Dwayne Imes went to the ER today
with chest pain and all the tests were good, so he'll follow up
with a cardiologist, but everybody remember him. And also Peggy
Moore's mother. doesn't have long to live, a
couple of days to maybe weeks. So remember that family and we're
so thankful for the good report that Claire got from the doctor
today. We're very thrilled and we pray
for the Lord's continued healing hand to be upon him. I've entitled this message, Who
is Blessed? Am I? are you? Who is blessed? Now, this is the most famous
sermon of the Lord, what's known as the Sermon on the Mount. And
he begins with the Beatitudes. You know, the word Beatitudes
is not in the Bible. I don't know why they call them
the Beatitudes, but they call them the Beatitudes. The Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher. And here we have his first sermon. Verse one of chapter five, and
seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. And when
he was set, his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth
and taught them. And I pray that that's what's
going to take place tonight, that he will teach. And look at the conclusion of
this message. Verse 28, and it came to pass
when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at
his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority, not
like the scribes. Not like the religious experts,
the religious scholars. They'd never heard anything like
this before. Everything that he said recommended
itself as the very word of God. And they were astonished by what
they'd heard. They'd never heard anything like
this before. Inherit authority, not as the
scribes. And I love this jab at the religious
authorities, the scribes, the scholars of scripture. This was
nothing like that. Now, part of that authority that
he demonstrated beginning in this message was that he declares
who is blessed. This is not my opinion as to
who is blessed. This is who he declares who is
blessed of God. Who are the blessed? He says,
the ones I say are blessed. What authority? He declares who
is blessed. You know, 14 times in this sermon,
he says, I say unto you, I love that. I say unto you, there's
the authority because of who he is. I say unto you, the ones
I say are blessed are the blessed. I'm the only one who has the
authority to determine who they are. And they're blessed because
I blessed them. That's why they are blessed.
Who are the blessed, the blessed of God. Well, he tells us in
verse 3 of Matthew chapter 5, that blessed are the poor in
spirit. I love the way he begins here.
As a matter of fact, all the other Beatitudes come out of
this one. It's only the poor in spirit that mourn. It's only
the poor in spirit that are meek. It's only the poor in spirit
that hunger and thirst after righteousness. It's only the
poor in spirit that are merciful. It's only the poor in spirit
that are pure in heart. It's only the poor in spirit
that are peacemakers. It's only the poor in spirit
that are persecuted for righteousness sake. They have some understanding
that Christ's righteousness is the only righteousness there
is, and they maintain that. And they say all human righteousness
is as filthy rags, and they're persecuted for that. But this
all comes out of this blessed poverty of spirit. And look at
the blessedness of these people. He says, with regard to the poor
in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It belongs to them. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. All mourners shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. It's all theirs. Blessed are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful for
they shall obtain mercy. What a great blessing this is.
I want to obtain mercy, don't you? Blessed are the pure in
heart for they shall see God. What a blessing that is to see
God, to see who he really is. It's only the pure in heart who
see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for
they shall be called the children of God. Who are God's children?
The peacemakers. Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now
here the Lord tells us who the blessed are. Now these are not
things to try to attain to. These are things that He blesses
with. If you're poor in spirit, He's
blessed you. If you mourn over your sin, He's blessed you. If you're meek
before God, this is an attitude toward God. That's because of
His blessing. This is the fruit of God the
Holy Spirit. This is not found in the natural man. No unbeliever
can have the meekness that He speaks of. Oh, how blessed by
God you are if you're somebody who hungers and thirsts after
righteousness because you know you don't have any. It's gotta
come from outside of you. Oh, how blessed of God you are.
How blessed of God you are if you're merciful. You've obtained
mercy and shall continue to obtain mercy. How blessed of God you
are if you're pure in heart. He gave you that heart. You weren't
born with it. It's something he gave you. How
blessed you are if you're a peacemaker, preaching the gospel of peace.
How blessed you are if you're persecuted for righteousness
sake. Yours is the kingdom of heaven. What states of blessedness
this is, and let me repeat, the Lord is the one who tells us
who's blessed. I've run across so many people,
how you doing? Well, I'm blessed. Well, I hope
you are. You are if this describes you. This is who he has blessed. Now the word blessed, It's found
45 times in the Old Testament. It's translated 25 times, blessed,
and 18 times it's translated happy. Let me just give you some
scriptures before we get into the Beatitudes from the Old Testament.
Deuteronomy 33, 29, happy art thou, O Israel. That's the word
blessed. Blessed art thou, O Israel, who is likened to thee, O people
saved by the Lord. Oh, to be saved by the Lord. What greater blessing is there
than that? To be saved from your sins by
the Lord Himself, for Him to do something for you. This word is found 25 times in
the book of Psalms. Psalm 11, blessed is the man
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and upon his law
he doth meditate day and night." Now, you know as well as I do
that that only describes the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
blessed man who delighted in the law of his Father, and everybody
in him, every believer is this blessed. Man, Psalm 212, blessed
are they that put their trust in the Lord. Do you trust the
Lord only for your salvation? Oh, how blessed of God you are,
if you're somebody like that right now. Psalm 32, one, blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered,
blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin and
in whose spirit there is no guile. Now, what a blessing this is,
to have my sin forgiven. my iniquity covered by the blood
of Christ, so there's none there. Why is it that he doesn't impute
iniquity to that person? There's no iniquity to impute.
It's been put away. I stand before God without guilt. Psalm 41.1 blesses the man that
considers the poor. Psalm 65.4 blesses the man whom
thou choosest. Isn't election a blessing? and
cause us to approach unto thee." Psalm 89, 4, blessed are they
that dwell in thy house. That's not just talking about
dwelling in a physical building, that means Christ is my dwelling
place. I want nothing more than to be
found in Him. Psalm 89, 15, Blessed are they
that know the joyful sound." They know the gospel when they
hear it. Psalm 94, 12, blesses the man whom thou chastenest,
O Lord. You see, whom the Lord loveth,
he chastens, and he scourges every son he receives. Psalm
106, verse 3, Blessed are they that keep judgment and do righteousness
at all times. And that's what every believer
is in Christ. We keep judgment. We do righteousness at all times
because He is our righteousness. Psalm 119, one, blessed are the
undefiled in the way. Now, if I'm in the way, Christ
is the way. I'm one who's undefiled in the
way. I'm perfect in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 119 or Psalm verse 2, 119 verse 2, blessed are they to
keep his testimony. Psalm 144 verse 15, happy is
the people whose God is the Lord. Psalm 146 verse 5, happy is he
that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the
Lord his God. Now the Beatitudes, This beautiful description of
what a believer is. This is not something we're striving
to attain. This is something we are if God
has saved us. If God has given us a new heart.
This blessedness describes us. And I love the way he begins
in Matthew chapter five, verse three, blessed are the poor. I didn't think blessed to be
poor, I'd rather be rich. Blessed are they that mourn.
I'd rather be happy. Blessed are the meek. I'd rather
be a go-getter. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst. Well, I'd rather be full. I mean, these things
are the opposite of what the natural man thinks. But listen
to these words. Blessed are the poor in spirit. To be poor in spirit is to have
nothing. to recommend you to God that
comes from you. Would that be you? You don't
have one thing about you that would recommend you to God's
favor. You are poor, destitute of righteousness. You see, it's only as you and
I have nothing that Christ will be all to us. If you have something,
Christ is not all to you. It's only as you have nothing
that Christ will be all to you. Now, David, the man after God's
own heart, the beloved, 10 times he made this description of himself. He said, I'm poor and I'm needy. Now, he was a very wealthy man.
He wasn't poor in purse, he was the king of Israel. But yet he
calls himself poor. I'm poor and I have great needs. Now would that describe you?
Poor with great needs. Now here's another way to ask
this question. Are you a sinner? I'm not asking if you're good.
I'm asking you, are you a sinner? That's what it is to be poor.
It's to be a sinner before God. And in the biblical sense, if
you're a sinner, you have great needs. You know, I quoted that scripture,
Psalm 65, blesses he whom thou choosest and causes to approach
to thee. He's talking about election,
God's choice of His people before time began. Now, there's some
people who argue and debate over election, and there's some people
who need election. They need God to choose them
and bring them into His presence, and they know they won't be saved
without it. Somebody who's poor needs the blood of Christ to
guarantee their salvation. They need His blood to be effectual
because if His blood doesn't do everything, they won't be
saved. Somebody that's poor in spirit
needs God's grace to be saving grace, invincible grace, irresistible
grace, all-powerful grace. Because if it's not that, I won't
be saved. It must be that way for me. Somebody
that's poor, how they need God to be who he is as he's revealed
in his word. They need a God just like God
reveals himself to be in the Bible to save them. That's what
I need, poor in spirit. I think it's interesting, the
first beatitude has to do with what you don't have rather than
what you do. I don't have anything. I'm totally
dependent upon Christ to be everything to me. Blessed are they that mourn. Now there are nine different
words in the New Testament used to describe being distraught,
being more mourning, troubled. This word, this particular word
is always used with reference to mourning over death. Very important. Blessed are they
that mourn. When somebody you love dies, You mourn. You can't bring them
back. While they were still alive,
there was some hope that maybe something can be done for them.
But when they die, all you can do is mourn. And that's what it means to mourn
over your sin. When I mourn over my sin, it's
not because I got caught. It's not because I got exposed.
It's not because I got humiliated. It's not because I was embarrassed
by being found out by somebody. All of those things are all true. But mourning over sin is when
you see you can't make it go away. And you mourn over your
sin. Like David said, my sin is ever
before me. Now that's the man after God's
own heart. That's his language. That's his description. My sin
is ever before me against thee and thee only have I sinned and
done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when
you speak and clear when you judge. Everything you do is right,
holy, just, and true. Now what is the blessing of mourning
for your sin? They shall be comforted. Everybody, without exception,
who mourns before God over their sin, they shall be comforted. And I know what they're comforted
with, the gospel. Isaiah 41 and 2, God says, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth your God. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem and say unto her, your warfare is accomplished. Your iniquity is pardoned. You've received of the Lord's
hand. The Lord's hand, not some preacher's hand, not some religious
person's hand. You've received of the Lord's hand double for
all your sins. Those sins you mourn over, instead
of being condemned for them, you're justified. They're put
away. You've received of the Lord's hand double for all your
sins. What a blessed thing it is to
mourn. This comes out of this poverty
of spirit. Blessed are they that mourn. They shall be comforted. Now
let me say that I'm gonna go back in the weeks to come, we're
gonna take them one at a time, but we're gonna consider them
all tonight. Blessed are they that mourn. The third beatitude,
blessed are the meek. Now the world thinks of this
as weakness. Yet Christ says, blessed are
the meek. but they shall inherit the earth. You know, the Lord described
himself like this. I am meek. This is the son of God. We just
read this glorious description of him in Hebrews one, the brightness
of God's glory, the express image of his person, upholding all
things by the word of his power, What glory, what might is in
this person, the Lord Jesus Christ? And yet he says, I am meek and
lowly in heart. Do you know no one that comes
to him as a sinner is ever threatened or judged by him? He saves them. I am meek and lowly in heart. Now, Meekness is an attitude
toward God that bows. Whatever he does is right. I don't have to understand it,
but I trust his character. Whatever he does is right. I might not see how it's going
to turn out the way I want it to. Maybe it won't turn out the
way I want it to, but whatever he does is right. Samuel tells Eli, God's going
to kill your two sons. What was Eli's response? It's
the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. That is meekness before God. It's an attitude toward God that
whatever he does is right and you bow to it without murmuring,
without complaining, without finding fault, without judging
him. Whatever he does is right. no matter what it is. You trust
His character. You're meek before Him. Blessed are the meek. You know,
that's a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We're not talking about someone
who's meek in a worldly sense, in a human sense. This is supernatural. The fruit of God, the Holy Spirit,
is meekness of the nine fruit that He mentions Verse five, blessed are they. Now, like I
said, the Lord knows who's blessed. These are the people he's blessed.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now, when you're hungry and thirsty,
you can't satisfy your thirst. You can't satisfy your hunger.
It's gotta come from outside of you, doesn't it? Now, when
you're hungry and thirsting after righteousness, it's because you
know that you do not personally have any. You're bankrupt. You do not have any righteousness,
but you hunger and thirst for it. You know it's gotta come.
from outside of you, you know you will not have it unless He
gives it to you, and you hunger and you thirst for righteousness. You don't want to stand before
God on your own. You don't want to stand before
God in your own works. You want to be found in Christ.
You want to have Christ's righteousness as your personal righteousness
before God. You hunger and thirst after His
righteousness. Paul put it this way in Philippians
3, 9, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness, which is of
God by faith. Now here's the promise to all
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they'll be filled,
filled all the way to the brim. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete. That means plumb
full all the way to the brim. You can't hold any more. You
can't get any more righteousness than you already have in Him. Here's the promise to everyone
that hungers and thirsts after this righteousness. Where'd the
hunger and thirst come from? He gave it to you. There was
a time when you had no hunger and thirst after righteousness.
You're okay. but oh now you hunger and thirst,
that is being blessed of God. Verse six, I'm sorry, verse seven. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. How'd you get to be merciful? God made you that way, and He
did it by showing you your need of mercy. Mercy, you need mercy when your
sin is all your fault. You can't blame it on anybody
else. You can't blame it on your circumstances. You can't blame
it on the way you were raged. You can't blame it on the people
that are around you. You can't say, well, who could,
of course I'm like this. Look at the circumstance I'm
in. No, you need mercy when your sin is all your fault. You're not a victim. It's all
your fault. You don't have some kind of sense
of entitlement. All you're seeing is all your fault. Now, if all
you're seeing is all your fault, what do you need? Mercy. Mercy. Everyone who needs mercy
obtains mercy. And everyone who obtains mercy
becomes merciful. God delights in mercy. Everyone
that experiences mercy delights in his mercy and wants to show
mercy to others. This is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Verse 9. Blessed are the pure in Now this verse of scripture,
the first time I read it, I can remember the first time I read
it. I was a teenager reading the Sermon on the Mount and I
read this blessed of the pure in heart and I thought, uh-oh, that leaves me out. I can't attain
unto this. Blessed are the pure in heart
because it doesn't say blessed are they that want to be pure
in heart. It doesn't say blessed are the partially pure in heart.
There's no such thing as partial pureness. It's talking about
blessed are the pure in heart. Now what this is a reference
to is the new heart that He gives. This is what John is talking
about when he said, he that's born of God doth not commit sin. He cannot sin. He lacks the ability
to sin because his seed, the seed of God, remains in him. God put it there. There it is.
Pure. You see, really, it's only the
pure in heart that are poor in spirit. No one without this pure
heart will ever be poor in spirit. It's only the pure in heart that
mourn over their sin. You know, the new man takes the
blame for the sins of the old man, and he mourns over that
sin. It's only the pure in heart that
is meek. It is only the pure in heart
that hungers and thirsts for righteousness. It's only the
pure in heart that is merciful. It's only the pure in heart that
is peacemaker. Blessed are the pure in heart. This is that new
heart that He gives. You still got the whole one,
you know that. You feel him every day, but you've got the new heart.
And it's only the pure in heart that see God. No unbeliever has
any concept of the living God. They've got their ideas and they've
got their thoughts and they've got their opinion, but they have
no concept of the true and living God. It takes a pure heart, a
new heart. You have to be born again before
you can see or understand or enter into the kingdom of God.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Verse nine, blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Now this is
speaking of more than a non-contentious spirit. It's not simply talking
about someone who doesn't stir things up and cause contention
and cause discord and sow seeds of doubt and cause trouble. Now, I want to be a peaceful
person, don't you? I don't want to be a troublemaker.
I want to be a peaceful person as much as life in you is. Live peaceably with all I love
the short description Peter gives of the gospel. Peace by Jesus
Christ. Peace with God. Peace among brethren. Peace with the world in the sense
that I'm not jealous of the world. I don't want what they have.
I'm accepted in the beloved. I'm not, you know, what do you
got that I want? Peace. The peace of knowing he's
in absolute control. He is my peace. Now that's peace.
But I have no doubt that a peacemaker is the one who preaches the gospel
of peace. And that's not just talking about
the preacher. That's talking about everybody who stands for the gospel of
peace. That's a peacemaker. Jesus Christ is the peacemaker,
having made peace by the blood of His cross. By Him, I say,
whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you
that were before times enemies, alienated in your minds by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled, there's peace, in the body of
His flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in His sight. That's a peacemaker, preaching
the gospel of peace, peace on earth, goodwill toward men, God's
goodwill toward men. Blessed are the peacemakers.
You know, our purpose for being here is peace by Jesus Christ. That's the message we want everybody
to hear, peace by Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all peacemakers. And then finally, He says in
verse 10, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Now, as the Lord talked about
being persecuted for righteous living, being persecuted for
paying your bills, being persecuted for being honest, being persecuted
for doing good to others, being persecuted for being fair. That's
not what he's talking about. When he's talking about being
persecuted for righteousness sake, every believer stands for the
truth that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only righteousness
there is and the only one they know. And in making that statement,
they're saying all human righteousness, the best thing you could say
about me or you, whatever it might be, all human righteousness
is as filthy rags. And if somebody's hoping in their
personal righteousness and they hear that you believe their righteousness
is nothing more than filthy rags, they're gonna be offended. They're
not gonna like you. Here's what'll happen, verse
11, blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute
you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for
my sake. Why, the stuff he believes will
lead to sin, it'll lead to indifference, it'll lead to apathy, it'll destroy
missions. Why, there's so many problems
with that. What does the Lord say? Rejoice and be exceeding
glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted
they the prophets which were before you. Now these are who
the Lord says is blessed. And the reason they're blessed
is because He blessed them. And the reason they're poor,
and mourn, and are meek, and hunger and thirst after righteousness,
and are merciful, and are pure in heart, and are peacemakers,
and are persecuted for righteousness sake, is because of His blessing
upon them. He, speaking with the authority
of God, declares to us who is blessed. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
blessing, and Lord, would you make everybody in this room,
by your grace, poor in spirit, those who mourn over sin, those
who are meek before you and hunger and thirst for your righteousness,
that are merciful, pure in heart, peacemaker, persecuted for your
righteousness sake. Lord, this is your blessing. We ask that you would do this
for us and in us and enable us to preach your gospel in this
generation for Christ's sake. In his name we pray, amen.