Pastor MJ Tolle Man O War Church

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The Beatitudes

Sermon Notes

Lesson 1: Jesus is in the Happiness Business 5

Lesson 2: Jesus Came to Make Life Meaningful 15

Lesson 3: The God Who Sees All We Are 27

Lesson 4: Life in the Kingdom of God 35

Lesson 5: The Power Above All Powers 47

Lesson 6: The Manifesto of His Kingdom 57

Lesson 7: Foundational Truths 69

Lesson 8: What is Peace? 79

Lesson 9: The Roadmap to a Blessed Life 91

Lesson 10: Jesus Came to Bring Happiness 101

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The Beatitudes

Lesson 1: Jesus is in the Happiness Business We have spent the last few weeks taking a look at “The Sermon on the Mount,” found in chapters 5, 6, and 7 in the Gospel of Matthew.

Today, we are going to look again at chapter 5, a section of the Bible that contains the material we have come to call ‘The Beatitudes.’ It is from here that Jesus launches His first sermon.

While verses 1-12 are familiar, most of us probably cannot quote them, but the message found in these scriptures is profound to the Christian life.

Matthew 5 1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.

Jesus followed Jewish tradition by sitting when teaching. This was the habit of the rabbi, and was a practice that would be familiar to the people. It is possible had Jesus stood or walked around as he spoke, that his message would not have been as well received, or even considered an ‘official’ mes- sage.

As this was Jesus’ first sermon, it was important for it to set the stage of his public ministry, and He did that by His very actions.

His words were not just random thoughts, but the official manifesto of the King.

2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

The term “He opened his mouth” is a beautiful Greek saying used for sol- emn, dignified, and weighty statements. 5

To the listener 2000 years ago, this message was not one of just ‘off the cuff’ remarks. Rather, it signified a grave teaching.

The phrase is also frequently used, along with some extra Biblical references, to speak of someone who shares his heart intimately.

So, it was official; solemn; serious; dignified. This is the heart of Jesus. It was, and is, his heart's cry.

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

In this section, Jesus is asking His followers to dig deeply into who they are. To dig deep into what they believe, to find the real truth and the real meaning of life.

Note: Just digging deeply into what you believe does not necessarily mean you will find real trust and the real meaning of life. That will only happen if what you believe is based on real truth.

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In his groundbreaking book on counseling titled The Art of Helping, Robert Carkhuff arrives at the same conclusion in relation to times of counseling.

The idea is that sometimes truth isn't as obvious as it might appear. That we might have to push beyond that first feeling or assumption.

Many times there is a tendency to rush to judgment, or to the answer.

As counselors, we want to help so desperately that we often deal with the ob- vious, while missing the root meaning.

Many times we do this because of a personal desire to be effective and effi- cient, but our lack of experience may cause us to be short-sighted.

Carkhuff asks that we push past that first impression, looking for a truth that might lie deeper.

That is what is occurring in these verses.

Jesus is asking us to push past the obvious into something deeper.

Nine times we see the word, ‘blessed.’ We could just as easily use the word, ‘happy’ without doing an injustice to the verse.

Jesus is in the business of providing people, His people, with happiness.

It's sad to say but not everybody understands this; not everybody believes it. In fact, there are many Christians who aren’t too sure that they really experi- ence the reality of true happiness.

But Jesus is in the happiness business.

Happiness is His concern.

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Maybe you are thinking, “Happiness is Jesus' concern? I don't see that…”

Well, it is very evident here in the very first sermon ever recorded as having been preached by Jesus Christ. It is a sermon that begins with the constant ringing theme of happiness.

The Lord is in the business of giving men and women blessings.

The ultimate end of this teaching is found in verse 12:

12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. God is in the business of making our lives full of joy, of gladness, and of happiness.

Looking back at the introduction to the sermon, we see that the basic goal of Jesus’ teaching was to bring about true happiness.

He was not talking about the world’s happiness.

He takes time to define who is blessed/happy, and what brings about this happiness.

And, we are reminded, true happiness is always the ultimate goal.

Jesus was a good preacher. He stated His objectives at the beginning of the message.

That we, as believers, should know real blessedness, real happiness, real joy, real gladness, and that we, as believers, have a real genuine divine reward.

Jesus then goes on to define the lifestyle that will produce this kind of happiness.

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This lifestyle, which we can also identify as the ideals of the Kingdom of God, becomes the running theme throughout this message.

I believe this is the greatest single sermon ever preached, and it sets the stage for us to live a blessed life.

In contrast to the Beatitudes, let us take a look at the very last verse of the Old Testament, Malachi 4:6.

And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

The Old Testament ends with a warning. The last recorded word of the man of God is “a curse.”

But, the New Testament begins with a blessing. Now that's a dramatic change.

The first words of the first message of the living Christ were “Blessed are…”

The Old Testament was about the law, Sinai, thunder, lightning, judgment, and cursing.

The New Testament is all about Mount Cavalry, grace, peace, and blessing.

So while the Old Covenant ends with a curse, the new one begins with the potential of the very character and nature of God indwelling in the believer so that there would be a blessedness, a happiness that is only true of God Him- self.

We are talking about a shared nature. The nature of God indwelling inside the believer.

This possibility is an absolutely mind blowing concept...that you and I could be partakers of the divine nature in such9 a complete way that we could know

the very bliss that the eternal God knows in His own mind. That is the kind of contentment God wants for us.

However, when you look at the Beatitudes as this type of blessed hope, it seems to be somewhat of a paradox.

Jesus is presenting a kingdom that doesn’t really fit what most people would have anticipated. The happiness outlined isn’t exactly the way the world would do it.

It was counter-cultural for that day, and it is still counter-cultural today.

Solomon figured it out in Proverbs 14:12: There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

In John 10:10 Jesus makes this promise: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Could it be that what seems right isn't right? That we need to dig a little deep- er? It would seem Jesus thinks so.

He starts His message by saying:

That the happy people are the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the hun- gry and the thirsty, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the per- secuted, the reviled.

Now you might say: “I’m not sure I signed up for all of that. Defining happi- ness that way sounds like misery by another name. Really, you have to be joking. Right?”

Well, that’s the point.

In fact, it is a paradox. All the way down the list connected to happiness is something we do not expect, because 10the key to happiness is to give yourself

away; to be willing to lose.

Matthew 16:25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

To the world, happiness is winning, doing your own thing, getting your way, grabbing all you can while you can, acquiring the world's finest.

The world says the happy are the rich, the noble, the famous, the popular.

But Jesus says that isn’t it.

Look at the life of Solomon.

Solomon was the most magnificent king that ever lived. If anybody should have been happy according to the world’s standards, he should have been.

He was part of the royal line of David, the line through which the Messiah would come.

His wealth was immeasurable. He had a home beyond compare in the city of Jerusalem. He had servants, vineyards, gardens, women, armies, and power.

Well at least God balanced it out by making him a bit slow right?

No! Solomon was the most intelligent man who ever lived. By any standard of the world’s definition of success, happiness, and blessedness, Solomon had it all.

He should have been an infinitely happy man, but listen to what he had to say in Ecclesiastes chapter 1.

Ecclesiastes 1:1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” 11

The word vanity here is defined as an “emptiness.” Jesus would put it this way in the Gospel of Luke 12:15:

15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

If you’re looking for happiness in the world’s ‘stuff,’ you’re looking in the wrong place. It’s not there.

Physical things don’t touch the soul.

You cannot fill a spiritual need with a physical substance. It can’t be done. But, people try to do it.

You cannot fill a physical need with a spiritual substance. When you’re hungry, you don’t want a lecture on grace. You want your dinner.

When you’re out in the desert and you’re dying of thirst, you don’t want somebody to talk to you about the wonderful mercy of God. You want wa- ter.

The things of the world become fuel for our pride and our lusts. They become a snare that will trap us and keep us.

Jesus himself said the things of the world, the cares of the world, and the riches of the world will rise up and choke out the Word.

They are thorns, and they will do to your soul what thorns do to a piece of clothing. They will slowly tear it apart, and take what is valuable and make it worthless.

You will never find happiness in this world. Never.

In his trial before Pilate, Jesus was asked, “Are you a king?”

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Pilate, perplexed, asked again: “Well, what kind of kingdom are you?”

John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My king- dom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be de- livered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

Jesus never mentioned politics. He wasn’t as concerned about changing the structure of society as he was about changing the person.

There was no politics in the Sermon on the Mount. None.

There was not one reference to the social or the political aspect of Pilate’s earthly kingdom. Not one.

Although the Jews of that day were consumed with politics and with their so- cial lives, Jesus makes no reference to them at all.

The stress was put on ‘being.’ It was not on ruling or possessing; the empha- sis was on being.

In other words, He was not after what men do.

He was after what men are.

What men are.

Why? Because what you are will determine what you do.

The ideals that Jesus put forward in the Sermon on the Mount are contrary to human ideas about government.

His ideas are different from our human ideas about kingdoms, or even our idea of what His kingdom should look like.

In fact, the most exalted people in Christ’s kingdom will be the lowest of the 13

lowest of the low in the world’s evaluation.

What Jesus was saying is, “My kingdom is inside.”

It’s inside. That is the whole point; the whole message of Jesus to the world; the whole basis of the Sermon on the Mount.

It’s inside, not outside.

It's not outside rituals, philosophy, or activism.

It's inside.

What Jesus did was break open the door on the new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah in 31:33

I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

This Sermon invades our thinking with the idea that true blessedness comes from the inside, not the outside.

It's counter-cultural. It goes against what we have come to believe winning is; against what we have come to see as success. It goes against our own hu- man nature.

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The Beatitudes

Lesson 2: Jesus Came to Make Life Meaningful Turn in your Bible to the 5th chapter of Matthew as we continue our study on the Beatitudes.

These verses are so pregnant with meaning and so powerful, I feel like we must take them one at a time.

Remember, Jesus is preaching to the crowd, but also to His disciples. This is a mixed audience of non-converts, new converts, and His closest disciples and friends.

1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

In our study last week, we came to understand that Jesus wants to bring you happiness or blessedness.

We defined that happiness and came to understand that biblical blessedness may not come in a way or pattern that we would like or even expect.

But, in the end, Jesus did indeed come to bring humanity a blessing.

In John 10:10, Jesus said: I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

So, Jesus came to make life meaningful, more precious, and more abundant than we could ever imagine. 15

Maybe, sometime in your life, you have wished that you had come with an instruction manual. Or perhaps you have said, “If I could just know how to operate this gift called life.”

Maybe you have asked, “How best can I know blessedness?” Or better yet, how best can I know fulfillment?

Well, God made you, and the maker always knows more about the creation than anyone else.

Jesus gives those directions right here. He tells all that would hear how to find purpose, contentment, and the meaning of this life and the next.

Jesus is dealing with the inside: with attitudes, feelings, and thinking that hold us back.

Now that does not mean that there’s no commitment to the outside. He cares about the outside, also. But the truth is this: when the inside is right, the out- side gets right.

When the inside is wrong, you can dress it up, put a coat of paint over it, but given time, the rotten comes out.

We know that the inside has to be right. We see that in scripture.

Faith without works is what? Dead.

Works are an outside revelation of either a real condition or a fake condition.

You were created in Christ Jesus to do good works. But the real outside can only be produced by the real inside. This is the crucial relationship of the paradox found in the Sermon on the Mount. You can’t separate the two.

The Christian, while they emphasize the spirit, is also concerned about the law.

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The believer must never consider the law apart from the spirit.

On the one hand, to claim the spirit without living according to God’s law is to be a liar.

On the other hand, to try to live out the law without the spirit is to be a hypo- crite.

They both go together.

The spirit is the right attitude, and the law is obedience that comes about as a result of that inner person.

True spirituality starts as an inside change and becomes an outside visual rev- elation.

But when this ACTION is complete, verse 12 says you can

12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

When we learn to live this out:

To become poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek, to seek righteousness; and, as a result of this, to become merciful and pure, a peacemaker. You will have the world revile and persecute you, and say all manner of things against you.

Then you get Matthew 5: 13, 14, as a promise!

13 You are the salt of the earth. 14 You are the light of the world.

That’s what it will take to change this lost and dying world: faithful people of salt and light. 17

But we can’t be the salt and the light that we see in these verses until we live what we see found in verse 3.

So let’s look at verse 3.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is so basic, so logical, so necessary.

The idea of being poor in spirit is the fundamental characteristic of being a Christian.

It is the very first thing that must happen in the life of anybody who enters God’s kingdom.

Nobody has ever entered God’s kingdom on the basis of pride.

God doesn't want to hurt your pride; He wants to kill your pride. So, poverty of spirit is the only way in.

The door into the kingdom Jesus Christ has set up is so low that the only peo- ple who come in crawl in.

Jesus is saying you can’t be filled until you’re empty. You can’t be worth- while until you’re worthless.

It is interesting to me that in 2020 Christianity, there is little content to be found concerning the idea of being emptied. Little to be found expressing the idea of being poured out, or of the self-emptying concept.

There is a lot on being filled with something:

There is a lot about being filled with the Holy Spirit, how to be filled with joy or wisdom, and how to be fulfilled as a person.

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There’s lots of info from books, blogs, articles, and podcasts on how to be filled. But, what is missing is information on how to be emptied.

Can you imagine a self-help book on how to be less, or a seminar on ‘How to be Nothing,’ or ‘How to be Less’? I don't think a book titled “How to be a Nobody” would break the bestseller list, do you?

The issue we see here is that much of modern Christianity feeds on our pride. It’s about us doing a work, rather than God doing a work.

Yet poverty of spirit is the foundation of all graces. And it's this poverty of spirit that Jesus starts with in His first message.

If you don’t achieve this idea of ‘poverty of spirit,’ you might as well expect a tomato to grow without the plant. That is what it would require for blessed- ness and happiness, and the graces of the Christian life found in these verses, to grow without humility. It can't happen. It won't happen.

I see people all of the time wanting more.

They are looking for a course, a conference, a ministry, a ‘word,’ or a man of God to speak over them so that they might skip the step of humility, and yet still somehow grow.

To somehow achieve blessedness or happiness without the ‘poor in spirit’ part.

That's what Satan offered Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 during the wilderness temptation:

8 The devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

All of this without the humiliation of the cross, without the separation of the 19

But, this is the profound truth delivered by Jesus. As a Christian, you will never know the other graces of the Christian life if you do not go the way of the cross - the practice found in real poverty of the spirit.

And this is tough because it is the death of self.

Jesus is always saying to start here.

Happiness and blessedness are for the humble.

Until we are poor in spirit, Christ will never be altogether precious to us be- cause we can’t fully see Him while we are looking at ourselves.

So while we see our wants, needs, desires, and desperations, we can never see the matchless worth of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 16:24 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke share this idea of self-denial.

Until we know how really damned we are, we can’t fully appreciate how glorious He really is.

Until we comprehend how doomed we are, we can’t understand how won- drous His love to redeem us is.

Until we see our poverty, we cannot understand His full riches.

And so as the riddle found in the story of Samson goes, “out of the carcass comes the honey,” it is in our deadness that we come alive.

And we have to be reminded how dead we were, lest that old issue of pride steps in again, and we forget how much we needed and still need a Savior. 20 individual ever enters the kingdom who doesn’t first crawl in with a terrible sense of sinfulness and repentance.

God gives grace to the humble. Humility has to be at the very beginning of everything. That’s why Jesus placed it first.

Listen, the only way to come to God’s kingdom is to confess your unright- eousness; confess your inability to meet God’s standards; confess that you can’t do it on our own.

You can’t do it.

And it all begins here.

We enter God’s kingdom with a great sense of need, a sense of helplessness, and a sense of desperation.

If you want to know happiness or blessedness as described by Jesus, you will keep that same sense of helplessness and desperation.

The church at Laodicea said, “I am rich and require nothing.” But the words of Jesus to them were, “You don’t know that you are poor, and blind, and na- ked. You think you are rich, but you are not.”

Verse 3, this is where you begin. It is where you begin in order to be saved, and where you begin to live the Christian life in blessedness. There is no room for pride.

Much of what is in our day’s pulpits is feeding the people’s pride and feeding on the individual’s exaltation.

Verse 3 - this is where we all have to start and, let’s be honest, restart. Deal- ing with pride is like weeding a garden. It is toughest the first time through, but it is also an ongoing continual task.

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You cannot grow in God unless you realize that you are spiritually bankrupt.

And it is with that attitude that you live your Christian life. You have nothing in your flesh, nothing. You don't bring anything to the table.

The group Leeland wrote a song called Carried to the Table that describes us all in complete detail.

Wounded and forsaken I was shattered by the fall Broken and forgotten Feeling lost and all alone Summoned by the King Into the Master's courts Lifted by the Savior And cradled in His arms

I was carried to the table Seated where I don't belong Carried to the table Swept away by His love And I don't see my brokenness anymore When I'm seated at the table of the Lord I'm carried to the table The table of the Lord

Fighting thoughts of fear And wondering why He called my name Am I good enough to share this cup This world has left me lame Even in my weakness The Savior called my name In His Holy presence I'm healed and unashamed

You carried me, my God You carried me

What does this term mean, “poor in spirit?”

There are all kinds of poverty, right? You could be poor in terms of your health, money, education, or friends.

But those types of poverty are not what Jesus is talking about here in Matthew 5. 22

What kind of poverty, then?

It was the heart of the centurion when he said, "Lord, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof.”

In Peter, it was the poverty of aggressiveness, self-assertiveness, and self- confidence when he said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8). This realization was the beginning of the beginning for Peter.

The apostle Paul recognized in his flesh there was no good thing. He said of himself, ‘I am the chief of sinners, a blasphemer, a persecutor.’ Everything he had was dung, refuse; all things he counted lost, having no confidence in the flesh. Paul said, “I am sufficient for nothing.” He also said his strength was made perfect in his weakness.

When you admit your weakness, your nothingness...with God involved, it is only the beginning.

The hardest thing you will ever do is to let go and let God!

Jesus was saying the first thing you have to say is, “I can’t. I can’t do it. I can’t.” That is the poverty of spirit: the absence of pride, of self-assurance, of self-reliance.

WE MUST BE EMPTIED OUT BEFORE WE CAN BE FILLED UP.

It doesn’t mean poor spirited, in the sense of lacking enthusiasm, or as in quiet, or indifferent, or passive. It doesn’t mean that at all.

A poor in spirit individual is one with no sense of self- sufficiency. This per- son is bankrupt.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (James 4:10)

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The poverty here is not poverty against which the will rebels, but it’s pov- erty under which the will bows in deep dependence and submission.

I’m afraid this is a rather unpopular doctrine in the church today. We make our preachers celebrities. We want our leaders to be experts. We elevate the rich. We value the talented and the famous Christians as if somehow God needs their help.

But happiness is for the humble. Jesus says the way to more… is LESS.

Think of Isaiah, used wonderfully by God.

He had this great mourning, this moment of significant loss over the death of King Uzziah. He was upset, thinking only of his loss and what it will be like not to have King Uzziah around. Then God graciously invades Isaiah’s life and shows him who really mattered. God shows Isaiah Himself high and lift- ed up in a vision. And the result was that Isaiah said, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)

And at that point, God blessed him.

9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:

When Isaiah was at his worst, God was at His best.

You know, time after time after time when I face the idea of preaching, the thought of coming to the pulpit to teach to you, some of you have asked, are you ready? I always say, “if I can get out of the way...”

I know how to preach. I know how to put on a show. I even think I could im- press a few of you. But that’s just what I don’t want, the simple mechanics of the act of preaching. We want something more, right? 24

So if we are going to be poor in spirit, what do we do?

1. Look to God, not at yourself, not at anybody else, and not at a preach- er or a house. Look to God.

2. Don't feed the flesh. Starve the flesh.

Even the ministries of this generation feed on pride in so many cas- es. We have to seek the things that strip the flesh naked.

3. Lastly, ‘ask.’ That is what beggars do. They ask.

Just ask. He doesn’t mind a bit.

Happy is the beggar in his spirit. He’s the one who possesses the king- dom. Why did Jesus begin with this? Because it’s the bottom line.

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The Beatitudes

Lesson 3: The God Who Sees All We Are Tonight we continue our study of the Beatitudes found in Jesus' first recorded message. It was delivered at the onset of His ministry, immediately following His temptation in the wilderness by Satan.

We find this message in the 5th chapter of Matthew.

As I said last week, we will take the scriptures verse by verse, section by sec- tion, as its power is life-altering and without equal even in the Word of God.

Matthew 5:4 says

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

One of the first items a therapists or counselor will endeavor to teach when dealing with mental health is the idea behind the question, “What is nor- mal?”

Our view of normal is based totally on perspective. Translation: normal, as defined by me, is me.

We process all of our emotions in vastly differing manners, especially so when it comes to sorrow. There are as many different ways to manage sorrow as there are people dealing with hurt. Which, at some point, is all of us.

I am thankful that the Word of God addresses the human conditions in which we find ourselves.

In Ecclesiastes Chapter 3, Solomon says there is, “A time to be born, a time 27

The more profound the sorrow, the disappointment, the pain - the more elu- sive that place of comfort is to find.

The paradox of this beatitude is that it says, Happy are the sad. [Human reac- tion: ‘Said no one at any time. We never thought that was true.’]

Comforted are the mourners. This thought is contrary to everything we know about life.

We find in the study that there are nine different words from the Greek lan- guage used in the New Testament that speak directly to the idea of grief, sor- row, or mourning. The word Jesus used in this passage is the strongest, most severe of all of the nine versions.

The very fact that there are nine different words used and found in one lan- guage to express the idea of grief is a pretty good indication that grief is a big part of the human condition.

The real question then becomes, what kind of mourning or grief is Jesus ref- erencing in this verse? What exactly does Jesus mean when He says, “Blessed are those who mourn.”?

What kind of blessedness is available here, and for what kind of mourning can this exchange be made?

The Bible talks about all different kinds of mourning. Let us look at a few of them.

First, the sorrow of life might be called general distress, often labeled as sea- sonal depression.

Seasonal depression has more than one manifestation. For some, it occurs when one struggles with concentrating, becoming irritable or anxious. For an- other, they may express depression through oversleeping accompanied by less interest in activities previously enjoyed.

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For some, these times of depression may be connected to the dog days of summer, the days getting shorter, or the long winter nights.

They may also be connected to any season coming to an end, be it retirement, the last child moving out, or the ending of high school or college. The closing of any chapter in life can cause us to pause. This is a kind of sorrow that is acceptable and, to be honest, a type of sadness that is very normal.

Weeping, mourning, and sorrowing are like the releasing of a valve that de- compresses your system. It is necessary so that the pressure doesn’t poison your entire emotional character. In all actuality, these moments are a gift from God as they release pain and permit the healing process.

When pain, remorse, sorrow, and mourning are kept inside, they lead to de- pression. It is good to release these feelings a bit at a time rather than to suf- fer.

A state of depression occurs when a person feels life is unsatisfactory, and there is no hope for change. There must be a release. This release is a very natural act, that of mourning.

We often see this in the Word of God:

In Genesis 23, Abraham wept and mourned when Sarah died at 127 years of age. He had every right to do that. That’s how he dealt with his grief. It came out in tears and mourning.

In John chapter 11, Jesus wept at Lazarus’s grave because He loved him and had compassion for his sisters.

In Luke chapter 19, Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem because He loved the people and had compassion for the things that His city would endure.

In John chapter 20, Mary Magdalene wept because Jesus was dead. These are the sorrowing tears of death, and that’s very normal. It is also a God-given way to release the terrible pain that is in your heart. 29

There is nothing wrong with any of these reactions, but let’s look further:

In Psalm 42:1-3, we hear the Psalmist mourning, and this is what he says.

1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?”

The sorrow and grief over the absence of God were released in the heart of the Psalmist through his tears. He was suffering from loneliness, and loneliness is reason enough to cry.

For every child of God who may feel lonely and estranged from God at one point in his life, tears are a very normal way to deal with such sorrow.

In 2 Timothy 1:3-4, Paul said to Timothy:

3 I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy,

The psalmist wept because he was lonely. Timothy, because he was discouraged. Jesus, because he saw the judgment of God about to fall on the people he loved.

Sometimes people cry tears of devotion, worship, heartfelt gratitude, or love.

Sometimes they cry out of concern, disappointment, discouragement, or loneliness.

And so there is a sense that to mourn is a very normal human response, and can be a blessing because that moment offers you a release.

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It’s as if tears are a gift from God for the release of pain.

Times of sorrow teach us a lot.

But this verse in Matthew 5 is not talking about natural sorrow. It is talking about a Godly sorrow that is very different.

In 2 Corinthians 7:10, the apostle Paul helps us to understand the difference between the two.

2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be re- gretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

You can cry your eyes out about your issues. You can weep all you want about loneliness, discouragement, or disappointment, but every bit of that natural sorrow will not bring you comfort or life when all is said and done.

There’s only one kind of sorrow that brings comfort or life, and that is Godly sorrow. This sorrow leads you to repentance.

Therefore, we can conclude that Godly sorrow is sorrow over sin.

The sorrow of the world bears no fruit, whereas Godly sorrow, Godly mourn- ing works repentance. Repentance brings salvation; salvation brings com- fort. That’s the whole idea.

That’s the key found here in verse 4.

Godly sorrow links to repentance, and repentance links to forgiveness of sin.

The issue of Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

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The issue is not being sorry because you’re lonely, discouraged, disappointed, or sad. It’s not even being sorry because you might feel guilty over something.

It’s sorry because you’re a sinner and because you are surrounded by sin- ners.

This sorrow is not mourning over human circumstances.

Remember verse three, where the beatitudes all began? As you would expect, the two verses are connected. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It’s a sense of being spiritually bank- rupt. And that’s the intellectual part, knowing you can't do this on your own.

Then, in verse 4, we see the emotional part. If your mind is convinced that you are spiritually bankrupt, your emotion takes over, and you mourn that bankruptcy.

Such are kingdom people.

Poor in spirit is a recognition that we are nothing, we have nothing, and we can do nothing.

So what our Lord is saying in verse 3 is, ‘Happy is the man who is destitute spiritually, who is nothing but a beggar who has to plead for mercy and grace.’

Why? Because it’s that kind of man who gets the kingdom of God, the king- dom of heaven.

So what is this saying?

Entrance into His kingdom begins with an overwhelmingly helpless feeling of spiritual poverty, with a sense of the soul’s bankruptcy. 32

Because mourners over sin are the only ones who are genuinely forgiven of sin, the rest of the world has to live endlessly with that guilt with no relief.

Happiness doesn’t come in mourning. Happiness comes in what God does in response to that mourning.

A Christian who keeps sin bottled up in his life soon sees how ruinous it be- comes. But if you confess it and repent of it, you will know the freedom and the joy that comes in forgiveness.

Let’s look at David’s life as an example:

David was a man after God’s own heart. He experienced tears of loneliness, rejection, frustration, discouragement, disappointment, and defeat. But noth- ing ever broke the heart of David like his own sin.

But then God comforted him in Psalm 32:

1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.

Conviction of sin must precede conversion, and it must also follow that con- version. That’s the path of blessedness.

God demands repentance. He requires the realization of sin.

I’m not talking about being down in the dumps, literally wallowing in self- pity. I’m talking about genuine repentance.

John gives the evidence of a Christian in 1 John. One of them is, “If we are confessing our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.”

What that means in context is this: if we are the ones continually confessing our sins, we give evidence of being the ones who are forgiven.

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In other words, the forgiven ones, the subjects of the kingdom, the children of the king, the sons of God, are characterized by a constant confession of sin.

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. We mourn over sin. We grieve in the natural and the spiritual.

We see this in John 4 in the story of the woman at the well. The name Sicar means “drunken town.” The woman at the well was an out- cast in the town of outcasts. She even went to the well at a time when she would not have to associate with the disapproving women of the city.

At this time in history, to marry was a right given to men. Women were con- sidered property. Five men had not wanted her, and the man she was current- ly with didn’t think enough of her to marry her.

After meeting Jesus, she didn’t say to all who would listen, “Come see the Messiah!” Her invitation to the townspeople was, “Come see a man who told me about me. Come see a man who looked at me and knew me, yet still wanted ME.”

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The Beatitudes

Lesson 4: Life in the Kingdom of God We are continuing our study of the Sermon on the Mount, a section called The Beatitudes found in Matthew chapter 5.

This sermon has the same significance for the New Covenant as giving the law for the Old Covenant.

Jesus' words outline the basic principles of life in the Kingdom of God. It might be considered the constitution for the Kingdom of God, and once again, Jesus will challenge our way of thinking about life and the kingdom He will lead.

I will first give context, then lastly, meaning.

Matthew 5:5 is the text for this evening.

“Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth,” What a shocking statement to the audience that heard Jesus say these words.

All three of the Beatitudes we have studied are shocking to us and were equally shocking to the audience that sat on that hillside the day Jesus spoke. He called for things foreign to their thinking, and if we are completely hon- est, alien to our way of thinking, too.

This group knew how to play their well-dressed religious roles, be spiritually proud, and self-sufficient. They knew about religious forms and thought they were the ‘in-group.’

They were so sure they could make it in the Kingdom of God on their strength, wisdom, might, resources, and spirituality. 35

And they expected the Messiah, the leader they were eagerly awaiting to ar- rive, to affirm them.

That He would look and say, “you have done well,” and to declare for all to hear, “I’m here to commend you for your extraordinary spirituality. I’m here to announce to you that God has looked down from heaven, and He is very well pleased with you. Very little change is necessary for you as you are so close to perfect. You can just go right on into the kingdom.”

But our Lord instead would open up His ministry by saying in verse 3,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Not those who think they’re righteous, but those who know they’re sinners.

“Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.”

Not those who were happy with themselves, but those who were sad about their condition.

“Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.”

Not for those who were proud, but for those who were humble.

The crowd that had gathered would not have understood this.

The people that Jesus addressed were all under Roman domination and au- thority. It was an oppressive, sad time for the Jewish people. They despised this Roman oppression.

This oppression ran so deep that they wouldn’t even admit how oppressed they were.

When Jesus was talking to the Jewish leaders in John 8, He said to them 32, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

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And the leaders answered, 33 “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have nev- er been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”

They wouldn’t even admit that they were slaves to Rome.

They despised the Roman yoke. Yet this yoke existed so fully and completely that the Apostle Paul would simply state, “I appeal to Caesar.”

Under Roman law, he was exempt as a Roman citizen from degrading and shameful forms of punishment, such as whipping, scourging, or crucifixion.

Acts 25:12

12 Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go!”

The whole story of Jesus falls within the framework of oppression of the Ro- man Empire. Still, there was an aching in the Jewish people’s hearts to be- lieve that God was continuing to work; that the Messiah was still coming.

Remember Simeon and Anna? They couldn't experience death until He came.

There was the feeling of expectation that something was about to hap- pen. The Messiah was about to come. God’s kingdom would be established.

And then this individual called Jesus Christ arrives on the scene, and He opens His mouth in Mark chapter 1 and says;

Mark 1:15, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.”

This news got them all excited.

All they had known was Roman domination and Roman oppression. And now all of a sudden here came a miracle worker, a man who spoke as no oth- er man spoke; a man who did things like no other man had ever done. 37

Maybe this is the Messiah, they thought.

When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in Matthew 3, a dove descend- ed, and the words “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” were heard by all who were nearby.

The crowd grew.

Jesus was driven to the wilderness for forty days.

And the crowd grew.

When Jesus fed the multitude on the side of the hill, they were ready to be- lieve it. They wanted to grab him and make him a king to begin a political- military revolution that would throw off Rome’s yoke.

The Jews were excited about it. They were looking for a great general who could set up a Jewish revolution that would bring about their independence by military action.

We see this even in the disciples in Mark 10:35

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”

36 And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

37 They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.”

38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

39 They said to Him, “We are able.” So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized;

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40 but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. 42 But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

There were four essential parties in Judaism: A. Pharisees B. Sadducees C. Essenes (pronounced: ‘as seen’) D. Zealots

The Zealots were political activists who were not too concerned about reli- gion but were extremely concerned about politics.

The Pharisees were religious conservatives.

The Sadducees were religious liberals.

The Essenes were the mystics and the ones who copied the Dead Sea scrolls. (academics)

The Zealots wanted the Messiah to be a great general who would come and build a military power that would overthrow Rome. So, their hope was for a military kingdom.

The Pharisees were equally anxious to overthrow Rome. They were not look- ing for a military kingdom but a holy commonwealth, a restoration of the Old Law, or Old Testament theocracy (a return to the law). They were looking for Messiah to rule religiously.

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The Zealots looked for a military Messiah, and the Pharisees looked for a mi- raculous Messiah.

The Zealots believed that the Messiah would make a military action. The Pharisees thought that the Messiah would do something miraculous and just throw Rome off by a tremendous supernatural divine miracle.

Even the twelve apostles expected it.

In Acts 1:6, they said;

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

When are you going to do it? When are we going to see either the military or the miraculous?”

But this was not Jesus’ purpose. He didn’t come with that in mind.

Before there could ever be Jewish independence, there had to be Jewish sal- vation, which had to come first.

So God’s plan was not what they thought.

When Jesus preached the way He did in the Sermon on the Mount, you can imagine their concern and reaction.

They expected the Messiah to come in on a white stallion, and with one slap of his sword to wipe out the enemy. And instead, He comes and says, “Happy are the poor in spirit. Happy are the mourners. Happy are the meek.”

And they’re saying to themselves, ‘What kind of a Messiah is this? What type of crowd is He going to collect? What kind of army will He gather? Who wants a bunch of meek people? Those types of people will never defeat Rome.’

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Jesus disappointed the political activists because He wouldn’t pull off a revo- lution.

Jesus disappointed the religious because He only healed people. (He didn’t destroy Rome with this over-the-top apocalyptic miracle.)

When they finally saw Jesus captured by the Romans, when they looked at Him standing next to Barabbas, what they saw was this pathetic person whom Pilate had battered and beaten, bruised, scourged, and smashed a crown of thorns on His head. There was no beauty in Him that man should desire him, and there was nothing about Him that was attractive. (Read Isaiah, chapter 53).

They took one look at Him and said, “Forget it. That’s not the Messiah we want.” And so they screamed, “Crucify Him. Crucify Him. We’ll take Barab- bas. He’s closer to the Messiah we expected than this guy.”

They hated Jesus. They hated Him because He disappointed them. After all, He didn’t fulfill their expectations.

They hated Him because they had a plan for Him, and the Messiah would not get with the program.

And once Jesus died, they were done with Him.

“Don’t tell us our Messiah was crucified on a cross that He came and went and didn’t overthrow Rome.”

Don’t tell us the Messiah came and went and didn’t change our circumstance in the world. That’s no Messiah.”

They wouldn’t even believe His resurrection, though it was true. Five hun- dred people saw it, yet they wouldn’t believe it.

When the apostles stood up to speak, they always preached about the resur- rection. “You see, Messiah had to suffer, to die. This is what the Old Testa- 41

They had to explain it every time because the people still didn’t get it.”

The Jews were wretchedly disappointed in Jesus. And it all started right here. The first time they heard Him speak, He said, “The meek shall inherit the earth.”

What kind of a deal is that? The spoils belong to the strong, not the meek. That countered their whole philosophy of life.

But Jesus came as a servant.

He said in Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor - ” To heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, to give sight to the blind, and to set at lib- erty them that are bruised.” Now that’s a pretty sad bunch: the blind, the bruised, the poor, the maimed. What in the world kind of bunch is that?

The Jews missed the whole point. They didn’t know why Jesus came.

Humility, self-denial. Now, this set the stage for what Jesus said in this ser- mon.

Let's talk about it. Meek.

It’s different from broken in spirit.

Verse 3, ‘Broken in spirit’ centers on my sinfulness. At the same time, meek- ness centers on God’s holiness. They are two sides of the same coin.

‘Broken in spirit’ because I am a sinner, and ‘meek’ because God is so holy by comparison.

The progression seen here is the beauty of the sequence.

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Man, this was against what they, as a people, had in mind. There was no Mili- tary, Miraculous (for a show), or Materialistic Messiah. Instead, Jesus said, “I’ll give you a meek kingdom.”

The kingdom was, and is, going to be for the meek. We, today, have trouble with this.

Our world associates happiness and blessedness with strength, confidence, self-assurance, conquest, and power.

That wasn’t Jesus’ way. His kingdom is for meek people.

Ephesians 4:1

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the call- ing with which you were called,

How do I walk worthy?

Paul goes on to say, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spir- it in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

God’s kingdom is for the meek.

Jesus came and preached that His kingdom was to be occupied by people characterized by meekness.

Notice in verse 5 that it follows a couple of other items found in verses 3 and 4, the idea of being poor in spirit and mourning.

So whatever meekness must be, it follows43 those two things.

Meekness comes out of those hearts that are broken in spirit and mourning.

The dictionary is an interesting thing. Meekness is defined as “enduring in- jury with patience and without resentment.”

We define it more along the lines of timid or weak.

We see the same word in the Greek used in Matthew 21:5; it talks about Christ’s meekness.

“Tell the daughter of Zion,

‘Behold, your King is coming to you,

Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,

A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”

When Jesus came into the city, He didn’t come on a white stallion conquering and to conquer. He came riding in on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

That was really low-class transportation.

He was meek. Meekness is gentleness, mildness, and a subdued character, but it is not a weakness.

Meekness is power under control.

Numbers 12:3

3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

Moses was undoubtedly no weakling by any stretch of the imagination.

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That word meek used in verse 5 is the Greek word ‘praus,’ referring to wild horses that have been tamed. It speaks of strength and power being brought under control.

It's referring to a wild horse that is large enough to be in control, large enough to overpower the master, an animal that submits, but to only one voice. If it submits to all, it's broken to its core.

This meekness is a byproduct of self-emptying, brokenness before God. It is the taming of the lion, not the killing of the lion.

It is trust, and it is power under control.

It’s okay to be mad, but don’t sin. Let that anger be righteous, controlled an- ger used for God’s purposes.

Don’t be angry because you've been offended, be mad because God has been offended. Do you see the difference? Meekness doesn’t mean impotence. It’s anger for the right reason at the right time.

Examine Proverbs 25:28

Whoever has no rule over his own spirit

Is like a city broken down, without walls.

That is power out of control. You have power, but there is nothing to contain it, and it is like a destroyed city.

On the other hand, Proverbs 16:32 says,

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,

In other words, to rule the spirit is meekness, and to be out of control is the lack of meekness.

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Meekness is power under control. It is the Fruit of the Spirit and is the oppo- site of violence or vengeance.

A meek person never gets angry about what is done to him, nor defends him- self because he doesn’t deserve anything.

Meekness is what Christ said characterizes people in His kingdom.

People of the kingdom are not defending themselves or running around trying to get their due. They are not about winning a debate or winning at all.

They know they have nothing and are already broken in spirit over sin.

They are already mourning and weeping over the consequence of sin.

And in humility, they stand before a Holy God, and they have nothing to commend themselves.

Power under control. Trust on parade.

The meek trust in God. They delight in Him, and God promises to give them the earth.

Meekness isn’t cowardice. It is not a lack of conviction. Nor is it just human kindness or niceness.

Meekness says, “In myself, nothing is possible. But in God, everything is possible.” It says, “For me, I offer no defense. For God, I’ll give my life. For God, I’ll die.”

It’s not a passive acceptance of sin, but it is anger under control. It’s a holy indignation.

Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

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The Beatitudes

Lesson 5: The Power Above All Powers This lesson is Session #5 of our series, The Beatitudes. They serve as the opening statement of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7.

We are studying the direct teaching of Jesus Christ, the first great sermon our Lord gives in the New Testament.

The overall theme of the Book of Matthew is to present Christ as the King. He is not just a king nor a person in power. He is King of all, with the power above all powers.

The first part of Matthew emphasizes some elements of the kingliness of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see this revealed in the Magi’s worship, the fulfillment of the Old Testament’s Messianic prophecies, and His victory over Satan in the wilderness.

Matthew’s perspective and goal were to present Christ as the King.

When we arrive in chapter 5, the writer presents the king’s words, the king’s first public statement, and maybe even the coming kingdom’s constitution.

If Jesus is indeed a king, the question has to be asked, “What will be the nature of His kingdom?” That's what the writer pens here as Jesus unpacks His plans for the kingdom in Matthew 5, 6, and 7.

We see this kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, and its characteristics are spiritual. This message is a spiritual description of the domain, as seen by the king. It is another way to present the idea that Jesus is indeed the king of the coming kingdom.

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At the very end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:28, we see the immediate culmination of His Kingship.

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, (Why were they amazed?) 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

His words, way, and manner were those of a king.

He spoke words as one who already had kingly authority.

He made statements; He didn't quote another’s words to validate His own. He needed no validation. But not only did He carry power in His words, but He also had an authoritative power.

When Jesus finished speaking; the page turns to the 8th chapter, and it said this: 1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Simple request here. “I believe what I have heard and seen. Are you willing to heal me?”

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Jesus simply said it because there was power in His words. And all who had been present saw this; “large crowds followed him.”

It was not only the word of a king, but it was the way of a king in all of its kingly authority.

We read here a masterful presentation of the conditions for entering His coming kingdom and the characteristics of those who will be a part of His kingdom.

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It is a manifesto of the kingdom, teaching how to live in the king’s domain. (Look back at chapter 3 again.)

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

Now let’s look at verse 6; this is the 4th of the Beatitudes

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

These words were not primarily evangelistic, but rather Jesus confronted people with the true character of God’s kingdom and what it meant to live as a citizen of that kingdom.

Jesus would start this sermon by pronouncing blessings on some unexpected people groups: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, and the meek.

Now in the progression of this message, Jesus has marked out those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and they will receive a special blessing. (Food and water are necessities.)

Jesus says that those who have poverty of spirit, who mourn over sin, and who are meek have a desire for righteousness like a hungry man desires food, like a thirsty man desires water.

The words speak of a powerful desire, a consuming driving pursuit, a dynamic force inside us.

The first point of this statement by Jesus was saying righteousness is essential. You need righteousness like you need food and water.

It isn’t wrong to hunger or thirst. It is an ordinary but necessary drive.

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Our physical life depends on food and water. Our spiritual life depends on righteousness.

Our physical life demands food and water. Our spiritual life demands righteousness.

You can’t live physically without food and water. You will never live spiritually without righteousness.

Jesus said that the physical elements are only a small token of a deeper, more severe hunger that faces humanity, which is spiritual hunger.

Jesus was declaring that the real thing a man needs is righteousness.

Anyone living in His kingdom must have as great an appetite and thirst for spiritual things as does a man for food and water.

Let's contrast that with those who are unsaved or stuck at GO; Natural people have physical hunger and thirst. They also have needs/hunger for happiness, fulfillment, and the desire to be seen and heard. But they seem to find their satisfaction in the wrong places.

Solomon gives an idea of how effective that is when he said, “As a dog returns to his own vomit, So a fool repeats his folly.”

Peter said, “a sow, having washed, returns to her wallowing in the mire.” (reference: 2 Peter 2:22)

The world is trying to feed itself on that which is not nourishing, which cannot fulfill its need.

At times, the church has bought into those metrics only to find itself fat from the excess but unfulfilled in the kingdom.

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The heart of every person in the world, believer or unbeliever, was created with a hunger for God. But, humanity tries to satisfy that hunger with wrong things (the garbage, the husks of the hogs) like the prodigal son.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes: “This Beatitude follows logically from the previous ones. It is a statement to which all the others lead. It is the logical conclusion to which they come. It is something for which we should all be profoundly thankful and grateful to God. I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or herself in this whole matter of the Christian profession than a verse like this. If this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements of the whole of Scripture, you can be quite certain you’re a Christian. If it is not, you had better examine your foundations again.”

When you look up, recognizing the holiness of God, the response to that Holiness should be that you hunger and thirst for what He has that you need.

Let me say it this way, if you do not hunger and thirst after righteousness, you are either a new citizen or maybe not a citizen of God’s kingdom.

Our society chases all the wrong things. We chase money, materialism, fame, popularity, and pleasure, which generally may be traced to greed, not need.

We define happiness in the wrong way. Happiness is money, pleasure, and having material things. But in the Beatitudes, Jesus says happiness is brokenness, mourning, meekness, and hungering and thirsting after righteousness.

Maybe the key to the whole thing is this ‘meekness’ thought because the meek person is the person who’s broken over sin and seeks God’s gift. There is no pride. He just seeks God’s blessing.

In every example of meekness I know of in the Bible, the underlying motive was always that the individual knew God’s promise.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled. 51

This hunger and thirst have to do with an intense desire.

The force of Christ’s words here are powerful, particularly in that culture.

In our society, most of us do not know what it is to be truly hungry. Because we don’t know what it is to be thirsty, we don’t understand it.

But for the day and to the culture that Jesus spoke, they knew and understood what it meant to be hungry and thirsty. For them, periods of feasting and famine were a way of life.

We don’t know what it is like to be in the middle of a drought where you’ve had no water for days. But if you had experienced this, you would fully see the example that Jesus was setting forward. It was an all-consuming, all- embracing, preoccupying desire that dominated your life.

How rich in the fruit of the Spirit would we be if we had that desire?

That’s what Jesus was trying to say.

Jesus was talking about hunger and thirst to people who understood what it meant. The Greek word peinntes used here is compelling. It means to be needy and has the idea of a deep need, not just superficiality, to suffer (hunger or thirst).

To be hungry is not enough. I must be starving to know God’s heart toward me. When the prodigal son was hungry, he went to the hogs to feed on the husks, but he went to his Father when he was starving.

Not until people hunger and thirst after righteousness do they seek the fulfillment that God can give. That is what Jesus is talking about, the kind of desperation only God can satisfy.

This passion for righteousness is real, just like hunger is real, and it is natural for the believer. It's the next step in the progression (not only in this message but for the believer). 52

This passion is intense, just as being hungry and thirsty can be intense, and it can be painful, just like real hunger and thirst can cause pain.

Hunger and thirst, if not quenched, will drive a person and control their very life. Jesus is saying that the passion for righteousness should be the driving force on your mind. And all of this passion is a sign of spiritual health, just as hunger and thirst are signs of physical health. Jesus was giving the crowd a spiritual examination.

A person who gets this passion is transformed for the Kingdom of God and by the Kingdom of God. The King’s life changes him.

That hunger will lead to blessedness or happiness. The only real joy in life is to be right with God.

I believe this points to two things we are all desperate for; first of all, salvation, and second of all, sanctification.

Someone who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, first of all, seeks salvation.

The righteousness that comes when you believe is the righteousness given to you in Christ.

This person sees his sin. He sees his rebellion and sees himself separated from a holy God. Broken. Mournful. Meek. He wants so much to restore himself to God.

He wants forgiveness, and so he hungers and thirsts after the righteousness that comes in salvation. He desires to be free from self, sin, and its power, presence, and penalty. This is what initiates salvation.

But there’s a second element. It is sanctification.

Once you get saved, you stop hungering and thirsting for salvation. But then you hunger and thirst for sanctification, for increasing holiness. 53

In your life, I hope there is this hunger for more, a hunger that never stops, an aching deep inside you for more, that you burn with desire to be more and more like Christ.

Psalm 27:4 New King James Version 4 One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple.

This intense desire to dwell in the house of the Lord, to be forever with Him, is a mark of a Christian. You keep on hungering. You keep on thirsting; you desire more virtue, a greater purity, more Christlikeness. You never get to the place where you’ve arrived. Sons and daughters of the kingdom never stop hungering.

Paul says in Philippians 1:9, And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,

We are not done; no matter how much you love, you ought to love more; no matter how much you forgive, you ought to forgive more; no matter how much you pray, give, or obey, you ought to want to do it more.

No matter how much you think like Christ, you ought to think like Christ more. This should be the consuming desire, never-ending, “Blessed are they which do continually hunger and thirst.”

I call it divine discontent.

So we see how this Beatitude fits, what it means to hunger and thirst. But what is the result of all this effort?

First, He says, “Blessed,” and last, He says, “They shall be filled.”

The word “filled” here is super powerful. It's a promise. It is a word used to describe feeding an animal. It means to be completely, totally satisfied.

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“They shall be satisfied.” God wants to make us happy and satisfied. But satisfied with what?

Well, why are we hungering? Those hungering and thirsting after righteousness, they should be satisfied.

Isn’t this a fabulous paradox? You hunger and thirst, and you’re satisfied, but never really satisfied.

As Christians, we seek God’s righteousness; He grants it.

When you sought His righteousness in salvation, He gave it freely and immediately. Then every day after, when we seek His righteousness, do His will, fulfill the good pleasure of His will, obey, and live out His righteousness, He will grant that desire. He fills you.

2 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Listen, Jesus satisfies, and the Holy Spirit fills.

How do we know if we are hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Let me give you some questions to ask yourself?

1. Are you dissatisfied with yourself?

In Romans 7:24, Paul says,

24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Or are you so self-righteous that you think everybody else is wrong and you’re right? 55

2. Does anything external satisfy you?

3. Do you have a great appetite for the Word of God?

To “Dig a well” you have to be thirsty.

You have to be committed.

You must be all in.

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The Beatitudes

Lesson 6: The Manifesto of His Kingdom Today, we continue our study of the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5. Matthew presents Jesus Christ as King, and here we hear the King present the manifesto of His Kingdom.

Jesus teaches the truth about how you enter His kingdom and how you will live while you’re in His kingdom.

He says only the poor in spirit, the mourner, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness enter.

Once we become a citizen of the Kingdom, we will continue to be poor in spirit, be mournful, be meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness; and after being filled, we will desire even more righteousness.

And here we come to the fifth Beatitude in verse 7: Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. This is a twofold statement made by Jesus yet one more time.

To be in God’s kingdom, you must be one who seeks mercy.

When you are in God’s kingdom, you will be one who gives mercy to others.

Mercy becomes a characteristic of those in God’s Kingdom.

Jesus is teaching that our actions will spring forward from the right character. He will go into great detail about these character actions as the Sermon on the Mount continues. The 6th chapter right through the 7th chapter will deal with character actions.

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These chapters will deal with the things we do or say or even the things we think. But the very foundation on which the 6th and 7th chapters is built is the right kind of heart attitude. And that foundation is being laid out in the Beatitudes.

That’s what Jesus is preaching about here. Correct character, from the right place. When God asks you to do something uncomfortable, He is preparing you to do something remarkable.

John MacArthur, in his book The Only Way to Happiness, penned these words: Living as a Christian means there is to be no veneer, no facade. Christianity is something that happens to us at the very center of our being, and from there it flows out to the activities of life. God has never been interested in only the blood of bulls and goats. He has never been interested in any superficial spiritual activity unless the heart is right. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was much more succinct in his statement. He says, “A Christian is something before he does something.”

The root is more important than the fruit.

How else does Matthew 7:21, which is in the middle of this same sermon, make sense?

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Be careful of the show. Be cautious of who is allowed to speak into your life. Guard your heart. To be a child of the King is about putting on the character of the King.

His kingdom’s subject possesses a specific character type, and that character 58

It's a brokenness character, one that mourns over sin, of meekness, one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness—a character of mercifulness, purity of heart, a peacemaker.

We are not meant to control our Christianity; our Christianity is meant to control us.

Legalism will lead us to controlling Christianity rather than to freedom in Christ.

True spirituality is our Christianity, our faith, our desire for relationship controlling us. That’s what Jesus was after in His message, and it is what He is after today.

Jesus doesn't want us (or anyone, for that matter) to control certain external activities; He wants God in us to control those activities.

These principles that Jesus declares in The Beatitudes are not superficial; they are not on the edge of life. They are found deep down inside the very core of the real believer.

We see this so clearly in Amos chapter 5 when God says,

21 “I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies. 22 Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. 23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. 24 But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.

He is saying here that He is concerned with the motives, the insides, the heart that produce the right external acts.

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Now, let’s go back to Matthew 5 and see where we are.

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.

Allow me to kind of put this the 7th verse of the Beatitudes in context to the others.

The first four Beatitudes were entirely inner principles dealing with an inner attitude of what you see of yourself before God.

But now, as Jesus comes to the fifth Beatitude while still having been focused on that inner attitude, this verse starts directing the believer to see these attitudes begin to reach out and touch others. This reaching out found in the 7th verse is the fruit of the other four Beatitudes in action.

The first four Beatitudes are the inner attitudes, and the last four Beatitudes are the things these inner attitudes will manifest in the believer’s life.

When you have those first four, there will be four characteristics of your character that will also be made manifest. This Beatitude is a double blessing in that you get your cake and get to eat it, too. You are blessed to be a blessing.

As you hear this Beatitude, I'm sure you are aware there are many needs in your life. Perhaps you are sure that God can supply your needs.

But no matter who you are and no matter what your other needs may be, everyone needs at least one thing from God - MERCY!

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Napoleon Bonaparte is often portrayed as a violent man, a dictator much like Hitler or Mussolini. A general in his army was found guilty of conspiring against the state and sentenced to death. The general’s daughter threw herself at the feet of the Emperor and begged for mercy. Annoyed, Napoleon attempted to walk around her, but she held onto his knees, refusing to let go. “Mercy! Sire! Mercy for my father!”

Napoleon replied, “This is the second time your father was found guilty of an attack upon the state. I cannot give him anything; he must face justice.”

“I know, Sire,” the young lady answered. “It is not justice I ask for, but mercy.”

“Why?” asked Napoleon, “what has he done to deserve mercy?”

“If he deserved it,” the daughter replied, “it would not be mercy.”

The Emperor visibly touched, took the young girl’s hands in his own, and in a broken voice said, “Yes, my child, I will grant mercy because of you.”

The gift of mercy is standard in the kingdom of God; several times in Jesus’ earthly ministry, He would answer the cry, “Lord, have mercy on me.”

In Luke 18, the blind man cried out, “Lord have mercy on me.”

In Matthew 15, the woman of Canaan with the demon-possessed daughter cried out. “Lord, have mercy on me.”

In Luke 18, Jesus tells the parable of the tax collector that simply asked. “Lord, have mercy on me.”

Mercy is a common characteristic of the King and His Kingdom.

When we ask God for mercy, He will give it; but we must understand that mercy is never deserved.

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At times, you may have thought, “God, just give me what I deserve.” If you have ever been mad at God, it was probably because He did not give you what you thought you deserved.

But God is never less than fair with anyone, yet He fully reserves the right to be more than fair in certain situations with certain people as He chooses. He reserves the right to be merciful.

We are in a dangerous place when we regard God's mercy towards us as our right.

If God is obliged to show mercy, it is not mercy; it is an obligation.

No one is ever unfair for not giving mercy. But the Bible here does not merely speak of the understanding we need from God, but the compassion we need to show others.

Mercy from person-to-person is commanded right here in this text, and it is commanded by none other than Jesus.

Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.

Since God has given us His mercy, we need to show mercy to others.

This Beatitude addresses those who will show mercy, and speaks to those directly who have already received mercy.

It is mercy to be emptied of your pride and brought to poverty of the spirit; to be brought to mourning over your spiritual condition; to receive the grace of meekness and become gentle; to be made hungry and thirsty after righteousness.

Therefore, it is expected of you to show mercy if you have received mercy, not from another, but God.

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The merciful one will show mercy to those weaker and more impoverished; he will always look for those who weep and mourn.

The merciful one will be forgiving, always looking to restore broken relationships.

The merciful one will be merciful to other people’s character and choose to think the best of them whenever possible.

The merciful one will not expect too much from other people.

The merciful one will be compassionate to those who are outwardly sinful and care deeply for all people’s souls.

What a list! It is a command with a promise as this verse goes on to say,

For they shall obtain mercy.

If you want mercy from others, especially God, you should take care to be merciful to others.

Mercy means compassion in action; it goes beyond understanding, beyond sympathy.

It is not false mercy that indulges the flesh in the salvation of our conscience, but not the soul. Mercy is not so we will feel better about ourselves. That is selfish pride.

Mercy is not the silent, passive pity that could be genuine but never seems to help tangibly.

It’s not any of those superficial things. It is genuine compassion with a pure, unselfish motive that reaches out to help somebody in need.

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Jesus was saying to those present, and to us through the Word of God, “The people in My Kingdom aren’t takers; they are givers. They aren’t condemners; they are mercy givers. They aren’t the ones who set themselves above everybody; they are the people who stoop to help anybody.

Our Lord says if you’re a member of His Kingdom, you’re going to be merciful and full of mercy.

This means to ‘get in the skin of another person,’ to think their thoughts and feel their emotions, touch their hurt and pain, and then to care for them in a very tangible way.

Empathy

Mercy is when I see a man without food, and I give him food; when I see a person begging for love, I give them love; when I see someone lonely, I give them my presence. Mercy is meeting the need, not just feeling the need. It goes beyond emotion into action. Forgiveness flows out of mercy; mercy flows out of love.

Why has God been so merciful? His mercy is based on love.

Love acts out of affection; mercy acts out of need.

Love is constant; mercy is reserved for times of trouble.

There is no mercy without love, but love is more significant than mercy.

It is a tremendous thought, isn’t it? You see how God’s great love funnels down to our needs under the category of mercy.

Mercy always presupposes you will have problems that require a gift of mercy.

Mercy deals with pain, misery, and distress.

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Mercy deals with the symptoms; grace deals with the problem (sin itself).

Mercy offers relief from punishment. Grace offers pardon for the crime.

First comes grace, and grace removes the sin; that then comes mercy, and mercy eliminates the punishment.

They are different.

Mercy deals with the negative; grace puts it in the positive.

Mercy says I pity you; Grace says I pardon you.

Mercy takes away the pain; grace gives a better condition.

Mercy says no to hell; grace says welcome to heaven.

God offers mercy and grace, two sides of the same marvelous coin.

It was mercy in Abraham after he had been wronged by his nephew Lot, which caused him to go and secure Lot’s deliverance.

It was mercy on Joseph’s part after being mistreated by his brothers that caused him to accept them and meet their needs.

It was mercy in Moses after Miriam had rebelled against him and the Lord had given her leprosy that made Moses cry, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!” (Numbers 12:13)

4. It was mercy in David, which caused him to spare the life of Saul.

Some of us wonder why God would show such remarkable mercy to King David, especially considering the terrible ways in which David had sinned. We look for the “key of David.”

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One reason God gave such mercy was that David was noticeably merciful to Saul. On several occasions, David was kind to a very unworthy Saul.

Saul was jealous of David; he tossed a javelin at David and tried to kill him. Yet David was merciful to Saul, saying at one point; The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed.

In David, we see how the merciful obtain mercy.

2 Samuel 9:1 1 Now David said, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

David’s people would find Mephibosheth, who was crippled. 9:9 “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house.”

There is a beautiful characteristic deep inside mercy that says we can reach out to forgive, care, help, and lift that one. It also says that these gifts matter.

We don’t lord it over those who need mercy. If you do, it doesn’t count as mercy.

We don’t step on their neck, push them down, or think we are something superior.

We are to be merciful because we have received mercy.

If somebody offends you, be merciful; because you have offended God Himself.

If somebody does something against you, be merciful; because, in your sin, you have come against God Himself.

Be compassionate, be benevolent, be sympathetic. 66

If somebody makes a mistake or a misjudgment, fails to pay a debt or return something they’ve borrowed, be merciful.

That’s the character of the kingdom.

In Proverbs 11:17 it says,

The merciful man does good for his own soul, But he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.

If you want to be really miserable, be merciless.

If you want to be happy, be merciful.

God is the source of mercy, best shown to all man-kind in the gift of His son. Jesus Christ, our Saviour, paved the way for our fellowship to be restored with the Heavenly Father.

There is always a good argument against showing mercy to someone else: They don't deserve it! If they deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy.

There is a better argument for showing mercy: Since God has given us His mercy first, we should give mercy to others.

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The Beatitudes

Lesson 7: Foundational Truths Tonight we continue in our study of The Beatitudes. This is Jesus’ first recorded, and arguably best-known message called the “Sermon on the Mount.”

We are still in Matthew the 5th chapter. In this session, we will look at verse 8.

There are some parts of the Bible that I feel I understand and can make work in my mind, in my teaching, and my life.

Some concepts are so big they are beyond us. That's what the writer of Hebrews says in 11:6

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

There are also those truths in the Word of God that are just simply so foundational that we just grab onto them and hold on with dear life even if the idea is beyond us, beyond our understanding, and beyond our small minds.

Take a concept like grace; I don't fully understand it (and I have taught it), and my goodness how I know I need it.

I believe in it. I’m thankful for it. But if I am honest, it's more than I can fully wrap my mind around.

Grace is like oxygen to the believer. It breathes life into the dead soul.

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bottomless pits of joy.

The words overwhelm us. (They are like a gift that is so nice it's too embarrassing to receive, yet so desirable we can't say no.)

These verses are wells whose depths are immeasurable. They are truths, the breadth of which are impossible to encompass; mountains beyond our humble ability to ascend. But yet they are.

Tonight's verse is one of those moments. Jesus states in Matthew 5:8, Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

In regards to this scripture, Charles Spurgeon said this about the ability to see God.

“I think there are some Christians who never see God as well as others do. I mean some Brothers and Sisters who, from their peculiar constitution, seem naturally of a questioning spirit. They are generally puzzled about some doctrinal point or other and their time is mostly taken up with answering objections and removing doubts.

Perhaps some poor humble country woman who sits in the aisle and who knows, nothing more than that her Bible is true, and that God always keeps His promises, sees a great deal more of God than the learned and quibbling Brother who vexes himself about foolish questions to no profit.”

This verse is one of the most significant utterances, I believe, in all of Jesus’ recorded words, one of the greatest statements in all of the Bible.

Honestly, there is no way that I can even begin to deal with what is said here, much less exhaust the depths of Jesus' promise that He made in these few short words. This verse is one of those all-encompassing statements that stretches over everything else that is revealed in Scripture.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. These words stretch literally into every area of human life and existence. 70

Let's first take a look at the question that Jesus answers with this Beatitude. It is a question as old as Cain and Abel. How good does a man have to be? What is required? What is the standard?

The answer is spelled out in verse 8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” What is necessary (needed, required) to see God?

What is necessary is a pure heart. This is a powerful statement because we tend to measure ourselves by outward appearance. Are we doing better than someone else?

“I praise better or pray better than that one. I might be a mess up, but I'm not as big a mess up as they are.”

Pastors consider their success by the congregation’s size compared to others, checking how we measure up!

Outward appearance is how we test a person's character, and how we see our own virtue, test our ethics and moral standards.

We inevitably measure ourselves by some inferior human being.

Paul, while trying to teach the Corinthians, said this in 2 Corinthians 10:12:

12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

When we do this type of measuring, we will build up our pride, and it makes us feel good about ourselves, confident we are ok, that everything is fine. We are on the right path.

Did you ever hear the joke about the bear?

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It goes something like this:

Two friends are in the woods, having a picnic. They spot a bear running at them. One friend gets up and starts running away from the bear. The other friend opens his backpack, takes out his running shoes, changes out of his hiking boots, and starts stretching.

“Are you crazy?” the first friend shouts, looking over his shoulder as the bear closes in on his friend. “You can’t outrun a bear!”

“I don’t have to outrun the bear,” said the second friend. “I only have to outrun you.”

We are very capable of settling for simply outrunning those who are with us. In some ways, we feel better about our situation.

Now I’m for you feeling ok, but that is the wrong measure according to Jesus. It is inevitable. We can always find someone lower than ourselves, someone slower than ourselves; but that means the ultimate standard then becomes the lowest common denominator.

The Lord answers the question of “What's the standard?” by saying the only standard is a “pure heart.” This is the standard of God’s Kingdom. Only the pure in heart will know God, be saved, attain His standard, and inherit eternal life. This is the key to the Beatitude.

You might ask if this is the key one, why doesn’t it come first? Why do we have all these preliminary Beatitudes starting in verse 3? This verse is the pinnacle (centerpiece, jewel) of the faith and the Kingdom.

You work your way to it by living out the first five Beatitudes. Then, and only then, can you live out the 6th Beatitude. 72

The Word of the Lord flows through all of the Beatitudes.

It is the pure in heart that becomes/is:

• the peacemakers (verse 9) • • who are persecuted (verse 10) • • insulted, persecuted, and against whom all kinds of evil is spoken falsely (verse 11) • • the salt of the earth (verse 13) • • the light of the world (verse 14) •

So really, we work our way up to this magnificent statement.

The kingdom has always belonged to the pure hearts.

Let's take a more in-depth look in the ancient Greek language, the original language that the New Testament was written in, by looking at the phrase ‘pure of heart.’ This phrase has the idea of straightness or honesty and clarity.

There are two big ideas connected to this phrase. One is genuine inner moral purity instead of the mere idea of real purity or maybe ceremonial purity.

The other idea is of a single undivided heart, speaking of those who are entirely devoted and sincere in their commitment to God. (It is the word katharos - katharosz).

The word used here for ‘pure’ comes from the Greek verb katharizō, which means to cleanse from filth and impurity. It means, in a moral sense, to be free from the defilement of sin.

73 who have had their inside cleaned up and pressure washed, who have no other competing agendas.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:21:

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where is your heart? He is saying, “I will not share heart space.” You can’t serve God and money, God and politics, God and fame, God and power, God and anything else.

It is a total complete singleness of heart. That was what Jesus had in mind, and it is reflected all through the New Testament. This is where we come in the Beatitudes to the pinnacle, where God comes in full mercy and cleans the heart, and is only then that we will see God.

In chapter 51 of Psalms, David asked of God: 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

And that really should be the prayer of every person.

As you live your Christian life, you continue to cry out, as David did, that God would keep that heart clean and pure.

While writing the song, ‘Oh, Lord You're Beautiful,’ Keith Greene prayed, “You have got to do something about my heart. A lot of time has gone by since I met you, and it's starting to harden up.” He went on to say, “I want to have baby skin, Lord.”

When Keith asked this, God gave him that great old song of the church that goes like this:

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Oh Lord, you’re beautiful, Your face is all I seek, Or when your eyes are on this child, Your grace abounds in me. I want to take your word and shine it all around. But first help me just, to live it Lord. And when I'm doing well, help me to never seek a crown. For my reward is giving glory to you.

Oh Lord, please light the fire, That once burned bright and clear. Replace the lamp of my first love, That burns with holy fear.

The other idea presented in this phrase “pure in heart” is of a single, undivided heart. This idea is speaking of those who are utterly sincere in their devotion and commitment to God.

The pure heart is a heart in which the Lord is the priority, not one of the priorities.

Psalm 27:4 One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple.

(It is so easy to become distracted.)

Let’s go to the promise found here “Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”

What is the reward for those who are pure in heart? Jesus says that they will see God. What a promise!

In this, the pure in heart will receive the most wonderful reward ever! They will enjoy a more excellent relationship and greater familiarity with God than they had before.

Now, I want you to see this. He didn’t promise more than others!

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The test is not that you are better than someone, but that you become a better you!

The sins that polluted you and kept you from His presence - sins like covetousness, lust, the pride of life, and unforgiveness - all have a blinding effect on the believer, and only the pure in heart is free from these pollutants.

Let’s go further. Only the pure in heart get to see God. It isn't that God changes and becomes more visible, but their reward is that they ‘see’ Him in everything.

That the pure in heart would see better is Jesus’ cure to spiritual blindness.

On this side of eternity, no human eye can see or take in God’s essence or His full glory. That is not what is being promised here. By the eye of faith, the pure in heart can see and enjoy God in this life in a growing and ever more complete way.

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.

As Paul said, we may see dimly now, but Jesus promises we can see better.

The pure-hearted person can see: • God in nature.

• God in scripture.

• God in their church family.

• Some of God's true character in every situation.

What are we going to do to be sure we see God, the King in His kingdom?

Moses begs in Exodus 33:18, “Please, show me Your glory.”

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The psalmist cried out in 42:1, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.”

It should be a great longing for the hearts of God’s people to see God.

And you know something? When your heart was cleansed, sight was immediate.

We see God in all His glory through the eyes of faith and the revelation of scripture.

Someday we will see the blazing glory of the light of God in eternal splendor; we’ll see Jesus face-to-face in His glorified form.

What does it mean, we will be able to see God? We will see God, in history, in circumstances, in creation, in providence, and revelation in the scripture.

Purifying the soul cleanses the vision of the soul so that we see God.

It’s amazing how after each service, I receive testimonies—the stories of the moments. I hear testimonies of the tremendous transformations that take place and how suddenly God becomes clear and known to people.

And likewise, the testimony of those who do not. How is it possible for God to be in a place for one and yet not another?

The pure heart. The searching heart. The desperate heart.

See? What happens is the darkness turns to light, and the blindness turns to sight.

The purifying of the heart cleanses the vision of the soul.

It seems we are in a dry season. I hear that word used a lot to describe the season and space of today.

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We are Pentecostals. We have gone from charge to charge, revival to revival, and from experience to experience searching for, looking for, yearning for what can only be found in a pure heart.

Is it possible we became used to a minister opening up the Word of God so clearly that for a moment, we saw Him?

Is it possible we became used to a song speaking so completely to this moment in life that we could see Him for three or four minutes?

Is it possible that, like Saul, we came to a place where we relied on others (as he did David) for the experience of God rather than on purity of heart?

Because once you get the heart right, all of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, you see God!

You see Him in His creation, in providence, in your circumstances, in the scriptures, in your worship, and working in the lives of people around you. Then you, like Jacob, will be able to declare, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

Jacob would go on to describe what had occurred. “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

In closing, what are the signs of a pure heart?

I'm going to give you a thought. You can think about this, and through this, yourself. What if the signs of a pure heart are nothing more than the fruit of the spirit?

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Longsuffering, Goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, Self-control.

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The Beatitudes

Lesson 8: What is Peace? We are continuing in our Bible study of Matthew. The primary text for this session is Matthew 5:9.

This Beatitude is number seven out of Jesus’s excellent teaching from the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:9: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

In this session, we will consider the questions: What is peace? What will hinder peace from existing? And lastly, why does peace matter both to you and the world at large?

In the Beatitudes, verses 3-12, we have come to see the sum of these expectations of the Kingdom of Jesus: What it means to be in the Kingdom of God, to be saved, to be a believer, and to know God.

In verse 9, we come to the subject of peace, a topic that permeates the Bible.

Upon seeing a great crowd of people gathering on a hill, Jesus and the disciples walked up to meet them. He turned to this outdoor congregation and began to teach all those in His hearing.

The Jewish folks Jesus was teaching would have been thoroughly versed in the Old Testament. He had a purpose in this first teaching. He was unpacking to all who heard His voice, the Kingdom of God, the rule of God.

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Some questions about this coming Kingdom:

What is life like under God's rule?

In His Kingdom, who are the blessed or happy people?

What are the blessings that this King is offering?

Jesus is announcing this great news to His followers.

No doubt, these people have, by this point (verse 9), begun to wonder whether He is the one whom they should follow.

Maybe even if they are blessed, it doesn't seem like the life they are living is a blessed life, and the words that Jesus is unpacking here don't appear on the surface to be the directions in how to be happy or blessed.

Then in the 9th verse, Jesus turns His attention to those who are the peacemakers.

Let us look at the Jewish understanding of peace, or shalom. Shalon is far more than the absence of something. In Scripture, peace is not the absence of anything; peace is the presence of something. It is the presence of all that is blessed, good, and fulfilling. When two Jews meet, they greet each other with the simple word, “Shalom.” They don’t mean to say, “May you have no more wars” but, rather, “May you enjoy the satisfaction, the calm, the tranquility that only God can bring.”

Peace then, as defined from a Hebrew standpoint, is the creative force- producing goodness and well-being. It is not just the absence of something; it is the presence of something. It is not the absence of conflict; it is the presence of aggressive goodness.

Peacemaking doesn’t create a vacuum. It isn’t merely a cold war, or a truce, or an uneasy silence.

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The idea of peace and the word shalom have a deep and complex meaning. The root word denotes completion or wholeness. The general meaning of shalom is to enter into a state of wholeness or unity, (or) a place of a restored relationship, or the process of restoring a relationship. Like many Hebrew words, Shalom conveys a wide range of nuances: fulfillment, completion, maturity, soundness, wholeness, harmony, tranquillity, security, well-being, welfare, friendship, agreement, success, and prosperity.

So when Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

He is saying happy are those who bring fulfillment, completion, maturity, soundness, wholeness, harmony, tranquillity, security, well-being, welfare, friendship, agreement, success, and prosperity into the world.

The word shalom occurs more than 250 times in the Old Testament. Shalom is always understood to be a gift from God. It is God's blessing upon His people. The word carries the idea of salvation, wholeness, and complete healing. It is the future hope of the people of Israel. The shalom or peace of God that will be complete on the day of the Lord. It is also the final hope of complete salvation, wholeness, for humans as in the Old Testament. This peace Jesus is speaking of is the well-being and prosperity of life that results from a fully reconciled, completely healed, and totally harmonious relationship with God, others, and all of creation.

What a wonderful, rich word this is!

Peacemakers are those who long for and strive to have well-being and reconciliation instead of anger, hate, brokenness, and despair.

A peacemaker is not satisfied with mere quiet, a forced end to hostilities, or the absence of conflict. A peacemaker81 longs to see the fullness of life and

A peacemaker longs to see the enjoyment of reconciled and right relationships that only come from a right relationship with God.

Those who long for this kind of peace and seek to make it happen are blessed because they are called the children of God.

Why is this? Because in being peacemakers, they are engaging in the very most profound activity that God does.

God's work of redemption is a work of making shalom or peace. Peace is the state in which God created all things to exist and flourish. And peace is the state for which God is redeeming the world to know and enjoy.

Jesus is a peacemaker! That is what His life, death, and resurrection were all about, to make peace to reconcile the world.

Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah, who is coming, would be called the Prince of Peace:

Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Words of peace were spoken at the announcement of Jesus’ birth:

Luke 2:14

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

When Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood, He gave her these instructions:

Mark 5:34

34 “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of 82 your affliction.”

When Jesus was preparing His disciples for His imminent death, resurrection, and ascension back to His Father in John 14:2, he said: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Jesus' life clearly showed us as well that peacemaking comes at a cost:

Peace came through His leaving His Father's side.

It came through His becoming one with us.

Jesus brought about the real, rich, and wonderful shalom of God through His dying and rising again to destroy sin and evil.

Peace is costly. It was costly to the Son of God, and it will be costly to us. The underlying gift here isn't that peace is costly, but that it's possible as Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

In Ephesians 2:13-16, Paul writes

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Jesus shows us that peacemaking has a cost as the verses continue to unfold. ‘You were far off but yet brought near.’ By what? By the blood of Christ.

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Notice here what Paul is saying:

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Christ Jesus himself is our peace; he doesn't just give us peace.

The peacemaking happens within Himself, within His very flesh.

Jesus couldn't make peace by: remaining aloof. standing above or beyond the situation.

There were real suffering and overcoming involved within His very being. Salvation comes not just by Christ, but in and with Christ himself. Making peace costs.

We can often find ourselves out of peace.

To make peace requires a willingness to die to our expectations and resentments, our anxieties, and our precious plans that we believe will make us happy. Peace is costly, yet it is possible.

The Barrier to Peace:

Well, in a word, the barrier is simply sin. It doesn’t matter if that is sin in terms of rejection of truth or sin regarding the person’s conduct.

Peace is goodness and righteousness.

The enemy of that peace is unrighteousness and sin.

For there to be real peace, sin has to be addressed, whether it is sin in terms of how we think or believe; or how we behave.

Let's look at James 3:18

Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Peacemakers sow seeds of righteousness. They confront sin because the only true peace is the 84

peace gained when sin is confronted.

There must be a way to deal with sin.

To be a peacemaker, you must, then, have gone through this Beatitude flow.

You realize you are a wretched soul; you are miserable.

You deserve nothing.

You have no rights, no privileges.

You have achieved nothing.

And you are not at all concerned with your rights; you are concerned with your needs.

You come to God and say, “I need mercy. If I get justice, I’ll be damned forever. Please, just give me mercy!”

Having received mercy, you are cleansed. You have been given a new nature and a pure heart. Now, you can be a peacemaker.

A peacemaker is one whose sins have been dealt with in Christ. He has a whole new perspective on life and the issues that life can bring.

The peacemaker views himself as humbled, as lowly. He comes begging for the righteousness he doesn't have, and mercifully it is granted by God’s grace.

The peacemaker is a peacemaker because ‘self’ is not the priority; it is not important.

The peacemaker is willing to suffer wrong, to suffer injustice, as Jesus did. That is precisely what verses 10, 11, and 12 tell us will happen. So it is a whole different approach to life. 85

The peacemaker is one who has become a peacemaker because they have made peace with God.

So making peace is very difficult and never without cost.

We are incapable ourselves of making peace.

The deep healing and conversion required for fullness and well-being to replace our brokenness and pain are more than we could ever do for others. We need first that kind of healing ourselves before we can spread it abroad.

These people that Jesus calls peacemakers are those who love and long for the peace of God to spread throughout the earth. They live to see the day when the Heavenly Father's shalom is filling up the whole universe.

They know that peace can only come from God, and they look to God to bring it about. Their peacemaking efforts are ways to participate and get involved in what God is always doing.

God puts a high priority on peacemaking. He did not give the responsibility of peace to the politicians. God didn’t assign it to statesmen, diplomats, judges, kings, or presidents. The peacemakers God is sending are very different - vastly different - from everything the world would identify as a peacemaker. And we are glad for that because we’ve had enough of the world’s peacemakers and their continual failure.

See?

We don’t have peace politically, socially, economically, in our marriages, homes, communities, cities, nations, or between countries.

WHY? Because we don’t have peace in our hearts.

Consequently, the world reflects the heart of man.

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The world that man creates is a world without peace. It’s a world of chaos, conflict, trouble, shattered hopes and dreams, and broken relationships.

Peacemakers are desperately needed, and they can’t come from the world because the world is full of hearts that have no peace; therefore, they cannot produce any peace.

Now, God offers the world peacemakers right here in verse 9, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

The scripture indicates that there are such things as peacemakers, and they are the ones that shall be called sons of God.

True peacemakers, therefore, are the sons of God believers, children of God

If you are a part of the kingdom of God, you are a reconciler not a divider.

Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.”

The phrase “they shall be called sons of God” means to receive the name or nature of (God).

The peacemakers receive the name and the nature of God.

What is Jesus offering here? Peace.

To give peace, you must first have peace. (It seems the church has given up on peace.)

We need peace in the church, in our homes, and the workplace.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” 87

We need the type of peace that passes all understanding.

But alas, peace can’t be purchased.

You can't trade stocks and get peace, and you can't pull out your credit card and have peace delivered by Amazon.

You can own property all over the world and still not have access to peace.

To have peace is better than riches and fame, or anything you can hold.

Think about great artists like Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, or Kurt Cobain. Each one was wealthy, talented, adored, yet they still were not at peace.

Many people try to find sleep in a pill or a bottle to escape, even for a moment.

Everyone seems to be looking for peace, but the world doesn't have it, can't find it, and offers no way to get to it.

Yet, Jesus calls us peacemakers!

The storm was raging, the lightning flashing. Peter, the fisherman, was overwhelmed. Using every skill he had from a lifetime on the water, he was trying to manage an unmanageable storm. In desperation, he turned to Jesus.

He went down to the bow of the ship where Jesus was sleeping. The storm had not awakened Jesus. The struggle between man and nature raging above, and the disruptions all around, had not roused Him. But, Peter’s urgent cry for help instantly brought Jesus wide awake. That is the God we serve.

The men yelled, “Do You not care that we are perishing?” Don't you know what's going on? Don’t you care?

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Amid the yelling, in the middle of a storm when the boat seemed to be coming apart, with waves beating and the wind howling, Jesus calmly spoke the words, “Peace, be still!” When Jesus said those words, “the wind ceased and there was a great calm.”

The peace Jesus was talking about in Matthew, the peace that calmed the raging sea, settled the broken heart, and stilled the will to fight, that's what Jesus was saying the world needs.

That is the peace that we need.

“Blessed are the peacemakers.”

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The Beatitudes

Lesson 9: The Roadmap to a Blessed Life Tonight we continue our study of the Beatitudes found in the 5th chapter of Matthew. In the brief statements made at the beginning of Jesus’ first sermon, He promised happiness and blessings.

He also taught that the blessing would come through obeying the commands He delivered here. In providing these commands, Jesus gave us a roadmap on how to live out a blessed life. These commands are the characteristics of a citizen in God’s kingdom.

It's easy to see the tremendous power and impact of these truths. It's equally as easy to see that this kind of person seems a little too good to be true.

Honestly, it’s easy to feel very inadequate, isn’t it? To think that you don't measure up in any shape or form. That almost certainly no one lives out his day-to-day life entirely in this way.

Yet I fully believe that what Jesus presents here in the introduction to the Ser- mon on the Mount is no less than the believer’s portrait, the picture of a gen- uine Christian.

It is currently very ‘en vogue’ to call Christians hypocrites and publicly call out their sin. These are serious charges against us because those called to de- fine the mark (the standard) often miss the mark.

However, it is vital to understand this measure is the ideal of who we could be and maybe even should be; God never lowers His standards because man is weak or sinful.

Although we don't always meet the mark, we have been given Christ so that He can work through us as we strive to fulfill God's standard. 91

These are simple, straightforward, direct, clear, undeniable truths.

Yet even in their simplicity, it is hard to plumb the depths of the divine wisdom Jesus would deliver here. Hopefully, this series has helped you come to a deeper understanding of the Beatitudes.

In this session, we will examine the last of the Beatitudes, found in Matthew 5:10 - 12.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This section is one Beatitude, found in verse 10. It is then fully personalized in verse 11 and further explained in verse 12.

These verses are one Beatitude because they have only one result: “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Verse 10 is straightforward. It states that happiness belongs to those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is talking about you and me; when we are persecuted, when all kinds of evil are said against us falsely because we believe in Jesus.

The one result for all three verses is found at the end of verse 10, “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The implication here is that life in the Kingdom, a believer’s life, a follower of Jesus, will involve hurt.

In verses 11 and 12, there are no second and third blessings given. There is a triple blessing found here in these verses, yet only one result: YOU WILL 92

GET THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

It is fascinating that the believer who lives out the Beatitudes will be both the peacemaker (verse 9) and the one whose actions will create the persecution found in verses 10-12.

There is an incredible sense of irony in these verses. The believer who is a peacemaker is also the believer who stirs up strife.

You see this same tension revealed by Jesus about himself. In one place, He is called the ‘Prince of Peace.’ Then, in Matthew 10:34, He says:

34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.”

As a peacemaker, He can make a man at peace with God through the presentation of the Gospel. On the other hand, some will not respond to his peacemaking effort; to those, Jesus is a troublemaker, and that trouble invariably brings about persecution.

You will make both peace and trouble.

How crazy is that????

This trouble caused persecution for Christ and those who are insulted for Christ, those against whom all kinds of evil are falsely spoken on account of Christ.

This TROUBLE gives evidence that they indeed belong to the kingdom of heaven. Those who are kingdom citizens are at odds with Satan’s system.

This citizenship promises persecution to one degree or another to those who belong to the Lord.

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Paul said this very thing in 2 Timothy 3:12:

All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Persecution just goes with the territory.

In James 1:2 it says;

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

Then James goes onto to describe the works of that testing;

4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

There will be some trials; there will be some testing; there will be some hardships.

Paul, James, and Jesus all agree:

Blessed are all those who have lived in an ungodly world and experienced persecution because of their transformed lives. These people, in a real way, share the reproach of Christ.

As Paul said, We share in the fellowship of His sufferings if we live Godly in this ungodly world.

You can’t expect to live in direct opposition to Satan and his worldly system without antagonizing him and that system, which will result in persecution.

The righteous have always suffered and will ever suffer in some manner. 94

If the Lord tarries His coming, they will suffer in the future for their Godliness.

You can go back to Genesis, and it all began with Abel.

Abel was righteous. He did what God told him to do, and Cain killed him.

By the way, Cain was also a religious man, a man who also brought an offering to God.

It was an unacceptable offering, and rather than improving what he brought to God, Cain began to hate the true worshiper even though he was his brother. Cain murdered Abel.

See, some of the persecution that will come against you will come from “brothers” and “sisters” in Christ who are comfortable with their way of doing things and uncomfortable in your presence. This is not new. It is a story as old as time itself.

Persecution becomes a token, a symbol of true discipleship. It's a mark you are on the right path.

Paul wrote in Philippians 1:29:

29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.

Righteous Christianity lived out and spoken freely and openly will produce hostility. You must expect some measure of suffering if you’re faithful to Christ.

In this age, we’ve tried to strip all that would offend out of Christianity.

We’ve tried to make the gospel inoffensive.

We’ve tried to understand what unconverted95 people like and don’t like and

But in doing so, we’ve stripped the Gospel of its impact.

When you take the law out, the bite out, the confrontation out; when you try to make the gospel palatable, you strip the truth to the point where it is no longer the saving truth. It is no longer salt and light.

If you want to escape persecution, you can do it. Just simply approve of what the world does.

Instead of disapproving it, just affirm it or ignore it. Accept the world’s morals, the world’s ethics, live as they live. In other words,

1. Don’t tell people they are sinners.

2. Don’t confront them with the fact that they are lost and without Christ, doomed to eternal judgment at the hands of the Almighty God.

3. Don’t talk about hell.

4. Don’t preach and teach that Jesus Christ is the only way.

5. Don’t preach and teach that it's only by faith in Him and not through some religious exercise, ceremony, or some act of self-righteousness that salvation can be gained.

6. Don’t separate yourself from the world system. But instead, go along with the world system. Laugh at the world's jokes. Enjoy the world's entertainment.

7. Go ahead and smile when the world mocks our God, let them take His name in vain, pray in any name other than the name of Jesus. Be ashamed to take a stand for Christ.

Do all of that, and you will escape persecution.

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Kim Owens, in the book Door Keepers of Revival, says this:

In the American Church, we’ve confused anointing with talent, exchanged commotion for devotion, and substituted a good time for the glory of God. We’ve exalted corporations above consecration and convenience above conviction. It’s time to get His mark back on His Church. In a revival culture, the mark must always be His presence.

But His presence brings with it a peculiar people who will be persecuted. But I warn you, anything less than that standard is a very dangerous perspective.

In Luke 9:26, Jesus said:

26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.

If you’re ashamed not only of Christ but of the words which Christ taught (the truth of God as given to us on the pages of Holy Scripture), it may well be that you are one of whom the Lord Himself will be ashamed. What this means is that you may not be a believer at all. The Lord may not even claim you.

So these trials that come into our lives, including persecution and trouble and difficulty, are all part of God’s testing to prove the validity of our faith.

If you live out your life and the fire comes, that fire will prove you are either genuine or not.

If you’re nothing but the weedy ground in which the seed of the truth went down a little way, but the weeds choked it out, or if you’re that stony ground where the plant went down a little way and hit the rock bed and you died, perished without any fruit, that will show up under persecution.

That is what Jesus was saying here in this Beatitude, and you will wither and die in the test if your relationship with97 God is not real. Our faith is tested and

proven in trials. Following Christ will not be easy in this world, but there is profound value to be found in persecution, tests, and trials.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

1. Visible Earthly Signs that you are in the kingdom of God:

When you lose the job, understand it is part of the journey and be excited about it! Yes, excited! Why? It's proof you are in the kingdom!

When they talk about you, be thankful! Why? Further proof you are in!

When you are not the most popular in certain circles? Be happy. Why? More proof you are in the kingdom.!

2. Trials will drive you to prayer. If you are not praying, you are not in a real trial.

In Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret (234–235), Dr. Howard Taylor describes an experience that he had traveling with his father, Hudson Taylor, through China. He writes, It was not easy for Mr. Taylor in his busy life, to make time for prayer and Bible study, but he knew that it was vital. Well do the writers remember traveling with him month after month in northern China, by cart and wheelbarrow, with the poorest of inns at night.

Often with only one large room for travelers, they would screen off a corner for their father and another for themselves, with curtains of some sort; and then after sleep at last had brought a measure of quiet they would hear a match struck and seek the flicker of candlelight which told that Mr. Taylor, however weary, was pouring over the little Bible in two volumes always at hand.

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From two to four a.m. was the time he usually gave to prayer; the time when he could be most sure of being undisturbed to wait upon God. That flicker of candlelight has meant more to them than all they have read or heard on secret prayer; it meant reality, not preaching but practice. The hardest part of the missionary career, Mr. Taylor found, is to maintain regular, prayerful Bible study. “Satan will always find you something to do,” he would say, “when you ought to be occupied about that, if it is only arranging a window blind.”

3. What is the next thing that is valuable about this type of testing? You know what you are loyal to and who isn’t loyal at all. These are times of proving!

4. Persecution is testing, and all tests divide those who are ready or prepared from those who are not.

These times of testing prove if the training has worked. They show if the time in the classroom has paid off. There is a vast difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge.

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The Beatitudes

Lesson 10: Jesus Came to Bring Happiness This will be the last session in the study of the Beatitudes. We have spent ten weeks or 2 ½ months, taking a deep dive into these most critical first words of Jesus.

So let's head to Matthew chapter 5 and look one last time at the beginning of Jesus' first recorded message, a section we call the Beatitudes.

I want to just read them to you again, and then we'll move right into what we have to say tonight.

The Beatitudes Matthew 5:1-12

1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

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9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Beatitudes are truly unique gifts to us as believers.

As we started, I told you that the word “blessed” used here really means “happy” in this context.

In the first message He preached, Jesus’ first words were that He wanted people to be happy.

He didn't come into this world to make people miserable. He came to make them happy. Yet the happiness Jesus is talking about is in direct opposition to what the world says that happiness will be:

The world says the really happy person is: the winner, self-sufficient, the one that is positive about themselves, and the one that is confident in their ability.

Simply put, the world's definition of happiness is not God's definition of happiness. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

This revelation of divine truth revealed by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Beatitudes contrasts with the world's standards.

It's a mad rush to find happiness on the world's terms.

To find happiness in power and things.102

Yet when rushing toward these world systems which promise to deliver happiness collides with real Christianity, there will inevitably be conflict, conviction, guilt, and resentment, which will result in persecution.

Verses 10 to 12 all go together as one Beatitude, meaning that Jesus spent three full verses trying to make us understand that persecution would come and that persecution has value.

Really what Jesus is trying to get across in these last verses is this:

If you live your life according to the first seven Beatitudes, you will automatically get the eighth one.

If you function according to those first seven principles, you will inevitably be persecuted for righteousness' sake; for His name’s sake.

It's inevitable. Jesus said this in Matthew 5:11

11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Let's answer a few simple questions that Jesus' statement here creates.

Who are the persecuted? Who are the ones who will experience what Jesus is talking about here?

They are the ones who come to know God through Jesus Christ, the kingdom people. The ones who live life on God's terms, not their terms, or the terms of the world.

John 15:19

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” 103

You need to understand this principle that Jesus is unpacking here: living out godliness in a godless world will generate antagonism.

We have become too comfortable with fighting both inside the church and outside the church.

You have got to expect some opposition. I am not telling you this, so you will go out and make enemies. You don't have to go out and start a fight.

What Jesus is saying is that the fight will come looking for you. It is already looking for you. I'm telling you this so you won't be shocked when you are attacked.

As you might expect, Paul wrote of this often. It's what he did to Christians before he was converted, what he taught, and ultimately what he would experience.

Philippians 1:29

29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

Paul says this is to be expected. It is not abnormal.

Again, Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 3:3

3. that no one should be shaken by these afflictions;

Don't be shocked, knocked off course, or overwhelmed by these moments. for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.

This is to be expected. You are appointed for a time such as this.

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One last quote from Paul in 2 Timothy 3:12:

12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

A godless, angry, hostile, sinful world, confronted by Christianity, must react and attack. A godless, angry, hostile, sinful world, confronted by TRUTH, must react and attack.

This outcome of persecution is to be expected.

Ok! We have seen the “who.” Now let’s unpack the “how”?

Because if you are a believer you are going to be persecuted!

“Persecution” is from a Greek word that means “to harass, or to treat evilly.” Literally, in its root, it means “to pursue with intention.”

There is going to be a come to Jesus moment for every believer, a time when the world comes after the believer, when there is going to be a faith moment.

We have seen the government crackdown during this season and attitudes changing about the church from both the inside and outside. As I said last week, this has been a year of vision. Much of what we have seen we have not liked has been unimaginable, yet it is real. And all it took was a virus and an excuse.

We see reactions to things that once were held to be sacred. But how? What will this persecution look like?

Verse 11

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.

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To revile is direct abuse to the face.

Next, “say all manner of evil against you falsely”... that's slander behind the back.

What Jesus is saying is that the attack will come from the front and the back.

They're going to talk about us when we're gone, and they’re going to react to us when we're here. There will be open confrontations, and there will be that private slander.

Why will they do this to us? You say we’re such nice people, and I agree. Christians are the nicest family of believers in the world.

We're nice people because God lives in us, and God is good. He takes our badness and gives us His goodness. Why would the world hate us for this?

The answer is simple; in verse 10 says;

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

Verse 11 says, at the end, “...for My sake.”

There are two things the world doesn't want in any shape or form, that is true righteousness and Jesus Christ. When you confront a sinful world that loves darkness rather than light, a world that is in love with sin, you will have pushback.

A hog doesn't like mud a bit. It loves mud. You can clean it up, make it pretty, and put a bow on, but at its core a pig is dirty and likes dirt.

The world that is confronted with its sin is going to react. Why? It likes its sin, and so did I when I was a sinner! And so did you!

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You bring up Jesus Christ, and the world will do to Him just what the world did before. The world is going to want Him dead, and that's the way it has always been, and that's the way it will still be.

And here we are gathered, all of this tremendous family that is the Manowar Church, but the world doesn't love us. The evil system, the war being fought in the spiritual realm; they hate us.

You might ask, “Why do they hate us?” Because we're not of the world.

If we were of the world, it would accept us, but we confront the world. Now, if we don't confront the world, we will never know about persecution.

The coming of Jesus not only brought salvation, but it also brought with it hate from those who love their sins.

This doesn't mean we turn our backs on the world, Jesus did not, and neither should His followers. It means we go right out there, and we confront the world, standing for Jesus!

Don’t you see? It isn't you. It’s that they don't know God, and because they don't know God, they don't know Christ.

And because they don't know Christ, they don't understand righteousness.

And because they aren't willing to accept righteousness, they want their sin and will not tolerate a confrontation at that point.

That's precisely what verses 10-12 of the Beatitudes are saying. Now, there are going to be good times, times of rest, enjoyment, and peace.

There were times when Christ enjoyed family time with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, the disciples, and His friends. There were times when Jesus retreated for a few days away. There were wonderful times with the Twelve in Galilee as many were healed, touched, fed, and changed.

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No, it isn’t going to be incessant, unending, unceasing persecution at all.

Yet, Persecution will come.

Whenever it happens, we don't seek it out.

We don't have a martyr complex, but likewise, believers should not run from it either. Real believers will not run.

When we get in the middle of it, we don't compromise.

Now, you know me? I'm not trying to make war. I like to say my young raging prophet days are over. I'm not trying to make enemies. Not at all, but there is a fight.

So the persecution will come, and when it does, we are to be happy? Really? Why? Because persecution bears with it a promise.

So what should be the attitude of the believer?

Let’s look at Verse 12.

12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven,

Rejoice when they're shooting the arrows in you, while your friends are screaming venomously at you, while they’re whispering behind your back, while they’re undermining you.

Rejoice!

That “Be exceedingly glad" literally means “to jump, skip, and shout for joy.”

You might think, Wow! That is crazy. Jump and skip and shout for joy? That I’m being persecuted?

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YES! You ought to get happy about that.

Well, there are two reasons you have to be happy about that:

Reason number one, verse 12, “Great is your reward in heaven.”

Heaven is how long?

Forever. How long is it here?

James 4:14

14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

How long is Heaven? Forever. How long are we here? Not very long, getting shorter all the time.

What are you investing in? No wonder Jesus said, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust don’t corrupt, and where thieves don’t break through and steal.”

Don't lay your treasures up here. ‘Here’ is now and will be gone. Heaven’s forever. And Jesus says; “Great is your reward in heaven.”

The second reason you ought to be glad is that they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You are in a great top drawer company. They persecuted the prophets of God. And get this, if they persecute you, this is the height of the message of the Beatitudes.

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I have people ask all the time, “How do I know if I’m in? How do I know if I have done enough? How do I know that I'm saved?”

What Jesus is saying is this:

If you have any doubts about your salvation,

If you have any questions about whether you're in the kingdom

If there is persecution in your life from unbelievers, you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you belong to God because they will be doing to you exactly what they did to God's called prophets.

You see it? This is a great truth.

Jesus offers the congregation salvation and then tells them how they can know when they have it.

1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

Think of our conflict with the world in this way: We are playing an away game with a hostile crowd.

As the ‘underdog,’ you must expect retaliation.

The revealing marks of persecution:

1. Persecution will make you restless Those spiritual leaders who have been through the fire have a holy discontentment with the status quo. Those who have not developed inertia causes them to settle in and make it very hard to move off the dead center.

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Those in the fire have a hankering to change, move, reach out, grow, and take a group of people to new dimensions of ministry and knowledge of who God is.

They have the spirit of Paul, who said in Philippians 3:13–14, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

2. The persecuted are intense. David said, “Is there not a cause?”

(I worry about a generation that everyone knows which party you belong to but not the church you belong to)

Stealth Christians

Jonathan Edwards, as a young man, he wrote a list of about seventy resolutions. The one that has inspired me the most goes like this: “To live with all my might while I live.”

Another great man said, “I have one passion. It is He and He alone.”

3. The persecuted are ‘Thick-Skinned.’ Paul said in Galatians 1:10, “Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Criticism can disable us. However, those who know who we are fighting for and what we are fighting for will welcome criticism.

We must be able to say with Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:8–9, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”

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4. Those in the fire are deep thinkers because they have tasted the flame.

1 Corinthians 14:20

“Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.”

Mark Twain said, “a man that has grabbed a cat by the tail knows ten times more about a cat than a man who hasn't.” Careful and rigorous thought is not contrary to a reliance on prayer and divine revelation.

The apostle Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:7: “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” In other words, God’s way of imparting to us insight is not to short-circuit the intellectual process.

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