seeking once again the help of
God. I'd like us to turn together
to the chapter that we read in the Gospel according to Matthew
and chapter 5 and the text you'll find in verse 5. Blessed are
the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Those who were here this morning
will remember that we looked at the Lord Jesus Christ and
his entry into Jerusalem as he came riding upon a donkey and
as the people cried out, Hosanna, save us and they laid their garments
in the road and as they laid the palms in the road and the
Lord Jesus Christ passed through and ended up or went straight
to the temple and there he overturned or purged the temple as he found
no fruit only we could say worldliness that had crept in. But the Bible
tells us that the Lord Jesus came on a donkey as a symbol
of peace. He is the king of peace and he
entered into Jerusalem, the city of peace. and he came with meekness
and meekness was a characteristic trait of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was not a weakness of him
but it was a strength of him and as he begins his sermon on
the mount he describes those who are blessed or in a condition
of being blessed and as we look at these Beatitudes, these blessings
of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are in a state of being blessed,
we would say that, naturally speaking, these were not what
we would deem blessed conditions. Normally when we say, the Lord
bless you, we would not think of saying, the Lord bless you
with a poor spirit. The Lord bless you and make you
mourn. would normally have in our mind
something more positive. The Lord bless you with health,
the Lord bless you with help throughout this day, the Lord
bless you with strength for the day and provisions for your family
and we would look at things in a more positive light but the
Lord Jesus Christ begins to lay down the truth that those who
are truly in a blessed position, those who are truly blessed are
those who are poor in spirit. And it's not really the first
part that makes them blessed. It is what that position causes
to take place. It's like saying, blessed is
the man that digs a well. for that well shall be filled. It is the filling of the well
that is the blessing. It is what can be drawn from
the well that is the blessing. And so it's not a blessed position
to be poor in spirit but what that poor in spirit produces
or gains you is what is blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Why? For theirs shall be the kingdom
of God. Their cup has been emptied therefore
it can be it filled and so it is a blessing to be poor in spirit
for they have been taught of God to see nothing in themselves
They have seen that they are bankrupt in the sight of a holy
God and therefore it is a blessed position or condition to be in
for they receive the true blessing. And so Jesus says, blessed are
they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the
meek for they shall inherit the earth. To be blessed
is to be lifted up or to be enlarged And so these disciples of Christ
who he has invited to come to himself as he enters up as he
goes up into the mountain he sets himself ready and his disciples
come up to him he begins to speak to them. There are these blessings for
his followers there are these enlargements in their lives they
are to be to receive a great favour of
God. Peter tells us in 1 Peter, although he is speaking specifically
about women in 1 Peter 3, and from verse three he says,
whose adorning let it not be with outward adorning of the
plaiting of hair, or of the wearing of gold, or the putting on of
apparel, but let it be in the hidden man of the heart, in that
which is not corruptible, even the adornment of a meek and a
quiet spirit, which are in the sight of God a great price. a meek and a quiet spirit. Jesus
says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. We go to the book of Galatians,
it tells us there that part of the fruit of the spirit is indeed
meekness. Galatians chapter 5, verse 22,
it says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such there is no such law. And so Peter, although he's writing
specifically to women, to say that their adornment, let it
not be with the outward adorning of the flesh, with the plaiting
of hair and of putting on of beautiful clothes, but let it
be of a meek and a quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is
a great price. It's that their beauty, Their
beauty as a godly woman is not to be seen in the outward appearance,
but to be seen in the transformation of the heart that gives her a
meek and a quiet spirit. But if this is an attribute or
a fruit of the spirit of God, then this is to be seen in all
the people of God. not just in the women but also
in the men. As it was seen in the Lord Jesus
Christ, he was meek as he rode in into Jerusalem, meek and lowly
of heart. And so the attribute of God that
is seen in the life of a Christian is that of meekness as Christ speaks to his disciples upon
the mount and says that that is a blessed condition to be
in. In this world in business life
and even in normal life you don't get very far by being meek. A businessman has to strive There
are certain characteristics of successful business people that
they don't mind running over or stepping on other people to
get where they want. They have a goal in which to
achieve something and they won't stop at anything unless they
achieve that goal. They're quite happy to push this
one aside, push that one aside, tread on this one, tread on that
one, as long as they continue to achieve. And these people
in the sight of the unconverted are held up as great achievers. People seem to lose sight of
all the people that they have hurt along the way and they're
set up as successful businessmen, successful politicians or business
ladies and things like that. And this characteristic of meekness
is not seen by the world as something to be praised. Yet in the sight of
God, as he sees himself in the life of a believer, he states
that it is a blessed condition for those that are meek. Jesus is meekness. If you look at that time when
he was before Pilate in the Garden of Gethsemane and Peter strikes
off the servant of the high priest's ear and Jesus says to him, that he is able to, in chapter
26 and verse 53, thinkest thou not that I cannot now pray to
my father, and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions
of angels? But how then shall the scriptures
be fulfilled that this must be? And here we see Christ exercising
meekness. He is falling under the complete
submission of the will of the Father, knowing that this is
the way in which he must go. He is not to fight. He says, I can at this very moment
call down 12 legions of angels and to fight my case, to deliver
me from this arrest. But he exercises meekness and
that meekness is not a cowardliness. That meekness is not without
backbone. That meekness is his strength.
He restrains his power. He restrains his authority and
he submits to the will of his father. And then as he stands
before men, as he stands at the judgment seat and they question
him and they reason with him trying to accuse him. They find
no fault with him and they release Barabbas and they scourge Jesus
and deliver him to be crucified. We think this same man who they
said, what manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves
obey him, is now giving himself to the scourging. He's now falling
under the authority or the corrupt rule and judgment of man so that
he may bring about the salvation of his dear people. And this
is meekness. led as a lamb to the slaughter,
the scripture tells us. And they took Jesus into the
common hall, and they gathered unto him a whole band of soldiers,
and they stripped him and put a scarlet robe upon him. And
when they had plaited the crown of thorns, they put it upon his
head and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee
before him and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. And they
spat upon him and took a reed and smote him on the head. And
after that they had mocked him. They took the robe from him and
put his own raiment on him and they led him away to be crucified. You want to know what true meekness
is? It is there. this man all authority and power
has been given to him yet to fulfill the will of God he humbled
himself made himself of no reputation so that he may die upon the cross
at Calvary and though he is king although they mock him and say
hail king of the Jews how many times have you and I been mocked
How many times have you and I been accused of something that you
haven't done and you want to fight, you want to get justice,
you want to put your point across and you won't back down. That's not meekness. The Lord Jesus Christ understood
this to be the will of God and he allowed these things to take
place. In Isaiah, he tells us there
about the Lord Jesus Christ, the servant of the Lord that
would come. In verse 7 it says specifically,
he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before
her shearers is done so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from
prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation
for he was cut off Out of the land of the living, for the transgressions
of my people, he was stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit found in his mouth. And so the
Lord Jesus Christ is led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep
before her shearers is done, so he opened not his mouth. if you think of what is taking
place. This lamb that is to be slaughtered
is not just a lamb. He's also the lion of the tribe
of Judah. He has the ability to put a stop
to everything. He has the ability to take the
lives of all of those that accused him and crucified him and to
throw them all into hell in one moment yet he is as a lamb not in weakness but in restraint,
in meekness trying to think of a way to describe
it. I can only think of the film called Born Free. And Born Free, they rescue a
lion, Elsa. And that lion has the ability,
the nature to tear to pieces any person that comes near. Yet she allows them to play with
her as a kitten. She restrains her natural tendency
to tear and to devour and to kill and she allows herself to
be played with. And the Lord Jesus Christ, yes,
he was the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, but
he is also the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the king of all
the world. Jesus is king. And they crucified
the king of the Jews. Although they mocked him, Yet
he is the king of the Jews. Not only is he the king of the
Jews but he is the king of the whole world and in him we see
what true meekness is. A restraint or a choice not to
do what he should or what he could do. Moses in the Old Testament
as Christ also was a type of Moses. Moses was also described
as a meek man, had that privileged upbringing
living in the palace, in Pharaoh's palace, being raised by Pharaoh's
daughter yet he chose to suffer affliction with the people of
God and to live in the tents of wickedness just for a season. And the Lord called him out and
used him in a mighty way to deliver his people. And it is said of
him, Moses, in Numbers chapter 12 and verse 3. Now the man Moses
was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the
earth. As we look at the life of Moses
we might say that there were times in his life when he didn't
come across as very meek. But there are also times in the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ when he didn't come across as
very meek. But meekness is not weakness. The Lord Jesus Christ in righteous
anger overthrew the tables that were in the temple. The Lord Jesus Christ in righteous anger or indignation against
the scribes and the Pharisees spoke to them with those great
woes and exposed their sin. He was not afraid of them. And Moses, as he was in Egypt,
killed a man. As he came down from the mountain
with the Ten Commandments in his hand, seeing the sinful behaviour
of the people of God and worshipping idols and dancing around to idols,
he throws the law of God down and smashes it and then grinds
the idol into dust and forces the people to drink the water. We see that God tells him to
strike the rock and that the water would come. And we see
there that he strikes the rock and he shouts at the rock and
says, must I bring water out of this rock, ye rebels. And
yet because of that sin, because of that anger or disobedience,
the Lord judged him for it. But the times when he acted in
anger or righteous anger were because of sin that was taking
place. The Lord Jesus Christ acted in
righteous anger because of sin that was taking place in the
temple and because of sin that was taking place in the religious
people of that day. Moses acted in anger because
he saw the Egyptian killing an Israelite. Moses acted in anger
because he saw that the people of God had turned away from God
and were worshipping idols. characteristic or the theme that
ran through his life was not a theme of anger. We can pick
out these one or two times when he responded to sinful situations
and he dealt with them in a righteous way to put them down. But the theme of his life was
that of meekness and humility. humility with God, walking in
obedience with God, doing what God wanted him to do and living
in favour and gentleness with man. It was his father-in-law
who told him, look Moses, you're doing too much. You're going
to overwork yourself by sitting from morning to night dealing
with all of these people. and he listened in meekness and
he responded to the advice that was given. He loved the people.
Just as the Lord Jesus Christ loved the people, he had compassion
upon the multitude and he desired for them to be fed. And so Jesus says, Blessed are
the meek for they shall inherit the earth. So this meekness in Christ and
this meekness in Moses and this meekness that should be seen
through the Spirit of God in dwelling in the people of God
is not a weakness of character. It's not that we would never
rise up and we just allow people to walk all over us but there
are times when we need to make a stand and if we look at Christ
that stand comes because of sin and sin in the people of God. If you look at the The chapter that we read together, right at the end, it seems to
me that Christ lays out some interesting points regarding
this lifestyle of meekness for the people of God. In verse 38, it says, you have heard
that it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I say
unto you that ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee
on thy right cheek turn to him the other also. The Lord Jesus
Christ never asks his people to do something that he did not
do. And as we see him in the judgment
hall, when they mock him and they say, prophesy unto us, tell
us who it is who smoked you. Jesus knew exactly who they were. He knew the day that they were
born. He knew their mother and their father. He knew their name. He knew the exact day that they
would die. He knew whether they would be in heaven or that they
would be in hell. so he never asks us to do anything
that he himself has not passed through. He has been despised
and rejected of men. He has been struck on one cheek
and he has turned the other also. And it is then a suppression
of one's character, a suppression of the injustice that we feel
that has been done to us, that we are to restrain ourselves
and to act in meekness when the time comes that there may be
that opportunity to fight He smacks you on one cheek and
you tell him, hit me on the other also. Why can we say such things? If we understand the relationship
that we are in with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, we will
understand this, that he that touches you or he that touches
me touches the apple of God's eye. God knows everything that takes
place in your life. God knows everything and the
reason why things take place. He knows if you are suffering
persecution. You think of the Apostle Paul
as he is stopped by the Lord Jesus Christ and he is told,
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You see, when the church,
when the people of God are touched, Christ is touched. And so if one person smites you
on one cheek and because of Christ you don't retaliate, you don't
fight, you turn the other cheek, Christ knows about that. And
the scripture tells us, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith
the Lord. And this is something that kept
me going in Kenya. Constantly we were being deceived. Constantly we were being swindled
and tricked. But every time I thought they
have not done it to me. They are doing it to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ allowed these things to take place. Christ
knows exactly what is taking place and vengeance belongs to
him. If any man sue you, take you
to court, to take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him too. Give to him that ask of thee,
and from him that would borrow, from thee turn thou not away.
You have heard It has been said, I shall love thy neighbor and
hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them that despisefully use you and persecute you. Why
does the Lord Jesus Christ say this? Because if you harbor this
bitterness and envy and jealousy in your heart, you will be consumed. The scripture tells us don't
let any root of bitterness dwell within you and so we're to pray
for those. You can't harbour bitterness
if you've got to come and present your enemies to the Lord. You
must confess that bitterness and that hatred that you have
and ask that it may be changed into love just like your father
that is in heaven. He says pray for your enemies
and bless them that curse you and do good to them that hate
you. How opposite that is to our human
nature. How opposite and how hard that
is for our flesh. Yet the Bible tells us we're
to put to death the lusts of the flesh and we're to be walking
in the spirit of God. That we're to manifest the attributes
of God in our life and that spirit of meekness is to shine forth,
not the spirit of anger, not the spirit of justifying or the
spirit of overcoming or the spirit of gaining my own ground or defeating
my enemies but it's the spirit of meekness that Christ knows. that you may be the children
of your father which is in heaven for he makes the sun to rise
on the evil and on the good and sends the rain on the just and
on the unjust and he says you're to be different you are to be
different from the people in the world you are to be the same
as your father which is in heaven we're allowed to call God our
father because we have been adopted into the family of God therefore
we can approach God as our Father in heaven and he expects us to
be like him. Yes we cannot be like him but
that does not mean that we're not to strive to be like him,
we're not to crucify our flesh to shine forth as lights in a
dark place, that we are to be like him, that we're to magnify
Christ and God in our lives. He said if you love them which
love you, what reward have you? Even the people of the world
do the same. The people of the world seek for friends and acquaintances
who like them and he says you're to be different. You're not to
be like the people of the world because you've been changed.
You've been brought into the kingdom of light. You have been
made alive by the Spirit of God. You have a new heart, a new mind,
a new will, a new nature. The Spirit of Christ is in you. And don't just greet your friends. If you salute your brethren only,
what do you more than others? not even the tax collectors the
same. Be ye therefore perfect even
as your father which is in heaven is perfect. And they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live
in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let us not be
desirous of vain glory, provoking one another and envying one another. This is what Christ expects of
his children. How far short we fall. how easy
it is for our nature to suppress the spirit and that we act in
anger or we act in an ungodly way to situations. And so we can see that it is
a blessing. Blessed are the meek who react in meekness to all
the situations of life, for they shall inherit the earth. It's not this earth. Although
meekness will help you to live a quiet and a peaceable life
on this earth, yet our inheritance is not here. The scripture tells us that there
will be a new heaven and a new earth in Revelation 21. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. He says, blessed are the meek,
for they shall. This meekness comes from God. And therefore, they who possess
that meekness, who possess the spirit of God, they shall inherit
the earth. Because that which is done in
them is the work of God himself. It is him who has put that meekness
there. It is him who has changed their
nature. It is him who has changed their
heart. It is him who has turned them
around and set them forth on that narrow way that leads to
life. It is him who has made them a part of his family. It
is him who has given them that inheritance of the kingdom of
God and they shall inherit the kingdom of God. They shall inherit
that new heaven and that new earth. And that's without a doubt.
Jesus said in John, I go to prepare a place for you and I will come
again and I will receive you unto myself. It is guaranteed
to take place. And those who have the spirit
of God, they have that seal, that guarantee, that guarantor. that their place in heaven is
secured and that when they die or that when Christ comes again
they have a place in the new heaven and the new earth. Now this meekness is something
that we have to pray over. Some people by their nature are
timid and cowards. This is a meekness. We can't help the nature and
the character that we are born with. But if we are the children
of God, we have been given the Holy Spirit of God and we are
able to come up to the position that God desires that we should
be in and that is a position of meekness and that is a position
of strength. those who are cowards, those
who are weak by nature have to step up into that position. The Lord Jesus Christ was not
just placid all the time, he had to step up to overthrow the
tables. He had to express that righteous
anger. And Moses also, he had to be
that strong, effective leader. And he was not always placid
so that people walked over him, but he had to be strong. And
he had to exercise that authority that was given to him by God
and at times rebuke the people. And so he had to step up to that
position. of meekness it wasn't his by
nature it's not given by nature it's a gift of the spirit of
God and therefore those who are timid have to step up to that
position but those who have an angry disposition or a determined
disposition have to step down They have to come down and produce
meekness. They have to pray as the weak
one has to pray to come up. So they have to pray to come
down so that they fit on the same level. And we are not to
allow our flesh to rule over us or to determine how we react
to situations in life. We're to be led by the spirit
of God. And sometimes that may mean a
stepping up. Or that may mean a stepping down. A lifting up of the natural character. Stepping into a position that
you may not want to be in. Position of leadership maybe.
or that may mean stepping down. If you are a leader by nature,
as some people are, yet they're not given that position of leadership,
there is that submission that has to take place, that stepping
down. Some people react quickly like
Peter to situations. And there needs to be that restraining.
Some people act very slowly to situations and there needs to
be that speeding up. Things that come not natural
to them but each has to come to that point of meekness and
to be led by the Spirit of God and not to be led by the weaknesses
and the tendencies of our flesh. So the Lord Jesus says, blessed
are they who possess this meekness because they are part of the
kingdom of God and they will inherit, they have an inheritance
and they shall possess that inheritance in the new heaven and the new
earth. May the Lord help us then either
to step up into meekness or to step down into meekness and to
be more like our Lord Jesus Christ and Saviour. Amen. Let's sing in conclusion from
Gadsby's hymn number 79. 79. Behold what wondrous grace the
Father has bestowed on sinners of a mortal race to call them
sons of God. Hymn 79, tune 11. Oh, what fun it is to ride day that we should meet again,
a Jewish world uniting us ever, we learn, but if we see the Savior
there, we shall be glad. But you will see. Yeah. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
thee for the privilege of being able to approach thee as our
Father which art in heaven. We thank thee for the work of
thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who enables us to have
that privilege to be able to approach thee as our God, as
our King and as our Father. We pray Lord that we may be granted
that true spirit of meekness. We ask that we may be helped
either to step up into meekness or to step down into meekness
and be able to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour. do lord forgive us we pray of
our sin and do do dismiss us with thy blessing and now with
the grace of the lord jesus christ and the love of god the father
with the fellowship and the communion of the holy spirit to be with
us each now and forevermore amen