Our text is Lk 6:22-23.  Jesus said, “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake”.  When you follow Jesus men are going to say some bad things about you and do some bad things to you for Christ’s sake.  

There is something you must know about our God in this world.  They hate him, Ps 21:7-11, Rom 1:30.  And they hate his Son, Lk 4:22-29.  Furthermore, they hate his men, Mk 12:1-8.  Just like Cain who killed his brother Abel.    In Zech 3:1 when Joshua was standing before the Lord, Satan was at his right hand.  In 2 Tim 3:8, Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses when he performed the miracles before Pharaoh.

When you come to Jesus and take a stand with him, they are going to hate you, too.  It’s not personal.  Their hatred of you is for Christ’s sake.  When I was younger, I wasn’t aware of this to the point that I hope you are aware today.  Our enemy is subtle.  I ended up playing both sides of the street.  God doesn’t want men in his army who do that, and so, back then, I was given over entirely to worldly things.  Not any longer.

For Christ’s sake, they will:

Hate you.  Some college suite mates ridiculed me when I decided to start going to church every Sunday with my roommate.  The chairman of our bank in Beeville rejoiced when I decided to resign to enter the ministry,  He said, “I won’t have to look at those ‘Go To Hell Stickers’ on the back of your vehicle Amy longer” (speaking of the Bible bumper stickers).

Separate you.  They will no longer invite you to their functions; they don’t want you around.  All the prophets of Baal were encouraging Ahab to fight against the Syrians and to recover Ramoth-gilead.  Yet, when Jehoshaphat requested a prophet of God, they had to call Micaiah.  He wasn’t welcome in that crowd.  In 1 Ki 22:8 Ahab said, “I hate him”.

Persecute you.  They will reproach you and cast out your name.  2 Tim 3:!2 says, “Yes, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”.  In 1 Ki 18:17 Ahab said to Elijah, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel”? Ahab was the trouble.  In 1 Ki 21:20 after Jezebel killed Naboth, Ahab said to Elijah, “hast thou found me, O mine enemy”?  Ahab was the enemy.

Kill you.  Jezebel killed so many prophets that Obadiah had to hide one hundred of them to spare their lives.  Joash Killed Zechariah in 2 Chr 24:20-21, even after all that Zechariah’s father, Jehoiada, had done for him and the country.  In Revelation, the followers of Jesus will be martyred.  Dr. Jim Binney said, “The problem with Christians to day is the nobody wants to kill them”.  He also said, “People measure our record by looking us over for medals instead of scars”.  Do you have any scars for Jesus?

But God will reward you.  When you confess him before men, he will confess you before his Father.  He will crown you and have you reign with him on this earth during his millennial reign.  Jesus is the winner and you will be on the winning team when you choose to stand and fight with him against his enemies. For more information see what else we do for Jesus Christ’s sake.