I'm taking from Matthew 5. If
you recall, the last time I spoke, we finally had covered through
verse 4, verses 1 through 4. So look again at this passage
in Matthew that's commonly called the Beatitudes. And we'll begin
our reading back at verse 1. And for now, we'll just read
down through verse 6. Matthew 5 and 1. And seeing the
multitudes, He, Jesus, went up into a mountain. And when He
was said, His disciples came unto Him. And He opened His mouth,
and He 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. In
the two preceding messages of this series, we spent a lot of
time reviewing the common thread that's found to be true of each
of these verses, these verses that are commonly known as the
Beatitudes, that all begin, blessed are. We saw how that this speaks
of being blessed eternally, that is referring to those who are
the citizens of the kingdom. You may recall that fits within
the broader context of the entire sermon on the mount. the sermon
that's found here in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. That is,
the theme of that sermon we saw was the gospel of the kingdom.
And you'll recall we reviewed how it's not speaking of a physical
kingdom with geographical borders, but rather a spiritual kingdom,
a dominion, or a rule, or a reign, a reign of grace. As we see kind
of in the banner verse there on the front of the bullet in
Romans 5.21, it's a reign, grace, reigning through righteousness.
We saw previously how then those described here in the Beatitudes,
these citizens of the kingdom, the eternally blessed of God,
that they are blessed because they are the redeemed ones, first
of all. They were the ones that were
given to Christ by God the Father and then made blessed in the
righteousness of God the Son. That is, they were justified
by Christ's obedience even unto death, His righteousness. That
is, his satisfaction to the holy demands of God's law, both in
its precept, meaning his requirement of perfect obedience to all of
his revealed will being fulfilled, and in satisfaction to the law's
penal demands. That is, an extraction, see,
of a sufficient payment for sin, sufficient in that it needs to
satisfy against the injured justice of an infinitely holy God. Well,
that requires no less than the precious, infinitely valuable
blood of the God-man, Jesus Christ. We saw how in these verses that
Christ, the ones Christ refers here to as blessed, that they
are the redeemed ones, but that they also are the ones who in
each successive generation, that is in their lifetimes, they have
already been regenerated. They've been born again. They've
been set apart in spiritual birth and life. And what accompanies
that spiritual birth and life is an entirely new frame of reference. You see, a new way of thinking
by the power of God the Holy Spirit. That new way of thinking,
that new frame of reference is such that they now manifest to
various degrees, but in some degree, these characteristics
or these qualities, these fruits of the Holy Spirit that were
purchased for them by the blood, the wrought out righteousness
that was established by Christ. You'll recall we look at Romans
4 verses 6 through 8 which really give a great summary of the blessedness
that Christ is talking about here where it reads in verse
6, even as David also describeth what the blessedness, the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
That is, whom God reckons to their account the merit of His
work, that righteousness, without works. That is, with no contribution
to or from them. Saying, blessed, in verse 7,
are they. Blessed are. Blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. That summarizes
pretty much these who Christ is talking about in Matthew 5.
So we see that those that are spoken of as blessed ones, blessed
are, they have discovered that all this was made theirs, just
as David described, by imputation. That is, each and every one of
the sinner's sins, his past sins, his present sins, his future
sins, laid upon Christ, charged to his account. Blessed is the
man to whom God will not impute sin. He's imputed or charged
them to Christ. And the very satisfaction that
he made to God's law and justice, his righteousness freely imputed
or charged to the sinner's account. And I'm doing quite a bit of
review, but it's been a little while since a gap here, but since
I last spoke, and I think it's worthwhile, so y'all bear with
me. You may recall that we established that these characteristics, being
poor in spirit, they that mourn, so forth, they're not set forth
as things that we should strive to manifest in order that we
might be blessed of God. We don't try to be poor in spirit.
We don't try to be they that mourn so that God will bless
us. No, Christ is describing here things which are found to
be true of those who are the blessed ones of God because they
have been blessed. You see, because as objects of
God's eternal electing love, they were, or for these that
he's speaking to, he hasn't even gone to the cross yet when he's
preaching this sermon. Either to us it's those who were
justified, to them it's they who would be justified at the
cross of Calvary by the very one who's preaching this sermon
to them, Jesus Christ. And as a result of their justification,
they were given spiritual life. That is, they have this radically
different frame of reference that's manifested by these descriptions,
they that mourn, the poor in spirit, the meek, so forth. We
reviewed how Christ doesn't say, blessed are some of those who
are poor in spirit, or blessed are some of they that mourn,
or as we'll look at today, blessed are some of the meek. And I believe
that means that everyone who is blessed of God displays that
meekness, for example, and to some degree in the sense it's
meant here, because he says, blessed are the meek. And that
means everyone who falls in the category of the meek, in the
sense that's meant here, they are the blessed of God. So, you
see, that's what guides our understanding. And I just wanted to review that
again. If we properly understand that sense, what it means in
this context to be meek, then we will have come to an understanding,
see, so that we see that it must be applied, and so we see that
it can only be applied to those who have been redeemed by Christ
and given life to look to Him and to Him alone. And as such,
I want to restate the challenge that I mentioned in the previous
messages. I believe it's incumbent upon us all to individually ask
ourselves, am I among the meek? in the sense that we're going
to look at it today. That is, in the sense in which it's understood
to be true and only true of those eternally blessed of God. In
that sense, am I likewise, ask yourself today, one of the meek
ones? And the same question should be asked by each of us as we
consider the other verses here. As we've already looked at, am
I among the poor in spirit? Am I among they that mourn? Do
I hunger and thirst after righteousness? And so on. Do I hunger and thirst
after righteousness in that same sense? And this is important,
in which those descriptions are understood properly. Is that
which is found to be true and only true of those eternally
blessed of God? Now, how do we gain that understanding?
That understanding, see, is one that we derive from the whole
of Scripture and the message of Scripture, of God's gospel,
of how He saves sinners. Now, we considered verses 3 and
4 already in this life. For example, we saw how the poor
in spirit, that it can't be referring to those who are just spiritually
poor. In other words, the universal spiritual poverty of all humanity,
because the Scriptures make it clear that we're all bankrupt.
There's none that pleases God. There's none that seek it after
Him. But rather it must simply refer to those who have been
brought, see, by this life-giving power of God the Holy Spirit
to know about it. they know of their spiritual
poverty. They know they have nothing to
pay. They have nothing to merit or earn them anything before
God, which is true of all humanity, but they've been brought to know
it. Then in verse 4, we saw how they that mourn, they're also
those who've been enlightened to their spiritual poverty, how
they too are bankrupt and they're in need of mercy. And we reviewed
how they that mourn, it cannot refer to anyone who experiences
sadness or grieves for just any reason, because we all go through
things that cause us to be sad, to grieve. If that were the case,
then all would be eternally blessed of God, because it says, blessed
are they that mourn. We studied, if you'll recall,
how this grief of this mourning, it must be found in those who
find comfort from that which will address the cause of their
mourning. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. We saw how Christ then was referring
to those who mourn over that spiritual poverty. That is, whose
hearts have been made to melt in apprehension of their wretchedness
before God, so that they find comfort in Christ and they don't
find it anywhere else. So you see, that comfort comes
from not just a sorrow over knowing that we fall short, sins of immorality,
or even religious indifference, that, you know, I know I'm not
quite as serious enough about spiritual things as I should
be. Well, listen, we should be sorrowful over all of our shortcomings,
over our greed, our envy, and certainly over the grosser sins
of murder and so forth. That's not unique, see, to these
who are the blessed of God. So it can't be referring to that,
but rather it's a sorrow over having ever thought that they,
or anyone else for that matter, could be accepted before God
ultimately based on something they did, something that proceeded
from them, something they were enabled to do. Listen, something
other than the imputed righteousness that was established by Christ. It's what the Scriptures call
the deceivableness of unrighteousness, meaning something other than
the righteousness, the only righteousness that will do. So, these that
mourn, being convinced of sin by God the Holy Spirit, seeing
their absolute abject spiritual poverty, being poor in spirit,
see, they receive no comfort, none, see, from their mourning,
none whatsoever in falling for the popular misconception, the
popular suggestion of false religion. of most of religion that comes
in the name of Christ that says Christ has done it all and you'll
be blessed if you do your part, if you believe, if you're receiving,
if you meet some condition or if you find something within
you that completes the job, so to speak. Maybe it's your your
objectivity. You think you find yourself to
be more willing than others. Maybe you think God looks down
through time and says, I'm going to send Christ to die for you
because I know and foresaw that when the gospel is brought your
way, you will be more pliable, more reasonable, more willing
to listen. You see, whatever it is, if it's
something, if you do your part or if God foresaw you do your
part, whatever it is, that makes you think you'll be among those
that he describes here as being eternally blessed of God, heirs
of the kingdom of heaven. Well, that's not what these who
mourn mourn over. You can see they don't get any
comfort there. These blessed ones that Christ speaks of, they
mourn over ever having thought that. They see their own wretchedness,
see. They've been convinced of sin,
knowing that if not for pure, sovereign mercy and grace in
Christ, based upon His fulfillment of all that is required. We saw
in the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, Christ said, I
came to fulfill the law, every jot and two. I'm going to dot
every I and cross every T. All that is required. And they
see that apart from that, they would have no hope. They that
mourn, see, find their comfort in Christ's person and His work,
and they don't find it anywhere else. Now, I think you'll see
that this common thread that we found in our study of these
characteristics or qualities that are ascribed to the blessed
of God in these first two Beatitudes, the poor in spirit, they that
mourn, I think you'll see that thread continue as we move forward.
You'll also notice that each one of these verses, that it
confirms the standing in Christ of the ones being described as
blessed By linking to that description, see, some aspect of the ultimate
and the wonderful blessing, the inheritance or the reward that
awaits the blessed of God. So as we begin to look at the
rest of these verses, I want you to keep in mind that just
as he describes how they, the meek, being blessed of God, they
shall inherit the earth, it can also be said of the meek, if
we understand it properly, that theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
just like the poor in spirit, that they the meek, see, shall
be comforted, that they shall also be filled, that they shall
obtain mercy, that they shall see God, that they shall be called
the children of God the meek. And look, not only that, all
of the same aspects of that blessing mentioned here, it can be said
to be true of the poor in spirit, to they that mourn, to the merciful,
to they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, so on. You
see, it's that they're all the same group. We're talking about
the eternally blessed of God. Now, having established that
common thread through these verses, I'll try to move a little quicker.
So instead of just covering one verse per sermon today, I promise
we're going to get two in. And in studying this, I will
tell you one thing that slowed me down some, and I can't seem
to get away from it. I have just been very impressed
upon the fact that these verses in this passage, they fit so
beautifully together. is they describe different characteristics
and different aspects of this one blessing, of these who are
called blessed. And those descriptions, I believe,
are things that a true believer can be reassured in. You see,
as we can identify with those descriptions in each of those
verses as it's understood in light of what we recognize as
a new frame of reference. See, having been brought to repentance,
we've turned from something to something. And we will see these
descriptions in that light that a true believer can identify
with. It's that which accompanies the gift of spiritual life. that
is, of being brought to look to Jesus and to Him alone as
the author and finisher of our faith. So I want you to keep
this in mind. And these blessed ones, we're
looking at objects and recipients of unqualified mercy. That is a favor or a blessedness
of God upon a people here who possess within themselves no
merit whatsoever, but rather finding all their salvation was
merited for them by the unblemished the untainted, the uncontaminated,
the flawless Lamb who offered Himself without spot, finding
all of their salvation that was merited there by Him, by that
sacrifice that was made to God's inflexible and satisfaction that
was made to His justice at the cross some 2,000 years ago. And
that's the satisfaction that was made by a substitute and
a representative, the God-Man, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And further, it became mine based upon nothing done by me, nothing
done in me, nothing done through me, but something done for me. It was by the imputation of that
satisfaction of His righteousness, the charging to my account and
to everyone else for whom Christ lived and died, the very righteousness
that was wrought out by Christ in His life and death. So as
to merit all of my salvation, now that's a Savior. Well, look
with me as we will begin here looking at verse five, where
it reads, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Now, I want you to turn back
again to Isaiah chapter 61, and I know I spent a good deal of
time there in the previous message when we were studying verse four,
blessed are they that mourn. But I want to briefly look at
it again today, and I want you to notice today something a little
different. How this Old Testament passage supports this notion
of the common thread that we find in the opening verses of
Christ's Sermon on the Mount, in these verses called the Beatitudes. In this passage in Isaiah, we
see several of the descriptions that Christ brings out in Matthew
5. They're spoken of together here
in the context of Isaiah 61. where Christ himself is speaking
through the prophet Isaiah. So look there in verse 1, Christ
speaking through Isaiah says, The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound. to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God." He's
pointing to the cross there. "...to comfort all that mourn,
to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be
glorified. I really have come to love that
passage in Isaiah. I reviewed those verses pretty
extensively in the preceding message of this series, so I
won't repeat all of that. But today I simply want to point
out how we see here mentioned in these verses not just they
that mourn, but several of the descriptions see that coincide
with those that Christ asserts those descriptions that He asserts
to be true of the eternally blessed in His Sermon on the Mount. Notice
He refers to the broken-hearted there in Isaiah 61. Well, that
certainly describes the poor in spirit. Christ said He sent
to bind up the broken-hearted, those who find themselves broken.
That is, with nothing to plea. They're stripped clean, see?
They find nothing to plea but mercy. They're brought into an
awareness of their utter, complete spiritual poverty, with nothing
to offer before a holy God, and they need mercy. As we emphasized
previously, Isaiah certainly refers to those who mourn. The
good tidings, he says, to be preached to comfort those who
mourn. He says those that mourn in Zion,
his church. But notice also to whom Christ
is speaking here, through the prophet Isaiah. He says he's
been anointed, as have all of God's preachers. commissioned
by God the Father to do what? To preach good tidings unto the
meek. Now I'll go further and I want
to suggest to you that these good tidings that Christ is appointed
or commissioned to preach, it's also for the merciful. How do
I know that? For they shall obtain mercy and
Christ here speaking through Isaiah, He's speaking of objects
of mercy. He's certainly speaking of those
who hunger and thirst after righteousness because we see here in Isaiah
61 that their comfort, their joy, their liberty, their entire
relief, see, is based upon that garment of praise. In other words,
being planted as trees of righteousness. See, that's what fills their
need. That's what quenches their God-given hunger and thirst for
Him. And so it goes with the rest
of the descriptions given in the Beatitudes, the peacemakers,
those who are persecuted for His sake. For all of them, see,
are among the eternally blessed of God, who find their remedy
in Christ as He's proclaimed, where? In the gospel, the good
tidings. That's what gospel, the word
means, good news. But it's a specific good news
that's described in Isaiah 61 of how God sets His people free. It's of how God saves sinners.
The good tidings that he mentioned through the prophet Isaiah there
in chapter 61. You see, these all find their blessedness, their
comfort and their joy as objects of God's grace. It's the gospel
of grace. You see, they were declared to
be trees of righteousness. It said, the planting of the
Lord that He might be glorified. In the context of the gospel
of God's sovereign grace, That is, the gospel that excludes
any and all of the residue or remnants of man's natural religion,
the religion of works, though it may come in the name of grace,
but any religion whereby salvation is imagined to be conditioned
to any degree whatsoever on the sinner. When that's excluded
in that gospel and comfort is found in Christ and in Him alone,
That is, based upon his finished work in satisfying the justice
of God, that's where we're going to find the poor in spirit and
they that mourn. Because, you see, that's what
they're comforted by, the meek and they which hunger and thirst
after righteousness and the merciful and the persecuted and the peacemakers,
all as described in Matthew 5, because they are the eternally
blessed of God. You see, salvation is by grace.
It's not by works. It's the gift of God, salvation
by grace through faith, and it's the gift of God. It's not a works,
lest any man should boast. See, the plantings of the Lord,
that He might be glorified. There's not going to be any room
for boasting in us. Now, in the context of the gospel
then, these good tidings wherein, Romans 1, 16 and 17, gospel is
the power of God unto salvation, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. So these good tidings where that's
revealed, It's in that context that we rightly, I think, understand
who Christ is describing in Matthew chapter 5. With that in mind,
then, who then are the meek? Well, simply put, meekness is
a God-given desire to bow and to submit to God's rule, to God's
way of salvation at the exclusion of any other way, and to God's
Word where that's revealed. You know, in our common usage
of the word meek or meekness, it sometimes carries with it
the connotation of weakness. And we know that doesn't fit
in the context here. Moses, for example, was described as a meek
man in Numbers 12 3. We read that it said Moses was
very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.
Yet Moses was bold to withstand the enemies of God. He stood
up to Pharaoh, you'll recall, as God's appointed man to lead
Israel out of captivity in Egypt. Our Lord was said to be meek
because He always did the will of the Father. So we know that
meekness isn't weakness. Christ displayed anything but
weakness in His ministry here on earth. in boldly exposing false professors
and even the most religiously, highly esteemed men of his day,
and in proclaiming who he was and what he came to do, to accomplish. And he proclaimed it so clearly
that it ultimately led men to crucify him. Now, that's not
weakness. So we see it, meekness isn't
weakness, but neither is it a moral virtue. in the context here in
Matthew chapter 5. Rather, meekness is induced by
the fruits of the Spirit of God. It's listed in the Scriptures
as one of the fruits of the Spirit. Now, like most of the fruits
of the Spirit, it is learned, but it's a gift of God. So it's
a divine teaching. It's like what Christ said in
Matthew 11. Verse 28-30, when He said, Come
unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take My yoke upon you. And He
said, Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall
find rest unto your souls. You see, Christ displayed meekness
because He did the will of the Father. Here He is, Christ, who
is co-equal with God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, Deity. as
we heard explained so beautifully at the ten o'clock hour. Dear
Christ, He humbled Himself, and in His office as mediator, He
subjected Himself to all the frailties and infirmities of
humanity, yet without sin. He did all of that in submission,
see, to the Father's will. That's meekness. In other words,
He willingly lived and died as a substitute for those that he
had covenanted with the Father to redeem. The meat described
by Christ here in Matthew as the blessed of God, they are
those who God, the Holy Spirit, has regenerated. They've been
born again. And they've been brought then to submit. submit
to God's way of salvation wherein His righteousness is revealed.
That is to rest in Christ and in Him alone as having met all
the conditions of their salvation based upon what exactly that
which God requires, righteousness and perfect satisfaction to justice
at the cross of Calvary. You see, the meek, they are taught
of God. You know, the word for meekness
is often defined even in the Scriptures as gentleness and
kindness. But you know, if we go no further
than just the word definition itself, then in this context,
we're going to see a contradiction. You see, because of a gentle
and a kind attitude, it can be applied to many folks who give
no evidence of having submitted themselves to the righteousness
of God in Christ. Most, like myself in years past,
never having even heard of an imputed righteousness. Well,
Randy, how can you say that they're lost folks? Because that's what God says
in His Word in Romans 10 when Paul said, my prayer for Israel
is that they might be saved. For our barren record, they have
a zeal of God, they're religious. But they lack some knowledge.
And he said what that knowledge was. They being ignorant of the
righteousness of God go about to try to establish one of their
own. So if that gentleness and kindness can be said of such
as that, we know that it has to be something more specific
that Christ is meaning here in Matthew 5. You see, the meat
being poor in spirit, I think in some ways it might be compared
to like a wild horse that's been broke and it's been brought into
submission by and to its master. But here's what's different.
they are willingly broke. You see, the Bible says they're
made willing in the day of His power. The meek submit to God's
rule and God's way of salvation while turning completely away
from that which they valued, that which their loved ones cling
to and rest upon, from their former opposing way. It's a way
of man's natural religious persuasions. It's a way that the Scripture
says there's a way that seemeth right unto men, but the end thereof
is death and destruction. This meekness shows itself, see,
when a sinner is taught and he realizes that it's impossible
for God to save him based upon that popular misconception that
salvation is ultimately up to you, that it's in the hands of
the sinner. condition in some way, to some
degree, on that which proceeds from Him. You see, the meek being
so convinced of sin so as to expose the futility of such notions,
they trust Christ alone for all their wisdom, their righteousness,
their blessing, and their redemption. And this meekness manifests itself
in true God-given faith and repentance. When a sinner submits to God's
way of salvation in Christ, the gospel of the kingdom in the
context of the Sermon on the Mount, seeing that everything
he once thought was gain, that he thought would tender some
favor before God that would make the difference between those
who would be blessed to go to heaven versus those condemned
to hell. When he thinks that what he thought was gain, like
the Apostle Paul, who said, those things I thought were gain I
now count lost, not wanting to be found in my own righteousness,
When they put that, they put all that in the lost column.
Well, now, they're not going to do that, see, unless God's
done a work. They repent, see, of that and
consider it dead works, worthless, fruit unto death. You see, meekness
is true humility before God. It's not a humility that you
can determine to have on your own. You can't work it up, so
to speak. It's the gift of God the Holy
Spirit. It's the opposite of religious pride that is manifested,
listen, when we, like all sinners initially, look, when you talk
about having religious pride, don't look out there somewhere.
This is where we all start. It's when We, like all, imagine
that salvation was in some way conditioned on ourselves when
we sought and expected salvation in all of God's blessings, including
heaven itself, based on something other than or in addition to
the imputed righteousness of God in Christ. Listen, isn't
that the first thing that comes to the mind of a person when
they decide, you know, I might better get serious. I'm going
to die someday and I want to know if I can go to heaven. What do
we ask ourselves? We say, what do I have to do
to go to heaven? Well, the question itself tells
on us, what do I have to do? You see, that's religious pride,
the audacity that I go before a holy God thinking that me,
a sinner, and we're talking about a holy God, It would make a difference,
something that I could offer unto Him, something I could do.
Now, I know for many years I thought I was humble. And listen, there
are people out here in religion, all over this world, who think
they are too. And they're sincere. They're
not pretending to be humble. They think they are, and they
think they're meek before God, that they're submitted to God.
And sincerely, many of them are like me, especially those who
call themselves Christian. They're thankful that Christ
came and lived and died on the cross at Calvary for their sins.
But so many of them are like me. They believe that He died
for all the sins of all the people without exception. And you see
them believe in that? I was left, by default, you can't
explain it any other way, I was left with this prideful, religiously
prideful presumption of assuming that unlike those who would perish
in hell, you see, he died for them and he died for the ones
that go to heaven, so that didn't make the difference. Oh, but
I'm accepted, I'll go to heaven because I accepted him. You see,
I was willing to receive, I responded to the call of the gospel. I
did my part in receiving Him into my life and exercising my
faith as, listen, as the crowning event to make effectual what
is death on the cross by that way of thinking merely made possible.
It was to reduce. Think of the scorn that that
brings upon the person and work of Christ. It's to look at the
work of Christ as if it's not the main course. It's just a
prerequisite. What really will make the difference
is my decision. If I'll invite him into my heart. Today, I pray that God will cause
others to see what he's previously and graciously shown to me and
others. And he continues to show us every
day in making us truly meek. That is in bringing us into submission
to his righteousness. The salvation condition on Christ
and Him alone so that we repent from ever thinking that we could
be saved and accepted before a holy God based on any condition
met by us the sinner. How dare we assign anything that
we might do or even assume that we've been able to do or find
within us in a place of rivalry with that which the Lord of glory
alone could and did accomplish for His people. in his life and
death. Well, notice with me there it
says, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. As the book of Hebrews reminds
us, a will or a testament that would convey an inheritance,
it requires that someone dies. It requires the death of a testator. In this case, Christ himself.
And we, the sinner then, we don't earn it. We don't merit it. Not
one bit of it. It's an inheritance. You see,
even in the description of the blessing here, we see something
that excludes any contribution from us as a sinner. But the
meek who have been made so by God the Holy Spirit, so that
they submit to God's way of salvation, finding themselves, see, justified
by God through the imputation of righteousness established
by Christ on the cross, and there alone. These meek ones, they
inherit the earth. That speaks of an earth or a
country that's a heavenly one, just as the Scriptures talk about
a heavenly Jerusalem in contrast to the earthly one. It's the
heavenly earth, see, where only these He describes as blessed
shall dwell. Why? Because as the Scriptures
say, they are heirs and joint heirs with Christ. Christ of
whom it said in Psalm 24, to whom the earth belongs and the
fullness thereof. Now, I want you to think of that.
What a blessing. If you're blessed of God, you
inherit that which the God-man, the Lord of glory, himself merited. Look, not one bit less than he
could earn. Now, that is all grace here and
all glory hereafter. Now, that's a blessing. These
who are blessed that Christ speaks of, they are indeed blessed.
Now, let's look at verse 6. I'm determined to get through
this second beatitude here today. It reads, blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. The
same applies here. They which hunger and thirst
after righteousness, they're the poor in spirit. They are
they who mourn in having seen of their spiritual poverty and
who find comfort for that mourning in Christ based upon his accomplished
work being imputed or reckoned or charged to their account.
They've been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit which include
their meekness. Having been brought into submission,
see, to the only thing that will meet their need before a holy
God, who requires and judges in what? In righteousness. Acts 17 31. You see, they need
a righteousness to stand before God because that's what He's
going to judge by. That's what He requires. That
means He requires perfect obedience. And He requires an infinitely
valuable payment for His injured justice. They need righteousness. And by God's grace, they're brought
to see their need of it. And their spiritual life, their
sustenance, their nourishment, it depends upon it. So they hunger
and thirst after it. It's not just some minor point
of doctrine to them. I recall a few months back when
some were standing here in this pulpit suggesting to us that
it was based on a righteousness imputed plus something found,
another righteousness found within you. And I remember Jim Casey
telling me, he says, you don't mess with that righteousness.
You see, this is no minor point of doctrine to them. And God
having placed in them spiritual life, having indwelt them with
His Spirit, He feels that hunger, the very hunger that He initiates
and He excites in them. He says in Acts 17, 31, actually
in verse 30 as we heard at the ten o'clock hour, He said, God
commandeth men everywhere to repent. Why? He says because
He's going to judge the world in something that they don't
have by nature. He's going to judge the world
in righteousness by that one whom He ordained. And he says
that he gave assurance to all men and that he raised them from
the dead. You see, the merit of what he did, his life and
death, his righteousness and that alone, it purchases, it
acquires, it earns, it demands eternal life. And that's how
serious and needful this righteousness is. We're all going to be judged
by it, see, according to the Scriptures. Sinners, all of us,
we need a righteousness. to be among the eternally blessed
of God, but only His will get the job done. Attempts at establishing
one of our own, they're futile. That's called self-righteousness,
and it falls so miserably short of what God requires. We need
to be clothed, as Isaiah 61 said, in that priestly garment of praise,
His righteousness. We needed a substitute, see,
to establish one. And all whom He represented,
they shall be blessed of God to discover. There are blessings
in that righteousness he established and in that justification when
it was imputed. But they're going to discover that as well. Remember,
as recorded in Romans 4, David described the blessedness of
the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. I pray God will create within
each and everyone who hears this message a hunger and a thirst
after his righteousness. for they shall be filled." Well,
now, does that mean that God will reward your hunger and thirst
for righteousness by granting it to you in exchange for your
interest in it? No. That would mean you don't
need mercy at all, see. That would mean you did your
part. That's the religion of works.
That means you could fulfill your end of the bargain and God
doesn't make that offer. No. That's the religion of works. It's not the religion of grace.
You are responsible, you're commanded to seek after God as He's revealed. But know this, if you're brought
to see your need for His righteousness and for salvation conditioned
on Him and on Him alone with no contribution from you, you're
going to do so at the expense of discovering how diametrically
opposed everything that you previously and naturally assumed was that
would commend you to God. Thereby, you'll know, see, that
this new desire, this new desire for Him and His righteousness
alone, that it was given to you. Because it's totally contradictory
or contrary, I should say, to your natural persuasion. It was
given to you as a fruit and an effect of that which Christ accomplished
and merited for you some 2,000 years ago. That's why Paul said,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. None naturally
seek after God. As the Scripture says in Romans
3, 10 and 11, as it is written, there is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. See, none will naturally
hunger and thirst after His righteousness. But isn't God gracious? He creates
within His people, see, the desire and the hunger. for the very
thing that He's already provided for them in Christ. He's provided
for a people who He looked down and said, they'll get interested
in this righteousness. No, that isn't who He provided
it for. He provided it for a people that He took out of the common
dregs of all fallen humanity. That is, people who would otherwise
never, never have sought God on His terms. but in regeneration
and conversion, in the new birth by the life-giving power of God
the Holy Spirit. We're so taught of Him that we
enter into that and we enjoy it. Having been delivered, see,
from our natural lost state of darkness and translated into
the marvelous kingdom of His light. God satisfies the hunger,
see, that He stirs up in our minds and in our hearts with
the very thing that He brings us to hunger and thirst for.
the righteousness of God in Christ. Well, I did get through two of
the Beatitudes, and I need to probably begin to close now.
But I've moved twice as fast. The last two sermons, it was
only one per sermon. I'll leave you with this challenge.
First, I'll remind you of the earlier challenge. That is, I
challenge everyone who hears this to search your own hearts
and minds and ask yourself, do you find these descriptions of
the ones who are eternally blessed of God? Do you find them to be
true to some degree in your own life experience? Specifically,
as we looked at this morning, that is, are you among the meek?
Have you been brought into submission to God's way of salvation, to
salvation conditioned on Christ alone? That is, based solely
upon His finished work and His person, in establishing righteousness
by his obedience unto death and then being accounted righteousness
in him through imputation, his reckoning of the merit of his
work on your account or to your account. So are you among the
meek? That is, are you submitted to
the righteousness of God in Christ? And in concert with this, have
you been brought to hunger and thirst after this righteousness? so that you find your only relief
in that work that He accomplished in strict, perfect satisfaction
to God's justice on the cross of Calvary. Listen, is that enough
for you? Does that fill you? Well, it
does those who are blessed of God. Blessed are they which do
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. And
if you're not confident that these verses describe you, Then
I hope and I pray you'll continue to consider these things, because
as we've seen, if they're understood correctly, they're true of each
and every one. And they're only true of each
and every one who has been blessed with spiritual life in Christ
and thereby assured of their eternal blessing in heaven with
him. Well, hopefully many of you can
identify with that which has been described in these verses.
But you know, if you're like me, you may also be keenly aware
of how woefully short we all fall with our ever-present sinfulness
in this body in living out our lives day by day in accordance
with that mindset. That mindset, see, that springs
from the graces which God has blessed us in and blessed us
with, which we can identify with our minds when those minds are
focused on things above. And so, to me and you, I challenge
us to keep our minds on things above and cultivate these gifts
of the Spirit as we try to grow and strive to grow and apply
ourselves to the means and avail ourselves of those means to grow
in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Let us remember, we've been blessed to be adopted into God's family. to be heirs of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, citizens of His kingdom. So let us then strive
to walk worthy of our vocation and calling in Christ in a gratitude
that is commensurate with being among the eternally blessed of
God in Christ.