Open the Bible

Colin Smith: This is what a godly life looks like. This is the path of progress, of sanctification, if you like. These are the things that I am to cultivate. These are the things that Jesus Christ says I'm to go after.

What will be the outcome of pursuing such a life? If I go down this path, where does it lead?

Guest (Male): Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and that path that we're talking about here is what today's message is all about. Our message comes from Matthew chapter 5, the Beatitudes. We're to go after things like humility, forgiveness, being a peacemaker, and pursuing purity. So, where does this path lead?

Colin Smith: And this is the absolutely astonishing thing about the end of the Beatitudes—that the end of it is persecution.

Guest (Male): That's kind of a surprise. It's just not what you expect, is it? You say, "Now, if I'm a peacemaker and I'm pursuing purity of heart and I'm forgiving others, then other people are going to love me. They're going to say, 'Isn't that a great fellow?'" And what Jesus says is, if you pursue these things, expect to be persecuted. The world will hate you, not love you for this.

Colin Smith: And that, like you said, does seem counterintuitive. So, there might be somebody who says, "Okay, if that's going to lead to persecution, why do I want to do this?" Because I'm following Jesus. Jesus did all these things, and look what it led him. It led him to a cross. And then look at where he is now: he's at the right hand of the Father in glory, which is where we want to be. So this really is charting the path of an authentic Christian life. And Jesus doesn't hide the cost in the small print.

Guest (Male): Well, and that is a good thing for us to be aware of. So, let's dig a little deeper. Open your Bible and join us in Matthew chapter 5, looking at verses 10 through 12 today. Here's Pastor Colin with "Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted."

Colin Smith: We come to the last of these Beatitudes. Many of you have spoken about how the Lord has been using these scriptures in your life. I also have been greatly stretched, searched by these words of Jesus, and never more so than in this last Beatitude that we come to today.

In these Beatitudes, we've seen that Jesus Christ gives us a sevenfold description of the character of a godly person. What does a true Christian look like? Well, you have it in this sevenfold description. A person who is poor in spirit, recognizing that before God, I do not have what it takes, and therefore I have to seek that good not in myself, but in another—in Jesus Christ, my Savior and my Lord.

What does a true Christian look like? One who mourns over his or her sins. That's more than being sorry. That's looking at the cost to me and to others and to Christ long enough and straight enough and hard enough until I come to the conclusion that I must actually change and therefore do so.

What does it mean to be a true Christian? It is to meekly submit to the will of God, however difficult that may at times become. And we saw that these three, the first three Beatitudes, are indeed the roots of a godly life. There is no true Christianity without them. But where these roots are established in the soil of a human life, out of them comes a life.

And what is that life? It is described by Jesus this way: hungering and thirsting after righteousness. That's the soul of a godly life, a deep longing that is the distinctive, distinguishing, unfakeable mark of a Christian believer—that in all circumstances, I want to do what is right in order to honor my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And we saw that out of that life that grows from the roots, there is a threefold and very, very wonderful fruit, beautiful fruit. Out of this life will come a tenderness of heart, compassion, mercy, patience, forgiveness. Out of this life will come not only a tenderness of heart, but a purity of heart to will one thing, to get beyond the spiritual stagnation that always comes with double-mindedness that half holds the world and half holds to Jesus Christ. No, to will one thing, that's what purity of heart is, and it comes out of this life that is rooted in the first three Beatitudes.

And then we saw last time, out of this life will come a peaceable spirit. Beautiful fruit: mercy, purity, peace. Peace in your own heart so that you are able to bring with you and impart even to others as a peacemaker something of what God is working and growing in you. Now, here then is the sevenfold description of a true Christian. This is what a godly life looks like. This is the path of progress, of sanctification, if you like. These are the things that I am to cultivate. These are the things that Jesus Christ says I'm to go after.

Now, that leads to an obvious question. If I go after these things, as in our hearts I think there has been stirred a sense that we must pursue these things with all that we have, what will be the outcome of pursuing such a life? If I go down this path, where does it lead? And our Lord Jesus gives two very clear answers to that question. One is he says you will be blessed by God. Blessed, blessed, blessed—that runs all the way through the Beatitudes. And the other is he says you will be persecuted by the world.

Look at what he says, verse 10: "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And he continues, he stays with it. "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you"—notice that word again—"and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

So three times in three verses, at the climax of the Beatitudes, our Lord Jesus uses this word "persecuted." The word, of course, means harassed or opposed or ill-treated. And our Lord Jesus says to us, "This is what will happen to you, and you should expect it." The world will not thank you for being a Christian. The world will not love the church. Don't expect that.

The world will tolerate the church with suspicion at best and will be openly hostile towards the church at worst. And Jesus explains this in another place in John chapter 3 and verse 20. He says, "Everyone who does wicked hates the light." If you want to do wicked things, what you have to do is you have to suppress the light that is in your own conscience that God has given you by nature.

And when wicked people manage to suppress the light that is in their own conscience, they do not like seeing that light which they have just suppressed in themselves shining into them because they see it in you, and you're working next to that person, or you're living close to that person, or that person is in your family.

So you see, if you pursue this life that Jesus is describing, the light of Jesus Christ is going to be in you. It is going to shine from you. It's going to be seen through you. And those who pursue wickedness will not like it. They will hate you for it. They hate the light, and so they'll hate you as they hated Jesus. So don't expect to be thanked for living a godly life in business, in industry, in school, in education. Sinners will be suspicious of you at best, and they will be openly hostile towards you at worst. That is what Jesus says.

Now, today, the pattern of persecution. I want you simply to see this from the scriptures: that opposition is a normal experience of the Christian, and I should expect it. Remember, it runs all the way through the Bible. What was the first example of persecution? It happened in the first family. Remember Adam and Eve? They have this little boy. Oh, Cain. What a lovely fellow. What a ray of sunshine he's going to be to us. Lovely little innocent fellow, they must have thought.

And then they have his brother called Abel, and what happens? Cain murders Abel. And why did Cain murder Abel? The Bible tells us quite clearly: because Cain's deeds were evil and his brother's were righteous. So right there, the second person born into the world was the first martyr. He was persecuted for righteousness' sake. And the pattern of opposition, harassment, suffering runs right throughout the history of the Bible and, of course, beyond.

Think about it. Joseph was persecuted by his brothers in Egypt. He gets put into prison—why? For righteousness' sake. Moses is reviled, to use Jesus' word here, insulted again and again and again. Samuel is rejected. Elijah is despised and persecuted. Nehemiah is oppressed and he is defamed. Stephen in the New Testament is stoned. Peter and John are cast into prison. James is beheaded. The life of the Apostle Paul is one long saga of one persecution and event of suffering after another.

Think not only of the people of the Bible, think about the churches in the New Testament. Philippi. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 29, Paul says to the church there, "It has been granted to you for the sake of Christ that you should not only believe in him but also suffer." It's been given to you to suffer, this new church in Philippi. And of course, Paul was in prison when he wrote these words himself.

In Thessalonica: "We ourselves boast about you... in the churches... for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecution." That church was birthed in persecution in the town of Thessalonica. Peter writes to dispersed believers over a wide area in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, and he says to them, "Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you."

He says, "Now it's going to happen. It's going to be all over the place. Wherever you've been dispersed, there's going to be this persecution, and don't be surprised when it comes, this fiery trial. It is not a strange thing. You should not say, 'Why is this happening to me?' You should not say that, because it's happening to your brothers and to your sisters around the world."

Indeed, Paul says to Timothy, putting it most succinctly, 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 12: "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Period." A godly life in Christ Jesus—what's that? The Beatitudes. You pursue the path of the Beatitudes, and Jesus is saying it right here. Here's what to expect: blessed by God and, at the same time, persecuted by the world.

So this is what we could call the normal Christian life. Why? Because the sinful nature is hostile to God. And if it were not already clear to us, what are we doing at the climax of this service? We're coming to the communion service, and what does that point us to? It points us to this: that the one who was the Beatitudes incarnate, the one who was this life to the full, the one who knew the blessing of God as no one else, look what the world did to him. And he says to us, John chapter 15 and verse 20, "A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me"—and they did—"they will also persecute you."

And so the eighth Beatitude leads us to an expectation of the normal Christian life, which for all of us who have been blessed in so many ways in this wonderful country, means a shifting of the default mindset about our expectations of what a Christian life should actually look like.

Guest (Male): Really a powerful message today here on Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, taking a look at persecution. The message is called "Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted," and we've been looking at the pattern of persecution. When we come back in just a moment, we're going to look at some of the forms of persecution, so I hope you'll stay with us.

Well, this message is originally part of a series called "Momentum: How to Make Progress in Your Christian Life." But it's been one of the most listened-to messages of the past year. We went back and we looked at what have been the most streamed, downloaded, and requested messages, and we bundled the top ten together in a series called "Listener Favorites." It's what you're listening to all month long on the radio, and we've also taken these ten messages and put them together in a CD series called "Listener Favorites 2026." If you're interested in getting a copy of the series for yourself, ask about that when you call us at 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365, or you'll find ordering information at our website, openthebible.org. Back to the message. Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Second, the forms of persecution. Do you notice that in what Jesus says here, he identifies quite clearly two forms of persecution? It comes in two different ways. And Thomas Watson, who has helped us so often, describes them well. He says the two forms of persecution are persecution of the hand and persecution of the tongue. Persecution of the hand, of course, we understand what that is. Persecution of the hand is physical violence. It includes imprisonment, even martyrdom.

And this is not so far from us as we think. Just last week, at the end of the Saturday night service, a student from Trinity who comes from India, visiting the church for the first time, came and chatted with him, got to know him a little bit. We exchanged stories about India. I wanted to know what part of India he was from. And as we got into conversation, the student from Trinity said to me, "Colin, will you please pray for my hometown? Because last week, a mob came and broke the arms and the legs of the missionaries who were preaching." Broke the arms and the legs of the missionaries who were preaching.

It is very difficult to get accurate numbers of Christians who have been or are being killed for openly professing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have looked at many numbers, and they all fall within a range that gives us at least some sense of it. And that range is between 100,000 at the low end of estimate and 150,000 at the higher end of Christians who are killed, who lay down their lives for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ because of their faith, every year somewhere around the globe.

Now let's take the low end of that estimate. Low end's 100,000. The Church of England newspaper estimated this is for 2011: 105,000 believers killed for their faith somewhere in the world in 2011. That's a low end of the estimates. What does that mean? That is 288 believers killed every day. Friends, that is 12 an hour. That is one every five minutes.

One of your brothers and sisters in Christ, one of our family, is laying down his or her life for Christ somewhere in the world every five minutes. Every five minutes. Today, tomorrow, day, night, 24 hours. I will say this to you: I do not think, at least as far as I'm aware, I do not think that our church has yet had a missionary martyr. But if we truly press forward with the work of gospel proclamation around the world, we should not be surprised if that costly honor is given to one of us. We should not be surprised.

Persecution of the hand. But then Jesus also speaks here in verse 11 about persecution of the tongue. He said first, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake" (verse 10). That's physical violence that's in view there. But then verse 11, he says something else: "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you." Now, what does it mean to revile? To revile is to insult. It is to slander. It is to mock. It is to ridicule. It is to intimidate. It is to torment. Persecution with the tongue.

And here is where I want to speak especially to all of our high school students across the congregations this weekend, and our middle school students too, and of course, their parents and their grandparents. If someone, if you were known to be a Christian in high school today, you are going to get some opposition. Apart from anything else, Satan has his eye on you, and there's never a situation in which somehow he gives a break to you until you're 21. No trouble until you're old enough to drive a car or whatever. It starts earlier than that.

Different people, of course, have different experiences, but here's what you should expect. That's what we've learned from the first point here. If people know that you are a Christian, even though you are young, expect to be mocked for believing in Christ. Expect that people are going to say, "You actually believe that God created the world? You must be a fool. How could you possibly think that?" And certainly, you should expect to be mocked and perhaps ridiculed for obeying Christ.

And particularly, I'm thinking here that if you are committed to the path of sexual purity, and if you therefore hold back from the increasingly relentless sexual experimentation that's becoming more and more part, so tragically, of high school culture, people are going to think you're strange. They're going to make fun of you because of it. There are going to be some groups that you might like to belong to, but because they're acting in a certain way and you're not, you find yourself outside. You feel yourself to be sort of outcast, socially ostracized.

And when other students know that you are a Christian, and sometimes teachers too, they may make your life hard. This is what Jesus says. You see, verse 11? Jesus knows about what you're experiencing in high school. He's speaking about it right here. They will utter all kinds of evil against you. It's what so many of our students are actually experiencing in high school today. It's exactly what Jesus says because the Bible is speaking to your life and Jesus knows what is going on.

And you need to understand why this is going on. It is because people who are behaving in a way that is displeasing to Christ and destructive to themselves, they're already suppressing the light of their own conscience, and now they're seeing that light in you and they don't like it. In fact, they hate it.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted," and we're going to have to pause the message right here, but we'll continue on our next program. If you ever miss a program, come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. You can stream the broadcast or download an MP3 for free. You can also listen on the Open the Bible app, which you'll find for free at your app store. And in addition to this daily radio program, you'll find our weekend broadcast, our daily devotional, and a lot more. So again, look for the Open the Bible app at your app store, or come and connect with us online at openthebible.org.

Well, Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. It is your generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching, whether you listen on the radio, online, or through the app. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a copy of Brad Wetherell's new book called "Saved to Sin No More." And Colin, what's one thing that you'd like people to take away from this book?

Colin Smith: Well, I think the number one thing is encouragement in the Christian life. You know, I think a lot of folks have the idea that to be a Christian is basically to commit to a disciplined pursuit of a good and a moral life, and it's so much more. And that's the heart of what's in this book, speaking about union with Christ. I was just talking to someone who's past the age of 70 this week, and he told me that for 35 years he had regarded himself as being a Christian and everyone else would have regarded him as a Christian too. He said, "But it was only in the last five years that he really came to understand a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ." He said, "I had religion for 35 years. I've only had a relationship with Jesus for five."

And there's all the difference in the world. And the first thing he said when I said, "Well, tell me about the difference," he said, "Well, I've begun to experience victory over sin." And then he spoke about peace and he spoke about joy and he spoke about hope. Now, it's simply not possible to gain victory over our besetting sins if all we've got is our best effort to live a good life and to overcome the things that plague us. What makes it possible to really make progress in the Christian life is that Jesus Christ himself lives in the life of a believer by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. That makes a whole new life possible, and this book really gives an introduction to this central though sadly, I think, little understood truth of the Christian life: Christ in you, that's the hope of living a new and a transformed life. It's a wonderful book, and I think it'll be a great encouragement to all who read it.

Guest (Male): Again, the name of the book is "Saved to Sin No More: How Union with Christ Empowers a Life of Holiness." And we want to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give your gift online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365, or again our website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported program of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: Hi, this is Pastor Colin again, and I want you to know about "Watch Your Doctrine." "Watch Your Doctrine" is a six-session course that is geared for leaders but accessible for every believer. The six sessions will introduce you to six central truths of the Christian faith: how we know God, how God speaks to us, how sin affects us, how God's Spirit brings new life, how we're made right with God, and what Jesus accomplished on the cross. There are questions at the end of each session, and you can use them on your own or you can discuss them with a friend. For more information or to begin this free online course, visit openthebible.org/courses. That's openthebible.org/courses.