Would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter 5? This is one of the most famous
passages of Scripture in all the Word of God. What are known
as the Beatitudes. I last preached from this passage
of Scripture in 1998. That's how long it's been, and
I thought, Well, it's time to preach on this passage of scripture
again. And I hope I have some more understanding of it now
than I did then. Hope so. Let's read this passage
together. I want to read the first 12 verses
of Matthew, chapter 5. 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 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,
for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you." Now, these are the words of the Lord
Jesus. Who was He teaching? Well, it
says His disciples came up to Him. Maybe some other people
were listening. We're not real sure. Doesn't
matter, I suppose. whether they were or not, but
we know he was teaching his disciples. The scripture says he taught
them, and something that entered my mind is I want to be taught,
don't you? I want to be taught by the Lord himself. He taught
them, and I pray that the Lord will be pleased to teach us this
evening. As I said, these are what are
known as the Beatitudes. I've entitled this message, Who
Are? the blessed? Who are the people that God has
blessed? Now, this is who the Lord says
the blessed man is. Blessed are they. Here is the man who has been
blessed by God, and these blessings that our Lord speaks of are blessings
of the highest order. Now, these are not states of
blessedness. that the believer is striving
for, this is a description of what a believer actually is. If you want to know what a real
Christian is, this is as good a definition of a Christian as
we'll find anywhere in the Word of God. Now, if I'm not what
these verses describe, I'm not blessed of God. Actually, I'm
under His curse if these verses do not describe me. Now before
we examine what our Lord said, I'm struck by the fact that these
states of blessedness that the Lord describes are not what the
world considers blessed. Or not what the world would consider
being blessed by God. Blessed be the poor? We think
blessed are the rich and the prosperous. Blessed are they
that mourn? We think blessed are they who
are happy. Blessed are the meek. We think blessed are the go-getters.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst. Since when is that
a state of blessedness? That seems more like a state
of want and need. Blessed are the merciful. Nice
guys finish last. Blessed are the pure in heart.
Only the good die young. Blessed are the peacemakers,
they never get anywhere. Blessed are the persecuted, I
would have thought blessed are the protected. Now, the world
cannot enter in to how these are states of blessedness. They
just can't understand this, but they are states of blessedness
nonetheless. Now, this describes the believer,
and it's what a believer actually is. Every believer is poor. in spirit, and all who are poor
in spirit mourn, and all who mourn are meek before God, and
all who are meek hunger and thirst after righteousness, and all
who hunger and thirst after righteousness are merciful, and all who are
merciful are pure in heart. And everybody who's pure in heart
is a peacemaker, and all peacemakers are persecuted for righteousness
sake. If you have one, you have them
all. And if you lack any of these
in reality, you do not have any of them. This is a description
of a believer. And let me also say this. These
can all be counterfeited. And I could give many examples. and illustration of counterfeits
of these states of blessedness, wherever you have the truth,
the counterfeit will be just around the corner. But what's
the best way to be able to recognize a counterfeit? It's to be thoroughly
understanding of the truth. I can describe one counterfeit
and another one will come along, but the only way we can be rescued
from counterfeits is to have a thorough understanding of the
truth. Now, here's the first one our
Lord gives. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed. Blessed by God. Highly favored by God. Supremely blessed are the poor
in spirit. Now, the word poor is taken from
the word fallen. The poor have nothing. They have nothing that could
recommend them to God. They are powerless to enrich
themselves. They're unable to change their
circumstances. If all it took was $5 worth of
merit to be saved that I had to come up with, if all it took
was one penny's worth of ability that I had to come up with, I
would not be saved if I'm poor in spirit. If I'm poor in spirit,
I'm bankrupt. I can't pay my bills. I can't bring the goods. I am unable. I have nothing that can recommend
me to God. I'm poor. The poor in spirit are 100% dependent upon charity. The poor in spirit are 100% dependent
upon grace. The poor in spirit believe in
the doctrine of total depravity. They believe that they are totally
depraved. Now, what does that mean? It's
worse than you think. That's about the only way I know
how to answer that. It's worse than you think. It means that if any part of
salvation is dependent upon me, I will not be saved. And that's what someone who's
poor in spirit really believes before God. If any part, if any
aspect of salvation is dependent upon me, I'm in trouble. I can't come up with the goods. I will not be saved. You believe that about yourself?
poor in spirit. You know, if you're poor in spirit,
you're blessed by God. Our Lord said, blessed are the
poor in spirit. Look what he says regarding the
poor in spirit. He says in verse three, blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Did you know there's never been
one person who's poor in spirit that God didn't save? And in
reality, I'm not saying that right. If you are poor in spirit,
God saved you. You wouldn't be poor in spirit
if God hadn't done a work of grace in your heart. And the
reason you feel poor before God, poor in spirit, is because God's
done something for you. This is a state of blessedness.
It's a good thing to be poor, isn't it? Thank God for this.
You know, I'm poor in spirit. I don't have one thing. I am
poor in spirit. See me one time where I might
not act poor in spirit, but before God, I'm poor in spirit. I don't
have anything to recommend me to God, and I'm giving this promise. This is for everybody who's poor
in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of God. It already belongs to them. Isn't
it a blessed thing to be poor in spirit? I love that song that
says a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. If God has given you the grace
to see that you have nothing before God, how blessed you've
been by God. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then he says next,
in verse four, Blessed are they that mourn. You know, everybody
that's poor in spirit, you know what they do? They mourn. They
mourn. Blessed are they that mourn.
To mourn is to bewail. It's to lament. Like the publican
beating upon his breast, crying, God be merciful to me, the sinner. This is not the mourning that
every natural man experiences. Every natural man experiences
mourning in some respect. We lose something. We get caught
up in something. We're mourned. We're sorry and
so on. This is not mourning over the consequences of sin, because
there are horrible consequences in sin. But this is not mourning
over the consequences of sin. This is mourning over the being
of sin. Paul the Apostle put it this
way, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this
body of death? David, the man after God's own
heart, said, My sin, my sin is ever before me. I always see
it, it's always there. Blessed are they that mourn over
sin. Now what's blessed about this?
Well, what's our Lord tell us? Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. They shall be, not they might
be, they shall be. Turn back a few pages to Matthew
chapter 1. Verse 21, And she shall bring forth a Son,
and thou shalt call His name Jesus. For He shall. I love the language. He shall. Not He will if. Not He'll make
available. But He shall. No doubt about
it. He shall save His people, His
elect, those the Father gave Him, everybody who believes.
He shall save His people from their sins. Now, does that comfort
you? To know that He shall, not He
might, not if I do something to make it work. No, He shall
save His people from their sins. That's what I need to be saved
from is my sins. I'm mourning over my sins. I'm
ashamed of my sin. I'm ashamed of myself before
God. I need to be saved from my sins. And I sure can't save
myself from my sins, but what a comfort it is to know that
He shall save His people from their sins. I am saved from my
sins. I'm saved from the penalty of
my sins. I'm never going to have to give an account for my sins.
That is an amazing God, isn't it? I'm never going to have to
give an account. They're put away. I'll never
be punished for my sins. They're put away. I've been saved
from the power of my sins. Sins shall not have dominion
over you, the scripture says. For you're not under the law,
but you're under grace. Now, I always need to Try to give
an explanation as to what that means when I talk about being
saved from the power of sin because somebody here is thinking, well,
sin seems to have a whole lot of power in me. When you say you've
been saved from the power of sin, you mean it's been weakened
and you don't feel like you sin as much and you feel like you're
a holier person or a better person? Is that what you're talking about?
No, it's not what I'm talking about at all. But I know this. There was a time when I could
not believe. I couldn't figure out what it
meant. I tortured myself over what does it mean to believe?
What does it mean to repent? There was a time when I could
not do these things, but I'm doing them now. I'm believing
right now. I'm resting in the Lord Jesus
Christ right now. I've been saved from the power
of sin. There was a time when I couldn't do it, but I can now.
He's given me a new nature. Blessed be the Lord God, one
of these days I'll be saved from the very presence of sin. Now, does that comfort you? If
you mourn over your sin, this does. Thou shalt call His name
Jesus, Savior, for He shall save His people from their sins. Verse 5 of Matthew, chapter 5. Blessed, blessed by God, are
the meek. For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the meek. Now, what
is meekness? Blessed are the meek. I know what the world generally
thinks of meekness. The world thinks of meekness
as weakness, a milquetoast who won't stand up for himself and
just let people run over him and won't stand for anything.
And there's just no self-esteem, no courage. They just wait to
get somebody to walk all over them. That's what a meek person
is. Is that what the Bible means by meekness? Well, you know it
doesn't mean that. You know, I think of Moses. Moses
is called in scriptures the meekest man in all the earth. You sure
don't look at him as a wimpy person, do you? I mean, he was
a very strong man, but he was still the meekest man in all
the earth. You think of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he described
his own character, he said, I am meek and lowly in heart. That's the character of our Lord.
Now, what is meekness? Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. Well, it's an attitude toward
God. It's His grace in the soul. It
comes from really believing He is sovereign. It is that temper
of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good. Whatever he does is good. If he takes everything I have
away, it's good. Because he did it. That's what
a meek spirit before God does. It believes that everything God
does is good. That might take it a few minutes
to get there. It might take it a few days to get there. Something
comes down on you. Oh, why does this happen? But
a meek soul before God believes that whatever God does is right
and it's right because he does it. Do you believe that? Here's
an example of meekness before God. Job's wife said, curse God
and die. You look at everything that happened
to Job. He had everything stripped from him. And he said, shall
we receive of the Lord's hand good and not evil? The Lord giveth and the Lord
taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's meekness before God. Here's
meekness. Eli. Samuel says, Eli, God's going
to kill your two boys. Eli says it's the Lord. Let him
do what seemeth him good. That's meekness before God. Here's
meekness before God. Shimei is cursing David. Joab
says, let me go take his head off. David said, no, the Lord
said, curse David. Meekness believes that God is
the first cause behind all things. It's not just a fatalistic attitude.
You know, I hope we'll ask ourselves this. It's one thing to think,
well, it's what happened. Nothing I can do about it. God
brought it. Nothing I can do to change it. That's not meekness. Meekness
Yes, believe God did it. But if God did it, that makes
it best. That's what meekness does. Now,
blessed are the meek. Blessed by God are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth. Verse six. Blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness. for they shall be filled." Now,
you hunger and thirst for that which you feel that you don't
have. If you've got a belly full of
food, you're not hungry. If you've got a belly full of
water, you're not thirsty. You only hunger and thirst for
what you feel you don't have. Hunger and thirst is the pain
of absence. Now, our Lord said, Blessed,
blessed by God are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now, here is the meaning of this. Paul said in Philippians chapter
3, verse 9, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness. Not having my own personal righteousness
which is made up of the good stuff that I do and the bad stuff
I avoid. I don't want to have anything
to do with that because I know in reality that I do not have
any of that. I realize that. I've been taught
by God that I don't have that. So, 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 faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now, I hunger and
I thirst after God's righteousness. That's the only righteousness
there is. You know why I don't hunger and thirst after human
righteousness? Because there's no such thing. You know the reason
I don't hunger after a righteousness which I have that comes from
my obeying the law? Because I can't keep the law.
It's a non-entity. It hadn't happened. I hunger
and thirst after His righteousness. Now, he uses two words, hungering
and thirsting. I hunger. I hunger for God's
righteousness, the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ, the law-keeping
of Christ, Oh, the righteousness of God is what that is. I hunger
for that righteousness to be charged to my account, to be
imputed to me, so that I stand before God in His righteousness. I hunger for that. Not only do
I hunger for His righteousness to be imputed to me, I thirst
for His righteousness to be imparted to me. I thirst to be just like
the Lord Jesus Christ. I thirst to be found in Him. Not only to be found in Him,
I want to know Him. I want to know the power of His
resurrection. I want to know the fellowship
of His sufferings. I want to know what He did for
me. I want to be made conformable
unto His death. I want to be obedient. I thirst. for his righteousness imparted
to me." That's what you're given in the New Birth. But don't you
thirst? You don't want to simply have his, not that I would take
away from the importance of simply having his righteousness imputed
to you. No, you want his righteousness imputed to you, but you want
his righteousness imparted to you also. I think that's why
he doesn't just say hunger or just say thirst. He's talking
about both aspects. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness. Now what's blessed about that?
If it's the absence of, if it's the absence of, the pain of absence,
how's that blessed? Well, our Lord answers that question
for us. He says, for they shall be filled. They shall be filled. Colossians chapter two, verses
nine and 10 says, in him, in the Lord Jesus Christ dwelleth
All the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you, speaking to every
believer, are complete. And that word complete means
plumb full. Nothing can be added to you. You can't get any more shaved.
You can't get any more loved. You can't get any more accepted.
You can't get any more beautiful than you are in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It can't get any better. You're
already plum-filled. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. They shall be filled. And next, our Lord says in verse
7, Blessed are the merciful. Merciful men and women. For they shall obtain mercy. Now, mercy is that attribute
of compassion that is moved by the misery of others. You know, God is merciful. He's
moved by the misery of his people. He's merciful, and the only people
who have this merciful attitude. Are people who have experienced
God's mercy? What's God's mercy? Well, it's
just real simply put him not giving me what I deserve. He's not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Aren't you
thankful? Now, if God has shown you mercy,
you will be a merciful person. And someone who is unmerciful
and harsh and hard-hearted toward the misery of others, they've
never experienced the mercy of God. Every believer, without
exception, is a merciful person. Would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter 18? Now, if I'm not a merciful person,
I'll not have mercy. If you're in Matthew chapter
18, let's begin reading in verse 21. Then Peter came to him and said,
Lord, how shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Jesus saith unto him, I say unto
thee, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy
times seven. Now, that doesn't mean the 491st
time you don't have to forgive anymore. Doesn't mean that at
all. That means every time. Every time. That's how often
I have to forgive my brother. Every time. Now, let's go on
reading. Therefore, he gives a Therefore, as the kingdom of
heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account
of his servants, and when he had begun to reckon, one was
brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents." That's
several million dollars. It's a lot of money. I don't
know how much it is. I've read different figures,
but it was a lot of money. Let's say somebody owed you ten
million dollars. Let's just put it that way. That's
a stupendous amount of money. 10,000 talents. But for as much as he
had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and
children and all that he had in payment to be made. The servant
therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience
with me and I'll pay thee all. Now, could he do it? He had no
ability to pay this money. He couldn't pay them all. Here
he is talking big, but he couldn't do it. Then the Lord of that
servant was moved with compassion. Because he's compassionate. Because
he's merciful, he was moved with compassion and he loosed him,
he set him free and forgave him the debt. But the same servant
went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him
100 pence, $15, $15. And he laid hands on him, and
he took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou ow'st. And his
fellow servant fell down at his feet beside him, saying, Have
patience with me. I'll pay thee all. And he would not. But he went and cast him into
prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants
saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told
unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after he
had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave
thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou
also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had
pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered
him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto
him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if you
from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
Now blessed are the merciful. They've experienced God's mercy.
That's how they've become merciful. They've experienced God's mercy.
And they're the ones and they're the only ones who obtain mercy. I read one time when one fellow
said to another fellow who had sinned against him, he said,
I never forgive. And a wise man replied to him,
I hope you never sin then. Because if you do, you're in
a world of trouble. Back to our text in Matthew chapter
5, verse 7, or verse 8, I'm sorry. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God." That word pure means unmixed and undiluted,
clean. Pure means 100%. Not 99% good,
1% bad, not 1% bad, 99% good, not 50-50. He says pure in heart.
Now what's this all about? to be pure in heart, because
when I say that, I don't feel very pure in heart, do you? Matter
of fact, I feel like my heart is, well, you know what I'm saying.
So what's he talking about when he's talking about being pure
in heart? Well, this is the new heart that God gives. He said a new heart also will
I give thee. And this heart is pure in heart. It's pure. It's pure. It believes pure grace. It believes
100 percent grace. It purely looks to Christ only.
It's the pure heart. Blessed are the pure in heart. It's the new creation. If any
man be in Christ, he's a new creation. It's the heart that
believes. It's the heart that loves. The pure at heart. See him who
is invisible. And it's only the pure in heart
who can see God. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Corinthians chapter 5. This is what the pure in heart
see. Now remember, he said it's the pure in heart who see God.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. This
is that new man. This is that new nature. And
it is pure. It's not 99% pure. It's 100%
pure. Anything that comes from God
is pure, isn't it? God can't give birth to that which is unholy.
This is that new heart. I look here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, beginning in verse 17. Therefore, if any man be
in Christ, united to Christ, he is a new creation, a new creature. Old things are passed away. That old relationship before
the law. An old way of salvation by works. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. And here's what you see when
all things are become new. All things are of God. All things
regarding the new birth. All things regarding the new
creation there of God. You know they come from Him.
You know if you have faith, you know where you got it, don't
you? You know it didn't come because of your free will. You
know He gave it to you. If you have love to Christ, you
know where it came from, don't you? You know He put it in your
heart. You know you wouldn't have it unless He gave it to
you. All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself
by Jesus Christ. He hath reconciled. He's removed
any reason for anger. God's reconciled to me. He reconciled
us to Himself. Reconciliation isn't us making
up with God. It's Him removing His reason
for anger. He hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then,
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you, in Christ's name, you be reconciled to God. He's reconciled. You be reconciled. This is said to every believer.
He's reconciled, you be reconciled. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Blessed are the pure in heart. Back to our text in Matthew chapter
5. Our Lord says next in verse nine,
blessed are the peacemakers. For they. Shall be called the
children of God, every peacemaker. Is a child of God, blessed are
the peacemakers, for they are the children of God. Now, this
is given right after the pure in heart. You see, the wisdom
that's from above is first, what anybody know the rest of that
verse pure. Pure. First it's pure, then peaceable. You see, this peaceableness does
not come at the expense of purity. It doesn't become, come at the
expense of truth. Some, some in their religion
is peace at any cost. No, no, truth, truth first. The wisdom that's from above
is first pure, but after that it's peaceable. It's gentle. It's easy to be entreated. Full
of good fruits. Blessed are the peacemakers. Now, this thing of being a peacemaker,
it's not just talking about somebody who doesn't like conflict. Stays
away from conflict and doesn't get in fights. And that's a good
way to be. Stay away from conflict and don't get in fights. As much
as life in you is, be peaceable with all men. Have peace in your
home. Peace with people on the job.
Be peaceable people. Blessed are the peacemakers,
but that's really not, that's part of what this is talking
about. Somebody's always looking for fight and somebody's always
into conflict. They don't show any evidence
of really having the grace of God in their heart if that's what
they really love. No, God's people love peace, peace, peace. But the peacemaking he's talking
about, Christ Jesus made my peace with God. Now, a peacemaker is somebody
who stands for this. He is our peace. And their message
to this world is Christ is my peace before God. That's what
they stand for. Blessed are the peacemakers.
They preach the gospel. They stand for the gospel. They
support the gospel of peace. How God is at perfect peace with
me. He's not mad at me. He's not
angry at me through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we preach this
message of peace. Now, blessed are the peacemakers. Every believer is a peacemaker.
We really believe that Christ Jesus is our peace before God.
And that's the only peace there is. Any other peace is a false
peace. We really believe that. He is
our peace. The only thing that gives me
peace is this. He was delivered for our offenses.
And He was raised again for our justification. Therefore, having
been justified by what he did, my justification already taken
care of, having been justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, peacemakers, somebody who
stands for that message. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. And finally,
he says, blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness
sake. Now, I think it's interesting
that as soon as he talks about a peacemaker, when you think
of a peacemaker, you think of somebody probably everybody likes
and everybody's, you know, who's going to persecute that fellow?
He's a peacemaker. No, if you're a peacemaker, you're going to
be persecuted. You can just write that down. You will be persecuted. He said, blessed are those who
are persecuted for righteousness sake. For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Now, once again, what is meant
by righteousness? They're persecuted for righteousness
sake. Does that mean that they're persecuted because of some righteous
way they're living? Well, we ought to be living righteously.
Don't take away from the importance of that. We ought to live in
such a way as we're above reproach. But that's not what the Lord's
talking about here when he says this. You know, you can give
all kinds of things to feed the poor, and you can do all kinds
of good works, and people put your picture in the paper, and
you'll be congratulated, and go, man, this is a great guy.
That's not what our Lord is talking about when he talks about being
persecuted for righteousness' sake. When the Bible talks about
righteousness, all the Bible recognizes is God's righteousness. That's the only righteousness
there is. No other righteousness is even recognized. And when
you're persecuted for righteousness' sake, that means you will not
back down. The only hope you have is the
righteousness of God charged to you, imputed to you, imparted
to you. You believe the only hope you
have is the very righteousness of God. And Scripture says you'll
be persecuted. That person doesn't believe in
good works. Why? They're evil. They just
say our works and our righteousness are of no count and of no importance. Why? They're wicked people. They're
antinomians. They're looking for an excuse
for sin. Look at what our Lord says, verse 10. Blessed are they
which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, 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 name's 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 to read one
last scripture. Turn to Philippians 1. Philippians 1. Verse 27. He says, only let your conversation,
your conduct, be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. That whether
I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs
that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together
for the faith of the gospel. May that be said of us. Go on
reading. and in nothing terrified by your
adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you it is given
in the behalf of Christ, for Christ's sake, not because you
had this coming to you. Unto you it's been given in behalf
of Christ, not only to believe on Him. And what a great gift
that is to be given the grace to believe on Him. He said, but
also to suffer for His sake. Acts a gift of grace just like
faith is. Now, blessed are they who are
persecuted for righteousness sake. Now, I entitled this message,
Who are the blessed of God? Well, here we have it. Blessed are they that are poor
in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn over
their sin. Blessed are the meek. Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed
are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart.
Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness sake. Now, this describes every believer. Let's pray.