Would you turn to the fifth chapter
of the book of Matthew? I want to read our text. I've
entitled this message. The character and blessing of
the blessed. The character and blessing of
the blessed. We're going to read the first
12 verses of Matthew chapter 5. This is what is known as the
Beatitudes. And seeing the multitudes, 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 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." I want God's blessing. Don't you? I want to be blessed
of God. He has such power to bless And
I want his blessing. Now before us are what is known
as the Beatitudes. And in this passage of scripture,
the Lord gives us the character of those whom God has blessed. Now he doesn't bless them because
they have this character. He blessed them by giving them
this character. This is the character of those
whom God has blessed. And he tells us what the blessing
is to those who have been blessed by God with this character. Now, the Beatitudes is a description
of the character of every believer. If you're a believer, this describes
you. Now, I've heard preachers, maybe
I probably said it, I probably said it, character and conduct
have nothing to do with salvation. Character and conduct have nothing
to do as to why God gives you grace. But they have, character and
conduct has everything to do with salvation. In the sense
that if God saves you, this is you. This character right here,
this is what God does for somebody. So this is the character of every
believer. Now they would not have this
character without God's blessing. As a matter of fact, no natural
man possesses any of these traits that are being spoken of. You
won't find a natural man who's poor in spirit. You won't find
a natural man who mourns in the sense that our Lord is speaking
of. You won't find a natural man who is meek. You won't find
a natural man who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. You certainly won't find a natural
man who's pure in heart. And you won't find a natural
man who is merciful. And you won't find a natural
man who is a peacemaker. And you won't find a natural
man who's being persecuted for righteousness sake. It's not
going to happen. These are the characteristics of grace that
God has given every single believer. Every believer is poor in spirit. Every believer knows something
about mourning, a true mourning before God. Every believer is
meek. Every believer hungers. and thirsts after righteousness. Every believer is merciful. Every believer is pure in heart. Every believer is a peacemaker. And every believer is persecuted
for righteousness sake. And what blessings God gives
to those who he is blessed with this character. Theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. They're comforted by God himself. They have the inheritance of
the earth. They are filled. They obtain mercy. They see God. They are the children
of God. And they have great reward. Now, We're either blessed by
God or we're under his curse. There's no in between. Oh, how
I long for God's blessing. Now we can know tonight if we
are really blessed of God. Now I wanna know, don't you?
I wanna know if I'm somebody who God actually has blessed. And we can leave this place knowing
whether or not God has actually blessed us. Now, wouldn't it
be glorious to leave this place knowing I have been blessed of
God? Oh, I want his blessing. Now let's consider the character
of the blessed of God. First, he says they are poor
in spirit. Now this describes every one
of God's people. Poor in spirit. The word poor is taken from the
word fallen. To be poor is to have nothing. To be poor is to be powerless. to enrich yourself. It's to be
unable to change your condition. If all it took was a penny's
worth of merit or ability to be saved, the poor couldn't come
up with it. He can't. He's poor in spirit. He has nothing and he can do
nothing. And if any part of salvation
is dependent upon them, they can't be saved. They know it in the deep recesses
of their soul. They are completely dependent
upon the charity of God. They're completely dependent
upon the grace of God. Now this is called total depravity. The poor in spirit know something
about this. You don't have to convince them of it. They know
it's true concerning themselves. Like I've said before, it's one
thing to believe in the doctrine of total depravity and it's quite
another thing to believe that you yourself are totally depraved. Blessed are the poor in spirit. That person who's poor in spirit
has been blessed of God. Are you poor in spirit? God's
blessing is upon you. Now, the next description our
Lord gives is verse four, blessed are they that mourn. Now, how in the world can that
be blessed? Blessed are they that mourn. Well, what is mourning? When
you're actually mourning, it's when you don't have any control.
Like when somebody dies, you mourn. If you love them, you
mourn. And you know why you mourn? You can't bring them back. There's
not a thing you can do about it. Oh, it grieves you, you mourn,
but you can't bring them back. You mourn, you lack the power
to bring them back. And how you mourn? There's nothing
you can do but mourn. Now, the mourning he's speaking
over is a mourning over sin. A true mourning over sin. You mourn, you hate your sin,
and you're powerless to prevent it. Just like you're powerless
to bring somebody back from the dead that you're mourning over.
And oh, how you mourn. Now this mourning over sin, this
is, Some people will use their sinfulness as a reason to not
feel bad about their sin, to just excuse it. There's nothing
I can do about it. That's my nature and so on. But that's not the
way a believer responds to this. No, he mourns. Oh, he grieves
over his sin. My sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil. in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when you speak, and clear when you judge. You
judge me, you're right." A believer mourns over his sin, and this
mourning has something to do with the fact that there's nothing
he can do to prevent it. I would never sin again, but
I can't. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the meek. Blessed
are the poor. Blessed are they that mourn.
And blessed are the meek. Now, only believers are meek. Now, I realize that there's some
people who actually seem meek. You know, they don't assert themselves.
They seem to take the background and that's where they feel comfortable.
And we say, well, they're meek people. Well, that's not the
kind of meekness this talk is talking about. The meekness being
spoken of here is an attitude toward God. It's a God-given
grace that makes me believe that everything he does with regard
to me and everything else is right. And it's right because
he did it. That's what meekness is. Here's
meekness. Job, curse God and die. Shall
we receive of the Lord's hand good and not receive evil? The
Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. That's meekness. Here's meekness.
Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Meekness really believes
God is the first cause behind everything. Here's meekness. God says through Samuel to Eli,
God is going to kill your two sons. And Eli says, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. That's meekness. Whatever the
Lord does is right. We really believe that. You know, I find
such joy in that. The Lord, He's the cause. We
can blame secondary causes and tertiary causes. But God's the
cause of causes. He's the cause. Meekness submits
to Him. Here's meekness. Shimei's cursing
David. And Joab says, you want me to
go take his head off? David says, no. The Lord said,
the Lord told Shem I to curse David. You see, God is the cause
of causes and meekness, it's a twin sister with humility.
It says, whatever God sends my way is right. And it's right
because he's the one who did it. You see, this is a supernatural
thing. No natural man has this. meekness. Blessed are the meek
for they shall inherit the earth. Now the next thing he says, look
in verse 6, blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. What a blessed state to hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Now when you're hungry, And when
you're thirsty, what does that mean? It speaks of an absence. If you're hungering after righteousness,
it means you feel like you don't have any. And you know something
that you cannot do? You cannot satisfy your own hunger,
can you? Nothing you can do to satisfy
it. It's got to come from outside of you and brought into you.
Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Now, they don't feel they have any, but they have a hunger and
a thirst for righteousness. God's righteousness, true righteousness. Every believer hungers and thirst
for the righteousness of God. That's what Paul meant when he
said, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness, which is of
God. Do you hunger and thirst to be found in Him, to have His
righteousness? Blessed are they that do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. I'm not talking about human righteousness
because our righteousness, human righteousness is what? Filthy
rags. Oh, I want to have his righteousness. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and what? His righteousness. And all these
things shall be added unto you. Then the Lord says in verse seven, blessed are the merciful. Mercy is the attribute of compassion. That is moved by the misery of
others. Blessed are the merciful. The merciful person doesn't say
they had it coming. The merciful person is moved
by that plot. the misery of others. And here's
why. That merciful person knows something
about the mercy of God to them. And they know they deserve nothing
but wrath. They really believe that. And
when they look at that person going through that plot, they're
moved to pity because that's them. That's them. They're worse. Blessed are the merciful. What a character trait. of God's people. They're merciful
people. They're not hard noses. They're
merciful. Seeing their own need of the
mercy of God, they are merciful toward others. Blessed are the
merciful. Verse 8. Blessed are the pure
in heart. You know, that one was one that
For a long time, I just had a hard time getting hold of that. Blessed
are the pure in heart. Because one thing, as far as
my experience goes, how pure is your heart? How pure is it? I mean, as far as what I can
see, it's filthy, filthy, evil. So what's the Lord mean when
he's talking about the pure in heart? Blessed are the pure in
heart. This is talking about that new heart that He gives
that's absolutely pure. A new heart also will I give
you. This is that heart that is without
sin. This is that heart that is holy.
This is that heart that cannot sin because the seed of God remains
in it. He cannot sin. That's what John
says in 1 John chapter 3. Peter describes it as incorruptible,
a meek and quiet spirit, incorruptible. pure in heart, unmixed. Now,
it's the pure heart that believes the Gospel. It's a heart that
was not there before. And I'll tell you what, if you've
got it, you know it wasn't there before. If God gave you faith, there
was a time when you didn't believe, and you do now. And you know
it's not because of your will or because of something you did.
You know God put it in your heart. You have a love for God now.
You didn't used to, but you do now, and you know why. You know
because He put that in your heart, that pure heart. I can't see
a pure heart. I can't, but I know it's there
because God says it is. And I'll tell you what, I see
it's evidence. I do love God as he's
revealed in his word. That's the pure heart that does
that. Blessed are the pure in heart. And then he says in verse
nine, blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers. Now, who are these peacemakers?
What's this all about? Because you can't you can't read
the scripture and not realize that there's a whole lot of conflict
in the Bible. The Lord said, don't think that
I've come to send peace. I didn't come to send peace,
but a sword. I've come to set a man at variance against his
father and the mother against her daughter and the mother-in-law
against her daughter-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they
of his own household. He that loveth mother or daughter
or sister or brother more than me is not worthy of me. Now,
there's a lot of conflict involved in standing for and preaching
the gospel. Men do not love the gospel we
preach. As a matter of fact, they're
offended by it. And they'll get mad. I'll tell you what, if you
haven't made any enemies over the gospel, it's because you
haven't been telling the truth regarding the gospel. Because
when we do, people will get upset. So what is this thing about peacemakers?
I'll tell you this, I'm not looking for a fight.
I love peace. I'm not looking for conflict.
But here's what a peacemaker is. A peacemaker is someone who
believes and declares the only way of peace. Having made peace
through the blood of His cross, by Him, to reconcile all things
to Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, and you that were aforetime aliens and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Does that give
you peace? That's the peace of the gospel. And the only way
anybody's ever going to have peace is to hear the message
that He is our peace. He Himself. Our gospel is a person. He is our peace. We're made nigh by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the peacemaker. Oh, what
peace there is in believing the gospel. Peace with God? God's not mad at me and I'm at
peace with Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace with our
brethren? Isn't it wonderful to dwell together with brethren
in peace and love and go in the same direction? And you know,
there's a very real sense. I love thinking about this. I'm
at peace with the world in this sense. Why do people fight? Because if I fight with you,
you've got something I want and I want to take it from you. Now regarding
all that the world has, honestly, I'm fine without it. I really
am. I don't want it. I don't want it. I'm plum satisfied
to simply be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of wickedness."
And all the things that men are striving for and wanting and
desiring and striving and killing and so on to have, you can have
it. Oh, to simply be found in Christ. What peace there is there. Blessed
are the peacemakers. And then he says in verse 10,
blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness
sake. For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Now remember this, we're talking
about the character of what a believer is. A believer makes a big issue
of this thing of righteousness. Now what do I mean by that? Well,
David said in Psalm 71 16, I've made mention of thy righteousness,
even thine only. It was said of the preaching
of the Lord in Psalm 40, I preach righteousness in the great congregation. Now, this is talking about the
righteousness of God. They make an issue of the righteousness
of God to where those who do not agree will be mad at them
and persecute them and say all manner of evil falsely against
them and say all kinds of terrible things about them because of
their stand for righteousness. Now, when we're talking about
the righteousness of God, remember, there's only one righteousness,
the righteousness of God. And in the gospel, this righteousness
is imputed and it's imparted. It's imputed and it's imparted.
Now let me give you a scriptural illustration of what that means.
Adam's sin. Adam's sin, according to the
scriptures, was imputed to me. That means I was guilty of it.
It was charged to my account. And Adam's sin is imparted to
me. That's why I have this sinful
nature. His sinful nature is imparted to me. Now, when God
saves somebody, He takes the... Remember, it's God's righteousness.
Any way you look at it, it's God's righteousness. He takes
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and charges it to
the account of that person so it's actually theirs. That's
my righteousness before God. I've said this so many times.
My righteousness is not based upon Christ's righteousness.
My righteousness is the very righteousness of Christ. Now,
not only is His righteousness imputed to me, His righteousness
is imparted to me. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous even as He is righteous. That's talking about that holy
nature that every believer has. That righteousness is imparted.
Now, on both of these accounts, If you stand for imputed righteousness,
people say, well, don't you think, if you believe that, that means
works don't have anything to do with anything. Well, they
don't. As far as salvation goes, they don't. I'm saved by the
works of the Lord Jesus Christ. And people will say, well, that'll
lead people to sin. That'll lead people to indifference. That'll
promote licentiousness. And that'll promote evil if you
preach that. No, it won't. Not with a believer,
it won't. And if you preach imparted righteousness, someone says,
well, you're saying you're righteous. You're saying you're holy. Well, that's
self-righteous. That's wrong. No, it's scriptural. It's scriptural. And the believer is persecuted
for righteousness sake. All kinds of folks have all kinds
of bad things to say about him or her for righteousness sake. But how blessed of God all who
are How blessed of God are all who are given this character.
Isn't this a beautiful character and description of the believer?
Now, in closing, this will take 10 minutes. I don't think I'm
going to close in one minute, maybe 12, something like that.
But in closing, let's talk about the blessings. that these who
are blessed of God with this character enjoy. Now, this is
a great blessing. All these characteristics of
the believer, that's a great blessing. Only somebody who's
been blessed by God will have these characteristics. But look
what it says in verse 3, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven belongs
to them. Now, Christ is the kingdom of
heaven. I am my beloved's and he is mine. That's the kingdom of heaven.
The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink, but it's righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Isn't it a blessing to be poor?
You see, if you're poor, that means you've got infinite riches. Verse 4, blessed are they that mourn.
And here's why it's such a blessing. They shall be comforted. Would
you hold your finger there and turn to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. Verse 1. And this is spoken to every mourner
in Zion, one who mourns over their sin. They cannot prevent
their sin. They mourn just like somebody
mourns over their death. They can't bring them back. Comfort
ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably,
and my marginal reading says, speak to the heart of Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, and that her
iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins." Now, it's her sins that
she's mourning over, and this passage of Scripture says she's
received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. What's that
mean? Well, on the cross, Not only
were my sins punished, but a complete satisfaction was made. Not only
was I not given what I deserve, I was given all that he deserves.
Not only am I forgiven, I'm justified. Not only were my debts paid,
but I'm given the infinite riches of his grace. Not only have I
saved from hell, I'm given heaven and all that is included in that
likeness to Christ. Not only am I delivered from
having nothing, I have all things. I'm complete in Christ. Now what
great, she's received of the Lord's hand double for all her
sins. Now, the promise to the meek.
Look back in Matthew chapter five. Verse 5, Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth. The inheritance of the earth.
Now, this is my father's world. And I'm his heir. This is my
father's world. Everything you see and everything
you can imagine, it belongs to my father. And I am his heir. Heirs of God and join heirs with
Christ. The meek, the earth is theirs.
Look what it says next. Verse 6, Blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. They shall be satisfied. I hope I really mean this. I
believe I do. I am completely satisfied to
be saved by Jesus Christ. I'm completely satisfied with
the gospel. I'm completely satisfied with
being saved by Him, being complete in Him. I'm not looking for anything
else. Somebody says, there's got to
be more and you ain't seen it. You ain't seen it. I am satisfied. David said, as for me, I will
behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness. Satisfaction. Verse seven. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy." Now, I can't even express to you how
much I want this, the mercy of God. Oh, I want the mercy of
God. Everybody who's merciful. The
only reason they are merciful is because they've obtained mercy.
And they see God's mercy toward them, they obtain mercy. but God who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
you were saved. Oh, blessed are the merciful
for they shall obtain mercy. And then it says in verse eight,
blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. They
shall see God. And let me tell you this, all
they'll see of God is Jesus Christ. But that's all of God. That's
who they see. Oh, I shall see him face to face
and tell the story saved by grace. That's my story. Every believer,
and it's only the pure in heart that can see God. But the pure
in heart, you're the pure in heart. We've not seen Christ
physically yet. I can't wait to see his face,
can you? I mean, I was just thinking today to look upon his face,
to have him look at me. I love that scripture, that song,
but just a smile from my savior I know will through the ages
be glory for me to see his face. But you know what? Even though
I haven't seen his face physically, I see the beauty of his face
right now. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of the darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. They shall see His face. They shall see God. Then he says in verse 9, blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children
of God. Not simply subjects, but his
dear family, his children, those who stand for the gospel of peace.
Oh, God says, those are my children. They're the ones that have God
for them. Oh, to have God for you, if God be for us, who can
be against us? Oh, blessed are those peacemakers
for they shall be called the children of God. Verse 10. Blessed. Oh, how blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. For theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Just like it is for the poor,
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So it is with they who are persecuted
for righteousness sake. Blessed are you 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.
Catch this, for great is your reward in heaven. Now somebody
just wrote me and said, are there different rewards in heaven?
No, there's one reward. The Lord Jesus Christ. I am thy
shield and thy exceeding great reward. Reward in the sense of
you do something and it gives you a better place. Oh, that's
offensive. That's offensive. That's God
dishonoring. That's Christ dishonoring. But
let me say this. To every believer, great is your
reward in heaven. Your reward is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you're walking in the steps
of the prophets. So persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. You see, an indication of God's
blessing is men's curse. regarding the gospel. That's
an indication of God's blessing. The character of the blessed.
They're poor. They mourn over sin. They're meek. They hunger and
thirst after righteousness. They're merciful. They're pure
in heart. They're peacemakers. and they're
persecuted for righteousness sake. And the blessing they experience,
possession of the kingdom of heaven. Theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Comfort, the comfort of the gospel. It is finished. Does that comfort
your heart? It is finished. They're meek. Whatever God does is right. They're peacemakers. They're persecuted
for righteousness. Their possession is the kingdom
of God, comfort. They have the whole earth. They're
satisfied. They obtain mercy. They see God. They're His children.
And great is their reward in heaven. That's me. You see, this is not something
you gotta strive for. It's not something to be grasped
for. And I love what he begins with, poor in spirit. Yeah. I'm glad that's the first
thing he said. What if he started out with pure
in heart? That'd be rough, wouldn't it? But he starts off with poor
in spirit. And when you have one, you have
them all. And if you're missing one of
them, you don't have any of them. May the Lord cause us to be these
blessed people. Let's pray.