"When
Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat
down, His disciples came to Him. 2 He opened His mouth and began to
teach them, saying,
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."
5 "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth."
6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."
7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."
8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "
9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."
10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
We welcome you to worship
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my honor and privilege to have you
here with us today. We are especially grateful for those of you who have
been sharing the ministry website, and social media platforms with all of your family and friends.
Your faithfulness and commitment to share God's Word with others
continues to bring about tremendous results. People are responding to
God's Word! This is all so amazing. We ask you to pray that God will
continue to give us boldness to speak the truth in ministry in the face
of adversity in the coming days! As you may have noticed, it's becoming
more and more challenging in the day in which we live.
I
want to let all of you know how grateful I am for all of you. We are so
thankful your prayers and continue to pray for all of you. Prayer is
such a powerful tool, and a mighty weapon against the adversary. And
through your sharing, God continues to bring a number of people to faith
in Jesus Christ. Praise God! May He continue to use you and this
ministry mightily to effect change in even more lives. Let's give God some praise for all He has done!
Persecution comes to those who follow Jesus. Let's face it, living by Kingdom principles does not make you friends. This scripture has never been more true than it is today, living in a cancel culture. The reality is, these people are going to run out of government institutions to attack and people to destroy. Jesus understood this, and we who follow must also understand that persecution will come. To get to heaven, you’re going to have to walk through protests and protestors to get there. Those who are unreasonable, cannot be reasoned with.
In I Peter 4, the Apostle Peter writes "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. "
The concept that all of the wrongs against us must be made right on this side of heaven will cause more anxiety than peace. The peace makers are the ones who are sons of God.
It is the responsibility of the church to preach the good news. As they preach the good news, the Holy Spirit has the opportunity to change the lives of sinners. A preacher cannot simply focus on the messenger who brought good news without including His message.
In Matthew 10, Jesus said "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
The gospel will not become sweet until the sinner realizes his own spiritual condition.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, thank you for laying out these truths so clearly on the pages of Scripture. Help us not to compromise truth, but to confront error with truth, that it may conquer sin. Father, we pray for those who have not yet seen themselves as sinners, those who have not believed in Christ, those who have been deceived by false teaching, that today they might come to the cross, embrace the One who died for their sins. We pray for those who teach Your Word, that they would understand the great privilege and accountability they will bear for those You have given them to care for. Lord, we are so privileged to be included among who have persecuted for their righteousness’ sake, we proudly stand with them. May we live and proclaim truth at any cost, use us mightily to be that salt and that light of the earth in this season of chaos. May we bring glory and honor to You by sinners believing the truth.
In Christ's precious name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: When Christ Shines Through Part IIII
Imagine sitting at the base of that mountain, as Jesus
Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, was preaching through the Greatest Sermon ever
preached, promising great rewards for faith and the demonstration of
that faith. Imagine hearing Him speak those live changing words. We have already been promised heaven, comfort, the earth, satisfaction, mercy,
and the ability to see God and receive the royal title of Son of God, something no other religion is ever able to offer.
By the time they progressed through the other Beatitudes, and Jesus says "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." I imagine there was at least someone who was in that crowd that was looking at the guy next to him, saying "Did Jesus just say your reward is persecution?! No doubt these people were shocked and struggling with this final reward of persecution.
I'd like to draw your attention to the first eight Beatitudes, notice Jesus uses the words "they," "theirs" and "those." Then, we come to verse 11, and He says "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me." Here, He makes it very personal and then brings an explanation. After the reality of the first six beatitudes have found their place in the life of an individual, the result is in verse 9 and then in verses 10, 11, and 12. The first seven beatitudes are about character of the Christian, this last one is about confirmation, that we have achieved that goal.
Open
your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5, today we will
pick up at verse 10, where we left off in our last message. As you study the Beatitudes, you see the tremendous power and impact of these truths. While nobody who could fulfill all of these incredible characteristics, God never lowers His standards because man is sinful. That's why He gave us Christ, so He can work through us in meeting of God’s standard. It is no less than the picture of a true, authentic Christian.
When you begin to live the way God wants you to live, by the principles that God has ordained, you find in that process, that pain and suffering are involved. There’s going to be some suffering because these characteristics are intolerable to a corrupt and evil world. In a world of self-promotion and pride honoring egomaniacs, it won’t tolerate somebody who is mourning over their sinfulness. In fact, the world would prefer to just ignore sin altogether. The world knows nothing of godly characteristics.
I invite you to follow along with me as I read, to refresh the text to our
minds, as we prepare our hearts for what the Spirit of God is saying to each
of us. Matthew 5:1-12. Listen for the voice of our Lord.
"When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.
He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying, "Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those
who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called
sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Let's look at verse 10, "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The first that grabs our attention here, is persecution. I believe it’s really the same thing in verse 11, He just expands it. It's the only Beatitude that there is only one result given. The only result at the end of verse 10, is "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The rest of the Beatitudes have a promise with the character, there’s only one promise in verses 10 and 11, and that's at the end of verse 10. I believe the reason is because God double blesses those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.
The more you live for Christ, the more likely there is to be a reaction from the world. In other words, to the degree that you fulfill the first seven Beatitudes, you will experience the eighth. It is guaranteed that anybody lives out Christlike character, which is cross-grain to the society in which we live, they're going to suffer. As you live righteously in this sin-filled fallen world, you participate in the fellowship of Christ's sufferings. In this world, we live in direct opposition to Satan.
Tragically, I believe many proclaiming Christians, will never be found guilty of being a Christlike. Allow me to say, if you're not experiencing persecution, you're not living a confrontive Christlike life. Christ-likeness will produce the same reaction it did for Christ! There was never anyone
on this earth more loving than Jesus Christ, but even though Jesus was loving,
gracious and kind, Jesus confronted sin. Persecution for righteousness sake is the sweet guarantee that your salvation is real. A true Christian puts the cross in his creed. By the way, when people hate the Christ in you, that's proof that they’re going to hell. An evident token of perdition.
In I Thessalonians 3, the Apostle Paul writes "Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know."
In America, we as Christians seem to have it wrong because we are not living the way Jesus said we are to live, the evidence is persecution is absent from the majority of Christian lives. I believe that Christ's position of this verse at the end of the beatitudes tells us that it is of supreme importance to the church. I submit that another reason Jesus saved this for last was to weed out the lukewarm. The world loves to hates us, just as they hated Christ Himself. Many, dare I say if not most Christians today, would rather tolerate sin and unrighteousness than make waves. In fact, modern Christians have become a part of our society without any hassles at all.
They pride themselves on being "popular" with the world. The issue is not that the world has changed, we have drastically lowered our standards of righteousness. I believe that there is something seriously wrong with that. That's one of Satan's lies, that you can be a Christian and be in anything. We have people claiming to be Christians today who do not even the definition of righteousness. I am convinced that it sprang from a desire to reach people for Christ. They've become so engulfed in the world, by trying to win the world to Christ. If you are living as God calls us to live, the world can only resent you and hate that. Verses 10 and 11 validate that! I've often wondered which would be worse, being set on fire as a human torch or being ostracized your entire life because you live for Christ. Because this world is set against the things of God, persecution is evidence that they belong in the kingdom of heaven. If you want to escape persecution, it's actually pretty easy, just approve all the world’s immoral standards. Live like the world lives and do not tell people their sinners and you'll fit right in!
In Luke 9:26, Jesus said "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels."
Let me tell you, I had my time with this world and all of its pleasures, I had no peace, I was empty and felt a huge void. Then I met Jesus Christ, and by His grace I am here today to boldly proclaim His name. When I left the world system, I was done with saying what the world wants to hear. I have tasted my Lord and found Him to be good. But there’s a price to pay to live in His kingdom. It isn't going to be popularity, prestige and praise. Nobody should come in with any illusions. If you claim to be a true believer, you must proclaim the truth, no matter the cost. You have to be willing to live in contrast to the world, and when you do, there will be a price to pay. The world will react in hate against you. I'm not shocked, I expect it.
I've had a number of Christians say "That's ok for you, you're a preacher. It will affect my whole social life. I'd lose my job and/ won't be able to earn a living!" If you are going to live a kingdom life, be prepare to be lonely, even in a crowd. Christianity will disrupt your life! Nero used to light his garden parties with flaming Christians, covered in pitch, he would sew Christians into the skins of wild animals and set his hunting dogs to tear them to pieces. Christians have been blamed for destroying families.
Jesus said in Luke 14:26, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not
hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and
sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." I believe we need more preaching like this. The true believer should live in such a way that when they come alongside a non-believer, it exposes their sin. Come what may. Christ isn't looking for sneaky disciples. He's looking for disciples who will expose the
deadly disease of sin and offer them the cure.
We live in a society where people think they deserve to be taken care of, everyone owes them because they're entitled, they deserve it. I'm here to tell your offended ego that what you deserve it divine judgement, and eternal hell. Every person sitting in church, that goes for you too. We have all sinned. All of our righteousness is worthless. We all deserve it, but God through His grace offers us forgiveness through His Son, Jesus Christ. Righteousness is a gift from God and comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, Jesus Christ is Lord and is the only way to salvation.
Then, in verse 11, He adds, "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me." It the Greek word "oneidizo," it means they’ll revile you, cast in one's teeth. It’s used in Matthew 27:44, in the crucifixion of Christ. You know, when people find out I'm a pastor, it's amazing how fast some people want to get out of my presence. I can handle that, in fact, I'm used to it. I've been called names, reminded of the person I used to be before Christ, I can tolerate that. I don't expect sinners to like what I have to say, but nevertheless, I am called to say it. I'll be honest, when I was drowning in sin, I didn't like it either. They don’t really hate me, they hate Christ. They hate the life I now live.
What I have trouble with, what's difficult for me to take, is when people falsely accuse you and having to try to defend yourself against something you never even said. What I've learned over the years, is Christ's blessings and man's curses fall upon the same person. The world curses those He blesses. That just goes to show you how ungodly the world is, how far they've fallen from God. The world will reject any god other than one they can create and control. This world is so deceived. They are content in their sinfulness. This world will take no issue with certain attributes of God, in fact, they embrace them. God loves everyone unconditionally, He is an ever present help in times of trouble. But talk about His wrath, anger, hatred for sin, accountability or His call to repent, and you will suffer. As we allow Christ to live through us, we set a standard that the world can’t attain, so they try to remove the standard.
In Luke 13:34, when Jesus was indicting the city of Jerusalem He said "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!"
Our suffering is for a purpose, that we would be more like Him and plant the seeds that will lead others to Christ. Allow me to remind you, that our suffering is not permanent.
That brings us to verse 12, "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." If you’re being persecuted for the cause of Christ, you’re in good company. Except for John, all the Apostles paid a serious price for their representation of God. Jesus said it would happen, it did and it will. I am not about to trade down for a few moments of self-gratification, I’ll take a great God in glory over any thing this earth has to offer, any time, any day.
May it be so..
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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