Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. – 2 Timothy 3:12

Beloved, persecution in the church-even when it does not take the form of burning or imprisonment, but of slander, of cruel mockings, jesting, jeering, and venomous spite-in whatever form it is sent, persecution helps to keep up the separation between the church and the world. I fear most the rich when they bring gifts. I loathe the world most when it fawns and flatters…It is no evil to the church, depend upon it, to have a great gulf fixed between her and the world. The worst thing that ever could happen for us is, when affinities are made between the sons of God and the children of Belial. This brought on the Deluge; and if it could ever be carried out thoroughly again, it would bring on judgments terrible to think of. It is ill for the worldly, since “they that are far from God shall perish;” but it is a thousand times worse for the professing when they play foul with their profession, for so it is written, “Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.” “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters.” This is a text that needs to be thundered in trumpet tone. What says the great King unto the spouse? “Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.” “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Too much laxness, giving way to the world, a friendship foil of fascination brings on leanness of spirit, and causes us to be scarcely known as Christians, weakens our testimony, and in every way promotes Satan’s ends. But when persecution breaks forth, barriers are set up, and distinctive colors are worn, so the two camps are kept in open hostility, and when brought to battle with each other, the church is kept pure with armor bright; victory waits her march, and her champions win their laurels. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0997.cfm

…and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word. – Acts 8:1,4

The early persecutions in Judea promoted the spread of the gospel; hence, when after the death of Stephen the disciples were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles, the result is thus given: “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.” So, too, when Herod stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, and killed James, the brother of John, with the sword; what came of it? Why Luke tells us in almost the same words that Moses had used: “The word of God grew and multiplied.” Those terrible and bloody persecutions under the Roman Emperor by no means stayed the progress of the gospel; but strangely enough seemed to press forward for the crown of martyrdom. The church probably never increased at a greater ratio than as when her foes were most fierce to assail and most resolute to destroy her… Persecution has evidently aided the increase of the church by the scattering abroad of earnest teachers…  

Christian men are sometimes called to leave positions of great comfort and to occupy stations of great hardship. They may account it a reverse of fortune, while God designs it as an appointment to especial service. If they bear Christ’s gospel with them to a people sitting in darkness, that will be great gain in the long run to the church. Your being sent to a village, though you like it not, may be a lasting blessing to the hamlet. Your residing among strangers, when you would far rather find a more congenial home among your own kindred, may be for the good of that neighborhood. Who knows? Where should lamps be set up but in dark places? Where should we have a guard for Christ’s army, but where the enemy is most likely to make the assault? Be patient, then, my brethren, amidst the persecutions or trials you may be called upon to bear; and be thankful that they are so often overruled for the growth of the church, the spread of the gospel, and the honor of Christ. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0997.cfm

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. – Exodus 2:24

It was God’s intention and covenant purpose to give Israel the Land of Canaan, a land that flowed with milk and honey. But it is not very easy to induce a nation, numbering some millions, to leave a country in which they have been born and nourished and found a home. Only some very fearful evil can induce them to expatriate themselves. Had Moses gone to the children of Israel before the time of their bondage, and said, “Up and get you hence unto the land which the Lord swears that He will give it to you,” he would have seemed to them as one that mocked: they would have laughed him to scorn. In order to cut loose the bonds that bound them to Egypt, the sharp knife of affliction must be used; and Pharaoh, though he knew it not, was God’s instrument in weaning them from the Egyptian world and helping them as His church to take up their separate place in the wilderness and receive the portion which God had appointed for them.

Whenever God holds in one hand the rod of affliction, He has a favor in the other hand; He never strikes a child of His, but He has some tender blessing in store. If He visits you with unwonted affliction, you will have unusual delight; the Lord will open new windows for you and show His beauty. As your tribulations abound, so also shall your consolations abound in Christ Jesus…Rejoice, therefore, in your afflictions, if so be you have faith to believe that they shall be blessed for your good. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0997.cfm

“Come on let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.”-Exodus 1:10-12

There is One behind the curtain that takes Israel’s part. He sees through all Pharaoh’s plots. Or ever his thoughts have ripened into plans they are forestalled; fast as they are set up they are upset; for every intrigue there is a reprisal. Thus He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. The whole history of the long feud between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent illustrates the subtlety of the serpent’s seed, and the simplicity of the woman’s seed; but still more does it bring to light the infinite wisdom of Him who rules the seed of the woman; and who will in the end bruise the serpent’s head, and give unto His people and the cause they have espoused a complete triumph. Whatever has been done by the enemies in rage or in recklessness, God has always met it calmly and quietly. He has shown Himself ready for every emergency. And He has not only baffled and utterly defeated all the inventions of wicked men, but He has turned their strange devices to good account, for the development of His own sovereign purposes. He has made His enemies work for Him, aiding the enterprise they eschewed: He has turned their curse into a blessing: He has made evil productive of good: He has extracted sweetness out of their bitter spleen, and distilled healthful medicine out of their deadly animosity. He hath His way in the whirlwind: the clouds are the dust of His feet. He does not only meet evil with good, but He takes the evil, and subjects it to His own eternal purpose, and from it brings forth a course of events that results in His own glory, the benefit of His children, and the fulfillment of their destiny. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0997.cfm