Monday, July 14, 2008, Part 1

"Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison." (Hebrews 11:36).

IDEA: Loyalty to God will be tested by the society around us.

PURPOSE: To help listeners understand that if they are loyal to God, that loyalty will possibly be tested.

Have you ever had a friend who was very loyal?

When you say that, what do you mean by "loyal"?

What is involved in saying that someone is loyal to God?

I. If you're going to be loyal to God in a generation that has little use for God, you can expect that your loyalty to God will be tested.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews talks about some people who were loyal to God and who were tested because they faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

You and I may face only jeers. People may mock us or laugh at us, and that's difficult to take when it comes from people in our family or people that we work with.

The writer of this letter to the Hebrews talked about people who were also flogged, put into chains and imprisoned.

II. One of the people the writer may have had in mind was the prophet Jeremiah who had all of these things happen to him.

In Jeremiah 20:1-2, we read, "When the priest Pashur, son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the Lord's temple." Later in the chapter Jeremiah complains, "I am ridiculed all day long, everyone mocks me" (20:7).

In Jeremiah 37:15-16, we read, "[The officials] were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned . . . Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon where he remained a long time."

Later after his release from that prison, he was put into a cistern, according to Jeremiah 38:6: "So they took Jeremiah . . . they lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud."

III. In the early church the leaders and some of the laypeople also faced ridicule, beatings, and imprisonment.

This happened to Peter and the other apostles, according to Acts 5:40: "They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go."

It happened to Paul and Silas in Acts 16:22-24: "The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks."

It also happened to others to whom the writer sent this letter: Hebrews 10:32-34: "Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions."

IV. When we read about people being persecuted today, what is it that causes these people and those people to be so loyal?