Gospel of Matthew chapter 5,
the Lord Jesus Christ is delivering what is commonly called the Sermon
on the Mount, or some call these the Beatitudes. He is telling
us what true blessings are from God. The blessings upon those
who are this way and that way. He is speaking to His disciples.
giving the characteristics of his true people. And these characteristics,
he says, are blessings of God. No one is this way by nature,
but they have been blessed by God to have these characteristics. Verse 1 of Matthew 5 says this,
And seeing the multitude, he went up into a mountain, And
when he was set, or sat down, his disciples came unto him. So he's speaking to his disciples,
true believers, the true children of God. And it says when he sat
down, he was seated when he was speaking to them. How different
is true preaching from all of this show of the flesh that's
going on today? All of this wildfire, emotional,
cheerleading, that goes by the name of preaching. Verse 2, it
says, He opened His mouth and taught them, saying, He taught
them God's Word, line upon line, precept upon precept of God's
Word. He taught His disciples the truth. Well, verse 3 goes on to say
this, He said, He opened up His mouth and said, Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, you'll notice with me all
the way down through here that these are spiritual characteristics. There's no merit in being poor.
Being materially poor doesn't earn or merit God's favor or
blessings. Nor do material riches indicate
God's blessings. Sometimes great material riches
are evidence of God's judgment. I believe that is so of our generation
today. This materialistic, rich and
affluent society we live in, I believe these are God's judgments
upon our society. not blessings. But it says, blessed
are the poor in spirit. What does it mean to be poor
in spirit? Well, what does it mean to be
poor in the flesh, materially poor? A true poor person, and
you've seen them, is one who is a beggar. One who has nothing
is truly poor. one who is a beggar, one who
seeks a handout. Now, that's a truly poor person. And here he says, blessed are
the poor in spirit. That is spiritually. They are
beggars from God, to God. They beg to God. They realize
they have nothing to recommend them to God, nothing in themselves
that would merit God's favor, God's approval. They have no
goodness to present to God, no faith of their own, no ability
to keep the law, no strength in themselves to resist temptation. They need a handout. What they
need is grace. That's what grace is, people.
It's a handout from God. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. That's what grace means. Unmerited
favor. A gift. The gift of God is eternal
life. By grace are you saved. It's
not us doing something for God, but God doing all for us. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. God is going to give the kingdom
to those that are poor in spirit, not those who earn it. Verse
4, he goes on to say, ìBlessed are they that mourn, for they
shall be comforted.î Notice with me as we go down through here,
each of these following necessarily follow the other. He said, ìBlessed
are the poor in spirit.î Now, one who is truly poor and realizes
he has nothing, is nothing, knows nothing, can do nothing for God,
that God must do all for him, that he is only or she is only
a sinner before God, they will mourn their sins. Verse 4, blessed
are they that mourn. Now, you know this is not speaking
of mourning, natural mourning that people, everyone in this
earth goes through mourning. This is spiritual. Blessed are
they that mourn over their sin, over their poverty, their spiritual
poverty. One that mourns over their sin,
over the fact that they cannot do what they would. Paul said
in Romans 7, the good that I would, I do not. The evil I would not,
that's what I do. Do you mourn over your sin, over
your inability? He said, blessed are they that
mourn, they shall be comforted. This is what the gospel does,
people. This is why the gospel is good
news to sinners, to those who have nothing, who cannot save
themselves. Those who mourn over their inability,
over their lack of faith, lack of goodness, lack of a righteousness,
they'll be comforted by the gospel which says you're complete. in
the Lord Jesus Christ. You're accepted in the beloved. This will be good news to the
chief of sinners, the one who mourns like that publican in
the temple who beat on his breast and not like that. I mean, not
like the publican, the publican in the temple who beat on his
breast and said, God have mercy upon me, but not like that Pharisee. That is, not like the Pharisee
who bragged on himself all that he had done for God, all that
he had gotten the victory over. No, those who mourn like that
publican say, woe is me. They'll hear this complete in
the Lord Jesus Christ, accepted, justified from all things freely
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that's good news to those
that mourn their sins. The next thing he says, blessed
are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Meekness is
humility. Blessed are the meek, those who
are humble. Now, those who are poor, they're
beggars, they're nobody. They're usually not proud people.
Beggars are usually not proud. They have nothing to boast of.
They have no attainments. They have no possessions. Nothing
to boast of. They do not think too highly
of themselves. They are beggars. So it is with
those who are poor in spirit. Why, they are humble before God. They realize that everything
they are and have is by the grace of God. That they've done nothing to
earn God's love, God's favor, God's salvation, but it's all
given to them. And that humbles them before
God. And they ever stay humble. They
don't walk around proud talking about how they've done this or
done that for God or talking about how they have gotten the
victory of living the victorious life. No, they talk about Him
who is their victory, who gave them the victory. Him who washed
them from their sins in His own blood." They don't talk about
themselves. No. They are humble. They are
meek. He said they will inherit the
earth. The blessed are the meek. They shall inherit the earth.
That is, the new earth. God is going to destroy this
earth, folks. He is going to destroy this earth.
But the meek are going to inherit the new earth. Yes. The loud, the proud, and the
strong get this world. They've got it all right, but
they get what this world has come to it, destruction. But
the meek, the humble before God now, they get a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Verse 6 says, Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall
be filled. Oh, how rare is this hunger and
thirst after righteousness. Do you know what this righteousness
is that he speaks of? Oh, it's not a personal goodness.
It's not one who longs to be good, per se. But Romans 10,
Paul talks about a righteousness which many are ignorant of who
do not submit to it and going about to establish their own.
Do you understand what he means there in Romans 10? Those who
have a zeal, he said, for God, but not according to knowledge,
being ignorant of God's righteousness, trying to establish their own,
haven't submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Well, Romans 10 says this, in verse 4, Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. I urge
you, I urge everyone to read the book of Romans, read chapter
Three, which talks of this righteousness without the law, for that is
righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ, that we cannot
be justified by the deeds of the law, but only by this righteousness
of Christ imputed to us. Chapter 4 speaks of that imputed
righteousness, that the blessedness of those who have this righteousness
charged to them. The righteousness of another.
The holy life of Jesus Christ imputed, charged to them. Nothing
they did, but all that Christ did was charged to them. If you're poor in spirit, you
recognize you cannot be holy enough before God. You cannot
be righteous before God. and you hunger and thirst after
Christ's righteousness." And he said, those who hunger and
thirst after Christ to be their righteousness, they will be filled,
filled to the fullest, the fullness of God in him. Yes, their hearts
will be filled with gratitude for Christ, their righteousness. And the next verse, verse 7,
says, Blessed are the merciful, they shall obtain mercy. Ah,
those who have been saved by God's sovereign mercy, they are
most merciful. Hence, God's mercy to them endures
forever. Sad to say, many who are religious,
who call themselves Christians, are in fact the meanest people
on earth. Mean as snakes. But not those
who have experienced sovereign mercy. No, sir. They are merciful. And they will obtain mercy. God's
mercy will continue with them. Verse 8 says, Blessed are the
pure in heart. Pure in heart. They shall see
God. This pure in heart means the
true worshipers in spirit. Those who worship Christ, purely
Christ, without works. without thinking their works
have anything to do with it. Their faith is pure Christ, pure
grace, pure sovereign mercy. Yes, pure in heart. Their heart
doesn't have dead works in it or mixed faith, but it's pure
grace. They'll see God. See God? Yeah, they'll see Jesus Christ,
who is God. Verse 9 says, Blessed are the
peacemakers. They shall be called the children
of God. Though called troublemakers and hated, yet truly they're
for peace. They're the children of God.
And verse 10 goes on. Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness' sake. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Persecuted for righteousness' sake? Whose righteousness? Their
own? Oh, no. Oh, no. They said of
Christ, For a good work we stone thee not, but because you're
just a man, you make yourself to be God. And so it is, all
those who say that Christ and Christ only is our salvation,
that only Christ's righteousness is accepted by God, only Him
and not our own, only His work and not ours, they'll be persecuted
for Christ's righteousness, for His sake. And Christ is theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Those who are in the kingdom
of heaven are those who are making much of Christ, yes, making all
of Christ. Verse 11, he concludes with this,
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you
and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad.
Great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets
which are before you, those who are reviled and persecuted for
Christ's sake, His glory, His work only in salvation, those
who contend that salvation is in Jesus Christ alone. that salvation is by the mercy,
the sovereign, electing, keeping, saving mercy and grace of God
alone, and nothing to do with us, what we do. They will be persecuted. But
he says, blessed, blessed by God. Yes, blessed. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Examine yourselves to see if
this is what you believe, whether you are of the faith. Until next
Sunday, good day.