The Beatitudes: Part 4

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. I'd ask you to turn into your Bibles to Psalm 14. ties into the sermon that, Lord willing, I'll be preaching today, also ties into the gospel. Verses five through seven. Verse five.

There were they in great fear for God is in the generation of the righteous. Compared to God, these fools are nothing. Now by fool, I'm not talking about people with what concerning what their IQ may happen to be. This has to do with people who are not Christians who act as if there is no God, do not understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here to God, these fools are nothing.

They are legends in their own minds. Just ask them, they'll tell you. But their own shadows scare them to death. They do not have the true God to depend on. God is not on their side. They are as dead men with the same true abilities that dead men have, spiritually speaking.

In verse six, he has shamed the counsel of the poor because the Lord is his refuge. One of the signs of people being without God and without Jesus and living as if there is no God in the Bible is their attitude toward the poor and the vulnerable. The ungodly not only have a tendency to mistreat those who are poor financially, but they also often mistreat the truly godly ones, people who are poor in spirit. As we see in Matthew chapter five, Jesus talks about the poor in spirit. People who recognize their spiritual poverty and are changed by the Holy Spirit become alive, never forgetting that without Jesus, they are with nothing. They are truly poor. Poor in spirit who recognize their own spiritual poverty, for without Jesus, they recognize that they have absolutely nothing. These true followers of God who are poor in spirit are also meek.

They keep their strength under control. They may appear to be weak, like Jesus on the cross are often taken advantage of, even by members of the church, because who was Jesus put on the cross by? that God is their refuge, God is saved, is saving and will save. Then in verse seven, oh that the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion. When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad. True salvation, Christian salvation, is the only hope for mankind.

Unregenerate men are slaves, they're slaves to sin. We notice there are two names that we see here. In verse seven, he might say to me, well, I only see Jacob. Well, actually, in a sense, you see two names at the same time. Because not only do you see Jacob, but you also see the idea, see the name of Israel.

Jacob in his early years was a slave to sin. He was a slave to his own desires. He was someone who seemed to have a tendency to grasp for things that were not his. Which ties in with his actual name, Yaakov. He was a slave to his own desires. Someone who seemed to have a tendency to grasp for things that were not his. He obtained his brother's birthright in a less than gracious way. He stole his brother's blessing.

But somewhere in the story of Jacob, he lost his status as a person with a tendency to act in a foolish manner when the Holy Spirit changed him and gave him new life. Now Jacob was no longer a captive to sin. He was no longer in captivity. He was no longer a slave to sin. It's important to point out that there's a big difference between literally slaving for 14 years for a foolish relative and being a slave to sin and being a fool.

It's also important to point out that God gave Jacob a new name, and that new name being Israel. Not only did Jacob receive this new name of Israel, but the name of Jacob no longer had the same selfish, grasping feel to it. Why grasp for the things of others when you have all that you will ever need?

Christians are born in sin and in and of themselves have no hope, since there is no hope without Jesus. True Christians have a new name and are not fools. Salvation comes from God primarily, and secondarily from his church, the same church who are made up of potential lifetime fools who were given true wisdom. So rejoice, if you are a Christian, rejoice and be glad, for you are no longer a captive.

Jesus has given you true freedom. I'd ask that you turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. As we continue our study of the Beatitudes, so I guess it's been a year or two since we did part three. Matthew five, starting with verse one. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the poor in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad For great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. In Matthew chapter five, verse three, again we read, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Again, this poverty has nothing to do with a person's wealth or lack thereof. No matter what a person's financial situation is in life, without Jesus Christ, he or she is poverty stricken. This person has absolutely nothing. So why is someone who is called poverty stricken also described as being blessed? What we're looking at here is someone who, through the power of the Holy Spirit, recognizes his or her spiritual poverty. Without Jesus, the person is doomed and has come to the conclusion that spiritually speaking, he or she has absolutely nothing to offer to God.

Absolutely nothing, zero, zilch, nothing. but due to the work of the Holy Spirit in that person's life, that person is rich. Theirs is the kingdom of God. These blessed people are truly blessed. There is nothing wrong in and of itself in being financially rich, and there's nothing in and of itself good about being financially poor. We're not talking about finances.

But unless people come to the place where they recognize their spiritual poverty, those people are truly poor. And not only has the Christian come to the place of recognizing his or her spiritual poverty, this recognition must never be forgotten, for it never changes. Without Jesus, all people are spiritually poverty-stricken. Jesus points out time after time the importance of what is going on in the inner man.

This blessedness, this inner objective happiness is always there no matter what person's circumstances in life may happen to be, as opposed to subjective happiness that is so often based on circumstances. And these truly happy people who have truly recognize their spiritual poverty without Jesus, are not only part of the kingdom of Jesus now, but will be citizens of the kingdom of Jesus forever.

Verse four, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Mourning in and of itself is not what this verse is talking about. Any more than being poor in and of itself is what the preceding verse is describing. Also, this mourning is not a hopeless mourning of a spiritually poverty-stricken person like Judas Iscariot who died without hope. If a person has come to the recognition of their spiritual poverty, it would only seem logical that that person, when recognizing how he is offended, the Holy Trinity, would internally and perhaps also externally weep due to what that person has done or not done.

The recognition of inner poverty on the part of the Christian should lead to mourning, not only at the point of salvation, but throughout the Christian's life as well. This mourning on the part of the Christian is not a hopeless kind of mourning. The truly repentant Christian who is mourning over personal sins shall be comforted. This recognition of spiritual poverty and the resultant mourning over sin will surely be made known in the lives of Christians who take sin and confession of sin extremely seriously.

They will not just be going through the motions, but they will be giving proof of their salvation and their positive response to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The inward life does not just stay inward, but results in a godly life outwardly. This leads us to the third beatitude in verse five. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The third, beatitude. I mentioned that the inward life of the Christian does not just stay inward, but results in a godly life outwardly. This outward godly life, however, is not a showy, I'm just so much better than you kind of life. The Christian is meek. I'd ask you to turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 32. Starting with verse one, Exodus 32.

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, up, make us gods which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him.

And Aaron said unto them, break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people break off the golden earrings, which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.

And he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool. After he had made it, a molten calf, after he had made it a molten calf, and they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.

And the Lord said unto Moses, go, get thee down, for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf and have worshiped it. and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the Lord his God and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, for mischief did he bring them out, and to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth. Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Compare this portion of scripture with what we heard in Psalm 106. Think of all the things that happened to Moses and how badly he was treated by the people of God, and yet, what is his response to God at this particular point?

What is his response when he is offered this great honor, and yet he doesn't seek revenge. He does not seek judgment against these people who have treated him and will treat him like garbage. What is his response? Meekness, kept his strength under control.

How would you like to come to church one Sabbath, and everyone started complaining about God? You come in, there's all this complaining about God, and how he does things, and at the same time, not only doing that, but insulting you to your face, and then there are people in the corner whispering about you behind your back. How would you feel if this happened to you, not just one Sunday, but fairly regularly when he came to church. Now think about Moses and what he went through up to this point and what he's gonna go through with these people in the future.

Moses was given the opportunity to have these not-so-nice people wiped out and he would literally become the father of God's new nation. Now that's power, that's strength. But despite everything, Moses kept his strength under control and refused God's offer.

Moses was a meek man as we see in scripture. Now does that mean that he was a doormat who allowed people to just walk over him whenever they wanted to? Oh, just treat me however you want, I don't mind. Absolutely not. Moses, as a meek man, pointed forward to a man who was absolutely perfect, and part of that perfection involved his meekness. And that person was Jesus.

Put it bluntly, Jesus will not look or sound like a typical President of the United States. or a typical leader of any country for that matter, he will be a true leader and a true judge. Now does this mean that Jesus will never show anger and never raise his voice?

Absolutely not. But he will not be the typical government leader who is so often more interested in power than doing what is right for his people and for the glory of God. He will not be a power or money-hungry church leader who is more interested in the honors of men than treating his flock, his people, with love and compassion. No, he will not be a stereotypical Caesar. And no, he will not be like the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes were as a group. No, Jesus will be much, much more powerful but he will keep all of his strength under control. Please turn to John chapter eight, which we looked at before in the past. And we'll look how this ties in to meekness. Johnny, starting with verse one.

Jesus went into the mountain of Mount of Olives. And early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery, and when they had set her in the midst, they said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.

Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground, which heard it being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where art thou? those dying accusers. Hath no man condemned thee? He said, no man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. When I preached on this passage of scripture relatively recently here, I did not say much of anything, if anything, at all concerning what Jesus was writing.

But I do believe that it points back to the Old Testament. Think about the Ten Commandments, God writing those commandments, how he wrote those commandments. Then, remember the story of Daniel. where the king and many others were having a party. I take it they were making a lot of noise. Belshazzar and his people. But then, quietly, there is a finger writing on a wall.

Who is the person who is finally able to solve the problem concerning what has happened? Now that message up there is concerning judgment. And what is going to happen to Babylon? The great Babylonian empire, the next day is going to be no longer. This is it. But the king and all these people, they don't know what's going on.

Who is the person who's finally able to solve the problem concerning what just happened? Well, God's man, Daniel. And what is the final result? Three simple words. Three simple words and judgment. And in John 8, we see the finger of God writing on the ground, quietly, calmly, meekly. But just like with the Babylonians, judgment is coming. The Pharisees and scribes come in with a devious plan of destruction. They were the noisemakers. They were the power brokers. They said most of what was going to be said.

And the result, the hand of God writing. Jesus kept his strength under control. The religious leaders would eventually win, might wanna put quotes around win, by putting Jesus on the cross. Just because Jesus meekly allowed people to mistreat him, even to the point of death, does not mean that he was weak. No, Jesus kept his great power under control.

A meek person is one who keeps his strength under control, someone who submits himself to God, no matter how much he may happen to be provoked. The meek person would rather suffer wrong, would much rather suffer wrong than wrong someone. Exhibiting true meekness can be difficult for Christians. True biblical meekness means that no matter what someone does to us, we must never lower ourselves to their level, whether that person claims to be a Christian or not. and you never take credit for the meekness that you have because except for the grace of God, who knows what you might be like and who knows how you would have reacted as someone who has not been changed by the Holy Spirit.

Just because God has blessed us with biblical knowledge and mental acuity, Does not mean that we have any right to use these gifts and abilities sinfully. Sinfully caused hurt. And that's no matter how much we have been sinned against. Doesn't mean that you can't defend yourself, your name, when you've been mistreated. but you don't lower yourself to the level of the person sinning against you, no matter what.

Christians recognize their spiritual poverty and mourn over their sins, so it's only logical that they will not simply use what they've been blessed with to simply harm others, no matter how others cause them harm, pain, and suffering. We should be sensitive to our own sins much more than the sins of others.

And we see in verse five of Matthew chapter six that this blessed person who is willing to suffer wrongs in a meek manner will inherit the earth. When a Christian who has recognized his or her spiritual poverty and has mourned over his or her sins and continues to mourn over those sins and treats others in a meek, Christ-like manner, no matter how badly treated, that person is able to enjoy the kingdom of God on this earth in a way that no one else can. the meek shall surely inherit the earth, both now and forever. Even the relatively small amount of earthly riches that they do own is able to be appreciated by godly meek Christians, much more than all the world's riches by ungodly people.

The question to ask yourself at this point might be, what are some of the ways that might help me to be able to objectively look at myself, and at the same time help lead me in the direction of true biblical meekness and godliness that we see described in these beatitudes. Ask yourself the question, do these beatitudes describe me, and if not, why not?

Do you One, you read your Bible regularly and in generous portions. And I know there's a temptation to say, well, I just don't have enough time where I start reading and then things come up. There got to be the place in my life where I just had to stop doing that. And as a minister of the gospel, I was not reading scripture like I needed to be. And Praise God, a godly father helped me in this as well.

But my family started reading the Bible regularly. And it's amazing what reading scripture regularly can do for the Christian. And you can end up realizing through reading it that a lot of statements you made in the past aren't really true. And you also end up seeing how scripture fits together more and more, and as you read through it the second time, the third time, the fourth time, not that I hadn't done that multiple times, but as you read that regularly, you realize that the scripture becomes new.

I hadn't seen that before. Where did that come from? Wow, now it makes sense. And now, praise God, I'm now through my 17th time through Scripture, through the Bible, and it's had an amazing effect on my life, and it's had an effect on my family's life as well.

Remember that one of the functions of the Ten Commandments is that they serve as a measuring stick so that we can better able see how well we are responding to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Well, scripture as a whole does this as well. Secondly, pray regularly and not just at bedtime. Pray without ceasing. In other words, prayer is a regular and vital part of your lifestyle. Number three, strive to deal primarily with your own sins in your life. Notice I said in your life. Number four, prosecute yourself. That does not sound like something that would be a really popular book title. Prosecute yourself.

In other words, look at yourself and be honest about your sins. Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. Do you delve, do you dig or inspect into your actions and your intentions behind your actions? Or do you just dust yourself off after sinning against someone and go on your merry way as if nothing has happened and nothing needs to be dealt with?

This often in one way or another happens between couples. Yes, sometimes people who are married have problems. You're newly married. Just give me a piece of news. Might not know yet. One of the things that sometimes couples will do is after they've had this big argument, the husband will say, honey, I didn't mean that. Well, what did you mean? And then the wife says, oh, honey, I didn't mean that. What part of Those mean words meant I love you. You meant what you said, that's why you said them, so deal with them.

But a lot of times what ends up happening between married couples is that they do this sort of thing, but they don't really deal with their sins individually. or corporately between the two of them, and they just basically stick all the things that they have against the other person just in their little bag, in their little sack of memories, only to come up again. We need to deal with our sins.

The sin that we should be most concerned about, especially as fathers and heads of the home, It's how I sin, not how she sinned. And it works for the wife as well. It works for brothers, sisters. It works in the workplace. Whatever the case may be, sins need to be dealt with, and we need to be harshest with ourselves. If we get really angry with someone else, ask yourself, when's the last time I got that angry with my own sin? Number five, you catch yourself acting as if your sins are excusable, but the sins of others are inexcusable. You have to understand why I did that. But what you did, you have no excuse for that. Number six, develop friendships with people who will be honest with you about your strengths and shortcomings. Develop friendships with people who will be honest with you about your strengths and shortcomings.

When I first met my wife, it was in a Sunday school class that I was teaching and I asked her how I did. And she struck out because she failed because she pointed out at least one thing that I could have done better. One of the things I appreciate about my wife. I went to her recently, not this sermon, but another sermon, and I asked her what she thought about this illustration that I had put all this time into, and she said, no, whoops, that was the end of that. She's not the head of the home, but she gives really good advice, and sometimes it hurts.

Number seven, do you listen or do you major in making sure that others listen to you? Number eight, when you sin, do you repent and do everything humanly possible to make it right? And that involves many times more than will you forgive me? For example, if you told somebody about the person A, your person A, and you tell person B something about somebody and it's not true, when you have made that statement, when you're asking forgiveness to the person who you have been talking about, More than just, will you forgive me? But you have the responsibility, if you only can, to clean it up as well. Are you willing to do that? Or do you just want to take the easy way out and just say, I'm sorry, will you forgive me?

Let's go on. You might find that you're much less apt to gossip or say things about other people It shouldn't be saying, when you realize that you're wrong, you've got a lot of work to do. You have a stop mechanism. You enlist others to help you stop. In our marriage, I guess it might be called the ankle, because I'm sitting at a table, or if she's sitting at the table, and the one is as in talking too much, talking too much about myself, talking too much about a subject that I really shouldn't be talking about on the Sabbath, that I might get a gentle nudge or something's into the ankle, let me know that I need to cease and I need to desist. That's it, done. Do you have a stop mechanism? It doesn't necessarily have to be another person, but just some way in which You enlist, whether you're enlisting others to help, or just something to get you to stop.

And recognize that you have only one real hope, and that's Jesus. Remember that if you are a Christian, your salvation is of Jesus, and the work of the Holy Spirit, as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have planned, and worked things long before you were born. Meekness is not weakness. It involves keeping your strength under control. If you're a Christian, your main goal should never be to show off how much you know or how wonderful you are. You don't want people to say, I don't want people to say about me, Terry's great, just ask him. Not something you really want, good ones.

Your goal should be to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Most of us understand what the word enjoy means, I know I do, but what does glorify God mean? It involves mirroring the communicable attributes of God, such as love, and justice, and holiness. So when faced with difficult situations in life, it's your main goal in life to glorify God. When you're hurt, mistreated, gossiped about, what's your main goal? Get back at the person or glorify God? When we're faced with situations that we do not like, do we act like a spoiled child?

The sort of thing you end up seeing at Walmart or in the grocery store, I want an ice cream cone. What do you mean by I can't have my ice cream cone? I'm acting nice, actually, compared to a lot of things I've seen. Working at Walmart one time, somebody was with a grandchild, and the grandchild was acting up some, wanting candy. And I opened my mouth, more or less said to the child, you got what you deserved, you get nothing. Guess he was basically acting like he deserved that candy. Well, no son, you don't deserve that candy. Or how about when it comes to being mistreated by someone?

Are we more interested in how we've been hurt or how we need to glorify God? Are we more interested in getting our own way and seeing what scripture has to say? I should say, I said that incorrectly, are we more interested in getting our own way than seeing what Scripture has to say and what we can learn from the situation?

Are we guilty of being self-righteous and say, well, I would never do that. Even if I were a Christian, if I weren't a Christian, I would never do that. Are you guilty of being self-righteous? And self-righteousness can be a very, very, very sneaky thing.

When we get to the place where we are spending more time spending dwelling on the sins of others than the sins of ourselves, it is impossible to glorify God and enjoy him in the way that Christians are called upon to do. When we get to the place where we are forgetting our spiritual poverty without Jesus and thus not mourning appropriately over our sins, meekness is often difficult to be found in our daily lives.

Closing Prayer

God has called on his people to be meek. We are to keep our strength under control. We are called on to mirror the character of Christ and keep our strength under control, and that control involves not just our actions, but our thoughts and feelings as well. And then and only then will we truly glorify God and enjoy him. If we want people to take us seriously, when we present the good news of the gospel reflecting Jesus in our thoughts, words, and actions is so vitally important. Blessed are the meek. Let's pray.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We pray that your Holy Spirit would change us to become more and more like your son Jesus. There are those tough times in life, in our families, out in the workplace, when we're out on the road driving, our interpersonal relationships with our extended families, But it's so tempting to get our way and to get back at the other person. We pray that your Holy Spirit would change each and every one of us. Be more like Jesus, recognize who we are with Jesus, recognize who we are if we didn't have Jesus. Look at our own sins, be introspective, look inside, give more grace to others than we give to ourselves.

We pray, Heavenly Father, that you will bless this church. We are so thankful for the pastor and the session. We pray, Heavenly Father, that You'd be even much more thankful for your son, Jesus, who has done so much for his people. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural Southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.