Persecuted for righteousness.
Persecution
I. In what religious persecution consists.
1. Negative persecution which falls short of violence.
2. Domestic persecution.
3. Private persecution.
4. Public persecution.
II. The folly and wickedness of those who inflict persecution.
1. It is contrary to mound reason.
2. It is contrary to sound policy.
3. It is contrary to Scripture.
4. Persecution for righteousness is virtually aimed at Christ.
III. The happiness of those who endure it.
1. They are furnished with satisfactory evidence of the sincerity of their religion.
2. They are blessed in the enjoyment of those consolations which are generally administered under circumstances of persecution.
3. They largely share the sympathy of the children of God.
4. They are encircled with high associations,” so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
5. They are blessed in extensive usefulness.
6. Great reward in heaven.
7. Let us be thankful that we are happily exempted, in a great measure, from the evil of persecution.
8. Let us not go out of our way to provoke persecution.
9. Support those who suffer persecution. (E. Clagton.)
I. The nature of true religion.
1. Its principles-These are spiritual-unpopular-present. Not something without a man, but within. Not of earth, but from above. They are: poverty of spirit, docility of mind, intense aspirations after God, purity of heart.
2. Its practice. Penitential sorrow, mercy, peaceableness, endurance.
II. The blessedness of those who possess true religion. They have peace, true satisfaction. They enjoy all spiritual blessings they are children of God-then all things are theirs.
1. Have you in possession the principles of true religion?
2. Do you daily reduce them to practice? (Good Seed for the Lord’s Sowers.)
Persecution for righteousness’ sake.
I. What persecution is. It is more than affliction. It is cruel and unjust.
II. The subjects of persecution. Many suffer for their own peculiarities.
III. The promise belonging to it-“Great is your reward in heaven.” (W. Reeve, M. A.)
Persecution.
I. The persecutions which attend the followers of Christ.
1. It is seen in marked disrespect.
2. In the Christian’s company being avoided.
3. In ridicule and slander.
II. The causes of persecution.
1. The degenerate state of the world.
2. The influence which Satan exercises over the minds of men.
3. The conduct of Christians in the world.
III. The manner in which we are called to suffer persecution. “Rejoice,” etc.
1. Because the terra of our suffering at most can be but short.
2. Because we suffer in a righteous cause.
3. Because we have the most illustrious example.
4. Because if we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with Him.
IV. The encouragement afforded.
1. So persecuted they the Prophets.
2. They possess the kingdom of heaven.
3. Great is their reward in heaven. (J. Jordan.)
I. The grounds of persecution.
II. The times.
1. In heathen lands.
2. When its professors are despised, and in a minority.
3. When their doctrines strongly clash with reigning maxims and controlling interests.
III. The ways.
1. Reviling.
2. Slandering.
3. Injuring.
4. Destroying:
IV. The extent.
1. Upon property.
2. Upon relatives.
3. Upon good name.
4. Upon life.
V. The rewards. (L. O. Thompson.)
The blessedness of persecution.
I. The fact that true spiritual Christianity exposes to persecution.
1. See this illustrated.
2. The form of the persecution. Reviling, injurious treatment, slander.
3. The ground of it. Because righteous.
4. The source of it. Enmity against God.
II. To view persecution as a ground of rejoicing.
1. As an attestation of Christian goodness.
2. It connects you with the Prophets.
3. It brings great reward in heaven. Expect persecution; bear it; profit by it. (T. G. Horton.)
I. True godliness is usually attended with persecution.
1. Christ died to take the curse from us, not the cross.
2. Piety will not shield us from suffering.
3. The way to heaven, though full of roses in regard of the comforts of the holy, is full of thorns in regard of persecutions.
4. Before Israel reached Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, they must go through a wilderness of serpents and a Red Sea.
5. So, the children of God in their passage to the Holy Land, must meet with fiery serpents and a Red Sea of persecution.
II. Christianity is sanctity joined with suffering.
1. Saints carry Christ in their hearts, and the cross on their shoulders.
2. Christ and His cross are never parted.
3. It is too much for a Christian to have two heavens-one here and one hereafter.
4. What is the meaning of the shield of faith, the helmet of hope, the breastplate of patience, but to imply that we must encounter with sufferings?
III. Was Christ’s head crowned with thorns, and do we think to be crowned with roses?
1. If we are God’s gold, it is not strange to be cast into the fire.
2. Persecutions are pledges of God’s love, badges of honour.
3. In the sharpest trial there is sweetest comfort; God’s fanning His wheat is but to make it purer. (Thomas Watson.)
I. What is persecution?
1. An abuse of power employed to the harm of another, with something of eagerness, pursuit, and perseverance.
2. No mortal is so weak, so wholly destitute of power, but that he has wherewithal to be some way or other upon the offensive; so there is no one in his turn is not some way or other capable of persecution.
3. The meanest vassals upon earth can have the insolence to say, “With our tongue we will prevail! our lips are our own, who is lord over us? “
II. Persecution for righteousness’ sake. Men may be said to suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake when they suffer for doing the duties of their stations, not in those acts alone which respect the faith and worship of God (though these more especially), but throughout the whole stage of Christian virtue, as princes, magistrates, subjects, or Christians.
1. When a prince is made uneasy by potent factions in the government, when designs for public good are directly opposed, or artificially frustrated, then is he persecuted.
2. When a magistrate finds a weight thrown in the scales of justice, and the furious power of parties bears heavy on his hands, then is he persecuted.
3. When a faithful subject’s good deeds are lessened and undervalued or skillfully ascribed to ill ends: in a word, whenever he suffers in his goods or good name for adhering unmovably to an even course of duty, then is he persecuted.
4. When a man’s sobriety and conscientiousness are traduced as preciseness; his firm adherence to well-established principles, as stiffness, bigotry, and narrowness of mind; his moderation disputed-then is he persecuted. (Lancelot Blackburn.)
Persecution, in the Scriptural use of the term, is evil treatment on a religious account.
I. It is the infliction of an injury, or the withholding of a right, because the person thus persecuted renders what he regards a duty to his God.
(1) Every person who suffers in his name, person, or family, for the faithful discharge of what he considers to be his duty to God, and who is actuated,
(2) not by a spirit of pride, or affected singularity, but by a
(3) commendable regard to Divine authority, and a
(4) sincere intention of promoting the interests of Christianity, and the good of man, is “persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”
II. There are other modes of persecution.
1. The carnal mind in its “enmity against God” has devised crafty and cruel schemes for the “vexation and embarrassment of the servants of Christ.
(1) There is persecution “by speech.”
(2) “Men shall revile you.” (J. E. Good.)
Mean things dignified
It is said of Joan, Countess of Shrewsbury, that in the midst of court festivities, she let her garter fall unawares; and, upon her blushing at the accident, the king took it up in his hand, whereat the nobility smiled. “Well,” said the king, “I will make this an honourable ornament ere long.” Upon that came the Order of the Knights of the Garter, the garter thus becoming an ornament of the highest order. If man can put honour on such mean things, then God much more. He ennobleth reproaches, and sanctifieth afflictions to His children, and maketh the sufferings of His servants as so many ensigns of heavenly nobility. If men had but the true skill of Christianity, they would be ambitious of the crown of martyrdom, and look upon it as a blessed thing when men speak all manner of evil of them. (Spencer.)