Hello everybody, it's me, MrTaul23, back with another video.
In this video, I want to talk about the topic of persecution and hate for preaching Christ and being a Christian.
Unfortunately, this is just a fact of the Christian faith.
It will face a lot of trials in our life, and it will face a lot of opposition to the truth and preaching God's Word.
Thankfully, I and many others live in a nation, the United States,
where there are few limits to preaching and defending the Word of God and being a Christian.
Now, that being said, there have been many more examples of restrictions placed on sharing the truth of the Gospel in recent years.
And as we know from the Book of Revelation, it will only get worse as the New World Order comes into existence.
And then, of course, the US isn't the only country in the world.
There's Christians all over the world who are persecuted for their faith,
and so are missionaries who are sent out to other countries and places to preach the Gospel.
So let's examine what the Bible says about persecution and how we should face it.
I want to make three points today.
First, I want to point out that we will be persecuted if we are doing God's will.
It's just a fact of being a Christian. It's something that will happen. The Bible promises it.
Expect persecution. Expect opposition.
Now, it might not come today. It might not come tomorrow.
But as you grow in your faith and as you continue to obey the commandments of God and to do God's will,
and you start doing more great works for God, people will start to hate you and fight against you.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, verse 12,
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Now, that's a promising verse, using the word shall to give us assurance of persecution.
It's not you might face persecution. If you live godly in Christ Jesus, you will face persecution.
That is a fact. If we obey the will of God and we live godly, that is what we will face.
Now, there are some Christians who may be saved, but who still live in a sinful life,
who don't obey the commandments of God, and the world doesn't see their change.
They don't see the change in their lives.
The world doesn't go after them because they think that that person's one of them, that that person's of the world.
But if you decide to obey God's will and you do what he says, you will suffer persecution.
The Bible says in 1 John 3, 13, Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
So it's not something that we need to be surprised about. It's not something we marvel about.
That's why the New Testament talks about it so much, talks about persecution.
When the Jews persecuted the early churches, followed by the Romans and the other nations,
where the apostles went to preach the gospel, they were not caught off guard.
They expected persecution because that's what Jesus told them would happen to them.
Nobody ever said it would be easy to follow Christ.
Nobody ever said it would be easy to preach the gospel and to win other people to him.
We're going to suffer trials because Satan and his sons hate the truth.
Now it says in Matthew chapter 10 verse 17 to 18,
But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues.
And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
John chapter 15 verse 19 to 20 says,
If ye were of the world, the world would love its own, but because ye are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember the word that I said unto you, the serving is not greater than is Lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
So the servant is not greater than his master.
During Jesus' ministry, he always faced opposition.
He always faced persecution.
At nearly every point, the Pharisees accused him of blasphemy or heresy,
and they tried to lay their hands on him to execute him.
How of course that ended in his crucifixion, but even before his crucifixion,
there are many times when the Pharisees and the Sadducees and other groups of that day try to attack Jesus and they failed.
People cursed him, people hated him, so because of that, they'll especially hate his followers, you and me, who are Christians.
The Bible says we wrestle against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world.
So be prepared to face some sort of opposition if you go out and preach the gospel,
if you go out and serve Christ and do what he has commanded, if you are his follower, that is what you should expect.
Now the second point is that we need to understand that this is not a bad thing, this is a good thing.
It's not something which we should worry about.
The thought of people hating us, of people fighting against us and giving tribulation might seem frightening to us at first because of our flesh,
but we need to keep in mind that it's for a good cause, for it's for the cause of following God,
and it means that we're doing right in the eyes of God.
Remember what 2 Timothy 3 verse 12 said,
All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Now facing persecution shows that you're doing something right, it shows that you're serving God.
The Bible also says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 10 to 12,
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which are before you.
And in Luke chapter 6 verse 22 Jesus said,
Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake.
So Jesus pronounces that you are blessed if the world hates you, if they have some opposition towards you because you're a Christian.
If somebody speaks evil against you or persecutes you or attacks you or lies about you for the sake of Christ,
God is blessing you because you've taken obedience to the level where such a thing would happen in the first place.
You fulfill God's will in preaching God's word and the gospel without fear.
You're blessed when that happens.
So if you lose friends and family or co-workers because of your decision to follow the Christian life,
don't worry about it, don't sweat about it because that's what men say and do doesn't matter.
We're following God.
God is our Father, God is our Lord.
We should follow him and not care about what man does to us.
To God you are blessed.
The Bible says further in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 16 to 17,
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear,
having a good conscience that whereas they speak ill of you as evildoers,
they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ,
for it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evildoing.
Now this passage gives a scenario in which we would face sufferings,
that we give an answer to men who are asking of our hope.
So when somebody notices the differences about you,
when they notice your hope and your love for God,
be ready to share your testimony, be ready to share the gospel,
to share it with them so that they can get saved.
And the Bible ties us in again with doing good,
that if you do good, men will persecute you.
And when you do these good things in the name of God and show forth your good conscience,
and when somebody attacks you for your beliefs,
they will be the ones who put to shame because you're doing what God has commanded you to do.
Now that's contrasted with facing sufferings for evildoings.
Now in that case it's not persecution from the world,
that's God's discipline, that's God's chastisement upon his children.
When God does that you're facing the curses of God for disobeying his commands.
But it's better than if you obey God's will to preach the gospel and to stand up for his word,
and to face the wrath of Satan instead because in that case you are blessed,
again according to the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain.
And in the end you will be the one who wins in that scenario I guess.
Like if somebody persecutes you, they don't want to hear the gospel,
well you're already saved and you'll receive the rewards in heaven for doing so,
as Jesus promised us in Matthew chapter 5 verse 12.
It says, great is your reward in heaven.
Another passage which gives us hope,
which shows us how we should react to the face of persecutions in the very next chapter from the passage I just read.
In 1 Peter chapter 4 it says in verse 12 to 14,
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you,
as though some strange thing happened unto you,
but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings,
that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
If ye be reproached for the name of Christ,
happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you,
on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God unto this behalf.
Now this is telling us what kind of emotional reaction we should have.
Now we've seen already from scripture that we are blessed,
that we should remain in a good conscience,
but now it says that this should make you happy.
It says that we should rejoice in persecution and glorify God when that happens.
So that's what the martyrs have always done,
and that's what they did in the early church and throughout all of history.
They glorified God in the face of tribulation.
And they did so for the same reason that Jesus gave,
because blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you.
So don't be ashamed, don't be afraid,
don't be disheartened because you know, or you should know at least,
that as a Christian that God is on your side.
It says in Acts 5 29, we ought to obey God rather than men.
Or in Matthew 10 28 where it says,
Fear not them which are able to kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.
Look, an almighty holy God which we serve,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
that's more frightening than men.
They can't kill your soul, they can only kill your body.
They can do things to you, but whatever they can do to you
is a lot milder than what God can do to you.
So we ought to obey the Lord and obey His commandments
and endure the suffering which comes along with it,
because we know that in the end, for our great works of preaching
and teaching the Bible, we will receive rewards in heaven.
Now the third and final thing I want to talk about in this video
is that when we are persecuted,
not only should we understand that we are blessed
and that we are under the will of God,
but we should know how to react to those who persecute us.
What should we do to them?
How should we respond to somebody who persecutes us?
We already know that we need to be happy and we need to rejoice
in the face of persecution and glorify God.
But what do we do about those who revile us and fight against us and hurt us?
Well the Bible says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 44,
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you, and pray for them
which despitefully use you and persecute you.
In Romans chapter 12 verse 14 it says,
Bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not.
1 Peter chapter 3 verse 8 to 9.
Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another.
Love us, brethren, be pitiful, be courteous,
not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing,
or contrarized blessing, knowing that ye are there unto call,
that ye should inherit a blessing.
So what does the Bible say?
It teaches that we shouldn't act as the world does
and fight back against people who persecute us.
If somebody curses you, bless them.
If somebody strikes you, turn them the other cheek.
Don't hit them back.
If somebody puts you in prison or attacks you for your beliefs,
pray for them.
Pray that they come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
That they might come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved.
Not everybody is an enemy of God.
Not everybody is somebody who has hardened their heart
to the point where they can't be saved.
Many of those who will persecute you are just deceived.
They're sinners who are in need of a savior,
and returning evil for evil isn't going to change their mind about anything.
All that's doing is just putting them in danger of dying
or, I guess, hardening their hearts even more
so they don't even want to listen to you.
Think about Saul of Tarsus, who was later called Paul.
He persecuted the early church.
It wasn't because he hated the truth.
It was because he was deceived, because he was ignorant.
He wasn't aware of the gospel.
But he got saved and he turned to one of the greatest missionaries in history.
He got a lot of people saved.
He started a lot of churches.
He went out through all of Asia Minor and Greece and over to Rome.
He started a lot of churches.
He got a lot of people saved through his preaching.
He even wrote a lot of the books of the New Testament.
Before he was a Christian, he persecuted the church.
He persecuted people.
So you never know what kind of the person is who persecutes you.
You never know if you return good to them and don't render evil for evil.
You never know if they might get saved and they might do great works for God.
They might also fulfill God's will and go out and preach the gospel
if you just bless them and pray for them
and repay them with good instead of evil.
And doing so will convict them.
So in summary, if we live godly in Christ Jesus, we will face persecution.
And when it comes, we shouldn't be sorrowful, we shouldn't be dejected,
but we should rejoice and understand that God is with us, that we're blessed,
and we should therefore glorify God.
And those who hate us, we should bless and pray for
and not return evil to them when they attack us, when they lie about us,
when they revile us.
We should do good things unto them.
We should not return evil for evil.
Now as a closing, I want to briefly talk about my own experiences with persecution.
I have faced opposition for the gospel before from my family,
from former friends, and from just other people which I've interacted with.
And although nothing major has happened yet,
I have been reviled, I haven't lied about, and even threatened.
For example, there's a Mormon kid at my school
where I tried sharing the gospel with one time,
and he didn't end up getting saved,
but his friend, who was another Mormon, threatened me
because of what I said and constantly curses me
whenever I talk about how their religion preaches a false gospel.
Now, there's another incident which happened recently
in which somebody I tried sharing the gospel with
falsely accused me of harassing them,
and I almost got into big trouble with that.
So, things like that happen not really on a day-to-day basis,
but every once in a while something like that happens.
But I've learned not to worry about it,
not to make such a big fuss about it because it's to be expected.
I mean, it can't be helped. It's something that's going to happen.
That's what the Bible promises.
We ought to obey God rather than men and not fear what men can do to us,
but we should obey the will of God and go out and preach the gospel.
Even when there are people who persecute you,
and even when those who persecute you are people who you've known and loved in the past,
if they're hostile to the truth, we just ought to separate from them.
You know, we're on God's side.
We shouldn't be on anybody else's side. We shouldn't love the world.
The Bible says that whoever is a friend of the world is an enemy of God in James 4.
So, everybody out there, have boldness when preaching the gospel.
I have another video planned for next week which goes a little bit more in detail with that,
but this video is mainly about persecution and facing persecution.
Don't worry about it. It's going to happen.
Just understand that you're blessed and that God is on your side.
So, thank you everybody for watching and goodbye.