The Beatitudes — Matthew 5-7

0:00 Good morning everyone. Good morning. Sometimes when you hear speakers from out of town, they give you a little update. And I think it's a little bit fitting for Chelley and I where we are even though we're from here, we're here now. I was thinking about what are the previous Easters?

0:27 What what happened? You know, what were they like? Doug spoke last year, Doug Torak. And then we had Ray Gonzales the year before that. And actually April of two years ago in 2020 when the pandemic hit, we were online and April was actually the time that I was supposed to go propose to Chelly.

0:52 So I ended up proposing in July and haven't we... We certainly been through a lot since then. The Lord's brought us through a lot. So just continue to pray for us. We're still in the immigration process for Chelly.

1:10 We're doing some paperwork still. We have some appointments. We don't know when they are yet. We hope that they're soon. Part of the immigration process is that she can't go home until she gets her green card.

1:26 That's her next step. And so, we hope that that is soon because I'm sure, her family misses her and we'd love to go and visit them. So appreciate your prayers there. Before I pray this morning, I just wanted to, read this verse. First Thessalonians two thirteen.

1:46 Says, for this reason, we also thank God without ceasing because when you receive the word of god which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men but as it is in truth, the word of god which also effectively works in you who believe. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we come before you this morning on this resurrection Sunday. Just, coming off the first meeting where we were able to remember your son, the Lord Jesus, his crucifixion, the hope that we have in him, the experience the first disciples had when they saw Jesus face to face. We thank you lord that you are risen, that we can live a new life.

2:33 We thank you that we can celebrate this today. Lord, I pray that we would receive your word today because it's your word. It's not man's word, lord. We thank you that you've inspired your word, the Bible. You inspired these men to write and to communicate to generations down what you taught and here we have it today and we can read and note what you have for us.

2:56 We pray all this in Jesus name, amen. So, just a little bit more of a review. Just wanted to take a look back when we started the topics on Christ focused on Christ. John Woodham started out with Christ's humility in Philippians. We had Rock Ron Locklear step in.

3:21 He talked about the justification and sanctification that we have through Christ. Andy Hilton then followed up with Christ's authority. Ray Gonzales talked about Christ's character and how Christ is with us. He doesn't want to snuff out a smoldering wick. We heard from Bob Markovich and he asked the question, what am I here for?

3:49 And we we learned about how we have purpose in Christ. Then, we went and heard from Doug Turok. He talked about serving Christ. My dad then talked about the deacons and introduced this topic of deacons, church organization, and Andy Hilton also followed up with that and talked about how we can be engaged in the body and in the body life. So, my message today would be to answer these questions.

4:28 If if now, we've been talking about deacons. If I'm a deacon or well, yes, I'm a deacon because we talked about how we're all deacons in the church. How do I do this? Deaconing, this serving. In what manner do I do it?

5:11 Just a little thing here. What is then, what's our response to resurrection Sunday? I wanted to put a little bit of this in there. Is it what is our response to resurrection Sunday? I would propose to you this morning one response would be that we could walk in newness of life just as Jesus Christ rose from the dead, we too can walk in newness of life.

5:38 Romans six four says, therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death. So, we've been plunged into Christ. We have this new identity that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. First Peter two twenty four says, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes you are healed. So, how do we walk in newness of life?

6:14 What attitudes should we have? And some of you may be guessing where I'm going to go. We're going to go to the beatitudes, okay? So turn in your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five.

6:31 Some resources that were helpful to me when I was studying the beatitudes. I used a little bit of Matthew Henry and his commentary. We're going to hear a quote later from him. There's also a book I've been reading. It's called At the Feet of the King by a guy named Chet Boyd.

6:50 He's from Athens, Georgia. And I was able to do some ministry with him when we were in Mexico at the same time. So that's been very helpful as well. His book goes through the whole Sermon on the Mount. And then there's also a study called Momentum by Colin Smith.

7:10 And you might hear Colin Smith on Unlocking the Bible program on Moody Radio. It's been very helpful and to understand the Beatitudes. So, just to intro the beatitudes, we've got basically seven but the the eighth one is is kind of there and it's more of a how do we respond to things but you have the first three of them. They have somewhat of a passivity to them. They are more of an internal working.

7:44 They have to do with our hearts. They also have to do with our relationship with God and our spiritual condition. The fourth one is a is a bit of a transition beatitude. And it's it's got this transition from from this passivity to activity that we have in the next three that we would the the fourth one is is thirsting and hungering for righteousness that we would that we would desire that. The fifth through the seventh are going to be a outward showing of that.

8:21 How we can live these attitudes out and these these new qualities that we can experience when we have really grasped the the ones before them. And again, the eighth one is more of a responsive beatitude. What do I do or what is the result of having experienced persecution in the world? So, we're going to read from Matthew chapter five. I'm to be in the New King James we're going to read verses one through 12.

8:54 And seeing the multitudes, he, Jesus, went up on a mountain and when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Then, he opened his mouth and taught them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

9:19 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for 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 sons of god. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.

9:43 For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven. For so so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So, as you can kind of imagine, if you remember a little bit of the book of Matthew, we're in chapter five.

10:51 The first one is, blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. On in one sense, this can talk to unbelievers. We we can't earn our way into heaven, right? The idea here is that we would acknowledge before god that we are spiritually speaking, destitute.

11:17 There's no way for us to be able to please the lord. Matthew five twenty says, for I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees which is more of a equipped to them. You will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven because and that's equipped because Jesus was very displeased with the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees because it was very outward but just to acknowledge how can we be blessed? Well, the first thing would be to to say we can't earn our way into heaven. Spiritually speaking, we're destitute.

11:58 We can't we can't live this life on our own. We don't have what it takes. James two ten says, for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he's guilty of all. So, even if we would think that we were somewhat of a good person according to the world's standards, according to god's standards, even if we broke one of his commandments morally, that's condemnation and that we would have to live apart from him. We're poor as it were.

12:36 We are poor in spirit. But Isaiah 5,715 says, for thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place. With him who has a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones and so, the first thing what to note about being poor in spirit is that we can't get in to heaven on our own and so we have to submit to god, submit to his plan of salvation. Hebrews 11 sec six says, but without faith is impossible to please him.

13:23 So, we're believing in him that we cannot do the work ourselves to make us righteous and he did the work for us. That's the only way we can please him but also then, shifting to, okay, what does that say to me as a Christian? How can I be poor in spirit? Well, I can come to this live in the world now and I can live it in humility saying, I don't have what it takes to live the Christian life on my own. Just in the way that we didn't have what it took to pay for our salvation.

14:00 We can't live the Christian life either without him. John fifteen five says, I'm the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. Nothing means nothing.

14:20 If we do not abide cry in Christ, if we're not trusting in him, if we're not coming humbly before him, we can't live the Christian life. We're going to fail. But there's a reward then for this quality when we are poor in spirit, when we acknowledge our spiritual state before the lord saying, I cannot live the Christian life on my own. We can actually experience the presence of god in our lives. It says that blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

14:59 It's the one that has a present tense to it. The next ones have a future tense but we can actually say, we can experience the presence of god when we are poor in spirit. In fact, the beatitudes and and this one in particular have a direct contrast to the culture that we live in today. That self affirming, that self loving, that saying, you can do it. You're worth it but in fact, we as human beings we can't.

15:32 It says that blessed are the poor in spirit. We don't have what it takes. Then, we can we can experience the kingdom of heaven. And I'd like to propose that this this without grasping this first beatitude of of saying to ourselves, of saying to the lord, lord, I don't have what it takes to live the Christian life. We cannot pursue these other virtues.

16:31 James four eight nine says, draw near to god and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts. You double minded. Lament and mourn and weep. So, there's just another example of of the word mourn and how it's used that we would mourn our sin, that we would genuinely be sorry and sad and feel regret about the sin that that we experience in our lives and not only that but also the the sin that we experience in the world.

17:06 The consequences of sin. You know, we we live the life and we can see in two different ways both how how we see someone sinning, ourselves sinning, we can experience the consequences of that, right? But also just the fact that sin has an effect on the world that we live in today. We we think about Romans when it talks about how the whole creation is is groaning. We we just see the effects of sin.

17:38 We see disease. We see cancer. We see we see poor poverty. We see hunger. Things that are in a direct result and a consequent of sin in our lives.

17:55 And this beatitude says that when we are mourning, when we express sadness about all of that sin, the sin that we see in the world but especially the sin that we see in our own hearts, we shall be comforted. There's a song that I encourage you to look up. It is called There Will Be a Day by Jeremy Camp and it talks about how one day in heaven that we're going to be comforted. It it says in Revelation twenty one four, and god will wipe every tear from their eyes and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, there shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. So, in a very real sense, looking forward to that day where we will be comforted because when the lord takes his people home to be with him, we will not only be free from the power of sin that we have because of Jesus Christ.

19:00 We can live free from the power of sin but we will also be free from the presence of sin and the goodness and glory that we're going to experience in heaven one day with Jesus is going to be that comfort and and I do believe that it's going it's nothing. This the sufferings of this world just as Paul said is nothing compared to the glory that is going to be revealed and I do believe we're going to be able to forget some of the pain if not all of the pain and suffering and the effects of sin that we see in this world. Just one little application for this is what happens if we don't mourn our sin? If we're not sorry, if we don't look in our in our hearts, what happens? Well, one thing is that we're not going to be able to help other people.

19:56 You know, as a as a fellowship, as a body believers, we're called to be together. We're also called to challenge one another, to encourage one another. It says in Matthew seven one through five, judge not that you not be judged and verse five says, hypocrite, first remove the plank from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. So, if we're playing the hypocrite and we're not being sad about our own sin and not dealing with it in our own hearts, how then can we help another brother in the lord to see his sin or maybe he's dealing with the consequences of sin, his sin, and and deal with that with him. James talks about confessing our sins to one another and praying for one another that we might be healed but how can we help someone else with that if we have not dealt and felt sad in our own hearts about our own sin.

21:28 There's no maybe language about it. It says that when you're meek, you're going to inherit the earth like it's going to happen and it's it's for sure. There's no ifs, ands, or buts. There's no maybes when god said something and it's a shall. It's true.

21:48 It's going to happen. We can trust god's word. Now, what is meekness? Meekness is strength under control. I remember my soccer coach talking about this and that's really the best, one of the best examples that I can think of how to think of meekness.

22:10 What is meekness? Well, think about an athlete. Think about, I think about maybe NBA players, know. Some of them NBA players, those are the tallest guys, the biggest guys you've ever seen. But you've got to think, if they're not meek, if they don't have their strength under control, they can't perform well.

22:32 I I was watching this video recently. It was a World's Strongest Man competition. And I don't know if I've ever seen the World's Strongest Men, but they're the biggest, widest guys you've ever seen. Think about if they didn't have their strength under control and the the two guys were competing next to each other and they're doing these deadlifts. But think about how they, if they weren't focused and had all of that strength under control, they couldn't lift that weight.

23:05 Another way to think about strength under control is to think about a horse. And you can talk to Mrs. Bries because she probably knows this. And also I think Aunt Karen, they work more with horses. But think about a horse and think about a horse having a bridle on.

23:24 The bridle is that mechanism that they have on their head. And they're put, they put that on and to be meek as a horse, you're used to the bridle. You're used to being submissive to the person that has their hand on that bridle leading you and so that's the idea of being a meek person that we would be submissive to the lord that we would submit all our faculties, all of our gifts, everything that we have to live the Christian life to the lord. What does it mean to inherit the earth? Well, as we talked about in being comforted, one day, it says in Isaiah that the lord's people are going to inherit the earth and so there is a coming kingdom when the lord's going to come back.

24:20 He's going to set up a kingdom. It's going to be absolutely perfect. It's going to be absolutely just and his people are going to inherit. Now, I do believe that there's there's something to be said that we can inherit the earth now. There's some sort of present tense that we can experience when we are meek in this world.

24:45 Proverbs fifteen one says, a soft answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. And so I'm just I'm picturing in my mind what is this like? Well, a soft a soft answer is is someone that has heard what someone has said and maybe it it's it's aggravating them. Maybe it's it's a little bit I don't know. What have you.

25:11 It it stirs them inside but the meek answer is someone that would would calmly wait, think about their response, and give a soft answer that's going to that's not going to stir up anger. Jesus said himself, he says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. And isn't Jesus the best example of what it means to be meek? I'm so impressed by the Lord Jesus when he he was with Pilate. They took him before Pilate and and he was also in front of the religious leaders and it says that he opened not his mouth.

25:59 He didn't have a response. He didn't retort back. He didn't lash back out at them. And what an application for us today. I think I'm thinking more about the words that we that we speak.

26:16 James talks about our tongues and about how it's it's like fire or or talks about how our speech can do so much good and do so much bad but think about how the goodness or how how much goodness we can do with our speech when we are meek, when we have our our mouths under control and we come together as a body that we can we can encourage one another that we have this opportunity to come alongside one another and use our use our words to encourage. James 119 says, know this my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. In verse 21 says, therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Psalm 3,711 says, but the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. Here's a quote from Matthew Henry.

27:30 Meekness, however, ridiculed and run down has a real tendency to promote our health, wealth, comfort, and safety in this world. The meek and quiet are observed to live the most easy lives compared with the forward and turbulent. So, there's just something to consider. So, we're at we're at Beatitude three. So, kind of think and reflect where we've gone and think about if we if we're we're not able to be meek, if we're not first poor in spirit and acknowledging that we can't live this life on our own and that we can't then be sorry for our sin.

28:15 And then when we're do that, then we can pursue meekness. We can pursue this strength under control. Okay, let's move on because we're running out of time. The fourth beatitude, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be fulfilled. So, this beatitude talks about a hunger and a thirst and you think about hunger and thirst, hunger you experience and thirst you experience when you lack something.

29:13 It says, as the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul longs for you. My soul thirsts for god, for the living god, when shall I come and appear before god and so, think about of a time when you were thirsty. What do you do when you're thirsty? Will will you search out for that water? You search out for the thing that is going to satisfy you and this is what that beatitude says.

29:40 It says that when we are focused and when we experience that thirst for righteousness, it says that we can be filled. We can actually be satisfied. I think the more life lived by a Christian, the more that we might realize that when we do things the right way according to god's word, when we pursue righteousness, when we listen to god's word, the more we're going to experience that when we do the right things, it satisfies us. It satisfies our soul. And it's not and it's not the things of this world, the passing pleasures of this world that are going to quench our desires.

30:37 Alright. Next beatitude verse seven. Says, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. The mercy talked about here is compassion. So, think about the lord Jesus.

30:54 It says that when he saw the multitudes, he was moved to compassion and he went and he healed them and so, first, we have this first beatitude that talks about action. Right? You're... You see something and you can see someone in need and you can care for them. And really if you think about it, it flows directly from the other beatitudes, right?

31:23 If we're not poor in spirit, if we're not looking at our own sin and being sorry for our own sin but also looking at this world and being sorry from the effects of this world from the effects of sin in this world, how can then we be moved moved with compassion for another person to help them? When we're moving with compassion, then we can we can experience forgiveness In in Jesus's prayer, he says, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive their trespasses, neither will you for your father forgive your trespasses. So, for not mourning over our own sin and dealing with our own sin, then, we're not going to be able to experience the idea that we can show mercy, we can have compassion on another person. And just think about of an example of this in our lives.

32:38 There are times in our lives when we are wronged Think about when you hear things on the news, when bad things, when crimes are committed and justice is sought, right? In in a very real sense, god's a just god and it's not wrong to pursue justice but Jesus says then, when we show mercy through forgiving them and I think about maybe again, my speech when I hear somebody that has offended me, it might just be just to go and offend them back, right? You the the worldly sense would be to just retort back but mercy would be to not say something that they may deserve And it says here that we're going to receive mercy as well. That we can experience the mercy of the Lord and we can experience the compassion that he has for us. So the first step then would be to be meek, then we could be merciful and then we can experience the forgiveness and even promote forgiveness and forgive other people in this world.

34:06 And what does it say? It says, for they shall obtain mercy. So one day we will be able to experience the mercy of God in heaven that we can experience his care, experience the compassion that he has for us. Next, beatitude. Verse eight says, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god.

34:46 Anyone who is saved even for a day or a year knows that. We still sin as Christians. But the idea here isn't that we are perfect but that our heart is pure in the sense that we have a pure focus on the lord. So, when we're sad over own sin, when we are humble before the lord, when we thirst for righteousness, our focus then turns away from our own selves outwardly to showing mercy on others, then, we can have the proper focus. It the the focus then turns to an utter devotion to the lord and it it says and we we turn from ourselves and we turn out others and we have that proper focus on the lord.

35:40 Matthew six thirty three says, but seek the first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Now, it says here that we're actually going to be able to see god. When you think about it, we we we focus on the lord god. We can be blessed by that and it says that we can actually see him so we can continue to study his word and see his character, see the discipline that Jesus Christ has. See who exactly Jesus is.

36:19 What's he like? He's going to be revealed to us when we have that proper focus. And ultimately, we're going to be able to see him face to face when we get with him, to be with him in glory. The next one says, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of god. It doesn't say the peacekeepers.

36:50 If if you're a peacemaker, it would be under the assumption that there are times in our lives that there are not peace and so it says here that we can live a blessed life when we actively resolve conflicts. When we pursue to resolve conflict. Blessed are the peacemakers. We're going to have trouble in this world. That's one of the last things that he told his disciples.

37:17 He says, in this world, you will have trouble but be comforted, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. And so, the peace that we have experienced by the lord, we can then help others to experience. And we can, when we are peacemakers, we are exhibiting the very unity that the lord god has in heaven among the trinity. There's no bickering, there's no fighting among the trinity. The lord was absolutely submissive to his father in heaven when he came down and went to the cross And so when we are being a peacemaker, we are actually showing forth the unity and character of God in this world.

38:09 Why is it so hard to make peace? I think that one of the reasons it's so hard to make peace is because maybe it's that we have something in our heart that we have not made peace with God about yet. And so if we have not made peace in our own hearts with the Lord, how are we going to be able to help others and make peace with others? Proverbs sixteen seven says, when a man's ways please the lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Just read the account of where David when he was king, he was kind of fresh in his kingdom and he was going to show kindness to the Ammonites to the king of Ammon because apparently, his father or someone was, I think it was Saul maybe that had done a favor for the king of Ammon but the people of Ammon were saying, no, he's just coming here.

39:16 He's not doing this to to be good to you. He's doing this because he wants to scope out your kingdom. He wants to conquer you and so what happened was the Ammonites hired the Syrians to come and fight against David and after all that happened at the very end, because the lord was with David because the lord the David's ways pleased the lord. It says that the Syrians made peace with David. And they realized, I think lends itself the story kind of says that the Syrians looked kind of got at the end.

39:57 They were hired by the Ammonites member and they looked at the end of all the battles and said, wow, David was right. We're going to be at peace with him. We're going to submit to his leadership. And so there's just one example about how the lord when our ways are pleasing to him, he can even help us have our enemies be at peace with us. One final beatitude and this is the responsive one verses 10 through 12.

40:54 This wasn't... This one isn't as active as the other ones like being merciful or pursuing peace but it is nonetheless a reality that we have in life. He's saying here, Jesus is saying that we are going to be persecuted for doing the right thing and even though there's other times in the Bible where it talks about people being persecuted for their faith and we hear about it today where they're beaten, they're put in prison, people are even killed for their faith. I think the most that we experience here in The US is that we get reviled, that we get persecuted, that people say evil things about us when we do the right thing. False, it says, kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

41:50 I was thinking about how or what is the reward. It says the reward in heaven is great and I think I still have a lot of work to do on this one but There's some other scriptures to think about. First Peter three fourteen and fifteen says, but even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled, but sanctify the lord god in your hearts, and always be ready to give offense, a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. And Philippians three ten says, that you may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. So, I think one of the rewards to being persecuted is that we are going to understand the lord better.

42:49 We're going to understand the fellowship of his suffering. For when we suffer for doing something wrong or excuse me, when we suffer for doing something right that we don't deserve that suffering, that's exactly what Jesus Christ experienced on the cross because Jesus went to the cross for our sin. He didn't go for his sin. He was experiencing suffering that was unjust to him but he experienced the justice for us and so in one way, when we are persecuted, that reward that we get is that we could understand the lord better. I think another thing would be is that when we're persecuted is that we get to show off the qualities of the lord.

43:38 That this one's at the end of the beatitudes, right? So, that we could be able to say, wow, the lord has worked in my life and I get to show all these precursor beatitudes when I am persecuted. And I think that one of the rewards also from that is that someone might come to Christ. There's many other stories and you probably guys could probably tell me some of them about how someone comes to Christ because of the character of someone that they're persecuting and they see how they respond to that persecution and it it breaks their heart and it breaks them down so that they want to submit to Christ as well. And the reward in heaven, I was thinking, if it's a reward in heaven, whatever this reward is, it's certainly going to last because when in we're in heaven with the lord, it's forever.

44:50 So some conclusions for the beatitudes. If you're here this morning and you have looked at these beatitudes and you've said, I've not been able to experience any one of them. These beatitudes are not a natural thing to experience. We have to come to the Lord in faith saying that we cannot experience salvation only through him can we experience it. And so if if you're here this morning and you have not placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I encourage you to do so today because we can walk in newness of life.

45:30 We can exhibits, exhibit these these beatitudes as a result and we can glorify our father in heaven. Another thing to maybe consider around the lunch table would be to consider and compare how do the beatitudes compare to the fruits of the spirit. Think about that. The fruits of the spirit in Galatians five twenty two and twenty three. How do the beatitudes compare to the fruits of the spirit?

46:09 And then just a final thought, ask the question, what does it have to do with Easter? What did these have to do with Easter? Well, as as we said earlier, Romans six four, we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just at just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life and I might add, might walk in newness of life pursuing the beatitudes. Let's pray. Dear lord, we thank you for coming to be with us this morning.

47:15 We can't be Westlake Bible Fellowship without you. We can't do that, Lord, without your power and presence in our lives. And so we just pray that you'd be with us. We pray that you would help us to walk in newness of life. In Jesus' name we pray.

47:31 Amen.