The World Hates Real Christians

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. What did we say righteousness is? Everything that is of good origin. What does this verse mean? Let us say it in a simple term.

You're working in this company and you're doing your job to the best of your ability. You are a very loyal, faithful employee to your employer, to that company. You do your job wholeheartedly.

There is no corruption. There is no under the table. Everything is in the light.

You're doing everything according to the rule book of that company and with faithfulness and loyalty. The other colleagues are not as loyal as you are. They want to make extra money.

They want to twist a few things, falsify a few things and shove and push few things under the carpet. You cannot accept such behavior. So what is happening now? You are becoming a thorn in their side.

You're becoming a stumbling stone for them. You are suffocating them. You're not letting them do as they please because every time they want to do something wrong, you are the spotlight shining on that wrongdoings.

So what will happen? Satan will come and say to those colleagues, get up and give him hell or give her hell. Have you ever worked somewhere and you really had it tough with the colleagues around you? Yes. Some of you maybe were forced to leave their job, resigned from their jobs because they were persecuted so badly in their jobs.

They could not last any longer. They ran away because they complained. They went to their bosses.

Everyone is corrupt. So when they went to their bosses complaining and whinging, come to my rescue, they realized that the boss is more corrupt than the other colleagues. What do you do? You can't stay there because you are persecuted.

You either be like them or they will kick you out. When you are being persecuted for being a faithful person wherever you are at home, at school, at work, wherever you are being persecuted for the job you're doing faithfully and loyally, the Lord is saying, blessed are you for the kingdom of heaven is yours. What does it mean the kingdom of heaven is yours? Meaning the invitation is still open for you to be in the kingdom of heaven.

The door is not shut because wherever you were, you did it from the heart faithfully and loyally. God will reward you and will say the door to the kingdom of my heaven is still open for you if you are faithful. But verse 11, blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake I Jesus Christ rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven.

There are two kinds of persecutions. One you are persecuted for the sake of doing a job faithfully and loyally. This for this you are rewarded the kingdom of heaven is still yours i.e the invitation is still open and you will have the chance the opportunity to enter the kingdom of heaven and remain in it.

But if you are persecuted for the sake of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rejoice and be exceedingly glad for your reward is great in heaven not in the kingdom of heaven. In heaven when you are persecuted for the sake of the Lord Jesus, the Lord says be exceedingly glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven not in the kingdom of heaven. To understand the difference between heaven and the kingdom of heaven we go to 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 14 and then 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 14.

Do we have it on the screen? Can we have those verses on the screen please? Yep. So let's look at 1st Peter 3 14. What does Saint Peter say in 1st Peter 3 14? But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake you are blessed.

So if you suffer for righteousness sake, what is righteousness sake? If you're doing your job to the fullest, being faithful, being honest, then if you're doing that you're blessed the kingdom of heaven is yours. And let's look at 1st Peter 4 14. Look what Saint Peter is saying here.

But even if you should suffer for, sorry, if you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. When you are persecuted for Christ's sake, the heaven, your reward is great in heaven. Who is heaven? God.

So when you're persecuted for doing a good deed, the kingdom of heaven is yours. But when you're persecuted for the sake of Christ, God is yours, not the kingdom of heaven. God himself will be your portion.

My goodness. When we read in the gospel according to Saint John chapter 11, we see this man being born blind. He was born from his mother's womb blind.

So in chapter 11, the Lord Jesus is walking with his 12 apostles. The 12 apostles stop once they saw that blind man sitting on the wayside begging. They said, Lord, whose fault, whose sin was it for this man to be born blind? Was it his sin or his parents? Which one? He said, neither his nor his parents, but this man has been placed here for the glory of God.

The Lord Jesus spits onto the ground and makes mud with that spit and then applies it on the blind man's eyes. And he says to him, go and wash in that pond. Shiloha.

Shiloha in the proper pronunciation. Shiloha or Shiloha means the messenger. It was called the messenger pond.

So when he went and washed his face, he regained his eyesight. When he regained his eyesight, what did the people of his own country, of his own town, his own people, what did they do to him? They cast him out. They persecuted him.

Why? Because he said, this man called Jesus of Nazareth opened my eyes. They said, this man is a sinner. He breaks the law of God.

He breaks Sabbath. He works on Sabbath. This man is a blasphemer.

How can this sinner open the eyes of a blind person born blind? He said, well, I don't know. You go and ask him. But I know one thing.

God does not hear the voice of a sinner. And yet you call this man a sinner. Well, this man opened my eyes.

I don't know. You go and ask him. So what did they do? They told him off and they grabbed him, threw him outside the town.

When they persecuted him, reviled him and kicked him out, who found him first? God. His own parents disowned him. When the Pharisees and the scribes came to his parents, they said, isn't this your son? Yes.

Wasn't he born blind? Yes. Who opened his eyes? They were afraid to say Jesus, lest they be persecuted as well. They were afraid.

They said, we don't know. He is a mature adult man. Ask him why you're asking us.

Well, you see, some people, when it comes to persecution, they back off. Prior to that, they are warriors. Prior to 2020, all church leaders were warriors.

After 2020, not many, not many. It's easy to shout and yell and speak so strongly when you are free. But I just wonder, can you do the same when you are being choked by lockdowns and police come and knocking at your door? Oh, it's scary now.

The cop is here. Bing, bing, bing, bing. What happened? Let me tell you this.

I'll say one thing about the Lord, and the Lord forgive me. We can say till kingdom comes, Lord, I love you, or Lord, we love you. The Lord will look and will say, yeah, okay, no problem.

Let me see if you truly love me. He will pick you up and put you in a hard, difficult situation. He's going to say, let me see if you're still going to love me or not.

Talk is cheap. The Lord says you can talk for as long as you want. It's cheap.

I want to see action. I want to see these words into action, into play. Stop saying I love you.

Show me you love me. Stop saying it. Show it.

Stop saying it. Show it. That's why only a few get to know the Lord, not many.

I really feel sorry for some Christians where they speak with confidence about the Lord, yet they are little kids, absolutely little kids. And believe you me, I'm saying it with love and humility, because I just wonder what they will do under pressure. Not big pressure, a little tiny one.

What will they do? Are they going to be those warriors? Are they going to just go back and be quiet? When this man was persecuted and he was cast out, the first one that met him and embraced him was the Lord God. When you are persecuted for my sake, I Jesus Christ of Nazareth, blessed are you. You need to rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven and heaven is God himself.

The Lord says when you accept persecution for my sake, I will give you not only heaven, the kingdom of heaven, I'll give you myself. I'll give you myself. I will come with my own feet all the way to where you are and I will carry you and put you in the core of my heart.

Then I'll show you wonders of this God no one had ever seen before, because you accepted that persecution for my sake. I Jesus, I am a fair master. I am a fair God.

I will never ever forget all the hardships you endured for my sake. I never forget. I reward you.