You turn in your Bibles to the
book of Luke, chapter 6. You can open your Bibles up,
set them right there on your laps. We'll go to a couple of other
scriptures. We're not until about halfway through and towards the
end. Give you folks an idea of when it's coming. Oh, it's almost
to an end! Alright, we're at the last scripture, the second
one. It's almost over! We can go and
Take off. 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 2 we
read these words. As newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word that you may grow thereby. In Hebrews chapter
5 verse 14 we read these words. But strong meat Belongeth to
them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have
their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. I've titled
today's message Strong Meat. Our Lord has some strong meat
for us to digest. What is the milk of the word
first? Well, in newborns, it's that which is easy to digest. Babies, they can't eat an apple. They can't eat a big ol' steak. They can't eat packaged hot dogs.
They can't eat lemons either. I know! God, isn't it amazing what God
has done? Isn't it amazing how he's created
these bodies? Mothers give milk. A nourishment for the babies
that they can take with those fresh stomachs, those fresh throats. not even completely covered with
the stuff that they need yet, the acids haven't even fully
made the stomach what it is yet, yet God has produced milk for
the kids, the sincere milk of the word, something easy to digest. We can all understand that, right? In the doctrines of the gospel,
and there's only one gospel, But doctrines, that word means
teachings. The doctrines of the gospel.
THE gospel. Of divine sovereignty. What is
easy milk? Eternal predestination. That's
pretty easy to take. Okay, so the Lord chose me from
before the world was that I would be His. Okay, I like that. I like that. Nice and easy to
swallow. It's easy. How about free election? Now I know the world doesn't
take that very well, but God's people take it pretty well, don't
they? We like election. We know, by God's word, we know
the truth is that I would have never come to Christ if he hadn't
called me with the power of God behind that call. So we like
election. It's easy for us to swallow.
It's not that, you know, we take that. It's soft as milk to the
soul. Particular effectual redemption. God redeemed a people. Not all
mankind, not everyone who has walked this earth, but he's redeemed
a particular people unto himself. He's redeemed them completely. There's nothing for them to do.
He's provided it all. That's not hard to take, is it? That's actually the easy yoke
that he talks about. Those of you who are heavy burdened,
come and take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy. The milk of the gospel. Irresistible
grace. and the everlasting security
of God's elect in Christ are the baby milk, the baby food
of the gospel. Many who love to nurse on those
points, many of those who love to hear
about that over and over, and I'm one of those, don't you?
I'm not doing this. Just like Pastor Gene said, every
time somebody does this, they're doing this right back at themselves.
See those three fingers there? Love to nurse upon election,
predestination. But when you get to strong meat, I'm talking about the things
that the world stumbles over greatly. Are you saying, John, that God's
people can still sin? I'm saying they do still sin. That's strong meaning. Here in
Luke chapter 6, Our Lord, our Master proclaims some of the
most important things taught in Holy Scriptures. Spiritual
truths that are difficult to swallow. Hard words is how some
of His disciples said about it. Hard words. Some may leave and
walk no more with Him after reading these words. I pray that our
God that the Holy Spirit may give you and I eyes to see and
ears to hear and hearts to heed to the things that He inspired
Luke to write here in verse 20-26. Would you read with me? And He,
speaking of our Lord Jesus, lifted up His eyes on His disciples
and said, Blessed be ye poor, For yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now,
for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now. Now remember, he looked upon
his disciples. Blessed are ye that weep now,
for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye when men shall
hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company,
and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil for the
son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap
for joy, for behold, your reward is greater in heaven, for in
the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets." And then
notice the turn here. Notice the turn. Our Lord is
just, He's looking at His disciples. He's facing you and I right now. Through the preaching of His
words. This is Him speaking to us. telling how blessed we are
for these things, to rejoice in these things, and then he
says this, woe, but woe unto you that are rich, for ye have
received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for
ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now,
for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all men shall
speak well of you, for so did their fathers to false prophets. In the passage before us, our
master is speaking specifically to his disciples. To those who
were truly his disciples and to those disciples that were
disciples in name only. They lip-serviced. They spoke
the words of God with the lips, but they couldn't speak it from
the heart. Look back at verses 12 through
17 of that chapter. And it came to pass in those
days that he, speaking of our Lord, went out into the mountain
to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it
was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose
twelve whom also he named apostles." So we see here, he's choosing
his disciples, he's calling them unto him. those that were following
him at the time, and he chose twelve of them and named them
as his apostles. Verse 14, we read those names,
Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew, his brother, James,
and John, Philip, and Bartholomew, Matthew, and Thomas, James, the
son of Alphaeus, and Simon, called Zealotus, and Judas, the brother
of James, and Judas Iscariot, which was also the traitor. And
he came down with them. So you see what I said a moment
ago. Our Lord is speaking to his people,
to his disciples, to those that he had called to be with him.
This is the strong me. We're getting a little bit into
the strong me now. One of those was the devil. Did he not say in his word, I
have chose you? Twelve, yep, one of you is the
devil. That sounds like a little piece
of gristle going through my steak almost. That's strong me. That's a little
tougher to swallow than that beauty of the doctrines of grace,
isn't it? In these seven short verses that
we just read, our Lord lays the axe to the root of the tree. He distinguishes clearly between
true believers and those who just give lip service on Sunday
mornings. This would be a good day, folks.
This would be a good day for us to examine ourselves. Are we in the faith? Our Lord makes four great contrasts
between true believers and false professors. First, he gives us
beatitudes, which characterize the true believer, and then he
gives us four woes, which characterize a false professor. Let's consider
the Beatitudes, shall we? In Luke 6, 20 and 23, our Savior
gives us four words of blessings, four Beatitudes, four conditions
of true blessedness and happiness by which all true believers are
characterized. Am I one of these men and women
whom the Son of God pronounces blessed? Blessed. Am I one of these? The list is
both remarkable and it's also shocking, isn't it? It's completely
contrary to the opinion of the world, isn't it? Here our Lord
singles out those who are poor, those who are hungry, those who
are sorrowful, those who are hated, and He calls them blessed. How can it be? How can that be? How can one who is receiving
so much trouble from the world around him? How can one who is
so destitute that he can't even afford to buy a meal from today? That's not who the Lord is talking
about. God's Word is spiritual. We must
believe in truth and in spirit. God's Word is spiritual. Job was a very wealthy man before
the Lord allowed the devil to afflict him and after the Lord
removed the devil's afflictions from him. So we know it's not
talking about the things of this world, don't we? It's talking
about the poor in spirit. Those who know that we are broke. Those who have been shown that
we have nothing to offer God. Poor. Blessed be the poor for
yours is the kingdom of God. Folks, the world doesn't know
they're poor. I go to church every Sunday.
Don't tell me I'm poor in religion. God's people have to be shown.
We have to be shown our destitute, our deadness, if that's a word. We must be shown how poor we
are in the spirit. It's called a broken and contrite
heart. Am I one of these? Am I one of
the blessed who are poor? If I am, then the kingdom of
God is mine. If I've been brought to know
the Lord Jesus Christ as the only righteousness for me to
get to heaven, maybe I am. Maybe I am. Did you notice there that the
Lord didn't say, Blessed are the poor? That's not what He said at all.
What did He say? Let's go back and look at that
again. Verse 20, Blessed be ye, you, those of you who the Lord
is speaking to right now, right here, blessed be you. Poor. You who have been made
poor. You who have seen the depth of
your depravity. In the Sermon of the Mount over
Matthew 5.1 we read it this way, blessed are the poor in spirit.
Not blessed are the poor in the things of the world, but blessed
are the poor in spirit. Those who are poor in spirit
are those men and women who have been taught by God the utter
depravity of their condition. the corruption and the sinfulness
of their hearts. How many people have we seen
over the years that I've come here, at least two, maybe three,
maybe another one on Friday night that was here for a Friday night
Bible study. He didn't leave too happy. How many of we said, I'm not
that big of a sinner? What are you? What am I, John? Don't answer
me. But ask yourself, am I? Do I
believe God's word when he says the heart is desperately wicked? Who can know it? The poor men and women who are
convicted of sin who are convicted of righteousness and judgment
by God the Holy Spirit. The poor in spirit confess their
sins and we find forgiveness only in one place and that's
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not in making our decision and
coming to the front. Not in taking part in this table.
Not in getting into this tub in the back here. But in Christ. That's our salvation. That's
our righteousness. Our Master said, blessed are
ye poor. It's like saying to me, blessed
are you John, even though you're as poor as anything could be. That's what it's saying to me.
Even though I have nothing to offer my God, I'm blessed. Isn't that wonderful? Because knowing I don't have
anything to offer Him, I still have Him. He is mine. I am His. That's great. You see the happiness
that though we're poor? You see how you can be poor yet
have everything? He gave His only begotten Son
in our stead. How shall He not give us all
things? Romans 8. How shall He not give us everything? We read here That our Lord Jesus chose 12
apostles and he sent them out. We read later that he sent them
out to evangelize the world. He sent them out without any
means. He said, don't worry about what
you go out with. Don't worry about clothing. Don't
worry about food. I'll give you all you need. And
they went out into the world with nothing. And God gave them
everything they needed, didn't he? Gave everything he needed. So
it's not talking about physical things. It's talking about the
blessed are the poor in spirit. Poverty itself, folks, is not
virtuous. It's not a blessing. Some will
take what I just said, this strong meat. And I'll say, well, I'll
give everything away. I'll give everything I got away.
There was a millionaire one day back in 1994 or 1984, wherever,
I don't know, somewhere back in those years, a millionaire.
The guy had millions of dollars. I don't know where his money
came from or where it was invested in, but he was a millionaire.
He had airplanes. He had four airplanes from what
I understand from this story. Airplanes are expensive. And
one guy, one preacher said you need to sell everything and become
poor and he went out and did it. And then that preacher who was
prophesying everything he prophesied didn't
come to pass. Not one thing. That's not what
this is talking about. It's teaching you and I that
though we are that man in the corner with nothing beating our
chest saying I have nothing to offer my God we have everything
in the universe. That's what he's saying. You may not have anything right
now But you have eternity with the
Lord Jesus Christ. And what could be more than that?
I've heard people say, oh man, when I get to heaven, I can't
wait for the rewards that I've earned as I'm going through this
world and bringing people to Christ. My Savior is all I need. How
about you? Do you need anything else? I'm
telling you, if you got Him, you got everything. Everything. Poverty is not a virtue. It's
not a blessing. In fact, poverty is often the
result of divine judgment. In our text, the Lord Jesus is
talking about willing, deliberate, self-imposed poverty. This is not self-imposed poverty
like hermits or monks, but a poverty men and women knowingly bring
upon themselves by following Christ. Did you catch that? What am I giving up in following
Christ? I'm giving everything up that I used to think I have. I'm giving up the righteousness
that I think I used to have. I wasn't that bad of a person.
I never killed anybody. I gave up that righteousness
when I found it was no righteousness. It was nothing more than John
thinking a little better of himself. He's also not talking about a
poverty that comes from the result of laziness, because man pretends
to be spiritual at work. There are folks who spend a lot
of time in their Christian, their religious realms saying, well,
I don't have time to work. I've got too much going on in
the church. That's not what this is talking about either. No,
it's a poverty which comes when a man or a woman counts the cost
and forsakes all to follow Christ. I know what that means. Personally. I'm asked to forsake what I believe. so that somebody can be happy.
I don't know that I can go into
it any deeper than that. I can't unfollow Christ. I can't turn away from my Lord.
There's no place to turn. When the Lord was speaking about
eating His flesh and drinking His blood, many of His disciples
said, that's too hard a saying. And they turned and walked away. And the Lord turned to His disciples
and He said, will you also go away? And they said, well, we
don't know. Only thou hast the words of life. I can't forsake my Lord. I can't turn from the truth he
has laid upon my heart. I'm going to run out of time
today. I'm sorry. Our Lord declares, blessed are
ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. In Matthew 5, 6 in
the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord says these words, he says,
blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Our Lord is declaring all that
are born of God hunger and thirst for the righteousness of His
Son, the Lord Jesus. It says, Blessed are ye that
weep now, for ye shall laugh. Folks, this world is not easy
for any of us, is it? Some of us are going through
some pretty tough trials right now. Some of us are being weaned
from what we hold precious in this world. And that doesn't mean something
physical. That could mean a family member. That could mean somebody you
love. But the day is coming when all
of this is going to be behind us. We're going to turn to our Savior
and we're going to say it was right. And we're going to say it was
right with joy in our hearts. In addition to the sorrows of
this world, those who know and trust and love our Lord, we follow
Christ. We carry burdens, yes, and they
cause us to weep. We carry a heavy load of our
corrupt nature and constant sin. We carry the load of care for
souls of men. We carry the heavy load of care
for the church. the kingdom and the glory of
our God in this world, yet those who sow in tears will reap the
day we shall laugh. Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning. Time for laughter shall soon
come. We shall at last be filled with
consolation. Listen to Luke chapter 22 through
23. Blessed are ye when men shall
hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company,
and shall reproach you, and cast you out, your name as evil. For the son of man's sake, rejoice
in that day and leap for joy. Our Lord here is talking about
religious persecution. Forget your religion for just
a moment. I know you believe these strong feelings about the
Lord over you, but just put them aside for a moment. Can't you
just put them aside for a moment and accept me for who I am? Rejoice you in that day and leap
for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in like
manner did your fathers unto the prophets." Our Lord here
is talking about religious persecution. Prosecution brought upon us because
of the gospel we believe. The words used here are used
specifically with regard to the Ecclesiastics time censure of
the discipling. Our Lord could not have used
stronger words to picture the heaping of man's wrath upon us
for what we believe. You talk about somebody hating
our belief. I've shared with you about my
aunt who poked me in the chest so hard and turned into the most
evil looking person I've ever seen. Because I preach election. Now, here we go, four woes, and
I'll make this quick. Woe unto you that are rich, for you have
received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for
you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now,
for you shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all men shall
speak well of you, for so did their fathers of the false prophets. That's verses 24-26. Stronger,
more cutting, condemning statements than these cannot be found anywhere
in the New Testament. Woe unto you, our Lord says. So what do these words mean?
Don't imagine that the mere possession of wealth is a curse. I already
shared with you, Job was the richest man in all of his country. He had all kinds of riches. So
we know the Lord's not talking about the wealth of this world.
It's talking about the wealth of Christ. Do you have everything
in Him? Is everything you need in the
Lord Jesus Christ our Savior? Or do we need more? I'm not saying don't go out and
do the best you can to provide for your family. That is not
what I'm saying at all. I'm just saying that when going
out and doing whatever it is, whether it's providing for your
family, whether it's visiting folks, whatever it might be,
feeding the hungry, if that comes before the Lord Jesus and worshiping
Him, then you are turning towards the riches of this world. And if you do that, you don't
have the riches of Christ. This is the strong meat. the
woes that he was telling his disciples. Now remember, there
was one that we know of who this went right over their head. If you're God's child, I want
you to pay attention to what we just read. This is where we
come to that examination of ourselves. Is the worldly things more important
to me? Or is my Savior Almost all the trouble we go
through in this world is our Lord waning us from this world. When it's time for you and I
to leave this world behind and go with our Savior, there will
be nothing behind us that we care about. Nothing. whether it be physical, whether
it be relationships, no matter what it is, are the things of
this world more important than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? This is what our Lord is declaring.
Let men think and say what they may. Those who are poor because
they choose to follow Christ and serve Him rather than enrich
themselves are possessors of the kingdom of God. Those who
choose to seek and get riches will perish in their moth-eaten
treasures. Those who prefer to be hungry
in doing the will of God shall be filled forever, but those
who live to fill their bellies and their lusts shall be hungry
forever in hell. Those who choose a path of sorrow
for the glory of God carry the weight of heavy matters upon
their hearts. They shall be filled with laughter and complete satisfaction
in heaven. Those who live here for the pleasure
of their flesh shall find nothing but sorrow forever in hell. Those
who prefer the favor and the praise of God to the favor and
the praise of men shall be numbered among the sons of God forever
in everlasting praise. But those who prefer the favor
and the praise of men to the favor and the praise of God shall
be objects of everlasting contentment before God. Now it comes down
to this, folks. It comes down to this very thing. Preeminence. Who has preeminence
in your heart? You? Or Christ Jesus? Turn over to Colossians chapter
1 and we'll just read a few verses over there. Colossians is right after Philippians.
You got Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Chapter 1. You know, I was going to read
a lot more, but I just want to go straight to verse 18. Verse 18, we read these words,
and He, speaking of our Lord. Now, go back to verse 17. Let's
start at 16, 16 through 18. For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before
all things. And by Him all things consist.
He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have
the preeminence. What has the preeminence in our
hearts today, folks? Is it our Savior? Or is it in
our relationships? Or is it in our personal belongings?
God help us to make it His, Him our preeminent.