Psalm 37, I'll be reading verses one through seven. Do not fret because of evildoers. Do not be envious toward wrongdoers, for they will quickly wither like the grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret because of Him who prospers in His way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. And now, if you will, for the New Testament reading, if you will turn to the book of Matthew, And I'm going to read verses 10 through 12, chapter 5, verses 10 through 12. Part of the Beatitudes, Matthew 5, verses 10 through 12. 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. May God bless the reading of his word. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory because of your mercy, because of your truth. I pray this morning, fathers, your word is opened, that we will all be listening with fertile hearts, that your word will not return you void without accomplishing what you desire and succeeding in the matter for which you sent it. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Just by way of quick introduction, my wife Marcia and I, I'm Bill Horner, my wife Marcia and I live in Gray. We've been in this area for about four years. We're, I guess you'd say, semi-retired or underemployed. I'm not sure which. But we moved to this area to be close to our our son and his family. I was actually in the field of engineering before I realized God was calling me into the gospel ministry and since then I have pastored full-time and up until several years ago when I again sort of entered retirement and I have interim pastored and done supply preaching since then. But also Marcia and I are employed part-time at Northeast State Community College and it being a secular institution, we are quite aware sometimes that there is political correctness and things you're not supposed to say, at least not out loud. We feel it. It bothers us sometimes to look at the attitude of many in our country that are in positions of power seem to be somewhat hostile to our Christian faith. And it's something that we have to cope with in a sinful fallen world. Persecution is nothing new. Let me ask you, Have you ever been in a position where someone, maybe a friend, maybe a neighbor, a family member, maybe your supervisor asked you to do something that went against your Christian convictions? And we've probably all been there at some point or another. What I would want to know though, or what I would want you to think about is how did you respond to that? Let me tell you about a couple, you may be aware of this situation. It's from a couple in Gresham, Oregon, going back a number of years. This is the Klein family, a Christian couple, Aaron and Melissa, five children. Back in 2007, they started a business. Primarily, Melissa wanted to be involved in it. It was a bakery, something she had had a dream of all her life. And they put a lot of work into it. They were quite successful. with it, catering events and coming up with creative designs for different baked goods. And then in 2013, two women walked into the store and asked that she design a wedding cake for them, the two women. Melissa said we cannot do that based on our Christian convictions and was very polite to them. They were welcomed into the store. They could have bought anything. They would have treated them well as customers, but these ladies wanted them to design that same-sex wedding cake and cater the event. They could not do that because of their Christian convictions. The two ladies immediately went to, let me see if I can get this right, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry, which immediately slapped down the Kleins with a large fine, about $135,000. the Kleins got a good attorney and proceeded to try to defend themselves and not have to pay that. That was over 11 years ago and it is still going on. The case has been to the Supreme Court twice. Twice the Supreme Court has said, well, the Bureau and the lower courts have violated the Kleins' rights and sent it back to them to redo it, to rethink it. Every time, at the lower level, they just come after the clients because of this. The latest is a Supreme Court decision from last year, again, that remanded it back to the Bureau, to the lower courts. It's uncertain how it's going to turn out, but at this point, the clients have lost their bakery. They were just forced out of business. This whole thing went viral. They have been spoken against just about everywhere. They have received death threats to them and to their children. And as Melissa says, we just poured our hearts into this bakery. We built it up, and now we've lost it. She says, I think about it every day. So even if the decision comes down in their favor, which hopefully it will ultimately, they still suffered a great loss because, simply, they chose to stick to their Christian convictions. Now there's a very similar case in Colorado, a baker named Jack Phillips, again, same length of time, it's not resolved, very same situation, and he has suffered persecution because of his Christian convictions. Now, you hear that, and I hear it, and it just turns my stomach. I hate injustice. But also, I'm thinking, this is for their Christian convictions. This is for doing what is right. But it's always been this way. There's been a pattern from the very beginning. Those who have sought to be faithful to God have suffered at some point or another for their convictions, for doing what is right. And it may be a great deal of suffering and persecution, or it may be minor. You know, in the United States, despite the cases I just told you, we really have relatively minor amounts of persecution for our Christian faith. People may laugh at us. They may shun us to some degree. It may be possible that you lose your job over your stand for your faith. That happens sometimes, or you may be sued. But, you know, in the early centuries, after the resurrection of Christ, there were Christians that were tortured for their faith, they were beheaded, they were crucified. Nero was famous for strapping Christians to a stake, covering them with pitch, and setting them afire to light his garden parties. Now, we've not had to face anything like that to speak of in our country, but even in other countries around the world, they are facing such persecution, even to the point of death, for their faith. Places like Pakistan or Iran or some African nations. And I have heard that the 20th century was actually the bloodiest century for Christian persecution since the time of Christ. You hear this and you wonder, where is God? Why does God allow this to happen? Where is He? Well, Jesus addresses that very question in this passage of Matthew. I didn't know until about this time yesterday that I was going to be preaching this morning or preaching here but I've been studying this passage and as I was studying it I just felt led of the Lord to be viewing it as a sermon and I believe he wanted me then to bring this to you today. Jesus spoke this in what we call the Sermon on the Mount. He was preaching to a crowd on the mountainside in Galilee early in his ministry. And in the Sermon on the Mount, he deals with the moral law of God. And basically, there's two messages here. One is to the lost. It is, you cannot keep this law. No matter how hard you try, you're going to come up short. In fact, in Matthew 5, verse 48, he says, therefore you are to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. And I don't know about you, but I've never met anyone perfect other than Christ Himself. But that's the point. It should help a lost man realize that he is lost and helpless and he can't meet God's standard, but Thank God, Jesus, God in the flesh, he came, he met the standard for us in his death on the cross for us and his resurrection. But the Sermon on the Mount also has a message to us who are his followers, his believers, his elect. It has a message for us in that while still we're not going to be perfect in keeping this even as believers in Christ, nevertheless this gives us the goal, this gives us the ideal, this gives us what we can shoot for as we seek to follow the Lord we love, the Lord that has saved us. And the first part of it is what we call the Beatitudes. And that word does, it sounds like some kind of an attitude. Well, it deals with attitudes, but that's not what the word means. The word means blessings. Jesus is telling some blessings here in these first verses. And ironically, he's saying you're actually blessed when you're persecuted. or there is cause for joy even in the midst of persecution. Persecution that all of us will feel at some time or another if we are true followers of Christ. Paul said to the Christians, at Philippi, in Philippians 129, he said, for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. So he counted persecution as something we can actually view as a gift that God has granted to us. Now, these Beatitudes There are different ways to study them or classify, but you can divide them, I think, into two groups of four. The last one being sort of a two-part beatitude. It says blessed twice, but it's dealing with the same thing, persecution. Now, the first four deal with inward attitudes, like realizing we're poor in spirit and we need Christ, mourning over our sin, being gentle or meek and submissive to the Lord. hungering and thirsting after righteousness. The last four, though, are more outward expressions of what has taken place inside. And with the fourth beatitude being blessed are those that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, then the one that corresponds to it, the last one, the two-parter, the double one, if you will, is blessed are those who are persecuted because of that righteousness that they have chosen. to be obedient to. So let's look at this and see what Jesus has to say. And what I want you to see is that he makes it clear that even in the midst of persecution that we will, all of us at one time or another, face as Christians, he is right there with us, that we have cause for joy, even in the midst of it. Now, in verse 10, he says, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Now, that word blessed, in some modern paraphrases of the Bible, they'll say happy are those that whatever. And happy doesn't quite get it. You know, happiness is something that's dependent on circumstances. Happiness is like a roller coaster. It can go up and down, but this blessed, the idea behind it is a deep-rooted joy. It is something that is rooted in our relationship to Christ himself, that we can have joy David said in the Psalms, in your presence is fullness of joy and in your right hand are pleasures forever. This joy is connected to him and our relationship to him. You know what it's like when you get to spend an hour with a really good friend. Or maybe you and your spouse get to go off together on a day off and spend some time and something that you enjoy. You enjoy that time or you spend time with your grandkids. You love it and they love it. They love being with you. That joy is related to that relationship to him. And he said, you can have that kind of joy even in persecution. Blessed are those who have been persecuted. Now, who are the those that he's talking about? Well, that's his followers. And he actually gives it as a promise. There are a lot of promises in scripture, but he promises that those who are his own will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3, 12, Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And that persecution may be light or it may be heavy, but it'll be real. And What is he talking about as far as persecution? What is that? Well, you know, it's any kind of torment or abuse that we receive because we follow Christ. But notice he says persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Now it also has the idea of pursuit or being chased down in a negative way. But it says for the sake of righteousness. I mean not all persecution is something that he says is blessed. Persecution is something that's universal. Everybody faces persecution in a sinful, fallen world. It's a possibility, even for the lost. And it may be unjust, and it may be something that's totally not their fault, but that doesn't mean it's blessed for them in the same way it is for us as Christians. In 1 Peter 3, Peter warns of the people that he's writing to. He says, keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it's better if God should will it so that you should suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. Well, is it possible for a Christian to do what is wrong and be persecuted for it? Yes, it is. And when we do something wrong and bring some trouble on ourselves, we shouldn't view it as, oh, we're being persecuted as Christians. Now, Marsha and I were both raised in Nashville. And I'm going back in my thinking to about the time we met and were dating and then married. This was in the 70s. And Nashville, with metropolitan government, has a large city council. It's something like 40 councilmen. And during those days, there was a sting operation in which they were trying to catch councilmen that were taking bribes. And they netted two of them. Now, what I heard, the rumor was, and I believe it was a well-founded rumor, most of those guys were taking bribes. Nashville was growing fast. Developers wanted land use changed. They wanted zoning laws changed. And the councilmen were just kind of winking at each other and all voting for the changes while they were taking money under the table from developers. But only two of them got caught, both of them small businessmen, one I wonder if he had friends on the jury. I mean, they had it nailed, but he was acquitted. The other one was from the community I grew up in. He was a man that I'll call him Jim. Everybody liked Jim. Everybody. He just had a very generous spirit about him, quite personable, and he was very active in his local church. I believe the man was a Christian. But they had the goods on them. They had the developer to testify. They had tape where he admitted what he was doing. They had him. It did seem rather unfair that only those two were ever brought to trial and he was the only one that was ever punished when we know there are so many others that were doing it and getting away with it. Jim made the statement and it was on the front page of the newspaper. He said, now I know what our good Lord went through when they were dragging him to the cross. No, no, no. He was wrong on that as much as I liked the guy and respected him and believed he was a Christian. He was not suffering persecution for the cause of Christ. He was suffering some persecution, yes, but he brought it on himself by making a bad choice. So you see, Jesus is talking about persecution for the sake of righteousness, for standing for our Christian convictions. And that may be by speaking our faith. It may be just by doing what we believe is right or refusing to yield to something that's wrong. Well, the promise is theirs is the kingdom of heaven. There is reason why we can be blessed, why we can have joy even in such a situation. It's because theirs is the kingdom of heaven and in the Greek language that Matthew wrote this in, that theirs is emphatic. It's like it's those who've been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They belong in heaven. And the fact that they are suffering the sufferings of Jesus Christ himself, that just seems to confirm that they belong to him and that they are indeed citizens of heaven. Now, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in his second letter to them, chapter one, He speaks to them about their perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which indeed you are suffering for. After all, it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give you relief who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire." He's saying that God will vindicate you and when you are going through persecution, this is what writes the snake, I believe he's saying the Holy Spirit will confirm to you that You are indeed a citizen of heaven, and that's why you're enduring this. But, you know, look beyond the present. It's temporary. You are a citizen of heaven. That will be revealed. You will be vindicated, and the perpetrator will be dealt with appropriately. Yours is the kingdom of heaven. That's cause for rejoicing. But he goes on further with it, and I believe this is a two-part beatitude because it is something so serious and it's where we live at is what we experience. And we can't help but wonder sometimes, where is God when this is going on? And Jesus is telling us, he wants us, he's telling us on the front end where God is when we're experiencing this persecution. He's right there with us. He says in verse 11, blessed are, now he gets personal here. First it was blessed are those who've been persecuted. Now he's getting down in their face personal. Blessed are you. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Now that insult, your translation may say revile. The Greek word has the idea of casting it in their teeth, or as we might say today, getting kicked in the teeth. That kind of an insult verbally in your face. And again, he mentions the word persecute. Again, it has the idea of pursuing or chasing down in a negative way, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. Have you noticed that Frequently, those that persecute us as Christians or slander us as Christians, what they accuse us of is the very thing they're doing themselves. How many times in the last 10 or 15 years have we heard that word hate used? And I have seen it thrown at decent men and women who I know have loving hearts, but who are simply saying, This is wrong because God says it's wrong. And those that hear it cannot stand it. You see, they chase them down, they pursue them. And the reason is, it's because our faith, as we live it in a sinful fallen world, it's not anything neutral. It says down here in verse 14 Jesus says you are the light of the world and the light shines on the darkness of sin and sin does not like that and If it can't escape the light and it's going to turn on it in a in a vicious kind of way And we're not neutral. We can't be neutral as Christians in this world just by living our convictions We're going to be shining the light. We can't be neutral. Neutral doesn't even make good shoe polish, you know that? You know, much less Christian living. So if we, sometimes we don't even have to say anything. It's just the attitude that we take, standing for what we believe in, that's going to make them uncomfortable and they're going to turn on us because of it. Now, Y'all are familiar with, I'm sure, the fast food place Chick-fil-A. It's kind of a family matter with us. We have a relative that works for the company and very involved in it. It's held a fascination for me from the start. The founder, Truett Cathy, the late Truett Cathy, he was a godly man and sought to bring his Christian principles to his business. As you know, they close on Sunday to give everyone the opportunity to worship. They believe in having a positive impact on everyone that they encounter, whether it's their workers or their customers or whomever. It's not a church. It's not a Christian organization. They're not perfect. They've made mistakes, but they do generally try to, the family that owns it, they try to hold to Christian convictions. Now, Dan Cathy, who succeeded his father in leading the company, this was around 2016, I believe. It was when the president and the Supreme Court both flip-flopped on this whole matter of marriage and said same-sex marriage is okay. Dan Cathy, the family is Baptist, and he was being interviewed by something called Baptist Press. And in the interview, he was telling about his business, but he was also asked, what's your position now on this thing of marriage? And he basically said, just gave a short answer. He basically said, I still have to hold to what the Bible says, that marriage is between a man and a woman for life. That's all it took. It hit the fan. It went viral over the internet. All of a sudden, these people are serving, quote, hate chicken. And interestingly, it caused a backlash because most of their customers were of the same position that he was. And if anything, it probably helped sales in the short run that he took that stand despite all the negative press that came out about it. But here's the kicker for me. Dick Cathy did not say those remarks in an interview to CNN or Fox News or Washington Post or New York Times. He said it to Baptist Press. You know who reads Baptist Press? a few preachers and denominational workers and maybe a few people in the pew. I mean it's a denominational outlet. Somebody was trolling. Somebody was looking for something to get these Christians on that run this business because they cannot stand the light of Jesus Christ that comes from us when we simply live out our Christian convictions So again, this idea of chasing down, pursuing, and Jesus makes it personal. He says, they'll do these things against you, in verse 11, because of me. In John 15, Jesus in the upper room with his disciples before he went to the cross, he told them, verse 20, he said, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they'll persecute you. He said, and all of these things that they'll do to you for my namesake is because they do not know the one who sent me. So, Just because we are His followers, we're going to attract some of this persecution like a magnet. And you know there's a reason behind it. There's a being behind it. His name is Satan. Satan and his demons. And because we love Christ and Satan hates Christ, he hates us. And we're going to feel it then because of our relationship to Jesus. Now I want to draw aside here just for a moment and make something clear. Maybe you have heard before, and there's some truth in this, that if you are fervently committed to the Lord Jesus Christ and Satan has drawn a bead on you, you've got a target on your back. Yes, there is a great deal of truth in that. But I think that some people get the idea, maybe even some Christians get the idea, well maybe if I just kind of lie low and I'm sort of a nominal Christian and I don't do anything really wrong, then maybe Satan will just kind of leave me alone. Or that Satan's not interested in lost people, he's just going after those fervent Christians. You gotta be careful, that is not the case. Satan hates everybody. You know why? Because we are made in the image of God. Saved or lost, we are made in the image of God, and Satan hates God, therefore he hates us, and he is a destroyer, and he will hurt anybody that he can. Now it may be that he's especially interested in hurting the fervent Christian, that may be so, but don't think that anybody can escape. It's a sinful, fallen world. Like I said before, everybody is subject to suffering and some kind of persecution. But if you're going to suffer, if you're going to be persecuted, why don't you just make it for something worthwhile for the cause of Christ, for His namesake, because we belong to Him. In fact, he says in verse 12, this sounds incredible. Persecution is something terrible. It hurts. We don't like it. But Jesus says rejoice and be glad. How can you rejoice in the face of persecution? Again, it's because He is with us and we are connected to Him. He says our reward in heaven is great. Now, I want to make another point here. When He says rejoice and be glad, That doesn't mean to be glib about it and just talk about it without even thinking. And I've heard some Christians say, well, bring on the persecution. I can stand this, and boy, there's reward in it. And I think they don't even know what they're talking about because they haven't experienced it. Persecution is a terrible thing. And if we experience it, it is grievous. And we should be grieving for the one who is persecuting us because they are facing the fires of hell. In 1st Timothy 2, we are told to pray for kings and all in authority over us. Why? So that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and dignity. There's nothing wrong with wanting a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and dignity. We're told to pray for that. But the reality is, and the scripture warns us of this, there will be times that we can't have that and we will face persecution. And Jesus is saying, when we do, we can rejoice. He's not just saying we can have the possibility of rejoicing. That word is in the imperative. It's a command. He commands us to rejoice and be glad. Well, how can you rejoice? We're not rejoicing that persecution's taking place. We are rejoicing that is happening to us because of our relationship to Christ, and He sees it, and He knows it, and He will reward us in heaven. And I don't know the exact nature of that reward, but again, I believe it is connected to our relationship to Him, and perhaps to seeing Him smile down upon us when we see Him face to face, and He says, well done, thou good and faithful servant. is your reward in heaven is great. Again, a reminder that this is temporary, that we are citizens of heaven and that time is coming. Your reward in heaven is great for the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And what prophets were ever persecuted? Well, just about all of them. Jeremiah, he was thrown in the pit, he was thrown in prison, he was abused in a lot of ways. He, at the end of his life, he was actually carried off, I guess you could say, virtually kidnapped by some thugs that were rebelling against the rule of that nation at the time and carried down to Egypt where likely he died down there. Isaiah, the prophet, he was He became a martyr for the faith. Paul, if you read 2 Corinthians chapter 12, or excuse me, 11, see some of the things he endured, beatings, stonings, being whipped with the 39 lashes, shipwrecked, robbery, just all kinds of dangers that he faced. The point is, you're in good company here. Again, you're not alone. There are others who have been persecuted just like you. Why God allows it, I still don't have all the answers on that. But when he does, know that it has happened to others as well. And more importantly, Jesus said, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Hebrews 13, five. and the persecution that we feel, he knows where we are. He knows what it's about. Now let me end with something here. This is not exactly persecution in the way we've been talking about it, but it is some suffering that I had to endure early. Actually, in our marriage, I had an I had a disease that flared up, ulcerative colitis. It nearly took my life, sicker than I ever knew. I lost something like 70 pounds before they finally did life-saving surgery. The future looked quite bleak at that time. But I remember one evening, several days before I had surgery, when Dr. Alan Kaiser, who was an infectious disease specialist on my case, It was about dusk. The lights weren't on in my room. I could see the sun going down by the number of blinds that were getting darker and darker and darker. All of a sudden, he came in. I thought, what's he doing here? He always came around in the morning. Well, he was not coming around as a doctor. This was not an official visit. He was coming around as a fellow believer in Christ. And he said, Bill, I've been watching you and I see how you've been suffering with this thing. And he said, I see that you have family here, you have friends from church, people that really care about you and sympathize, but I suspect that you are feeling, you know that they don't know what you're going through. They don't know exactly what you're feeling. They've not been at that level of pain or whatever. And he read to me from Hebrews 2.18 about how Jesus is able to comfort us and that he has been tempted in all things like we are. And he said, what I can tell you, Bill, is that Jesus knows exactly what you're feeling because he has been, one way or another, he has been there. And I don't think that man ever knew after that what a difference that made to me. From that point on, no matter how bad it got, I was very much aware that Jesus was there in the room with me. Now, what I'm getting at here is we face persecution. in this life. But Jesus said, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. And more than that, we're in good company because he was persecuted far more than we are. And indeed, it is an honor if we can bear that shame and that persecution alongside him. And it gives us cause to rejoice even in the midst of our persecution. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Dear Father, we so look forward to the time of your return when evil will be put down forever. There will be no more temptation. There will be no more persecution. There will only be a marvelous future of complete joy in your presence. And we pray, Lord, let that time come soon. A father, even here in this sinful fallen world, thank you for your presence. Thank you that you'll never leave us nor forsake us. And we pray for that reminder, even when the times get tough. And we pray it in Jesus name. Amen.