I'm like Brother Rogers was in
our Bible class. It's in here, whether I can bring
it out properly or not. The first 12 verses of Matthew
chapter 5 contain what is called the Beatitudes. Somebody said on TV this week,
that funny looking guy with the white hat and crazy looking outfit,
pronounces people what they called beatification. That takes the
word beatitude and adds to it, simply means, the word beatitude
means supremely happy or blessed. I don't think the Pope has anything
to do with it, just between me and you. If we are blessed, I mean truly
blessed, if it only lasts while we live
down here, there's not much to it. But this blessing, this benediction,
seven of them in fact, is forever, forever. Now let me just, I'll repeat
this later, but I just want to mention this one thing before
I read this passage. I'm going to try to read without
very much comment, and I know you don't believe me, and I only
half believe it myself, but I'm going to do my best. These statements that have the
word blessed, they begin with that word blessed. This is not a description showing
us the steps that we must follow in order to be saved. It is a description of the saved. The reason these things can be
true of us is because we are converted. We have been regenerated,
born again from above. And if anybody ought to know
who His saved people are, surely the Savior Himself ought to know.
So this ain't just anybody talking. This is God the Son, the Savior
of sinners. The Lord Jesus not only knows
everything about salvation, He is salvation. And all seven of
these so-called Beatitudes describe a people who are in Christ already,
not going to work their way to achieve it, but it is ours by
pure free grace. All right, so let's see if we
can read these 12 verses. and seeing the multitudes, he
went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples
came unto him." Now, this is a much larger crowd than the
apostles. These are disciples. They are
followers or learners of the Lord Jesus. The vast majority
of them only followed him for a while and we have several records
in the gospel accounts of what he said that they didn't like
and they left off following him. And people in our generation
do the very same thing. And you would and I would if
God did not keep us from doing it. He doesn't divorce his children.
Not ever. not for any cause or reason whatsoever. The book of Malachi says God
hates putting away and he does not put his children away. And he opened his mouth and taught
them saying. Now verses 3 through 9 is the
full list of the Beatitudes. I well understand that verse
10 and 11 continue to speak of blessed, but this is a summation,
a conclusion to the other seven. The words are in a different
order. They are not to be taken in quite the same fashion. So
it is important for us to understand that there are seven beatitudes.
Verse 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Here they are. 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. That is one and the same thing
as if it said, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
Christ. For they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful. Christ himself is mercy, for
they shall obtain mercy." Here's one to mull over. Blessed are the pure in heart. Are you pure in heart? We either are or we aren't. The problem is that the longer
a person is a believer, the more he hates himself. Yet it says,
blessed are the pure in heart. We grow more out of love with
ourselves. Thank God, though it is not anywhere
to be compared to what he deserved, He deserves, but his people do
love him. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Number seven, verse nine, blessed
are the peacemakers. Now this ain't working for the
UN. We're not talking about peace
among nations. or even among men. We're talking
about peace with God. Christ is our peace. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Now the summation. Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness' for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake, which is the direct result of
those seven things in those beatitudes that describe the character of
the Lord's children. persecute you and 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." Now before we read
these verses again, and I want to concentrate on verses 3 through
9, though I intend to comment a little bit on verses 10, 11,
and 12. We'll leave off the introductory
statement. But before I begin to read to
you a second time, I want you to be aware of some things concerning
these seven statements. Just seven. Just seven. Somewhere in Spurgeon, I was
reading this week that Some generation passed, I don't
remember when it was, all the learned men of the world
got together to put down in writing how a human being is blessed. They had like 286. Mr. Spurgeon's own words were, not
a one of them hit the target. let alone the bullseye. Well,
here's seven, and they are perfect, absolutely perfect. Every statement
here is a dead ringer, every last single one. And it's interesting that there's
seven, for in the Bible, the word seven is the complete number,
perfect number. These indeed are perfect. beyond
question, they're perfect. And the Lord Jesus is describing
the character. I'm talking about our character
by grace, not by nature. He's describing the character
of those whom he has saved, not telling us how we are to be saved. What good would it do you if
somebody could tell you how to be saved? You couldn't do it,
nor could I. Billy Graham had a book one time,
How to be Born Again. That is so dumb, so utterly stupid,
incomprehensible. that we think we can take divine
things that only God can accomplish and figure out a formula and
do them ourselves. That's exactly what we intend
in the first place. When Adam rebelled against God
in the garden, it was nothing short of grabbing God by the
neck and dragging Him off His throne if such a thing could
have been and He would have if He could have. So would we. We're in that same
lost, dead, depraved condition. So the title of this message
is simply this. Who are the saved? And there
are seven answers to the question. The first one, the poor in spirit. the second one, they that mourn
and so forth. In these seven statements is
a perfect chain of seven golden links and it is from start to
finish a chain of pure free grace. Nothing less than that will do.
Anything less than that won't do a sinner one bit of good.
It has to be free and it has to be free grace. Thirdly, all
seven of these together describe the perfect man in Christ. Each one of them is a description
of that perfection, but all of them together are a full and
perfect and complete description of those that are in Christ.
And the seven of them all total equal nothing short of a perfect
benediction, a perfect pronunciation of blessedness, blessedness. All right, another thing I want
to point out before I start to read. Each one of these seven
is a step above the previous one. There are seven steps in
this ladder of grace. Seven steps. Now listen, don't
misunderstand me. The poor in spirit is as much
a child of God as the pure in heart. But there's a difference. Isn't there? Between poverty
of spirit and pure in heart. Yes, there is. So each one of these rises a
step at the time from the previous one. The first one is virtually
at ground level because when a believer is, when a sinner
is first converted, when he has just now been born again, Old
things have passed away and all things have become new. He doesn't
know which direction is which. He doesn't know north from south
or east from west. But in that conversion, he has
learned something about himself. And he is, absolutely he is,
shocked. at what he finds himself still
to be. Therefore, they are said to be
poor in spirit. The process is this. In one way, we're going up, but
in another way, we're coming down. With each step, with each
step. There is, absolutely there is,
a deepening humiliation. Paul wrote those words in Romans
chapter 7 and verse 24. He had been a believer some 25
or 30 years. Do you know what he said? man that I am, that I am." These statements are not describing
God's children in the past. Every single one of them is a
description of them in the present, in the present. But there's not
only a deepening sense of humiliation But there is also a growing sense
of exaltation because the Lord Jesus becomes,
for that poor sinner saved by grace, becomes to him more and
more, greater and greater, more glorious and more glorious still. Each of these seven statements
grows out of and springs out of the other. Each one is the
natural sequel and completion of the preceding one. Yet each
statement is perfect in itself. One more thing, and then I'm
going to start to read and comment. Every one of these benedictions,
the pronunciation of blessedness, every benediction, is so worded
in our Bible as to form in our minds a paradox, a seeming contradiction. For example, blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. How can
poor people have a kingdom? in our Lord Jesus Christ. Heirs
and joint heirs with Him. And when you get to the end of
this thing, at the concluding verses, you can't get any better
than that. Because it says, if I can find
it, verse 10, the first summary statement,
ends with this phrase. For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. And in verse 3, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. You can't get any better than
that. To be in Christ, we have all there is. God has nothing
for poor sinners outside of Christ. Nothing whatsoever. All right, let's take these statements.
I'm through with my notes. Blessed are the poor in spirit. This ain't got nothing to do
with money, not one single solitary thing. This is talking about
spiritual poverty, spiritual poverty. And a man is saved when he comes
to the end of himself, finds his beginning in Christ. He is from that moment on, to
one degree or another, poor in spirit. Poverty of spirit is the precise
and exact opposite of a Pharisee, yet all of us by nature are Pharisees. Thank God in converting grace,
much of that Phariseeism is conquered, but we'll have trouble with the
matter as long as we live. But these statements are not
conditional I can't find an if anyplace. They're not conditioned on us. God in Christ pronounces everybody
in His Son to be seven times blessed. You and I can't undo that. We
could not do it nor undo it. Another point we must recognize.
We see it here in verse 3 and it's true in all of the seven.
These statements are every last single one in the present tense. Not was. Not will be. You can actually read them without
the verb because are is italicized in every one of them. And it
will say blessed the poor in spirit. And every day you read
that, it still means right then. Right then. Not later. Not when
you get better. Right now. It's right now or it ain't at
all. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Here's the paradox, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Who has the kingdom of heaven?
The poor in spirit. Verse 4. I want you to see in verse 4
what we talked about of progression. Mourning, sorrowing, grieving
is a step above poverty of spirit. If I understand the words, I
may not, but if I do. is more than just a state of
being, the poor in spirit. Mourning, sorrowing, grieving
requires expression. It has to come out. It is lamenting with our voices,
everything within us requires us to vent this sorrow, this
grief, this mourning. Mind you, it is only the next
step. It's not number seven, but it's
number two. Lest are they that mourn for they shall be comforted."
Another word I've got to call your attention to, beginning
in verse 2 and taking us all the way through verse 9. Didn't
find this word in verse 1, but we find it now in every last
one of these. It's a verb. What verb is it, Curtis? It's
shall. And what kind of verb is that?
That's covenant language. Covenant language. There's no
hint whatsoever in any of these statements that if we do this,
we'll be blessed. It says, shall. It's an eternal
decree. as old as eternity in the covenant
of grace. Blessed they that mourn, for
they shall be comforted. What if they don't behave? What
if they don't do this, that, or the other? Oh, that's crazy,
isn't it? If hands and butts were candies
and nuts, we'd all have a wonderful Christmas. That's got nothing
to do with this. It's not here. Verse 5, Beatitude number
3, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Now you know how life is in this
world, don't you? There is nothing meek about it
whatsoever. I used to have a coffee cup.
I don't think it's still there, but it had a little tiny fish
and a bigger fish right behind him, fishing to swallow him,
and a bigger one fishing to get that one, and so forth. And that's
the kind of world we live in. It's a dog-eat-dog world. Men are praised, honored, and
rewarded. for being super aggressive. And religion has bought into
this stupidity like nobody else anywhere. Churches are run on the same
basis as any other business anywhere else in the world. And here comes
these seven statements. And our Lord says, blessed are
the meek. for they shall inherit the earth."
The world tells you to get all you can. Can all you get and
sit on the can. But that's not what the gospel
says. I'm not saying that believers
no longer have any wrong desires any tendency to overreach in regard
to the pursuit of worldly things. But I'm telling you that if meeting
Christ does not change me, I had better be sure that I have not
missed Him. are the meek, for they shall
inherit the earth. The fourth beatitude is in verse
6. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Now here's a good spot, verse
6, is a good place to make sure we understand that in all seven
of these things, you cannot, you must not divorce
these statements from their meaning and application in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Every description of ourselves
is simply a description of us as we are in Christ. And nowhere
is that more clearly seen than in verse 6. Lest are they that
do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now let me ask you, where did
we get this hunger if in fact we have it? And if we have it today, we still
have it tomorrow. This is not something you can
drop out of your pocket. It's who we are in Christ. This hunger after righteousness
And this thirst after righteousness must be understood in its relationship
to the Lord Jesus. There's a verse in a hymn, I
don't think it's in the current book, but it's in the old Broadman
book, a stanza of which goes like this. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness that God requires
of us, all the fitness He requires is for me to feel my need for
Him, for Christ. And that's as far as this stanza
goes in our old hymn book. But that's not where the author
of it stops. where he said with exclamation
points after each phrase, this, this hunger, this thirst after
Christ, this feeling our need of Christ, this He gives you,
this He gives you. And he adds, it is the Spirit's
rising beam. It is the first evidence that
our work of grace is begun in the soul. That is, to feel our
need for Christ. This hungering and this thirsting
after righteousness is the beginning of the work of God in the soul.
It's one of the very first evidences that something has taken place,
that God is at work and we are indeed and in fact being saved. And another statement that makes
this all the more easy for us to see, because of the use of
the word righteousness in verse 6, the Lord Jesus, one of His
Old Testament names, those hyphenated Jehovah names, Jehovah Sidcanu,
the Lord our righteousness. Christ is indeed all our righteousness. Verse 7, the attitude number
5, blessed are the merciful for
they shall obtain mercy. And I would also add, humbly,
they have already received it and they are still receiving
it or else they could not be merciful. It is Christ in you that makes
us have any mercy for anybody. Now we come to verse 8. Let me ask you, are we any higher
up the ladder than we were back in verse 3? Is purity of heart any better
than poverty of heart? Oh, indeed it is. It's to advance
in the same life, but it's gone up the ladder now several steps
since then. Yet all of these things, all
seven of them, belong to every child of God. to varying degrees
to be sure, but they must all belong to us. But this statement
about purity in heart, blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God. Well, have they not already seen
Him? Oh, indeed they have. We could not even be on this
ladder of grace did we not know the Lord Jesus Christ. Couldn't
we? You mean we get part of the way
by ourself and then He helps us finish out the journey? That
ain't how it works. We know better than that. Curtis,
you told us this morning, Christ is all and in all. My goodness, He's with us before
we even begin. He is the beginning and the end
and everything in between. Pure in heart. Yes, we have by
faith seen God and His glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
But these people who are the pure
in heart, that is the children of God, We're going to see God
face-to-face in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. John tells
us in 1 John 3 that when we see Him, we shall be made like Him. How come? For we shall see Him
as He is. We've already seen Him, but we'll
see Him wearing this flesh. Bless His name, that sight will
be a transforming sight. Oh, what a change indeed. All
right, one more beatitude, verse 9, which is the seventh in this
progression, the top of the ladder. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. The children
of God. If a poor sinner wants to know,
they can explain a little bit to him about how peace was made
with God through Christ who is our peace. Now the conclusion in verses 10, 11, and 12. The
conclusion does not take us any higher than we were back in verse
3. Because the statement that ends
verse 10, as I've already pointed out, is identical to that one
in the third verse. All right, verse 10. Blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. I'm just going to give you a
simple explanation of what that statement means in reference
to what we've just been looking at in those seven statements. You start telling people what
verses 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 mean, and how one is blessed,
and who the people are that are blessed, and on what ground and
what basis did they become blessed, and you'll suddenly find that you've got some folks who don't
like you very much. And they just soon be rid of
you, and it wouldn't bother them if God would take you off the
face of this earth. Verse 10, blessed are they which
are persecuted. Persecuted. Everybody's talking
about the church going to be raptured before the tribulation.
That is so absurd, it just is ridiculous. Tribulation is right
now. Right now. Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
I'm telling you, whoever these people are, the kingdom of heaven
is already theirs. We have it now by faith, but
we'll have it then by possession. Verse 11, blessed are you when
men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner against
you, evil against you, falsely for my sake, Christ's sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven. Now what is your reward in heaven? I'll say this just real simple
and easy. Believer, every believer, from
the beginning of time to the end of time, every believer in
heaven has the same reward. How come? Because we have the
same Savior and we are saved all the same way. It is by pure,
free, sovereign grace in Christ. It ain't never been any different
and it will never be any different. All believers are brought to
heaven on the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether
it's Moses or me and you, it doesn't make any difference.
Therefore, their reward is all the same. And that doesn't make
the reward unspecial. Because Christ is our reward. And there ain't no more. It's all Him and there's none
that isn't Him. The notion that some of us are
going to have feathers like a peacock up there and strut ourselves
around is just utter, absolute foolishness. The Lord Jesus is not talking
to an individual specifically in these statements. Surely you
do not think that his knowledge was so limited that he had no
understanding that in 2008, over 2,000 years since he came down
here and lived and spoke and preached messages like this,
that he had no conception whatever that a generation after generation
after generation, these words would be published to the end
of time. My soul, if anybody knew it,
he knew it. He is himself the uncreated Word
of God, and he is himself the preacher of these words. Rejoice
and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for
so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Now, if you take a course book, And the hymn that I want us to
sing is on the back cover.