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  A THEOLOGY OF MARTYRDOM
  by Dean Taylor
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the theology of martyrdom, focusing on
the sacrificial love and conquering power of Jesus Christ as the slain
lamb. It challenges believers to follow Jesus' teachings faithfully,
even in the face of persecution and to live a life fully surrendered to
God. The speaker draws parallels between historical martyrs and the need
for modern-day Christians to stand firm in their faith, reminding them
of the victory found in the blood of the Lamb.

Topics: "Martyrdom", "Sacrificial Love"
Scripture References: Isaiah 6:1, Revelation 5:6, Matthew 10:16, Romans 8:35, 2 Corinthians 10:3, Ephesians 6:12, 1 Corinthians 1:18, John 18:36

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the theology of martyrdom, focusing on the
sacrificial love and conquering power of Jesus Christ as the slain lamb.
It challenges believers to follow Jesus' teachings faithfully, even in
the face of persecution and to live a life fully surrendered to God. The
speaker draws parallels between historical martyrs and the need for
modern-day Christians to stand firm in their faith, reminding them of
the victory found in the blood of the Lamb.

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CONTENT
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The scientists used to always just believe that the universe was
forever. It was sort of their sense of eternity. It was their sense of
understanding the cosmos and being usually atheists.

That's the way they saw things. And Edwin Hubble created this gigantic
telescope. I don't know if you've seen pictures of it.

Gigantic telescope. And with this telescope, he was able to show some
things in the stars that proved that the galaxies were expanding, that
the universe was expanding, and because of this, the universe had a
beginning. Well, this had a profound effect on the scientific community.

As a matter of fact, Albert Einstein was one of the leading physicists,
of course, at his time, and he had in his calculations this idea of a
static universe. And with the static universe and the idea that the
universe always existed, it affected the way he even did all of his
calculations. But when he came on to Edwin Hubble's calculations, and
particularly when he looked through that telescope and saw what Hubble
was explaining to him, Einstein writes that it changed his life.

He calls it literally his cosmological fudge factor of his different
calculations, and it changed everything about him. As a matter of fact,
from that time, Einstein never became a Christian, but he began to get
into Zionism and began to just wonder, what is God? Is there a God? And
began to ask some of those bigger questions. It had a profound effect on
him.

I believe that the text that we're looking at today, and the text that
we've been looking at during this revival conference, the Isaiah 6 and
the Revelation 5, can do this to every one of us. By getting a glimpse
of the center of the universe, from really seeing what's going on there,
it can change everything in our life. It's changed my life, and I
believe if we take it seriously, it affects everything.

The title of my message is The Theology of Martyrdom. And I'm taking
this from the slain lamb that we will see in Revelation 5. I'm going to
be going somewhat expositorily through Revelation 4 and 5, and then
looking at the different scriptures that go with this. The Theology of
Martyrdom.

The Theology of Martyrdom, and looking at the slain lamb in Revelation
5. I really appreciate being here. It's a tremendous blessing to be with
Sermon Index. I've seen the ministry through the different years.

I've had the opportunities in some of the early days to be with some of
you, with Brother Al, Brother Greg, and Scotland, and think of some of
those times. I want to say that it's a tremendous blessing for me to be
here again. I feel like it's a homecoming.

I've been involved recently with working in Greece, where the Muslims
are coming to Christ on Lesbos Island, and it has been a tremendous
thing for my entire family to go through. To see literally hundreds of
former Muslims coming to Christ, but then seeing them talk about their
countries and their plight and the things that they've gone through, it
changes you. When you're there and you're in those camps and those
different things, hearing these testimonies and hearing these stories,
it's been a hard two years, but it's been a blessing to see those things
happening.

Now I live in Boston. We're at Christian College, a brand-new Christian
College that I've been called to and ministering to in Boston, and this
has been also a tremendous blessing in my life. One of the things that
we're trying, that we feel a burden on us, a calling on us there in
Boston, is the idea of discipleship.

Now, sadly, oftentimes discipleship and revival are kind of pitted
against each other. You ever notice that? Either people talk about
revival or they talk about discipleship. I don't think it should be this
way.

I don't think it should be this way, that they should be pitted against
each other, because revival brings action. And I've heard this several
times in the messages that we've been hearing so far, and I've really
appreciated that. You know, at the end of the Isaiah 6 passage, what did
God tell Isaiah to do? I asked the question.

You remember? After he finally saw the revelation, he did what with
Isaiah? He sent him. Amen. He said to go.

Amen. At the end of Jesus' teachings in Matthew 28, after all that he
did on this earth, what did Jesus say to do? To go. Amen.

So I believe that revival has action in it. I believe that revival has
the same thing, and it should have this practical element of it. One of
the biggest callings on my life has been to focus on the teachings and
the very person of Jesus Christ.

God woke me up from the army about 30 years ago, and looking at the
teachings of Jesus, and this comes out of my ministry, and it comes out
of a burden that I have because of this. I believe that revival is a
person. I believe that our salvation is a person.

I believe that our life and our faith and our existence are in the
person of Jesus Christ. And I believe that Jesus Christ has said some
amazing things. I think that he has some amazing teachings, and I think
they are for us today.

And I believe that revival should be talking about Jesus. He said that
when I will go, I will send the Holy Spirit. And what did he say the
Holy Spirit would speak of? Of him.

The testimony of him. And so I would like to do that today. We can build
three tents in revival.

I love revival tents. I do. We can build three tents like the apostles
did up there, where they had the appearance of Jesus and the appearance
of Elijah and Moses.

But the voice from heaven, I think, still rings out today. Listen to
him. Listen to him.

Revival is a person. This person has something to say. He's God.

You know, Jesus said to us, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do
the things which I say? Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the
things that I say? In Luke 6.46. Revelation 5 is my favorite verse in
the Bible. I know preachers say that all the time, but really, it is. I
love that passage.

It is my favorite text in the Bible, and when I was looking into coming
here or not, and I heard that the message was on this view of Isaiah 6
and Revelation 5, I could not help but come. I love this passage. It's
magnificent.

In its true sense of the word, it's terrible. Revelation 5. In the true
sense of the word, it's awesome. Revelation 5 is the center of the
universe.

Also, what Isaiah 6 shows us. Much more than Hubble could ever show us
in his telescope, what we see given to us by the divine inspiration of
the Holy Spirit to the Apostle John, will show us the center of the
universe. And I believe, like when Einstein looked through Hubble's
telescope, if we look through the Holy Spirit's telescope today, through
the eyes of John, it will change everything.

So the theology of martyrdom. What do I mean by this? By saying the
theology of martyrdom, I do not mean a martyrdom complex. In other
words, where we're going around trying to get ourselves persecuted or
trying to get ourselves in trouble or something.

That's not what I mean. Rather, I mean a life that is genuinely dead to
ourselves and alive to Jesus Christ. Dead to the philosophies of this
world and the politics of this world, and alive to Jesus Christ.

A life that believes in the resurrection so much and so genuinely. And I
love what the brother said today. I need this too.

I want to say right now from the beginning. I preach these words of
Jesus. I need them.

But a theology of martyrdom is a life so given up of your own life and
you consider yourself dead, that you are having no fear in your life.
You can go forward in this life and believe in Jesus. The apostle Paul
says now in Romans 6, now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with him.

A life so committed to God that you're considered your life dead.
Incredible story. The young John Wesley, unconverted John Wesley, was
heading over to America to preach to the Indians.

He writes in his journal, I go to the Americas to save the Indians, he
called them the Indians in those days, but who shall save me? As he's on
this ship, true story, he writes it in his journal, while he's on this
ship, between England and America, they run into a hurricane. And in the
hurricane, the main mast of that ship was broken and it fell over and he
is terrified. But he looks over and he sees a group of Moravians,
missionaries, just praying and singing.

And he's astounded by this. Later on, he speaks to Bishop Spangenberg,
who's like the rock of the Moravians. Zinzendorf was the fire and Bishop
Spangenberg was the rock.

He goes to him and he said, can I ask you, weren't you afraid to die?
And it's interesting, reading his reply, no, I wasn't afraid to die,
we're ready to meet the Lord. But he said, but your children, weren't
your children afraid to die? Bishop Spangenberg took the opportunity and
looked at John Wesley and he said, do you know the Lord? And of course,
being a good, trained minister, he said, well yes, I know that he is the
savior of the world. But do you know him? And John Wesley writes in his
journal, I said that I did, but I think he saw through me.

He did see through him. And then he asked him, does your spirit bear
witness with God's spirit that you are a child of God? Oh, I'm hoping in
my prayer today is that we look at this Revelation chapter 5, that this
slain lamb who was on the throne will be so true to us. And here's the
thing, I'm going to take it a little further today, because of the
burden and the calling that I've had on my life to lift up the teachings
of Jesus Christ.

I believe it's a burden of mine today that the church has been hijacked
by the empire of this world today, by the culture of our day. Both
politics, both conservative and liberal, the church has too often been
prostituted, and we've prostituted out our precious message to the
latest fad, the latest traveling salesman, the latest demon-tongued
politician and demon-tongued preachers. But my burden this afternoon is
that we will bring the focus back to the very person of Jesus Christ,
and that the revival that we are looking for is in him, in him.

I want to focus on the lamb. So looking at, we're going to pick up
Revelation 5, let's back up to Revelation 4 just to get this incredible
context. John.

Now, John was the longest living apostle, right? And we know that we
have the epistles of Paul, and we learn it more because of the different
ways we have the book of Acts to tell us about it, but those churches in
Revelation were probably churches that the apostle John actually, you
know, founded. He was a church planter there. And while I think there's
some incredibly good, important things for us eternally out of the book
of Revelation, and I mean eternally, there's also some practical things
that we should get out of it.

This was a pastor who received a revelation from God to these seven
churches. And as he goes through the rebukes of the different churches
and tells them the things that he has on his heart, you see this
conflict of empire everywhere. And you do.

And you look at the ruins even today, you see it. The reference to the
empires and all that they were fighting with were everywhere. Things
like the Lord of Lords, the Son of God.

Caesar would use the term like I have the good news, the evangel, the
good news, and he called himself the Son of God. Believing that the
Augustus Caesar was actually the Son of God, and so all his
predecessors, all that came after him were also sons of God was
something that was common in their day. I had the opportunity a few
years ago while we were over in Greece to go to Ephesus.

And as I was there, the biggest thing that kept pouring into my heart,
have you lost your first love, Dean? Have you lost your first love? It's
been about 30 years since I was converted. Now I'm walking in Ephesus,
and I'm ringing in my ears, have you lost your first love? As I'm
pondering there and just imagining in my mind what it must be like to be
an early Christian in Ephesus, and I'm walking around the ruins of
Ephesus, which is an incredible sight to see. There I saw in one area
above the main library there, Emperor Augustus, divine Son of God.

I mean, this was something they had around them all the time. So when
you see the book of Revelation, and when you see this throne, kings,
powers, the language cannot be missed. To say Jesus is Lord in the early
church was an empire-crushing insult.

And I think if we take it seriously, it still is. Jesus is Lord. So
let's look at it.

Open your telescope up to Revelation chapter 4. It's great stuff. Great
stuff. The center of the universe.

Great stuff. So Revelation chapter 4, we have, after the rebukes to the
different seven churches and the warnings that we have, then finally we
get this passage, and it says, And after these things I look, and
behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I
heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I
will show you the things which must take place.

And he just begins to reveal more and more and more, and it's just like
the Hubble's telescope. I mean, you just keep getting more. And it's
incredible.

The throne set in heaven was one like set on a throne, verse 3, and he
who sat there was like Jasper in Sardis Stone. There was a rainbow
there. Twenty-four elders sat in clothed in whites, the crowns of gold.

And verse 6, a sea of glass was before it, and the living creature like
a lion, and these different creatures and angels, and everyone coming
down to verse 8, and each having six wings, were full of eyes around and
within, and they did not rest day or night, saying, Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And whenever the
living creatures give honor, glory and honor and thanks to him who sits
on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall
down before him who sits on the throne and worships him who lives
forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, You
are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for you
created all things, and by your will they exist and were created. That's
the scene of heaven.

That's the center of the universe. I mean, wow, right? So we get this
telescope looking at this, and so when I go to pray, I'm focusing in on
this spot. I mean, wow.

So he cracks the door open, and you first get the idea you see the
throne. Then he gives you a circle. The next circle are the four living
creatures, the angelic hosts that are four living creatures around him.

Then the next circle is like the seven spirits, or like the high-ranking
archangels. And then the next level is the twenty-four elders. And then
around the ever-widening circle are the ten thousands and ten thousands
and thousands.

And then finally, to every creature in heaven and on earth and under the
earth and in the sea, bring honor and glory and power forever and ever
to the one seated upon the throne and on the Lamb. I really appreciate
what Brother Al preached last night. He said the heartbeat of heaven.

Listen to this. I love this, brother. Blessing and honor and glory and
power forever and ever.

I love that, Brother Al. I'm going to use that. The heartbeat of heaven.

All of that. Praising God. Wow.

Now, after all that, if that's not enough, we turn to chapter five. So
turn your Bibles to five. So here's the emphasis of the context of the
passage that I want to give.

And I saw in the right hand of him who sat upon the throne a scroll
written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Oh, this is a
very interesting passage here. It tells us something about the scroll.

Now, as we look at the scroll, we wonder about what's coming. What does
it kind of look like? We read on. We get some ideas.

And we know that in those days, the scrolls were opened up. Sometimes
they'd be 15, sometimes 20 feet long. And this is what it was like.

And there was some kind of a scroll, and it had seven seals around it.
Well, what was it? It was written on the inside and written on the out.
We get some clues.

In Daniel chapter 12, it says, verse 8, and I heard. I think we can get
a clue from Daniel. And I heard, but I did not understand.

And I said, Oh, my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? This is
Daniel's revelation. And he said, Go, Daniel, for the words are closed
up and sealed until the end time. Many shall be purified and made white
and tested, but the wicked shall do wickedly.

Listen to this interesting point. And not one of the wicked shall
understand, but the wise shall understand. Is there a clue in that? We
don't know for sure.

It's interesting this, the wicked shall not understand. You know, in
John 3, the passage, the very famous salvation passage, when Nicodemus
is asking him, Can you explain this stuff to me? It's interesting, and
don't miss this, the point of our salvation. Jesus answered and said
unto him, Most assuredly I say unto you, Unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God.

Daniel says the wicked shall not understand. That these things are
spiritually discerned. That you must be born again or you're not going
to see it.

You won't see this kingdom. You won't understand it. You won't get it.

He goes on to say in John 3, Unless you are born again, you will not
enter the kingdom. It must be born of God. Another clue we get about
what's in these scrolls is in Ezekiel.

In Ezekiel, it literally says, in Ezekiel's prophecy, that there was a
scroll written on the inside and on the out. And those were woes and
judgments. And we get this in what's following in these seven seals as
they're broken.

It's a plan for the end. A will. I did some research and I found out
that the wills in those days would be wrapped in different seals and the
witness had to be there.

So if I gave my brother the seal of my brother, this could not be broken
unless he was present. There's actually historical records of Augustus
and they call it a will under seals. And it had to be opened in this
way.

It's interesting. Could this be something? I don't know. But what we do
know is that what follows is terrible, wonderful, amazing, and awesome.

We hear the plan for salvation of all the rest of the world. We hear the
curses and the wars. As the first seal is broken, we see war coming.

And the second, the removing of peace. And the third, economic disaster
followed by death and hunger. The revealing of the martyrs in the fifth
seal.

And the wrath of God in the sixth. And the prayers of the saints in the
seventh. And all this, the releasing of the Antichrist and the church
through all this.

And then finally you get to the end. All of that. And this is where it's
all going.

Don't you miss it. At the end of the seventh trumpet, of the very last
seal, it says this. Then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud
voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and
ever.

That's the end. Finally, this is from the rising of the sun to its going
down. The Lord's name will be praised.

Until then, we're in an ambassadorship. We're like little embassies.
Have you ever been to an embassy in a different country? You go to an
embassy.

The local church should be the embassy in a different country. You go
into the embassy when you're in Greece or you're in Saudi Arabia or I
don't know if they have an American embassy in Saudi Arabia but in
Europe or somewhere. When you go in there, it's like being in that
little country.

The local church should be showing the whole world what the whole world
should look like if they followed the king. This is what the church is
to look like. We're not living it.

We don't have the totality yet. It will come though. And in the end day,
they should be able to say, ah, so that's what those guys were talking
about.

Because one day, we're part of the winning team. We're part of that
which will be. From the rising of the sun.

All right, now. And I saw, verse 1, And I saw in his right hand of him
who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back sealed
with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud
voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals? Now we
just talked about those seals just a little bit.

And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open
the scroll or to look at it. So I wept much because no one was found
worthy to open and read the scroll or even to look at it. I don't know
how they got the glance, the idea that, you know, they had the, he got
at least a little look that was, saw it was written on the inside and
the out.

But now they don't even want to look at it after they cried that cry.
Are you worthy to open it? Imagine being there. Let's take it out of
the, just the imaginary, but really be there with John.

And he's singing, and he said, and no one was even wanting to look at
it. He said, so I wept much. It's a strange passage.

He just starts crying. Again. He starts breaking down and crying because
no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or even to look at
it.

All that power, the ability, the judgment that was in those scrolls. I
don't want to touch that. I'm so glad I don't.

The judgment that's in it. I don't want that. So I wept much because no
one was found worthy to open and to read it or to look at it.

But here's my favorite verse in the Bible. But one of the elders said to
me, do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of
David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.

This is so powerful. Think of the power, the might, and the strength.
And now I know we know what's going next.

You even heard it preached last night. But I want you for a minute to
just imagine John is there crying. And the angel just said, the lion of
the tribe of Judah has prevailed.

Take a look. And you know, just in your mind, imagine what John must
have been thinking, right? He's going to look back and he's going to see
this huge lion. He looks back in verse 6. And I looked.

This is the center of the universe. Pay close attention. And I looked.

And behold, in the midst of the throne of the four living creatures and
in the midst of the elders stood a lamb. Stood a lamb. Not fallen lamb.

Stood a lamb as though it had been slain. Having seven horns, which
represents total power, and seven eyes, which represents seeing all
things, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth,
that he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him that sat
on a throne. Yes, the ultimate seat of power.

The ultimate victory over judgment. The ultimate victory over everything
is standing there, a slain lamb. And I believe, church, that this
example of suffering love, this example of the conquering power of
suffering love, is much more than we usually give it credit.

They go on and after the seals are broken and the Antichrist is let
loose upon the church, how did the church survive? How did the church
survive? And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word
of their testimony and they did not love their life to the death. That
is the theology. That's the total power, total victory, that we have in
Jesus Christ.

In our sins, in our sanctification, in our revival, and in our practical
living out of victory on this earth, this is how it should be. And when
Jesus gave us the prayer for us to pray in Matthew chapter 6, he said,
Hallowed be your name. Holy, this is that scene again.

Holy is your name. Your kingdom come. Here's that kingdom language
again.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. How is it in heaven? What
kingdom is he talking about? What is the example in heaven that he wants
manifested in the church on earth? It is this. That slain lamb.

The center of the universe. This is it. juxtapose that scene against all
the terrible things we've done in the church in history.

Juxtapose that over every one of the Nazi belt buckles that said Gott
mit uns, God with us. Juxtapose, compare this with the Crusades or with
Constantine's shield. Take this and compare it to the politics of North
American, the circus of North American politics.

Maybe it's better in Canada. I don't know. This example.

I believe this example that Jesus is telling the church. If we're gonna
have revival, let's listen to what the Lamb says. He gives us an example
that we win and we have a victory in this.

It's interesting as we go through the different seals as they pass
through. There's one passage where he talks about and he's repeating
what he told Peter when he told Peter to put away his sword. He told
Peter there in the garden, he who lives by the sword will die by the
sword.

And in Revelation, they pick it back up and it says he who leads into
the captivity shall go into captivity. He who kills with a sword must be
killed with a sword. Listen, here is the patience and faith of the
saints.

Next chapter. Here is the patience of the saints. That was Revelation
13.

Here's Revelation 14. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those
who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

When we ponder these events that are happening as our world gets worse
and worse, we think of this. It's... We think of the different empires.
We're not there to the end of the world yet.

And as we go and we go, we must understand and we must pray for these
leaders of our countries. We must pray for them. We have to understand
which side they are.

Because here's the story. Daniel also lets us know something interesting
about the end times and our leadership. Not in the church, but the
leadership of the world.

He says this in Daniel 4.17. Don't miss this passage. This decision is
by the decrees of the watchers and is sentenced by the word of the holy
ones in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the
kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever He wills. Now watch this last
part.

And sets over it the lowest of men. Ouch. Pray for them.

God did not give them the sword in vain, says Romans chapter 13. They
have a purpose, but we are not of this kingdom. Pray for them.

They were chosen from a hard group, but God is control. And I tell you
this, when we mix this up and we don't understand it and we can't get a
full revelation of that lamb, I'll tell you this, over and over in
history, it has been a disaster. Listen to this.

The worst atrocities ever inflicted upon mankind have been performed by
men who think they do God a service. Let me repeat this. The worst
atrocities ever inflicted upon mankind have been performed by men who
think they do God a service.

We can save ourselves so much trouble. And I looked, and behold, in the
midst of the throne and the four living creatures, in the midst of the
elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain. Stood a lamb.

Revival is a person. Revival is a person, and that person is a lamb. And
I want to draw your attention to this lamb.

The cross. The cross. Praise be to Jesus Christ.

Thank you for the cross, Lord God. I thank you that you ransomed my soul
from this world. I thank you, Lord, that you died for my sins.

The cross. But the cross is also an example. The cross of Jesus Christ
is the theology of martyrdom.

The cross of Jesus Christ towers as an eternal witness to the futility
of man's strength, resources, and good ideas. In his letter to the
Corinthian church, warning them about the foolishness of fleshly
resources, the apostle Paul taught that the true way to win does not
come by might, does not come by power, but by laying down our life to
the point of death. And he wrote this in 1 Corinthians 1.18. For the
message of the cross is foolishness foolishness to those that are
perishing.

But to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. You know, these
things are spiritual. They are meant for us to understand at a deep
level.

But just because they are spiritually discerned, we must not make them
so just theoretical. My burden is to bring revival with discipleship
together. And so when we get these teachings and we understand these
things, how do we walk it out practically? Sometimes if it just becomes
a theory, it does have no reality to it.

It's the same thing with Pilate. When Jesus stood before Pilate, and
Pilate asked him in John 18, Pilate had heard that people were calling
Jesus a king, so he challenged him and said in John 18, Are you the king
of the Jews? Jesus took those words seriously. He just asked me a really
important question.

Are you the king of the Jews? Are you speaking this for yourself or did
others tell you this concerning me? John 18, 36, and Jesus answered, My
kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my
servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But
now, my kingdom is not from here.

Now watch now how we can just spiritualize things. Pilate answered and
said, Well, then are you a king then? Does that really count? Okay,
you're not from this world. Are you really a king? Jesus said rightly.

Jesus said, You say rightly that I am a king, for this cause I was born.
You say rightly that I am a king, for this cause I was born, and for
this cause I have come into the world to bear witness of the truth. If
this gets a hold of you, it will change you.

Now that I've been in Boston, I've been doing a lot of local history on
the Puritans. One of my favorites that I've found is John Elliot, one of
the early Puritans who got to Boston. He was famous for translating the
Aliquot Bible, the Native American Bible, and he had these revivals and
these meetings with them where he would preach, and he had whole cities,
they called them praying towns, of these Native Americans that were
converted and believing in him.

Well, I got excited about him in a tour of the Massachusetts State
House, and there was a picture of him preaching to the Native Americans.
I've got to know about this guy. Well, interesting, you know, the
Puritans came to America kind of like with a push during the Oliver
Cromwell Puritan period.

Well, he's over there during this time. Now, Oliver Cromwell dies, and
Charles II comes back to the throne. John Elliot is beside himself.

But now, dealing with these people and seeing these whole little towns
of praying people and seeing the evidence of what it's like to follow
Jesus, he writes a letter. I found this letter. And he writes this
letter rebuking both the Americas and England, saying, let's make Jesus
the king of England.

Seriously. They were so insulted by it that he got in a lot of trouble,
and it's the very first thing that was ever banned in America was this
letter to make Jesus king. I don't know what's going to be happening in
the next coming up 10 years or so with our politics getting worse and
worse, but church, don't get into these politics.

Let's be with John Elliot. Let's be with him. And I looked.

Let's look at this telescope. And I looked, and behold, in the midst of
the throne of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders
stood a lamb as though it has been slain. You know, in the Gospel of
Matthew, Jesus gave his missionaries.

He sent out the church, the first missionaries. He gave them what he
thought they would need before they went. And this is what he said in
Matthew 10, 16.

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be
wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Do you understand? Do I, Dean,
do you understand this attitude? In this he knew, he wants us in this
age to continue to go forward and to fight for the kingdom of God.

But with this we're taking upon a different kind of sword and the new
covenant. A different kind of way to fight. God cannot change.

The same God of the old covenant is the God of the new covenant. It is
impossible for him to change. But the weapons of our warfare and the new
covenant is powerful if we'll get a hold of this revelation.

I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. And it worked. And it
worked.

Jesus taught them. He taught them about the cross. He taught them to
turn his cheek.

He told them to go an extra mile. E. Stanley Jones, an early missionary
teacher from India, a Methodist teacher, and he says, you know,
Christianity is different than all the other religions in the way Jesus
told them to deal with their enemies. Buddhists have this idea of being
pacifists.

Just sitting there taking the pain. But Christianity actually feeds your
enemy, prays for your enemy, and goes the second mile. This is totally,
no other religion has this.

And as Paul says in Romans chapter 12, it heaps burning coals upon their
head. And Jesus knew this. Compare that to those Nazi belt buckles or
the white sheets burning blasphemous with crosses and crusades.

Tertullian put it this way, speaking of that lamb. Tertullian, who
writing around the year 200 AD, he says, and the Lord shall save in that
day even his people like sheep. He goes on and says, no one gives the
name of sheep to those who fall in battle with arms in hand and while
repelling force with force, but only to those who are slain, yielding
themselves up for their own place of duty and with patience rather than
fighting in self-defense.

He went on to say a very profound thing that we've seen over and over
and over in church history and we see it today. The blood of the martyr
is the seed of the church. When we take power in our own hand or try our
hand at the ridiculous circus of politics through the different
centuries, we've made a mess.

But when we have been willing to be non-compromising and preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the blood of the martyr is still the seed of the
church. But what if? It's so... I have six children. I understand you
get scared.

I understand, but what if this happens? What if we don't stop Islam?
What if we don't stop this party? And what if we don't do things? And
there's a sense in us to fear. Paul gave us what I call the Christian
atomic bomb in Romans 8, verse 35. Oh, it's powerful.

Now imagine any what if you possibly could think of. What if the Muslims
take over? What if communism isn't stopped? Whatever what if, and look
at the atomic bomb in Romans 8, verse 35, and he says this. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or
persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Now watch now as
it is written.

For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep
for the slaughter. Now that doesn't sound like your best life now.

Doesn't at all. For your sake we are killed all the day long. We are
counted as sheep for the slaughter.

Remember James and John and his mother said, can I put them on your one
hand and one on the other? And Jesus loved that woman's zeal for her
children and said, are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I
have? Remember the story? And James and John, who wrote the book of
Revelation, we are. And Jesus, look at them, you are. He knew that they
were going to endure these hardships.

For it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are
counted as sheep for the slaughter. But here's the thing.

37, 837, Romans. Nay, in all these things, what things? Famine,
nakedness, peril, sword. Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded. I love when Paul gets persuaded. For I am persuaded
that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers,
nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any
other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That is the theology of martyrdom. And it cannot lose. We are promised
it cannot lose.

Paul warned us in his pastoral letter to Timothy, taking young Timothy
and wanting him to be strong in the faith and how he was going to take
the faith to the different areas. And he said in 2 Timothy 3, verse 10,
that you have carefully followed my doctrine, my manner of life,
purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, perseverance, persecution,
afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and Lystra,
what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.

Yes, listen, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer
persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse,
deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which
you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned
them, and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures, which
are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in
Christ Jesus.

Paul lived this life, a theology of martyrdom. He said it this way, I'm
always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life
of Jesus may also be manifest in our bodies. He talked about sharing in
the suffering, sharing in the suffering of his death, being made
conformable unto his death.

Dean, do you have any understanding of the depth of Paul's, what he's
even talking about? God, I want to see that lamb more clearly today. I
want to focus in on the center of the universe. You know, it's hard, and
again, I'm a family man.

I have children, I have a wife, I've loved for 32 years, I've been
married, and as I look at this, I get scared. And being able to just
have those motives yourself, but do you understand the cross and the
idea that how Jesus, this is how he is victorious through the centuries,
is with this kind of method, the theology of martyrdom. And when people
get a hold of this, it changes them.

Years ago, we had a chance to go to Scotland, and there in Scotland, you
got to see in the cathedral of St. Giles, John Knox's, where he was
preaching there. And John Knox came against when England was trying to
say that the king of England was head of the church, and John Knox there
in Scotland and the different covenanters that were there said, no, we
can't say the king of England is a head of the church, and we were able
to visit the covenanter's graveyard while we were there, and imagine
what this would have been like, and it's so easy just to compromise on a
little political thing, you know, it's just politics, just say what you
need to say and be done with it. These people were non-compromising.

Interesting, John Knox's daughter, may I raise children that follow
Christ like this, John Knox's daughter, married a preacher by the name
of John Welch. John Welch was arrested for preaching, taken down to a
dungeon in southern France, and he was dying because of respiratory
problems. Finally, his wife, John Welch's wife, John Knox's daughter,
after years of this, realizes after the letters she's getting from her
husband, my husband's going to die.

So finally she gets a setting, because of who she is, she gets a place
to be able to go see the king. And so she came up to James I, and she
came to him and said, I'm pleading with you, please let my husband come
at least to England where he can be in a prison here and not die. He
said, no problem.

Just have him say that the king of England is the head of the church.
She lifted up her apron and said, I'd rather have his head in my apron.
We live in such a post-modern, compromising, nonsense world.

Do we understand the theology of martyrdom today? Can you understand
that? They overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their
testimony, and they loved not their life until the death. We are
surrounded by so much. There's a passage in the comparison passage in
Isaiah 6. Isaiah is filled with this kingdom, empire, crushing language.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. We sing that, don't
we? Think about it this way. It goes on to say, of the increase of his
government and peace, there shall be no end.

God will establish it. In Isaiah 6, when he's there and we get this,
there's a little portion there that really helps me in that revelation.
In Isaiah 6, it kind of compares to the scene that John gave.

And as he's there in Isaiah 6 and verse 1, it says, In the year King
Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne, high and lifted up,
and the train of his roll filled the temple. Again, it's very much like
the other one. They're singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. And he goes on to say, as he's
looking at this beautiful idea up there in Isaiah 6, and this is the
part that gets me, I'm a man of unclean lips. And he says this, And I
dwell with a people of unclean lips.

You know what I get in that? It's so easy just to fall into the norms of
our generation, of our day. We live in a, you know, it comes to the
terms of an academic or philosophical way, a postmodern philosophy.
Nothing matters anymore.

Everybody has their own thing. In the church, we have another philosophy
that's just surrounding, and it's basically just pop American
Christianity, pop Christianity. And these things are in us more than you
realize.

They're in me more than I realize. And one of the biggest fears that I
have, one of the biggest things that I have to fight against is taking,
is not taking sin carefully enough. And this is permeating both the
postmodern philosophy of the secular world and the pop Christian culture
of the Christian world.

Make sin seem so casual. But I tell you, a few years ago I was in Mexico
working with a mission down there, and we were in an area and a
lightning struck our compound. And the children said that even a
lightning flew out of the socket.

And at that moment, it was so loud, I just suddenly felt guilty. I don't
know why. I was scared.

And I thought of this. Isaiah gives us the idea there in Isaiah 6 that
when they cry holy, to tempt the pillars of heavenly being, but to shake
the pillars of heaven, and Dean trembled over one lightning bolt? Wow.
And he took that.

He said, I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell. It's in me, Lord. It's
in me.

It's in me. But he took that coal off the altar and purified them. I
think that's like a reference to Jesus Christ there in what John saw.

The grace of Jesus Christ is able not only to cleanse us, but to purify.
It's the double cure. It's the double cure.

Cleanse us from our sins and make me pure. And make me pure. There's
another scene like this.

You read through this so many. You start reading of the different ones
and the faith that they had. Felix Mons, the early Anabaptist during the
time of the Reformation, was being drowned in the Lamont River right
down from the Grossmuster.

I've been to this spot. And Bullinger actually writes in his journal
that his mother, this is in the martyr's mirror, his mother was on the
side. And as they were taking him and bringing him to his death, they're
wondering, what will this mother say? Now she was the mistress before
she was converted of an ungodly priest.

And they had Felix Mons as an illegitimate son of an ungodly priest. And
finally now they're converted and they're following God and they're
about to drown Felix Mons in the water. And he even writes in his
journal, he looks to the side, and she screams out, Felix, be faithful
unto death.

Be faithful unto death. That's the theology of martyrdom, even for our
loved ones. Even for our loved ones.

Oh God, help us. Now, this is not pacifism. Oh no.

It's not passive at all. We are at war. And God has called us to be
warriors.

The Old Testament says, and Yahweh is a warrior. And remember, God
cannot change. It is our warfare that has changed.

But we must be warriors. Some brother here gave us the, we must be, why
are we not sharing to the lost? Why are we not taking this? God is just
as jealous and earnest for his kingdom to expand as he was in the Old
Covenant. But now he wants us to do it with this lamb.

In Ephesians 6.12 it says, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, church, but, we're not
pacifists, against principalities and against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. That's the kind of fighting we have now.

The early church, Irenaeus and Tertullian wrote letters to the emperors
and say, we are more strength to you by just being a praying army than
all your armies combined, paraphrase. Young men, let me ask you
something. Another passage where it talks about this purity.

In 2 Corinthians 10.3.7 another fight and the enemy will get at us with
so many darts. You know, it's a dart, but when you look at the way those
darts were in those days, it's like a harpoon. You know, when you
harpoon a fish, it goes in really easy, right? But it has a barb on it.

Those sins go in really easy. The internet, pornography, the things of
the world, they slide right in, but they don't come out. That's the way,
those are the darts.

And when Satan gives us these darts, we have the victory through this
blood of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 10.3.7 says this, for though we
walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. We have a different
battle today.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds. Listen, young men. Casting down
imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the
knowledge of God and bringing, listen to this, and bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Hallelujah. Oh, we're getting overran. The enemy has come up with more
and more ways to get into our imagination.

I really think we need the local church more than ever. We need
accountability. In Boston, we've been trying to weekly ask each other,
are you looking at any pornography? Are you doing anything that, are you
fasting? Are you praying? Are you evangelizing, brother? These are
things where the local church, we need this to hold each other
accountable.

Jesus had teachings on this too. If your iPhone offends thee, pluck it
out. If your iPhone offends thee, pluck it out.

We know better than this. You look at his teachings. You know what? I
love listening to old sermons.

I download them. I listen to them. I love them.

But you know what? This lamb came to earth and he preached a sermon. And
I would really encourage us to download that sermon and take a look. And
as he goes through these things, he talks about the permanence of
marriage.

He talks about this theology of martyrdom, of loving our enemies. He
talks about radical views of economics and praying and hypocrisy. He
talks about living faithfully to God.

And I wonder, if you were to take God's sermon and create yourself for a
church today that goes out of its way to do every single thing opposite
that Jesus said, it looks an awful lot like this pop-American church.
His teachings. I am not even going to pretend to tell you that I've come
to the end of his teachings.

He says, follow me, because it's a continual life. And maybe I can't
quite figure out, Lord, I want to follow your teachings, but if I can't
somehow figure it out, I dare not, though, anesthetize the teachings of
Jesus to make myself comfortable. They're there, and yes, they're hard.

But they will bless you as your fathers of your home. They will change
the way you have church. This is suffering love.

This is God. This is his teachings. It's him.

It's a lamb. Coming towards the end of his life, Napoleon was first
taken to an island and escaped. Second time he was taken to an island,
and finally they had him chained in such a way that he couldn't escape.

And there he wrote in his diary, in very despair, the end of his life.
Interesting he wrote this in his diary, Napoleon writing this. He says,
I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man.

Between him and every other person in the world, there is no possible
term of comparison. Alexander the Great, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I
founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius?
Upon force.

Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love. And at this hour, millions of
people would die for him. Millions of people would die for him.

Are you one of them? Are you one of them? So coming to close, let's look
at that text. Let's ponder it. Let's let this telescope show us what we
need to see.

And let's allow this slain lamb to take us where he wants us to be. It
ends with, at the end of the scroll, who shall stand? Who shall stand
when all this happens, when the judgment comes out? And he gives us this
picture of this 144,000 and then this great multitude, which from every
tribe and every tongue, all praising God. Do you feel alone sometimes?
Do you feel sometimes like maybe we're the only ones? We're here in this
little town, and I don't know, it's so wicked around here.

Get your eyes on that incredible scene and a multitude that no one could
number singing and praising. That's the great cloud of witnesses. That's
who's wanting to cheer us on.

I'll give you one more history story. One more. This is a rebuke to the
church.

An early Anabaptist who was, during the time of Reformation, was a
school teacher and he went preaching. And he was captured and he was put
in prison and was going to be killed. And he wrote back to the church
saying, you guys have given up.

It was only 1580. And he's saying that you're already giving up. And the
words that he gives, boy, they just, they convict me.

And he writes the letter to the church and he says this. He says,
church, written from prison, he's about to be martyred. He's writing to
the church, rebuking the church for compromising already in 1580.

He says, many in our time think the opposition has ended. Many in our
time think the opposition has ended. They look back and think the war is
over.

But they are deceived. If they would live the life, they would get
persecuted again. Listen to his reasoning.

As long as the lion has its cub with him, he might act friendly and
playful enough. But when he loses his little ones, or his prey, he
cannot keep himself back. He rages and roars and rants and he raves as
only lions can until fire shoots from his eyes.

Certainly Peter does not warn us in vain that Satan comes to us like a
roaring lion or a wolf at nightfall. But may God be praised. The lion of
the tribe of Judah is bigger and stronger than the lion of the
Philistines.

He has already split the other lion's head and wounded his body.
Therefore he knows that his time is short and that he will also be
overcome. Therefore he is so desperate, so angry.

He sees the lake of fire into which he will be thrown. Watch yourselves,
therefore, heroes of Israel. Listen to this for the rest of this day.

Watch yourself, therefore, heroes of Israel. Take courage, strong men of
Zion. Rejoice, O city of Jerusalem.

The time of your triumph is near. All tears will be washed from your
eyes. The reward of your labor stand ready.

Just hold on a little while longer. The fat cattle have already been
butchered. The fowls have been plucked.

The table stands ready and the guests have begun to arrive. That was the
theology of martyrdom. So Einstein, when he looked through the
telescope, repented.

Literally wrote a document saying that he was wrong. And we look through
this John's telescope and look at this throne and the lamb standing
that's been slain. Allow this theology of martyrdom, this life
completely sold out to us, doing all the things Christ told us to do and
just wanting everything we can do to follow him more and more.

Allow this life to be in us. My burden as we pray for God to speak to
us, to visit us, that we will listen to what he has to say and what he
said. I pray that we will do this.

We follow a lamb that was slain. May the vision of this scene change our
life and may the lamb that was slain receive all glory and honor and
power and strength. Let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, I need this, Lord. I'm that person, Isaiah. I
dwell, I have unclean lips and I dwell in a people of unclean lips.

I justify myself, my time, my attitude. God, take the coal off that
altar and touch it to my tongue and to my soul. Let the blood of Jesus
Christ redeem me out of that whole tribe and renew again this afternoon
a more powerful understanding of who you are and what you have to say.

God, we're praying for revival. In our age, we don't know what's
happening as the Middle East is running here and there again and all the
different chaos in American and Canadian politics. Lord, we come to you
and say, God, this time, this time, Lord, we want to listen to what you
have to say.

Speak to us, Lord, and may we remember that we will overcome by the
blood of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony, the word of our
testimony, and that we will not love our life until the death. Oh, God,
we thank you for your examples. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/jRAhpYvFYPw.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/dean-taylor/a-theology-of-martyrdom/
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