If you will please open your
Bibles back to Matthew chapter 5. The verses that we are looking
at this morning began what is known to the world as the Sermon
on the Mount. It includes this chapter, chapter
five, and the next two chapters of Matthew. At its end, Matthew
tells us it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings,
when he had ended this message, the people were astonished at
his doctrine. It's not surprising that those
who were looking for an earthly kingdom, a materialistic kingdom,
were surprised at these words of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
notice the first beatitude, and that's what these verses are
called, the beatitudes. It ends with, theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. And the last one in verse 10,
it also ends, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What we have
in these verses, I believe, we have the inward aspect of every
true believer. In other words, these are the
characteristics of those who have been born again. Those who
have received a new nature, those who have been translated from
the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. These are the characteristics
of those who are born of the Spirit of God. Something else
about these Beatitudes is, One of these characteristics may
be more prominent in your life as a believer than another, but
every one of these characteristics is in every child of God. Every one is in every child of
God. And the last thing I would say
is this before we look at them. These are not the natural dispositions
that men have. Some people are just maybe born
with the nature people look at them as being poor in spirit,
but these are spiritual things. These are not natural dispositions
that men have. These are not things with which
we are born when we come into this world. These are characteristics
that come by being born again of the spirit of God. And as
I said, we will look at them one by one, although a message
could be brought, and I believe I have over the years, on each
and every one of these, one at a time. But I want us to go through
all of them this time, all eight of them this time. Blessed, verse
number three. Blessed. Someone said this might
be translated, to be congratulated, to be congratulated. We know
the word blessed means happy, happy, blessed are the poor in
spirit. Now we're talking about spiritual
poverty. We're not talking about physical
poverty. There's nothing about being physically
poor or physically rich. in the things of this world that
these Beatitudes are dealing with. This is spiritual poverty,
not material poverty. Several years ago, down in Latin
America, there was a new theology that came about. It's called
evolution theology, I believe it is. And the idea is, just
because a person's poor, physically poor, materially poor, that they
are blessed and part of God's kingdom, part of God's family.
That's not true, and that's not what these verses are teaching. Blessed are the poor in spirit. This is spiritual poverty. As one of the writers said this,
all mankind, everyone, all mankind are spiritually poor. They have
nothing to eat, which is fit and proper, nor any clothes to
wear but rags, nor are they able to purchase either food or clothes. They have no money to buy with.
They are in debt. They owe 10,000 talents, and
they have nothing to pay, and in such condition that they are
not able to help themselves. The greater part of mankind are
insensible of this, their condition, but they think themselves rich
and increased in goods and have need of nothing. Now that's the
natural man, and that's the way all of us come into this world.
It's only God the Holy Spirit working in the heart of an individual
who by nature is proud and haughty, self-sufficient, self-confident,
that is brought to know his or her spiritual poverty. The spiritual poverty has been
called the negative side of faith. A sinner is made to realize his
unworthiness. Everything in this world, teaches
men to believe in themselves, to have confidence in self. And these spiritual beatitudes
here just fly in the face of the philosophy of this world. They really do. A sinner is made
to realize his unworthiness before God. Not only our unworthiness,
but our helplessness in saving ourselves. And in the fact that
if God gives us what we deserve, he will punish us with everlasting
destruction. Men are made to feel this spiritual
poverty. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
John the Baptist, when he was closed up in prison, he sent
two of his disciples to Christ to ask him, Art thou he that
should come, or do we look for another? And the Lord sent those
two disciples back to John to tell him several things, but
one of the things that our Lord said, you go tell John the gospel
is preached to the poor. Not only are blind eyes open,
they were. Not only were the lame made to
walk, they were. But you tell him, you go tell
John, the gospel is preached to the poor. You see, it is those
who are poor in spirit the gospel comes to, and it comes to them
as good news. Now, to a person who's rich,
who has no need, who doesn't feel the weight, the burden of
their sins, the gospel isn't good news. People say, well,
do you mean you go and you listen to that man preach week after
week the gospel and you enjoy it? Yes, that's what I mean. Why? Because a person is made
to be poor, to fill his spiritual poverty. The poor have the gospel
preached to them. And it doesn't only reach the
ears. You see, the gospel reaches the ears of everyone to whom
it's preached. But to the poor in spirit, the
gospel goes beyond the ear, it goes to the heart. It speaks
to the heart. And so they enter into the kingdom
of heaven. The second beatitude, blessed
are they that mourn. And I believe as we look at these,
we see a progression And I don't believe it was by accident that
our Lord gave us these beatitudes in the order that he did. But
when a person begins to feel their spiritual poverty, then
it only is natural that they will begin to mourn. And there's
all kinds of mourning in this world, I understand that. When
someone close to you dies, one of your loved ones, you mourn.
You may lose your business, you mourn. Your house may burn down
someday and you mourn the loss of that. There's all kinds of
mourning, but this morning here is talking about a mourning for
sin. For sin. Being convicted by God
the Holy Spirit of sin. My sinful nature, what I am.
What I am, not only the sins which I've committed, yes, but
what I am. What causes me to commit these
sins? What I am by nature. And all
of these things are committed against God. God. Now we can sin against each
other, I understand that, but all sin is ultimately against
God. And a person begins to mourn
when he realizes, I've sinned against God, my creator, my benefactor,
the one who has cared for me, provided for me every day of
my life, has been so good to me, has been so gracious to me. And this is the way I've treated
him. I have, as it were, spit in his face by my sins. A person begins to mourn, mourn
over his sin. And notice, this is something
that is ongoing in the child of God. That's something you
realize as you read through these Beatitudes. They are all in the
present tense. Yes, no doubt there's an initial
beginning to do all of these things, especially the first
four. But it's not just, I did that,
I'm past that, and now I've gone on to other things. No, no. There's a poverty of spirit that
God's children continue to feel. There's a mourning over sin.
that we continue to experience. It's ongoing because in spite,
even after a person has been saved, been forgiven, this morning
is ongoing because in spite of God's goodness and God's graciousness
in forgiving me all my sins, I still find in me a principle
of sin. Just like the Apostle Paul said,
I find when I would do good, evil is present with me. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Now how does God comfort his
people? How does he comfort those who
are poor and those who mourn? He comforts his people through
his word, by his spirit using the word, and Isaiah Isaiah chapter
40, the prophet was told to do this. Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people, saith the Lord. And what is the comfort that
he gives his people? Your sins have been put away.
Your sins have been pardoned. They've been paid for. They're
gone. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. But we continue to mourn for
our sins. The third is blessed are the
meek. Now this meekness, I've always
found to be the most difficult of all of these attributes to
define. Meekness, it's not weakness,
that's for sure. Arthur Pink, he wrote that this
meekness is always associated with these four things. Number
one, lowliness. lowliness. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, I am meek and lowly. This meekness is always associated
with lowliness. Number two, it's always associated
with gentleness, gentleness. And number three, it is the opposite
of wrath. It's very opposite of showing
your wrath. And number four, it's always
associated with being pliant or of a yielding disposition. I think I've seen it defined
as being teachable. A person who has this meekness
is teachable. He doesn't know everything. He's
not a know-it-all. He's a babe. Needs to be taught
the things of God. It is a calm submission to all
that God appoints, all that God appoints for me, a calm submission
to His will. And in the way that the Lord
leads me, they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they,
blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Not
this earth, not this earth, You know, that's one of the fallacies,
isn't it, of modern day so-called preaching is teaching that God's
best is for his people in this world, that it is his will for
every one of his children to be always healthy and wealthy
and to have all the things of this world. No, blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the world. We're talking about
the new world, new earth, rather. And in that new earth, the scripture
says, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Number four, blessed are they
that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now only those
who have a need, hunger, and thirst. Only those who have a
need, hunger, and thirst. And so God makes us to know our
need, and that need is righteousness. God is righteous. Someone said
one time, how holy must a person be to go to heaven? And the answer,
of course, is you must be as holy as God is. That creates a problem, doesn't
it? How holy must you be to go to
heaven? You must be as holy as He is.
He's not going to allow any unholy being into his presence. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. If you look down to verse 20
here in this chapter, our Lord goes on in the message telling
his hearers, for I say unto you that except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now, they
believed that the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they had a saying,
if only two men go to heaven, one will be a Pharisee, one will
be a Sadducee. They just thought these were
the holiest people on the face of the earth. And the Lord Jesus
Christ said, except your righteousness shall exceed their righteousness,
you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Where
are we going to get that righteousness? Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. And that righteousness after
which we hunger is the righteousness of God. It is the righteousness
which is imputed unto all who believe. It's the righteousness
of Christ. It is His perfect obedience. Let me ask you this. Can a person
be full and at the same time hunger? Maybe not physically, maybe not
materially, but spiritually, absolutely. Absolutely. A person can be filled with this
righteousness and continue to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Let me show you that in the life
of Paul. Look with me to Philippians chapter
three. It's so evident in his experience,
Philippians chapter three. And verse seven, but what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yeah, doubtless. And I count all things lost for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them,
but done that I may win Christ and be found in him. not having
mine 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 I may know him, the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Now watch this. Not as though
I had already attained, Is Paul here saying that he did not have
this righteousness when he wrote this letter? No, that's not what
he's saying at all. He had this righteousness. It
had been imputed to him and he counted everything else but dumb
as worthless in comparison to this righteousness, which is
the righteousness of God, the perfect obedience of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that when it is imputed to a believer, that believer
is justified, declared to be righteous before God. Not as
though I had already attained. He had that righteousness, but
he was still hungry. He had hungered and thirsted
after that righteousness and been filled, but now years later,
after having preached for years Now being in prison, when he
wrote this letter, he said, I'm still hungry. I'm still hungry,
and I'm still thirsty. Not as though I'd already attained,
either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I
may apprehend that for which also I'm apprehended. Yes, a person may be full and
yet continue to hunger. They shall be filled. Satisfaction with Christ, they shall be filled. When a person comes to know the
Lord Jesus Christ as his righteousness, we're not hungering to be made
righteous. We are already declared to be
righteous before God. But we hunger and thirst to be
made like Christ. We've been predestinated to be
conformed to the image of his son. And a believer desires that
above all things, like the Apostle Paul here, to be made like him,
to be made like Christ. They shall be filled. One day
we shall be like him. We shall see him as he is. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when we see him, we shall be like
him. Number five, blessed are the
merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Now some divide these
Beatitudes into two parts. The first four describing the
initial exercises of the heart when a sinner is first awakened
and then these last four as the fruit which follows in their
lives. In hungering and thirsting after
righteousness, a person experiences mercy. They shall be filled. Did you deserve this righteousness?
Did you earn this righteousness? Did you merit this righteousness?
Oh no, no. You have obtained mercy. And
because you have obtained mercy, you are a merciful person. You
show mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for
they, the scripture says, shall obtain mercy. Now you know there
are those, and always have been, always will be, as long as this
world continues, who believe and teach that salvation is by
works, that somehow we work for our salvation, somehow we earn
our salvation, somehow we merit our salvation. The word of God
is so clear, isn't it? When God opens your eyes, salvation
is purely 100%, always, ever has been, ever will be, by grace,
unmerited faith. But those who teach that salvation
is by works, they latch on to several of these different beatitudes. And this one here, especially,
they like, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. In other words, they say, we
obtain mercy because we are merciful. That's not what this attribute
is saying, this beatitude is saying at all. Someone said it
doesn't say, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain
justice. If you obtain mercy because you
were merciful, that would be justice. No, blessed are the
merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. And I do believe that
those of us, I believe we've all experienced it. You'll have
a witness in your heart to this. When you show mercy, and you
do, if you're a child of God, you have this attribute. You've
obtained mercy of the Lord, and so naturally, you are merciful. When you see somebody in need,
it doesn't only affect your heart, but it deals with your hand as
well to try to help. And when you show mercy, there's
a benefit in your own heart. In one of the Proverbs, it says,
the merciful man, now listen, the merciful man doeth good to
his own soul. When you show mercy, to someone
else, there's just something in you that is blessed, right? It's a blessing. It's a blessing
to be able to help someone else, to be able to show mercy to someone
else. All of us realize that we've
obtained mercy. If we're saved this morning,
it's by mercy. I don't know if you've ever had
the experience when maybe Satan or maybe just your old flesh
tells you, you know, you couldn't be saved. What in the world? There's no way you could be saved
with your sins, with what you've done. There's no way under heaven
you could be a child of God. Don't argue with him. Just realize
this, my friends, that God, His mercy is abundant. There's no limit to His mercy
that is found in Jesus Christ, our Lord. The psalmist said,
Lord, if you should mark iniquity, if you just keep track There's
one sin, there's one sin, there's one sin. If you should mark iniquity,
then Lord, who could stand? Who would be saved? But there's
mercy with thee that thou mightest be feared. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. The sixth blessing of the pure
in heart, Is the Lord saying here that there are some in this
world who possess a heart that is completely rid of any impure
thoughts, any lust, any sin whatsoever? No, not at all. Those who are
pure in heart, we all do have sin dwelling in us, but we have
been justified from all sin by the righteousness of Christ. And we have our hearts sprinkled
by the Holy Spirit with the blood of Jesus Christ. Someone said,
the pure in heart, now think about this, the pure in heart
is the person who is weeping over his impure heart. You say,
that's a contradiction. Well, that's a paradox, isn't
it? Many of these are. The pure in heart is a person
who's weeping over his impure heart. They shall see God. In Revelation 22 and verse four,
the scripture says they shall see his face. They shall see
God. Now I know in our resurrected
body with these eyes, like Job said, with these eyes I shall
see my Redeemer. And we shall see God in Christ. He said, he that has seen me
has seen the Father. Seventh, blessed are the peacemakers. The Lord Jesus alone, he is our
peace. Scriptures tell us that he made
peace for us by the blood of his cross. Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. Blessed are the peacemakers
because we have had this peace, because we've experienced this
peace. We rejoice in this peace that
we have with God. Then we live as much as possible,
peaceable with all men. We want to be at peace with everyone. That's not always possible. I
understand that. God's people are peacemakers.
If we could, if we could, we would be at peace with all men. But you can't be at peace with
those who hate God. You can't be at peace with those
who disbelieve the gospel. I mean, there's sometimes we're
not going to have peace with everyone. But what does it say? They shall be called the children
of God, the adopted children of God. And it's manifested in
our lives by living in peace. The last, the eighth, blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. Persecution
comes in many forms, doesn't it? There have been times, and
there probably no doubt, places today where persecution means
maybe loss of life, maybe loss of property, Many different ways
God's people have been persecuted. But why does the world persecute
God's children? Persecute for righteousness sake. You see, your conversation, the
way you live, is convicting to those who live an unrighteous
life, to those who live around you, to those who cheat, those
of you who are students here today. The fact that you don't
cheat on your test and others around you, other students around
you, they recognize that convicts them. It really does. And that's
just a small example, but it's true of all in life. When you live for the glory of
God, as Paul said, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution. It may be just you don't get
invited. It may be that they just don't
want to be friends with you or be around you or whatever. But there's a way of persecuting
God's people. For the last 75 years, at least,
the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has done everything it
can to be like the world, really. We brought the world into the
church. And so the world's not wanting to know what's different
about us because too many times we're like the world. These things
distinguish God's people from the lost, from those who are
without Christ. The way to win the world, if
we could use that expression, is not by becoming as much like
the world as we can, but it is living for the glory of God as
God teaches us and shows us in his word, the way we are to live. And that's the way lost men are
attracted to the gospel, through the lives, through the righteous
life of God's children. Paul put it like this, therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. I pray the Lord would bless these
words to all of us here this morning.