How Do We Handle Persecution? - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Think of this, this child was born to die. That's his purpose in life. Like we all have purposes and eventually I guess we all have to die, not this child. He was born to die.

That was the point. When he started his ministry, John the Baptist said what? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

That's who he is. He was predestined to die on a cross. So why did he die on the cross? Do you think Herod or Pilate or the Sanhedrin or the Gentiles could do it without God's consent?

No. And Peter said, I want to thank you, Lord. I just want to thank you. You are a sovereign, loving God.

That's what we need to do as well. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world. Does Peter have a history of bravery? Was he real brave? Was he at the crucifixion? Oh, no, no. Well, he must have had another appointment.

Oh, and the night before. How did he act? He is strong. No, he wasn't. Remember, he did three denials and he denied to who? To the Sanhedrin?

No, to servant girls. Three times. And the third time, he curses. I never knew that blankety-blank. What a coward.

Does this sound like a coward to you? I mean, think of it. You want the name? I'll tell you the name. Jesus.

Wait, I'm going to be clear you don't misunderstand. The Nazarene. Now they knew. You see, this isn't just Yeshua. This is Jesus the Nazarene. Oh, by the way, who you crucified. You think you want to tell the high priest in the Sanhedrin they crucified?

You see, they don't like this idea. He said, yeah, I just want to tell you that. Notice how aggressive he is. Who you crucified. And then God raised him from the dead. He said, by this name, this guy stands here in good health.

Then he does this. He said, he is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, by which he said became the chief cornerstone. That is Jesus. He quotes scripture to them. They've got to hate this. These guys are scribes and Sadducees.

They're expert on the Old Testament. He quotes Psalm 118. Oh, by the way, you know when the psalmist says that he's going to become the stone that you reject? He'll become the chief cornerstone.

That's what you did when you rejected him. This is unbelievable courage on his part. And then it gets even narrower. He says this, and there is salvation and no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Wow.

That's amazing when you think about it. There's no other name. You don't believe in Jesus.

You're not saved and you never will be. That's what he's telling them. He's telling them, oh, by the way, you're lost.

There's no other name given among men. Why would Peter say that? Well, didn't Jesus say in John, I am the way, the truth and the life? No one will come to the Father but through me. Not some of you will.

No one will. See, one of the problems we're having in our culture now as Christians, and one of the reasons we're going to be persecuted is real simple. Christianity is exclusive. Not because we made it exclusive, but because the Lord made it exclusive. You see, we live in a, we have an exclusive faith and an inclusive culture, and so our culture just hates it. Our culture's belief is pluralism.

That's what the culture believes. How many roads lead to heaven? All of them. They all lead to heaven. Everyone goes. Doesn't matter what you believe.

As long as you believe everybody gets to go, all roads lead to the same place. That's our culture. You say, no, that's not right. Well, then you're a hater. See, in this culture, you're a hater then. You're saying your way's the only way.

No, you misunderstood that. I wouldn't say, I'm not saying my way's the only way. My Lord said his way's the only way. I said that once to a professor at the University of Pittsburgh because he said I was being too exclusive, and I said I would never be exclusive.

Who am I? But the Lord Jesus Christ is, and I said I am the way, the truth and the life. And I said so if you have a problem, you have it with him.

Take it up with him. But don't say it's what I'm saying. I'm not saying that at all. But see, we live in a culture that says, no, Christianity's too narrow. Well, Jesus does say that in a way, but he said there's only two religions in the world. That's what Jesus says. One is broad. He said broad is the way that leads to the destruction, and many people find it.

Most people are going to find it. Narrow is the gate that leads to life, and only a few will find it. That's Jesus speaking. That's not me speaking. Listen, if it were up to me, I'd just let everybody in.

All right? But I'm not God. It doesn't work like that. And so that's what ends up happening here with Peter.

He says there's no other name you can give. This is the way that it exactly has to be. Wow. It says then, now as they observed with confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and they began to recognize them. Hey, these guys were with Jesus.

I love this. They noticed they were uneducated and untrained. The exact opposite of a Sadducee, who is highly educated. You see, the Sadducees are educated at Harvard. These boys are from the Ozarks. You see, who are these guys?

Heavy accent, Galilean, uneducated. And they're standing up in the temple, and they're preaching. They don't have any credentials.

They shouldn't even be allowed to do that. But there's still a problem. There was a guy in the lane for 40 years, and he's now walking.

What do we do? Everybody around the temple knows the guy. And so now they have this dilemma. Notice, they are amazed, but they're not saved. You can be amazed about Jesus, but not saved at all. And they're not.

Wow. So Peter sees this as an opportunity to confront them with the gospel. They would have never come to hear Peter speak anywhere. But they brought him in here, and he's going to have two cents. He's going to save what he believes.

Fourthly, be obedient to God at all costs. What's what happens? And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. You can't say, it's not a miracle. He's not really standing. He is standing, and everybody knows he's standing, and everybody knew for 40 years he never stood. So you can't say that.

That's a problem. It says, but when they had ordered them to leave the council, they began to confer with one another. They said, what should we do with these men, for the fact of a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them and is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem. We can't deny it. But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let's warn them to speak no longer to any man in his name. Let's threaten them. No more talking about Jesus. It's kind of funny.

You know what? I think they expected them to comply. The Sanhedrin is used to dictating orders, and everyone listens to it. No more talking about Jesus. And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said, whether it's right in the sight of God to give heed to you, or he said, rather than to God, how about you be the judge? Now, OK. Who should we listen to, you or God? Now, you decide. Should we listen to God, or should we listen to you?

I mean, this is an insulting place to be. How can they stand there and say, listen to me, not the God? He said, you decide. So Peter just confronts it again. He knew that could be something very fearful for him. And he says then, after they do that, he said, you be the judge, for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.

This is the first clue. We saw Jesus. We heard Jesus.

We can't stop speaking. Oh, by the way, we saw him resurrected from the dead. See, where did Peter get all his courage from? He saw him resurrected from the dead.

Wow. You think that changed your conviction any? It changed all theirs. We saw him resurrect from the dead.

He walked right through a wall. He said, peace be with you. So you think I'm going to be threatened by you? I'm going to lose my conviction about him.

I'm not. So they say that. And he says, when they had threatened them further, apparently some more threats, they let them go, finding no basis on which to punish them.

Now, why did they let him go? On account of the people. Now they know they'll have an insurrection. How many people around there know that man was an invalid for 40 years? Everybody.

How many know he's standing right in front of them now? Everybody. So who are they going to get blamed for this incident? Sadducees and the priests. He said, because they were all glorifying God for what had happened.

The people are going wild. Look at this man. He has 40 years. He goes on.

He said, for the man was more than 40 years old whom the miracle of the healing had been performed. So there was nothing they could do. Wow.

That's kind of an interesting thing. Now, what happens next? Peter and John go right to the body of believers. They go right back to fellow Christians. And they want to tell them what happened. Why would they want to tell them?

To encourage them. They know, both of them know, this is just the beginning of persecution. It's going to get a lot worse. And it did. But we want to tell you what happened. It says, when they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. And here we are.

That would be encouraging. Right up till now, this should surprise you a little. When you think of these three Turkish believers in a Muslim country, what happened to them? They had their throats lit. Right?

Wow. What happened to the Lord? What happened to Jesus? They mocked him, spit on him, slapped him around, put a crown of thorns on him, and nailed him to a cross, and he's dead. But it didn't happen here.

Why? Why didn't it happen here? Well, let's go in the sea. Verse 24. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, oh Lord, he said, it is you who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said, why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together and against the Lord and against this Christ. Now they're back quoting the Old Testament out of Psalms again.

You think, wait, what's this have to do with it? He said, God's people have always been persecuted. Always. Even when their name was Israel.

Always. That's why it says in Psalms, you know, why are the people futile in their thinking? Why are the Gentiles in an uproar?

What's going on? Well, think about it this way. Jesus said this. You're either for me or what? You're against me. That's your choice. You can be for them or against them.

It's up to you. It's always going to be that way. There are people in this world for Jesus and more people in this world against Jesus. And eventually when they can, the people who are against Jesus are going to persecute the people who are for Jesus. And that's exactly what's going to happen here.

We're a smaller and smaller minority all the time in the United States. Now watch, though. He said, for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod, Pontius Pilate, and with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. So who was against Jesus in Israel?

Well, he says, let me tell you. Herod was against them. Pontius Pilate was against them. The Gentiles were against them. And the people of Israel were against them. Everybody was against them. He says, to do, now what are they going to do?

Whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. So why was Jesus crucified? Because he was predestined to be crucified. You see, why have Peter and John gone free?

Because they're predestined at this time to go free. By the way, of the 12 disciples, 11 of them were martyred, including Peter. John's the only one who wasn't.

They all died. But his point that he's trying to make is that's up to God. You see, that's up to God to decide.

I say this every Christmas, but I always say Mary had a little lamb. Think of this. This child was born to die. That's his purpose in life. Like, we all have purposes, and eventually I guess we all have to die. Not this child. He was born to die.

That was the point. When he started his ministry, John the Baptist said what? Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

That's who he is. He was predestined to die on a cross. So why did he die on the cross? Do you think Herod or Pilate or the Sanhedrin or the Gentiles could do it without God's consent?

No. And Peter said, I want to thank you, Lord. I just want to thank you. You are a sovereign, loving God. You see, and I'm going to give you thanks for that.

And that's what the point is. He thanks God for being sovereign and for loving. That's what we need to do as well. And then the last one, verse 29. And now, Lord, take note of their threats and grant that your bondservants may speak your word with all confidence. While you extend your hand to heal, signs and wonders take place through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken, just like in Acts 2.

Now watch. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak the word of God with boldness. This is so often missing in today's culture, especially among modern Pentecost.

Why? What do the Pentecost say all the time? In Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit moved into the room, if you remember, and they all began to speak in what? Tongues, right? And that's the baptism of the Holy Spirit and that proves it. I don't know if that proves it at all.

Because notice here, the same thing happens. It says, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. I still remember a woman in Plano, Texas, when I was a student at the seminary. And she was always having this dilemma, but she said to me, I've got to tell you, you've just messed up all my thinking because she said, I've been coming to your Bible study for a long time. And she said, I've learned more about Christ than the word of God that I've ever known in my life. And she said, and not only have you not been baptized in the Holy Ghost and spoken in tongues, you deny it. You see, I would never do that. I said, well, so I could still be filled with the Spirit of God, right?

Just playing with her. And she said, well, how could you say that? I said, I just quoted that verse to her. It says that if you're filled with the Holy Spirit of God, you speak the word with boldness. Do I speak the word with boldness?

Oh, yeah. But see, we've said, no, no, it's got to have the experience of, that's not true, people. That's not true. You and I can speak the word of God with boldness. And this group, the whole group got a boldness shot, I guess, a boldness vaccine, if you will. You see, they all got it so that they could do it when the time is needed. That's the way this works.

So what you end up seeing here is that you see all of this sort of working together. Be submissive. Be dependent on the Holy Spirit. Be aggressive and seize an opportunity to share the gospel. Be obedient to God at all costs. Be committed to the other believers. Be thankful to a loving and sovereign God. And be dependent on God for more opportunities and boldness to speak. Persecution's coming.

And some of you are going to try to decide, can I avoid it for a while? And I'll tell you how. Do nothing for the Lord and say nothing about Him. You see, just blend in. Just blend in your office, blend in your neighborhood, blend in your family.

Just blend in and don't say anything. And it'll work. Dogs don't bark at parked cars. Do you ever notice that?

Car has to be moving. And that's what'll happen to you. You park your spirituality and they won't bark at you for a while. But eventually they may.

You see, that's the point. We can avoid it or we can embrace it. So what should I do? I should do what the disciples did. Live in the presence of Christ.

I mean, if you want to know something, if you want to be bold tomorrow, just be with Jesus today. Spend every day with Him. Focus on His grace. Focus on His words.

Talk and pray with Him. You see, the whole idea is that your relationship now with Christ that'll make a difference when you're persecuted. That's where your boldness will come from. Peter understood this. He wrote in his own epistle how to respond to persecution in 1 Peter 3. And I'm going to read Eugene Peterson's paraphrase because it's so pointed.

He writes this. Peter said, Don't give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Jesus your Master.

Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks you why you're living the way you are. And always do it with utmost courtesy. That's just a summation of what happened in Acts.

Peter said, yeah, that's the way we should act. And it still is true all over the world today as it was then. The final example is a Chinese believer named Zhu Yonghai. And he's a Christian living in a Communist China. He decided in order to try to help the cause, he went to the government and asked the government if they would legalize house churches. Their answer was pretty simple. They locked them in a Beijing prison.

And it turned out for 24 months. But where they locked them up was the place that we would call death row. That's where they put them. It says his cell was eight feet by eight feet. It had no windows, no door with a window, and a very dim light. That's all it had. It had a hole in the corner in the concrete. And sometimes it would back up and go all over the floor.

That was the only drainage system in it. Anyway, he said my cell happened to be a last stop for prisoners who were sentenced to die. He said at times there were as many as three other prisoners in the tiny, damp room that I lived in, all of them awaiting their date with the executioner. Young guys survived, though, and they asked him, how did you survive this? Well, first of all, because God wanted him to. He thought for sure he was there to be executed.

They had told him that. But he said, I survived through prayer, meditation, and writing on the walls of my cell. He wrote the major points for a book about God on his walls. He did it with a bar of soap.

Couldn't imagine Chinese in a bar of soap on a dark prison wall, but he did it. Once he finished, he committed all those thoughts to memory. And upon his release, he turned his prison thoughts into a 50,000-word book called God the Creator.

He wrote the book. He said, like Peter and John, Yongi tarried in the presence of Jesus, and he found strength. And courage always comes when we spend time in the Lord's presence.

You see, the three men in Turkey gave their life. This Chinese believer set there to be executed with spirit, all because of a loving God who is sovereign over everything. So the question comes down, will I be bold tomorrow? And the only answer, and I know God's grace is sufficient when the time comes, but the only way you can have any answer at all is what's your relationship like today with Jesus? Because how you react with Jesus today is how bold you'll be if your time comes.

Let's pray. Father, persecution is something we don't like to think about, but I think it's time we do here, because it's coming, and it's okay. Every time there has been persecution, the Church has grown anywhere in the world that the persecution exists. Even the early Church, with all of the deaths and all the persecution, won the Roman Empire over to Jesus Christ.

Tertullian, the Church father, said that the seed of the Church is the blood of the martyrs, and it's a true fact. And so when persecution comes our way, I pray we're prepared. I'm prepared to have a bold speech and a peace beyond all understanding as we serve our risen Lord Jesus Christ. I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. And you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana, 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .