Blessed Persecution?

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I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 5.
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This morning we are concluding our series on the Beatitudes.
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Now after Christmas, after the New Year, we are going to continue on in our study of the Sermon on the Mount.
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We are doing verse by verse, so we will continue on.
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I do have a couple of messages which I am going to do on the hypostatic union and the incarnation over the next couple of weeks, Christ coming to earth and what that meant for mankind.
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So that will be the next few weeks and then we will have our New Year's message and then after that we will continue on in our study of the Sermon on the Mount.
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But today concludes our series on the Beatitudes, which is of course the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount.
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The Beatitudes, of course, are those blessed statements which precede the Sermon on the Mount.
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek and so on.
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And over the past weeks, what we have learned about these statements is something that I think is very important and I want to reiterate, and that is that these are not describing various groups of people.
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It is not as if some are poor in spirit and some are meek and some mourn.
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But rather, it is talking about the blessed man.
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The blessed man understands his spiritual poverty.
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As a result, he mourns over his sin.
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He is humbled before God and meek before Him.
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He hungers and thirsts, he is desperate for righteousness and as a result of this desperation, he becomes an agent of mercy.
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His heart is purified by regeneration and he desires to follow Christ and he becomes an ambassador for Christ, also known as a peacemaker.
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The important reality is, again, this is not a bunch of different people.
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This is talking about the blessed person.
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It's talking about the saved man, the truly saved person.
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And here's the thing.
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It's not some super spiritual thing.
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It's not some super spiritual believer.
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It's not just the Billy Graham.
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It's not some special level of sainthood.
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This is describing what is supposed to be the experience of all believers.
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That we understand our spiritual poverty, we are humbled before God and thus we hunger and thirst for his righteousness and he purifies our hearts and we become ambassadors for Christ.
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This is the picture of the Christian, which is why today's beatitude becomes all the more frightening.
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Because today's beatitude is the one wherein Jesus promises to his blessed persecution.
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And if what we have seen so far is true, that these qualities mark all believers, well then the truth is that persecution is something we will all experience as well.
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So today I have entitled the message, Blessed Persecution with a question mark.
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What does that mean? What is blessed persecution? And how does Jesus describe it to us? So we will begin by reading Matthew 5, verses 10-12.
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I encourage standing for the reading of the word of God to give it its due honor and reverence.
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And it says in verse 10, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
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Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.
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For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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Our Father and our God, we come to you in Jesus name.
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I pray and ask you, O God, that you would keep me from error as I seek to bring the message today.
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I pray also, Lord, that you would open the hearts of the people to the truth and guard them from error.
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So that, Lord, we might rightly understand what your word has to tell us.
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Thank you for your word, O God.
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I pray that your spirit would be the ultimate teacher today.
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In Jesus name.
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Amen.
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I think that it is safe to say that all of the Beatitudes are contrary to popular wisdom.
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What we might call human wisdom.
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The first one says, blessed are the poor in spirit.
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However, we are told by the world that self-confidence and self-reliance is what is exalted, not poorness of spirit.
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People try to justify their sins rather than mourning over their sins.
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The prideful and forceful get what they want and the meek are trampled underfoot.
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Men lust for fleshly passions rather than hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
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Men desire vengeance, not mercy.
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Men see a pure heart as less important than exterior goodness.
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And war, not peace, seems to be our natural inclination.
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So, when we look at the Beatitudes, we look at a list of contrary statements.
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A list of statements that seem to go against the natural man, as so they should.
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But, when we get to the last one, I think it's the most contrary of all.
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I think of all the ones that seem to run right in the face of contemporary human wisdom, it would be the last one.
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Because it tells us, very simply, that there is a blessing which accompanies persecution.
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And, beloved, I don't know about you, but I know this about me.
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Persecution is never something that I enjoy, neither is it something that I feel very blessed when I'm undergoing.
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And that's just being honest.
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I don't know of anyone that is excited when they hear that they are about to become the participant in someone else's persecution.
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But, yet, Jesus says it's blessed.
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And the thing about it is, Jesus elaborates on this one.
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This is the first one that he elaborates on.
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If you notice, all of the statements up until this point have been very pithy.
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
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But, when he gets to this last beatitude, he says, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteous mistake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are you when they revile you, persecute you, utter all kinds of evil faults against you.
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He just goes on and on and on about this one.
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And, furthermore, we have the first major change in this beatitude from the others.
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We have the introduction of the second person plural into this one.
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Because, so far, Jesus has said, blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who mourn.
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But, in this one, he says, blessed are you.
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Second person plural.
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Now, he's pointing at someone.
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Now, he's defining who the audience is.
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He's defining who the blessed person is.
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He said, blessed are you.
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And, of course, the immediate audience of the you there would have been his apostles.
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It is almost certain, when he said that, he looked directly at them.
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At Peter, and Andrew, and Bartholomew, and James.
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And, he looked at them.
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And, he said, blessed are you when people revile you.
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And, they persecute you.
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And, they utter all kinds of false things against you.
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And, the reality is, it did come to pass.
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Because, every one of those apostles, save Judas, of course, was the recipient of not only persecution.
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But, was the recipient of the worst kinds of persecution in all of human history.
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Peter, tradition tells us, crucified upside down.
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Because, he would not be crucified as his savior was crucified.
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He said, he was not worthy to be crucified in such a way.
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So, he demanded that his crucifix be held upside down.
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A horrible, horrible way to die.
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Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross.
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If you've ever seen some churches which have the X rather than the T-shaped cross, that's the St.
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Andrew's cross.
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Andrew was crucified like that.
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Bartholomew was beaten and crucified in India.
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James was beheaded in 44 A.D.
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in Judea.
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James the last was beaten, stoned, and clubbed.
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Matthew was cut and stabbed to death.
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Jude, the brother of James, was crucified.
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Matthias was stoned and then beheaded in Jerusalem.
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Philip was scourged, imprisoned, and then crucified.
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Simon was crucified in 74 A.D.
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in Britain.
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Stephen was stoned to death in 34 A.D.
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in Jerusalem.
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And, Thomas was thrust through with a spear in India.
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These are all, of course, from traditional sources, not from scripture.
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But, we know that these men all stood for the scriptures.
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And, of course, were punished and persecuted as a result.
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Even the apostle Paul, tradition tells us, was beheaded with a sword in Rome.
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But, here's the thing that we need to understand.
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When Jesus says, blessed are you, and He is, of course, talking directly to the apostles.
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He is looking to them directly.
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He is not looking to them alone.
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He's not saying, only you will be persecuted.
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Only you will be reviled.
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He's saying, blessed are you who are.
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So, it is not limited to the twelve.
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It is not limited to the apostles alone.
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But, it encompasses all believers.
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All believers are encapsulated in that three letter word, you.
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Blessed are you when you are reviled and persecuted.
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So, today I want to discuss the subject of persecution.
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I want to discuss this text.
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I want to give you a short outline.
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I know some of you really like to write the outlines down.
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So, I'll give you the outline.
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It's very simple.
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Number one, this blessing is not for all persecution.
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I'll explain when we get there, but if you want to write it down, that's the first one.
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This blessing is not for all persecution.
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Number two, the persecution of believers stems from the hatred of God and His Word.
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That's a long one, so I'll say it again.
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The persecution of believers stems from a hatred of God and His Word.
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And thirdly, and finally, when we get there, this blessing brings all of the Beatitudes full circle.
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This blessing brings all of the Beatitudes full circle.
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So, we have the outline now.
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Hopefully those of you who are taking notes have that written down.
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Because I know how much you appreciate it.
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And I appreciate you taking notes.
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Which is why I take this time every week to give you that outline.
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Because it matters to me that you care enough to write these things down.
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So, let's look at the first one.
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This blessing is not for all persecution.
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In this Beatitude, Jesus makes it clear that He is referring to a specific type of persecution.
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He says in the Beatitude, Blessed are you who are persecuted for righteousness sake.
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He makes that clear.
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He points it out.
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It is a specific type of persecution which is in view in Christ.
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He said you are being persecuted for righteousness sake.
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Thus we can deduce from that, that this is not encompassing all types of persecution, but the type of persecution which accompanies righteousness.
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So, what kind of persecution is not blessed? What kinds of persecution are not blessed? Well, let me point the first one out.
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I think it's pretty obvious.
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Maybe some of you already have thought about this.
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But just in case you haven't, I want to point it out to you.
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It is not blessed when you are persecuted for being obnoxious and objectionable.
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Is that simple? It is not blessed when you are persecuted for being obnoxious and objectionable.
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The Gospel by itself is an offense.
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You don't have to add to that offense by making yourself objectionable.
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Agree? Simple enough.
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Those who do and bring upon themselves persecution which is unnecessary are not blessed.
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I know you want an example.
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I'll give you an example.
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Westboro Baptist Church is an example.
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There is this church that have made their name by protesting the funerals of fallen soldiers with signs that have the worst kinds of derogatory statements printed on them.
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They believe that they are standing for truth, when at the same time they are only demonstrating their own depravity.
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They are being intentionally obnoxious and objectionable.
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And as a result, people react very negatively.
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They are denied hotel rooms.
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They are denied entrance into restaurants.
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They are denied entrance into certain stores.
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And some have even experienced threats of physical violence.
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And they tiptoe back to church saying, Oh, look how persecuted we are.
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But such persecution is not in line with Jesus' condemnation.
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Because they are not being persecuted for righteousness sake.
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They are being persecuted for their obnoxiousness sake.
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Ryan Swerdly said this in his commentary and I want to read it to you.
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The believer is to be humble, meek, gentle and kind as he presents the truth of Scripture.
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If unbelievers are to be offended, they should be offended by the Gospel and not our arrogant or objectionable presentation of it.
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The point, of course, does not mean that boldness and admonition is to be avoided, but that our own defects, sin and anger must not obscure the message of the Gospel that we want to convey.
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The person who witnesses to the local chapter of the Hell's Angels and tells them that they are stupid idiots is not using the wisdom of God or His discretion.
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We cannot misbehave for the cause of Christ and then call it persecution when we are challenged for our misbehavior.
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Simple? So that's the first one, I think.
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I wanted to get that out of the way.
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Because I know a lot of people, oh, I'm being persecuted.
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No, you're being obnoxious and people are responding to you because of the way you're behaving.
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That's one.
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Number two, second thing, when we talk about what's not blessed persecution.
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Well, it's not blessed persecution when someone is persecuted for something that is unchristian.
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Wouldn't you agree? Because there are people who are persecuted all over the world for various things.
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Not all of them are Christians.
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There's no blessing in persecution if you're being persecuted as a Mormon, as a Jehovah Witness, as a Hindu, or as a martyr for some particular political cause.
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Because these things are opposed to Christ.
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And you may suffer persecution for that, but don't lump yourself in with the blessed persecuted that Christ is referring to.
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Because He's talking about those who are persecuted for His sake.
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Not just persecuted in general.
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That's an important demarcation.
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There are many who receive persecution, but it is those who receive persecution on behalf of Christ who He is naming as blessed.
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Thirdly, it is not persecution, blessed persecution, when someone has legitimately done something that is wrong and they are receiving the punishment for that which is wrong.
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That's not persecution.
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That's justice.
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A Christian who has broken God's commands and is experiencing the results from that is not experiencing persecution.
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And when they claim they're experiencing persecution, like the televangelist who steals a bunch of money and then he comes out and says, Oh, they're persecuting me.
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No, you're a thief.
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You're not experiencing blessed persecution.
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You are a liar and a thief.
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It's not the same thing.
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It's a way to step-side-step the necessary responsibility that they should have.
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Christians who suffer because they have done wrong and then attribute it to persecution are simply shifting the blame that they themselves have incurred.
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Peter said this in 1 Peter 4.15, He said, If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and God rests upon you.
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But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a meddler.
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I like that he says meddler.
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He gets a little tight there now.
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He says, Don't suffer for those things that you deserve to suffer for.
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If you're a murderer, a thief, a liar, a meddler, then you're going to suffer.
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So don't do those things.
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It all makes sense, right? It's very sensical.
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So it's important, as I said, the very first point I wanted to make, coming right out of the box today, is to simply say this, when Jesus says, Blessed are those who are persecuted, He adds the qualifier, for righteousness sake.
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So when we're talking about blessed persecution, we must first understand that there is a specific type of persecution which Jesus is referring to.
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He's talking about those people who have followed Him diligently, who have looked to His example, and the world has responded to them in persecution, and they are now under the world's curse, because they are under His blessing.
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That's who He's referring to.
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Very particular group of people.
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So, we know the blessing is not for all persecuted, so let's go to the second point.
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Again, if you've taken notes, the second point is this.
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The persecution of believers, real persecution, stems from a hatred of God and of His word.
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Real persecution of Christians stems from a hatred of God and of His word.
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Now, I want to show you this in the text, because in Matthew chapter 5, we have the Beatitudes, but in Luke chapter 6, we have the mirror of Matthew chapter 5, when Jesus gave this sermon at another place at another time, but He said some very similar things.
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So I want you to turn to Luke chapter 6, and I want you to see the parallel that Jesus says over here, in Luke chapter 6, in verse 22.
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Because in Matthew 5, He says, Blessed are you when people revile you, persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you.
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But in Luke 6, He says it a little bit clearer.
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In Luke 6, in verse 22, He says this, Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
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He said it straight out.
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Blessed are you when people hate you.
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We don't like to think of the world that way, but the reality is there are people who hate us for our faith.
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I don't have a martyr complex.
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I don't have a persecution complex.
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I just know it's true.
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There are places in this world that if I were preaching the way I'm preaching right now, I wouldn't live out the day.
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So there are people who hate this Word.
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They hate this truth.
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But here's what the Gospel says in John 15, 18.
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Jesus said if the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you.
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So that is Jesus' way of telling us that it's not about us personally.
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These people have a hatred of God and of His Word, and because we are representatives of God and His Word, they hate us.
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I heard one guy one time say, well, I love Jesus, but I hate His followers.
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And I said, you know what, there's a Greek word for that, and it's baloney, because he doesn't love Jesus.
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He doesn't know Jesus.
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And that whole, oh, I love Jesus, I hate His followers, spend five minutes letting me quote Jesus to you and you'll hate Him.
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Because the only Jesus you know is the liberal Jesus that's been concocted by the media that has stripped Him of His commandments which say follow Me.
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His commandments would say unless you follow Me, you will have eternal damnation.
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His commandments would say there is no other way to heaven except through Me, that I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me.
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These are the words they don't like from Jesus.
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But we love Jesus.
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No, you don't.
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You love the concoction that you've created, the idol that you've made in your mind.
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You don't love the Jesus of Scripture.
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You love your false understanding of Him.
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Something about persecution that I think we should consider is this.
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The goal of unbelievers...
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Why are Christians persecuted? This is the answer and it's very simple.
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The goal of unbelievers is to suppress the truth and unrighteousness.
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Believers stand as the voice box of the truth.
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At least, we're supposed to.
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Thus, what is the desire of the unbeliever? To shut the mouth of the believer.
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This is why it's becoming ever increasingly hard to speak the truth of God in the public arena because we don't want to hear it.
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Think of Romans 1.18.
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Romans 1.18-24, it says this.
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It says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
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You see, the Bible says God has placed the truth within them.
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But they suppress it.
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They push it down.
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I tell people this.
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I say what happens is somewhere around puberty, people begin to start understanding right from wrong better than they did as small children.
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But what happens is they immediately start to suppress that and that's why alcohol and drugs become so prevalent in the late teens and early twenties because there's a desire to suppress the truth.
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And what's the best way to suppress something within you? It's to nullify your senses through alcohol and drugs.
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They want to suppress it, so they kill it.
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But going on in the text, it says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
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For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.
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For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made.
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Basically, what that's saying...
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Whoa! What happened? I believe I left off in verse 21, so we'll continue on.
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It says, For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.
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Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
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Basically, they became idolaters.
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They started worshiping everything except God because they had to suppress this truth about God with something because they have a desire to worship.
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People have a natural desire to worship.
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Homo religiosus is the Latin term.
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We are the incurably religious being.
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We worship.
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Anytime we find a tribe out in the middle of nowhere that has had no contact with the outside world, they're worshiping something, be it a tree, a totem, or something.
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People are incurably religious.
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But the unbeliever who doesn't see Christ as Savior wants to find something to worship, so they look for anything else and they suppress that truth.
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They have to shut up the mouth of the believer.
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They have to close the mouth of the believer.
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That's where persecution comes from.
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We must be silenced.
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I mean, if you've never seen some of the videos that come out of the Middle East, if someone is proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, they will be shouted down and beaten and drugged through the streets for the proclaiming of the Gospel.
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If they're saying anything true about Christ, they will be shouted down.
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Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! These words of Allah is God.
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Allah is great.
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They're screaming this to shut down the words of truth.
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Given the opportunity.
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The unbeliever would assuredly persecute God Himself if they had the opportunity.
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They would assuredly persecute God Himself given the opportunity.
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Pastor, how do you know that? Jesus was the God-Man and they crucified Him.
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So what does all this mean? The hatred that we receive in persecution is simply an extension of the hatred that they have for God Himself.
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That's why Jesus said when you suffer, you're actually suffering for My sake.
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You're suffering in My place.
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Because if I was there, they would punish Me.
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It's a vicarious suffering.
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They hate God.
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They can't punish God, so they punish us in His stead.
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And they never see it that way, but that is the way it is.
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And understanding that can help us put persecution into perspective when we experience it and give us strength to endure it.
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Because when we think it's all about us, we get a martyr complex and we begin to miss the point.
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It's not about us.
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We are on the side of God and it is hatred of Him.
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We are standing for Him.
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Thirdly and finally, we've seen that the blessing is not for all persecution, and the persecution of believers is from hatred of God and His Word.
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Finally, this blessing brings all of the beatitudes in full circle.
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I want to show you how.
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If you're in Matthew 5, look up at verse 3.
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It says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Now go down to verse 10.
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Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sakes, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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This is the first time wherein we have a repeated blessing on behalf of the one being named.
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The first, the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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The last is the persecuted, and theirs also is the kingdom of heaven.
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Some scholars have pointed out the fact that the structure and the beatitudes is what's called the chiastic structure.
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And basically, that's a very popular type of structure in written and verbal communication.
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It's a way of remembering and laying out certain truths in a certain way.
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And basically, it's just how it's outlined.
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And I don't want to get into that because it's somewhat difficult, but what I do want to make the point is there's a connection between the first and last thing that's said.
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In chiastic structure, the first and last thing have a connection.
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And what I believe the connection is is that both the first and the last beatitude demonstrates to us the difficulty of following Christ because it begins with recognizing our absolute, abject poverty of spirit.
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We have to understand just how much we need Him because we are so sinful and we need a Savior.
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That's the first one.
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And the last one is the last part of the difficulty and that is this, that we will suffer for following Him.
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We need Him desperately, and yet in following Him, we will suffer.
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And it's the two most difficult things about the Christian life.
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Even though Jesus said that His yoke was easy and His burden was light, He also made the point that those who come to Him must be willing to count the cost.
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We must be willing to count the cost.
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This is the failure of the modern health and wealth movement, by the way.
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This is the failure of the modern movement which has taught people that if you're a Christian, then you're going to have all of these blessings and never experience any pain or suffering.
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Beloved, it's a lie because the call of Christ in Romans 8 tells us we will suffer with Him.
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It begins with understanding the poverty of spirit and ends with a life which is at odds with those around us.
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One of the worst things which has happened in the church is that many people have chosen to soften the message of the Gospel to make it more appealing, and in doing so, they have abandoned the truth.
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Entire movements based on prosperity, financial blessings, all these achievements of wealth and everything have nothing to say when they get to Luke 14, because Luke 14 says this, Listen to these words.
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Listen to these words.
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They're so powerful.
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If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his mother and father and wife and children and brothers and sisters and yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
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Now, some people see that and they say, wait a minute, Pastor.
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I thought the Bible says honor your father and mother.
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And certainly, it does.
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Jesus is not calling us to renounce all earthly relationships.
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What He is saying is that the relationship with Him must be paramount.
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First and foremost, before any earthly relationship, we have to have a relationship with Him.
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And then He goes on in verse 27 to say this, Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
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Beloved, we aren't told that anymore.
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People try to make it so easy.
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All you have to do is sign a card.
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All you have to do is raise your hand.
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All you have to do is come forward.
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All you have to do is get wet.
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All you have to do is do this or do that.
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This is one little thing and then never ever again do you ever have to come to church.
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Get your ticket to heaven punched.
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Get your hell insurance.
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And you're fine.
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And beloved, I'm not preaching a works righteousness.
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I believe that salvation comes by Christ alone and His work is sufficient for my salvation.
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But I must tell you this, when we come to Christ, if our life is not changed, if we do not have a change of heart and a change of life which puts us at odds with the world, we are not His followers.
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And it's very simple as that.
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They're hard words.
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They're difficult concepts.
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But we know that we are to count the cost.
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We know that we are to evaluate our fidelity and we are to ask ourselves, are we willing to suffer with Christ as He has called us to suffer? Knowing that the beauty of it is that anything we suffer in this life is not to be compared with the glory which will be revealed in us.
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So, beloved, the call is there.
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Come.
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Know that we must count the cost.
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But still come.
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Because the blessing is so much greater than anything we will face.
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So I encourage you, if you know not Christ, come.
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Come and know Him.
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Know His salvation.
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Know that only in Him is there peace and salvation forever.
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Let us pray.
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Our Father and our God, we thank You for Your Word.
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We thank You that though we may be persecuted for it, that we can stand on the truth of it.
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Your Word is the light unto our feet and the lamp unto our path.
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And today as we continue to look forward to this coming season where we celebrate the coming of Christ, let us not be pushed down by the persecutors of the world, but let us be lifted up by the truth that though we may face persecution here, nothing we face can compare to the glory that You have prepared for us.
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We thank You.
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We praise You for all that You have done and are going to do.
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In Jesus' blessed name we pray, Amen.