Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter
5. I'm taking the title from a word
that's repeated 9 times in these first 12 verses. And the word
is blessed. Blessed. You see it? Matthew
chapter 5 verse 3, blessed. Verse 4, blessed. Verse 5, 6,
7, blessed, blessed, blessed. And the word means happy. Happy. Supremely blessed. favored or
sovereignly favored of God. When the angel came to Mary and
said, you're blessed among women, you're highly favored among women. Now, the title of the message
being then in a form of a question, who is the blessed man? Am I
blessed? Are you blessed? Or who is really
blessed of God? Blessed of God. Those who believe
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who find all of their
salvation in Him alone, that's a blessed man. He has blessed
us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenly according as
He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy without blame before Him in love. having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children according to the good pleasure
of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace." Now
that's a blessed man. Blessed with all spiritual blessings
and heavenly in Christ Jesus, we bless God who had blessed
us. Now these words we read this morning are some of the most
well-known words among religious people of our day. Most people
refer to this as the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, and if you look
up to the top of your page, if you have the Cambridge that I'm
reading, it says, Christ bringeth his Sermon on the Mount. And
truly, he is on this mountain, and these great multitudes following
him, and he opened his mouth as the oracle of God, as the
final authority of God, and he taught them. Think about this. What would
it be like for us to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ
on this mountain and hear him preach the gospel? We're going
to do that right now. We're going to do that right
now. Would you have ears to hear? Now, most people know this as
the Sermon on the Mount or the Beatitudes, but like most scripture,
it's misunderstood, sadly misunderstood, in the spiritual application
in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it must be in reference
to Him. Very few people have a true meaning
of these words. Most people consider these words
as a qualification or condition for salvation. They think that's
a condition that we meet or a qualification that we must bring. And therefore,
we have salvation. If you're poor, then you have
salvation. Just the opposite is true. Salvation is by the
grace of God, not by works. So these words are not the qualification
or condition for salvation, but rather they're teaching us what
salvation is in Christ. What the Lord is teaching us
is the fruit of God's salvation based upon His blood, based upon
His righteousness, based upon His work. If you look just across
the page, Matthew 5 verse 17, he said, think not, I've come
to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy, but I
came to fulfill. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
the law of God for us. So our salvation is not conditioned
or based upon something I meet, some standard I must meet or
something that I must produce. I can't meet God's standard.
I can't produce anything. If I could, what would that be? That would be salvation by works,
wouldn't it? And we know the Word of God teaches salvation
only by the grace of God. Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians,
talked about the fruit of the Spirit. And he mentioned nine
things, and really you can see those nine things there that
Paul mentions in Galatians 5.22, also reflected in this sermon
here that the Lord brings. Paul said, the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. That's the fruit of salvation,
not the cause now. The cause of salvation is what?
Christ, God's eternal purpose. We had on the radio this morning
a message I've brought many, many times. Salvation is of the
Lord in its origination, its execution, its application, sustaining
power, and its ultimate perfection. It's all A to Z. From A to Z,
the beginning, the end, the Alpha and Omega, it's all of Him. Salvation
is all of Him and in Him. There are nine spiritual blessings
that are given here with the promise of God, and they shall
be blessed in Christ. We could also call them the marks
of grace or birthmarks, evidence of the grace of God in the believer's
heart. Now, here's the first one. Look
at verse three. The Lord opened his mouth. as
the final authority of God and He taught them. Oh, that God
would be our teacher. Saying, saying, blessed, blessed
are the poor. Poor in spirit. He didn't say
blessed are those who are poor in purse or in their bank account. Blessed are those who are poor
in spirit. Theirs is right now, theirs is the Kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom of God? Christ.
He is the Kingdom of God. Now, so what is he talking about
here? He's talking about those who
are poor in spirit. It means to be, it's a poverty
of spirit. It is to be a mercy beggar at
the throne of God like the publican who came and said, Lord God be
merciful to me, the sinner. Now that's a blessed man. He's
poor in spirit. poor in spirit, poverty of spirit,
a mercy beggar. It's the opposite of a haughty
spirit or of religious pride and self-righteousness. You remember
the Pharisee prayed, God, I thank you I'm not like other men are. Did you notice on the radio program
just before preceding my radio program, the preacher on there
said that he was in New Orleans, at the Mardi Gras, and he said
all this wickedness going on around, all this wickedness,
they had gone on a rain down fire and brimstone on this bunch.
What was he doing there? I thought, first of all, what
was he doing there? And then I thought, second of
all, he is the one that deserves God's wrath and condemnation,
as we all do. You see, the Pharisee said, thank
God I'm not like other men are. The publican said, God be merciful
to me, the sinner, to be poor in spirit. is to realize, to
be made aware by the Spirit of God, the convicting work of the
Holy Spirit, my spiritual need, which I cannot meet. That I am
nothing, have nothing, to recommend myself before God. Nothing I
can bring will satisfy the offended law of God, will satisfy the
justice of God, or remove the wrath of God. Thank God He's
able to meet all our needs according to His riches in glory. To be
poor in spirit is to be made conscious of my sin, my guilt,
my ungodliness before God who is holy. Oh, wretched man that
I am, Paul said. That's to be poor in spirit.
Isaiah said, woe is me, I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean lips. That's
to be poor in spirit. That Job said, I've heard of
thee, now I see thee, wherefore I hate myself. That's to be poor
in spirit. Have you ever seen yourself deserving
of the wrath of God? The wages of sin is death? If
God judged me righteously in and of myself, I would have nothing
but exactly what I deserve, which is eternal condemnation. But
listen, those who are blessed to know they are sinners are
truly blessed of God. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Theirs is the kingdom of God. If you know you're a sinner,
I mean, Born in sin, shaping iniquity. I mean, when all you
know you can do and all this flesh can produce is nothing
but sin. That's a blessed man. This is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. It says over here in Matthew
chapter 9, He said, I didn't come to call the righteous. I
came to call sinners to repentance. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
die for good folks. Did He? Good folks don't need
a Savior. He died for the ungodly. The
psalmist said, God deny them of a broken heart, save us such
as be of a contrite spirit. Often David said, I'm in the
Psalms, he said, I'm poor and needy. I'm poor and needy. Yet
the Lord thinks upon me. I thought of this prayer that
Hannah prayed. Do you remember in 1 Samuel 2?
He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the beggar
from a dunghill to set them among princes and make them inherit
the throne of glory." Now, who does that? Who raises up the
beggar from a dunghill and makes him a prince of God? That's all
of God's grace, is it not? I found a hymn the other day
that I'd read to you before. It goes something like this,
a beggar poor at mercy's door lies such a wretch as I. Lord,
you know my need is great indeed. Lord, hear me when I cry. I am
a beggar poor, but I am a beggar poor at mercy's door. He said,
come boldly unto the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Come unto me all your
labor heavy laden, I'll give you rest. God has never one time,
have I read in this book, and I've been reading it a long time,
more than 40 years, never one time have I read God ever turned
the mercy beggar away. Now he dealt harshly with those
Pharisees who were going about to establish a righteousness
of their own. He said, that which is highly esteemed in your sight
is an abomination in my sight. You or they would justify yourselves
before men. But blessed are those, our Lord
said, blessed are those who are a poverty of spirit. They're
convicted that they're sinners. He said, theirs is, they have
all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. Now, the second thing
he says, verse 4, blessed are they that mourn. Mourn over what? It's not mourn over loss of job.
It's not mourning over the fact that the stock market's down.
It's not even mourning that I'm sick physically. Blessed are
they that mourn, they shall be comforted. Mourning over what?
Sin. Guilt. Condemnation. Blessed are they that mourn,
they shall be comforted. Our God is a God of all comfort.
He's called the Father of mercies, the God of all grace, and the
God of all comfort. Now, do you want comfort? Real
comfort? Lasting comfort? Eternal comfort?
Those who mourn over the fact that they have sinned against
God, and have come short of the glory of God, shall find comfort
of total forgiveness of all sin." Now wouldn't that comfort a sinner?
A bankrupt sinner? To know that all of his sin has
been put away? That the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all our sin? That's where we find comfort.
That's where sinners find comfort. Refuge, grace to help in our
time of need in Christ. His blood cleanses us from all
our sin. We read a moment ago from Romans
4, blessed are they whose sins are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Blessed is man to whom the Lord
will not impute sin. Now, giver, and we constantly
mourn over our sin. Repentance and faith is not an
isolated act. It's a life of repenting. It's
a life of coming. It's a life of believing. And
His blood cleanses, cleanses, cleanses, cleanses continually,
continually from all our sin. When Isaiah the prophet writes
about comfort, he said, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith
your God, Isaiah 40. Speaking comfortably to Jerusalem,
crying to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord double for all her
sin. Is the blood of Christ enough
to put away my sin? Is it enough? It is enough, God
says so. Their sin and their iniquity
will I remember no more. You remember our Lord said to
His disciples before He went to the cross, He said, I'm going
to go away, but the Comforter will come. God will send that
Holy Spirit to comfort her. He will come and He will comfort
you. Now, let me ask you a question. What does God the Holy Spirit
comfort us with? Good feelings? God the Holy Spirit
comforts us with Christ. Because He says, when God the
Holy Spirit has come, He'll take the things of mine and show them
unto you. So God the Holy Spirit comforts
us with Christ. Christ is our comfort. Because
Christ is our atonement. Christ, as we're going to see
in a minute, He's all of our righteousness before God. Now
here's the third thing he mentions. Blessed are the meek. They shall
inherit the earth. You see that in verse 5. Blessed
are the meek, for they shall, not maybe, could be, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven, and they shall inherit the earth.
Now, this is not talking about this earth where we live. It's
talking about the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Blessed are the meek, they shall
earn, they shall earn a new life. It doesn't say that, does it? What does it say? They shall
inherit eternal life. Inheritance is a gift. Blessed
is that sinner who has been stripped bare before God, made humble
in his own heart. Meekness is the opposite of being
self-willed against God. As those said, I will not have
this man to rule over me. Now listen carefully. Meekness
is to bow and submit to the sovereign lordship of Christ. That's meekness. Meekness is not weakness. Moses
was called a very meek man above all men that were upon the earth. But he was a bold, courageous
servant of the Lord. But in meekness he submitted
to the sovereign will of his Lord. You know who else is called
meek? Turn to Matthew 11. I'm going
to shock you here. Turn to Matthew 11, look at verse
28. You know who else is called meek? Verse 28, Matthew 11, Come
unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly
in heart. And you shall find rest for your
souls, for my yoke is easy, my burden is light. What did the
Lord pray in the garden when our sin was being laid upon Him?
He said, Father, not my will, but Thy will be done. That's
meekness. Submitting to the sovereign will
of God. And that's a blessing. That's
a blessing, knowing that all things work together for good
to them who love God, to them who are called according to His
purpose. And notice here, it says, the great and precious
promise of God, they shall inherit all things. They shall inherit
the earth, all things, all things being made heirs of God and joint
heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We know the grace of our God,
that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor,
that you through His poverty might be made, what? Rich! I'm
an inheritance, I'm an heir of God, a joint heir with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Peter writes about it this way.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to His abundant mercy has begotten us into a living
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, delivered
for our offenses, raised again for our justification, to an
inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away. It's reserved
for you in heaven. Believers shall inherit a new
heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Peter
writes about it this way. Nevertheless, we, according to
the promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness, knowing that this present earth shall melt with
a fervent heat. These people are all concerned
about global warming, aren't they? All the climate activists,
the new green energy deal. Nobody's concerned about global
burning. This place is marked out for
destruction. God's going to burn it up. How
easy would that be for God to burn this earth as we know it
to a cinder? Just move the earth a little
bit closer to the sun, gone. It's vaporized, isn't it? I mean,
it's nothing for God to destroy everything And he's going to. And he's going to make a new
heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Abraham
said, looking for a city which hath foundation, who builder
and maker is God. We're just passing through here.
Even though we may be here 50 years, 60 years, I'm 70 now. What's that compared to eternity? I had an aunt that was 100 years
old when she died. Big deal. What's that compared
to eternity? There's a God we must face. I
want to face Him in Christ alone. Now, look at verse 6. Blessed
are they that do hunger. And here's the verse we started
with this morning. Blessed are they which do hunger. You ever
had hunger pains? I mean, really, really hungry?
I mean, not eating for two or three days and just really hungry?
And that stomach just gnaws on you, the pain of it, you just
can't wait to be satisfied with some good food. Christ is that
food. Blessed is that man who was hungry,
who was thirsty, thirsty for the water of life, hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." That's
a blessed man. Now what is this hungering and
thirsting after righteousness? As a water brook, as the deer
pant after the water brook, David said, so panteth my soul after
thee. Look over here at Matthew 6,
verse 33. Matthew 6, verse 33. Hungering
and thirsting after righteousness. Matthew 6, 33. But seek ye first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Now underscore that. His righteousness. And all these things will be
added unto you. Seek ye first. What? The kingdom
of God and His righteousness. Now, when it talks about hungering
and thirsting after righteousness and being filled, this is not
talking about being a good moral person. This is not talking about
being a good, honest person. Now, we should strive to be moral,
we should strive to be good, but that's not what this is talking
about. Our salvation can never be based
upon our morality or our righteousness, can it? You know why? The best righteousness
you have is nothing but filthy rags. The best work you bring,
God's in a way with it, It is vanity, it's nothing but smoke
in my nose. Look over here at what it says
in Matthew 5 verse 20. Our Lord said, I say unto you,
except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Now, who was the most moral person in that day? Well,
the Pharisees. I mean, they were, man, they
were, outwardly speaking, they were clean as a hound's tooth,
right? I mean, they were folks where
they were moral, moral, moral, moral, moral, upright folks. God said, that is nothing but
smoke in my nose. You must have a righteousness
that exceeds theirs, and the only righteousness that would
exceed any is Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation cannot
be based upon moral goodness, can it? Or good works, can it? That would only be salvation
by works. Now, I know people are so caught
up in morality and goodness, and I'm all in on those things.
We ought to be moral, we ought to be good, we ought to do what
is right. But my soul, that is not salvation. If righteousness
comes by the law, If righteousness comes by the law, Christ is dead
in vain. If I can earn a righteousness
in myself, of my own doing, no need for him to come. You see,
my righteousness is based upon his obedience. Where it says
in verse 17 of chapter 5, think not I come to destroy the law
or the prophets, I came not to destroy but to fulfill. His obedience
under the law is our righteousness before God. The only righteousness
that's acceptable before God is Christ. We read a moment ago
in Romans 4 verse 6. Blessed is that man whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works, saying, blessed are they
whose sins are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Now, let me
give you a challenge. When you go to work or next time
you talk to one of your friends or neighbor's family, ask them
if they know anything about what the Bible teaches of righteousness
being freely, sovereignly imputed. And they go, huh? Huh? Most people think it's imputed
nonsense, is what they think. By one man's disobedience, this
thing of imputation is so important in understanding the gospel.
By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, right? And
Adam all died. So by the obedience of another
shall many be made righteous. That's why Paul said, I count
everything else lost, dung, and ruined. You remember old Saul
of Tarsus? Same man as the Apostle Paul.
Old Saul of Tarsus said, I was exceeding zealous of the law.
According to the law, he said, I was blameless. But when he
saw the Lord Jesus Christ, what did he say? He said, I count
all things lost and ruined. And he said, they're manure.
All my religious heritage, all my religious doing, it's all
manure. Dung. that I owe 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 the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see what I'm saying? Sinners
are justified based upon the righteousness and the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Never one time, not by the deeds
of the law, shall no flesh be justified before God. You see,
He is the Lord. He has called the Lord our righteousness. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Remember in Romans 10, Paul talked
about those Jews. He said, they have a zeal of
God, but not according to knowledge. They're ignorant of the righteous
character of God, and they're ignorant of the righteousness
revealed in the gospel through the Lord Jesus Christ. They have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, which
is in Christ. And then he says this in Romans
10 verse 4, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. I'm not under the law. I'm not
under the mosaic law. I'm not going about, I'm not
living under the Big Ten. I'm not talking about the football
conference. I'm talking about the Big Ten. I'm going to put
the Big Ten on the wall over here. I'm going to put the Big
Ten on a sign in my yard. I'm living under the Big Ten.
All you're doing is pronouncing you're under the curse of God.
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law that do them. I've not kept one commandment
one time, neither have you or any other man. The only one who
has is the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He honored the law of
God for us in His life and in His death. Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Now, you see what's being said here? The whole lot more than
just the be attitudes, isn't it? I'm going to be good, I'm
going to be this, I'm going to be that, and God will bless me.
That's not what this is teaching. This is not what it's teaching.
Now look at verse 7. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Now, if we know anything about
what this book teaches, we know that salvation is of the Lord,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy, He saved us. The blessed are the meek. Again,
this gets back to that same thing we were talking about, those
who are poor in spirit, those who are mourn, those who are
blessed are the meek, they shall inherit the earth. Verse 7 is
the one I want. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed
are the merciful, verse 7, for they shall obtain mercy. They
shall obtain mercy. Again here, the Lord is not teaching
how to be saved, but rather those who have been saved by His grace
delight to show mercy to others. This is the fruit of salvation,
not the cause. David cried in Psalm 51, Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness. according
to the multitude of our tender mercies, blot out my sin. Those who have received mercy
and forgiveness of sin delight to show mercy and forgiveness
of sin to others." Don't they? Those who have been forgiven
of God, they do delight to forgive others and be merciful to others.
As God has shown you mercy, why would you not show mercy to others?
Jeremiah said, this I recall to my mind, therefore I have
hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are
new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. To be merciful to others as God
has been merciful to you, that is the fruit of salvation. Now
look at verse 8. Blessed are the pure in heart.
Uh-oh. I'm in trouble. My heart's anything but pure.
The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. Now how can
this old, wicked, filthy heart be made pure? Well, just clean
your act up. Just stop doing certain bad habits. Just stop sinning and you'll
have a pure heart. Well, again, that gets back to
works, doesn't it? The only way we have a pure heart is that
we're cleansed by the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. His
blood cleanses us from all our sin. We are made pure and holy,
unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. They shall see God. How are we going to see God?
God commands the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God that shines in the face of Jesus Christ. That's how we
see God. Blessed are the pure in heart.
You see, in regeneration and in the new birth, what does He
do? He gives us a new heart. You hear people say, well, give
Jesus your heart. Why would you give Him something
that's filthy and wicked and vile? The truth of the matter
is, He must give us a new heart. He must make us and give us a
new nature. And that's what happens in the
new birth. That's what happens when we're born of God. He makes
us pure and holy in Christ. Look at verse 9. Blessed are
the peacemakers, they shall be called children of God. They
shall be called sons of God. Blessed are the peacemakers.
The peacemakers. The Scripture does say in Romans
12, "...if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably
with all men." Now, we should strive to be at peace with all
men, right? And that's a good thing. But
again, that can never be the ground of salvation. You know,
he's a good neighbor. Well, that's all. I'm all in
on that. I want to live by a good neighbor. I've got good neighbors.
I don't know if they consider me a good neighbor. But again,
that cannot be the ground of salvation, can it? Because you
get right back to works. There's a popular saying among
religious people. You've heard this said before,
make your peace with God. Have you heard that said? Or
someone said, he made his peace with God. Before he died, he
made his peace with God. My friend, that's impossible.
You cannot satisfy a holy God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only ground and reason we have peace with God. The Scriptures
say God's angry with the wicked every day. How can this sinner
have peace with God? Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, right? You
see, He made peace for us with His own blood. And believers
are peacemakers in the sense they tell others how peace has
been made by Christ and Him crucified. And those who do, we can only
be called peacemakers as we tell sinners how peace has been made
by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
these are called and known as sons of God. Look at verse 10. Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Now, what
would you say that righteousness' sake is? Is it talking about
being persecuted because you're a good person? That's not what
he's talking about. When we talk about righteousness,
for righteousness' sake, we're talking about Christ's sake,
for His name's sake, for the gospel's sake. for the gospel's
sake. Blessed are they who are persecuted
for Christ's sake. Theirs is right now the kingdom
of God. That's the same as saying salvation
in Christ. Don't be surprised when you take
a public bold stand for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ if this
religious lost world will come down on you with both feet and
condemn you as a heretic. That guy's a heretic. He believes
in election. I got a letter from a man way
up in Vermont. And he said, I've been looking
for a church to find a worship to hear the gospel. And he said
he went to this one particular place for a couple of weeks and
he mentioned to some about God's eternal election of grace. You
know, they kicked him out. I mean, he was just a visitor.
They kicked him out. He's being persecuted for righteousness
sake. That's a blessed man. That's
a blessed man. Don't be surprised when you take
a bold stand for the gospel that you'll get many sharp rebukes
from those who you thought were your friends. Jude writes about
it, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you the
common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and
exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith at once
delivered unto the saints, Rejoice and be glad, 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,
verse 12, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.
Now, this will help you if you turn with me. Over here is the
book of Philippians. Can you find Philippians, Galatians,
Ephesians? Philippians. Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, and so forth. Philippians, but at
page 277 if you got to Cambridge and I'm looking at, 277. Chapter
1, Philippians chapter 1. Look at verse 27, I want to let
your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether
I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affair,
that you stand fast in one spirit, one mind, striving together for
the faith of the gospel, and in nothing, terrified by your
enemies, your adversaries. which is to them an evident token
of their condemnation, perdition. But to you of salvation, that
of God. For it is given unto you on the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, it's given, but
also to suffer for his namesake." Suffer for his namesake. Yeah,
we don't know much about suffering for the gospel. Not like our forefathers have. But look what
he says here in verse 11 and 12 in closing. Blessed are you
when men shall revile you. Revile you. That word means to
defame you, to discredit you, to rail on you, to chastise you,
to persecute you. For Christ's name's sake. Now
didn't our Lord tell His apostles before He went to the cross?
He said, If they persecuted me, they will
persecute you. If they hated me, they will hate
you. What happened to all the apostles, including the apostle
Paul? They were all persecuted and
put to death. Even John put out on the island of Pappas to starve
to death. What are we to do when men hate
us and persecute us for the gospel? When we talk about His sovereign
love, His sovereign mercy, His sovereign grace that He will
have mercy on whom He will, and men hate that and hate us because
we preach that and promote that, what are we to do? Look at verse
12. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. For
who made you to differ from the others? You believe the gospel
of God's grace? It's God who made you to differ.
Rejoice and be glad, exceeding glad, for great is your reward
in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. Rejoice in the Lord. The suffering
of this present time is not worthy to be compared with the glory
that shall be revealed in us. Now, two scriptures and I'll
be done. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that
we are children of God. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together with
him. For I reckon that the suffering
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that shall be revealed in us. And then Paul writes this
in 2 Corinthians 4, For our light affliction, which is but for
a moment, worketh for us a far more an exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. These light afflictions here,
that's nothing compared to the exceeding great riches we have
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The exceeding eternal weight
of glory. Great is your reward. See what
it says there? Great is your reward. Singular. Christ is our exceeding great
reward. He's everything. He's everything. He's all. Christ is all and in
all.