In the sermon 'Bless those that persecute you,' Steve Hopkins explores the profound challenge and Christian command found in Romans 12:14. He emphasizes that Christians are called to bless those who persecute them, a command that defies human nature and is only achievable through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. Hopkins illustrates various forms of persecution, from physical violence to social ostracism, highlighting that persecution is a normal part of Christian life. He draws parallels between the teachings of Paul and Jesus, underscoring the importance of reflecting God's image by showing love and grace to enemies. The sermon recounts historical examples of Christians who prayed for their persecutors, showing how such acts of love can disarm and potentially lead persecutors to Christ. Hopkins concludes with a call to trust God's broader plan during persecution, maintaining an eternal perspective, and embodying Christ's love, even towards enemies.

Good afternoon once again. Brothers and sisters, God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. That whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him. If you would turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 12 we are returning to the book of Romans this week, the 12th chapter and verse 14. Stand with me, if you would, for the reading of the Word of the Lord.

We'll be reading one verse, one verse alone, verse 14. Follow along as I read. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Let's pray.

Father, maker of heaven and earth and all that is in them, how we worship, O God, worship and adore you, that you would be mindful of man, astounds us, that you would consider us personally, overwhelms our hearts with joyful praise and in thanksgiving. O God, we thank you for your abundant mercy and grace shown us in Christ Jesus and Lord we come before you we're wanting to understand the words before us today and how they apply to us today. And so we pray God now that you would open our hearts and minds to receive with meekness the engrafted word through the powerful working of the Holy Spirit for we ask it in Jesus name amen. Let's be seated. As we return to our study of the book of Romans today, the apostle Paul is giving us a command.

This is a command in verse 14. And it is a command so contrary to fallen human nature that only a soul regenerated by the Holy Spirit could even begin to carry it out. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Atheist philosophers have mocked this down through the ages.

They've mocked the idea of love for one's enemies, calling the notion sublime madness, a moral absurdity, and an actual impossibility on earth. And for them, of course, this is true. Only a soul, as Nate said earlier, that's come to know the love of Christ that's been regenerated and raised and made alive in Christ can begin to understand. Only a soul that has experienced the grace of God can even begin to understand the words that are that are commanded here and be able to carry them out to be able to show this kind of grace to bless those who persecute us to bless them and and not curse them. This word bless as it's used throughout the Bible means to to pray for and it means to do good to.

Paul is saying pray for those who persecute you and do good to them. Not only are we not to hate those who hate us because we're Christians, we are to pray for them, for their eternal souls, and return good for their evil. The persecution of Christians takes on various forms in scripture. It can come in forms of physical acts of violence, acts that harm or injure or even kill the bodies of believers. It can come in the form of imprisonment or threats of imprisonment.

It can come in the form of unjust punishments exacted by civil authorities like beatings or whippings we read about through scripture and history, torture, fines. It can come in the form of Deprivation. We read about this in the book of Hebrews, where the Christian or the believers deprived of basic necessities needed to sustain their lives or the lives of their family members. That's persecution. The withholding of food or water or clothing or shelter or the restriction of our access or their access to their funds or resources so that they can purchase the things that they need for their families and for themselves.

Acts of violence to harm the body of the Christian or take their lives from them, these are what we think of most when we think about persecution. And millions of Christians have suffered in these ways throughout history and continue to suffer these things to the present day because of their faith in Jesus Christ. But persecution can also come in other forms by way of slander. Anyone ever had a person slander you because you are a Christian? Make malicious accusations against you, whereby your character or reputation was harmed.

These are forms of persecution. Other forms of persecution are mockery where Christians are mocked and made fun of or insulted or demeaning inferences are made about them. We see more and more of this kind of persecution since the advent of the internet. People will just say anything off the top of their head and they'll make any kind of an accusation against a person without even thinking about how that's going to hurt them or the ramifications of that. Another form of persecution that's common is when unbelieving family members withdraw from the believers in their families.

Separate themselves more and more from their company. The apostle says if we suffer any of these things at the hands of our persecutors, whoever they may be, we are to bless them in return or to pray for them in return or to do good to them in return for the evil that they've done to us or are even in the process of doing to us. Bless those who persecute you, Paul says, bless and do not curse. The apostle here echoes the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 5 verses 43 through 44 Jesus said you've heard it said that you shall love your neighbor and and hate your enemy but I say unto you the authority of Jesus love your enemies bless those who curse you do good to those who hate you, pray for those who spitefully use you, and persecute you." And then he says these words, listen to this, he follows it with this, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. What is Jesus saying?

Is this work salvation? No. That you may be sons of your father in heaven. He's drawing an analogy here. He's saying even as children on earth reflect the image of their fathers on earth, You can look around here in this building right now and see the little children and you see how they reflect in many ways.

They're parents, right? The image of their parents. Well, this is one way we as the children of God reflect the image of our Father in heaven. What Jesus is saying here, this is one of the ways we as Christians show ourselves to be the children of God, that we're members of the family of our Father in heaven. Look what Jesus says, for he makes his son to rise on the evil and on the good and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

So he is his children reflecting the image of our Father who makes the sun to rise on evil people and sends the rain on unjust people, should show love to our enemies by blessing those who curse us and doing good to those who hate us and by praying for those who spitefully use us and persecute us. This reflecting of the image of our Father in heaven is possible because, everybody listen to me, How is this possible? How is this even possible? It is possible because we who are in Christ have been given a new nature. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creature.

Having been born of God, listen, having been born from above, a new principle is now at work in us whereby we are enabled by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to respond like Jesus responded to others. Who when he was reviled, Peter says in 1 Peter 2.23, He reviled not again. Who when he suffered did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. And who, brothers and sisters listen, who when hanging, hanging on the cross, pummeled and shredded by his persecutors, looked upon them and said, Father forgive them, They don't know what they're doing. How else could Stephen, even as the stones of his persecutors were striking his head, have looked up to heaven and said, Lord, lay not this sin at their charge.

Empowered by the Spirit, Stephen walked in the footsteps of his Lord and blessed those who persecuted him and cursed the knot. Brothers and sisters, the history of the church is replete with thousands of accounts and documented diaries of Christian martyrs praying for and blessing their captors and even their tormentors. Paul quotes Proverbs 25, 21 through 22 further on. He says this in the Proverbs passage that he's quoting. I mean, just think on this a minute.

Who can do this? But this is what is commanded. If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this you will keep burning coals of fire on his head and the Lord will reward you.

What is Paul saying? Leave vengeance and wrath to God. Leave it to God to repay the persecutors of his people. Our hope is for their eternal salvation. For the eternal salvation of those who hate and persecute us because we belong to Jesus.

We just want them to know our Savior and the love and the mercy that we have known. Doing good to a person who is actively persecuting you because you're a Christian, it's disarming. It's counterintuitive, but it has a disarming effect. And I don't think that Paul is saying believers are to pursue this as a strategy. I think he's setting Christ before us and saying be like Jesus.

And the fact of the matter is that returning good for evil many times stings the consciences of unbelievers. How many have read Richard Wormbrant's Tortured for Christ? Anyone? Anyone read that? One?

Tortured for Christ? Anyone? I recommend that you read the book Tortured for Christ. So we don't have persecution in America, okay? Maybe we don't today, but it's a thing that can happen overnight in a nation.

Believe me, there have been nations that they thought it can't happen here and then it happened. Read Tortured for Christ. In Richard Wormbrandt's book, Tortured for Christ, he tells of a guard who beat him and mistreated him and how the guard couldn't understand how Wormbrant could love him and pray for him until he told the guard about Jesus and God's grace and forgiveness and love toward his enemies. Then his conscience was stung because the gospel had been lived out in front of him and he was converted in Richard Wormbrandt's cell. He was converted there.

In Luke chapter 9, Jesus is headed for Jerusalem with his disciples and he sends messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. But they don't receive Jesus because he's heading for Jerusalem. And you know there's this thing between the Samaritans, right, the half Jews and the Jews in Jerusalem. There's this thing between them. Alright, and so there's this discord and and they won't receive Jesus because he's heading to Jerusalem.

And James and John want to call down fire from heaven on the village and kill everybody. Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just like Elijah did? That's what they said. But Jesus rebukes them. He says, you don't realize what spirit you are of.

For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. As the hymn goes, with deeds of love and mercy, the heavenly kingdom comes. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. One of the things we have to come to grips with as believers is that persecution in its various forms is a normal part of Christian life.

It's normal. History proves it. It's normal. That's the normal thing for Christians. You go throughout your life and in some point in time, various points in time, you're going to experience persecution like some of the forms that I've been talking about.

You may not be placed up against the wall and they say deny Jesus or we're going to kill your family members in front of you like they did in Romania. Maybe that's not the thing. Maybe Maybe your church isn't meeting like that church in Romania and hooded guards come in, Everyone against the wall, anyone who doesn't love Jesus, run, you're free. All these people take off running back to the city And they pull off their hats, their hoods, because they couldn't be identified as Christians and be in that Romanian communist army. And they said, okay, let's worship Jesus.

Maybe that's not going to be our situation. Maybe no one breaks through the back door as has happened in some churches and they start trying to mow everybody down. Maybe we don't face that. Every Christian will face persecution of some type. 2nd Timothy 312, Paul writes, yes and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

It's built in. You will suffer persecution in some form and probably most of you have already experienced some. The world views us as strangers and pilgrims here and in reality that's what we are. For here we have no continuing city, Hebrews 13-14, but we seek one to come. Samuel Rutherford, if you were not strangers here, the hounds of the world would not bark at you.

That's why the world hates you. Matthew Henry, Christ's followers can't expect better treatment in the world than their master had? It comes with the territory. In John 15, 18, Jesus said, if the world hates you, You know that it hated me before it hated you. I've said it many times, don't take it personally.

When you find that you're hated or excluded by people or even family members or reviled in some way because you belong to Jesus, it's Christ they're responding to. Remember, Jesus told Paul before his conversion when he was actively persecuting Christians, I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. It's Jesus in you. That's what they're responding to. Don't take it personally.

Everyone who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, it's gonna be treated like him, in one way or another, by an unbelieving world. Remember the word that I said to you, Jesus, goes on to say, "'The servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. John 15-20. But just remember this, this shared treatment you're experiencing, it's shared treatment.

You share it with Jesus. Because you belong to Jesus, it is a cause for your rejoicing. Jesus said, blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you, when they revile you, their mouths, when they cast out your name as evil, for the son of man's sake, rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven. He goes on to say because guess what, That's the way they treated the prophets of old. Opposition for Jesus' sake, that's okay.

That's typically how the gospel prospers. Well, how does the gospel prosper in a nation? Well it prospers when, you know, there's peace and security and everything goes well and everybody's prosperous and has lots of money, and is doing very well. That's how the gospel prospers. Not typically.

Typically, the gospel prospers in the face of opposition. Ian Murray, the word of God never yet prospered in the world without opposition. When opposition arises, the persecution, when opposition arises and persecution lifts its ugly head, it's typically because God is doing a work. Now we know that God is doing a work. Our part is to just figure out what part God wants us to play in it.

Someone says, ah, but it's pretty dark right now. It's always the darkest just before the dawn. But whatever called about to make the ultimate sacrifice, what if that actually is the case and I myself am called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice. Hebrews 11 35, others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might have a better record resurrection, that they might have a better resurrection. That they might have a better resurrection.

On another note, one thing every believer has in common is hope. The infallible hope of resurrection. Because Christ rose from the dead, those who die in him will also rise. Paul said, we don't weep as those who have no hope, or Cessillonia 413. And not only that, but as Christians we know that the instant we close our earthly eyes and death we will open them in heavenly joy beholding the face of our Savior beholding the face of our Savior for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

That's the inscription on Don Stubblefield's headstone, a former elder. Whether we endure persecution for an hour or a day or for years with seemingly no end to our suffering in sight, we know that God is with us and that we will shortly be with him. So whatever may be the persuasion, persecution, We are called to suffer in this life. We need to have an eternal perspective. This is all going to be over very quickly.

This brief and fleeting life that we are living, and when it comes to a close, an eternity of joy and bliss in the light of God's countenance begins for us. Thomas Watson, the weight of glory makes persecution light. Our persecutors are the persecutors of Christians on the other hand have no hope and except they repent and put their trust in Jesus. When they die, a dreadful eternity in hell under the conscious wrath of God for all eternity is going to initiate. It's going to begin.

We, the bullet, the cancer, the heart attack, the car wreck, the persecution, unto death, we lift up our eyes to hold in the face of our Savior. They lift up their eyes in torment and in the flame under the conscious wrath of God for all eternity, which has been initiated. Except sinners repent and place their trust in Jesus, they will face the almighty in judgment and the persecutors of Christ's precious bride, his beloved church, oh the horrors that await them. Now how should this birth pity in our hearts towards our persecutors? How should this put us on our knees before God in prayer for their eternal salvation and cause us to bless them and not curse them?

Gracious words, acts of love for our persecutors, exalts the glory of our crucified and risen Savior. And it adorns the gospel that we preach. And as I've said before, it many times is the means by which God stings the consciences of the wicked and drives him to Christ. The question comes up many times concerning imprecatory Psalms. Everybody knows what those are?

Okay. Is there a place for imprecatory prayers? Because that's what the psalms, the imprecatory psalms are prayers. They are prayers directed against the enemies of God and His people, like in Psalms 59, 79, and multiple others. As Christians, we care about the maintenance of justice in the world and there is a time when prayers of imprecation are appropriate but never for personal revenge right?

It's not you done this to me I'm praying for God You don't call it down fire from heaven. No. But there is a time when they are appropriate. How many know who John Knox is? Raise your hand if you know who John Knox is.

Scotland, okay? The great awakening that took place in Scotland under John Knox. John Knox wrote and prayed and preached against what he's referred to as the monstrous regiment of women. What in the world is he talking about? The monstrous regiment of women.

He's talking about female Catholic leaders of these nations that had risen to power who were persecuting Christians and slaying many of them. Queen Mary Tudor, the first of England, also known as Bloody Mary, Mary Guise, Mary Queen of Scots, who cruelly oppressed Protestant believers and the Protestant faith. It is said that Mary, Queen of Scots, feared the imprecatory prayers. She said, I fear the imprecatory prayers of John Knox more than all of the assembled armies of Europe, and well she should have. One of his published prayers, in one of his published prayers he prayed, quote, repress the pride of those bloodthirsty tyrants, consume them in thine anger, according to the reproach which they have laid against your holy name pour forth your vengeance upon them let our eyes behold the blood of your saints required at their hands delay not your vengeance oh Lord but let death devour them in haste he's talking about these these leaders in the nations these Catholic rulers these these women this monstrous regiment of women that are killing Christians.

He said, let the earth swallow them up and let them go down quickly to hell, to the hells. For there is no hope of their amendment. The fear and reverence of your holy name are quite banished from their hearts, but look upon us, O Lord, with the eyes of your mercy and show pity upon us, your weak and sorely oppressed flock." God heard John Knox's prayers and the imprecatory prayers of his people and in his lifetime he saw the evil powers brought down and godly rulers lifted up. And this passage before us, it's not talking about this. It's talking about, it's addressing personal acts of persecution.

That's what Paul is addressing. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, he says later on. I will repay. And the vengeance that God will repay evildoers is far beyond anything that could ever be inflicted by men. What he's calling for is a call to love the individual who is hurting you because you belong to Jesus.

Jesus said in Luke 6 32 if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, verse 33, what reward do you have? Sinners do that. If you lend to them, I always just think about this.

If you lend to them from whom you hope to receive, what reward do you have? Sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. Jesus says lend to your persecutors. I mean, You talk about an act of doing good. Can you even imagine this person, wherever you're at, you're on the job site, you're telling someone about Jesus And you find out they went out and they slashed your tires in the parking lot of your vehicle.

And they get caught. Joe did that. And you go up to Joe and you say, Joe, he's thinking, oh man. Oh man. You know?

If you ever need to borrow any money, just let me know. The hammer just came down on the conscience. Now He needs to pay for the tires. But love your enemies, he says. Do good, lend to them, hoping for nothing again.

And your reward shall be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he's kind to the unthankful and the evil. And brothers and sisters, we don't know what God may be doing in his broader plan when we obey him in these things. There's so much going on other than what meets the ability of our finite eyes to see. We don't know what God's going to do with that.

You don't know what God's going to do with that act of kindness that you return for that act of evil that's been done to you. You don't know. Joseph didn't see the broader picture when he was being cruelly persecuted by his own brothers. Imagine being sold into slavery by your own family. Joseph couldn't see God preparing to use him to save his family from starvation.

Couldn't see it. I've told the story before of being falsely accused and arrested in Austin many years ago while preaching on the sidewalk next to an abortion house. I had no idea what was going on while I was undergoing that. All I could see was, with my eyes, was the sheriff's car pulling into the parking lot. I couldn't see the man in the Travis County jail cell needing someone to bring him the gospel as he was contemplating suicide.

All I could see was what was right in front of me. All I could think of was, how am I going to be able to feed my family if I get arrested right now for preaching next to this abortion clinic. I couldn't see the man in that jail cell that God ordained me to bring the gospel to. I couldn't see his wife at home who would have been without a husband and his children who would have been without a dear father because he hung himself in despair, not wanting to face them because of his drug addiction, his incarceration. I couldn't see the broader picture of what God was doing.

I was standing there preaching to the security guy. He who has the son has life, he who has not the son has not life. And he's turning up the volume of his radio. I'm on the highway to hell to dry out my voice. The child killers in the abortion facility ripping children limb for limb just a hundred feet away from me on the other side of the wall.

But I couldn't see the broader picture of what God was doing. The child killers there at the abortion facility had to falsely accuse me of trespassing before a warrant could be issued that would cause me to be transported to the concrete cubicle of a desperate man. So inside the facility they hatched a plan to get me off the street. It's all God's plan. And while the security guard is out in the parking lot and they're putting the handcuffs on he's laughing and he's looking up to heaven, where is your God now Stephen Hopkins?

He's laughing at heaven, laughing at the sky. I don't know what's going on Lord I can't afford this this is gonna hurt financially and I don't know Little did anyone know I was being ushered to a jail cell to give the gospel to a desperate man who would put away a suicide attempt as soon as he heard the jailers keys in the lock of the door and within an hour he would be faced down on the jail cell floor crying out Jesus, Jesus, Jesus and later released to go home to his family and tell them what mighty things the Lord had done for him. We don't know what God is doing when we are being persecuted or what his greater plan is. We just have to trust him in the moment. He knows what he is doing.

That person that hates you, just hold on. Just hold on. That relative that is withdrawing from you, that person that is Persecuting you because you belong to Jesus, give it some time. No telling what God may be doing in the broader unseen picture or what He may do with the prayers you've been praying and the blessing you've returned for evil even long after you're gone. One thing's for sure, when we follow in the footsteps of Christ, the glory of Christ will be manifested.

He will be honored and glorified and lifted up and that's enough. Paul says we do always carry about in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. As I close, our inheritance isn't here. That's why we, like our brothers and sisters who have suffered before us, can endure persecution joyfully and even bless our persecutors. Why can't we just say, I mean just as we close, why can't we just say, this person's ungodly, this person made himself my enemy, this person has hurt me, this person has cursed me, I have a right to retaliate.

Here's why. Number one, Christ died for you while you were ungodly. He died for me while I was ungodly. Number two, he laid his life down for you while you were his enemy. While I was his enemy.

Three, he went to that cross and blessed you with the greatest blessing ever known to mankind and to me. Four, and not only did he not curse you when you deserve to be cursed forever, he became a curse for you and for me. The Apostle Paul said the life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who died for me and gave himself for me so that I could live. By your grace we should be saying with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will bless those who persecute us, bless and not curse, with praise on our lips and gratefulness in our hearts for all our Jesus has done for us. Let's pray.

Father, we are, every one of us, debtors to mercy. Anyone can love a friend. Only you can work in us through the Spirit to love our enemies. Help us, O God, to bless and not curse for Jesus' sake. And in Jesus' name, Amen.