I'm looking this morning at the
Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 5, what is commonly called the
Beatitudes or the Sermon on the Mount where the Lord Jesus Christ
went up into a mountain and sat and taught the people. Our Lord
Jesus Christ was a preacher. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe, Scripture said. And
it says in chapter 4, verse 17, that he began to preach, saying,
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He preached repent.
And it says in verse 23, he went about all Galilee teaching and
preaching the gospel of the kingdom. And here in chapter 5, The Sermon
on the Mount. It says He went up, see, in the
multitudes, 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, blessed. And he said many things about
being blessed. We hear this saying often today,
Have a blessed day. We see it on signs. Hope you
have a blessed day, a blessed year. Well, these are the blessings
which God pronounces upon His people. what it really means
to be blessed. Most people think it means to
have an abundance of things. Most people believe it means
to be trouble-free. Well, our Lord says things here
that seem much the contrary to that. Now, this is more than
a sermon. This is a message from the Master
Himself. A message from God. And He tells
us what true blessings are. True blessings. He said, blessed
are, verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they
that mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed
are they which hunger and thirst. Now, every blessing He says,
blessed are. It's a present tense thing. Those
who are, Blessed of God are poor, are mourners, are meek, are hungry
and thirsty. Blessed are, present tense, continual. What does this mean? Do you understand?
Are you one of these blessed people? Are you poor in spirit? Do you mourn? Do you hunger and
thirst after righteousness? Well, let's look at it. In verse
three, he said, blessed are the poor in spirit. These are spiritual
blessings, poor in spirit. What does it mean to be poor
in spirit? Well, in Romans chapter 3, the
Scripture says about all of us, there is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all going out of
the way. They are together. Put them all
together and they are unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. And Paul the Apostle wrote of
himself. in Romans chapter 7, he said,
I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And he went on down to say in
verse 24, O wretched man that I am. To be poor in spirit means
there is nothing in you. Spiritually, you have nothing
in you. No goodness, no righteousness,
no good thing in you like Paul said. And what you need from
God is a handout of mercy. Back in these days, our Lord's
day, a truly poor person like blind Bartimaeus was someone
who had nothing, nothing, and must be put out on the street
to ask to beg for a handout. That's a spiritually poor person
who needs a handout of mercy, who needs grace, who has nothing
in themselves. In my hands no price I bring,
the song says, but simply to the cross of Christ I cling. Blessed are the poor in spirit. No goodness, no righteousness,
no ability, no faith, no anything. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Heaven is a rich place for poor
people. God who is rich in mercy grants
it only to those who are poor. There are no rich, no full, no
good people allowed in God's kingdom. Only sinners who need
mercy. Verse 4 says, Blessed are they
that mourn, they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that mourn.
All who are poor in spirit, they mourn over their poverty. They mourn over their sinful
and wretched condition. Listen to David in the psalm. In Psalm 38, David said, there's
no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger, because of my
sin. He said, I'm troubled, I'm bowed
down greatly, I go mourning all the day long. My loins are filled
with a loathsome disease. There's no soundness in my flesh.
That's exactly what Paul, the apostle, just said about himself.
And that's what every true child of God says about him or herself. They mourn over their sin. My
loins are filled with a loathsome disease. It's called sin. And
the blessed Lord says in verse 4, those that mourn shall be
comforted. Comforted. He told Isaiah to
comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. God's chosen. Elect people. Cry
unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that Christ on
Calvary's cross defeated the one who holds us captive, Satan,
the world, sin, and her iniquity is pardoned. That's what he said. Comfort my people with this blessed
truth, with the gospel truth that iniquity is pardoned. Mercy and grace, double for all
her sin, mercy and grace, forgiveness and justification, peace and
adoption into God's family. This is good news only for those
who mourn over their sin. Do you? Verse 5 says, Blessed
are the meek, they shall inherit the earth. Pride is the ugliest
of all sin. Pride makes the prettiest face
to be ugly, but meekness is most beautiful and endearing. The Lord said of Himself when
He was a man on this earth, I am meek and lowly. He is no longer
meek and lowly. He is high and lifted up. But
as a man, what beautified Him, What was beautiful about him
to the Father was his meekness, his lowliness. Pride is ugly. Why? Because what do we have
that we have not received? And if we received it, why would
we glory as if we had not received it? And the worst pride of all
is a so-called professing believer, a Christian, to be proud of their
seeming goodness, of their righteousness. God's people are meek and lowly,
realizing Everything we have is of God's grace and God's mercy. Meekness, that means to be humble,
not thinking too highly of oneself. Oh, James wrote, he said, humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord. Blessed are the meek, they
shall inherit the earth, the new earth. A new heaven and a
new earth will be populated with people who receive mercy and
grace, sinners saved by grace, not good people. Christ said,
I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentant. And
the new heaven and new earth will be populated with people
beholding to God, thankful to God for showing mercy to them. Verse 6 says, Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. They shall be
filled. Righteousness, what is that?
Well, you don't have any. I don't have any. We can't produce
any. Is none righteous? No, not one. Righteousness means perfect,
absolute holiness and purity. You can't produce it. You cannot
obtain it. It must be given to you. And
this righteousness that God provides is only in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Do you know anything about this?
Romans 10 verse 4 says, is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth, that with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, not worketh, but believeth. Righteousness
is imputed, charged to, accounted to, reckoned to those who look
to Jesus Christ. Do you know anything about this?
Oh, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Christ. Christ
said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have
no part in me. To be hungry and thirsty after
righteousness is to hunger and thirst for the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, our righteousness. Do you know anything about this? 1 Corinthians 1.30. Do you know
that scripture which says, Of Him, of God are ye in Christ? who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Oh, if you have
a righteousness, a holiness that you have worked out of your own,
some kind of morality, some kind of goodness, some kind of white
robe that you have woven through your works and through your deeds
and all of that, oh, God sees right through it. But the righteousness
which is of Christ covers, covers, When that prodigal son came back
by the grace of God, the first thing the Father said to them
was, bring forth the best robe and put it on him. That's the
righteousness of the saint, the righteousness of Christ. They're
all robed in it. Oh, they'll be filled. Those
that hunger and thirst after righteousness, the gospel of
Christ's righteousness, they're filled with it. Can't get enough
of it. Verse 7 says, Blessed are the merciful. They shall
obtain mercy. Oh, how blessed of God are those
who have obtained mercy. Mercy for sinners. God has spared. Mercy means not getting what
you deserve. What do you deserve? You know,
the wages of sin is death. And that's all. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. And God's people are still
sinners. They're still sinners. And they
still need mercy. It says, Blessed are. Blessed
are they that are poor. Blessed are they that mourn.
Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the hungry and thirsty.
Blessed are the merciful. Those who have obtained mercy,
they are merciful. They show mercy. Blessed are
the merciful. The love of God shed abroad in
the heart makes them love. The mercy of God experienced,
they show mercy to other sinners. They shall obtain mercy, and
it endures forever. Verse 8, blessed are the pure
in heart. They shall see God. Pure in heart. What does that mean? Pure, unmixed,
undiluted, pure heart, that is, Worship God in spirit. Rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Have no confidence in the flesh. Their faith is purely in God,
His Word, His promises, in His Son. Purely. Not in themselves,
but in Him. Pure. Yes, the purity of God
is manifest in their life, but they're still sinners. Blessed
are the pure in heart. Pure in heart, they shall see
God. Verse 9, Blessed are the peacemakers.
They shall be called the children of God. Peacemakers. Oh, blessed
be the Son of God who made peace by the blood of His cross. And
all those who have received this peace, peace with God through
the blood of Christ, they are peacemakers. They go around with
the gospel of God's peace, and they are peaceable, gentle, easy
to be entreated. They are called the children
of God. Verse 10, Blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness' sake. Not their own, but for Christ's
righteousness. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
Whose righteousness? Not his, but God's. Christ's. That whole arc is about Jesus
Christ. Do you know anything about that?
To be found in Christ, Paul said, not having your own righteousness
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is of God,
of faith, The faith of Jesus Christ, righteousness imputed,
O blessed are those that are persecuted for this gospel of
Christ's righteousness. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And lastly, 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. So persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. Oh, all those that preach and
believe and bear witness of this gospel of Christ's righteousness
and His alone, they will be persecuted and people will call them all
sorts of things, antinomians, loose livered, but no, they're
just going around telling people, like a beggar where they receive
mercy. Oh, have you been blessed of God to know what you really
are and who Christ is. I pray that God will make it
so. Amen.