Turn to the book of Matthew,
chapter 5. And while you're turning there, I'll begin with the handout,
the first paragraph, where we read in our last study, we took
the Sermon on the Mount as a whole. The assignment for the week before
that was for you to read that, 5, 6, and 7 as a whole. And then
last week, we stopped at the last two verses of chapter 7,
and we took that as our subject matter, as our text, where we
read 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. Now this is talking about the
Lord Jesus. The people that heard were astonished over his doctrine,
for he had taught them as one having authority. And then it
closes the seventh chapter with these words, and not as scribes. Now that just jumped out at me
and we spent some time last week talking about the one who had,
you know, being astonished what it was to have the grace of God
spoken to our hearts and being astonished, being amazed. And
I think my best statement last week was as one who having authority
was this, duh, he's God, he's got all authority. And then we
kind of looked a little bit at not as the scribes, but we'll
take a little bit more look at that as we go through this in
sections. Now I pray this will be our key for the Lord to open
his word to our hearts as we go through this sermon in sections,
considering this one who teaches as one having authority and not
as the scribe. So read with me, if you would,
verses 1 through 12 of Matthew chapter 5. 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, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are
ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and ye shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets,
which were before you. Now we'll have the rest of tonight's
study in the handout. If you'd like to join me in your
handout mid-page of page one, let's begin by considering the
differences between religions. There are only two types of religion,
true or false, works or grace, and most are religions of works. a false teaching that men love,
for it declares their part as the basis for their salvation.
I did this, or I did that, and received the reward of God's
work. That's the religions of work. Works religion condemns
men to their sinful works, whether it be something physically or
mentally. If your salvation is at any point,
depending on something of you, your decision, your works, whatever
it may be, it is a works religion that will damn you to eternal
torment. That is the religion of the scribes. If you do this, you'll be saved. Their faith was based on their
ability to do God's commandments. Let's consider verse 3 of Matthew
chapter 5 for just a moment. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The works religionists
would read that as if you are blessed if you make yourself
poor in spirit. And the reward of the kingdom
of heaven will be yours. But that's not what it says,
does it? No, it says blessed first. Blessed comes first. Those who are blessed are the
poor in spirit. Or in other words, if you are
blessed of God, you are poor in spirit. Page two. Taking the
whole counsel of God into consideration with this statement, poor in
spirit, we see it is not a natural state to the unregenerate man. in Romans 8 verses 7 through
8, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so then
they that are in the flesh cannot please God. to be truly poor
in spirit, one must be made poor. The old stony heart full of pride
must be cut away and made poor. A new heart, one that God reveals
his truths of their condition before a thrice holy God. As
it says, dead in trespasses and sin. That's our condition. According
to the book of God, there are some people in this world who
are truly blessed. Blessed of God. Blessed from
eternity. Blessed now and blessed forever
in Christ. Blessed with all the blessings
of grace here and all the blessings of everlasting glory hereafter. That's what we read in Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. There are some sons
and daughters of Adam who truly are blessed of God. Well, who
are they? They are those who are chosen
in Christ in eternal election. Again, in Ephesians chapter 1,
this time 3 through 6, we read, Blessed be God the Father. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He, in other words, because of or by as He hath chosen
us in Him. before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him,
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. Who are they? They are those
who were chosen in Christ in the eternal election. There are
those who, last paragraph, page two, there are those who trust
the Lord. Blessed is the man that trusteth
the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. That's in Jeremiah 17, 7.
In Luke 11, 27 through 28, we read, and it came to pass, as
he spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up
her voice and said unto him, blessed is the womb that bare
thee and the paps which thou hast sucked. Now listen to what
the Lord responded to that. He said, but he said, yea, rather,
Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. Those
who trust God. Those are the ones who are blessed. Who are they? Turn to page 3.
They are those who fear the Lord as it says in Psalms 128 verse
1. Blessed is everyone that feareth
the Lord, that walketh in His ways. They are those whose sins
are forgiven. Listen to Psalms 32 verses 2
and 3. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Or as the Apostle Paul puts it
over in Romans 4.8, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will
not impute sin. Who are the blessed of God? Those
who are not offended by Christ. Listen to Luke chapter 7 verse
23. And blessed is whoever shall
not be offended in me. The blessed of God are those
who endure temptation, as it says in James 1 verse 12. Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of
life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. There
are some in this world who are blessed of God. Are you among
those? Are you among these blessed ones?
Am I? In these 12 verses, the Lord
Jesus sets before us the character of those men and women who are
blessed of God. And I quote from John 6.45, it
is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. So I pray the Lord will teach
us. Our teacher here is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the true
preacher, the true prophet of his church. He of whom the prophet
spoke is now the preacher. The voice we hear in these verses
is the voice of our master. It is the voice of him who spoke
as never a man spake, as it's quoted in John 7.46. The place
was on a mountain in Galilee. It wasn't Mount Sinai or Mount
Olivet or Mount Calvary, but a common Galilean hillside. But on that common hillside,
the Son of God met with and instructed his disciples. The congregation
was his disciples. The sermon was addressed to those
who professed to be his followers. Others may have been present
and heard the message, but the message was particularly addressed
to men and women who had publicly avowed their faith in Christ
by baptism and hoped that they would live with Christ forever
in heaven. Or in other words, that sermon
was addressed to people just like you and I. Now our text
in Matthew 5 verse 2, and we're not going to be able to look
at all 12 of those tonight. We're only going to be able to
cover a couple of them. So I want to consider, if you
would, in Matthew 5 verse 2, He opened his mouth and taught
them, it says. Now when our Savior's mouth was
closed, He taught by example. Yet He did not refrain from speaking,
did He? As well as living the truth.
And when He spoke, He spoke earnestly. He opened His mouth and taught.
He did not mumble. He did not mutter. He did not
stutter. And when He opens His mouth, Lord, help us to open
our ears and hear what He says. What a blessed scene this was.
We have before us, as the law was given from the mount, the
Lord Jesus went up onto a mount to proclaim the gospel. But there is a great contrast.
At Mount Sinai, boundaries were set which the people were not
allowed to cross. When our great Savior came preaching
the gospel, he set no boundaries for sinners. No boundaries that
sinners could not cross. He said, come ye near unto me. Hear ye this. I have not spoken
in secret from the beginning, from the time that it was. There
am I. And now the Lord God and His
Spirit has sent me. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth
thee to profit. which leadeth thee by the way
that thou shouldest go. That's Isaiah 48, verses 16 through
17. What a loving, gracious words
our Lord proceeded to speak out of His mouth. Now let's consider,
if you would, the attitudes given in Matthew 3 through 12. Here
the Son of God describes His people by eight distinct characteristics,
and He pronounces eight beatitudes, eight blessings of grace upon
them. He is himself the great comprehensive blessing of all
blessings, of course, and the blessedness of his people, but
these are eight that he gives upon his people. And in these
verses, our Savior gives us eight distinct characteristics of blessed
people. First one, poor in spirit, people
who mourn, the meek of the earth, people who hunger and thirst
after righteousness, page five, the merciful, the pure in heart
peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for righteousness
sake. As I was doing my homework and
listening and going through the whole message on Sermon on the
Mount, I thought to myself at first, It sure seems like there's
a lot of works here for us, isn't there? As I read this list here,
the question comes to mind, it comes to my mind right away,
where are such people to be found? Where are you going to find people
like this? Where are you going to find people who are truly
blessed to this degree? Can any among the fallen sons
and daughters of Adam possess such traits? Well, scriptures
declare there are none who are good. It declares none who do
good and none who seek after God. Isn't that what we read
in the Psalms 14, 1 through 3? The fool hath said in his heart,
there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There is none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God, and they all had
gone aside. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. And like I
said, that was Psalms 14. But listen to these words from
Romans. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of ash
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery
are in their ways. And the way of peace have they
not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes." Now, that fits me a whole lot more than that list
of eight that we just read up above. Now, obviously, those
who are here described or something more the natural man, speaking
of those eight characteristics, those described can only be the
redeemed of the Lord, His own elect, those who were given to
Him by the Father, made blessed in righteousness of the Son,
and regenerated and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. We see in
verse 3 it says blessed are the poor in spirit. Notice he did
not say blessed are the poor. He said blessed are the poor
in spirit. Now Brother Don wrote this about
that. He said those who are poor in
spirit are men and women who in their own judgment and esteem
are spiritually poor. Their souls are barren and empty
before God. Page six. They have no righteousness
of their own, no good works, no good thoughts, nothing which
they to commend themselves to God. As John Gill wrote, being
sensible of their poverty, they place themselves at the door
of mercy and knock there. Their language is, God be merciful. They are important. And they
will have no denial, yet receiving at least favor with thankfulness.
Now before God lifts us up by His grace, He brings us down. Until we are poor in spirit,
we will not seek mercy in Christ. It's painful. But blessed work
when God puts a soul into a bankrupt state. Jacob was brought down,
as you can read in Genesis 32, 27. He was brought down. If you
recall, Jacob, brother Esau, had been sent away. And he'd
come back. And Jacob had heard that he was coming back. And
he was fearful. He was fearful because he wronged Esau. He wronged Esau greatly. And
he thought Esau was coming back for vengeance. And it turned
out, as the Lord humbled, he brought Jacob down in that time
before he saw him return. But once he saw him return, the
Lord lifted Jacob back up again. So we see that Jacob was brought
down. Isaiah was brought down. In Isaiah 6, verses 1 through
8, Isaiah had a vision of the throne of God. And in that vision,
you may recall, he said, I am a man of unclean lips. Now, the
Lord had to bring him down to that state of knowing that he
was unclean. unworthy of being in the presence
of that throne, in the presence of God who sat on his throne.
And then the Lord sent an angel with a hot coal and touched his
lips, a picture of the gospel coming and burning in the lips
of God's people, making Isaiah Hole again. And so the Lord brought
him down, and then He brought him back up. The woman who had
an issue of blood, you recall, she was brought down through
all those years, all the money that she had spending trying
to be healed of this issue of blood. The Lord caused that to
come upon her to bring her down. But then He brought her back
up. He brought her to Himself to see Him. Onesimus, you remember
him, he was the unfaithful servant. He was shamed by what he had
done to his master. But Paul had written a letter
in Philemon to the saints Restore him. Restore unto him. So the
Lord took him down. He brought him down, but he brought
him back up. And then you know the parable of the prodigal son,
of course. The Lord took him down. He lost everything, all
of his inheritance in food and wine. And yet the Lord raised
him back up again when he came back home, and his father received
him with hugs. God knows how to make proud,
self-sufficient sinners poor in spirit. He knows how to bring
sinners down. Listen to these words, such as
sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction
and iron, because they rebelled against the words of God and
contempted the counsel of the Most High, therefore He brought
down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was
none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and
He broke their bands and sundered. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children
of men. For he hath broken the gates
of brass, and cut the bars of iron, and signed her fools, because
of their transgressions, and because of their iniquities are
afflicted their soul aboarth all manner of meat. And they
draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. Page 7. He sent his word, and
healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh,
that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His
wonderful works to the children of men and let them sacrifice
the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing. That's Psalms 107. verses 10-22. Those who are poor in spirit
are people who have been made to know their desperate need
of free grace in Christ Jesus, their all-sufficient Savior.
Those who have been brought to know they have nothing, they
can do nothing. They must have someone to atone
for their sins. They must have someone to make
them righteous before God. They need pardon and grace for
their countless sins. A man by the name of Roland Hill
wrote these words, he said, poverty of spirit is the bag into which
Christ puts the riches of His grace. Isn't that beautiful?
Safe sinners are men and women who know their utter poverty
of soul before God. They are people convinced of
their sin by God, the Holy Spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's what we read in
our text. In Psalms we read these words,
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and contrite
heart, O God thou wilt not despise. The Lord declares this in Isaiah
62 verse 66 verse 2, To this man I will look, even to him
that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
If a person is ever brought to the place that he has nothing
in himself, he will have everything by grace in Christ. But as long as a person imagines
that he has something in himself, he has nothing. Nothing is more
painful to our proud flesh, but nothing is more needful than
we being made poor in spirit before God. Are you poor in spirit? If you are, You are blessed. God made you poor. And He has
made you an heir of His kingdom and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Page 8. Let's consider one more
for tonight. Verse 4, it says, Blessed are
they that mourn. There is a mourning that is sinful,
as it was when Jonah mourned over the withered gourd. There
is a mourning that comes natural, as when we mourn over the death
of a loved one. And there's a mourning, a crying,
a sorrowfulness that is the result of God's operation of grace in
the heart. Those who mourn in this sense,
our Lord Jesus declares, are blessed. The mourners our Savior
here declares to be blessed are those who mourn over their sins. Listen to Psalms 51. And this is where Nathan, the
prophet Nathan, had come to David and pointed the finger at David.
Remember, David had an affair with Bathsheba. And he thought
nobody knew about it, but the Lord had told the prophet Nathan
to go and declare the Lord knowing this. Here's what David wrote. After that, in Psalm 51, 1 through
17, have mercy upon me, O God. This is the morning that the
Lord is telling us about. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies, blot out my transgressions. I can picture the publican over
in the side of the temple, over inside of the just pounding on
his chest, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner. David goes on to
say, wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, cleanse me from
my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions and 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 thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts, and in the hidden part that shall make me
to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in
me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then
will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted
unto thee. Deliver me from blood guiltness,
O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips, and
my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not
sacrifice, else I would give it. Thou delightest not in burnt
offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit and a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. No sooner is grace poured into
our hearts giving us the knowledge of Christ as our Savior, that
we are made to see and to know the wretchedness that is ours
by nature. Listen to the words of Zechariah
12, 10, top of page 9. And I will pour upon the house
of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace
and of supplications. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced And they shall mourn for Him as one that mourneth
for His only Son. And they shall be in bitterness
for Him as one that is in bitterness for His firstborn. When Christ
is revealed in us, our hearts melt before Him. I cannot understand
how one who claims to be a believer of truth, in whom sin is not
the greatest burden, or the greatest sorrow or the greatest trouble
to them. Indwelling sin is to the believing
soul a constant source of bitterness and sorrow. Like Paul, the believer
cries out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? this mourning over sin, the sin
that is in us is the lifelong experience, causing God's saints
to be in a state of continual repentance, ever looking to Christ
alone for redemption and for righteousness. The more fully
we are made aware of our sin, the more we mourn over it, the
more we are compelled to look out of ourselves and look to
Christ alone for righteousness, And the more He is endeared to
our hearts, we think of these words in 1 Peter 2, 7, unto you
therefore which believe, He is precious. Is Christ precious
to you? Oh, the more I see of my sin,
the more precious His blood becomes to my heart. How wonderful it
is to hear our Savior declare, blessed are they that mourn.
for they shall be comforted. Those who mourn because of their
sin shall be comforted here by the revelation of Christ in our
hearts. Though we mourn because of our
sin and utter corruption, we are comforted by the knowledge
and assurance of Christ's all-sufficient seat as our surety, our substitute,
our Savior. His righteousness is our. His
sanctification is ours. He has, by His one great sacrifice,
put away our sins forever. How comforting it is to hear
the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in His darling
Son. How comforting it is to hear
Him speak to our hearts by His Holy Spirit through the Scriptures. How comforting it is to remember
our dear Savior as we eat the bread and we drink the wine at
the Lord's table as we'll do this weekend. How comforting
it is to seek grace and mercy from the throne of grace in every
time of need by prayer and supplication. Page 10. How comforting it is
to know that He who loved us and gave Himself for us rules
all things for our good. ordering all the affairs of providence
according to His infinite wisdom and goodness and according to
His own infinite eternal love for us. Yes, those who are taught
of God to mourn over their sin are comforted here. And when
we drop this robe of flesh in the grave and are brought into
the heavenly glory dwelling forever in the presence of our God and
Savior, we shall be fully and eternally comforted. Listen to
these words from Jeremiah 50. In those days and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for
and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah. and they
shall not be found. For I will pardon them whom I
reserve. In that great day Our God shall
wipe away all tears from our eyes. Then we shall be free from
sin, free from all the evil consequences of sin, free from the sorrow,
and made possessors of all the glory of the Father that He has
given unto the Son as our mediator. Listen to John 17.5, And now,
O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self. with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. And then we drop
down to verse 21 and 22 of John 17, and we read these words,
that they, they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou
gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as
we are one. The Lord Jesus who speaks as
one of authority graciously blessing a people and the results are
versus a blind religious scribe of this world teaching you can
achieve these blessings if you will just do this or do that.
That's the difference. Christ speaks with grace and
the authority of God Almighty. What do we read there? Matthew
7, verse 28-29, And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these
sayings, the people were astonished at His doctrine, for He taught
them as having one authority, and not as the scribes. Amen.