Matthew chapter 5. Tonight we'll look at verses
9 through verse 12. 9 through verse 12. The Lord
Jesus Christ in His sermon says, Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall
revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad
for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you." And the title of the message this evening
is, Persecuted Peacemakers. Persecuted Peacemakers. Blessed
are the peacemakers. Now here in this sermon of our
Lord Jesus Christ, The blessed Lord Jesus is preaching the gospel
to whom he describes as blessed or happy people. We've been going
through these, I've been blessed by it myself, seeing these things
as they relate to us because these blessed people are truly
all believers in Jesus Christ. These people, these blessed and
happy people are the elect of God which were given by the Father
to Jesus Christ from eternity. For the Scripture reveals that
we were in Christ and had received all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places before the world began. You know that's in Ephesians
chapter 1 when Paul said, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath, what? Blessed us. Blessed us
with all spiritual blessings, all spiritual happiness in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Now, In this blessed sermon of
our Lord, He describes these most happy people by their experience
of grace in regeneration of their souls to life and faith in Christ. These blessed people He describes
as poor in spirit, spiritually bankrupt of all righteousness
and goodness, The Holy Ghost comes by grace to each one of
these blessed people in their poverty and exposes their debt
of sin. Therefore, these blessed people
are made blessed. These people are made to see
their poverty. And have you been made to see
it? If you have, then your Lord Jesus said, blessed are you who
are spiritually poor. And what do these spiritually
poor do? They mourn. Verse 4, blessed
are they that mourn. These blessed people are made
to mourn for their sin. And listen, they're made to loathe
themselves. Now is that not contrary to popular
religion? Go over to Zechariah and see
this. Zechariah chapter 6. And look at verse 10, Zechariah 6, I'm sorry, Zechariah
12, no wonder that didn't look right. Zechariah chapter 12 and
verse 10, there it is. And God said, I will pour upon
the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The
Spirit of grace and of supplications. This is the new birth. This is
the regeneration of the Spirit of God. And He pours it upon
who? The elect. The house of David in Jerusalem.
And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced. This is the
Lord Jesus Christ. And they shall do what? Mourn
for Him. As one mourneth for his only
son, and they shall be in bitterness for him. As one that is in bitterness
for his firstborn, in that day there shall be great mourning
in Jerusalem. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit. Blessed are they that mourn. You remember when Isaiah
was in the presence of the Most High God, he said, Woe is me,
for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips in
the midst of a people of unclean lips. So therefore, these poor in spirit,
they mourn. And then, verse 5, they are abased. Blessed are the meek, the abased. When we see our Savior, who has
borne our sin, we begin to mourn and cry for our sin and God's
holiness. We see and we bow down as Mephibosheth
did, saying, what is thy servant but a dead dog? And these blessed
people we have seen are made to starve and thirst for righteousness. Verse 6, blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness. The blessed man seizes poverty
and need, seeing God as holy and just. It is the work of the
Spirit then to manifest our need of righteousness, even the righteousness
of God. And the quickened sinner is never
satisfied until he has it, until he has it. And we know that this
righteousness cannot be earned or merited, seeing we are bankrupt
of it. Therefore, in grace the Holy
Spirit points His blessed people to none other than Jesus Christ. This is the work of grace. He
shows us our poverty. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit
of God, causes us to mourn for our sins, we are abased before
God, we see our need of righteousness, and then the Spirit comes in
with the gospel of Jesus Christ and shows us Christ. has done it all. This is the
gospel message that Jesus Christ has come into the world to do
what? To save sinners. That's what
he came to do. And this message, how it came
so sweetly to us, in the midst of our abasement, the Spirit
of God pours out this gospel message. And then what? The scripture
says, blessed are the merciful. These who are bankrupt then receive
mercy. Mercy. God's saints receive the
mercy of the grace of God in our hearts. Now God's saints are merciful
people, but they're not merciful in order to obtain mercy, but
they are merciful because they have obtained mercy. Have you
obtained mercy? I like this song. a debtor to
mercy alone. Of covenant mercy I say, nor
fear with his righteousness on my person in offering to bring.
The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do
My Savior's obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from
view. This is mercy. And so blessed
are the merciful. Blessed are we who have received
the mercy of God. This mercy of God is the salvation
of sinners by Jesus Christ alone. Therefore, we are who have obtained
mercy, surely that is our conduct, is it not? If you have ever had
the mercy of God come into your soul and give you life, then
you will be of all people most merciful. Merciful, blessed are
the merciful. Why? Well, we're merciful because
we have obtained mercy. We have obtained mercy. You remember, and this mercy
that we have, the scripture here in our text, I'm just going through
this real fast, but blessed are the merciful, they shall obtain
mercy. Not only have we obtained mercy,
but here the Lord Jesus Christ promises more mercy. More mercy. Is that not what
we need on a daily basis? More mercy. And the more I grow
in grace, the more I know my need of what? Mercy. I plead
daily for mercy. And you know what the Scripture
tells me? Surely, goodness and what? Mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord. This is not a maybe, this is
not a perhaps, and this is not based on my mercifulness. This
is His mercy, and it's never ceasing. And next, he said, blessed
are the pure in heart, the pure in heart. Blessed and happy,
and Jesus reveals the root of this blessedness, the root of
our joy, our faith, and the evidence of God's mercy upon us, which
is a new heart. Blessed are they that have a
new heart. Do you have a new heart? Did
God Almighty reach down from heaven and give you a new heart? This is the new birth. This is
the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. So blessed are you if
you have a new heart. How else would you know your
spiritual poverty? How else would you be able to mourn for your
sin? How else would you be abased? How else would you know your
need of righteousness? Had God not given you this understanding
by giving you a new nature? And we see this in the new nature
that we turn to Christ. Have you turned to Christ? That's
the evidence of a new nature is faith, isn't it? Blessed is the man that has a
new heart. And that's the work of God. Remember,
He said in Ezekiel, I will take away that stony heart of flesh. He doesn't say anything about
dressing it up. He doesn't say about decorating it with religion.
He said, I'm going to take it away. And I'm going to give you
a heart of flesh, a new heart, a heart of feeling and affection
and love to God and faith in Christ. That's what He gives
us. This is the same as the new birth. And we know this, that the new
birth is not of the will of man, is it? John says, as many as
has received him, to them gave he the right to be called the
sons of God which were born, not of blood. In other words,
not by kin. not by the will of the flesh,
nor by the will of man, but by the will of God." If you have
a new heart, that's the will of God that did that. And Jesus tells Nicodemus also,
he said, unless you're born again, you shall not see the kingdom
of God. And so when we're given a new
heart, what is the blessing? The blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall what? See God! And how is it that you
see God? How is it that you know God?
How is it that you have believed on Christ? This is a matter of
grace. It's a gift of God, and not of
works. It's a mercy of God. And now
then in our text, we'll go now to see this. Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Now, man by nature, man by nature is not made a child of God based
on his peaceableness. False religion like the two before
this, they twist it and they say, well, man, if he is a peacemaker,
if he just makes peace, then he is a child of God. No, we're not made a child of
God by our peaceableness or our peacemaking ability. I thought
of this. If a man were to go before the
United Nations and say he were to have such a skill with words,
He could declare such a message of peace and that would make
the Muslims and the Jews and all peoples weep and come together
and sign a peace treaty. If that man was able to bring
all nations and peoples together to sign a peace accord. That
would not profit that man one bit to be made a child of God.
I don't care if he had made peace with every nation in the world.
That doesn't make a man a child of God. He doesn't have a right
because he made nations peaceful with one another to be called
a son of God. No, man by nature is a creature
of God, but no amount of peacemaking can make him a son of God. God's
blessed people truly are peaceable people. But we know this, we're
not peaceable by nature. We're not peaceful people by
nature. Matter of fact, the scriptures are very clear about our nature.
The carnal mind is what? Enmity against God. For it is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Our nature
is not peaceable. Our nature is in total opposition
to God. That's what our nature is. The
Apostle Paul in Colossians chapter 1 says this, you were sometimes
alienated enemies in your mind by wicked works. That's what
we are by nature, enemies in our mind and by wicked works.
We see that our enmity, how? By our sin. Our sin. And in Ephesians 2, you remember
that he tells us of our old nature after we are quickened, we come
to know this, that we are children of wrath, even as all of Adam's
race. Haters of God. Man by nature
is a hater of God. He's not a peaceful person. We
were by nature under the power of darkness, sin, ignorance,
Satan, and hell. We were aliens from God and strangers
from the covenant of promise. But God, herein lies the difference. God hath translated us from the
power of darkness to the kingdom of his dear son. God has translated
us. How is it that we have been translated
or taken from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
son? He's done this by making peace through the blood of Jesus
Christ. Making peace for us. by the blood of his dear son.
Our peace with God is not obtained by us, but rather obtained by
the blood of Jesus Christ. For he hath made peace by the
blood of his cross." Colossians 1 and verse 20. How sweet and happy is this? Listen. Listen to what Paul said.
Happy is the man to whom God will not impute sin. That's just a happy man. That
should be the most happy man that God was not willing to impute
our sins to us, but did impute them to His Son in order to do
what? Make peace. Make peace by the
blood of His cross. I like that. To whom God will
not. God purposed. God decreed that
He would not impute sin to us. He would not. Believer in Christ,
rejoice, for God is holy and must punish sin. And listen,
He did. That sin that you feel guilt
for, you should. There's no doubt about it. Sin
does cause guilt. But I tell you that that guilt
has already been dealt with. It's already been dealt with
in His Son. Therefore, by His one offering,
one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
By His one blood sacrifice, Jesus has forever removed our sins
from us. The Scripture says, as far as
the East is from the West, so far hath He removed our transgressions,
our sins, our iniquities from us. He removed them. Someone once said that you can
always measure North and South, but you can't measure East and
West. You just can't. It goes on forever and ever and
ever. It's perpetual. And he's done this, how? By one
offering. This is amazing. One offering. I want you to see these and you
mark these in your scriptures. Go to Hebrews chapter 1. This is how He's made peace.
Sin must have been dealt with. It must be punished. And Jesus
has done this, made peace for us by the blood of His cross.
And listen, it says in verse 3, who being the brightness of
His glory, the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power, listen, when He had with
your help and will, No, that's not what it says. It said, when
He had by Himself purged our sins. Purged our sins. Does that sound... Does that
sound... I'm not an English professor,
but if I'm not mistaken, that's past tense. He hath already done
what? Purged, washed, our sins. And then what? Sat down on the
right hand of the majesty on high. Now then go to Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9, and this is
important, especially the part about sitting down. Look at this
in verse 6. In chapter 9 it says, Now when
these things were thus ordained, the priest went... How many times? Always into the first tabernacle. They did this every single day.
They went in to that first tabernacle. accomplishing the service of
God, but into the second they went only once, listen, every
year. This were perpetual, can you
see? They went in always in the first and once a year, every
year, year after year after year after year, they went into that
second, offering the blood for the atonement. Not without blood,
which is offered for himself, and for the errors of the people. He went in with blood for his
own sin and the sins of the people. And the Holy Ghost signifying
that the way of the holiness was not yet made manifest while
the first tabernacle was standing. which is a figure for the time
then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that
could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience which stood only in meats and drinks and
divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time
of the reformation but Christ being come in high priest of
good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not
made with hands that is to say not of this building neither
by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood entered
in how many times once once into the holy place having obtained
obtained eternal redemption Now then look at verse 26 of
that same chapter. Verse 25, nor yet that he should
offer himself often as the high priest entered into the holy
place every year with blood of others, for then he must have
suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was, how
many times, once offered. to bear the sins of many. And
unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation. Chapter 10 and verse 11, for
every priest standeth, how often, daily ministering, offering the
same sacrifices that can never take away sin, but this man offered
one sacrifice for sins. How long? How long does this
sacrifice efficacious for? One year, one day, one month. Forever. Forever. One sacrifices for sin. Forever. Sat down on the right
hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. Four by one offering. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Oh, this is our comfort. You who are believers in Christ,
how blessed are you? You are so blessed because God
has already made peace by the blood of His Son on your behalf. He did this once forever. Forever. Therefore, God sends His men to comfort you. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem,
and tell her that her warfare is accomplished, that she has
of the Lord's hand received double for all her sins. Believer, there is no more hostility
between us and God. May God ever give us grace to
get a hold of that. How much more peaceable lives
should we lead if we could ever get a hold of this that there
is no animosity of God against us. Even because the Son of God has
taken all the animosity away by the sacrifice of himself.
And how long? Forever? Forever? This peace
is lasting. How many times have you thought
you broke that peace? Today, just today, how long,
how often have you thought, oh, surely this is all? Surely now
there's no peace, no peace for me. Oh yeah, there's plenty of
peace for you. Plenty of peace. Why? You've
received double at the hand of the Lord. He's already provided
what you need for peace. Therefore, we know our sin. We know our need of forgiveness. And so then we daily confess. So that we might have peace of
conscience. Isn't that what you're really
desiring? Peace of conscience? Because the peace is already
made whether you're conscious of it or not. The peace is made.
But I want consciousness of it. I want to understand it. I want
to know it. And therefore we are able, God
said, to ask forgiveness of our sins. And you know what? He is
faithful and right, just, holy to forgive us our sins. and pardon
us. Every second of every day, you
could ask for forgiveness, and you know what you'll find? Forgiveness.
Why? Christ has made peace by the
blood of his cross, by his one sacrifice, by his one sacrifice. Therefore, believer, because
we have obtained peace, should we not live peaceably among all
men? You bet we should. We should
be the most peaceable man Happy, you happy saints. Surely we are often offended
by our foes. We are often offended by the
world and truly we must fight the good fight of faith against
these foes. But how? Not with carnal weapons,
not with worldly wisdom. Our warfare is not carnal. But
spiritual. And so therefore, how do we become,
how are we peacemakers in this world? Only through the preaching
of peace that Jesus Christ has obtained for us. This is our
weapon of warfare. Peace with God. You know, that's
amazing, isn't it? We preach a gospel of peace and
man will despise you and hate you. No matter. We're not to fight
this warfare with hatred or anger or bitterness, but rathering
others come in peace to God through Christ. That's my hope, is that
others would come to God in peace. through Jesus Christ. Therefore,
we live peaceably. Now, secondly, I know I'm pressing
it, but let's go ahead and look at the next one. Blessed are
the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they to whom God
has made peace by the blood of His cross, because you are the
sons of God. You are the sons of God. This blessing, this blessing
of sonship is upon all those for whom Christ died, even for
us who have been adopted by the Father in sovereign election
and grace. The Apostle says in Ephesians
1 and verse 4, according as He has chosen us in Him, in Christ
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before Him, in love having predestinated
us unto what? The adoption of children. by Jesus Christ to Himself. John says of us who believe that
we have the right, the privilege to be called the sons of God. How backwards is false religion? How backwards is false religion
making men's sonship based on their works or will? Instead of the eternal, sovereign,
unconditional adoption of God by election, which is plainly
revealed in Scripture. This is how sons are made. By
eternal adoption. That's how sons of God are made.
That's how I'm a son, is by eternal adoption. God purposed me to
be a son. In false religion, instead of
adoption by the purchased blood of Jesus Christ alone, they would
rather pollute it with filthy works to try to obtain sonship. Instead of sonship by the birth
of the Holy Spirit, they make sonship to come by human will. But listen, the Scriptures Listen
to the scriptures and I want you to read this with me. You
who are sons, listen to this. Go over to Galatians chapter
4. Man, how do you know that you are a son of God? If sonship
is by eternal adoption, how do I know if I'm a son of God? Listen,
Galatians 4 and verse 6. Because you are sons God has
sent forth his spirit the spirit of his son into your hearts crying
Abba father Now listen because you are sons Because you were
adopted by God from eternity This is the evidence God has
sent his spirit into your hearts crying Abba father You cry Abba
father You cry out to God for mercy and grace only found in
His Son? This is the work of the Spirit
of God in us. And this is proof, this is evidence
that we are the sons of God. Then because you are, the Spirit
comes to you. Remember, Jesus said the opposite
to those who would not believe. He said to those Jews, He said,
you believe not because you are not of My sheep, and you shall
die in your sins. You see, men that won't believe
all the way to death, that just proves they weren't sons. But
we who have believed prove that we are sons. And now we know
our sonship because the Spirit has quickened us. Therefore,
happy are you. Blessed are you, behold what
manner of love the Father has shed on you, that we should be
called the sons of God. Beloved, now, now are you the
sons of God. Now are you the sons of God.
And how shall these sons conduct themselves They shall conduct
themselves after the manner of their father. Isn't that right?
As a father, it is my duty and responsibility to walk in front
of my children. That's what I desire to do. I
desire to walk in front of them, to be an example for them, and
my children should follow my example. Yet surely we know that because
our sons are of the same fallen race that we are, most likely
they will follow our bad examples rather than our good ones. And then try to use our bad examples
as an excuse for their own sin. Isn't that what you did? Because
that's what I did. I sure did. I followed my father's
example. And when I did something wrong,
I'd say, ah, see, you did it. So then I had an excuse to do
it myself. No, that doesn't excuse you before
God. But listen, you who are born of God, should you not be
imitators of God? Be ye followers, imitators of
God, how? As dear children. Is that not
to be our conduct? To be imitators of our Father? You bet it is. And by this men
shall know you are my disciples, that you have what? Love one
for another. And then lastly, I'll try to
make this quick, let's go back to our text. He said, not only
blessed are the peacemakers, remember God has made our peace
by the blood of His cross, therefore because of this, because of His
grace and mercy we are called the children of God. And listen,
what is the lot then of these children, these blessed people,
these happy people, these chosen of God, redeemed of Christ, called
of the Holy Spirit, what is to be our lot in this world? Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness' sake. What is the lot of the children
of God, the beloved of Christ, the called of the Spirit? It
is this, you will be persecuted. Jesus said, if the world hated
me, it will hate you. Now, I do not understand why
I am so discouraged when the world doesn't care for me. My
Lord has told me over and over again this world hates you and
because it hated Christ first. And so then our lot in this world
is persecution. He tells us that it will be persecution. And listen, they won't hate us
for doing good. Now, some people use this text
and they say, blessed are you when you're persecuted for righteousness
sake, when you're doing good. Now, people are not going to
hurt you for doing good. They're just not. You want to
give them money? Man, they'll take it. You want to heal the
sick? They'll let you heal the sick.
There's nothing wrong. They won't persecute you for
doing well. But what is this for righteousness
sake? What does the Lord mean by this? He means the gospel. The gospel of righteousness.
The gospel of righteousness. We declare without compromise,
without conceding to any works and free will religion, which
truly is of no profit to the souls of men, and we will be
persecuted because of it. even because no man has ever
been made righteous by will or works, but only through the righteousness
of Jesus Christ alone. We declare, even what we know
the Scriptures teach and what we've experienced in our own
hearts, that salvation is of the Lord alone, not by any works
or will of man. and salvations of the Lord, that
righteousness was purposed of God to be given to the elect,
that Jesus Christ alone has obtained that righteousness by His obedience
in blood, and the Holy Spirit imparts and imputes that righteousness
only to God's people through faith in Him. And the only means
by which this faith, this Spirit of God uses to save His people
is the preaching of the gospel. Preaching of this one gospel
Listen salvation is very narrow. It's a narrow way In that it's singular there is
only one way to God Through Jesus Christ and him
alone There's only one truth Jesus Christ in him alone. I
There is only one life, and that is Jesus Christ and Him alone.
You see how narrow it is? It's only one. There's only one
way of salvation. Only one way of righteousness.
Therefore, Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believe it, to Jew first and also to the Greek. Listen,
for therein is what? The righteousness of God revealed. through the preaching of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. From faith to faith. From initial
faith and regeneration to continued faith throughout life. For the
just shall live by faith, not by law. This work is not begun
by grace in the Spirit and finished by works, but rather Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
This is our message. This is the righteousness of
God, Jesus Christ, in Him alone. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. and this is why men will persecute
you because righteousness is only
found in Jesus Christ It is for this gospel the blessed people
will be persecuted, for there is only one gospel, there is
only one Jesus Christ, there is only one Holy Spirit, and
there is only one body, the church, which is made up of believers
who have heard, believed, and do preach this gospel. Therefore,
our Lord warns us that we shall be persecuted. And listen to
this. Verse 11, blessed are you when
men shall revile you. You know what that word means?
A very interesting word. It has to do with this idiom,
cast in the teeth. Cast in the teeth. This is a
very vivid picture. You take a man who has a stone
in his hand and what he does is he breaks in someone's teeth.
Blessed are you when men take a stone and break in your teeth.
That's what he's saying. In other words, they desire you
to choke on the very words you preach. They desire that you take the
gospel of God's grace and choke on it. This is why men lie in wait. They desire to lie in wait and
catch you in your words. This is what it means. Blessed
are you when men try to catch you in your words. Isn't that what they did to our
Lord? Didn't they lie in wait trying to trap Him with His words?
They'll do the same to you. And listen, they're not only
trying to do this once, they do this all the time. This is a constant thing. The
Apostle Paul, he preached the gospel in Antioch, and sure enough,
as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. I think it's Acts
13, 48. Okay? But you know what? Those self-righteous men, they
stirred up the people against him and they cast Paul and his
people out of their coast. They didn't even want them in
their city. And so Paul and his people left
and they went into Lystra and Derbe, Iconium. They went into
other places and preached the gospel. But you know what the
Scripture tells us in Acts 15? It says those men who were in
Antioch, And Iconium followed them around persecuting them. And that's exactly what this
word means, persecuted. It means hunted. Blessed are
you when men kick you in the teeth and hunt you down. That's what he said. They are
going to hunt you down. And then they'll lie about you.
They'll call you names like Antinomian. Then they'll call you licentious. They'll call you anything in
the world, just... I remember, I know you all know
it, the man preached a message, these Calvinists. Oh, how foul
they are. Oh, how wicked. And they start
throwing up all these false accusations. Our Lord said they would do that.
Our Lord said they would do that. So when we preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ and stand for the gospel, listen, this is what
you're to expect. Be kicked in the teeth and hunted
down because you preach the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. And listen, who's
going to be the most adamant against us? You would suppose
it would be the most profane people, but it's not. You see,
the gospel is preached to profane people. We are profane people
by nature. And Jesus Christ said, I came
not to call, what, the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So
this message really is for the profane. So it's not mostly the
profane people that are against us. Who is it? The self-righteous. The self-righteous. They will
always, the legalist, they will always be the one most set against
us. Those who try to proclaim works
and free will religion, they will be the ones who are most
hard pressed against us. But listen, our Lord says, if
you are so persecuted, verse 12, rejoice. Rejoice. Why? Because we do this
for Christ's sake. We preach the gospel for Christ's
sake. We suffer for Christ's sake. Happy are you when men shall
persecute you. Why? They did it to the prophets
before you. What makes you think that we
should escape this persecution? Did not Abel suffer the wrath
of Cain? Did not Abraham lose his son? Did not Moses suffer by refusing
to be called the son of Pharaoh and choosing rather to suffer
with people of God? Were not the prophets to live
in den and caves, to be tortured and beaten and sawn asunder for
the gospel? Yet how happy are they! Do you suppose they regret any
of it? Neither will we. All this work is so short. This time that we have here to
suffer for the gospel is just a short time. I read earlier
of this man Polycarp who was taken before the governor and
all he had to do was just swear by Caesar. He said, all you got
to do is just swear. You don't even have to mean it.
Just swear. And he said, 80 and six years
the Lord has been with me and not forsaken me. How then shall
I forsake him? And you know, that man went to the stake, and they set that stake afire,
and the people that witnessed it said it burned all around
him. It wouldn't even touch him. and the executioner was commanded
to thrust him through with the sword, and as he did, the blood
of him squirted out and extinguished the fire. But his body was not even touched.
I tell you, our Lord knows how to protect us and how to keep
us. Does he regret that? Do you suppose any regrets there?
Any regrets for giving his life for the gospel? No, neither will
you. Happy are you. Rejoice. For so they persecuted
the prophets, they'll persecute you. But you should be happy
because Christ has already made peace for you by the blood of
his cross. You are the sons of God. And
listen, you will receive the kingdom. Matter of fact, it's
God's good pleasure to give it to you. Isn't that something that he
will do it with a smile on his face? Did he hear, I'm going
to give you this kingdom and it delights my soul. What wondrous joy it is. Oh,
my soul. And my saviors once died for
my sins. And now I'm at peace with God,
not with man, but truly with God. May God give us such grace
to suffer for his gospel, for righteousness sake. This
stand will be dismissed in prayer.