Matthew 5, verse 10. Blessed are they which 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
which were before you. Now, verse 10 says here, the
Lord speaking to his disciples, says, Blessed are they which
are persecuted for righteousness' sake. And then down in verse
11, he says, For my sake. Righteousness' sake is for Christ's
sake. It's for righteousness' sake.
If it is for righteousness' sake, then it is for Christ's sake.
And if it's for Christ's sake, it's for righteousness' sake.
Whatever the pretense is or the reason given that persecutors
persecute the brethren, the reason is, is because the unbeliever
hates Christ and he hates righteousness. Christ Jesus the Lord was reviled. He was persecuted. All manner
of evil was spoken against him falsely for no other reason than
he was righteous. He was righteous. Psalm 69, 9
says, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ speaking, the reproaches
of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me. And the believer
has been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Now,
through the Spirit of Christ, he's been created anew in righteousness
and true holiness. So, why would one who is so loved
of the Father, who is so loved of the Son of God, who is so
loved of the Spirit of God, why would one be persecuted for the
same reason. The unbeliever hates Christ,
hates righteousness. Now, it's written, for thy sake
we're killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Now, I want you to look here
with me, and I want you to start back in verse 3. And let's walk
through these and do a little bit of a review. But I want to work down to our
text this morning and point out a few things. Verse 3 says blessed
are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven now
the believer confesses before God before men that He's utter
sin in His flesh. That's all He is in His flesh. That's what it is to be poor
in spirit, is to know there's nothing good in me. But the persecutor,
the persecutor feels as if there is some good in them. A persecutor
feels as if there is something they've either done or something
about them that deserves to be favored by God. And so the persecutor
is totally the opposite of the believer. He's totally the opposite. And the Lord says, two cannot
walk together unless they are in agreement. And so you will
not find light and darkness co-mingling. The persecutor will persecute
the person who is poor in spirit. Then verse 4 says, Blessed are
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. The believer knows
he is sin and he mourns his sin because he knows his sin is against
God. But those who would persecute Usually don't think sin goes
any further than the members of the flesh and and therefore
It's an aggravation to a sinner to hear our testimony That we
mourn our sin and that all we think we are is sin and we mourn
that our sin is against God that's an aggravation to a person who
doesn't think he's sinful and then verse 5 says blessed are
the meek for they shall inherit the earth and The believer has
been made meek towards God. chief disposition is to no more
speak exceedingly proud about what he's done or what he's accomplished
or trying to accomplish things by the strength of his power,
he has a meek and quiet disposition in this world. And just opposite
to that, the unbeliever wants to accomplish everything by the
strength of his hand. His meekness The unbeliever's
meekness is something he puts on outwardly when the preacher's
around or when he comes to the church house or when he's in
a fit of guilt or something like that. But in the heart, he's
proud and he wants to have his way. And he would love to pursue
the righteous man to cause that man to try to prove that that
man is a liar, to try to prove that he's really not a meek man.
But the problem with that is the believer doesn't consider
himself to be a meek man. I see pride and rebellion in
me, but according to the scriptures, what we are in the spirit and
our desire in the inward man is meekness. Then it says here,
verse 6, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled. The believer really does hunger
and thirst for the Lord our righteousness. That's our chief desire in this
life, is Christ Jesus the Lord. We long to be with Him. We long
to behold Him as He is. We long to do that which honors
Christ in our day-to-day living. to follow after that which is
honoring to the doctrine that we hold dear. The unbeliever
looks out for number one, just for number one. May talk about
mercy, may talk about grace, but the chief desire of the man
who will persecute is number one. And if it comes down to
it, he'd sooner persecute a believer than not have for himself to
have his way. Then verse 7 says, Blessed are
the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. The believer has
tasted the Lord's grace. He's tasted of what mercy is. And he depends upon God to be
merciful to him. And so therefore, the spirit
within him is merciful. He has a merciful spirit. But
it's not so with those who would persecute the believer. He wants
mercy. The unbeliever wants mercy shown
to him when it benefits him. But if it benefits him to be
a harsh judge of somebody, so be it. And the unbeliever will
be a strict, harsh judge against the believer if it's going to
benefit him. Then you come down here to verse
8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The believer
who is pure in heart by the work of the Holy Spirit sees God in
Christ. He sees God in His Word. He sees
God in Providence. And he shall see God face to
face. And he wants to do that which is honorable to him. Walk
honorably before Him. But the persecutor has a heart
which is confused. Sin is confusion. It's divisive. It divides. Sin divides. And
that's the heart of the man that hasn't been born of the Spirit
of God. No matter what kind of outward pretense he might put
on, that's the inward heart, is this desire for to divide. It's a desire to, it's just double-mindedness. It's a heart that can't be set
on any one thing but this world and sin and the flesh and the
pride of life and the lust of the eyes and those things. It's
a confused heart. And so he will overturn the Purian
heart to once again get his own way. And then verse 9 says, blessed
are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children
of God. The believer is a peacemaker like we saw last time. The believer
is a peacemaker because God has given him faith to trust the
Lord Jesus Christ who alone makes peace. You know how peace comes?
I put an article in your bulletin today called The Fullness of
Peacemaking. If you get an opportunity here
between services, read it. But the believer makes peace
by trusting Christ Jesus the Lord who makes peace. If you
trust Christ, who alone can affect peace, when your will is crossed,
when your way is crossed, when you've been persecuted, you can
resign it to your Savior, to your Sovereign Lord, because
He alone can make peace. You don't have to fight with
a sword, but the persecutor speaks of peace. This world speaks of
peace. Remember in the late 60s, early 70s, everything was peace.
Everything peace, brother, you know, everything's about peace.
But the world, the peace of the world is not the peace of God.
The peace of this world is either accomplished by the sword, or
then when there is no war going on, this world calls that peace.
But peace is between God, between the sinner and God. God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. God was in Christ,
and through Christ, the blood of his cross, he wrought peace
for his people. And through the Spirit, when
our conscience is purged, and we're brought into peace with
God, we become peacemakers. But not so for the persecutor.
We come down here to where it says, verse 10, blessed are they
which are persecuted. Verse 11 says, blessed are ye
when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner
of evil against you falsely. I jotted down three things here,
four things here of why it's a blessing. Why is it a blessing
to be persecuted? Well, the first thing is it's
a blessing from God if you so stand for Christ the Lord that
men of this world want to persecute you. Because what made you worthy
and be counted worthy by this world to suffer persecution is
because Christ is your worthiness or you wouldn't stand. You wouldn't
stand if He wasn't. The second thing is, it's a blessing
from God because He gives you grace to suffer it. He gives
you grace to suffer it. Paul said, as the sufferings
of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by
Christ. We're persecuted for Christ's
sake, but it's Christ Himself who gives us the grace to suffer
the persecution. And then the third thing, Notice
here in verse 10, it says, Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now
look back up to Matthew 5 verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. There's a connection
between persecution and being poor in spirit. And this is a
great blessing. Persecution is a blessing because
through persecution Christ makes us to continually see what we
are in ourselves and what we have been saved from. And so
persecution doesn't make us proud. It doesn't lift us up in pride.
When Peter was beaten in an accident, it says he left and they rejoiced.
because they were glad they were counted worthy to suffer shame
for Christ's sake? It wasn't pride. That's not what
it is. That would be contrary to what
grace is. What it is, brethren, is that
we behold our weakness. We know we couldn't bear persecution
were it not for the grace of God. We behold our utter weakness. And in our utter weakness, we
behold the strength of our God. Now look over at 2 Corinthians
12, verse 9, and that's exactly what Paul said. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9. He said unto me, The Lord said
unto Paul, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is
made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, Paul
said, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions. in distresses for Christ's sake,
for when I am weak, then am I strong by God's grace. And that's a
great blessing to a believer. It makes him poor in spirit to
behold his weakness in his flesh, to behold the sinfulness of his
flesh, but it makes him rejoice in the grace of God to know that
He'll never leave us or forsake us. He upholds us even in the
midst of persecution. Then, verse 12, Matthew 5.12,
It says, rejoice and be exceeding glad. Rejoice and be exceeding
glad. That's what makes us to rejoice
and be exceeding glad. Four, great is your reward in
heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before
you. Now here's the fourth thing. I think it's very interesting
here that the Lord talks about the prophets. For so persecuted
they the prophets before you. Because what's a prophet? What
was a prophet sent to do? A prophet was sent to be a witness.
A prophet was sent to declare what Christ has done, or would
do, and has done. That's what the prophet's job
was, to bear witness of the Just One. Listen to this. Which of
the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain
them which showed before the coming of the Just One. That's
what they did. They showed before. Before He
came, they showed the coming of the Just One, Christ our Lord.
And the Spirit of God tells us that the reward they received,
Christ tells us the reward they received was Christ Jesus in
the Kingdom of Heaven. That's what they received. We
have Hebrews chapter 11 to tell us what those that went before
us who were persecuted have obtained. And so by giving us this word
prophets, He gives us two things here. One, He defines for us
what it is. that we're sent to do. We're
sent to bear witness of Christ. And number two, we have a witness
given to us by Christ's testimony, by the Spirit of God, that those
who suffered persecution, they're in glory with Christ now. And
that's a great consolation to a believer, to know, I have a
joy set before me. You have a joy set before you,
you who trust the Lord. The joy that's set before you
is the Lord Jesus Christ. the One who lived and died for
you, the One who's risen for your justification, the One who
sat down at God's right hand, the One who ever liveth to make
intercession for you, the One who promises to never leave you
nor forsake you, the One who keeps you by His grace, who is
the consolation wherewith you're comforted in all your trials
and all your afflictions and all your persecutions, the One
who promises that He will bring you fully, finally, forever into
His presence in glory is the joy set before you. And that
kingdom where He dwells, where there's no more tears, no more
sorrow, but nothing dwells there but pure righteousness. That's
the joy set before us. Just as the joy that was set
before Him was the glory of God and His people. And He went to
the cross and He endured the persecution and the suffering.
Somebody said that these Beatitudes are the very character of the
believer Savior. Has to be. Has to be. Everything that's said here is
the very character of our Lord. It couldn't be said about us
if it wasn't. It couldn't be said about the believer if it
wasn't. Because the only way this could be said about us is
to be born of the Spirit of one whom this describes. And He was
persecuted for righteousness' sake. And He sat down at the
right hand of the Father, and His people are sat down in Him. And that's their reward. They're
going to be with Him forever. Now look with me in 1 Peter 4,
verse 12, and this is where we will get our application this
morning. 1 Peter 4, Now this is written to believers.
And this whole word that our Lord has given throughout the
Beatitudes is to the believer. This is what Peter said through
the Spirit of God to the brethren. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you. It's going to
happen. If we believe Christ, it's going
to happen. Persecution doesn't necessarily
mean you're going to be strung up and sewn asunder. Persecution
comes in various ways. It's reviling. It's upbraiding.
It's pushing against. It's throwing it up in your teeth.
It's throwing it back at you. It's that venomous hatred of
the natural heart. Persecution. It's going to try
you. But don't think it's as though
some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice inasmuch as
you are partakers of Christ's sufferings. What did the Hebrew
writer say? Which of us has suffered unto
death? We haven't endured unto death striving against sin. Our
Savior went to the cross. That when his glory shall be
revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. If you be
reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye. That's what our
Lord said. For the Spirit of glory and of
God resteth upon you. How else would you suffer? How
else would you stand for Christ if this wasn't the case? How
else would you endure it if the Spirit of God didn't rest on
you? On their part, He's evil spoken of, but on your part,
He's glorified. But let none of you suffer as
a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody
in other men's matters. Yet, if any man suffer as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf."
Matthew Henry had an excellent quote that goes along with this. Don't suffer as a murderer or
as a thief or as an evildoer. He said this, it's a good comment. It's not the suffering, but the
cause that makes a martyr. Everybody suffers. Why do you
suffer? If it's for righteousness sake,
for Christ's sake, that's what makes a martyr, a witness of
Christ. All right, I pray the Lord will
bless that.