If you would open your Bible
to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. I have thoroughly, thoroughly
enjoyed being here today. I am so glad that God has allowed
our paths to cross. That we can rejoice in our great
God and our Savior. and that we are allowed by His
grace to worship Him. Matthew chapter 5, we'll begin
reading in verse 1, reading down through verse 12. And seeing the multitude, He
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 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. Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. 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 For great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted
they the prophets which were before you. Here in this, what
is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord
begins this great, great message describing those who are truly
blessed, those who are blessed by his grace, those who are the
called by his grace. He's not describing in these
verses how a man saved. He's describing the marks and
the evidences of those who are saved. These are the blessed
by him. First of all, we see the preacher
here is none other than the prince of preachers. This is the one
that the prophet spoke about. It's the voice of him that never
spake like another man, the Lord Jesus Christ. God manifested
in the flesh. The word became flesh and dwelled
among us. This is the very word of God
now speaking to individual men. So he was the preacher, the place
that says he went up upon this mountain and said he sat down. Some said, why did he sit down?
It's like a king sitting on his throne. He's going to preach
this message to these sinners. Listen, you know, it was on a
hill that God proclaimed the law. On Mount Sinai, God put
a border around that mountain and said, don't let anyone come
against it. God is holy. God is righteous. God is just. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. That's what the law proclaims. Condemned, condemned, condemned.
But here on this mountain, on Mount Sinai, he proclaimed the
law. Now here on this mountain, Christ expounds the law. The
law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. We know the law said if you'll
do these things, you can be blessed. If you'll meet these requirements,
you can be blessed. If you do this, you'll be blessed. And the world's still trying
to live under the law, under the curse and the dominion of
the law, trying to be blessed. I don't know if they do it around
here, but where I live, it gets on my nerves so bad. If you call
and leave a message on somebody's phone, they say, have a blessed
day. Like they think they have the
power to evoke a blessing on anyone. And I just like to ask
them what they mean by that. What if all hell breaks loose
on you? I guess you're having a curse
day. That may be a blessed day. But he expounds the law. He expounds it. He describes
how the law is fulfilled. The congregation here were these
people that gathered around him. It says this multitude went unto
him and they came unto him. And look in verse two, and he
opened his mouth and taught them. You know, many times he spoke
and never opened his mouth. Remember when Peter sinned, Peter
denied him. Our Lord said, before the cock's
crows, you'll deny me thrice. He said, when the cock crew,
our Lord turned and just looked at Peter and it broke his heart. But now he speaks. He opens his
mouth. He talked. And let me tell you
this, when he opened his mouth, he did not mumble, he did not
mutter, and he didn't stutter. He spoke as one that had the
authority. He spoke. He opened his mouth
and he talked. Oh, when God speaks. When God
speaks, God give us ears to hear. And God give us ears to hear
what he's saying in these verses. This interests me. What is he
saying? What does he mean by these verses?
Who is the blessed man? What are the characteristics
of a blessed man? What's the evidence of a blessed
man? That's what he's saying. These
are commonly referred to as the Beatitudes. It says blessed. What does the word blessed mean?
It means happy, highly favored of God. Do you know the last
word in the Old Testament? If you want to turn back just
a few pages to the last word in the book of Malachi, the last
word in the Old Testament, you know what it is? Lest I come
and smite the earth with a curse. And here he says, blessed, blessed,
blessed, happy, highly favored of God. Now that's the blessed
man. How do you know that's what that
means? Listen to me in Luke chapter
one, verse 28. And the angel came unto her, Mary, and said,
Hail, thou that are highly favored of the Lord. Thou that, hail thou that are
highly favored of the Lord. The Lord is with thee. Blessed
art thou among women. Was she highly favored? Was she,
was she blessed? Blessed, blessed, highly favored
of God. Happy, happy. Can't be too happy
under a curse, living under condemnation all your life. See, that's what
the Pharisees were saying. They were saying, now, if you'll
do this and keep the law, then you can be as righteous as we
are. And he said, accept your righteousness, exceed that of
the scribes and Pharisees. You're not entering into my kingdom. But he said, blessed. So let's look at these with the
Lord's help one by one. Beginning in verse three. Blessed are the poor in spirit
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This text does not say
blessed are the poor. It says blessed are the poor
in spirit. This poverty of spirit does not
grow naturally in human hearts. It's produced by the spirit of
God. Material poverty does not, in
and of itself, produce humility. Most people believe, say, well,
all the rich are going to hell and all the poor are going to
heaven. They think, well, man, poor, oh, that's some, there's
some virtue in that. That's not what he's saying.
I've seen people that were poor materially, were some of the
meanest, obnoxious, most selfish people I've ever seen. Feel like
everybody owed them something. That's right. That's not what
he's saying here. It's not blessed is the man in
pocket, but blessed is the man who is poor in spirit. And let me add this and knows
it. All men by nature are poor in spirit. All men by nature
are born dead and trespasses and sins, but not everybody knows
it. Not everybody realizes it, but
he's saying here, blessed, blessed is the poor in spirit. Today we hear all kinds of people
talking about promoting the higher life, but no one's promoting
the lower life. We need to be emptied of all
self-confidence, self-importance, and all of our self-righteousness.
That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in
the sight of God. What the world calls blessed
It's not what God calls blessed. The world would say, oh, that's
not blessed to be poor in spirit. It's not blessed to mourn over
your sins. You're not blessed to be meek.
You need to think highly of yourself. You need to get all you can get.
Put yourself first. They say that's the blessed man.
I guess that's what they mean when they say have a blessed
day. But he said, blessed are the
poor in spirit. And what is poverty of spirit? What is this poverty of spirit?
David said, and this was King David. This was not a poor man
in his pockets. This was, in the world's eyes,
a very rich man. But you know what he said? I
am poor and needy, yet the Lord thanketh upon me. That's a blessed
man. That's what it is to be poor
in spirit. I am poor and needy. Yet he thanketh upon me. What is this poor of spirit?
It's just the opposite of that haughty, self-sufficient spirit. Here's what author Pink said.
He said, it's to recognize that I have nothing. Nothing in my
hand I bring simply to the cross I cling. I have nothing. I know
nothing. I'm ignorant. Ignorant. If you know anything about God
and about this book, God taught you. Our Lord looked at the disciples
one day and he said, well, whom do men say that I am? They said,
well, some say you're Elijah the prophet. Some say you're
this or some say you're that. He said, well, whom do you say
that I am? Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living
God. Just ignorant fishermen. He said, flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you, but my Father did. We are nothing, we know
nothing. We know nothing. We can do nothing. And we have nothing. And we are
in need of all things. That's what this is. Poor in
spirit and you never grow out of it. poor, poverty in spirit. It is to acknowledge that God
is holy and we are unholy. Self-denial is the first lesson
to be learned in the school of grace. The foundation of all
other grace is laid here in those who are poor in spirit. Those
who build high must begin low. It's like the prodigal son who
Began to be in want. That's poverty of spirit. He
thought, boy, I've got the world by the tail. I've got everything
I could ever want. And he went and wasted it. Went
down and hired himself out. Eating in the hog pen. But he
came to himself. That's the blessed man. It's those, it's only those who
have passed from death into life who have become conscious of
their spiritual poverty and they take the place of a beggar and
they gladly receive divine charity and begin to seek true riches. Roland Hill once said, poverty
or spirit is the bag into which God puts all of his riches of
grace. Blessed are the poor. in spirit. We have nothing, know
nothing, and can do nothing. Now watch all these. He said,
blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are, not shall be, blessed
are, present tense, blessed right now. Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Remember when John
sent his disciples to Christ and said, are you the Christ
or do we look for another? He said, you go tell John again,
the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead are raised, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them. They have the kingdom
of God. Christ is the kingdom of God
in substance. Oh, they're blessed. Oh, be blessed
to hear the gospel, the gospel. Now listen, one day Christ will
say, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Now that's the blessed
man. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Now look at the next one. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted They are not only poor in spirit,
but they mourn over it. They weep over it. They lament
over it. I think that's what it meant
when Paul said, Oh, wretched man that I am. He's mourning
over who he is. He's mourning over his condition.
He's mourning over what? Sin. Sin is who I am. We mourn over our unbelief. We read the scriptures and I
just wished I could believe. God help thou my unbelief. Fear
and doubts and we complain and we gripe and all these things. If you're His, you mourn over
it. Mourn over it. Mourn. We mourn when the Spirit
of God is grieved. We mourn over the sin that is
in this world. We mourn over it. Mourn. Now
listen, there is a natural mourning. It's just a bereavement. I never
saw one, but I've heard people talk about years ago they used
to have what they called a mourner's bench. Now, can you not see how
people would take these things and they'd say, well, if you'll
do these things, this is how you're going to be saved. We're
going to make you feel so bad. We're going to put you under
the law. We're going to make you feel so guilty. And if you'll
come up here to this mourner's bench and cry and cry out to
God, oh, then God will do something for you. That's not what he's
talking about. Mourning. Mourning. This is a gracious mourning. It's what the Bible calls godly
sorrow that works repentance not to be repented of. The sorrow
of the world worketh death. Death. Esau felt bad when he lost his
birthright. He mourned over it. He cried
over it. He sought it carefully with tears
and he was rejected. He wasn't a blessed man. This is the opposite of that
Laodicean church, which says they are rich and have need of
nothing. We mourn over our emptiness.
We mourn over our nothingness. How many times have you come
to this book and you're looking for Christ and it seems like
it's a closed book and He's right there and you can't see it? Mourning
over our poverty of spirit. On the day of Pentecost, there
were 3,000 souls that were pricked in their hearts and they cried
out, what must we do to be saved? That's mourning. But look at this, blessed are
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. It would be horrible to just
mourn all the time and never have any comfort. Comfort. Listen to what he says in Isaiah
61 too, and I know this is A prophetic statement referring to Christ
because he actually quoted this scripture when he came to Nazareth.
It says to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day
of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn. What's he going
to do? He's going to comfort them. Comfort
them. Comfort you, comfort you, my
people. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall
be comforted. God comforts their hearts. God
comforts your heart. They shall be comforted. Listen,
as I've already mentioned, all who mourn, who are broken by
the flesh will not be comforted. All who mourn are not going to
be comforted because of seeing men mourn. They mourn over a
wasted life. They mourn over death. They mourn
over judgment. And he'll never be comforted.
Never. Some people mourn because they
got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. It's this deeper
than that. It's cause of something called
sin. And it's there with me everywhere I go. I can't get rid of it.
Everything we do, we've never said a A righteous prayer. We've never done anything right
because of sin. It all depends on what we're
mourning about. Mourn over sin. If we confess
our sins, David mourned. He said, against thee and thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Let me read
you this as I was thinking along these lines of mourning. In Job
chapter 2, verse 11. It said, when Joab's three friends
heard of all the evil that was come upon him, they came every
one from his own place, Ephaph, Bildad, and Sohar, for they had
made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and
to comfort him. And you know what Job said about
those three friends? You're physicians of no value. They can't comfort. And that's
just a picture of this world. Trouble comes and they try to
come and they try to act like they're mourning and they're
trying to enter in and they're trying to give words of comfort.
And there's no words of comfort. But he comforts the hearts of
his people. True comfort is not found in
ourself, nor even in perceiving our own vileness. Our comfort
is found in Christ. That's my comfort. That's my
peace. That's my rest. Those who mourn
because of their sin shall be comforted by a revelation of
Christ, of His worth, His righteousness, His atonement, His pardon. If
all I do is look at my sin, I'll mourn, mourn, mourn. Like what
the Shulamite said, she said, I'm black, but I'm comely. That's my comfort. That's my
comfort. They shall be comforted. One
day we'll be free from this thing called sin, free from sorrow. The third beatitude, blessed
are the meek. This is a byproduct of the first
two blessings. First poverty of spirit, a sense
of our nothingness. We mourn over our condition,
sorrowing for the awfulness of the sin against God. Meekness. In other words, we could put
here humility. This is a Christian grace. For
the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness. Meekness? Meekness. By nature, we're not meek. You
know, who we love, we love ourself. Meekness is the fruit of the
Spirit. Someone illustrated it this way. You know, you see a
man, he comes up to your house and he's poor, he's in need,
he's down on his luck, he's lost his job and he's standing there
and he knocks on the door and he backs up and he can just hang
in his head and he says, have you not got some food for somebody
in need? And you say, oh, ain't he a meek
man? Oh, he's broke, he's meek. Wait a minute. Give him about
a week, let him win the lottery. Is he meek now? You see what I'm saying? Meekness
is not weakness. True meekness is power in power
or poverty. True meekness is in strength
or weakness when you're full or empty. This is God-given meekness. Whether you have or don't have,
it's meekness because you realize what you have or don't have is
a gift of God. God can give it or take it away.
You know why? Because you realize that you're
poverty of spirit and you mourn over it. And God's been gracious
to you and it makes you meek. Meet, blessed are the meek. True humility. It describes all
that it has to God. Who makes you to differ? Who makes you to differ? It does
not envy the graces of anybody else. Doesn't. That's meekness. True humility has honest thoughts
about himself. Oh, if everybody just knew me.
It's a teachable spirit, not easily offended. And it will
submit to the leadership of God's Holy Spirit as meekness submits. Christ was the king of meekness.
He was led and not dragged as a lamb to the slaughter. Meekness
produces the meanest thoughts of ourselves and the highest
thoughts of others. That's meekness. Meekness is the marks of a man
who's been mastered by God. He's meek, not proud, arrogant. This is what religion does. Proud. Like the proud Pharisee says,
oh, I give tithes of all that I possess. I'm not like that
publican. No meekness. The publican beats
upon his chest and said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Matthew Henry said, those who
are meek For those who are rarely and hardly provoked, but quickly
and easily pacified. And who would rather forgive
twenty injuries than avenge one, having the rule of their own
spirit. Meekness. Meekness. And it says they shall inherit
the earth. This is the new heaven and the
new earth. Somebody's going to inhabit that new heaven and a
new earth. Who are they? The meek. The meek. When Adam sinned, he forfeited
his spiritual right to the earth for himself and his posterity.
But Christ has regained it for all his elect. The new heaven
and the new earth. That's their inheritance. Blessed
are the meek. Look at this one, verse six. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. This is the longing after that
which they know they do not have of their own, and they must urgently
have it. Blessed are the hunger and thirst
after righteousness, Man must first of all be cured of all
his earthly pursuits before he can feel after anything better. No man can serve two masters.
When God quickens a dead sinner, he makes him a blessed man. He
creates a longing in that man's soul after God and his righteousness. And he describes it here as a
hunger and a thirst after righteousness. Listen, it says he hungers. His
appetites and his cravings of his spiritual nature go toward
what he wants, namely righteousness. He hungers after it. He thirsts
after it. Paul said that I may be found
in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law. He longs
to be free from sin. He knows that he has not attained
it, and for that reason he hungers and thirsts after it. Here's
what he said in Philippians 3, I count not myself to have apprehended,
but this one thing I do, I press toward the mark. I've got the one mark of a true
believer, a child of God is they hunger and thirst after righteousness
that they don't have. and they're blessed. What is more intense than hunger
or thirst? What will a man do who is hungry?
What will he be driven to do? We don't know much about getting
hungry. We just eat because we want to. That's right. But you see a man that's not
eating three or four days, maybe a week, he's hungry. He has a craving and not anything
gonna stand in his way to get what he wants. He's hungry. There is an old proverb that
says hunger will break through walls and a man hungry and thirsty
for God and his righteousness will break through anything,
any religion to get to it. I heard Brother Henry say on
the tape one time, he said, how long will a man go to a well
where there's no water? Till he gets thirsty, then he'll
leave it. How long will a man go to a table where there is
no food? How long will he go there? Till he gets hungry. When
he gets hungry, he'll leave. Hunger and thirst after righteousness. It's like it is here, like it
is back home. I have some that travel probably
an hour to come worship. Why? Why would people travel
that far? You say, well, they go by other buildings all up
and down the road, but why do they drive that far? They hunger and thirst after
righteousness. I've got to hear of your righteousness.
Everywhere else they're told about your righteousness. But
we hunger for something greater. Greater. This holy craving, and it's a
craving, after righteousness, which the Holy Ghost implants
in a person, dominates his entire being. When a man's hungry, what
does he think about? Food. That's all he thinks about.
When a man's thirsty, what does he think about? Water. David
said, is the heart pants after the water brook. My soul pants
after you. It's something in here. But I love this right here. Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for
they shall be filled. be filled. I love that story
about Elisha and the woman. You remember her husband died
and she had her sons and the creditors come to her house and
she has nothing to pay. And she says, what am I to do? He said, go get empty vessels
and bring them in. and take that little oil that
you got and start filling those empty vessels. You know what
he did? He filled the empty vessels. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. They shall be filled. No one
else gets filled. Filled with joy. Filled with
the joy of it. The confidence of it. The assurance
of it. And the peace of it. Be ye filled with the Spirit. Hunger and thirst after righteousness
and God fills your cup. And you do, you do feel the confidence
of His righteousness. Hunger and thirst. When God creates a hunger and
a thirst in a man's soul, He's the only one that can satisfy
it. God made man's heart in such
a way that nothing can fill it but God Himself. When a man is
saved, he gets Christ, and you know what? When he's filled,
you know what happens? He's satisfied. I go to the restaurant and eat,
but when I get filled, I'm filled. I'm filled with Christ. I'm satisfied. Let me tell you this, religion
couldn't satisfy it. God creates in a sinner a longing,
a craving after Him. That's an evidence of a child
of God. That's exactly right. Let's look at the next one, verse
7. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. The merciful. They are kind. They are gentle. They are compassionate. They are merciful. I heard someone say one time that
the four brothers Scott Richardson passed away. Somebody that he
knew was in court, and I can't remember the crime that they'd
committed. Scott went to the courtroom,
wanted to see how things were going to pan out, and they sentenced
the guy to prison. Scott walked up to the attorney,
and he said, is there not any mercy for the man? Is there not
any lenience? Is there not any mercy for this
poor, poor fella? He said he don't deserve mercy.
He said if he deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy. Blessed are the merciful. You
know why they're merciful? They've been showed mercy. Blessed
are the merciful. You see people that are hard,
mean, cruel. They don't know God. I'm telling you the truth. Grace
makes a man gracious. Mercy makes a man merciful. Oh,
how merciful. Oh, how merciful. They are merciful
because they have received mercy. They are not merciful because
they are naturally tender hearted. We're naturally hard hearted.
You remember the story of David? David sinned with Bathsheba and
his heart had got hard. And he came to him and he said,
remember he told him this story? He said a man came and asked
a man for his lamb and this man had a lamb and instead of giving
him his lamb and sacrificing his lamb, he went over to this
neighbor who had this lamb and the little kids played with it
just like it was their own. And he took that lamb and killed
that lamb. Oh, David's a man. He said, a
man don't do that, he'd ought to die. He said, that was you, David. You see who we are by nature? It didn't grow naturally in these
hearts. God makes a man merciful. Merciful. Abraham was merciful to Lot.
Joseph was merciful to his brothers. Them brothers stowed him in a
pit. Them brothers stripped him of his coat of many colors. They
meant to destroy him. And now tides have turned, and
now Joseph's sitting on the throne, and the brothers come as beggars,
wanting to buy corn. Now's his opportunity. You know
what he does? He shows them mercy. I love that
later on in the book of Genesis where it says, you know, after
Jacob, their father died, them boys thought Joseph only showed
us mercy for our daddy. Now that our daddy's dead, boy,
he's going to get us now. The boys come to Joseph and it
breaks Joseph's heart. He said, boys, what you did,
you meant it for evil. But God meant it for good. And
they couldn't believe he'd show mercy. But if God ever shows you how
bad you are, you won't be able to believe He could show you
mercy. Mercy. Every sinner I see in
the Bible, blind, barred 10 minutes, you know what he cried out for?
Mercy. Have mercy on me, thou son of David. Mercy. Mercy. David was merciful to
King Saul. Saul hunted them like a dog.
And one day, David's hiding in the back of the cave, David and
David's men. And just so happened, Saul and
his men come and camp in the same cave. And David's men begin
to whisper in David's ear and they said, now's your opportunity.
You can kill him and get rid of him and not be aggravated
with him anymore. Have you ever thought that way?
And he cuts Saul's skirt off, humiliated him. And you know
what happened to David? He said his heart exploded. That's mercy. Blessed are the
merciful. The merciful will not repeat
the matter. He is merciful to the poor. He
is merciful to those around him. The Pharisees had no mercy to
anyone, showed no mercy, showed no mercy. He's merciful. Spurgeon said if God is going
to save sinners, it will be through warm hearted Christians who bring
others to Christ. Showing them mercy. Mercy. It says they shall obtain. Mercy. That's how it reads. Blessed are the merciful for
they shall obtain mercy. Matthew Henry said the merciful
shall find God sparing mercy, supplying mercy, sustaining mercy,
and whereas they shall have judgment without mercy who have shown
no mercy. Those that won't show mercy won't
receive any mercy. Next, verse eight, blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Pure in heart are those
whose hearts have been made pure in regeneration, partakers of
a divine nature, purified by faith in Christ. Many are satisfied
today with head religion. thanking that all is well. Many
are satisfied with hand religion, busy and engaged in what they
call Christian service. But here the Lord deals with
the heart. Blessed are the pure in heart. Is there anybody here
pure in heart? Blessed are the pure in heart.
Listen, God's dealing with the inner man, the heart, and only
God can make a man's heart pure. Psalms chapter 24, verse three,
who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall stand
in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. A pure heart. He give us a nature which cannot
sin. That's a pure heart, cannot sin. You know what it says? He shall
see God. He shall see God. Spurgeon said
some people will never see God. For they always look to the shale
and never to the kernel. Always lick the cone and never
get to the morrow. Some people read the Bible and
never see God. Never see God. They opened the
Bible just to see what's there, but to see what they can find
to back up their own opinions. They never see God. They would
like the mode, the Bible to fit their opinions, but the pure
in heart are able to see God in nature, in the scriptures,
and they see God in his true character. the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. And let me tell you this, and
one day we'll see him face to face. The pure in heart shall see God.
Verse nine, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God. This miracle of grace which has
made peace with God causes them to regard our fellow with sincere
interest. James 3.17, the wisdom that is
from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to
be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality,
without hypocrisy. Peace is not sought at the expense
of righteousness. The Bible says as much as life
in you live peaceably with all men, there's just some people
I can't get along with. There's just some people I can't
be at peace with. And I believe a child of God,
you know what they want? They want peace. We don't like
turmoil. I've seen families just be torn
all to pieces. Torn all to pieces, no peace,
strife, but blessed are the peacemaker. Ephesians 4.13, endeavoring to
keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The heralds
of the gospel are the messengers of peace. Romans 10.15, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Blessed are the peacemakers,
peacemakers. for they should be called the
children of God. To be made a child of God is
to be renewed in His image and in His likeness. And lastly,
blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They are persecuted not for self-righteousness,
not for haughtiness, but for the gospel of God's righteousness. Persecuted, hated, despised. But he said, blessed are they
which are persecuted for righteousness sake. The wicked hate God's holy
image and those who bear it. Truth and those who walk in it.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But
because you're not of the world and I've chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world Hated you. And in verses 11 and 12, I'll
just read these in closing. This is the only one that he
elaborates on. He said, blessed are ye when
men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsely. For my sake, rejoice and be exceeding
glad for great is your reward in heaven. for so persecuted
they the prophets which were before you. The blessed man.