Facing persecution: John MacArthur #prayer #grace #persecution

Watch the full sermon here: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/80-403/you-are-what-you-think

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At the Christian Response Forum & Network we believe that

- We are all imperfect in our interpretation of God's special revelation.
- God alone knows the Absolute Truth and is our ultimate judge.
within the Body of Christ we ought to encourage healthy agreement, disagreement and debate, without fighting and persecuting each other for our beliefs
- We ought to constantly support each other to search for the reality and absolute truth through God's general and special revelation.

The views in this clip do not represent those of the Christian Response Forum & Network as a whole.

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Transcript:
As we bow our heads in prayer for just a moment, I don’t know how to make the message any more urgent than the Scripture makes it. I’m not intending to do that. Except to drive it home to your own heart and say this, look, history is not random, it’s not cyclical. It has a beginning and an end. And it is prewritten by God and Jesus knew exactly the way history would go. He didn’t expect to come and build some wonderful religion that everybody would embrace. He knew better than that.

He knew the truth would be so exclusive that it would be hated; so narrow, so defined that it would be despised, even inside families. And that’s exactly the way it’s been. This has led to the spread of the gospel. It has led to the opportunity to proclaim the gospel in the direst of situations. And this kind of persecution short of death even leads to the strengthening of believers who are made perfect by their trial and who are given assurance because tested faith is assured faith. When your faith stands the test, then you know it’s the real thing.

So the Lord has His purposes in our suffering, purposes of dependence, purposes of evangelism. The question comes down to you. This is the truth. Look at history. Jesus knew exactly what would happen, and it did. It is and it will be this way. This is God who is speaking here. And when He says He’s the only Savior, that’s the truth. That’s the truth. You must turn to Him and Him alone. Do that today.