All right, Matthew chapter five,
our text this morning will be verse five. Blessed are the meek. We're going to continue our studying
the Beatitudes with meekness. I want to remind you that the
Lord is not showing us in the Beatitudes how to be saved. He's not telling us that we have
to produce meekness in order to be saved. Salvation comes
through faith in Christ. It's by believing Christ. And
we don't produce faith, do we? No, God gives that to his people
as a free gift. Well, we can't produce meekness
either. God's got to give that to us as a free gift of his grace. We can't produce meekness because
meekness is opposed to our proud, selfish, self-serving nature. But God gives this fruit, this
nature of meekness to everyone that he saves If you go read
the list of the fruits of the spirit, meekness is among them.
This is a gift that God gives all of his people. So he's not
telling us how to be saved and he's not telling us how to be
lived. He's not in a way threatening his people saying, no, you better
be meek or I'm going to get you. That's not what he's teaching
us at all. He's telling us what a believer is by God's grace.
This is part of the nature that God gives his people. Meekness
is an evidence of salvation. God saved you. He's given you
meekness. Now we think that people who
are blessed of God or who are blessed are people who are bold. They're so bold. I mean, they
will do whatever they've got to do to get their way. They
won't let anything stand in their way. We think that's the blessed
person, a bold person. He can get his way. But God says
blessed are the mean. We think a meek person is a person
who's timid, who's weak, who's spineless, and just will never
stand up for himself. We think a meek person is someone
who's a doormat, they'll just let everybody run all over them.
We think a meek person is a person who won't speak their mind. Let
me give you a note on that, not speaking your mind. More people
ought to take the opportunity to not speak their mind. If Lord
ain't giving us something to say, we ought to keep our mouth
shut. Solomon said in Proverbs 17, 28, even a fool would he
hold at this piece is counted wise. You know, modern day translation
of that would be it's better to appear a fool than to open
your mouth and remove all doubt. If meekness were not speaking
your mind, maybe more people ought to be meek. But that's
not what the Lord's talking about. That's not the meaning of meekness
in the Bible at all. Meekness is a submission to God's
will. That's what meekness is. Now,
if we believe what we claim to believe, if we believe that God's
sovereign and God never makes a mistake in anything that he
does, how could I not be meek? I mean, how could I not submit
to his will if he's sovereign and everything he does is right?
You know, whatever God does with me is good simply because God
did it. It's right simply because God
did it. And I ought to willingly submit
to that. I ought to be meek. Meekness
is this, knowing that God is the first cause of everything.
So I willingly bowed everything that happens. If God's the first
cause of it, even if it hurts my flesh, I ought to bow to it
because it's best because God did it. I give you two examples. Job, the very day he lost everything
he had except his wife. What did he say? The Lord gave
and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
That's meekness. Eli, when Samuel came and told
him, God's going to kill your two boys. Eli said, it's the
Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.
That's meekness. That is submission to God. Meekness
is to wait on the Lord. It's not to scheme and try to
find your way, you know, to get out of this situation or make
happen what you think ought to happen. Meekness is to wait on
the Lord. He's going to do what's right
when it's the right time to do it. That's what meekness is.
You know, scripture calls Moses the most meek man upon the face
of the earth. Now, when you think about Moses,
you don't think about a weak spineless man at all, do you?
Just the opposite. Moses didn't let Pharaoh run
over him like a doormat. Yet Moses was the most meek man
upon the face of the earth because he was meek before the Lord.
Moses was obedient to go where the Lord sending. If Moses had
his druthers, he'd have stayed out there keeping Jethro's sheep.
But meekness, in meekness, he submitted to God's will and went
where God told him to do, to do what God sent him to do. And
that meekness before the Lord made Moses as bold as a lion
in the service of the Lord. Meek people are easy to identify. A meek person will easily forgive
others because our primary aim is Not for what's best for me,
not to get vindication for me, but what's best for the good
of the church. Well, then we'll forgive one another to keep these
situations from coming up that would cause division. A meek
person won't envy the gifts of others. God gave some gifts to
them. He gave different gifts to me.
It's the Lord that made the difference. It's the Lord that gave or that
didn't give. Then I just submit to it because whatever God has
done is best. Now that's what meekness is.
And I want to give you nine reasons that the meek are blessed of
God. And I'm not going to be able
to spend much time on each of them because of the time we have
allotted. But if you want, you can jot them down and go back
and look at them a little more later. But number one is this. The meek are blessed because
only the meek will inherit the earth. That's what our Lord says
in Matthew 5, verse 5. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. Now, when you inherit something,
It now belongs to you. It was given to you by somebody
who owns it. And now you own it. They gave
it to you. Well, believer, everything in the earth, although everything
in the earth and everything that happens in the earth belongs
to the meek, it all belongs to God's people. God is working
all of that together for his glory and the eternal good of
his people. That's why Paul said, all things
are for your sakes. Whatever it is that God's doing
in the government of this earth, he's doing it for the sake of
his people, for the sake of the meek. And one day Christ is going
to return and God's going to make all things new. He's going
to create a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. And it's going to be all for
his people, all for the meek. They've inherited the earth.
Those who God has saved by his grace inherit the earth. All
right, number two, look over a few pages of Matthew chapter
11. The meek are blessed because only the meek are Christ-like.
Matthew 11, verse 28. Our Lord says, come unto me,
all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. The Son of God describes his
character, he describes himself as meek and lowly. How can that be? How can God
be meek? How can God be lowly? Well, you
know, Moses was, he must have been, because scripture said
he was, the meekest man upon the face of the earth at that
time. But the Lord Jesus is the meekest man to ever live. He is the only man who is perfectly
submissive to the father. And he was joyfully submissive
to his father. And the reason that he can give
rest to the souls of his people is he was meek. He was the submissive
servant of his father who came to do everything that the father
gave him to do. God's people have rest for their
souls because Christ already did everything. He already accomplished
the salvation of his people. All the work's done. so God's
people can rest. Christ finished it as the submissive
servant of his father. And God's elect have rest for
their souls. They have rest from fear. They
don't have to fear condemnation. They don't fear judgment. Well,
why not? Aren't they sinners? Absolutely
they are. But they don't fear condemnation. They don't fear judgment. because
the Lord Jesus Christ was so perfectly submitted, submissive,
he submitted unto his father, even unto death. Look at Philippians
chapter two. The death of Christ is a substitute
for his people, removes the fear of death and the fear of punishment
for his people because Christ died in our place. Philippians
two verse five, let this mind be in you. which was also in
Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. It wasn't robbery for him to
say he's equal with God. He is equal with God. But he
made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. And Paul says to God's
people, now you let that mind be in you. You let this mind
of meekness and submission to God's will be in you. Well, the
only way that mind can be in us is if God put it in us. He's
got to put this mind in us in the new birth. And the mind that
God gives everyone he saves is a Christ-like mind. It's to have
the mind of Christ, to be meek and submissive to the will of
the Father. And only the meek can be Christ-like. I now look
back at Psalm 22. The next several of these we
look at are going to be found in the Psalms. And this is the
third thing. The meek are blessed because only the meek can be
satisfied with Christ. Psalm 22 verse 26, the meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that
seek him. Your heart shall live forever. Only the meek are going
to be satisfied. Only the meek can eat Christ.
And you know this thing we talk about eating Christ, eating his
body, drinking his blood. It refers to having union with
Christ. Well, only the meek can be satisfied
because only the meek have this union with Christ and they wouldn't
have it any other way. They're satisfied having union
with Christ. having their righteousness be
his obedience to the law, having their forgiveness of their sins
through his sacrifice. They're satisfied. I'm satisfied
because I did what he did as my representative. And only the
meek can be satisfied that way. Only the meek will submit like
that to the righteousness of Christ. Only the meek can really
praise the Lord, whatever he does. Because only the meek can
submit to the will of the Father like that. Only the meek will
seek the Lord. God commanded us, seek me, seek
Christ. Well, only the meek are going
to be submissive enough to do it. You see, meekness is something
God's got to put in us. We can't produce that by nature.
That's what God's got to put in us. And if he puts that in
us and we're satisfied with Christ, that's the blessed person to
be satisfied. They're blessed. Now look over
at page Psalm 25, verse 9. The meek are blessed because
God only teaches the meek. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be
taught of God? Well, God only teaches the meek.
Verse 9 of Psalm 25, the meek will he guide in judgment and
the meek will he teach his way. God teaches his way to the meek. Now remember Moses, when he prayed,
he asked the Lord, show me your way. He didn't ask, show me your
ways. All of Israel saw God's ways.
Egypt saw God's ways. They saw what God had done. Moses
was asking, show me your way. Show me why you do what you do. Show me your way of salvation. Show me your way of mercy. Show
me your way of grace. Show me the way to the father.
In essence, what Moses was praying is show me Christ. He's the way
to the father. He's the way of salvation. He's
the way of mercy and grace. And the father will teach that
his way to the meek. Now hold your place in the Psalms
and look over to John chapter six. Do you want to know if you're
one of the meek? Do you want to know if the Father's
taught you or if some man has taught you? Can you know the
difference? You can. And here's how you can tell.
If the Father's taught you, you come to Christ. If you're meek,
you've come to Christ. John 6 verse 44. No man can come
to me except the Father which has sent me drawing and I'll
raise him up at the last day. It's written in the prophets
and they should be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and learned of the Father does what? Cometh unto
me. If the Father's the one that's
taught you, you will come to Christ. Only the meek will be
drawn to Christ and only the meek can come to Christ. And
if you come to Christ, if God Almighty draws you to Christ
and you come to Christ and he will in no wise cast you out,
that's the blessed person, the meek. All right, now look at
Psalm 37. Here's the fifth thing. The meek
are blessed because only the meek can have peace with God.
Psalm 37 verse 11. Here's David saying the same
thing our Lord said, but the meek shall inherit the earth
and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Now,
only the meek can delight themselves in abundance of peace because
only the meek will submit themselves to the righteousness of Christ.
That was Paul's complaint with his countrymen, the Jews. They
will not submit themselves to the righteousness of Christ.
And since they don't submit themselves to the righteousness of Christ,
they have no peace. They can't find any peace for their art
and all their activity of religion, activity of the law. The only
way we're ever going to have peace in the heart is to quit
going about to establish our own righteousness and to submit
ourselves to the righteousness of Christ without our works adding
one whit to it. That's the only way we can have
peace. Well, then only the meek can have peace with God because
only the meek will submit. That's what meekness is. It's
submission to God. Well, only the meek will submit
themselves to salvation through the sacrifice of Christ and through
the obedience of Christ. Christ made peace for us by the
blood of His cross. That's the only way we can have
peace, through the blood of His cross. Now there's such peace
in knowing that my sin has been put away. As full of sin as I
am, it's been paid for by the blood of Christ. God's not angry
with me anymore. Because the blood of Christ took
away the sin that made God angry. And that's abundant peace. But
it can only be enjoyed by the meek. They're the only ones who
will submit to that. Alright, here's the sixth thing.
Psalm 76. The meek are blessed. Because
only the meek will be saved. God will never save anybody that's
not meek. Psalm 76 verse 8. Thou didst cause judgment to
be heard from heaven. The earth feared and was still
when God arose to judgment to save all the meek of the earth. Now the salvation of our soul
is the greatest gift that God can give. The salvation of the
soul. What would a man give for his
soul? What good does it do if you gain the whole world and
lose your soul? The greatest gift that God can
give is the salvation of the soul of a sinner. And God does
that. But he only saves the meek. Here, David talks about God arising
in judgment. Now, I don't know about you,
but I think this is what goes through my mind when I think
about that day. The Lord Jesus Christ right now
is sitting upon the throne of God. Ruling, reigning in complete
ease. One day he's going to stand up.
He's going to come again. I remember we were looking at
some old pictures last night and saw some old pictures of
my dad with the girls when they were little. And the only thing
that those two girls knew about my dad was just gushy love, just,
oh, oh, something you want to read, you know, Snow White for
the 15th time, well, I'll just do it, you know, just. I remember
my dad a little bit differently. I remember him sitting there
in his easy chair, his feet, you know, propped up on that
lazy boy and, buddy, You knew everything better come to a stop.
But he reached down, flipped that thing up, and he's come
up out of that chair. It got your attention. Something's going to happen.
And for those of us that weren't behaving, it won't be very pleasant.
I think of the Lord Jesus Christ sitting upon His throne. And
He's putting up with this creation right now. Right now, I mean,
I must grieve His holy soul but he's putting up with it for the
salvation of his people. When that purpose is accomplished,
he's going to stand up and he's coming again. And I think of
him coming again in wrath, in judgment upon this world to destroy
the world, to damn those that will not believe on him. But
David says here, when he arises in judgment to come again, he's
coming to save the meek. He's coming to gather his people
to himself, and their souls will be saved. Now that's to be delivered
from the wrath to come. That's the greatest blessing
that God can give a sinner, and he's only gonna save those who
are meek. God makes them meek, and he saves
them. That's his gift to them. See,
only the meek are willing to be saved on God's terms. Proud,
they want to contribute to it. They want it to be their way.
Only the meek are willing to be saved on God's terms. And
not only are they willing to be saved on God's terms, they
wouldn't change it if they could. That's meekness. It's not just,
well, you know, God's going to break my fingers from hanging
on to this hope and, you know, I got to accept this because
this is the only choice. No, it is the only choice. But
more than that, the meek wouldn't change it if they could. gladly
submit to God's way. Hold your place there in the
Psalms again. Look over at James chapter one. James first chapter, first verse
21. James says, wherefore lay apart
all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with
meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. Now
only the meek can receive salvation. Only the meek can receive the
engrafted word, God's word put into our heart. Because when
you receive something, you simply take what somebody else gives
you. You didn't earn it, you received it. You received it
as a free gift. Now the proud aren't gonna receive
salvation as a free gift. They'll receive everything else
freely. They won't receive salvation freely. They're too proud. They've
got to try to earn it. They've got to try to contribute
something to it. Only the meek will not try to.
They will try to earn it. They just receive what God gives
them as a free gift of his grace. So only the meek can receive
salvation because man left to his nature will always try to
earn it. And he'll never attain it. Never. But the meek receive it. All
right, back Psalm 147, here's the seventh thing. The meek are
blessed of God because God only lifts up the meek. Psalm 147 verse six. The Lord lifted up the meek. He casted the wicked down to
the ground. Now the Lord only lifts the meek
beggar from the dunghill to set him among princes. The proud
who think they deserve something from God, the proud who, while
they're on the dunghill, think they deserve to sit at God's
table, God's going to lead them right where they're at. But the
meek, undeserving person, every single one of them, God will
lift them up. He'll lift them up all the way
to glory. and make that meek beggar who
God found sitting on the dunghill just like his son. Now that's
the blessed person to be lifted away from this earth and be made
just like Christ. That's the blessed person. All
right, now look at Isaiah chapter 61. Eighth is this. The meek are blessed because
the gospel is only preached to the meek. Isaiah 61, we've looked
at this almost every week in our study of the Beatitudes.
This is the passage our Lord chose for his very first public
message. And he said, this day, this scripture
fulfilled in your ears. Isaiah 61 verse one, the spirit
of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound. Christ said he came to
preach the gospel, good tidings to the meek. And he said, this
day is a scripture fulfilled in your ears. He's preaching
the gospel to the meek. Now, I know many people hear
the gospel preached, you know, with these ears. It surprised
me to hear that our radio program on Saturday mornings, reaches
as far away as Moorhead, Kentucky. I mean, the amount of people
that could possibly hear that is staggering. The report we
get every month from Sermon Audio, the number of countries, just
different countries in all the states across this land that
hear a message just from this little old place. It's staggering. Many people hear it, but the
only people who hear the gospel. The only people who hear with
ears of faith, they hear it in the heart and they rejoice in
the gospel are the meek. Only the meek can rejoice in
the gospel. It's only good news for the meek.
The gospel simply says Christ did it all. Christ is all, Christ
did it all. Well, that's not good news to
the self-righteous. They want to do something. So to hear Christ
is all, that's not good news to them. They're not going to
rejoice in that. But to hear that Christ is all, he is all
of our salvation. That's good news to the meek.
Our Lord told his disciples, blessed are your ears for they
hear. Well, that's a blessing that God gives to me. He lets
them hear and believe the gospel. Now, what a blessing to know
God always sends the gospel to the meek. It's going to find
them. It's going to reach them. God's going to give them an ear
to hear it and a heart to believe it. They're going to rejoice
in it. That's the blessed person. All right, here's the last thing,
1 Peter 3. The meek are blessed of God because
only the meek are valuable to God. 1 Peter 3. Who's adorning? Let it not be
that outward adorning of plaiting of hair and wearing of gold or
putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart
in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and
quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Now, just in case somebody is
going to take something good and take it to extreme and go
to the deep end, the apostle here is not telling us, don't
comb your hair. He's not telling you don't wash
your hair and don't comb your hair. Don't braid it. Don't.
He's not telling us that. He's not telling he's I know
he's speaking specifically to ladies here. He's not telling
you don't wear some gold earrings or gold jewelry. And he's not
telling you don't wear nice clothes. That's not what he's saying at
all. He's saying don't let that be your only beauty. Here's the
beauty of a believer, a meek and quiet spirit, a spirit that
is submissive to God's will. God says, that's a great price
to me. God says, when I see that meek
attitude, that quiet, submissive spirit to everything I do, he
said, that's precious to me. That's valuable to me. But here's
our problem. We can't produce that meek attitude,
can we? We can't make ourselves valuable
to God. We can't make ourselves precious
to him. Well, what a blessing that God then would give that
meek spirit to all of his people. God's people are precious to
him. He calls them his precious jewels. He said their death is precious
in his sight. They're precious to him. But
then a blessed person is the person who's been made valuable,
who's been made precious by what God put in them. See, that's
the blessing. If God considers me precious,
The only thing you can say about that is, that's God's blessing.
I didn't do that. He did that. And that's why the
meek are blessed. What more could sinners like
you and me want than for God to give us this meek, quiet,
submissive attitude, which is in His sight of great price.
All right, the Lord bless you.