As you're being seated if you would turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21 as we continue to study together what has been called the Olivet Discourse. This is a block of teaching from Jesus that we have in the Gospels and here in Luke 21 we find Luke's account of this discourse which concerns future events, importance of judgment that is to come. And we'll take as our text this morning verses 10 through 19. Verses 10 through 19. Then he said to them, nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences, and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake, but not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives." Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father God, we thank you that you do prepare us for a future which, from our perspective, is very uncertain. And this morning, our future feels uncertain indeed, as we in our nation are days away from learning of the outcome of a presidential election which will determine the overall trajectory and direction that our our nation takes in the coming years. And many of us are very concerned about this and the aftermath of the election and so it's all uncertain. We don't know. Polls are notoriously inaccurate and we are not privy to special revelation about the future other than what you've given us in your word. And for this we're thankful that you do give us not perhaps what we would like to know about the future and every detail filled in for us. But God you tell us what we need to know and what is beneficial for us both to live for you in this world of uncertainty and to live for you in such a way that we are not filled with anxiety and are able to live without the fear of man but only to fear you. and to be confident about the future, whatever may come. Pray that you give us the right kind of perspective and Christian and biblical worldview. We pray that you would exalt Jesus in our church, that we would, when we think of the future, that our hope would not be in our knowledge of future events or anything, but Christ himself, because we do confess that he is coming again, and that is our blessed hope as your people, and we look forward to that day. Pray all of this in Christ's name. Amen. What is persecution exactly? We see in our text here that Jesus warns us about coming persecution. Persecution is when your Christianity costs you. It is costly Christianity. It is when professing faith in Christ has negative real-world implications And that may be, as Jesus leads us to expect here, this may be up to and including violence that's done to our persons. We may actually give our lives to the cause of Christ. And for professing faith in him and for living publicly for him, our commitment to his church, to his kingdom, to his cause in this world, we may actually suffer violence and give our lives. But of course, there are all kinds of of other ways that we might be persecuted, and some of those are also mentioned here. Jesus tells us that we will be hated, and that we'll be hated by all. We should expect a sort of universal hatred, that mankind, broadly speaking, will hate us to some degree or another. And for most of us, we've lived in, as far as our persecution is concerned, we've lived in a bubble of safety and comfort. We live in a time in the history of the world in which Christianity has been so influential in society for a certain number of years that actually Christians have been well-treated and have actually been privileged in certain ways. Well, that time has passed, of course, but in our own lifetimes, in the lifetimes of our parents and grandparents, Christianity has been influential. Persecution has been minimal, at least here in the United States where we live. But the experience of the church around the world throughout time and today is opposition to the things we believe, to our manner of life, to our worship, our practice of worship. And this may lead to anywhere from hatred, opposition, and ostracism, being socially unacceptable to the confiscation of property, violence being done to our persons. And so persecution is when Christianity costs you. It's costly Christianity. Professing faith in Christ will have, Jesus tells us to expect this, will have negative real world implications. But I wonder, are you ready for this? Do you expect this? And how do you, it's one thing to know that perhaps you'll pay a price for being a Christian, but how do you respond to that? Because there are good ways, there are bad ways to respond to this kind of costly Christianity. We need to understand what the Bible calls us to and make up our minds that we will respond in the way that we're expected to as believers. Because things are getting worse, not better. The Bible speaks of, as we think about the history of redemption, really all of the history of time and eternity, they're really just two H's of mankind. There's the present age of man that goes from the beginning when God created mankind all the way through until Jesus comes again and splits open the sky, descends from heaven with great fanfare, with a trumpet blast and a shout, and when their angels and God in the person of Christ comes for both the purpose of judgment and salvation, to judge those who are among the wicked, who have rejected Christ, and to save those who are trusting in him, who will be raised to new life. We have this present evil age, the Bible calls it, and there's the age to come throughout the New Testament. We've seen this even in the past chapter in Luke's gospel, where Jesus talks about those who are given in marriage. And this is just in the passage that comes immediately before ours in Luke 20, starting in verse 27. There's a question about marriage and Jesus responds, the sons of this age, Jesus sort of understands history being divided into these two ages. The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. So there's a dividing line. The dividing line is Christ coming again and only those who are worthy to attain to that age will enter into it and the rest will be judged. at the end of time. And so this is the overall presentation of the Bible, that there are these two ages. And the present age of man in which we now live, it is and will be soon destroyed by fire. And the world that is to come, the new heavens and the new earth will be ushered in and Christ will bring his people into that age to come. But the Bible uniformly describes this age and this world as evil, as being under the dominion of Satan, and as passing away. Well, that's important for our perspective on things, because if we think if only the church can do a better job, if only God will send revival to our nation, if only the church can do a better job in its witness, there's certain things that maybe we could do, and things would turn around, and of course, Christ guarantees the success of the mission of His Church. He will build His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And so, as we seek to make disciples for Christ, to preach Christ and Him crucified, as we urge those who are lost and in sin to throw themselves upon the mercy of Christ and call out to Him in faith that He might save them. That's our mission, our purpose, to preach the Gospel. enable us to succeed in this. He's the one that's going to, he's backing up our mission. He is providing our support and he is going to cause it to succeed. But that is nothing to say anything about our security, our comfort, the direction in which our nation is heading, and there's really no indications in scripture that everything will turn around and move in a better direction. Maybe things will get a little better and then a little worse. But the overall trend in the Bible is that things are getting worse. This is an evil age under the dominion of Satan. It's passing away. The things will not be getting better by and large. Things are going to get much worse both in terms of moral evil, we see that, the violence, the way that Jesus describes it here is signs in the sun and moon and stars, the earth, and on the earth distress of nations, and perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves. All of these signs of the times. Back in verse, that was in verse 25, in verse 10, nation will rise against nation. So some of this is the moral evil of people who do wrong. They sin and they commit these acts of evil. Nations rising against nations, kingdom against kingdom, and There are these terrors back in verse 9, wars and tumults. Tumults is a word that has to do with social unrest and upheavals, riots and so forth. So some of it is moral evil. Some of it is what we might call natural evil, natural disasters which cause untold devastation. people lose their lives because of this. And this isn't a part of God's original design for creation. It is a result of the fall. We don't think of that as sin, because a person is not committing it, but it is evil. It's evil in the natural world. And so all of this is just increasing, and it causes us a great deal of distress. And in the midst of all of this, Jesus has some things that He's teaching us to experience. to expect certain things and to prepare us for what's to come in the future, distressing as it may be, in what we've already considered in Luke 21 in verses five through nine, the first thing that he says as a matter of first priority is, see that you're not led astray. Because one thing about uncertain times, people lose their minds. You see this whenever, you saw this in the hurricane recently, where I heard several people talk about waiting in line to get gas and other people running across the street with cans of gasoline and cutting people off and, you know, just starting to act really foolish and acting wickedly because they kind of go on in a panic. So troubling times, uncertain times can make people act differently. And Jesus wants us to expect these things so that we're not led astray, that we're not prone to trust in false saviors as we considered last week, that we're not given to a fearful spirit, but that we keep our heads about us and we live for the glory of Christ no matter what our external circumstances are, no matter how dire our circumstances may be. As we look at verses 10 through 19, here Jesus says that in the midst of all of these things that we see that happen in the end, or all of the evil that's a part of this present evil age, that sooner rather than later, in fact, evil is going to intersect with us. You may feel like that you're in a position of safety. and that you've got, you're well prepared for whatever comes, to defend yourself or your home, or you're prepared to outlast the next natural disaster that comes. But sooner or later, evil will find you of whatever kind. And Jesus says here in verse 10, all these things are gonna happen But he says here in verse 12, before all this, in the midst of all this, before all this, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. And so this is something that we ought to expect. And what does Jesus tell us? about this, how are we to prepare? And there's three things I want to show you here, the time we've got left. The first is, we see here our profession of faith in verse 13. He says, this will be your opportunity to bear witness. So there, first of all, there are two responses that we might give to persecution. When things get bad, when Christianity begins to cost us, Now there are two responses that we might have. One of the responses may be to minimize our discomforts, to minimize the negative consequences of our faith, that we can downplay all of this and that way it doesn't cost us so much. Well Christianity becomes easy if you just never speak of Christ openly. If you never practice your faith, if you never attend church services together and encourage the saints and pray for them and let other people know that your hope is in Christ, well Christianity becomes very easy. And it's not very costly at all because, well, the reality is no one knows you're a Christian. Well, is that an option for Christians? No. Jesus says, settle it in your mind not to meditate beforehand how to answer. He goes on to say this, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. Verse 13, this will be your opportunity to bear witness. So as we face persecution, we need to remember that Christ will for us is to profess our faith. And as Christians, the more that we're persecuted, the more clear and bold, obviously we're gonna have to be, and courageous, because it takes more guts to profess faith in Christ when we know that there's going to be a cost. And yet, Jesus is saying it's an opportunity, though, to do the very thing that your flesh wants you to pull back from doing. and that is to profess your faith in Christ, to actually profess that Jesus is Lord. So that is the first way in which we prepare for persecution is we see it coming, we know that we're going to pay a cost for being a Christian, and yet we consider our profession of faith. We make sure that there's not a part of us that is whispering our prayers out in public because we don't want other people to hear us to give thanks for our food because we know that Christians are really thought poorly. Man, this is, you ever catch yourself whispering when you say something that you don't want other people hearing? You know, you're talking about a sensitive topic, one that maybe is not politically correct or Something that you just don't want to, and you kind of, you find yourself just whispering suddenly. And there are lots of Christians that they don't, sort of unknowingly, but you see this, they begin talking about their faith and they do that. It's hushed tones. It's, I'm going to talk lower. out to eat lunch with somebody as a pastor, pray before the meal, talk about our faith, you know, have a good encouraging conversation, but I noticed the other person may start to talk, whisper, and talk more softly because of this. Well, that is, I think it ultimately, it may not be conscious, but it's a fear of man. And it's knowing, in the back of our minds, being a Christian is less socially advantageous than not being a Christian. So I'm going to sort of quiet this profession of faith down instead of using this as an opportunity. So there's our profession of faith. We see this in verses 10 through 13. And then what we see is that by professing our faith, yes, we put ourselves in the crosshairs of the evil one. And we put ourselves in the crosshairs of those who hate our faith or who despise our faith. And so it's going to require that we persevere. We see our perseverance commanded, our perseverance in the faith commanded in verses 16 and 17. Skipping over what Jesus says in verses 14 and 15 for a moment, we see what he encourages us to in verses 16 and 17. He says there, you will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends. And some of you will be put to death. But notice what he says at the end in verse 19, by your endurance you will gain your lives. So nevertheless, Jesus knows this. He's sending us out into a world. He knows full well the implications of what he's doing. He knows the assignment that he's given us. Don't think that Jesus doesn't know the consequences of that profession of faith and that public witness that he's calling you to, he knows it. He himself has paid a very high cost. And so he knows the suffering that comes with speaking the truth. And yet, he is calling you not only to speak publicly and to bear witness, but he's calling you to persevere in this. Because this life is a marathon. It's not a sprint to the finish line. It is a marathon. It is what one Christian author called a long obedience in the same direction. It is requiring us to plod. There are certain people who can make a great effort all at once. And the parable of the sowers gives us examples of this, of someone who perhaps shows a little fruit in their life. It springs up quickly, but then it's gone. Anybody can make a quick, sudden, intense effort. And yet what God is calling us to is to plod, to steadily live out our Christian faith, to read and study our Bibles, to be much in prayer, intercessory prayer, to be committed to the life of the church and to the worship of God's people, worship and ministry of the church. and just over the course of however many years the Lord gives us to persevere in the faith. And this is a command that we have. In fact, this command is tied in with our gaining of eternal life. By this endurance you will gain your life. In verses 18 and 19, salvation is mentioned here. Not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you'll gain your life. We're not talking about our earthly and physical life. It can't be. Because in verse 16, he said that some of you will be put to death. He's thinking of something more than just physical earthly life, something greater than that, eternal life, life in the age to come, those who are worthy to attain to that age, to heaven, to glory, to be with God forever, throughout eternity. And how will we get there? How will we gain this eternal life? Well, it's going to be by your endurance. We have to be careful here because we might confuse Jesus' meaning and think that somehow our salvation hinges on our own performance of obedience to God or good works, as if that's what it takes to be saved. That's not what he's saying. But what he is saying is that part of the fruit of salvation, good works, endurance in the faith. And so that when we're saved, no one who is ultimately saved will be saved apart from good works and apart from endurance, perseverance in the faith. But these things are, they're fruits of God's Spirit and it's His work within us. I think this much is clear by what else he says here. This is one of the passages that we have in the Bible, in the New Testament in particular, where two things are held together. in close proximity. And one of these things is our perseverance in the faith. We're called to persevere. Think about what Paul says in Philippians, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. It's not saying work for your salvation, but he is saying work out your salvation because someone who is genuinely saved, has been chained for the power of God, has put their faith in Christ, and will inevitably live a life that is full of good works. And we'll do what Paul encourages them to do in Philippians chapter 2 is to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. But what else is Paul saying context there? It's not just a call to persevere in the faith. but it is a reminder that we are being preserved in the faith, for it is God who works in you, both the willing to work for his good pleasure. And likewise here, we see in verses 14 and 15 and in verse 18, a reminder that together with the efforts that we're called to make, to endure in our profession of faith, God is going to preserve us and keep us and guard us. It will be his work within us ultimately that causes us to persevere. Look with me again at verses 14 and 15. He already begins to hint at it here. He says, Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer. You're going to have an opportunity to bear witness. This verse has been badly misused, for example, by preachers who use this as an excuse not to prepare their sermons. It's just more godly to get up and just shoot from the hip and just to say whatever comes to mind. patently false. It's not what Jesus is saying here. It is wrong. If you ever have a preacher who does that, you need to string him up, you know, and drag him out and fire him. You know, Peter says very clearly that we're to be ready, always ready. We're always to be prepared to give a defense for the hope that's within us. And a preacher, in order to preach the counsels of the Word of God and not just to give his own thoughts and interesting anecdotes, must study so that he knows the mind of Christ and can give that to you rather than his own opinions and ideas. Preparation is necessary. What Jesus is saying here is, prepare to give a defense, know the Word of God, study the gospel, make sure that you're somewhat practiced at explaining the truth. That's a good thing for all of us to be able to explain the truth. It gives us hope. And yet what he says is, when you are, the language he uses in verse 12 is when They lay their hands on you and deliver you up to the synagogues and prisons. You're brought before kings and governors for my namesake. When persecution falls upon you suddenly and there's no time to prepare a defense and to actually speak for Christ, don't worry about it. You trust in Christ and you speak the truth that you have long studied and you've treasured up in your heart, that you have loved so well and so greatly, and you speak and God will give you the words that you need to say in that moment. And you don't have to worry that your witness will fall flat. We see this throughout the book of Acts, example after example. I think about All of the examples we have in the book of Acts of the apostles being thrown into prison and brought before authority figures. And they're persecuted, they're beaten, and they're killed. Stephen, and yet Stephen didn't have an opportunity to prepare a sermon. None of these men had an opportunity to prepare a message. And yet they spoke the truth that was in their hearts and God gave them grace. Well, what this is is a promise that although God is calling us to persevere in the faith and to be willing to go public with our faith and bear witness to the gospel, he's saying here, but I'm going to be with you. I'm not leaving you alone. Ultimately, when you don't have time to prepare, when you feel like you're taken by surprise and you have nothing to give and there's no eloquence there and there's nothing written down, and you're beaten, and you're weak, and you're imprisoned, and you're at the point of death, I will give you the grace you need to do the things that I'm calling you to do. And ultimately in verse 18, we have this, these are two sides of one coin almost. These pair of verses 18 and 19. Jesus promises, not a hair of your head will perish. It's just a promise. This isn't contingent upon anything. He is just saying, you will be hated. He says, be comforted by this, that no harm will come of you. How can Jesus promise, just unilaterally make this promise? This isn't a reward that's contingent upon your obedience. It is just like all of the promises of the gospel. It is just pure promise that is given to you. Jesus will ensure that you are kept, that your soul is guarded. Man can put your body to death, but cannot touch your eternal soul. And so you shouldn't fear the one that can kill the body only, but cannot touch the soul. Fear God alone. And know that this God, if you have faith in Jesus, will prevent you from perishing. And that by your endurance, you'll gain your lives. But here's the comfort of that. And then when we read it in this perspective, we realize, God is with me. He's not going to allow me to fall, to apostatize, to totally abandon my faith. He is going to ensure that I will endure to the end so that as I work out my salvation with fear and trembling, as I make great efforts to obey Him and to worship Him and to bear witness, and I face the cause, He will give me the grace to endure all that so that I'm able to persevere. It's the preservation of our faith by God alone. So there's perseverance on the one hand, but there's the preservation of our faith on the other that comes from God. This is a great comfort to us. I don't know what's going to happen this week in our presidential election. I don't know if this is the last presidential election that any of us will ever vote in. I don't know if there'll be a hundred more presidential elections. I don't know if Jesus is coming back before Tuesday, or if it'll be a thousand years before he comes again. But I know this, and Jesus doesn't seem to be too concerned with these things either. He mentions them, all of these things will happen. Wars, tumults, nations, kingdoms, earthquakes, famines, but the end will not be at once. And before all that, here's what something is more important. It's your profession of faith, your endurance in the Christian life. And believer, if you are trusting in Christ, then He will give you the grace to do this for His sake. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.