It's always good to be here and
preach the gospel to those who like to feed on it, as I know
you do. Turn to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. They call these the B attitudes. I entitle it the blessed attitudes,
because that's what they are. These are the blessed attitudes.
The world knows nothing about these attitudes, but God's children
do. I want us to look here this morning
for a little while at some of these verses here. It says in
verse one, and seeing the multitudes, there were multitudes that followed
after Christ. There were many of them that
followed him. But only a few were actually taught by our Lord. There are many today who claim
the name of Jesus, and they claim to be followers of Jesus, but
only a few are really his followers, and only a few are really taught
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says here, seeing the
multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples
came to him. That's who he's going to teach
you, the disciples here. And he opened his mouth, and
he taught them, saying, Our Lord, and you think about this, Our
Lord never opened his mouth except to teach. and to tell out the
truth. When I was preparing this and
reading this, I thought every word he spoke was to teach and
to tell the truth. It was always truth. Now, that
can't be said of us. Most of what we say could be
unsaid. We could just be quiet and probably be better off. But
our Lord, every time he spoke, grace and truth poured from his
lips. pure truth and pure knowledge. Here is the very wisdom of God
teaching us. I want to pay attention. I want
to listen. I want to listen to what he has
to say. And one of the first truths that he begins to teach
us here is what is the real—what's real blessedness? It's absolutely
different from what this world—you know, the world thinks a man
is blessed if he's got a big home, He's blessed if he's got
a nice job, he's making money, you know. Real blessedness has
nothing to do with those things. It has to do with the Spirit.
It has to do with our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
real blessedness, if you have to live in poverty. If you live
in that and know Christ, you're truly blessed, and you're rich
above all men, if you have those things. And I'll tell you something
else here that I saw. what a believer is going to experience.
He took those disciples. He knew what they were going
to experience as believers. He knew they were going to experience
this poverty of spirit. Pharisees never experienced that.
I thank you, God, I'm not like the other men. They're as proud
as can be. They experienced none of these things. They didn't
mourn over their sins. They said, We're not sinners. We're Abraham's
seed. So our Lord knew what we were
going to experience here. So he says there in verse 3,
he starts out and he says, "...blessed are the poor in spirit." Now,
not just poor, but poor in spirit. The key here is poor in spirit.
Our Lord is dealing with a spiritual man. That's what he's going to
deal with all the way through here. And you're going to see
the experience of a believer as we go along here. Step by
step, you'll see the experience of a believer. So he's dealing
here with a spiritual man, not the carnal man who may be poor
in purse. That's not blessed. It's not
blessed to be just financially poor, but poor in spirit. As
David said, I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
Now, you know David wasn't talking about him and got his money.
You know David was king of Israel. David had everything that you
could want in those days. But David was speaking here about
the poverty of spirit, poverty in the heart. He knew that before
God Almighty, he had nothing. He knew that before God, he was
nothing. And that's a blessed state to
be in. Not everyone's in that state. Very few people ever get
into that state. And when they get into that state,
God put them in there. God made them poor in spirit.
He revealed to them their poverty of spirit. It's poverty of spirit. It's loneliness of heart before
God. It's not proud. It's not haughty.
It's loneliness of heart before God. Paul said, I'm less than
the least of the saints. That's poverty of spirit. That's
poor in spirit. Who am I that the king should
think upon such a dead dog as I am? That's poor in spirit. A man who finds himself in spiritual
poverty, he will not find it hard to condescend to anyone
else, and he will not find it hard to bow to the Lord Jesus
Christ. If he finds himself poor in spirit,
he'll bow to Christ. He'll bow to him. David said
in one place, Who am I? He knew that he was just that
little shepherd boy out there keeping sheep, and now he's a
king of Israel. He knew that God had mercy on him. He said,
Who am I? And what is my house that you
should bless me so?" To be poor in spirit is to recognize that
God has given us all things. Every spiritual blessing I have,
you have, was given to us in Christ before this world ever
began. Every material blessing we have,
the abilities we have to go about and do our job and make a living,
God gave us that. God gave—and it's to recognize
that, it's to recognize this. And note here, it says, "...theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. They are truly rich beyond measure."
Here are the ones that are truly rich beyond measure. You may
look at some of the rich people of this world. They have a lot
of wealth, they have a lot of fame, maybe they have a lot of
popularity, but they don't have Christ. They're poor. That's
poor. But to have Christ, if you have
Christ, you have it all. For it says in the Scriptures,
in Christ, all things are yours in Christ. It's just the wisdom
of God, how he deals it out to us. But all things are yours
in Christ. He says here, there is the kingdom
of heaven. They have the kingdom of heaven
because they have the king of heaven. They possess him, and
he possesses them. And then here's the next step.
A man, God finds him, he's poor in spirit. He has nothing. He
makes him to know he has nothing. And here's what happens next.
Blessed are they that mourn. He mourns over his poverty of
spirit. He begins to mourn. Now, not
all mourning is blessing. Not all weeping is blessing.
If we suffer for evil doings, that's not blessing. If we mourn
over those things, that's not blessing. But if we mourn over
our poverty of spirit, that is blessed. When a man—if God makes
a man or a woman to know their poverty of spirit, to know their
sins, to know what they are before God Almighty, and he enables
them to mourn over it, to weep over it, that man's in a blessed
state. He don't feel like it, but he
is. He don't feel like he's blessed. I tell you, when a God makes,
brings conviction of sin, you don't feel like you're blessed.
But you're blessed to know that. You're blessed to be able to
mourn over your sinfulness. If we can mourn over our poverty
or spirits, that's blessed. Thank God if you can weep over
your sins. Thank God if you can weep over your coldness, your
deadness, and your failings. Thank God if you can do that.
Because not everyone can do that. That takes a work of God Almighty
in the heart to do that. A dead man doesn't weep over
anything. I've never seen a dead man do anything. They don't weep,
they don't mourn, they don't feel anything. A living man does. A man whom God's given life to,
he feels it, he knows it. It's evidence of life. Evidence
of life. And that's good, you know why?
For it says here in verse four, he shall be comforted. He shall be comforted. God will
comfort everyone whom he makes to mourn. Everyone whom he makes
weep, he'll comfort them. I kill, and I make alive. God'll have to kill you before
he makes you alive. This is the way our Lord works. He will comfort them by his Spirit
with the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll take the things
of Christ and show them unto us, and he'll comfort us with
Christ. He'll comfort us with his blood,
with his righteousness, with who he is. He'll comfort us with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he says in verse five, blessed
are the meek. We start out poor in spirit.
We start out mourning over our sins because of our poverty of
spirit. And now he says here, blessed
are the meek. Now meekness is not weakness. Meekness is not
weakness. Usually the more showy and vocal
a man is, the more weak he is. Those are usually the weak ones. Now, this meekness is a spiritual
meekness which is brought on by a broken heart and a contrite
spirit. It comes from being broken and
brought low and made to see the grace of God in Christ. That
will make a man meek. That will make a man humble before
God and even before his own brethren. When he sees what God's done
for him in Christ, that'll make him meek. It's opposite of arrogant
and proud, which God hates. You know, to be meek, to be humble,
is to be like Christ. People talk about wanting to
be like Christ. That's what it is to be like Christ, to truly
be meek and humble. He says here in Matthew 11, he
says, Come unto me, all ye laboring, heavy laden, I'll give you rest,
for I am meek and lowly at heart, and you'll find rest for your
souls. A meek man is a kind and loving man because God has made
him so. God Almighty has made him so.
And note this, for they shall inherit the earth. Now here's
what this is saying. They shall inherit a new heaven
and new earth. Not this earth. Who wants this
earth? This saying is, I don't know
who wants this. As we saw in Hebrews, it's going
to perish. He's going to fold it up. When
he says they shall inherit the earth, he's talking about that
new heaven and that new earth wherein dwells righteousness.
They're going to be there. You know, the strong, the proud,
the arrogant, they think they're the ones who are going to rule.
They think they're the ones who are going to possess everything,
but they're not. He said it's going to be the
meek, the poor in spirit, those who mourn over their sins, those
whom he's made meek. They are the ones who are going
to inherit the new heaven and new earth, not this old earth.
Then he says in verse six, blessed are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness. Here's the next step. They started
out, he started out poor in spirit. This is where God found him.
Naked, destitute, have nothing, can offer nothing, nothing. Then he makes him to mourn over
his sins. Makes him to mourn over his poverty.
And then he makes him meek. He becomes meek and humble before
God because God's had mercy on him. God has shown grace to him.
And now he begins to hunger and thirst after righteousness. He
begins to hunger and thirst after that which he at one time had
no interest in whatsoever. There was a time that you know
that you had no interest in God at all. There was a time that
you had no interest in Christ. There was a time you had no hunger,
no thirst, no taste for the righteousness of Christ, or anything righteous
as far as that's concerned, except your own. But now he says he
hungers and he thirsts after righteousness. When God saves
a man, he makes that man to know that he's unclean and condemned.
David said, I am unclean. He said, cleanse me. In Psalm
51, he said, cleanse me thoroughly from my iniquity and all my sins. He said, purge me, wash me, cleanse
me. God makes him to know he's unclean
and condemned before God's bar of justice, and he desires That
man or that woman whom God deals with, whom God makes to know
these things, that person desires to be clean. He desires to be
washed from his sins. He desires to be holy before
God's bar of justice. He wants that. It becomes a desire
and a craving for it in him. It's not just something he would
think about once in a while. It becomes a part of his life,
part of his every day, just like every day I get up, I've got
to eat. I get up and I'm hungry. The believer becomes hungry after
the righteousness of Christ because he knows he don't have one. He
knows he has nothing that God will accept. Therefore he becomes,
he hungers and he thirsts after the righteousness of Christ.
And he begins to ask questions like, how can I be just before
God? How can he be clean, this born
of a woman? How can I be clean, born from
Adam's race? How can I stand before God Almighty? Those are the questions he asks.
That's the questions he asks. And he's never satisfied until
he sees how he's made the righteousness of God in Christ. His righteousness won't satisfy
him. The righteousness of his parents won't satisfy him. The
righteousness of his ancestors won't satisfy him. It's got to
be the righteousness of Christ. He won't be satisfied until he
has that righteousness. God makes him to hunger and to
thirst. I mean to thirst. Have you ever
been thirsty? Have you ever really been hungry?
That's what God makes his people. He makes them hungry and thirsty
after the righteousness of Christ, because they know if they get
that, it's all right. They know if they have Christ,
they have it all. God makes them to know that.
A man who has been given life, he hungers and he thirsts after
the righteousness of Christ, and he can't be satisfied until
God gives it to him. Can't be satisfied. Paul said
this in Philippians 3. Let me turn over the Let me read
Philippians 3. I'm going to read verse 9. Well, let me start in verse 7. Here's the experience of a believer.
Really, I could read this whole thing, but I'll start in verse
7. Paul said, But what things were
gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. It ain't doubtless,
and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. for whom I have suffered the
loss of all things, and do count them but done, that I may will
Christ." Now, listen, that's true repentance right there.
You want to talk about true repentance, right there it is. You count
everything lost, everything, that you might know Christ. and
verse nine, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith or
the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which is of God
by faith. That's what he wants. That's
what he hungers, and that's what he thirsts after, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what? God said he'll
be filled. God said he shall be filled.
Where God creates a hunger and a thirst after this righteousness,
God will fulfill it. God will fill it. God will give
this to any man who wants it. He will. But here's the question. Who
wants it? Who wants it? I tell you who wants it. It tells us right here who wants
it. The poor in spirit, those who
mourn over their poverty of spirit, Those that are meek because of
this poverty of spirit, those who hunger and thirst after.
That's who want it, and they shall be filled. They're going
to have it. God said they're going to have it, and if God
said you're going to have it, you're going to have it. You
can count on it. Natural men don't hunger and
thirst after the righteousness of Christ. Natural men hunger
and thirst to fulfill the lust of this flesh. That's what they
hunger and thirst after. not things that are of God, but
God's people do. He makes his sheep to hunger
and thirst after these things. And then he says in verse seven,
"'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.'" They
have obtained mercy. That's why they're merciful.
That's why they're merciful. "'Blessed are the merciful, for
they are like their Father which is in heaven.'" You know, it's
a mark of sonship. You tell, you show me a man that's
hard and unforgiving and just strict and straight and you just,
that man's never received the mercy of God. He's not been made
meek. He hasn't tasted and seen that
the Lord is gracious. Being merciful, a man who is
genuinely merciful is a mark of sonship. It's an evidence
that they have received mercy. Scripture says he that has been
forgiven much loves much. He loves much and he shows much
mercy. He shows it to his fellow brethren
and he shows it to all men in general. He shows mercy because
he's received the mercy of God. He's a man that will go that
second mile. He'll go that second mile. He's
a man I tell you this, the man who will not show mercy has not
tasted of God's mercy. Now, you can mark that down.
He's not tasted of the mercy of God in Christ. You remember that unjust servant
there in the gospel where the king had mercy on him, and he
went out and he got those that owed him, and he wouldn't have
mercy on him. He cast him into jail. That's just not the kind of person
you're talking about here. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy." They shall obtain mercy. As it says
in Psalm 23, goodness and mercy shall follow him all the days
of his life. Be like a faithful dog. You ever
see a dog just—you know, when I lived on the farm, we had a
collie. And that dog, as soon as he'd go outside, it didn't
matter where I went. If I went back on the hill, no
matter—he didn't ask me where I was going. I mean, he just
followed me. That's the way God's mercy is to His people. It just
follows Him. It's like a faithful dog. It's
just right on the trail all the way, all the way home. That's
His mercy. God's mercy will be on Him through
all walks of life. Now, you can look back, and you
can see that. You can see that. It's a trail
of mercy is what it is, a trail of God's mercy. Then He says
in verse 8, "'Blessed are the pure at heart.'" That means honest. God's people are honest people.
They are. They are honest people. It says
here, for they shall see God. Here's the next step. True Christianity
lies in the heart, not the lips. Not the lips. Anybody can say
what? Anybody can stand up here and repeat what I'm saying. But
true Christianity is in the heart. That's where it is. Right here.
It's in the heart. The heart must be pure, for out
of it are the issues of life. It's the issues of life. A man,
listen, a man is what he is in the heart. Not what he says he
is, it's what his heart is. It's what his heart is. The pure
in heart They love righteousness, they hate iniquity, they hate
every false way, and they are jealous of God's glory. They
are jealous for his glory. They are they who worship God
in spirit and in truth, and they make no pretense to purity. It's
like that publican, God be merciful to me a sinner. He wasn't making
any pretense of purity. He knew what he was. He said,
God be merciful to me a sinner. And God's people are like that.
They're honest. They're honest before men, and
they're honest before God Almighty. They admit what they are. They
admit what they are before God. They know, and they admit it. And the greatest blessing of
all is given to these people. They shall see God. And you know
what? They shall see God and live.
Back in the old Testament, it said no man could live upon God
and live. They will. They will. Those whom God has
given a new heart to, or a pure heart to, they'll see God. They'll
see him in peace and not wrath. They'll see him in mercy and
not judgment. They'll see him in heaven and
not hell. And they'll see him forever and
ever and ever. They'll never be departed from
him, never. They shall see God. And then
it says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God. You notice how this thing just
progresses? You can just see the man pour his spirit, and
you can see the spiritual growth. You see him growing. He goes,
he mourns, he's meek, he's merciful, and now here he is a peacemaker. Here he is a peacemaker. Here's
another strong evidence of a believer. He's a peacemaker. Having obtained
peace through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, he seeks peace. He seeks among the brethren.
He's not one who's constantly going around just causing trouble.
Not at all. Scripture says this in Psalms
133, 1, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brethren
dwell together in unity. Peacemakers. He's a man who goes
out of his way to keep the unity of the Spirit. He hates discord
and contention, but he loves peace. He loves peace, and he
makes it his business to spread peace, especially the gospel
of peace. Especially the gospel of peace.
He labors, he gives that the gospel of peace may be spread,
and that all sheep of the house of Israel hear and come in and
enjoy the same peace he enjoys in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peacemakers. Peacemakers, what he is. As such,
he says here, as such are called the children of God. God, he
says, will own them as his children. God will own them as his children.
Those who preach the gospel of peace, the God of peace, Christ
the Prince of peace, and the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of
peace are the children of peace, the peacemakers. Then he says
in verse 10, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness'
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God." Well, he started out poor in
spirit. He started out, then he mourned, then he became meek,
then he hungered and thirsted after righteousness, then he
showed mercy, then he became honest before God, then he became
a peacemaker, and now he's being persecuted for that by this world. Now that man is being persecuted.
He's being persecuted. And I tell you what, there is
no greater honor than to be counted worthy and to suffer for Christ. Let me show you that over in
1 Peter. Over in 1 Peter. No greater honor than to suffer
for the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter chapter four. Look in verse fourteen. If you
be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you, for the
Spirit of glory and of God rest upon you. On their part he's
evil spoken of, but on your part he's glorified. The Spirit of
glory and of God rest upon you. It's upon you, except you suffer
for Christ's sake. It's an opportunity to glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an opportunity there. When
a man suffers for Christ's sake, he has a special visit from on
high of God's Spirit that rests upon him and enables him to endure
it. You remember Stephen? When they
were stoning Stephen, he wasn't mad. And when he looked up, he
saw the Lord Jesus Christ standing there ready to receive him. God's
glory was upon him. And a man who suffers for Christ's
sake, he's only suffering what they've already suffered who've
gone on before him. That's all. We're no better.
We're no better. If they suffer, we'll suffer. And then he says here in verse
thirteen and fourteen, and I'll close. You, now notice this. Let's look back over this. You're
poor in spirit. That's how you started out. You
mourn over your sins. You're meek now. God's broken
you. You're hungry and you're thirsty after the righteousness
of Christ. You're merciful because God has shown mercy to you. You're
pure at heart. You're an honest man. You're
a peacemaker. You're persecuted for righteousness'
sake. And now, verse 13, now you're the salt of the earth
and light of the world. You see what God has done here?
He's taken a mess. That's what he's taken. He's
taken a clay pot, and he's made a vessel of honor out of it.
That's what he's done. He's taken a vile, wretched sinner
that hated him, and he's turned it in now to the salt of the
earth and light of the world. That's a God. That's a God. You are the salt of the earth.
You know, we use salt as preservatives. Well, we lived on—back on the
farm, we used to butcher hogs, and they'd salt them down, you
know, for—it's a preservative. We use salt to give good flavor
to what we eat. I tell you what, you set a plate
before me, I'll salt it before I even taste it, because it just
makes it taste even better to me. And salt was to be used in
all the sacrifices. God has saved us. He has put
the salt of the gospel in us. He has put it in us. This world
is standing because of you. This world is preserved because
he still has some sheep in it. He still called us some sheep. That's how we—this world is still
preserved for that reason. And although we are few in number,
we add flavor to this world. That's right. Does the Scripture
not say we are a sweet-smelling savor unto God? Those who believe
the gospel, those who are His sheep, you're a sweet-smelling
savor unto God. He said, if the salt has lost
its savor, its taste, it's good for nothing. It's good for nothing. A man, a person who believes
this gospel is good for nothing. Bye.