith is that whole soul response to the truth at any price now why is it this

25:20 for the simple reason that God for the simple reason dear ones that faith is the response of the heart to a revelation of Jesus Christ and when you see him you see him not only as worthy of your trust but worthy of your obedience even unto death isn't that what the scripture says in Matthew 13 where Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man who finds a treasure in the field and when he finds it what does he do he sells all that he has to get that treasure then he says it's like a merchant hunting for goodly pearls who when he finds one pearl of great price what does he do he sells everything that he has

26:04 to get that pearl that's exactly what Paul meant when he said in 2 Corinthians 4 6 God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in response to some so called words of God separated from the word of God the Lord Jesus but the words of God about human sin and human redemption are all summed up in the word of God Jesus Christ and when the Holy Spirit reveals to a smitten sinners heart that his salvation is bound up in Christ incarnate crucified buried risen seated on the throne

26:49 what is faith it's the going out of the whole man of Christ to rest in the promises and to bow to the precepts that's faith and if you've got anything short of that my friend you've got something that's not going to stand you in good stead in that awful day now if that's what faith is and faith doesn't sort and pick what it will receive as the word of God then faith will cling to that word no matter what happens when you turn to a passage like Hebrews the very thing I'm trying to say will you turn to Hebrews

27:31 chapter 10 and he's writing to a people who were part of that Judean persecution notice verse 33 you were made a gazing stock by reproaches and afflictions you weren't ashamed to identify yourselves with this crowd that was cast off as the off scouring the earth now he says in verse 35 cast not away therefore your confidence and your need of patience that after you've done the will of God you might receive the promise for yet a little while and he that will

28:15 come shall come will come and will not tarry now notice the just shall live by faith but if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him but we are not of them who draw back to perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul I don't want to continue to cling to the promises and cling to the precepts if it means suffering and opposition wait a minute I'll cling to them in the fair weather but not when the storm comes the writer says the man who draws back draws back to perdition he shows that he was never a true believer

29:00 but he says we who are true believers we believe unto the finishing of the work of God for we have embraced the Lord Jesus we have believed on him we have received his word as the word of God and to that word we will cling no matter what the price that's the first great lesson that I see in the text second great lesson is this not only must we learn from this text the nature of God given faith but we must learn that opposition and suffering and iniquity must be fulfilled in the right way that the God that is God should be put forward trapped in

Suffering as God's Test and Purifier of Faith

29:44 the vine to be held in the right way that the truth be brought to the flesh and to the life but what it is that yes we have to come to that with all that we are volunteer if you did and you walked up and said all right what would you put here how are we going to test your faith in what laboratory can we analyze your faith in what test tube can we put it the lord has one you know what his test tube is you know what his laboratory is suffering

30:25 suffering opposition hardship now that's just not some theory i pulled out of the sky let me just give you several verses you can't be exhausted this morning that teach very clearly that suffering and opposition are the tests of the genuineness of faith notice in james chapter one right after hebrews james chapter one beginning with verse two my brethren count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations the word temptation here should be translated trials testings

31:04 oppositions hardships knowing this that the trying of your faith why should i rejoice when opposition and hardship come because this is god's laboratory to analyze the constituent elements of my so-called faith it's god's analysis of my faith is it the real thing god puts it down into the test tube of suffering turn to the book of peter chapter one peter chapter one he says in verse five that we are kept by the power of god through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time verse six

31:48 wherein he greatly rejoiced though now for a season if need be he are in heaviness through manifold temptations same word manifold trials that the trial of your faith or the proof of your faith as it's translated in the american standard version what are these manifold trials they are god's means to test the genuineness of faith then you have of course in the 13th chapter of matthew in the parable of the sower remember the stony ground here there's the man receives the word and he says oh i believe oh this is wonderful here's the promise of forgiveness the promise of mercy the promise of eternal life oh

32:30 i'll take some of that oh that's the word of god oh it makes me feel so good but the lord says when the sun comes up what happens when the sun comes up upon that plant that has no depth of earth but it's merely laying on the top of a little shale of rock just a little quarter inch of soil when the sun comes up that plant that should be nourished by the sun what happens it's withered by the sun instead of nourished jesus then interprets that parable and he says that the sun that rises to shine upon christian profession is the son of persecution he says when tribulation and persecution arises

33:10 because of the word here's a man who says he's embraced the word promising mercy but also demanding obedience even unto death demanding self-denial and hardship and this man says oh yes i've embraced that word the lord says all right let's see if you have and so the son of opposition arises because of that word and what does he do he withers up because you see opposition and trial and tribulation are the great testing of the genuineness of faith suffering cannot destroy faith but merely test its reality and strengthen that's why paul says i'm

33:54 i thank god i know you received the word not as the word of men but the word of god because when it was tested you were just little babes and great opposition came from your countrymen your dear friends your associates your work companions and instead of getting scared and pushing the panic bucking panic budding or being like pliable who took off with christian you remember but the minute he met in the opposition he said in essence putting it 20th century jargon look mac you've i've had it if this christian business is going to lead to this kind of involvement you go ahead and have it on going back home where it was easy and pliable john bunyan all about this kind of person

34:36 he easily turns aside if this is true beloved may god have mercy upon us who looked upon tribulation opposition difficulty gets our enemy i'm a bit disturbed at the climate of our christianity in the states well the minute a trial comes whether it's physical Whether it's material, whether it's social in terms of some opposition. We look upon this as a terrible thing. We want the whole church to pray that God will take the sun away.

35:07 Oh, may God help us to grow up.

35:12 That's a very immature, unscriptural way of looking upon trial and opposition and problems. They're our friend. Try and test and purify our faith. That's why Peter says that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than a gold that perishes, may be found unto praise and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

35:32 He says, you people, stop squawking when problems come. Rejoice when you fall into trials. You know what the Bible says? Rejoice.

35:42 Because you know that faith is going to be tested. Look, I'd rather have God show my faith up to be sham now by bringing some trials that really lay it open for what it is than to lay it open with His gaze at the day of judgment and find then, then I had the wrong product. Wouldn't you? Rejoice.

36:02 We understand that. We won't look upon trials as our enemy.

36:07 We won't fear them, but welcome them. We won't go around looking for them, but when they come, we'll welcome them. And then we'll realize that they're to be the, not to be the exception, but the rule. 2 Timothy 3.12 says,

36:19 All who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Jesus assumed that His disciples would be a minority group who were a bar, been the side of society. So He says, Rejoice when men speak evil of you. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for so spake they of the prophets that were before you.

The True Christian Loves the Gospel Enough to Suffer for It

36:39 And then the third principle I see in the text. Not only that God-given faith is that whole-souled response to the whole truth, and that suffering becomes the tester of faith, but now get this. Learn from this text that the true Christian loves the gospel enough to suffer for it.

37:01 Paul rejoices that these people said, Oh yes, Paul, we believe your word is the word of God. We believe the gospel you preach is the gospel of God. They embraced it, but they loved it enough to suffer for it. That caused him to rejoice because that's the mark of a true Christian.

37:16 One of the old saints who lived at the time when the persecution broke out in the post-apostolic period said, Do they cast us out of the city?

37:29 They cannot cast us. They cannot cast us out of our inheritance in heaven. If they could, we would fear. But since they can't, all their opposition is but sprinkling us with water and blowing upon us with the wind.

37:43 Now there's a man who caught the heart of it. Hear what he said? If they could actually do something to snatch from us our inheritance in heaven, then would we fear. But all they can do to us, even killing us, is but sprinkling us with water and blowing at us with the wind.

38:02 Listen. This man loved the gospel enough to suffer for it. I want to read something that got me so disturbed that I couldn't believe it until I read it over a few times that I'd read it rightly. In one of the largest religious periodicals of our day, translated into a number of different languages, an Asian evangelist, an associate of Billy Graham,

38:24 on his evangelistic team, making the report of the challenge of Asia, said the following words, and so that I wouldn't paraphrase it, I actually have the clipping from the magazine. While we wait and pray for a mighty evangelistic breakthrough in Asia, let us not forget that already thousands of non-Christians on this continent are turning to Christ. Many of these remain secret disciples, for it could easily entail physical persecution and social and economic privation for a Hindu or Muslim to proclaim Christ publicly. But, notice, God's truth is marching on in the hearts and minds of multiplied thousands each year as the gospel is proclaimed through Asia.

39:07 The truth is marching on, but it's supposedly marching on, leading in its trail, not people like the Thessalonians who embrace that truth and confess it no matter what it costs, but people who embrace it like this.

39:27 Anybody going to oppose me? Now what happens when you draw close to a man like this? He goes on to say, I have never forgotten what a young Sikh told me, quote, I cannot be baptized because this would cause me to lose my property, but I belong to Christ and I want you to know it. I remember saying to him, someday if Christ tells you to confess him publicly, will you stake your life on that confession?

39:52 Yes, he said, if he speaks to me directly through my conscience, I will. Meanwhile, remember, I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Refuting Secret Discipleship: Confession is Essential

40:04 Beloved, can it be true that this is a quotation from one of the most influential Asian evangelists in our generation? There it is. What is he saying? Can you analyze this?

40:19 He is saying that there are true Christians who truly belong to Christ,

40:27 but who dare not confess him for what it may cost, but they are truly his nonetheless. I submit this is a downright perversion of the clear teaching of the word of God.

40:39 For the Lord Jesus Christ himself said in this very context, and I want you to turn to it so that you get it through the eye gate as well, as the ear gate in the eighth chapter of the gospel of Mark and verse 34.

40:58 And when he had called the people unto him, he is talking to the unregenerate masses as well as his own disciples. This is not a challenge to believers who are secret believers to confess him openly. This is a challenge to men who make no profession of being his disciples as well as those of the inner circle. Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

41:28 For whosoever will save his life, the man who says, no, I might run the risk of privation, of suffering, or of death if I confess Christ. Therefore, I will not take up the cross the way of suffering, the way of opposition, the way of rejection, the way of death, the way of shame. I will remain a secret disciple. I will save my life, my economic life, my social life, my personal life.

41:54 Jesus said, whoever would save his life shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. Notice, he must lose his life for my sake and the gospel's. If his adherence to the gospel means that he'll lose life, he clings even unto death.

42:13 For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Now notice verse 38. Whosoever therefore, the conclusion of the whole matter is this, whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his father with the holy angels.

42:43 Then will you turn please to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 11. It is a faithful, a faithful saying for if we be dead with him we shall live with him. If we suffer we shall reign.

43:08 If we deny him he also will deny us. Revelation chapter 2 verses 10 and 26 to show that this is not the isolated teaching of the gospels of the epistles but I've taken a specimen passage from the gospels from the epistles and now from the book of the revelation. Revelation 2.10 Fear none of these things which thou shalt not shalt suffer behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be trialed ye shall have tribulation ten days but you need not confess me and go to all that trouble you'll still be Christians and go to heaven stay secret disciples.

43:52 No, no. But though this will come prison tribulation death be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the crown of life verse 26 and to him that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end to him will I give power over the nations.

44:19 Beloved the word of God is clear that a true Christian who embraces the Lord Jesus with a God-given faith a man who truly loves Christ and the gospel is willing to suffer for that Christ and that gospel. John Hus one of the early martyrs prior to the Reformation said when the truth was leading him into a cleavage with a dear deep associate a fellow human being whom he loved deeply he said naming this man so and so is my friend the truth is my friend and both being my friends it is my sacred duty to give the first honor

45:03 to the truth. That's the voice of a Christian. Life is my friend I love life. Jesus Christ is my friend I love him.

45:17 But since Jesus Christ is God and his claims are for absolute committal even unto death I must show my allegiance to Christ even unto death. That's the voice of a Christian.

Call to Self-Examination and Perseverance in Coming Persecution

45:34 I wonder as we sit here this morning beloved if Paul could thank God for us.

45:41 Has our love for the truth been such that our embracing of it is not promises and submission to its precepts has led us into crucibles of suffering which we bear gladly for Jesus' sake.

45:57 What the crushing of flowers is in the production of perfume and the pressing of grapes in the making of wine and the plowing of soil to a fruitful harvest and pruning to a fruitful vine suffering and opposition are to the true children of God. As I close this morning I want to direct a very clear word to you sitting here this morning who are not in Christ Jesus. You've got a whole bunch of notions about Jesus Christ and the Bible and God floating around up here in your head but I want to ask you a very simple question this morning. Has that word come to you in such a way and have you embraced it as the very word of God so that the set of your heart is no matter

46:41 what allegiance to that word may bring by the grace of God it's not even up for debate. I shall cling to that word so help me God.

46:55 You who profess to be Christians I don't claim to be a prophet nor the son of a prophet but I believe the day is fast drawing to a close when we are going to live in this dream world of evangelical Christianity minus the bloodbath. I believe it's coming. The opposition to the Christian religion is getting more and more overt in subtle ways. I can see it as I try to read contemporary literature contemporary magazines a couple of so-called innocent clowns like the Smothers Brothers continually being censored by their off-hand slams at the Christian faith underhanded digs at the reality of Christianity.

47:37 It's coming from every angle unbelief and rejection of truth is getting more and more open and bold and the days when we'll be able to come in freedom and meet in a place like this I believe are numbered days and I find it very difficult to believe that a man who will not deny himself a Christian a couple hours of time to pray is ever going to be able to deny himself his very life to die for Christ. I find it very difficult to believe that the person who will not deny himself the creature ease of comfort to go out and confess Christ openly at a prison meeting will ever confess Christ unto death in the hour of trial. I just don't believe that you suddenly become a different person

48:20 when the persecution comes. Proof that we shall stand by the grace of God in that hour of trial is that in our present limited hours of trial we are experiencing the sustaining grace of God. For this cause Paul said we give thanks that you receive the word not only as the word of men but the word of God for you became followers of the churches in Judea in that you suffered of your countrymen even as they did of the Jews. Oh may God grant that we shall have such a revelation of Christ and the authority of his word that no matter how much it costs we shall cling to that word even unto death.

49:05 May God grant that this shall not simply be the empty mouthings of a religious enthusiast. I don't know what physical suffering is. I can't say I bear in my body the marks of Jesus Christ. I think I know a little bit something of the suffering of rejection the suffering of scorn and of ridicule.

49:28 I venture to say in this very assembly there are some who think that the poor pastor is rather extreme and erratic but I know this if by the grace of God I am not able to cling to his word as the word of God with a little bit of verbal abuse and a little bit of social pressure what makes me think that I shall stand in the hour when it's my life's blood itself. May God purge from us the anemic spineless bloodless kind of Christian profession that we are not that says

50:10 I cannot be baptized because it would cause me to lose my property but I will belong to Christ and I want you to know it. I cannot come out to prayer meeting because it might mean I'd have to put some other things aside but I belong to Christ and I want you to know it. Even though he has said men ought always to pray I cannot do what he says for you see it would mean inconvenience to me.

50:37 I cannot deny myself those things that I'd like in order to give to the work of God but I want you to know even though Christ has said seek first the kingdom and the things will be added I want to assure you I belong to Christ. You see it's very easy for us to throw stones at this poor young man deluded into thinking he truly belongs to Christ when he will not confess him saying if Christ speaks directly to my conscience beloved he's already spoken in his word and said if you will not confess me before men I'll not confess you before the Father in heaven he has already spoken believe and be baptized we need no further word from heaven. Oh may God grant that we shall see those areas of our own hearts where we are dodging at the word that we say we believe

51:21 to be the word of God but because it will mean suffering of some kind financial social some other kind we are not clinging to that word in the way of obedience. May God deal with us I couldn't begin to make the application but I believe the Holy Spirit will to every heart that pray search me oh God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting let us unite together in prayer