Jesus says to his own beloved followers: “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” John 15:20. “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” Mat. 10:25. “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.” Luke 21:17. Those who live like Jesus, those who will boldly [pg 227] declare the truth of the gospel, and rebuke sin and hypocrisy, they shall receive persecutions from wicked men, and cold, proud-hearted professors, as did the Savior. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Tim. 3:12.
Christians must suffer the taunts of a sinful world, but they “rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.” 1 Pet. 4:13, 14. “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. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.” Luke 6:22, 23.
One evening, shortly after God by his saving grace had separated us from the world and bestowed his righteousness upon us, we for Christ's sake received insults and abuse from the wicked. We turned away from our persecutors and entered the privacy of our home, when a rich glory rested in such a heavenly sweetness upon our souls that we cried out, “O God, why am I so wonderfully blessed?” The answer came: “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth [pg 228] upon you.” “Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy.” The grace and glory that was poured out upon our soul on this occasion would have made the coals and flames of martyrdom a bed of sweet repose.
Stephen as he faced death at the hands of cruel persecutors, saw the glory of God and the heavens opened and saw the Son of man for whose sake he was now stoned. Paul and Silas with their feet made fast in the stocks at midnight prayed and sang praises to God. Is it not an occasion of wonder and astonishment how the bigoted zeal of deceived and blinded, high-minded professors leads them to become the most vile persecutors of the righteous? Paul persecuted the church of God and wasted it. He thought he was doing God's service. The children of God in every age have received their persecutions from religious bigots, and so will it ever be. We rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer for Jesus' sake. We glory in the midst of tribulations. The Spirit of God and of glory rests upon the devoted Christian in affliction's furnace, and a bright, blessed hope of great eternal reward ever cheers and nerves his faltering soul. He, who, in this dark world will suffer with the Savior shall share a blissful eternity with him.
Amusements.
The affections of a Christian's heart are set on things above, and not on things on the earth. Col. 3:2. The entertainments, such as suppers, festivals, parties, concerts, regardless of what may be the ultimate object, are engaged in and enjoyed only by the worldly minded and graceless hearted. “She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.” 1 Tim. 5:6. Those who find enjoyment in the amusements afforded by the world are without spiritual life. “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.... Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton.” Jas. 5:1, 5. A life of pleasure here on the earth in wantonness is directly opposed to a life with Christ. “No man can serve two masters.” People who participate in and enjoy the socials, the suppers, the fairs, and picnics, the Christmas festivities and church entertainments of the present time have but little or no comprehension of true Christianity. They are ignorant of God's true character and the power and beauty of his holiness. Children of God are to live “soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” Titus 2:12.
Revelry is one of the fruits of the flesh, which if borne in our life, or, in other words, if we engage in, Paul tells us we shall never inherit the kingdom of God. Gal. 5:21. Peter tells us that the time of [pg 230] his life when he walked in sin, when he indulged in the lusts of the flesh was sufficient to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, to walk in lusts and engage in revelings and banquetings. Salvation saved him from such a life, and his former worldly associates think it strange that he will not engage with them in the worldly riotousness and pleasures any longer, and because he is saved from such a course they speak evil of him. This is the substance of 1 Pet. 4:1-4. The gay scenes of a worldly life with their pleasures and mirth have no delight for the heart filled with Christian love. He who loves God has no love for worldly sports. The pleasurable society of Jesus destroys all taste for the society of the world. The Christian's walk is alone with God.
Conversation.
An individual saved by grace will experience a marked change in his language. The apostle says that in the time of his life when he walked according to the world he had his conversation in the lusts of the flesh. Eph. 2:2, 3. It is true the word “conversation” in this text, and many others, is by many translators rendered “conduct,” which is a more correct translation. But this is made to include the words of speech. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Mat. 12:34. Where worldliness and foolishness is lodged in the heart it will be manifest in the conversation. Gay, frivolous, foolish talk, mirthful [pg 231] stories, and language in jest, indicate a graceless heart. Listen at the world in conversation. Note the idle bywords, the slang phrases, the jestings, the gay, giddy, foolish expressions, the low and impure speech, which is all foreign to the kingdom of grace. Man is not to be known by his profession, but by his fruits: “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Mat. 7:20. Thus we know regardless of profession, when man's conversation is as the above, that he is destitute of God's pure love and grace.
“Be ye holy in all manner of conversation,” is the command of God's holy Word as recorded in 1 Pet. 1:15. From a pure heart can only flow a pure and holy speech. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Eph. 4:29. Our words are to be in such gravity and sincerity, in such depth of wisdom, and so flavored with the seasoning qualities of grace as to be elevating or inspiring to a higher degree of piety the listener. “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Col. 4:6. God's saving grace effects a change in the heart, and as a natural result a change in the conversation. Paul no longer walked according to the course of this world in conversation when saved by the grace of God.