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Introduction:
The question hangs heavy
in the air. As you sit in the chair, the events of the past few
weeks seem a blur. You don’t remember much about the day they
found your Bible. You were on your way home from the worship
assembly when someone rear-ended you. You didn’t notice, but the
impact caused your Bible to slide out from under the passenger
seat. When the policeman questioned you, he happened to look
through the window and saw it. Without further question, he told
the wrecker to impound the car, handcuffed you, put you in his car
and drove you to jail. The trial was hurried. The prosecution
brought in your next door neighbor who testified that she had
never seen you drink and you always went somewhere on Sunday. Your
boss testified that you worked hard, never cut corners, but he
always thought something was funny because whenever your
co-workers began to tell dirty jokes, you left the room. Other
witnesses came forward, but it is all jumbled together. The
verdict was announced. You were guilty: convicted of being a
Christian who not only reads but also believes the Bible. Your day
of punishment arrived and they strapped you into the electric
chair and put the tape over your eyes. Then somebody said a stay
of execution has been offered if you will simply claim that the
Bible is a book of fairy tales and Christianity is a hoax. They
asked the question that weighs down your mind right now. You have
before you a choice of life or death. You could choose to accept
their offer and never look to Christianity again. Or you could
lie. You could say what they want and then when you are free you
could just be more careful in the future. Or you could deny their
request and have them throw the switch that will end your life in
an instant. You are asked again, “Will you deny the Bible or
will you die for it?” What is your answer?
I am glad that sort of thing does not happen in America
today. I want to believe I would deny their request. But that is
easy to say while in the pulpit and perhaps not as easy while
under the gun, literally. Hebrews
11 talks about many saints who were faithful to God.
Toward the end of the chapter the Hebrew writer makes an
interesting statement, “… others were tortured, not accepting
their release in order that they might obtain a better
resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes,
also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in
two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword;
they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy),
wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the
ground” (Hebrews
11:35-38). Who were these people and for what were they
willing to die? Examine some Bible characters willing to die and
ask, “For what am I willing to die?” Discussion: I.
Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah
– Willing to die over who is God! A.
In Daniel
3, Nebuchadnezzar, the king who had conquered their
people, dragged them away in captivity, changed their names, given
them an education, provided them a living and held their lives in
his hand, had set up a golden image and commanded them to worship
it. B.
But Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah knew this statue was no
god. They knew who was their God and they were willing to die for
Him. Interestingly, these men did not have to renounce Jehovah.
They simply had to add some other gods to their list. But they
were unwilling and were prepared to die. If it were us, would we
be willing to die or would we fall down before the image? II.
Paul – Willing to die over who Jesus is! A.
In Acts
23:6, while Paul was on trial before the council of the
Jews, he slyly turned the attention of the council on itself and
away from him. Perceiving that some of the council were Sadducees,
who did not believe in the resurrection, and some were Pharisees,
who did, he proclaimed, “I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I
am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!” This
caused the Pharisees in the group to want to defend him. B.
This was an interesting play on the real reason for the
trial. He was not on trial because he believed in the
resurrection, but because he believed and taught the resurrection
of Jesus. He was on trial because he believed Jesus was God in the
flesh who had died and been resurrected. The Jews opposed the
teaching. But Paul was ready to die for it. In fact, before Paul
was arrested in Jerusalem he proclaimed in Acts
21:13 he was ready to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.
Would we be willing to die or would we back off and claim Jesus
was not God? III.
Daniel – Willing to die for God’s law and pattern! A.
In Daniel
1:8-16, Daniel was willing to risk his life, and the lives
of others, to remain undefiled by the king’s food. We do not
know exactly what would have been defiling about this food. But
Daniel did and was ready to die rather than break God’s pattern
for his life and service. B.
Consider this situation carefully. First, the dietary laws
of the Old Covenant were surely minor issues in the face of so
many other laws that could have been violated. Second, so many
others were complying. Why not just go with the flow? Claim you
were forced to eat it. Surely God would understand. Daniel knew
better. When in a covenant with God, He expects us to follow His
patterns and Daniel was willing to die for it. Would we be? We
make a big deal about following God's patterns in worship and
work. Would we be willing to die for these patterns, to keep from
being defiled by disobeying? IV.
Daniel – Willing to die to properly worship God! A.
Daniel’s life was in danger a second time in Daniel
6. Years later and under a different ruler, in fact a
different empire, Daniel was commanded not to pray. In Daniel
6:6-9, the satraps and officials of King Darius convinced
him to make it illegal to pray to any god other than himself for
30 days. When Daniel knew of the decree, he continued in his
normal practice of praying toward Jerusalem with his windows open,
three times a day. B.
Keep in mind, Daniel could have easily closed his window
and hidden his prayers. Daniel could have reasoned, “Its only 30
days, I’ll just wait until the injunction expires.” But he
didn’t, he was willing to die to properly worship God. Would we
be willing to die? Let us make sure not to fool ourselves. We can
hardly claim that we would be willing to die to pray, if we are
not willing to sacrifice a few minutes of sleep, work or
television in order to pray. V.
Joseph – Willing to die to maintain moral purity! A.
Joseph’s is another story we know well. In Genesis
39:7-20, Potiphar’s wife framed Joseph because he would
not sacrifice his moral purity for her. Joseph knew full well that
his life was in her hands. Yet, he was ready to die, rather than
sacrifice his purity. B.
Consider Joseph’s temptation. He had the good life. He
was ruler of the house and was now offered the master’s wife,
the one thing which had been withheld from him. It could be kept
from the master and life would go on in ease. But Joseph was ready
even to die. Would we? VI.
John the Baptist – Willing to die rather than ignore
someone’s sin! A.
While Joseph was ready to die to maintain his own moral
purity, John the Baptist was willing to die seeking someone
else’s moral purity. According to Matthew
14:3-4, John was arrested because he pointed out that
Herod’s marriage to Herodias was unlawful and immoral. His
unyielding stance on this eventually led to his death (vs.
10). B.
I think this is particularly appropriate in our day. As our
society becomes increasingly immoral, more and more people want to
claim that teaching God’s standard regarding homosexuality
should be considered hate crime. Should that ever happen, where
would that lead us? Would we be fined, jailed, beaten? Would we be
executed? We might think that is extreme, but then being beheaded
for claiming a marriage is unlawful was extreme wasn’t it? Are
we ready to die to proclaim God’s law of moral purity? VII.
The Apostles – Willing to die just to teach! A.
In Acts
5, the apostles were imprisoned by the Jewish council and
according to Acts
5:33, the council intended to slay all of them. However,
Gamaliel had the men removed from the council and convinced the
Jews not to act so rashly (vss.
34-40). In the end, they were beat and commanded not teach
in the name of Jesus again (vs.
40). No doubt, the apostles were told if they kept it up
they would be punished, even killed. But notice vs.
42, “Every day, in the temple and from house to house,
they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”
They were willing to die just to teach people about Jesus. B.
Are we willing to die just to teach about Jesus? Let us
caution ourselves to be honest with ourselves. We can hardly claim
that we would be willing to die just to teach, if we constantly
make excuses about why we don’t teach people when our lives are
not in danger. Are you willing to die to teach? VIII.
James and Peter – Willing to die for offending those in
another religion! A.
In Acts
12:1-2, Herod had the apostle James executed. When he saw
that this pleased the Jews, he had Peter arrested and intended to
slay him as well (vs.
3). I find this interesting. Why were the Jews pleased at
the death of James? Because James and Peter had offended them. The
apostles had condemned the Jews for remaining in the now defunct
religion and not becoming real servants of God and becoming
Christians. James and Peter had preached the offense of the cross
and offended these people in another religion and they were ready
to die for that. Are we? B.
Understand, these men did not set out to offend. Their goal
was to save. But the fact is, to everyone who refuses to accept
the true religion of Christ the message of Jesus is offensive.
That is Paul’s point in I
Corinthians 1:21-24 and Galatians 5:11. We do not
set out to offend others for their false religion, but we know we
will. Are we willing to die for it? IX.
Jeremiah – Willing to die for proclaiming the coming
judgment of God! A.
In Jeremiah
26:20-23, we learn of a prophet named Uriah the son of
Shemaiah who was martyred for proclaiming that judgment was coming
upon Jerusalem and Judah. The text claims the message was similar
to Jeremiah’s. Imagine how Jeremiah must have felt, knowing
about this man’s execution. Jeremiah
26:24 explains that someone aided Jeremiah and kept him
from being executed at that time. But, nevertheless, Jeremiah
continued to proclaim this same message. He was willing to die to
let people know God’s judgment was coming. B.
There is a judgment coming in our future. Every single one
of us will face the judgment day (Hebrews
9:27). Few people want to hear about the judgment. Most
people don’t want to hear about the reservation in hell they are
making for themselves by the way they live their lives.
Regrettably, many Christians don’t even want to hear about the
judgment and hell that awaits if they do not make sacrifice and
serve the Lord with all their heart, soul and mind. Are we, like
Jeremiah, prepared to die for that message? Or would we prefer to
soft pedal it and back away from preaching the judgment lest we
offend? X.
Esther – Willing to die in order to save others! A.
The story of Esther is amazing. Through the cunning of
Haman, the entire populace of the Jews in the Medo-Persian Empire
was about to be wiped out. Esther was in a position to save her
people, however, if she tried to act, she could have been put to
death herself (Esther
4:11). With some persuasion from her cousin, Esther
determined to act on behalf of her people to save them. Her
attitude was, “I will go in to the king, which is not according
to the law; and if I perish, I perish” (Esther
4:16). She was willing to die in order to save others. Are
we? B.
At first, this may seem somewhat different from the other
issues we have discussed in this lesson. But, in fact, it is not.
In reality, it encompasses all the others and gets to the real
point. When we boil each of the other scenarios down to their
common denominator, it all has to do with saving people. When we
ask this question about what are we willing to die for, the real
issue is about saving people. If we are not willing to die for all
of these things, then we are saying we are willing to let people
go to hell rather than save them by our being faithful unto death
(Revelation
2:10). Are you willing to die to save others? Conclusion:
Do not miss the point of this lesson. We do not have to be
martyred to be saved. Several of the individuals we have discussed
did not. Joseph, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Esther all
died of natural causes. However, we must be willing to die, if
need be. For what are you willing to die? All of this can be somewhat disheartening and discouraging, to think we may have to die just to serve Christ. To encourage you, let me remind you why we can even be here to worship God. Because Jesus Christ was willing to die in order to serve and save us (Romans 5:8). Remember, Jesus died not so we would have to die for Him, but rather so we might live eternally. In conclusion, I want you to know, not everyone is called to die for Jesus. But everyone is called to live for Jesus, sacrificing our sinful man and submitting to Jesus in faithful obedience, confessing Jesus as Lord, repenting of our sins and being baptized for the remission of those sins. Then we will be raised to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4), living for Jesus.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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