Try to get you all riled up like, oh well it's not for the gospel's sake.
Okay, well let's just think about some people that suffered
not for the gospel's sake, which I disagree that it was for the gospel,
but the accusation they bring is not directly related. Let's just see.
How about John the Baptist? What was it that got his head chopped off?
Oh, because he was preaching the law at Herod, saying it was not lawful for him to have
his brother's wife.
And also another proof text that the Old Testament law was not just for the Jews.
So I don't know if you realize this, Herod's not a Jew.
Because the law's for everyone. There's only one God,
there's only one law giver, and there's only one law,
and we're all bound to it, whether you like it or not.
And he was preaching against Herod for being a wicked
adulterer, being in a relationship that he shouldn't be in,
and because of preaching against adultery, he got his head chopped off.
But it's also for the gospel's sake. How about Jesus Christ himself?
What was the accusation? Hey Jesus, stop coming up here preaching the death-bound
resurrection.
No, no, no. They said it was for blasphemy. They said it was because he was going to destroy the
temple,
inciting some violence, you know? Oh man, this guy's inciting a lot of violence.
Go to Luke chapter 23. Let's look at one of the accusations they brought against the Lord
Jesus Christ
himself. And of course, Jesus had all manner of blasphemy.
They said he was filled with devils, you know? He's performing miracles
by the power of the devil.
They're blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Whenever the
Jews bring him to Pilate, they're like, okay, so what did he do?
Well, if he were not a malefactor, we would not have brought him unto you.
Okay, so what did he do? I already told you he's a bad guy.
Come on. Believe us. We're Jews. We don't lie.
Pilate's like,
yeah, okay, whatever. Luke 23, look at verse 14.
Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me
as one that perverted the people.
Notice what the accusation was against Jesus Christ,
that he had perverted the nation. Oh, he's a pervert.
But wait a minute. Jesus Christ is the truth. Jesus, he can't pervert anything.
I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Oh, how did he pervert the nation?
By healing everyone? By preaching the truth to everyone?
By exposing all the wicked ravenous wolves
known as the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the lawyers?
Of course, then what do they label him as a pervert? But you know who's the real
pervert? The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the lawyers,
and Pilate, and Herod. Herod is sleeping
with his brother's wife. Talk about a pervert.
Talk about someone that's perverted the nation, the Jews,
but then they project their sin, they project their insecurities
onto the Lord Jesus Christ, and they say he's a blasphemer.
They're the blasphemers. They say he's a pervert. They're the perverts.
They say he's a malefactor. They're the malefactors.
And you know, it's the same thing.
When people attack your pastor, of course they're not going to get up and say,
oh, Pastor Mejia is helping people with their marriage,
and Pastor Mejia is praying at night for people
so that they'll be healed, and Pastor Mejia is staying up, you know,
all night to console people that have lost a loved one.
Oh, and Pastor Mejia is going door-to-door and trying to get people saved and pull them out of the fire.
They're not going to bring that up.
Oh, this guy is a pervert, a malefactor, an evil, an arailer.
They're going to make all manner of false accusation against him.
Oh, this guy is so hateful.
You know, I've been here for a few days. I haven't experienced anything I hate yet.
It's been a lot of love. It's been a lot of, you know, honor and respect.
And I mean, as I've heard, I'm like the worst guy ever.
So I mean, I just can't even believe how nice he is to me.
I mean, if you actually brought in a really nice pastor, like a good pastor,
I mean, I can't imagine how nice you treat them.
This is foolishness, my friend.
You know, you're going to have, if you have a New Testament church,
you're going to have a lot of trauma.
But let me tell you something.
When you get all those false accusations labeled against you,
when you get all those attacks, you're like Christ.
And Christ looks down from heaven and says, look, here's a guy
that's willing to suffer a lot of hate for me.
He's willing to suffer a lot of evil for me.
This guy is willing to stand with me and to be like me and follow in my example.
And you know what? That gives glory to God.
That gives glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.