Sermon Tone Analysis

Important Instructions from Jesus Our King (Part 2)

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 10:17-23

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared February 6, 2022)

MESSAGE:

*In Matthew 10, Jesus was about to send His Apostles out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

The Lord commanded them to preach that the kingdom of Heaven was at hand.

And to confirm this vital message, Jesus gave the Apostles the power to perform mighty miracles in His name.

*The Lord also filled this chapter with important instructions that still apply to His followers today.

1. FIRST IN TODAY'S SCRIPTURE, THE LORD WANTS US TO BE AWARE OF OUR ADVERSARIES.

*Jesus warned us about 3 groups of people who tend to persecute believers: Christ-rejecting religious leaders, ungodly people in government, and hard-hearted relatives.

*In vs. 17-18 Jesus said:

17. "But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.

18.

And you will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles."

*Then down in vs. 21-22, Jesus said:

21. "Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

22.

And you will be hated by all for My name's sake.

But he who endures to the end will be saved."

*Jesus never sugar-coated the hate-filled opposition His followers would have in this world.

Church tradition tells us how the Apostles were persecuted for Christ, but the Bible goes into detail about the Apostle Paul.

Ironically, we first see Paul as a persecutor before we see him persecuted by others.

*Before Paul got saved, Acts 9:1-2 calls him Saul and says:

1.

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

2. and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

*Then in Acts 22:4-5, Paul gave this testimony about how he tormented Christians:

4. "I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women,

5. as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished."

*Paul also gave testimonies about how he had suffered for Jesus.

For example, in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 Paul told how he had been:

23. . . in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.

24.

From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.

25.

Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;

26. in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

27. in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness

*You see, Christians have always had fierce enemies, and we always will until the final victory over evil.

So, Christ's warning about persecution here in Matthew 10 is also for us today.

In vs. 17, Jesus specifically warned the Apostles about the councils and synagogues led by unbelieving Jews.

But persecution of Christians can come from any Christ-rejecting religion.

*Next, in vs. 18, Jesus talked about persecution from ungodly governors and kings.

In the whole history of the world, the vast majority of people have lived under the boot of the worst kind of rulers.

In 2020, Forbes reported that 260 million Christians live in the top 50 countries where believers face dangerous levels of persecution.

I'm talking about places like North Korea, Somalia, Libya, and Pakistan.

*"Open Doors" reported that the number of Christians killed in 2020 went up 60% over the year before.

They also reported that anti-Christian governments around the world have used COVID-19 restrictions to persecute God's Church.

That's no surprise because we have also seen it here in the United States.

(1)

*By God's grace, Christians in America have mostly been spared from persecution by ungodly political leaders.

That's because our forefathers were mostly God-fearing Christians, and they exalted God in our founding documents.

Listen to these words from our Declaration of Independence:

"IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. .

."

*By God's grace, Christians in the United States are still among the freest people in the world.

But our religious liberty is under growing assault from government officials openly hostile to Bible-believing Christians.

These enemies of the cross hate us, and they will try to hurt us.

*But in vs. 21, Jesus also talked about the third kind of enemy.

These are Christ-haters in our own family.

Again, Jesus said, "Brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death."

*Thank God that we live in a place where this kind of treachery is rare.

But we shouldn't be surprised when we have spiritual struggles with our children, our spouse, or even with our parents.

Also know that the kind of brutality Jesus mentioned in vs. 21 is much more common in Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan.

*"The Voice of the Martyrs" told the story of a young girl they called "Diana."

She grew up in a strict Islamic family in Pakistan.

Diana's life was pretty typical until she met a girl named Mary who was a Christian.

Diana heard the truth of the gospel and trusted in Jesus.

When her family learned that she had become a Christian, they repeatedly beat her and insisted she return to Islam.

But Diana refused.

*She was then forced to a local canal where her uncle put a pistol to her head and gave her one last chance to return to Islam.

Diana replied, "You can kill me if you want.

I will not leave Christ."

*It was then that Diana's uncle noticed an extremely poisonous black cobra swimming in the canal.

Believing he could escape any prosecution for his niece's death, he threw her into the path of the cobra.

He also knew she could not swim, but Diana miraculously escaped from the snake and the canal.

*Sadly, Diana then had to go into hiding from her own family.

As a brand-new Christian she learned what it means to suffer for Christ.

And she said: "Jesus was crucified for us.

Can we not endure some of the same for Him?" (2)

*In vs. 22, Jesus summed up the hard truth of persecution by saying, "You will be hated by all for My name's sake. .

."

In other words: We will be hated by all hard-hearted unbelievers for Jesus' sake.

Many people will fiercely, even viciously reject our Savior.

Don't be surprised about that.

2. THE LORD WANTS US TO BE AWARE OF OUR ADVERSARIES.

HE ALSO WANTS US TO COUNT ON HIM WHEN WE HAVE A CRISIS.

*Church: We can always count on Jesus Christ!

And the Lord wants us to know that we can keep counting on Him, even when we are going through the hardest times.

This great truth comes to light in vs. 19-20, and here Jesus said:

19.

"But when they deliver you up, do not worry (or "take no thought" or "don't be anxious") about how or what you should speak.

For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak;

20. for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you."

*These verses have astounding good news for us as followers of Jesus Christ!

[1] FIRST, WE CAN COUNT ON THE LORD'S PRESENCE IN OUR LIVES.

*God is not somewhere far off, taking care of His universe, unconcerned about what is going on in your life.

He is right here with us, paying close attention to our troubles and concerns.

*In vs. 20 Jesus told the Apostles that when they were hauled before the authorities, they didn't need to worry about what to say, because "It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you."

Jesus said that because He knew that after He rose again from the dead and returned to Heaven, the Holy Spirit of God would come to live in His followers.

*Christians: This means that through the Holy Spirit, God the Father and God the Son are surely ever-present in us!

And Hebrews 13:5 tells us that Jesus "Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'''

*The Apostle Paul certainly found this great promise to be true.