Luke 12:4-12

True Martyrs and True Believers

Throughout history we have witnessed many people who have been martyred for their faith. Some, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Jim Elliott, are names we may be familiar with. Their sacrifice for the sake of Christ was extraordinary. But, there are thousands of unsung martyrs around the world. Those who have died for their faith in places around the world where Christianity is illegal. And, there are regions and countries where men and women are currently being persecuted because of their steadfast belief. Where I live, we simply cannot imagine this. We talk of persecution, but we really don’t have an inkling of what that really means. Yes, there are times when people push back at my beliefs. Times when I might be laughed at or talked about behind my back because of my faith. In the end though, I still have the freedom to practice what I believe.

When I lived in London, I met many people from around the world who had fled religious persecution. They had been imprisoned, beaten, and tortured for their faith in Christ. The scars were evident. They had also witnessed countless others who had died for their faith. Yet, they still stood for Christ in the midst of it all. In many areas of the world, Christians are currently imprisoned, beaten, and subject to constant threats all because they stand for Christ. Yet, the gospel of Jesus Christ continues to spread and people continue to come to faith.

Vs 4-7 “My friends, don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will show you the One to fear: Fear Him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the One to fear! Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. Indeed, the hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows!

Jesus tells us don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. They will only succeed in taking our life from this earth, all the while failing in their mission to wipe out the gospel. In many cases, the death of a martyr only creates more avenues for the gospel to be carried. Death will often open other doors and increase the desire to know what it was the person was willing to die for. We see this happening all around the world, especially in North Korea.

Christianity is illegal in North Korea, punishable by imprisonment in a concentration camp or death. There were many families who continued in their faith after Korea was divided into north and south. Here is one example: A father taught his children, “the more we are persecuted, the more we need to trust in the Lord.” As North Korea became more atheistic, the ideology Juche, or the veneration of the leader, was to be followed. Believers are heavily persecuted with churches have been closed or destroyed. Even after all of this, the father said, “No matter how much persecution there may be, we must persevere; we have to endure persecution even when we don’t have anything to eat.” According to the Voice of Martyrs, in spite of everything, the church continues to grow in North Korea at a rate even faster than South Korea. When asked what they needed, the church in North Korea didn’t ask for food, or freedom. They asked for tools so they could spread the gospel and expand the work of the church. They did not fear those who could only kill the body.

So who should we fear? Jesus tells us: “fear Him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. The Greek word for hell is geenna. In Hebrew it is Gehenna or Gehinnom, which means Ge – the land or territory – of Hinnom, a valley west and south of Jerusalem. What is significant about that place that it would become the term for hell throughout the New Testament? Throughout the Old Testament, it was a valley where child sacrifices took place. Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king and reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the Lord’s sight like his ancestor David, for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made cast images of the Baals. He burned incense in the Valley of Hinnom and burned his children in the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites,” 2 Chronicles 28:1-3. Because of this, Gehinnom became a symbolic name for the final place of punishment of the ungodly. In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell (geennan). And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell (geennan)! Matthew 5:29-30. We are to fear the one that can cast us into hell.

Jesus goes on to reassure us though: Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. Indeed, the hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows! Why are we afraid of those who can only kill the body when the Lord of all remembers us, knowing the number of every hair on our head. We are worth more than the sparrows – way more. We are known by God. He knows every detail, and still, He loves us. We have nothing to fear in this life, even death. I mentioned the name Jim Elliot. If you do not recognize it, he, along with four others, gave their life to bring the gospel to the Waorani people of Ecuador. He once said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Yes, he died, but his death resulted in the eventual salvation for the same villagers who killed him. Were the decisions the group made good or bad? Did they have to die? Maybe not. While the story of the Waorani people, has been shown to be messy at times, it shows us that God is still in control. He can take our messiness and redeem it. All we do is follow Him. We don’t need to worry about life or death. As Jim Elliot said, “When the time comes to die, make sure that all you have to do is die!”

Vs 8-12 “And I say to you, anyone who acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God, but whoever denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Whenever they bring you before synagogues and rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you should defend yourselves or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what must be said.”

Jesus continues, saying, “anyone who acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God, but whoever denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” Notice, Jesus says the phrase, “before men”. The Greek word for before is emprosthen, which means in front of or before the face of. He is literally talking about a confession in front of an audience. This isn’t just something you think in your head or say in a prayer. This is something you say out loud in front of people. As we continue to contemplate the martyrs, we can look at history to find those who recanted their allegiance to God for fear of death and torture, and those who confessed their belief in Christ openly. This was the case in AD 162 in Lyon where all those who confessed Christ were killed, but those who recanted were spared. But to what life? Some came back to reestablish their allegiance to Christ and died. The others lived the life of a lie. In AD 193, a woman by the name of Perpetua was encouraged by her father to recant, but she went to her death confessing Christ. In the Roman Colosseum, pictured above, over 3000 men and women were martyred for their faith. In AD 249-251, Decius tried to force apostasy by creating the libellus, a book that officially certified the person had offered sacrifices to the Roman gods in front of witnesses. If you had one of these, you were able to avoid persecution, otherwise… This continued under Valerian, culminating in the worst of it during Diocletian’s reign. Christians were asked to either confess or deny Christ. The way they showed their denial was by sacrificing to the Roman gods in public – showing us that a public confession, of some sort, whether for or against Christ, is needed. Yesterday in church we sang the old hymn Stand Up Stand Up For Jesus. The second verse goes like this: Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in his strength alone. The arm of flesh will fail you. Ye dare not trust your own. Put on the gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer. Where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.

The next thing Jesus says is, “anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven… Jesus knows there may be times when we, for the moment, reject Christ. Peter did that fateful day when Jesus had been arrested. In fact, he denied Jesus three times. Yet, we know Jesus forgave him, and Peter went on to do amazing things. Jesus goes on to tell them not to worry about what to say, because the Holy Spirit would teach them in that very hour what to say. Again we come to Peter as an example in Acts 4:8-12, “Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders: If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man—by what means he was healed— let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing here before you healthy. This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.” He has gone from public denier to public confessor. He had allowed the Holy Spirit to work in his life and he knew what he needed to say at the very moment he needed to say it.

But then comes the part that is often misinterpreted or misunderstood: but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. What does it mean to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit? The Webster dictionary defines blasphemy as, “to speak in a way that shows irreverence for God or something sacred.” So how can we speak in a way that is irreverent to the Holy Spirit? To understand that, we must know who the Holy Spirit is. Jesus says this of the Holy Spirit, “When the Counselor comes, the One I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me.” First, He is the Counselor. To blaspheme Him means you do not want true counsel. Second, He is the Spirit of truth. To blaspheme Him means you are calling Him a liar. Third, He proceeds, or from the Father. To blaspheme Him means you deny the very existence of God. Finally, He is the One who testifies about Jesus. To blaspheme Him means you deny that Christ is who He says He is. This is not just a statement of unbelief. This is not about mere words at all. This is a heartfelt intentional decision of absolute unbelief. Forgiveness is rejected by the one who rejects God. There isn’t a “well he or she might come back.” They will not return because they have chosen to dismiss, spurn, and forsake truth altogether. There is always a willingness on God’s part to forgive. Nothing is too big for God. So, this isn’t about God’s refusal to forgive. This is about the blasphemer’s refusal to acknowledge the truth of God at all. It is the blasphemer’s refusal to even see the need of or to seek forgiveness. When a person has come to the point of absolute unbelief, they have come to the point of no return. In the “faith chapter” of Hebrews 11, verse 6 says, “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.” Matthew 7:7-8 reminds us to: “Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” It is when we stop seeking, stop believing, stop asking and knocking that we begin the path toward unforgiveness.

Have you ever heard someone say their faith is private? I have, but no matter what anyone says, faith is not a private affair. It is a very public thing and, as believers, there will come a time when we will need to acknowledge Christ publicly. There is a song that was written in 2021 called We Seek Your Kingdom set to the tune of Abide In Me by Noel Robinson & Andy Flannagan. The tune is so appropriate to the words of the song. Here are a couple of the verse: The 1^st verse goes like this: We seek Your Kingdom throughout every sphere. We long for Heaven’s demonstration here. Jesus, Your light shine bright for all to see. Transform, revive, and heal society. These words are a powerful reminder of what we need to be. Jesus says in Matthew 5 that we are to a light to the world. One thing I know, we cannot be a light to the world in private. A light does not shine unless it is put out on a stand for all to see. If we really want Jesus to transform, revive and heal society, we must live out our faith emprosthen – in front of people. The 4^th verse of the songs says, Forgive us, Lord, when we have not engaged. Failing to scribe Your heart on history’s page. Make us again what we were made to be. Transform, revive, and heal society. We cannot be true to Christ unless we engage and, we cannot engage in private. To engage means to capture, captivate, or to seize and you can’t do these things in private. To engage requires us to live out our faith emprosthen – in front of people. May we be people who abide in Christ. Jesus said in John 15:7-8, “If you remain (or abide) in Me and My words remain (or abide) in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples.”