In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of responding to persecution with a mindset of reigning and rejoicing. He highlights the difficulty of living according to the Sermon on the Mount, particularly the command to love one's enemies. The preacher encourages believers to arm themselves with the same mindset as Christ, who suffered for our sins. He distinguishes between punishment and persecution, stating that persecution is what Christians face when they have done good. The ultimate goal of receiving rewards in heaven is not for personal pride or fame, but rather to honor and glorify God.

Matthew 5, verses 10-12. Our Lord speaks and says, Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets who were before you. In the last several years, there has developed in America a new brand of Christianity. It's a brand of Christianity that is easygoing. You don't hear a great deal about suffering or sacrifice or carrying a cross. It's a brand that has the approval of the world. We have an amazing thing today with a kind of Christian living that the world says is great. Jesus said, beware when all men speak well of you. We have a kind of Christianity today that talks about excitement, and fulfillment, and success, but doesn't say a great deal about persecution and suffering and pain. Certainly in the Bible, we are taught that there is fulfillment, and there is enrichment, and there is excitement. But we are also taught in the Bible that to be a good Christian means paying a price. Jesus climaxes the Beatitudes by telling us that if we are going to be good Christians, we are going to have to expect persecution. This shouldn't come as a surprise to us because from the very beginning of history, when sin came into the world, there was persecution. Cain killed Abel. And from that time on, straight through to the arrest and crucifixion of our Lord, the arrest and persecution of the apostles, through the era of the Church, when the Church was paying a price, we have had persecution. In fact, Paul wrote to Timothy and said, yea, and all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. This is not a popular message, but it's a needed message. I think we ought to do something tonight that is very important, at least to my heart. That's to examine this Beatitude and find out what Jesus is really saying. And perhaps the best way to do it would be to approach it from three different aspects. First of all, Jesus gives us the reasons for persecution. He tells us that there are two reasons why Christians are persecuted. For righteousness' sake and for his name's sake. Now, there are some Christians who don't know the difference between punishment and persecution. Now, Peter knew the difference. Over in 1 Peter chapter 4, you remember Peter talks about suffering. He says, now, don't suffer as a busybody. Don't suffer as a meddler in other people's matters. Don't suffer as a lawbreaker. Don't suffer as a murderer. But if any man suffers as a Christian, let him rejoice. You see, punishment is what I get when I've done bad. Persecution is what I get when I've done good. And there's a big difference. Our Lord doesn't say, blessed are those who are persecuted for having a big mouth. He doesn't say, blessed are those who are offensive. Now, I want to be very careful with what I say here, lest someone think I'm caricaturing Christianity or being critical. This is the third church I have pastored, and in every church I have pastored, there are those who don't know the difference between being persecuted for being offensive and being persecuted because of the offense of the cross. There's a difference. When well-meaning people push themselves and argue and use tactics that are something less than spiritual, then they have trouble. They come and say, oh, I'm being persecuted because I'm a good Christian. No, that's not the case. They're being punished because they aren't good Christians. Those of us who have worked in secular offices, and this is true of most of us, factories or offices, have got to be very, very careful that we don't bring upon ourselves punishment for being the wrong kind of a Christian and the wrong kind of a worker. And then we go away and say we're being persecuted. I can think of some people who weren't doing their jobs right. They had time to run around passing out tracks, but they weren't doing their jobs right. And the boss called them in, and they got real uptight and said, well, you're just persecuting me because I'm a Christian. No, no, the boss says, I just want you to do your job. We've got to be very, very careful to understand the reasons for persecution. Jesus says there are two of them. We are persecuted for righteousness' sake, and we are persecuted for Jesus' sake. Let's talk about those two reasons for just a moment. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake. That means when you and I are living the Beatitudes, we can expect persecution. You say, why? Because the world doesn't believe the Beatitudes. You just take these Beatitudes and you match them up against the philosophy of the world and see what you end up with. Blessed are the poor in spirit. The world says, hey, inflate your ego, be somebody important. Blessed are the meek, the meek. Blessed are they that mourn. Mourn? We want pleasure. We want joy. We want happiness. Forget about what you did. Dry your tears. Live it up. Meek? The meek may inherit the earth, but quite frankly, we aren't too interested, says the world. We intend to walk on everybody's face if we have to, to get what we want. Hunger and thirst after righteousness. We don't want righteousness. We want pleasure. We want money. We want fame. Merciful? Sorry. It's dog eat dog. Pure in heart. Don't talk to us about purity. Peacemakers? We're not interested in that. If what I do makes somebody mad at me, then he's mad at me. You see, you take the Beatitudes and you start living the Beatitudes. You know what happens? You start running cross-current to the philosophy of the world today. You know, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that we're walking a narrow road. Now, the world is walking a broad road that's leading to destruction. We're walking a narrow road that leads to life. You know where that road is? A lot of Christians have the idea the broad road's over here going to destruction. The narrow road's over here leading to life. Oh no. That narrow road runs right down the middle of the broad road. And we're bucking a crowd. And they're going that way and we're going this way. And we're bucking that crowd with our thinking. We don't think the way they think. Not only is our direction different and our destination different, but our dynamic is different. Our philosophy is different. Everything about us is different. That's what that word righteousness means. You Greek students can get your lexicon down and look up this word that's translated righteousness. Basically, it means to divide, to be different. Jesus says, blessed are ye when you are reviled and persecuted because you're different. And the world doesn't want anybody to be different. Paul wrote and said, be not conformed to this world. Phillips translates that. Don't let the world press you into its mold. As long as you and I conform, nobody's going to bother us. But the minute we start speaking differently and thinking differently and acting differently, we have different motives from the world, different ambitions. They're going to say we can't stand to have him around. That's why Manasseh sawed Isaiah in half. That's why Jeremiah was thrown in the dungeon. That's why Daniel was put in the lion's den and his friends were thrown in the furnace. That's why Jesus was crucified. They were different and the world just can't stand to have anybody around who's different. Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes to the church, he will convict the world. And so when you and I are walking in the spirit and living the beatitudes, then the Holy Spirit works through us and people get convicted. When you're in the hospital and you're in a room with maybe three or four other people who are sick or injured and a well person comes in, the presence of health makes sickness look worse. Person's in jail and in walks a free person. The presence of liberty makes bondage look worse. If you're broke and in walks a rich person, the presence of riches makes poverty look worse. If you're living in a wicked, godless world, the presence of righteousness makes sin look worse. Now, you'd think that the world would enjoy having people around like Christians, peacemakers, pure in heart, helpful, kind. Oh, no, it shows them up. That's what Jesus meant when he said, I'm the light of the world. If I had not come into the world, they'd have no cloak for their sin. But now they can't hide. I've been here. I have exposed sin. And so we're persecuted for righteousness sake. And Jesus tells us we're also persecuted for his sake. He had something to say about this in his upper room discourse. I think we've got to turn over there to John chapter 15 and just read those verses. I'll not expound them. We'll just read them. John chapter 15, beginning about verse 18. If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. Therefore, the world hated you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake. Because they know not him that sent me. Here are a half a dozen men having lunch together at some factory or some construction site. And they're just sitting talking. And religion is a good topic for conversation. One fellow says, you know, I'm an atheist. Well, nobody's going to argue with him. Other fellow says, well, I used to be a Presbyterian. I'm a Baptist. Well, I'm a Congregationalist. I guess I'm just sort of nothing. Fellow speaks up and says, I'm a Christian. Now, if you tell people you're a Baptist or a Presbyterian or an octogenarian or a vegetarian, they won't care. Wonderful. We're glad you believe something. But you bring the name of Jesus Christ into the conversation, see what happens. It's his name's sake. That's why they persecute us. He said, now you don't belong to this world. And because you don't belong to this world, you belong to me. And because you belong to me, they hate you. They want you to belong to their world. Peter writes and says, they think it's so strange you don't run with them to the same excess of riot that you used to run with them. And so we are persecuted for his name's sake. Now, this is important. Don't forget it. If I am truly living for Christ, they will see Christ. And that's what they persecute. You got that? If I'm truly living for Christ, they will see Christ. And that's what they'll persecute. They won't persecute me because I'm campaigning for some cause. There are some Christians who unfortunately have very weak egos. They've always got to have attention. One way to get attention is to cause trouble. They think that by causing trouble and getting attention, they are being persecuted. Oh, no, no. If we call attention to ourselves, that's one thing. But if we call attention to Jesus Christ, that's quite something else. The reasons for persecution. Righteousness sake, his name's sake. Now, our Lord gives us a second aspect of this subject. This is important. Our response to persecution. I did not say our reaction to persecution. I said our response. How do we respond when an unsafe person does something to us? Maybe it's a business deal. Maybe it's something at work or school. I've had Christian students who are attending secular schools tell me that they've really gotten raw deals from some teachers. Whether they did or not, I don't know. They've just told me that. How do we respond? Now, Christians are not supposed to react. Animals react. When I tell my cat she's going to go to the vet, she has a fit. She just reacts. But people respond. Now, how are we supposed to respond to persecution? I'm afraid the way we usually respond is to get angry, to want to retaliate. Oh, how many times we've said bitter things. We have harbored within our hearts bitterness and antagonism. We've gone to bed at night and thought up ways of sticking pins in people and hurting them, praying down fire from heaven. And our Lord says, no, that's not the way we respond to persecution. Over in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 1, and Peter has a lot to say about persecution, he says this, inasmuch as Christ has suffered in the flesh for us, arm yourself with the same mind. You know what he means by that? He says, look, Jesus had to suffer for sin. You're going to have to suffer. Now, arm yourself with this attitude. Your attitude of mind is important in facing the world. Now, our attitude of mind sometimes is not spiritual. Here's an unsaved person who pats us in the back to find a soft spot and then sticks the knife in. Now, you've been through it. Here's an unsaved person who, not because he doesn't like us, but he doesn't like Christ, turns against us and says things. He insults us. He lies about us. It's important that our Lord says here falsely. If I've lied and they tell me I've lied, they're telling the truth. But if they lie about me, that's false. And so often we retaliate and we shouldn't retaliate. The Lord tells us how we ought to respond. Verse 10, number one, we should reign. R-E-I-G-N. Here's the first thing he says. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, he's not talking about getting into the kingdom. Nobody ever got into the kingdom by being persecuted. You're persecuted after you're in the kingdom. You know what he's saying here? He's saying, hey, when persecution starts, don't retaliate. Kings don't act that way. Here is a king riding in his royal coach and going down the boulevard, and somebody off on the sidewalk looks up and makes some nasty remark. King couldn't care less. The only people who want to retaliate are people who have a very weak kind of an ego. They don't have enough self-esteem. When Jesus said, if somebody slaps you on the face, turn the other cheek, he wasn't talking literally. He was saying, have so much esteem, have such a possession of yourself. Know who you are before God. Know how important you are before God that a stupid little thing like somebody slapping you won't bother you at all. You'll let them do it again. You see, the trouble with some Christians is they are only good Christians when things are going good. The minute somebody turns against them or they have trouble, everything deflates. And so the first response I should have to persecution is to reign. I should say, Lord, I'm reigning with Christ, Romans 5, 17. He's made me a king and a priest, Revelation chapter 1. And therefore, I don't have to worry about these fellas. The kingdom belongs to me. Everything belongs to me. And because everything belongs to me and all of your riches are available to me, if he's fighting me, what difference does it make? The trouble with some of us is this. One person persecuting us with one little thing can upset our whole world. Here we may have 200 or 300 friends. We may have 50 real good friends. That may have a whole church full of people who love us, a family that cares for us. God has given us so much. And let one person come along and do one thing. It pulls the rug out from under us and nobody can live with us. That right? Sad. Jesus says your first response is to reign. Look in the mirror and say, I'm a king. That's beneath my dignity to worry about that fella. If he wants to kick me, he can kick. He can't hurt me. I'm a king. I'm seated with Jesus Christ up in the heavenlies. So we reign. Now, the second response is we rejoice. Verse 12, rejoice. That's easy to do, isn't it? You've just been chewed out by the boss and you know very well what he tells you. It's not the truth. He's lying. Awfully hard to rejoice. But how can you rejoice? How is it possible for me as a Christian, when persecution comes, really to rejoice and not be a hypocrite? Well, did you ever stop to think that persecution is really a compliment? It's really a compliment. The apostles rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name's sake. You see, the world loves a compromising Christian. When the world finds a Christian who's compromising, he's got one foot in the world and tries to have one foot in the church. When the world finds a Christian who's compromising, he's a chameleon. When he's with the world's crowd, he's worldly. When he's with the Lord's crowd, he tries to be spiritual. They love that kind of a person. He doesn't convict them at all. He's exhibit A. He's ammunition for them. And whenever a good Christian comes along, they can say, hey, what about so-and-so? He's supposed to be a Christian. The world loves a compromising Christian. The world hates a spiritual Christian. And so when you and I are being persecuted, we ought to be able to rejoice because persecution becomes the good housekeeping seal of approval. The world is saying, hey, this guy is real. I don't agree with him. I hate him. But he's real. He's got something. I think that's one reason for rejoicing. It's a compliment for people to say, you know, this fellow is living like the Lord Jesus Christ. Something else is true. It's an opportunity for us to witness. Persecution becomes a real opportunity to witness. Anybody can witness to a friend. It takes real spiritual power to witness to an enemy. But it's an opportunity for witnessing. Persecution has opened up so many, many doors for people. Our Greek students will remember that the word martyr is the word witness. And back in the days of the church, when they used to burn preachers and missionaries and translators, today we're more spiritual. We burn the translations, but they used to burn the translators. What an opportunity it was for them to give witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. And here we are in our offices or our neighborhoods or wherever we may be, go to a family reunion and somebody says something we don't like. And so we start a fight. Oh, no, it's an opportunity to witness. You see, the world wants to know, is this guy for real? And persecution, the furnace is turned on. And they find out whether or not we're for real. We ought to rejoice in persecution because it's evidence that we're living for Christ. It's opportunity for witness and it's opportunity for growth. I'll tell you, friends, you grow a lot more under persecution than you do under compliments. Sometimes when you and I are showered with compliments, we get a little bit unspiritual. And so we don't respond by retaliating or by fighting. We respond by reigning. I'm going to act like a king. I'm going to reign like a king by the grace of God and by rejoicing. He tells us over in verse 43 of chapter five exactly what we're supposed to do. Now, this is hard. People will say, Pastor, I live by the Sermon on the Mount. Bless you. It's awfully hard to do. Chapter five and verse 43, Jesus says, You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. That's the first commandment. Now, I'm going to reign as a king. I'm going to rejoice in persecution. How do I do it? Love your enemies. Now, let me make it very clear. There's a difference between loving people and liking people. I want to make this as crystal clear as I can. For me to love my enemy does not mean I approve of what he does. For me to love my enemy means for me to treat my enemy the way God treats me. Christian love means I treat you the way God treats me. Jesus prayed for his enemies. Father, forgive them. Stephen said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And so my first responsibility, according to verse 44, is to love them. I don't know about you, but I find that when persecution comes along, I've got to spend as much time praying for myself as I do praying for my enemy. I've got to say, God, please increase my love. Help me to speak in love. Help me to be patient in love. Some of us think that the only way to show Christian love is to belt somebody and quote a Bible verse to them. Jesus says, love your enemies. That's the first commandment. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you. This is pretty obvious. It takes no explanation at all. Love them. Pray for them. Do good to them. Love them. Pray for them. Do good to them. This is how we grow under persecution. Anybody can fight. Anybody can argue. It takes a Christian to love and to pray and to do good. There are three levels on which you and I can live. The animal level or the demonic level, the human level, and the divine level. The demonic level is Satan always returns evil for good. Always. You do good, he does evil. Human beings return good for good, evil for evil. Anybody can do that. Christians return good for evil. That's what our Lord is saying here. Why should we do this? That ye may be the sons of your Father who is in heaven. That you might be godlike. For he maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good. He sendeth the rain on the just and on the unjust. If ye love them who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors the same? If you greet your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the heathen so? I like that question in verse 47. What do you do more than others? Most people say, well, I'm as good as he is. I'm as good a Christian as she is. He says, wait a minute, what do you do more than others? And so our response to persecution ought to be to reign. Remember, you're a king and to rejoice. Remember, it's an opportunity to prove your Christian life. And then to respond by praying and loving and doing good. You say, well, I've tried to do good to some of my enemies and they just return evil. That's the way they treated Jesus. How can I keep on doing it? That leads to our third aspect of the subject, the rewards of persecution. Our Lord doesn't expect us to suffer persecution without some kind of reward. And this reward is from his grace. We don't really earn it in the sense that we are like slaves. It's a part of his grace. He said, look, you ought to endure persecution for my namesake. You ought to endure persecution because you love me and love lost souls. But I'll make it a lot easier for you. I'm going to reward you for your persecution. That's the whole theme of first Peter, suffering, glory, suffering, glory all the way through first Peter. Now, what are the rewards that come when the Christian joyfully reigns in persecution? Well, just look at the company you keep. He says here, so persecuted the prophets who were before you. Now, you and I don't keep company with too many famous people. Maybe you do. I don't know too many famous people. But here's Jeremiah. Oh, how they persecuted Jeremiah. What a great man he was. Here's Daniel. Here's the apostle Peter. Here's Stephen. Here's James, the apostle who was martyred. Here's the apostle Paul. And the Lord Jesus said, look, when you are suffering persecution, here's reward number one. You are fellowshipping with the greatest people who ever lived. Jesus said an interesting thing to the Pharisees one day. He said, as long as a prophet is alive, you persecute him and you kill him. After he dies, you build a monument to his memory and say, boy, what a great person he was. Our Lord says, don't be embarrassed by persecution. The greatest people who have ever lived suffered for their faith. So Paul meant in Philippians 3.10 by the fellowship of his suffering. So we have a wonderful fellowship with those who have suffered before us. But he says something more than that. Great is your reward in heaven. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. You know what the Bible says? If we suffer with him, we reign with him. Jesus makes it very clear that those who have had to suffer for righteousness sake have a special reward in heaven. Now, some super spiritual person comes along and says that's a very poor motive. I don't think so. I don't think it's a poor motive at all. Oh, but to get a reward up in heaven. No, it's not a poor motive at all. Most of the people in the Bible were controlled by the reward of the future. Were they not? Abraham looked for that city whose builder and maker was God. Moses looked ahead, saw him who was invisible. And he was waiting for that reward. Even Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. What did Paul say when he came to the end of his life? I fought a good fight. I finished the course. I've kept the face. Henceforth, what? Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day. And not to me only, but unto all them also that love is appearing. If you're more spiritual than Paul, I'd like to meet you. Paul said, I'm looking forward to a reward because I've been faithful to God. Now, folks, you can't get your reward twice. Jesus said the Pharisees love to have the praise of men. They got their reward. They love to be honored by people. They've got their reward. If you get your reward here, you can't get it over there. Some of you are suffering quietly. People don't know about it, but you're suffering. You're not suffering because you're obnoxious, offensive. You're suffering because you're faithful. You're suffering for his namesake. You're suffering because people are lying about you and abusing you. And you keep on doing good, and you keep on loving, and you keep on trusting, and you keep on praying. And the devil comes along and says, it's not worth it. You got to fight back. Let him have it. One of these days, Jesus Christ is going to come back. John, in his first letter, talks about people who are going to be ashamed at his coming. You see, when we get the rewards up in heaven, we don't get those rewards to strut around and brag. There will be no halls of fame up in heaven. There will not be an evangelistic hall of fame, and a soul winner's hall of fame, and a pastor's hall of fame. Oh, no. It won't be like the Tower of London, where you'll have all your crowns on display. The C coupon, please. Let's have the C coupon. Oh, no. Oh, no. You know what we're going to do with those rewards? You know why we want those rewards? You know why. When we praise the Lord Jesus Christ, we just lay our crowns at His feet, and we say, you're the one who's worthy. Won't it be an embarrassing thing to have nothing to lay at His feet? The reward of persecution is a Christ-like Christian. The reward of persecution is opportunity to stand with the great of history. The reward of persecution means a crown on the other side to the glory of Christ. Now, here's the hard part. Most of us don't worry about persecution. Most of us don't sweat it. You know why? Our brand of Christianity doesn't cost that much. We're embarrassed about it. Either we're so insulated and isolated from this world they can't get to us, or when we are in this world, the light doesn't shine bright enough, or the salt doesn't cut deeply enough for anybody to be hurt. Our brand of Christianity is very acceptable. All men speak well of us, and this is too bad. And so, my final statement is this. Persecution is a test and a testimony. It's a test to see whether or not we really have a Christian experience with the Lord, and it's a testimony in that we can glorify Christ as we go through the furnace. There is a brand of Christianity today that doesn't cost a great deal. It's shallow. It has the approval of the world. It'll never cost anything until you get to heaven. Then it costs dearly. I think you and I are interested not in going out and causing trouble. Nobody should leave this church and say, I'm going to go out and get persecuted. No, no. Oh, no. Just start living for the Lord. Just start practicing the Beatitudes, and before long, the fire will start. I suppose this is one reason why many people don't want to become Christians. If I could say tonight to our unsaved friends who are here, look, you can become a Christian. It'll never cost you anything. You'll never lose any neighbors. You'll never lose any friends. Your relatives will never turn away. But I can't say that. I can't say that. Jesus said if you're going to become a Christian, a man's foes are going to be those of his own household. And I say to you here tonight who don't know Jesus Christ, maybe the reason you've never trusted Christ is you don't want to pay the price. Because there is a price to pay. My friend, you aren't avoiding the price. You're just postponing the price. Oh, but you say, if I became a Christian, what about my relatives? That'd be a good chance for you to win your relatives to Christ. But they may drop me. Well, if all of you go to hell together, you'll never see each other again. You've got to make a choice now. If you're unsaved and your relatives are unsaved and all of you die and you go out into a dark eternity without Jesus Christ, you'll never see each other again. Everyone, Dr. Ironside was just a little lad. He came to his mother and said, I'd like to become a Christian, but the kids are going to laugh at me. Remember what she said to him? She said, Harry, they can laugh you into hell, but they can't laugh you out of hell. And so you've got to make a choice. You're going to pay a price at some time, either now and go to heaven or then and go to hell. Jesus said it's a blessing to be persecuted for his name's sake. Gracious Father, forgive us for being so shallow, so reactionary, so carnal, so worldly in our thinking and living that the world can't even tell the difference. We're sorry. We're sorry, Father, for not being soldiers of the cross. Help us not to be offensive, but help us not to be unwilling to share the offense of the cross. Help us not to be abrasive, but may we still be willing to be salt and light. I pray, Father, for any here tonight who don't know the Savior, that you'll convict their hearts, that they'll come to know him. And may we not be unwilling, O God, to take our stand with Jesus and the apostles and the prophets and pay the price for your glory. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen.