Sufferers for Righteousness' Sake.

Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. Matt. v. 3, 4.

II.-To them that Suffer for Righteousness' sake.

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. Matt. v. 10-12.

He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it. Matt. x. 39.

Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life. Matt. xix. 29. Persecuted but not forsaken. 2 Cor. iv. 9.

If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. 2 Tim. ii. 12.

If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

Rom. viii. 17, 35-37.

If ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye : and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; for it is better, if the will of God be So, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. 1 Pet. iii. 14, 17.

For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Heb. x. 34, 35.

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 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; on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified. I Pet. iv. 12-14.

To them that are excommunicated unjustly.-Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His word! Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for My name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. Isaiah lxvi. 5.

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. Luke vi. 22, 23.

III.-To Patience and Submission.

Cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

Heb. x. 35-37.

Patience and Submission.

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him; he putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope; for the Lord will not cast off for ever. Lam. iii. 26-29, 31.

ye

That be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Heb. vi. 12.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. James i. 2-4, 12.

We glory in tribulations; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope. Rom. v. 3, 4.

The hope of the righteous shall be gladness.

Prov. x. 28.

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. I Pet. v. 6.

Be patient, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain. Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. James v. 7, 8, 11.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and

He shall lift you up.

If when ye do well and suffer for patiently, this is acceptable with God.

IV. To Perseverance.

James iv. 10.

it, ye take it I Pet. ii. 20.

He that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Matt. x. 22.

If ye continue in My word then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John viii. 31, 32.

If ye abide in Me and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto John xv. 7.

you.

My beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. I Cor. xv. 58. Let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Gal. vi. 9. We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end. Heb. iii. 14.

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith, without wavering, for He is faithful that promised. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Heb. x. 23, 35.

Let that abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye shall also continue in the Son and in the Father. And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. I John ii. 24, 28.

Perseverance.

Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God; he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 2 John 8, 9.

Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Rev. ii. 10.

To him that overcomes.-To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. And I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. And he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers (even as I received of My Father). And I will give him the morning star. Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17, 26-28. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God; and I will write upon him My new name. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne. Rev. iii. 5, 12, 21.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. Rev. xxi. 7.