Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/church4u/sermons/87054/who-will-rise-up/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Praise the Lord. Psalm 94 verse 16. Can we stand? Shall we stand for a moment just for this one verse?!

[0:30] Amen. Enliven us, Lord, by your spirit. Be glorified in your church. We praise you, our precious saviour. Amen. Please be seated. And a question is posed here in Psalm 94.

[0:44] A question is posed in Psalm 94 by none other than God himself. God poses a question here and God says this.

[0:56] He says, who will rise up? Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?

[1:06] Now, the context of Psalm 94 is a world of rebellion, of pride, of wickedness prevailing and abounding, of lawlessness and destruction. Sounds a bit like what's happening.

[1:20] A world in defiance towards God. And yet it speaks hopefully of the help of God. It speaks of the rock of our refuge. Of the defender of his people.

[1:31] And that ultimately the Lord will bring judgment against the evildoers. But for this verse, Psalm 94 verse 16, we're just going to focus on some of the themes of this verse.

[1:44] Our Lord poses a question here for us, for the now. Who will rise up? It's a call for an uprising.

[1:55] There's a bit of that going on, isn't there? A bit of an uprising going on. But this is an uprising against the evil tide. It's a rising up of the righteous. Of the ones taking a stand.

[2:08] An upholding of the right. Of the truth. And this book tells us of such a people. A people who will rise up. A people who might be in the minority.

[2:19] Scorned and mocked. Laughed at. Ridiculed. Scapegoated. You know, a laughing stock, as it were. A people. A remnant. God has such a people in the book.

[2:32] And he identifies his church as such. As such a people. In Titus 2.14. It tells us of what kind of a people is this.

[2:42] Titus 2 verse 14. Of our Lord it says, Who gave himself for us. That he might redeem us from all iniquity. And purify unto himself a peculiar people.

[2:55] Zealous of good works. Now, you might say, Am I peculiar? Yes, you are. We all are. We ought to be.

[3:06] Oughtn't we? To be peculiar. To be a peculiar people. It tells us we ought to be such a people. A peculiar people. There's a special calling here. Peculiar. It says the same word in 1 Peter 2 verse 9.

[3:20] Where Peter writes, But ye are a chosen generation. A royal priesthood. And holy nation. A peculiar people.

[3:32] That ye should show forth the praises of him. Who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. There's something here that's, It's a word of course we think of peculiar.

[3:44] As maybe strange. As something odd. But it's peculiar in the sense that we are meant to be peculiar in the sense that we are meant to be different. Different.

[3:56] God's put a difference between the holy and the unholy. God's put a difference there. And this difference says 1 Peter 2 verse 9 tells us that he has called us out of darkness into his marvellous light.

[4:10] We should be so different that it's the difference, as different as darkness and light. As day and night. That we should show forth his praises.

[4:21] He's called us to that. And that you should be to the praise of his name. Wow, that's special, isn't it? It's saying here you're special. It's saying you're a special people.

[4:32] You're a blood-bought people. You're a ransomed people. You're the children of God. That's special. That's peculiar. That's peculiar in a great and grand and glorious way.

[4:43] And there's meant to be something different about us. Unique. Different. Markedly so. We are called to be different. Friends, don't be afraid to be a lone voice in your workplace.

[4:58] To be a voice crying in the wilderness. That you might be outnumbered. I know there's people in education settings. You're one in a multitude.

[5:10] And the multitude is going in the other direction. Friends, that's normal for the Christian. Because we are peculiar. We are peculiar. We should not be afraid to be peculiar.

[5:22] In the sense that we ought not to be afraid to be unique. To be markedly different. We're called to be different. Different from a godless world. And a godless worldview. Which prevails.

[5:33] Question is who? Who will? Rise up. Who will be in that number such that you're willing to stand and be counted?

[5:44] You know, revival is kind of uprising really, isn't it? It's saying we won't go with the flow. We won't swim. We will swim against the tide. We won't be in the number.

[5:55] We won't go with whatever comes along. Revival is kind of a counter revolution. Against the ungodly norms of a hell-bound society.

[6:06] We're called to that. People of God. Who will? Rise up. Revival. It's like a turning back to God.

[6:17] It's like a turning back to God. From an upside down world. When the people of God came to town, they said, These are they that have turned the world upside down. This is just so contrary to what is the norm.

[6:33] It's peculiar. Truly peculiar. And we are called to be such a people. As we read in 1 Peter 2 verse 11, Peter writes, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

[6:53] Peter's saying here, you're dearly beloved by God. And he says, I beseech you. I implore you. I urge you. I beg you to ask strangers and pilgrims that you abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul.

[7:11] We are spoken of here as this peculiar lot of people. Truly unique. A unique group. We are travelling through. It's like we kind of don't kind of blend in.

[7:22] We kind of just stick out like a sore thumb. It reminds me a bit when our family came to this land. I came from a foreign land.

[7:33] A foreign land of the mother land. Mother England. I came and I had a foreign tongue. And I've talked about this as it were. I had to relearn and rethink and reculturalise myself as it were.

[7:49] And I had to learn that the ball was not round anymore. You know, when some Aussie came along to the hostels where we were staying and started kicking an Aussie rules football.

[8:04] And I thought, well, that's a bit of a strange looking ball. And, you know, it's kind of different, isn't it? We are different in that we belong to a different culture, a different mindset, a different worldview, a different way of thinking.

[8:17] And we're kind of contrary to the culture and the society that reject God, aren't we? Oughtn't we be? We ought to be those who will.

[8:29] Who will. And we're spoken of here as this group of people travelling through that we have no continuing city. And we look for a city.

[8:42] His builder and maker is God. We are as another nation inside a nation. We're a holy nation. That's what we are. That's our nationality. That's our race.

[8:53] That's our culture. That's who we belong to. We belong to the heavenly city yet to come. We're temporarily here as travellers through. And our lives truly have this amazing eternal dimension.

[9:08] Amen? An eternal dimension. And we are here for the time that we are here on this planet to make an eternal impact. The Lord calls us, his people, to be peculiar in this amazing way.

[9:22] And Daniel 11.32 tells how the people of God are they that do know their God and shall be strong and shall do exploits. It says the people that do know their God, they shall be strong and they shall do exploits.

[9:37] I urge you this morning to think of these words of exultation. How can I be more bold? How can I be stronger in my faith? How can I be strong in my love for my Lord?

[9:50] Our love is not the world's love. It's contrary. It's different. Our direction is different. Our culture is different. And as we see the mounting signs all around us, the signs of the end, we're seeing this clash of cultures that's going on.

[10:07] This battle of ideals. And we're constantly barraged with it. As we tune in to the world's media here and there, you can't help but to hear these contrary views.

[10:19] And what the world around us is calling normal, what the world around us is calling natural, it is contrary to us. Because we know that doesn't honour God.

[10:31] It doesn't follow God's way. It's contrary. It's against him. And as God's people, we are for some things and we're also against some things.

[10:44] Sometimes we concentrate on what we're for and not think about what we're against. I heard a preacher make the point, I'm against some things.

[10:58] I'm against some things. The Bible says we should love the Lord and we should hate evil. We should hate evil. Not kind of toy with it.

[11:09] Kind of play with it. Oh, I can do a little bit of evil. No. I hate it. I hate it. It's repulsive to me.

[11:20] It's something I don't want to bar off. I don't want to touch it. Touch not the unclean thing. And the call goes out, who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Some people are bent on evil.

[11:31] It's a fact. Some people, their whole wavelength is just evil. Their mouth is evil. Their mind is evil. Some people, their cultural standards and morality are zilch.

[11:46] They're perverted. They're unclean. Such that they call uncleanness something to aspire to and to teach children about. There is a degeneracy in our world, people.

[11:58] This world is degenerate. And there's a bowing down to idols. That's the accepted way of doing things. And none dare say anything.

[12:08] If you were to dare to speak, to open your mouth, to say something that's against this paradigm that we're living in, they will say, I'm offended. And they could call your voice for Christianity hate speech.

[12:24] Something to be banned. To be silenced. They are on another wavelength. People of God. We are peculiar to them. Indeed. And it's as if their very thoughts have been programmed against God.

[12:40] To be anti-God. And they have been programmed. Generations of them. What the world calls education.

[12:50] We see it for what it is. It's an indoctrination. It's a godless agenda. We've got to be careful about these things. There's a secularization of our children. There's this deliberate promotion of promiscuity.

[13:03] You know, watch any Hollywood movie these days. And the underlying messaging. It's just saying, do what comes naturally.

[13:16] Instead of what's supernatural. What's God glorifying? What would be the peculiar way, the God-honoring way to live a life? And yet there's this putting forward of rebellion.

[13:29] Of this rewriting of history now. Of deviant sexual behaviors that are being commonly touted and promoted and celebrated. And there's this generation that's rising up that does not consider anything sacred.

[13:44] People of God. We are peculiar. You are truly a peculiar lot here this morning. A generation is all around us that does not consider anything sacred. We see that in Proverbs 30 from verse 11.

[13:56] It says, There is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness.

[14:08] There is a generation. Oh, how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men.

[14:23] There is a generation that curses their father and does not bless their mother. You know, where's that all gone? It's gone out the window.

[14:35] Wouldn't we be such a people that we actually honour our father and mother like the Bible says to? That we should honour them. That we should have regard.

[14:48] That we should have a heart of love. That we should not be filled with pride and self-glory and vanity. But that we should have a humility before God.

[15:00] That we should take his word seriously and live it. There is a generation. And look, there's been generation after generation. I'm part of that generation. A generation that cares little for decency and for morality.

[15:13] It's amoral. There's no morals. It's immoral. Yet we are peculiar people of God. You have a standard. A standard that doesn't change the uncompromising standard of the word of God.

[15:25] And we have a road. A road less travelled. Yes, it's a road. It's a narrow road. The multitude will go that broad way to destruction. But we've chosen that narrow path.

[15:36] There's a narrowness there. And I'm not talking about a meanness. But we know the right way. We know what is the right way. There's a way that is narrow. And we want to be on that road.

[15:46] We don't want to deviate from that road. It's a road that's narrow, yes. But it's a glorious road. It's a road that leads to glory. It's a road that is our Lord Jesus Christ who says, I am that narrow way.

[16:01] And we take that road, don't we? That road less travelled. Because we know it's the right road. And it's a road that is sure and straight and true. A highway. Unbending.

[16:12] And Isaiah 35, 8 at San Sam. And highways shall be there. A way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. We're on that road.

[16:23] God helping us, aren't we? We might be peculiar because we're on that road. People will say, oh, come and come down this byway. Come on this more pleasant road. This more comfortable and easy road.

[16:37] But we are treading that road. And we're singing the songs of Zion because that's where we're going, brother and sister. We're going to that city of glory. And will we dare to rise up and declare the truth?

[16:50] It's narrow. It's a narrow road. And we have been called, people of God, we've been called to be different. Don't be afraid to be different. I guess you could narrow it down to that simple message this morning.

[17:03] Do not be afraid to be different. Sometimes it's hard being different. Now, I kind of blended in with my skin colour but my tongue was different.

[17:15] And they knew I was different when I started going to school in an Aussie school and they started calling me names, Pommy, whatever it be. Worse than that, believe me.

[17:27] But, you know, there's a sense where being different is hard, isn't it? And I'm sure some can identify more than others that you might look different, you know. But we are all different.

[17:37] We are all peculiar from whatever culture and country and situation. But as a Christian, we are different. And that's the point I'm making. Don't be afraid to be a Christian who will stand and rise up and declare the truth.

[17:55] And to know that you've got a different culture, you've got different values, and that's okay. That's good. You've got a different value system from the majority. Because we serve a higher authority, a higher king, a different king.

[18:09] And the source of our authority is the highest of all courts. We appeal to the supreme judge. We have a different joy, a different peace. We've got a different whole way of thinking.

[18:21] A different fellowship, a different company that we keep. We've got a different desire. And that's a blessed and glorious truth that you can know. Friends today, think of these truths of the word of God.

[18:33] And how can we live it? You know, there's that blessed man in the blessed psalm. And I'm sure you know this likely off by heart many here today.

[18:44] Psalm 1. Think of the words of Psalm 1. He took that narrow road. It says, blessed. Psalm 1. First one. You might say it along.

[18:55] Or think of these words. Think of these words. Not just think of them. Think, am I that man? Am I that woman? Blessed. Is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.

[19:07] Nor standeth in the way of sinners. Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law doth he meditate day and night.

[19:18] And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. That bringeth forth his fruit. In his season his leaf also shall not wither. And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

[19:30] The ungodly are not so. But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment.

[19:41] Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. But the way of the ungodly shall perish. You want to make sure you're on the right way.

[19:53] You've found the right way. And I know in our times of witnessing we strike people that consider that it's about their religion. Or their knowledge.

[20:04] Or their works. No. You know we've had occasion. Those of us that have been witnessing to challenge these ones. To confront them gently and lovingly.

[20:16] Do not trust in your works. Trust in the work of the cross. The work. The finished work. The one and only work that will save your soul is the work of the cross of Calvary.

[20:31] For your saving. The work of his dying on your part. Of your saving. It's because of the work of Christ. That one and only work. And not any working of our own.

[20:43] To save us or to keep us saved. It's entirely of his working in our heart. By the grace of God. Through faith. And wow there's something different about you. Isn't there?

[20:54] There's something different about you when you trust him. I know someone has remarked about my dad. That something was different about him. Such that it just really struck them. Will we dare to be different?

[21:05] Such that we'll dare. And I'm not talking about being some kind of outlandish way. But that you will be a firm and fair and reasoned Christian.

[21:19] That you will be a steady rock. That others can know. Wow there's something different. You're peculiar. And that's a good thing to be. Amen.

[21:30] Will we dare to be different? Who will? Who will? Who will be such a different people? A people who love the gathering together of God's people.

[21:41] Who love the enriching of their hearts with the words of truth. That they'll live in their lives. To break open the word of life. Such that we want to feed our souls upon it.

[21:54] Who want to be a heaven bound people. That will make a difference for the meantime. In the short span that we have. In this as a vapor of life that we have.

[22:07] That it'll be something. Some residue will be left in our departing. That we will have a love for souls who we can reach while we can. And friends there's much question.

[22:20] Who will? Will we be a heaven bound people? Will we be a sold out Christian? Will we be willing to be different?

[22:33] And even to be thought of as peculiar. In the sense that you're not normal. You're not like everybody else.

[22:44] There's something strange about you. And strange in a good way. I'm talking. Of course that's the point. So and there's need.

[22:55] I put to you today to issue a strong warning. Because there's evildoers and they're prevailing. And the cultural norms around us are failing us. They're failing society.

[23:05] It's not working. It's not working. And for all the good that some politicians do. It's failing. The system's failing.

[23:17] You know that I've heard it put. You might have heard the expression that you know the right and left of politics are just two wings of the same bird. I saw one little illustration that had the red and the blue.

[23:31] It was talking about America. And I was saying how I guess is it the red? Is it the Democrats? That they're like the worship of Moloch.

[23:45] You know because they support abortion. Right. And then on the other side on the blue side they're like the worship of Baal. So I mean do you go with the worshipers of Moloch or the worshipers of Baal?

[23:57] I mean hopefully we can make a difference that a Christian voice can be sounded in the political sphere too. And I'm not saying to abandon hope but we can hopefully influence God helping us.

[24:14] We can write letters to our politicians when we disagree with their godless policies that they're foisting on this nation. We can dare to speak up and maybe get politically active.

[24:26] There's a place for that I believe. But there's need for that strong warning to our nation. To push back against the cultural norms that are failing us. To say no. To say no to the mind control.

[24:38] To the false science. To the bottled poison called booze. The things that the world would fill our minds ourselves with. Time is short people.

[24:49] Time is short. And it's time. It's time for a peculiar people to rise up. To stand out from the crowd. My urging for you this morning is to decide to be such.

[25:05] It's time for engagement. It's time for a passion for Jesus Christ. To have courage. To be courageous enough to say I'm willing to be counted peculiar for my saviour.

[25:18] I'm willing to be counted different. I'm willing to stand up. To rise up. To speak up. The question is who will rise up? And our Lord says in the setting of a parable, why stand ye all day idle?

[25:33] The context was of those sitting, kind of passing the time. And maybe they were looking at their Facebook or whatever. They're just sort of playing around.

[25:45] And he says, why are you standing around all day idle? Now we can occupy our time with things that are not always good. Can't we?

[25:56] I can. Why stand ye all the day idle? There's work to do. There's work to do. And it's going to cost you to put your hand to the plough.

[26:09] To say I'm willing to be different. I'm willing to buck the trend. One day the gates of glory will swing wide open for you. For you who the whole world would mock.

[26:21] And in some countries they'd be killing you. Yes, they will. May we recognise that there's a backsliding to get rid of, to turn from. To recognise there's been a lukewarmness we need to shake off and to forsake.

[26:38] Our Lord is intolerant of a slapdash kind of religion. May we aspire for something higher, nobler. What has God want of my life? Well, I've got life to live.

[26:49] Who will? Whom shall I send? We're not talking of our opinions of our own culture here.

[27:00] It's God who sets the standards, the Bible standards. And I'm not imposing things on you. I'm saying search it out for yourself and get things sorted with him.

[27:11] Get things settled with him. Not imposing on you. But I'm saying search it out for yourself. Search the scriptures. We individually have to answer.

[27:22] He's saying who. It's very individual. It's a very individual question. It's a very personal question, isn't it? Because are you in the who or not? And we're not talking about our opinions, our own culture.

[27:36] You know, I can have preconceptions and, you know, my own judgments, my own kind of context of life and have certain prejudices.

[27:48] It's not about my opinion. It's not about my opinion. It's not about I think. It's about God says. That's what we need. How do we set our own personal agenda?

[28:01] I want to know what God says about the subject. That's what matters. And we individually have to answer the question. The book urges us so. It says, remember Lot's wife.

[28:12] Don't be like her. What was Lot's wife's situation? As Lot and family were pulled out of Sodom, as it was facing God's judgment fire, Lot's wife lingered and looked back in disobedience.

[28:28] And her fate was sealed. Will we be like Lot who got out as much as he was, he shouldn't have been there in the first place. And he was, what does it say?

[28:41] That he was, he was vexed. Yes, he was vexed with the world. He knew he was in the wrong place. He knew he was doing the wrong things. God had to drag him out by the hand virtually.

[28:52] And Lot's wife lingered. Will you be as Lot? The Bible calls him righteous despite his mistakes. Or will you be like Lot's wife?

[29:03] He lingered. He wanted the world and its ways and her heart was still in Lot. Lot's wife's heart was still in Sodom. Friends, we have need of separation.

[29:16] Separation in the godly sense. Separated unto our God. When we're separated unto our God, then we will be separated from the other stuff because that'll just drop off.

[29:29] Because we love him so much. We love him so that we want to be separated unto him such that the other things will drop away. They won't hang on to us.

[29:41] And the preacher won't have to trash you. Because the word will convict you. And we have need of separation.

[29:55] A peculiar people will clearly be different. Different. The people that do know their God shall be strong and shall do exploits. Don't we need to be stronger?

[30:06] I do. I need to be stronger. How can I get stronger? More of this. More of the word. More of his... Saving fullness, see.

[30:19] More of his love. He died for me. More of Jesus. More, more. More about Jesus. Let's get that appetite to be stronger. Stronger. It takes strength to be different.

[30:31] Because it's easy not to be different, isn't it? It's easy just to blend in. You know, I've said this before as a Christian in my first few months. I was a little bit like a chameleon.

[30:44] Kind of blending in. Just don't make too many waves. Just kind of keep a low profile. And just sort of coast. And not sort of say anything.

[30:55] Or be seen to be different. It's easy to be like a chameleon that just blends into your surroundings. And doesn't really make a stand.

[31:07] Actually say no. I don't join in that. I'm different because I'm his. He is mine. And to not be afraid to be a non-conformist to the culture.

[31:23] To the world. To the crowd. How can we? Here's the big question. Talking about the who here.

[31:35] About the who. How? I got told off before because I know I misspelled the word last time.

[31:46] How? How can we be different? Can we honestly come before our Lord and ask, So what needs to change in me?

[32:01] How is it that we are to settle a matter? How can we find the truth? How can we settle a matter? What says the word of God? That's how to settle it. That's what we need. How do we settle a matter?

[32:13] When we're uncertain on something, what says the word of God? How can we rekindle that flame of zeal, of love? How can we refresh that spirit of prayer?

[32:26] It's an individual question. It's about you and God. That's what it is. And our loyalty, friends today, our loyalty is to our great God and King. Above all, our lifestyle is to the glory of God.

[32:40] We want to bless him who we love and adore such that we'll want to be our best. God helping us. Who will rise up?

[32:51] Now let's be honest. As I say, it would be easier not to rise up. Look, the easy thing for you to do is close your Bible and put this little message in your pocket and just kind of let it slide.

[33:06] Don't do anything. The easiest thing to do is to do nothing, to shut our ears to the voice of conscience, to close our heart to the sensitivity to the Spirit of God, to turn from the urging of Holy Scripture and to turn instead to some other vanity, some other diversion, whatever, anything but.

[33:27] What is God saying? What will it take to stop us from rising up? For some, it's very easy, isn't it? Oh, I've got other things.

[33:38] We've all got other things in our lives. What excuses will we use? Or are we going to stop using excuses? Some are easily stopped. Maybe they think they're going forward, but let's be honest, people.

[33:52] They've slowed down to a crawl. They think they're going forward for God, but it's just like they're just like a snail. They slowed right down and there's nothing happening.

[34:05] It would be easy to think, well, others need to shape up. Others need to rise up. Others need to take that place where they'll stand up for God. Others need to do that, to think that this call to rise up is for others.

[34:19] Not me. Not humble little old me. It's about me. It's about you. It's about us. We all have a mission. We all got a place. As we talked about, a part to play in the body.

[34:31] We've all got something to do. There's people starving for spiritual food and you have the bread they need. I know my brother was talking to me yesterday as that familiar saying, we're as beggars who found bread.

[34:47] That's what we are. We're just another beggar. We found bread. And there's people that need it. That spiritual bread. Do we close our ears to those crying out for spiritual bread?

[34:57] We have the bread of life. Wow, nothing compares to that. It would be easier to do nothing. Look, let's be honest here today.

[35:08] If you start being a bit more peculiar than you already are, then maybe you're going to face some persecution. Maybe you're going to have some trouble for it. We've all got to be willing to face persecution.

[35:20] They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You might get to a point, and I know there's some that might have lost employment. They might have lost benefits.

[35:31] They might have lost promotions because they have stood up. They've been willing to be different. They haven't gone along with the crowd, the in crowd. We might have faced some insurmountable obstacles to rise up.

[35:46] Think of the people who have gone before us. People of God. If they had been alive in our day, would they have been in our church? Would they have been our friends? Think of the people that have gone before us.

[35:57] The missionaries and martyrs of old. The revivalists of old. If we had been in their time frame, these people have gone the way before us. They were a persecuted band, weren't they?

[36:09] Look what they had to cop. Even the blood of martyrs was shed for this message for us to have a Bible. The blood of martyrs was shed for us to have this book.

[36:21] And for the church of God that faithfully still goes forward. They've gone before us. Will we tread in their tread? Or will we take another track?

[36:32] Let's be honest. How much time have we got? It's this escalating idea that these are critical days. More critical than ever.

[36:44] And these ones that have gone before us, they pass the baton on to us. And they say, run. And what are we doing? Friends, we've got a mission.

[36:58] And young people, you've got more time span ahead of you than maybe I have ahead. Think of what you can do with your life for God. Think of what God can do with your soul, with your life.

[37:10] If you'll, but surrender to him. Be willing to say, yes, I'm willing to be a peculiar person. I'm willing to stand out to be different. I'm willing to rise up. I will. I will.

[37:21] I will. This question calls for a response from you. Who will? I will.

[37:32] I will. Send me. Yes. And persecution is promised. Let me cut to the chase here and tell you it's not going to be maybe plain sailing for you to be peculiar.

[37:49] There may be great opposition for you. You might miss out on some things. You might be overlooked. You might be scorned. You might be cast out. You might be told stories about.

[38:03] People will pick on you and name you and ridicule you for your faith. Indeed, there shall be persecution. It's promised.

[38:14] It's promised. John 16, 33. Our Lord says, He says, Have courage.

[38:29] You're going to have some tribulation. But you can know my peace. And what of you? What will you do? What will you do?

[38:41] Will we press on and continue to urge men and women to turn to God? Think of persecution. The ones that have gone before us. We are walking in the tread.

[38:52] We are walking the same pathway. The same pathway of the three Hebrew children. Really, they were young men. The three Hebrew young men. They'd spent three years in the Babylonian university, if you like.

[39:07] They'd been schooled in all the training of Babylon. But they did not defile themselves. They made a decision. They said, I will.

[39:19] I will. Rise up. And despite persecution, despite this call to bow the knee to the image of gold, they kept true and faithful and God honoured them.

[39:32] Friends, God will honour you for your stand. God will honour you for rising up. And I press you today with the question that your days are numbered. Settle it now.

[39:45] Go all out for the Lord. Take up your cross. Our message is urgent today. Ever more so. It says in Hebrews 10.31, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

[40:00] This should be taken seriously, this challenge. Are you saved? Now, this is the greatest need for a troubled heart. We don't assume.

[40:10] We all know him today. And you may ask, What must I do? It's actually all been done. What must I do?

[40:22] That is a question that philosophy cannot answer. Atheism cannot answer. God answers it. Believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

[40:34] Believe. Trust him. Come to the crossroads, as it were. If this is the crossroads for you, let it be that you take that narrow way. That you trust Christ. You trust him as saviour and Lord.

[40:46] No matter what. You trust this one of whom it says he is full of grace and truth. And he will answer that deepest need of the human heart.

[40:57] Let me close with a further challenge. A question from God. Who will? It's a challenge. It's a question from God and it's directed to us. And it calls for a personal individual response.

[41:10] Who will? Rise up. What does that mean? Maybe you can rise up and pray. Think about praying more. Maybe you can witness.

[41:21] Rise up and witness. Rise up and serve. Volunteer. Don't wait to be asked. Say, give me a job to do.

[41:34] Participate. Hey, Lyle. God bless you, man. Rise up. Will you follow?

[41:45] Will you follow Jesus? Will you surrender? Will you repent? There's things to rise up and do, isn't there?

[42:00] There's things we can do with this message. And he says, who will rise up for me? As a Christian, we're for some things.

[42:12] We're for some things. We care about family. Care about marriage. These are important things. I was saying to some people, better miss the meeting and work on your marriage.

[42:26] It's better that you don't come to every single meeting if it's affecting your marriage. All the better bring your wife and family.

[42:37] Bring your children. But God helping you, marriage matters. We're for marriage. We're for families. And we're for some things. We're for the gospel. We want to be for the gospel.

[42:50] We want to be for grace. We want to have a love for people. We want to be for godliness. Stand up for some things, people.

[43:02] There's things to stand up for, isn't there? And we're against some things. There's some things we're against. We're against some things. For example, false doctrine. We're against that.

[43:14] And I've upset some people lately, I think. Because you've got to say what the truth is, lovingly. We're against false teachers. We're against abortion.

[43:25] We don't think that's okay. We're against the gender benders of our world. We're against that. We're against that. It's wrong. We'll say it like it is.

[43:37] It's wrong. God made them male and female. He made them man and woman. And he said, get married. Basically. Exactly. And then, so how? The big question is, how are we going to rise up?

[43:50] I'll put to you some things you can do. I've got to run out of space here. Some things. How can we put this into practice today? Just think of these things for yourself. Get trained.

[44:02] We've got a Bible study. If you don't know much about the Bible, come to the Bible study. If you do know much about the Bible, come and help. But we should get trained in the word of God. You know, people get trained in how to be a, whatever profession, whatever career you have.

[44:18] They put a lot of time and energy into getting trained to know the job that they do. What about getting trained in the word of God? What about getting trained as a man of God that cares about this book?

[44:29] You want to get trained in it. You want to learn sound doctrine. You want to get some resources. Be willing to buy some books. Some good books. There's lots of resources.

[44:39] You want to have a, be careful what resources. I can guide you. I can help you. There's some software you can get that you can use on your computer.

[44:50] Things like eSword. There's a computer program, a software called eSword. And it's got Bible. It's got Bible helps. It's got commentaries. And you can search and study and learn about the Bible.

[45:04] And you can have a concordance. You can search for that. Let me know if you're interested because we can get you a copy. I'm imposing on my dad again because he's a, yeah, the library. Yeah, I was thinking that before actually, Shirley.

[45:15] Good point. The library's here. Now, I think by and large there's good stuff there that you can read. Take it home and read it. You can borrow it for as long as you need to.

[45:26] There's resources. Get trained. Get informed. You know, get equipped such that as a Christian you're equipped so you know how to witness.

[45:38] You know how to share your faith. Get mobilised. Get activated. Get activated. And, look, this is not to put anyone on a guilt trip. It's just because I love you I want to urge you to deeper, stronger faith.

[45:50] I want to urge you because Jesus, our Lord, is saying, who will? Rise up. He's urging us that. And, friends, these are days that call for us to be enabled and empowered and be prepared to serve.

[46:06] What about the next generation? What an opportunity. If God moves you to help with a youth group, the next generation needs this message. You know, I'm going to be, flowers are going to be growing out of my grave one day soon.

[46:23] Who knows how long. Who's going to take the bats on? Be challenged. Brother, sister, we've got to rise up. The next generation needs this message. I want to see some young men training up for the ministry in this church to take over.

[46:38] I want to do myself out of a job. And that's what I need. I can plant another church then. We need some energy, don't we? We need to get rising up, don't we?

[46:50] God helping you be stirred up this morning to rise up. Let's pray. Lord, we love you and praise you, our precious saviour. Lord, you call us to rise up.

[47:01] Each one to rise up where we can, to be stirred up in a good way. Lord, to find what it is you're calling us to. How can we rise up? What can we do?

[47:11] How can we get mobilised? How can we get trained? How can we get energised in your calling upon our lives? How can we get out of our comfort zones such that we will be prepared, that we will be prepared to be persecuted?

[47:26] We'll be prepared to be laughed at and scorned for our faith. We'll be prepared for the cost that lies ahead. And we'll be for some things, Lord. We'll be for our family that'll be a godly family, that we'll be for our marriages, that we'll care about our spouse, that we'll care about the things that matter.

[47:46] Lord, that we'll care about your truth such that we'll defend it and we'll speak up. And Lord, we'll do so in love because you'll give us the grace to. Lord, help us not to be prideful about this message, that we might rise up and others do not.

[48:03] Lord, help us to encourage one another to take this to heart. And Lord, we pray especially if there's any present here, hearing this, Lord, that each one might know the saving grace of God because that is what we must rest upon.

[48:17] Lord, to know your saving. Lord, to know that by grace, through faith, we can know that eternal gift. And it's not of works, lest any man should boast.

[48:28] Lord, to know that wonderful salvation that you've made for us. You've made it. There's nothing more to add, just simply that we receive it.

[48:40] Lord, guide us. Bless each one here, Lord. Each family here represents it, Lord. Help us, Lord, to be stirred up in a good way today, how we can put this into action for your glory.

[48:52]  In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you. Thank you.