Our warning needs to be sounded
at the beginning of this message. All of you recognized immediately
when I began reading from the fifth chapter of Matthew what
we call the Beatitudes. Well, these Beatitudes do not,
I repeat, do not set forth the way to be saved. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is not teaching here in these opening verses of the Sermon
on the Mount, the way to be saved. Our Lord makes clear the way
to be saved. He says, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The way to be saved is
to receive Christ. The way to be saved is not a
walk that I walk, it's a walk that he walked. It's a work that
he did. It's a death that he died. It's
an atonement which he made. As many as received Him, to them
gave He the right to become sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name. Christ said, As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but
have eternal life. If any man thirsts, Christ said,
let him come to Me. Not to a law, not to a system,
not to a ceremony, and not to a set of rules. Let him come
to me, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
Christ said to his disciples, this is my body broken for you. This is my blood shed for you. So the way to be saved is by
receiving Christ, by believing on Christ. Christ died for our
sins. He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. By his stripes I'm healed. Not
by my life, but by his death am I saved. That's the way I'm
justified before God. The way my sins are put away
is by the blood of Christ. The way that this person is accepted
by the Father is in the Beloved. The way that God looks with favor
and love upon me is because I'm robed in Christ's righteousness,
not my own. Let that be clear. This is not
the way to be saved. Our Lord is speaking here on
who are the saved. That's what He's talking about.
What are the marks of grace in the soul? What are the evidences
of this new birth? What are the marks of those who
have come to God by Him? Saving faith produces a definite
work of grace. Saving faith produces definite
evidences of its presence. If it's there, you'll know it
because it reveals itself. Saving faith produces definite
changes. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. It doesn't say ought to be or
should be or might be. or shall be, he is right now
a new creature. Saving faith produces definite
changes in attitude, in personality, in conduct. James says, show
me your faith without your works. It cannot be done because faith
without works is dead. And I'll show you, he said, my
faith by my works. So our Lord Jesus Christ here,
let it be understood as we approach these verses, He's not teaching
the way of salvation. He's teaching the way of the
saved. The way of the saved. He's teaching
the marks of saving grace, the evidence of saving grace. Let's
look at it, seeing the multitude. We have here His heroes. Seeing
the multitudes. Now all men will not hear our
message. All men ought to. I have something
for everybody. All men ought to hear the gospel
of Jesus Christ. We don't have a message for the
rich and one for the poor. We don't have one message for
the intellectual and another message for the man that's less
fortunate. We don't have one message for
the black man and one for the white man. The same message for
all men. Our Lord saw the multitudes.
There they were, little fellows and big fellows, young fellows
and old fellows, rich fellows and poor fellows, black fellows
and white fellows. He saw the multitudes. And He
addressed every one of them with the same message. The same message. And it says, in seeing the multitudes,
He, who is speaking here, On Patmos, John said, I turned to
see the voice that spoke to me. I want to know who's doing the
speaking. I want to know by what authority he speaks. Listen over
here to John in Revelation 1, verse 17. I turned to see the
voice, and when I saw him, verse 17, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his hand upon me,
saying unto me, Don't be afraid, I'm the first and the last. I'm
he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore.
Amen. I have the keys of hell and death. That's who's speaking. And seeing
the multitude, the same he, went up into a mountain, the
place. We have the heroes, the multitude.
We have the speaker, the king of glory. He who has the keys
of hell and death, not just another voice, the voice, not just another
man, behold, the man, the Lord of glory. And he went up into
a mountain. Is that significant? I think
so. Our Lord sought an elevated place
from which to speak because exalted doctrine, exalted doctrine demands
a high point from which to be given. Mount Sinai is symbolic
of the Law. Mount Zion is symbolic of the
Church. Mount Calvary is symbolic of
Redemption. Mount Moriah is symbolic of Revelation. The Mount of Olives is symbolic
of Ascension. And here it was on a mountain
that our Lord declared the evidences and marks of His people. These
are my people. These are my people. These are
the marks of redeeming grace. These are the marks of saving
faith. He declares it from an elevated
position, from a high point, as he declared that law from
Sinai, as his son was lifted up on Calvary, as he ascended
from the Mount of Olives. These are the marks of my people. and the posture of the preacher.
Look at it. Seeing the multitude, he went
up into a high place, a mountain, and when he was set, he sat down. Now most preachers stand when
they preach. I'm standing this morning to
address this crowd. But the Lord Jesus Christ sat
down. You know what that's significant
of? The king sits on his throne. His is the voice of authority.
His commands are royal commands. The king does not stand to address
the folks out there. He sits on his throne. And our
Lord Jesus sat down, and it says he opened his mouth and taught
them things. And some reviler and mocker said,
well, naturally he opened his mouth. The only way he could
teach them is to open his mouth. Not so. Not so. Our Lord taught men many times
without opening His mouth. Our Lord taught without saying
a word. His life, His love, His miracles, His tears, His looks. I remember one incident when
He told Peter. He said, Peter, Peter had boasted
about his determination to continue in faith and his determination
to to even defend Christ to the death. He said, these other fellows
might leave you, but I never will. And the Lord said, Peter,
before the cock crows, you'll deny me three times. And that
evening, Peter was sitting with a fire, and those people came
by and said, well, you're one of the disciples. No, I'm not.
Well, you were with that Galilean. No, I wasn't. Well, I know your
speech betrays you. He cursed and swore and said,
I don't know the man. And listen to Luke. Luke chapter
22. You might want to look over there
a moment. Luke 22. This is so beautiful. Verse 61. And the Lord turned
and looked upon Peter. He didn't say a word. And he
just looked. And Peter remembered the word
of the Lord, how he'd said unto him before the cock crow, You'll
deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.
He opened his mouth and taught them. He taught without opening
his mouth. He didn't open his mouth before
Pilate, but he taught him. Answerest thou not me, Pilate
said? He spake not a word. As a lamb
before her shearers is dumb, he opened not his mouth. And
I tell you, our Lord teaches this world in judgment. His providences
are preachers. His judgments are preachers.
I'll tell you another thing. Our Lord spake to this world
by His prophets. It says in times past He spake
to our fathers by the prophets. Well, now it says He opened His
mouth and taught them. I'll tell you if we've got any
judgment at all, Wisdom at all. We'll all gather around this
this morning. We'll focus our undivided attention
on this, seeing the multitude. That's us. He, the King of Kings,
went up to a high place. This doctrine is not worthy to
be spoken from a cave or a cavern or a tomb, but from a mountain. He sat down as a king on the
throne. And he who having taught by his
prophets and symbols and types and shadows and all these other
things, personally opened his mouth and taught them. If that doesn't get your attention,
you're beyond hope. And his first words he said,
and this ought to get our attention, the first words he said, What's the last word of the Old
Testament? The last word of the Old Testament. Anybody know? Turn over to Malachi
and see what it is. Malachi chapter 4, I believe,
verse 6. The last word in the Old Testament. The very last word. All that
the law can do. Curse. That's the last word. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all points of the law to do them. You seek consolation
through the law, through your works, through the ceremonies,
through the rituals of religion, through the types and shadows.
Cursed, that's all. But here our Lord began his ministry. Here our Lord went up to the
mountain. Here our Lord opened his mouth to teach men. Here
the King of Kings is going to speak personally, and he speaks
the first word he said in his public ministry. Blessed. Blessed. What does that mean,
blessed? Marked out for special favor.
That's what it means. Designated for special favor. Not under curse, not under judgment,
not under wrath. Blessed. What does that mean? Blessed, honored by God, esteemed
by God himself. Blessed. What does that mean? Finders of true happiness. Just
about everybody in the world is scrambling for happiness on
every hand. Happiness is this, happiness
is that. Everybody's looking for happiness, folks are looking
for it in 127,000 different directions, but blessed, happy is the man
to whom God will not charge sin. Happy, blessed is the man whom
God permits to approach unto himself. Happy, blessed. All right, let's see about these
folks. He says blessed, happy. marked out for special favor,
blessed, honored, and esteemed by God himself are the poor in
spirit. Now, nobody ever considered the
poor of this world as our Lord did. And David, throughout the
Psalms, cautions us to remember the poor, to be a benevolent
people, an almsgiving people, a generous people, remembering
the poor. But here our Lord is not talking
about the poor in this world, that is materially speaking.
Our Lord is speaking of a poverty of spirit that even a wealthy
man can know. Our Lord is speaking of a lowliness
of heart that every man can know. Our Lord is speaking of an absence
of self-esteem. poor in spirit. Arthur Pink used
to say this, the poor in spirit, they know that spiritually they
have nothing. They're poor by birth. They're
born insane, having lost their inheritance. Naked I came into
this world. And that says a whole lot, naked,
with nothing. And naked I shall leave this
world with nothing. I brought nothing in, I'll take
nothing out. I'm nothing. The body will go back to the
dust. How much value is there in a pile of dust? Poor. We have nothing. We are nothing. We are poor by choice. Christ
said, you will not come to me that you might have life. We
are poor in spirit by choice. We will not seek God. We are
poor in spirit by practice. We live off the husk of this
world when we could be living off the treasures of God. But thank God for realization
of a poverty of spirit. I'm glad I know I have nothing.
I'm glad I know I am nothing. I'm glad that I know that I really
know nothing. Because poverty of spirit empties
a man so that he can be filled. Poverty of spirit lays the sinner
at the gate of mercy as Lazarus lay at the gate of the rich man.
Poverty of spirit strips the sinner in order that he may be
clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And our Lord says,
I've come to preach the gospel to the poor. When God empties
a man, he intends to fill him. Of what does he empty us? Our
pride, our arrogancy, our haughty spirit. Our self-esteem, our
envy, our jealousy. Our Lord says, blessed are the
poor in spirit. You know, we've got an idea that
everybody that's rich is going to hell and everybody that's
poor is going to heaven. Well, that is true, but not in
a material sense. That's true in spirit. Everybody
who is rich in spirit, who thinks himself to be something when
he's nothing, is going to perish. But those who have been stripped
by the Spirit of God and laid bare by the work of God's Spirit
and brought to see that before God we are nothing, we have nothing,
we know nothing, we are empty, we are in need of all things.
As the hymn writer, in my hands no price I bring, simply the
cross of Christ I cling. We are flesh, and in the flesh no man can please
God. We are flesh, and in the flesh
dwelleth no good thing. We have nothing spiritually of
which to be proud. Pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before a fall. God says six things I hate. Number
one, a proud look. how we need to be emptied. Well,
our Lord says, my people have been emptied. My people have
had their pride destroyed. My people have had their self-esteem
destroyed. They've been humbled. They've
been broken. They've been abased. God is nigh
unto the humble. He resisteth the proud. The Scripture
says that all the way through. And here our Lord says in this
great in this great message, the first word, blessed are the
poor in spirit. I read a church ad the other
day. I don't even know where I read
it. It might have been in this area,
but it said something talking about this church come to the
27th Street Church of something where everybody's somebody. And
I didn't like that when I read it. And then I picked up another
church bulletin, and it says, come to the Grace Bible Church
where everybody's nobody, where everybody's nobody. And that's what we are, nobody.
Where Christ is somebody. Somebody said that about this
church here. He said you have people from
all walks of life. You have people from all as the world holds folks as status
symbols and so on, but here they're all on the same level. Grace
is a common leveler. Grace brings the high and mighty
down and lifts the lowly up, makes them meet in Christ Jesus.
That's what he's saying, the poor in spirit. Look at the second
one. He said, blessed are they that
mourn, for they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Now
if you'll watch these Beatitudes, they go, they're steps. They're steps. And actually you
can say it either way. One rises out of the other. One
gives birth to the other. But actually they're not steps
upward. Because this would be a destruction
of the first one which says, blessed are the poor in spirit.
They're steps downward. We are humbled in our own estimation
and our own conclusions about ourselves.
So really the best gifts of God are lower down, on the lower
shelves. And if you watch the blessed
of the poor in spirit, and when we realize how empty we are,
what nothings we are, how void of any spiritual riches we are,
What needy, needy creatures we are. It'll make us mourn. It'll make us mourn. It gives,
it leads to mourning. And Psalm 51 is a classic example
of real mourning. Here's an intelligent man, a
wealthy man, an influential man, a man of authority, a man of
power, a man of prominence, a public man, David. David. Saul's killed his thousands,
but David is ten thousands. This is the pet of Israel. And
yet a man with a broken heart and a humble spirit. Poor in
spirit. Listen, have mercy on me, O God. According to Thy loving kindness,
according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions. Wash me throughly, inside and
out, all over for mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge
my transgressions, my sin is ever before me. Against thee
and thee only have I sinned, and none this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when you speak, and cleared when
you judge us. I was shaping an iniquity in
sin, my mother conceived me. Down at verse 10, Lord create
in me a clean heart, renew within me a right spirit, cast me not
away from your presence, don't take your Holy Spirit from me.
That's mourning. Look at verse 17. The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
thou wilt not despise. Blessed are they that mourn. One of the hymn writers wrote
this, Lord, let me mourn for naught but sin, and after none
but thee. And then I would, or that I might,
a constant mourner be." Have you ever really felt deep within
your soul the cry of the Apostle Paul, one of God's choice servants,
a graduate of the highest school of his day, a man of great usefulness
in the kingdom of God, a writer of Bible books, And yet he cried,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? He cried, I am less than the
least of all the saints. He said, I'm not worthy yet to
be an apostle. He said, I am the chief of sinners. I know that sounds like a paradox,
and I guess it is. God's people are full, and yet
they feel themselves to be the emptiest of all creatures. They're
rich, and yet they're poor. They're sinful, and yet in Christ
they're perfect. These are the marks of grace,
the poor in spirit. Don't look up to me. I'm not
worthy to have your confidence and favor. Even the angels of
God said to those who fell down before them, don't worship us,
we're creatures like you are. Poverty of spirit leads to mourning
of heart. And then look at the third one,
blessed are the meek. They shall inherit the earth.
And I'll tell you, when you realize how poor you are spiritually,
how empty, what nothings, you'll mourn. And that will bring you
to a meekness of spirit and bring you to a genuine humility. Now,
my friends, there's a vast difference. Listen to me. There's a vast
difference in meekness and weakness. Some people confuse the two.
Some sissified little fellow that everybody walks over and
pushes around, he sure is a meek man or he's a weak man. He's
not a meek man. Some fellow, that's his wife,
boss him and run the house, you know, and he's a meek man. No,
he's a weak man. There's a difference in meekness
and weakness. You can be strong and be meek.
A strong hand can hold a rose without crushing it. That's meekness. And there's a vast difference
in meekness and cowardice. There's a whole lot of difference.
And there's a whole lot of difference in meekness and compromise. The meek know where to compromise.
The Apostle Paul had some points where he was willing to compromise
and become as one to those in the law as in the law and to
those without the law as without the law. But the Apostle Paul
knew when to stand his ground. He said, though we are an angel
from heaven preaching the other gospel, let him be a curse. Let
him be a curse. The very man who would back down
and have John Mark circumcised would not back down on the gospel. The very man who apologized to
the high priest for calling him a whited sepulcher would not
apologize for preaching Christ and Him crucified. See, there's
a difference. We're told in the Scripture to fight the good fight
of faith. Paul says, I have fought a good
fight. You see, weakness and cowardice doesn't fight. And
we're told to be bold in the Lord, to be strong in faith,
to contend for the faith. Well, what is this meekness? It's a gentleness. a gentleness. The meek are those
who are gentle. They care for the feelings of
other people. They use their strength to carry
the burdens of others. The meek are the self-sacrificing. They find their happiness in
making people happy. You want me to tell you the clue
to happiness? Of course, Christ is the key. But you can't do this without
Christ. But the key to happiness is when you begin putting forth
your every effort to make somebody else happy. You'll find happiness. People who have no personal cause
to defend, they have nothing to prove, they have no honor
to uphold, they have no name to defend except His name. Those
are the meek. Self-sacrificing. And the meek are the quiet-spirited
ones who by their silence do not condone sin, but show a patience
which God has shown to them. Don't be too quick to condemn,
too quick to speak unkindly, too quick to judge. Judgment's
not our business, it's God's business. Our Lord said, be ye
kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God,
for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Blessed are the meek. Where does this meekness come
from? Where does this humility come from? It comes from poverty
of spirit. We realize that this man is better
than we are, because we know what we are in here. when we realize that we are what
we are only by the grace of God, which has led us to mourn over
our inability in our flesh and our sins. And that has led to
the next step that's enabled us to be humble and to be meek. Meekness and humility is not
something you cultivate. It's something that's born out
of a realization of what you are. and who God is and what
you have. Who makes you to differ? What
do you have you didn't receive? You can't educate people into
that state or that condition. God has to do a work of grace.
God has to make us to see what only he can make us see. And
then look at the next one. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. They shall be filled. Now these
people seek a two-fold righteousness. First of all, they seek the righteousness
of Christ. Turn to Philippians chapter 3.
They seek the righteousness of Christ. It's a two-fold righteousness
they seek. First, the righteousness of Christ. Paul talked about his religious
heritage and background and accomplishments and knowledge, and he says, I
count these things but rubbish. that I may win Christ and be
found in Him, verse 9, 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. That's what I want. He said in Romans 10, My heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. I bear them record. They have a zeal for God. They
have an enthusiasm for religion. But it's not according to knowledge.
They're going about to establish their own righteousness, their
own holiness. and have not submitted themselves
to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the goal of the
law for righteousness to them that believe. And this is what
these people, they hunger and thirst for righteousness. See
the steps? God shows me I'm nothing. God
shows me my poverty. God shows me my spiritual nothingness. Less than nothing. Christ said
without me you can do nothing. Without me you are nothing. And
that leads to mourning. I don't want to be nothing. I
don't want to be just flesh. I don't want to be an enemy of
God. I don't want to be a stranger and a foreigner with having no
hope and without God in this world. And it leads me to a genuine
meekness and humility before God and before others. Lord,
I don't deserve this now, but I want righteousness. It leads
me to seek righteousness. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst for righteousness. His righteousness. His righteousness. These are marks or evidences
of a work of grace. This thing of salvation is a
whole lot more than just, as a fellow said on TV this morning,
just deciding for Jesus. It's a whole lot more than just
believing that a man called Jesus died on a cross, was buried and
rose again. People who are full of pride
believe that. People who are full of hate know
that happened. People who are full of prejudice
and people who know nothing about poverty of spirit. Anybody who'd
like to go to heaven, nobody wants to go to hell. But the evidences and marks and
signs of a work of genuine grace, of regeneration and a new birth
and a new creature and a work of salvation which God performs,
these are the evidences. This is what Christ is saying.
Blessed, happy, honored, favored of God are those who know the
poverty of their spirit and who mourn over it. and who have been
made humble by it, and meet before God, and who hunger and thirst
for His righteousness, Lord, cover my nakedness, fill my emptiness, give strength to my helplessness,
give life to my deadness, and light to my blindness." And he
said, they're going to be filled. I'll tell you another kind of
righteousness they seek, though. They seek that righteousness
of inward grace. They not only want to be declared
righteous, but they also want to be righteous themselves. They love holiness. They love
a path of honesty. They love a walk of truthfulness.
That's right, they do. And neither of these come by
law. That righteousness before God does not come by law, it
comes by Christ. The love of Christ for me gave
me that righteousness. What about the second one? That walk of faith and walk of
honesty and walk of godliness, it doesn't come by law either.
You don't make rules around here and sanctify people. It comes
by love, too. Not just the love of Christ for
me, but my love for Him. You see what I'm saying? These
people who know their emptiness and who mourn over it, who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, they want to be righteous before
the law. They want to be righteous before
God. They want to be covered with
the robe of Christ's holiness. They want God to be able to look
upon them with favor and love, and we have that in Christ. But
they also want to walk in this world as examples. They want others to see their
light, and see their works, and see their truth, and their conversation,
their attitude, and their spirit, and say, well now, that man's
been with the Lord. He's different. There's been
a change. Well now, neither of these righteousnesses
come by law. I didn't get the righteousness
before God by obeying the law, because I'd have to obey every
jot and tittle of which I'm not capable. Christ gave me that
because He loved me. He gave me that perfect covering
because He loved me. He gave me that perfect righteousness
because He loved me. He gave me that perfect standing
because He loved me. How's this other righteousness
going to come? By the preacher making rules and saying, you
can't do this, and you can't do that, and you can't do this,
and you can do this, and you can do this? No, sir. It comes
by love, too. I love Christ. You see what I'm
saying? I love Christ. And therefore,
the things that I do, I want to do them for his honor and
his glory. All right, notice the next one
now. Blessed are the merciful. for they shall obtain mercy.
You know the scripture says, Be ye merciful as your Father
in heaven is merciful. When I think of mercy, I think
of God, for God is plenteous in mercy and delights to show
mercy, but mercy is a mark of saving faith. Our Lord gave this
illustration. He said there was a man who owed
a great ruler a large sum of money, and the ruler called him
in. And the man informed him that
he was broke. He just didn't have it and couldn't pay it.
And the ruler looked upon him in mercy. And he said, well,
just erase the debt. I forgive you. We'll just mark
it off as paid. Boy, the man was happy. Gracious,
he was happy. What a great debt. I don't owe
it anymore. What a great burden lifted. What
a great obligation removed. And he went running out of the
governor's palace, happy, and he saw a fellow over there that
owed him 50 cents. And he forgot his happiness,
and he forgot what just took place, and he ran over and got
the fellow to the throat, and he said, you pay me what you
owe me. The fellow said, I don't have it. I don't have it. I can't pay you. And he called
the sheriff, and he said, throw him in jail until he pays me
what he owes me. And one of the ruler's men was
standing there and heard that, and he came in to the ruler,
and he said, Master, he said, that fellow was just in here
that owed you all that money, and you forgave him. You know
what I just saw him do? I just saw him go out and get
a fellow by the neck that didn't owe him but 50 cents. and have
him put in prison because he couldn't pay. And the master
said, you go get him. And they went out and got that
fellow and brought him in and stood him before the ruler. And
he said, I showed mercy to you, but you had no mercy for anybody
else. And therefore, I'm lifting my
mercy and putting you under judgment. You'll spend the rest of your
life in prison. Take him away. And our Lord looked
up and he said to the people listening to him, he said, even
so, you forgive not me and their trespasses, neither will your
father forgive your trespasses. This is a mark of the redeemed.
Mr. John Wesley was on board a ship
down off the coast of Georgia, and the governor of Georgia was
on the ship too. And one of his servants had stolen
some wine out of the governor's wine closet and had drunk it. And the governor found out about
it. And the governor ordered him
to take off his shirt and unbar his back and cover him with a
cat of nine tails, so many lashes. And Mr. Wesley went to the governor.
He knew him. And he said, Your Honor, he said,
I want to plead for this man. I want to ask mercy for this
man. And the governor of Georgia looked at him and said, Mr. Wesley,
I quote, I never forgive. I never forgive. To which Mr. Wesley replied, then, my dear
sir, I certainly hope you have never sinned because it is certain
you'll never be forgiven. Think about it. Blessed are the merciful, they
shall obtain mercy. See that next step? When I realize
I'm poor in spirit, needy, mourn and grieve, humbled by God's
hand and seek righteousness and He fills me, He's merciful to
me, He forgives me, He loves me, then I'm going to do the
same thing for others. That's a mark of the redeemed.
Mercy. You say, but you don't know how mean they are. Mercy
admits guilt. There's no mercy needed where
there's no guilt. Sure, they're guilty. No mercy needed where there's
no guilt. Of course, they're guilty. You say, but they did
me wrong. You did God wrong, too. And mercy
has no return. I'll tell you what, I'll forgive
you if. That's no forgiveness. Scripture says, when they have
nothing to pay, he freely forgave them. Mercy knows no restrictions. The greater the need, the more
readily mercy flows. Let me give you the next two
quickly. Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. I'm going to preach on this tonight,
the heart. Our Lord always aimed at the heart. This is where the
work of redemption is done. It's not the feet walking an
hour. It's not the hands performing a work. It's not the body submitting
to an ordinance of ceremony. The work of God is done in the
heart. These other teachers were content with outward ceremony
and moral reformation, but our Lord Jesus aimed at the heart. He said, cleanse first that which
is within. He said the spring from which
every evil river flows is the heart. Out of the heart proceeds
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, blasphemies. What we need is
a new heart, a pure heart, a regenerated heart, a righteous heart. And
then last of all, blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be
called children of God. What else would a person be who
is in the kingdom of the Prince of Peace, but a peacemaker? What
else would a person be who is the son of the King of Salem,
King of Peace, but a peacemaker? What does a peacemaker do? He
ends the quarrel. He ends the quarrel. What does
a peacemaker do? He extends the hand. What does
a peacemaker do? He avoids discord and dissension. What does a peacemaker do? He
seeks out the offended as he, the offender, has been sought.
As much as possible, live at peace with all men. And then in closing, there are
seven beatitudes. You see them there? The 8th down here in verse 10
and 11 describes the manner in which those who bear the evidence and marks
of salvation will be treated by a hostile and hating world. Men shall persecute you. It won't
be easy. Poor in spirit, meek, mourn,
hunger and thirst for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemaker. You'll be so different, you'll
be despised. You'll be so different, you'll
be hated. But Christ said, the world hated me before it hated
you. Evidence is of saving grace. Our Father, honor thy word in
this hour and bless it to our hearts. These things are so great.