“In the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

“All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” – 2 Timothy 3:12

We endure…tribulation because we are Christians. Persecution is for the righteous; wicked men are in honor among their ungodly associates. Slander shoots her poisoned arrows, not at the vicious, but at the virtuous. Holy men must expect to be misrepresented, misinterpreted and often willfully maligned—while hypocrites have their reward in undeserved homage. Carry what load you choose upon your shoulders, and no one will notice it unless, indeed, they obey the good old rule and “respect the burden.” But if you take up Christ’s Cross and bravely bear it, few will respect the burden, or praise the bearer! Graceless men will add weight to your load, for the offense of the Cross has not ceased. The seed of the serpent still has enmity against the Seed of the woman, and one and another will commence biting at the heel which treads the sacred way of Christ. It is the nature of the wicked to hate the righteous, even as the wolf rages against the sheep. This world cannot be the friend of the friend of God unless, indeed, Belial can have concord with Christ—and this we know is impossible! In one form or another, the Egyptian will oppress the Israelite till the day of the bringing out with a high hand and an outstretched arm. If today the enmity is restrained in its manifestation, it is because the law of the land, by the good Providence of God, does not now allow the rack, the stake, or the dungeon. Our Lord said to His first disciples, “In the world you shall have tribulation,” and He explained it to mean that men would put them out of the synagogues. Yes, that the time would come when those that killed them would think that they did God service! Tribulation of that sort remains up to the measure in which it is not hindered by Divine Power. The spirit out of which it sprang cannot die till men are renewed. A man’s foes are still they of his own household. “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” “…but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3285.cfm