With the Lord's help I'd like
to direct your attention to that passage of scripture that we
read together. and particularly the verses 3 to 12 of this passage
we commonly call this the Beatitudes we commonly call this passage
of scripture that starts at verse 3 of chapter 5 through to the
end of chapter 7 it's commonly called the Sermon on the Mount
because it tells us in the first verse of this chapter that seeing
the multitudes the Lord Jesus Christ went up into the mountain
and there his disciples came to him and when the Lord Jesus
was sat down sitting down was the normal posture of the disciples
of the rabbis that they would sit as they spoke in the synagogues
and the Lord Jesus Christ took the same manner we stand when
we preach but in the Jewish way of things the rabbis would sit
down and the disciples would come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and they sat at his feet and you remember of course that the
Apostle Paul when he was speaking on one occasion he said that
he was brought up in Jerusalem sitting at the feet of Gamaliel,
a great expositor of the law. He would have expounded the the
Talmud and his pupils including Paul would have sat at his feet
and he would have been sitting and likewise the Lord Jesus Christ
here was sitting and he spoke these words, these words that
we call the Beatitudes and we'll come on to that word in a few
moments time. This is an address, these verses,
these chapters are an address to the disciples. They're not
an indiscriminate addressing. It would appear that, as you
read through the Stone of the Mount, tenor of the teaching
of the Lord Jesus Christ altered round about verse 13 of chapter
7 where the Lord Jesus says enter ye in at the straight gate for
wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction
and in my mind's eye I have the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
sitting on a stone with his disciples sitting at his feet and as he
progressed through his teaching there were those who came of
that great multitude seeing the great multitudes he went up into
a mountain one by one there would be those who would have climbed
the mountain and they would have stood on the outer rim of the
disciples and they would have stood and listened and when there
was a great crowd there the Lord Jesus Christ changed his method
of speaking, not just speaking to the disciples, but also speaking
to the crowd. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate. Chapters 5 and 6 and part of
chapter 7 up to verse 12 are an exposition for the Lord's
people. Jesus is here expounding I looked
at William Secker's little book, The Nonsuch Professor. and he
commences that little book and if you have never read it I would
recommend you to get hold of a copy and read it it is available
as an e-publication and various printed editions are still made
available but William Secker of Puritan Divine he commences
his book The Nonsense Professor by saying in a mountain the law
was propounded by Moses. In a mountain the law was expounded
by Jesus. In a mountain the law was expounded
by Jesus. These few chapters of the Gospel
according to Matthew are an exposition of the perfect law of liberty. remember how James writes in
his epistle that whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty
and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a
doer of the word this man shall be blessed in his deed or in his doing in that which
he does he will receive the blessing of almighty God And here we see
the difference in the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the teaching of the Pharisees. You see the Pharisees were there
to expound the law and they brought people into bondage. But it was
the Lord Jesus who brought people into liberty. You remember how
the Apostle Paul writes to the Galatians when he says, stand
fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage and
the Pharisees as they taught their disciples
they brought their disciples more and more into bondage to
the keeping of the law but the child of God has been delivered
from the law Now, we're told that there are three purposes
in the law. But the first purpose for the
law is for the good order of society. No one can disagree
with that. The Ten Commandments are there,
and they list the requirements for a good order of society.
And very few would disagree with the vast majority of those laws,
and we can agree with that also. The second purpose of the law
is to bring sinners under conviction of sin. Says the Apostle Paul,
I had not known sin. until the law came and it wrought
in me he says all manner of concupiscence Romans chapter 7 he expounds
the second purpose of the law I had not known sin but by the
law for I had not known lust except the law had said thou
shalt not covet and so he goes on for sin taking occasion by
the commandment deceived me and it slew me. So the second purpose
of the law is to bring us to see our emptiness, to see our
rebellion against God. Have we been brought to that
place? have we seen, has the law entered into our hearts and
have we been brought to see our corruption? remember how Jeremiah
speaks he says that the heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked and he uses superlatives as he says
that he doesn't just say that the heart is deceitful it's as
if the prophet Jeremiah is writing his scroll under the inspiration
of the spirit of God and he thinks to himself that's not sufficient
to describe the state of the human heart so he writes again
the heart is deceitful above all things and then he thinks
again but that is still not sufficient to describe the human heart and
so he writes again the heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked and he thinks perhaps to himself that
sums up the state of my heart that sums up the state of every
human heart the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked and when the law comes when the spirit of God applies
the law to our hearts then we see our sinfulness we see our
corruption we see our rebellion against God that's the second
purpose of the law but the third purpose of the law is that to
which we take exception because there are those who tell us that
the law is the rule of life for the child of God but we have
the law of liberty just read those words from James a few
moments ago the perfect law of liberty and here the Sermon on
the Mount is an exposition of the law of liberty of the freedom
that the child of God has it's not license we are free from
the law but we do not have license Paul asks the question there
in the opening verse of Romans chapter 6 what shall we say then? shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid how shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? and he goes on to speak
that we should walk in newness of life so the law is expounded
by the Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel Law the Law of Liberty
in many ways it is more demanding than the Mosaic Law turn to verse
41 of this chapter and whosoever and whoso shall compel thee to
go a mile go with him twain and what the Lord Jesus Christ is
referring to here is the position of the law not the Mosaic law
but the Roman law Israel was under the occupation of the Roman
armies and if a Roman soldier was travelling from one town
to another he could compel an Israelite to carry his burden
for a mile and the law demanded that he obey that soldier. The law makes its demands. Walk
with me a mile and carry my burden. But the gospel, says the Lord
Jesus Christ, says go with him twain. It is more demanding.
The law might make its demand upon us to appear to live a holy
life. But the gospel makes more demands.
and as we read through this part of this chapter we saw the demands of the gospel
you have heard that it was said by them of old time thou shalt
not commit adultery but I say unto you that whoso looketh upon
a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already
in his heart and so this is an exposition of the mosaic law,
bringing out the law of gospel liberty. But it's not that I
want us to look at, and time is hastening on very quickly.
It is the 12th The verses down to verse 12 are
what we call the Beatitudes. Beatitude, I believe is the word,
is Latin for blessed. the word blessed is in the Greek
it's makarios which means happy or happiness and likewise in
the Hebrew the word is also blessed I don't remember the Hebrew word
but it is translated as blessed or happy and the first time that
word appears in the Old Testament is in Psalm 1 where we read blessed
or happy 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 in his
law doth he meditate day and night happiness How do we find
happiness? The world is seeking happiness. in the current climates there
have been some of these great football matches I've never have
really been a fan of football so I can't speak with any authority
but you see the pictures of the fans exuberant when their team
scores a goal and equally miserable when the opposite team scores
a goal they're up one minute with happiness and then down
in the dumps and this is just a picture of the whole wide world
seeking happiness, seeking contentment and yet they never find it because
there is only true happiness, true pleasure
in the Lord Jesus Christ, in living with him and for him and
to him, looking for that blessed hope of the appearing of the
Lord Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, says Peter, ye love. but there will be a time when
we will see him face to face we will see him who our soul
loves there will be supreme pleasure that will never be taken away
from us over here in this world we walk through a veil of tears
that there is that true happiness in love for the Lord Jesus Christ
Isaiah speaks of the happiness of the child of God in the opening
verses of chapter 43 of his prophecy the child of God is happy because
he has the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ But now thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name, thou art mine. And if you look at the first
three verses, there are seven particulars pertaining to the
happiness of the child of God. First of all, he's redeemed.
Secondly, he's called. Thirdly, he belongs to his God. Fourthly, he has the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ with him. Fifthly, when he is in temptation
and in trial, he will not be burned. When thou walkest through
the fire thou shalt not be burned. Sixthly, he has the anchor of
Almighty God, for I am the Lord thy God, and if you look at that
verse three, you see the word Lord in capital letters, and
it means that we have the covenant God with us. And then the seventh
particular of happiness is that we have a saviour. For I am the
Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy saviour. How do we
see the Lord Jesus Christ as our saviour? The one who has
saved us. The one who has saved us from our sinfulness. The one
who has saved us from a broken law. The one who has saved us
from the penalty of a broken law. The one who has saved us
from a lost eternity. and is bringing us to glory and
one day we will hear the words, if we're being called by grace,
come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. So we have in the
first place then, as we look at each of these verses down
to verse 11, we have that word blessed. Blessed, makarios, happy. Happy are those people. What
a mercy it is if we are happy in our life because we have been
brought to a knowledge, a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,
why he came to this earth, why he gave his life, a ransom for
many. we are happy because we've been
called by his grace what a mercy it is to be in that blessed position
that we have the assurance given us that we will be not only happy
in this life but we will be happy in the life to come and we will
be singing the praises of the Lord Jesus Christ. I like a lot
of the book of the Revelation. There is that picture, that vision
given John, where he sees the lamb as it had been slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God.
and the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fall down before
the Lord Jesus Christ and they sing a new song and they sing
that song, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the
seals thereof for Thou has slain and has redeemed us to God and
has made us unto our God kings and priests Wesley paraphrases
it in one of his hymns and he says so we cast our crowns before
thee lost in wonder love and praise, blessed, happy all we
amongst the happy people of God are we amongst those people so
there is that pleasure of godliness that pleasure of being in the
presence of the Lord Jesus Christ that pleasure of being with him
and having sweet fellowship with him but when sin enters We are
sinners, we are still sinners. That happiness departs, writes
Cooper. Where is the blessedness I knew
when first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing
view of Jesus in his word? Then he goes on to say, Return,
O holy dove, return, sweet messenger of rest. I hate the sins that
made thee mourn and drove thee from thy breast. And then finally
it goes on to say, so shall my walk be close with God. Oh can
we say, can we sing that hymn? Can we say those words? Can we
say them in sincerity? So shall my walk be close with
God. Oh God grant that we might have
that sweet experience of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is that pleasure that is there in these verse blessed.
And then there are the people that are described in these verses. blessed are the poor in spirit
blessed are they that mourn and so the Lord Jesus Christ goes
on to speak about those but they are all particular cases they
are not indiscriminate they are blessings that are attached to
particular people and there are two kinds of blessings here in
verses 3 down to verse 6 we have we have that blessedness that
belongs to those people who have been brought under a conviction
of sin blessed are the poor in spirit the Lord Jesus Christ
is not speaking about economic poverty the poor, he says, you
shall have with you always no, the poverty here is where a person
is brought to see their spiritual poverty again have we been brought
to that position where we come before a holy God just as Isaiah
did as recorded in the 6th chapter of his prophecy and he sees that
great vision of the holiness of God he sees the cherubim flying
one cherubim and seraphim flying in the temple and crying to one
another holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts and he sees
this glorious vision of holiness and he looks within his own heart
and he says oh woe is me for I am undone I dwell amongst the
people of unclean lips and so on he sees his poverty just a
top lady says nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I
cling naked come to thee for dress helpless look to thee for
grace foul eye to the fountain fly wash me, saviour, or I die
so that's the first condition poverty of spirit and then those
that mourn those that mourn not mourning for a loved one but
we do mourn for loved ones when they pass away into eternity
we mourn because we've lost friends or relatives we mourn because
we've lost their company but this is not that kind of mourning
this is mourning over our sinful state not only knowing our sin
but mourning over it regretting everything that we have done
it's as if the Lord by his Spirit brings that great list of sins
before us and we see the roll of the parchment written that
we've done this, this, this and this and the roll goes on and
on and on and never seems to come to an end what a mercy it is that the Apostle
Paul says handwriting of ordinances is blotted out. The picture that
Paul is drawing there is that of a bankrupt. Someone who has
been trading and he has gone bankrupt and he can no longer
pay his bills. and so the banker comes to his
house this is in 1st century Rome the 1st century Roman Empire
the bankers would come with the list of debts and he would nail
them to the door of the house of the bankrupt so everyone could
see his debts but Paul says the handwriting
ordinances that ordinance that has been nailed to his door is
blotted out, the debt is paid How is the debt paid? Well, look
to Calvary, because that debt has been wiped out in the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Says Peter again, we have not
been redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold,
but with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, one
ruby red drop of that blood is of infinite worth, because it
cleanses us from sin. blessed are they that mourn blessed
are the meek when we see our poverty when we mourn for our
sin all pride goes all boasting Paul asks that question where
is boasting then? it is excluded blessed are the
meek have we been meekened? 2 men, writes Luke in his Gospel
went up to the temple to pray the one a Pharisee, the one a
publican and the one made his boast God I thank thee I'm not
like other men and so he goes through all the list of his good
works but says the Lord Jesus thus he prayed by himself but
the other one he knew something of sin he knew the burden of
sin and he wouldn't enter into the court he wouldn't go into
the court of the Gentiles he stood at the back of the temple
smote his breast, wouldn't even lift his eyes up to heaven but
he said, God be merciful to me as sinner and so when there is
that poverty of spirit when there is that mourning, when there
is that meekness then there follows one other thing there is that
hungering and thirsting for righteousness it's a psalm 42, isn't it? that speaks about the year as
the heart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after
thee, O God and again a picture is being drawn by the writer
of this psalm he is saying the heart, the deer in the forest
he is being chased the hunters are after him and he is panting
and he needs to get away from them to put on further speed
to escape the hunters to escape the hounds and so he pants and
he thirsts for the water brook so that he can take a refreshing
drink and then says the psalmist so panteth my soul after thee,
O God my soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall
I come and appear before him? do we have that thirst for God?
or do we tire? of the things of God, do we tire
of attending the place of worship? Do we tire of sitting under the
sound of the ministry of the Gospel? The psalmist here, he
didn't tire of these things, he thirsted for God, he thirsted
for Him, like my soul thirsteth for God, for the living God when
shall I come and appear before God blessed are they which do
hunger and thirst after righteousness and then the tone of the beatitudes
alters the time has virtually gone so I'll just passivate this
very quickly the tone of the beatitudes alters in that having
pass through those phases of desiring God and they are brought
to saving grace, saving mercy and so they know something of
the mercy of God and they become people that depend upon the mercy
of God again, remember Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations Lamentations
chapter 3 and verse 22 it is of the Lord's mercies that we
are not consumed because his compassions fail not and he lists
some of the compassions first of all of the faithfulness of
God and then he says the Lord is my portion the Lord is good
unto them that wait for him and then so he hopes and quite looks
for salvation and so on and then he rests in that being dependent
upon mercy he rests in the promise that the Lord for the Lord will
not cast off forever blessed are the pure in heart again there
is to be that holiness of life the child of God has been brought
from sinfulness he's been brought from the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of light and therefore he is pure in heart
not pure by anything that he has done not pure by anything
that he can do but pure by the cleansing virtue of the Lord
Jesus Christ's blood and that's why we do not accept that the
law is the rule of life for the Christian believer because that
purity does not come from the keeping of the law I am not better
tomorrow by keeping the law than I am today. I am not better today
than I was yesterday. Now the purity of heart comes
from the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and the application
of the holiness, the sanctification that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers those
who have made peace with God those who have reconciled out
to God and blessed are they and it naturally follows blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven so we've looked at the pleasure, we've
looked at the people to whom these things are addressed and
then finally for a couple of minutes the plenitude that is
there, the plenitude Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. There is that plenitude, a cornucopia
of the blessing of God the blessing that cannot be exceeded the blessing
that belongs to the people of God and so the child of God is
happy and he cannot get beyond that
plenitude listen to what Moses says the eternal God is thy refuge
and underneath are the everlasting arms, and he shall thrust out
the enemy from before these, and shall say, Destroy them.
Happy art thou, O Israel, or blessed art thou, O Israel, who
is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy
strength, and who is the sword of thy excellency, and thine
enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread
upon their high places. Will the Lord add his blessing
to these few thoughts, for his name's sake. Amen.