Ron Dunn Podcast - Birthmark Of Persecution

Episode Date: March 10, 2021

Ron Dunn continues his sermon series

Jesus comes now to this final beatitude and he says in verse 10, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they, the prophets, which were before you. One of the things that impresses me about Jesus is his honesty.

He did not learn his method from Madison Avenue, nor did he learn them from most modern-day preachers. I wonder how you would go about starting a new religion. Let's suppose that you were just a peasant, a nobody, a newcomer, and you were trying to attract people to follow you and to believe in you, I imagine that most of us, as too many of us today do, would try to paint a glorious picture

of how beautiful and easy and pleasant it would be to be a follower of Jesus. And yet Jesus Christ did absolutely the opposite and he was completely honest about what would happen to people who followed him and Jesus on the contrary instead of painting a beautiful glorious picture of what it would be to be one of his disciples

he said if you follow me you're going to be persecuted. And over and over again, Jesus keeps coming back to this theme. There's going to be suffering and hardship. Some people came to him one day and said, Master, we will follow thee. And Jesus just tried his best to discourage them. He said, listen, foxes have holes to sleep in, the birds of the air have nests,

but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. You know, I noticed after that that they kept, they wanted to follow him anymore. That somehow they became strangely silent after that. Jesus was always honest in telling us what would happen to us if we followed him. He never said that it was going to be easy. He never said that there was going to be a bed of roses. On the contrary, Jesus said that if you really follow me,

all I have to say is, blessed are you when men shall persecute you. And one of the characteristics of a Christ-like disciple is persecution. Now, this is the only beatitude that Jesus repeated. Did you catch that? I suppose this was just too much for that group of disciples sitting there that day. Everything else Jesus had said had certainly surprised them and stunned them, but now this is just too much. And if you'll notice, it's the only beatitude that takes up three verses. Every other beatitude, Jesus can just dispatch it in one verse, one simple statement. Notice in verse 10, he makes a general statement,

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And I can imagine that Jesus noticed some of the disciples as their mouths fell open and their eyes grew large. And notice in verse 11, he makes it personal. He said, Blessed are you. He said, Yes, fellas, I'm talking about you. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you

and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. He did not want his disciples to think that he was merely preaching a sermon. He wanted them to know he was telling the truth. And that this matter of persecution and suffering was to be applied personally to their own lives. I think that if Jesus were to come back today and to once again give to us the beatitudes, I'm convinced he would still have to repeat this final beatitude because we just can't really believe it.

It lies beyond the experience of most of us, this idea of suffering and being persecuted for Jesus' sake. And yet it seems to me highly significant that he gives more space to this one beatitude than any of the others. Three times, three different verses, he expounds on this matter of persecution. Jesus wanted to underline and emphasize this thought that the final characteristic of a Christian was that he would be persecuted.

Now, as I said this morning, this beatitude does not really describe the character of a Christian, but it describes the character of the world in which the Christian lives. Let's suppose you find a man that has all these first seven characteristics. He's poor in spirit. He mourns over it. He's concerned about it. He has not, as Jeremiah said, lost the ability to blush. He knows what it means to have his heart broken over his own sin. He's meek. He's not always trying to get ahead of everybody else. He's a meek man. He's hungering and thirsting not after pleasure, not after

power. He's hungering and thirsting after after pleasure, not after power. He's hungering and thirsting after righteousness. He's really a strange fellow as you find him there working in the office. Everybody else is hungering and thirsting for other things, but here's a fellow. Man, he doesn't realize that he's just completely out of step with everything else that's going on. He's hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and he's pure in heart and he's merciful and he's a peacemaker. What does the world do when they find a fellow like that? Jesus says they persecute him. They don't exalt him.

They do not applaud him. They don't elect him president of the United States. They don't elect him president of the social club. They don't promote him. They do not advance him. They persecute him. Now, I'll share with you something that really worries me today. And it's this type of preaching and type of religion that says if you follow Jesus everybody's going to love you to death

and you're going to be the most popular kid in school if you'll just step out for Jesus. I'll be honest with you there's nowhere in the Bible where that's taught. Absolutely nowhere in the Bible where that's taught. What does the world do when it finds a person like this? Jesus says it will persecute you. And this beatitude describes how the world reacts when it finds a boy or girl or man or woman that is living exactly like Jesus in this world. And Jesus said this, if you follow me and you are really like me, blessed are ye because men are going to persecute you. I want to say three very simple things about this matter of persecution. First of all, the reality of it.

It is real. Notice in that 11th verse, Jesus says, blessed are ye when men shall revile you. Jesus did not say, blessed are ye if men shall revile you. Jesus did not say, Blessed are ye if men shall revile you. Jesus was not saying, if you follow me, there is an inside chance, there is a slight possibility that you might be persecuted.

He didn't say that. Jesus said the only doubt about persecution is when it will happen. He says there is no doubt that you will be persecuted. And if you follow me, blessed are ye when men shall revile you. The reality of this persecution. And Jesus didn't just say it here. Listen to what he said in John chapter 15. He says, these things I command you that you love one another. And if the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own.

Does the world love you tonight? The world system? Does the world love you? Jesus said if it loves you, then that means you're part of it. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. All right, let's read some more. In Romans chapter 8, Paul says,

And if we're children of God, then we're heirs of God, and John heirs with Christ. Now notice this. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. In Romans 8, 17, Paul says that if we're going to be glorified with Jesus, first of all, we're going to suffer with him. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul says, For our light affliction is but for a moment, worketh for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. In Philippians chapter 1, verse 29, For unto you is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.

Colossians 1, 24, Paul says, I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake. That verse simply means that when Jesus suffered on the cross, he left some sufferings for us to do. And every Christian who follows Jesus will suffer. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12. The apostle says,

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's suffering, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. Now, if that verse means anything, it means this, that the only way that I'm going to rejoice with exceeding joy at the appearing of Jesus is if I have fellowship with Him in His sufferings.

Jesus suffered, and if I am identified with Jesus and I follow Him, I am going to be a partaker, Greek word, fellowship. I am going to fellowship with His sufferings, and this is the way that I rejoice when Jesus Christ comes again. There's no way you can get around it without denying the Word of God.

That for me to identify myself with Jesus in trusting faith and believing in Him is synonymous with suffering with Him. One more verse. Two more verses. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 3. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And then this final one, 2 Timothy 3 verse 12. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Now that's quite a dogmatic statement.

All, A-L-L, that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Now even while I preach this, I can't help but think, well, we're not being persecuted. God just loves us so much, I guess, and has blessed us so much because who among us tonight knows what persecution is? And we think about those parts of the world tonight where there is very real persecution for those who know Jesus. And don't mistake it, there is real persecution tonight on the face of the earth for those who know Jesus. And you know mistake it, there is real persecution tonight on the face of the earth to those who know Jesus. And you know, we look at those folks over across the sea in that country and we pity them. And then we stand back and we say how much God has blessed us

in that he has exempted us from persecution. And I cannot help but remember what Peter and the other apostles said in that fourth chapter of Acts and the fifth chapter of Acts. When they came back rejoicing, now get this, that God had counted them worthy to suffer for his name. Now, I think we have got it exactly reversed tonight, folks. The reason that God is exempting us temporarily, the reason we are not being persecuted tonight is we're not worthy. And I think he's made a wise decision for a few of us to be able to stick it out. Why, the minute our faith in Jesus begins to inconvenience us a little bit, we're gone. We're not the stuff that the early Christians were made out of.

Jesus was perfected, the Bible says, through what? Through suffering. Counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Now, I'll tell you this, when you and I get to the place where we're right with God enough, made of the stuff of Jesus enough, where we're worthy enough, Jesus will allow us to be persecuted because the Bible indicates special rewards, special places given to those who suffer for his name. Now, folks, we've got it exactly backwards here. We may be sitting on the front row in this earth, but we'll be on the back row in glory. And all of those poor, pitiful people who've suffered and died for Jesus,

they'll be on the front row. Reality of persecution. Now, I tell you what I believe. I believe that any time that my experience doesn't match the Word of God, there's something wrong with my experience, not the Word of God. I can't get away from the fact that he says that all they that live God in Christ

Jesus will suffer persecution. I tell you another thing that I do believe will be that they'll come in our own country when it'll cost you something to be a real follower of Jesus. I believe that. God's word's going to come true. What kind of persecution do Christians... Let's look at those verses in 10 11 he uses some very interesting words for persecution verse 10 blessed are they that are persecuted verse 11 blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all men of evil against you falsely verse 11 he gives three kinds of suffering that a Christian who follows Jesus will endure. First of all, he says, they shall revile you.

The word revile means to disgrace or to dishonor or to disdain. And one of the tactics of the enemy is to try to dishonor and discredit a Christian. Have you ever noticed that? Have you ever noticed, pal, that if a Baptist preacher runs off with a deacon's wife, it makes headlines? And the bartender down here at Joe's Bar and Grill ran off with somebody's wife and nobody said a word about it. I remember when I was in seminary at Fort Worth, the Fort Worth Press, right on the front page had an incident about a pastor in Alabama who had done this. Way off yonder in Alabama, a little old church, nobody heard of, a preacher nobody heard of.

Why in the world do you suppose that would make front page in Dallas, Texas, Fort Worth, Texas? All the world just jumps up and down and the devil claps his hands any time that he can discredit the name of Jesus. Now you put it down, he is going to revile those who follow Jesus. And the word revile, he's going to try to disgrace and dishonor and discredit his people.

And do you know who his greatest colleagues are in this? You folks sitting right out there because you'll believe anything anybody tells you about anybody else. Have you ever noticed how eager we are to believe the worst? You say, preacher, you're exaggerating.

Listen, I've seen it happen over and over and over and over again. I don't care how great the man may be, whether he's preacher, deacon, Sunday school teacher, husband, whatever he is. I don't care how many years he has lived a life that is immaculate and impeccable, you let somebody, and never look at the fellow who's telling the story, and never check it

out, but you let anybody, anybody say anything, any word, and half the people believe it. They say, well, I thought there must be something to that. And the devil's greatest colleagues in reviling and discrediting God's people are those of us who are so eager to listen to anything that anybody pours out. Reviling, reviling, reviling. Now you put it down, if you're going to be a real follower of Jesus Christ, sooner or later, somebody at the office, some kid at school, somebody in your neighborhood is going to try to discredit you and say something to dishonor you, to disgrace you. All right, but not only that, the next word he uses in verse 11 is persecute.

You know, I didn't know this until I studied this word. I thought persecute meant, you know, you get a knife and you poke it at somebody, you burn them at the stake you know what the word persecute means it means to pursue or to follow to track and to put to flight isn't that strange

now listen persecution is when the world when the enemy is on your trail all the time, following you, following you, watching for you to make a mistake. You remember one day on the Sabbath day when Jesus and his disciples

were taking a shortcut to a cornfield? On the Sabbath day, not many people out moving around because you were limited in the distance you could travel on the Sabbath day, out in the middle of a cornfield on the Lord's day, Jesus and his disciples go into that cornfield and they get hungry, and his disciples begin to pluck the ears of corn and begin to eat.

And all of a sudden, the scriptures say the Pharisees begin to accuse Jesus because his disciples were eating picking corn on the sabbath i read that for years before i ever asked myself this question what were a bunch of pharisees doing in a cornfield on the sabbath day i'll tell you what they were doing. They were persecuting Jesus. How? They were following him. Just following him.

Never losing sight of him. Keep your eye on him because sooner or later he's going to make a slip. Now listen, friends, that's exactly what the world does to you. You know, the minute you open your mouth and let them know that you're a Christian, that immediately causes them to start watching you. And that fellow you've been witnessing to, he is just hoping so much that you'll slip and say a word that you ought not to say, laugh at that off-color joke,

because you see suddenly this will discredit and discount everything you've said and make him feel at ease in his sin. And then when that fails, Jesus says, they shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. That's the last resort. When everything else fails, when they follow you and follow you and watch you and spy on you and they can't find anything to accuse you from, then they'll make something up. All they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. All right, number two, the reason for this persecution. Why? Notice

what Jesus says, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Verse 11, blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Those two expressions, for righteousness sake and for my sake. Now listen, Jesus isn't saying blessed are you when you're persecuted for a cause or a doctrine. Blessed are you when you're persecuted for righteousness' sake, for my sake. And don't go, if you have some cause, some political cause or some other cause, or there's some truth that you are trying to push down everybody's throat and somebody persecutes you, don't hope this for a suspicion.

Jesus isn't saying that. He's saying, blessed are you when you're persecuted because you are righteous in your life. You see, this beatitude comes after the preceding seven, and Jesus is saying, blessed are you when you're persecuted because you're like this type of person. That's the only,

and Peter says, happy are you if you are persecuted because of Jesus, for Jesus' sake. Really what this simply means is that if I'm like Jesus, that I'll be persecuted. Why did they persecute Jesus? You know, they didn't persecute Jesus because he was good. There were a lot of good people in the world. They did not persecute Jesus because he was good.

They persecuted Jesus because he was different. Different. Different. Do you know why the world doesn't persecute us? Not because we're not good. Oh, we're good. And the world accepts goodness. Do you know why the world doesn't persecute us?

Because we're not different we're just like they are now we're good we may not live immoral lives and steal and like but we're just like they are we're so much alike the world cannot stand someone who is different the world could not stand j Jesus because he was different. He wouldn't think the way they thought. He wouldn't live the way they lived. He wouldn't worship the way they worshipped. He cared for only one thing, and that was doing the Father's will.

He wasn't trying to impress anybody. He wasn't trying to win a popularity contest. He would not sacrifice the truth of God to soothe the feelings of a fellow man. He was consistent with God, and he put God above everything else. And he was different, and they couldn't stand him. They had to do one of two things. They had to follow him or kill him, and they chose to kill him because it's always easy.

And when the time comes that you and I are like Jesus, and we love like Jesus, and we speak like Jesus, and we seek the Father's will like Jesus, we will be identified with Jesus. That's the reason for this persecution. For Jesus' sake. For Jesus' sake. Let me finish with this one last point.

What is to be our reaction to persecution? How do you react to it? Jesus has some very strange words in the 12th verse. He says, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. What is to be, according to Jesus, our reaction to any inconvenience, any suffering. The time our Christianity costs us something, that's when we're most like Jesus. How are we to react to that? And the truth of the matter is most of us have never really paid anything for our faith in Jesus. And the very moment that it costs us something is the moment that we're

able to be most like Jesus, and that's the very moment that it costs us something is the moment that we're able to be most like Jesus, and that's the very moment that we're not willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of the gospel. And yet he says our reaction to suffering, to hardship, to inconveniences, rejoice and be exceedingly glad. You know what the word rejoice means? I'm glad the Lord wrote New Testament in Greek because it's such an expressive language. The word rejoice means? I'm glad the Lord wrote the New Testament in Greek because it's such an expressive language. The word rejoice means to jump up and down with joy. Just leap with joy

when your Christianity is going to cost you something. I don't know about you, but I have it so easy in following Jesus. And if it ever gets inconvenient, nobody really expects you to push yourself out. I like what Paul said in the book of Acts. He said, I'm going to Jerusalem. Holy Spirit said, listen, if you go to Jerusalem,

only bonds and afflictions await you in Jerusalem. Paul said, but none of these things move me. I'm going to Jerusalem. Paul was the man who couldn't be stopped. I wonder how much it takes to move you. I wonder how much it takes to stop you. Persecuted for a righteous mistake. Friends, the very minute your faith in Jesus Christ

begins to cost you something, that's the chance to be more like Jesus than at any other time. That's what he says. He says, Rejoice in being exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. He said, you're in good company. You're in good company. They persecuted the prophets. The world has hated me. It will hate you. The servant is not greater than his master. What is it in your life tonight? I want you to think with me for just a moment. What is it in your life tonight that you're not obedient to? Where is your point of disobedience? You say, Well, I know that God wants me to witness, and I have a neighbor. Why haven't you done

it? You say, Well, I get home late. It would be inconvenienced on me? What is your point of disobedience? You say, well, I know that I'm not doing right with God in the matter of my money and my giving to the church and to the Lord, but it would be such an inconvenience I might have to suffer, I might have to do without some things if I... What is your point of disobedience? I think if you'll very carefully go over it, you'll find that your point of disobedience is there because you're not willing to count all things

lost for Jesus. And you're willing to have your Christianity as long as it doesn't cost anything and doesn't inconvenience you in any way. What is your point of disobedience, teenager? You say, Well, I really don't live such a clean life at school. I'm not such a very good Christian. Why? Well, you may caution me something. Say, well, am I cautioning something and I'm not willing to say it? I know that God gives grace when the time is needed for that grace.

I want to ask you a question now. The things you're not doing that you ought to be doing. Your point of disobedience. If God were to come to you tonight and say, Listen, your salvation depends upon your obedience in this matter. Would you obey? I find that we are so glad that we're saved by grace and not by work. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?

Oh, I'm sure glad we're not saved by work. Oh, I praise the Lord for grace. Man, I thought for a minute there I was going to have to do something to. Amen. I thought for a minute there I was going to have to do something to be saved. I thought for a minute it was going to cost me something to be saved. And this is what Jude means when he says that we're turning

the grace of God into lascivious. Dragging it in the mud. I don't know about you, but I want God to work in my life in such a way. And I don't have a persecution complex. I'm not looking for persecution. But I'll tell you one thing. I sure would like to be able to stand in the gallery with prophets. And I sure would like to be counted among those that God thought worthy of suffering.

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