Matthew 5:1-12 (Teaching)

[0:00] I'm going to be teaching as far as I know tonight in the next few to several Wednesdays.

[0:13] When I'm praying about what the message should be, what the message needs to be, and where the preacher teach said message, I also preach whether the teacher preach it.

[0:27] There's times that I come to services and I'm unsure of what I'm going to be doing until it comes time to stand up and present the word.

[0:38] Sometimes I'm real surprised. Sometimes I teach when I think I'm going to preach and sometimes vice versa I preach when I think I'm going to teach. But I have prayed on this and I'm going to be teaching as I said tonight and the next several Wednesdays from the Sermon on the Mountain Matthews account.

[0:56] Matthew chapters 5 through 7. It's very common scripture. Many people can probably quote most if not all of Matthew 5 through 7.

[1:10] We run across several familiar things from the Sermon on the Mountain. It is thought that Augustine was the first one to refer to it as the Sermon on the Mountain.

[1:20] There's no hardcore proof for that. It's thought that he was the first one to refer to it as that and that's what we've come to know it as. These three chapters in the Gospel of Matthew.

[1:31] You can also find a very short condensed version of it in the Gospel of Luke. But we won't be using that. We'll be using Matthews account.

[1:43] Couple of things to get out of the way before we begin this is the Sermon on the Mount is really a guidebook for people who are in the kingdom of God.

[2:09] I won't say that it can't be preached to saved people because you can preach straight from these three chapters. You can preach something about Jesus, something about the blood and something about repentance.

[2:20] If you preach those three things, then somebody can get saved if those three things are preached. You can preach those things from this sermon but we need to remember not just the Beatitudes, the first several verses of Matthew chapter 5 here, but the entire Sermon on the Mount is written toward those who are already in the kingdom of God, how they should act.

[2:50] It's a guidebook as to how they should live. And we need to keep that in mind as we read through this. That's the context. It's written to people who are within the kingdom of God, saved people, born again people.

[3:06] When we begin reading this, if you read through Matthew chapter 4 at the very end of Matthew chapter 4, you read that Jesus' ministry has begun. You read that he heals some sick people.

[3:18] You read that he heals some who are suffering ailments, demon possessed, whatever the case is and people are bringing these people to Jesus Christ and they're coming in droves.

[3:29] They're coming in huge numbers. And that's also the context that sits in. Some people think that he only preached this to the twelve disciples but the very first verse that we'll read here is, and seeing the multitudes.

[3:44] Well those twelve disciples weren't multitudes. They were twelve. So he saw the multitudes that were coming to him after his ministry had begun and after his healings begun and these things.

[3:58] But the one thing I want you all to keep in mind as we go through these three chapters is that this was written for kingdom people.

[4:08] Matthew's gospel is known as the gospel of the kingdom. It's been tagged like that for centuries now. And there's a reason for that. This sermon was written to kingdom people and it is a guidebook for those kingdom people not to be saved.

[4:25] And that's where a lot of mistakes are made especially within the beatitudes. You know where it says, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.

[4:39] I mean if that was the case, that's a works-based salvation. If you're merciful to people then God will be merciful to you. Folks lost people can be merciful.

[4:50] Lost people can be meek. Lost people can be all these things that we're going to read about here in the beatitudes. John Popper had something very good to say about the beatitudes one time.

[5:01] I can't remember what book it was that I read it in of his. But I do recall him saying about the beatitudes and this ain't a words for word quote but basically he said that kingdom people, saved people will have a sense of these things we're going to be reading about here.

[5:18] They'll have a sense of being poor in spirit. They'll have a sense of mourning. They'll have a sense of meekness. They'll have a sense of all of these things. And he said, and I say a sense of because lost people don't have the sense of those things.

[5:32] They don't feel those things like saved people do. Why is that? Because the spirit of God's not living within them. Anybody can have, anybody can be these things but to have the sense of those things is a whole different story.

[5:48] So with all that being said, we'll begin in Matthew chapter five and verse one says, In seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain and he was set, his disciples came under him and he opened his mouth and taught them.

[6:11] We'll stop right there. So once again we see Jesus, this is just after his ministry has begun. In Matthew chapter three we see John the Baptist coming out of the wilderness preaching repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[6:26] And Matthew chapter four, we see Jesus Christ preaching the exact same words, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and the ministry of Jesus Christ, he was about 30 years old at this point according to the gospel of Luke when his ministry began.

[6:43] So this is the very beginning of his ministry. These people have followed him after his ministry has begun and he's healed people and people are following Jesus as I said before in droves and he says, in seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain and when he was set, his disciples came unto him.

[7:03] Jesus would have set himself up on this hill much like the other rabbis did and this wasn't to give Jesus any extra clout. I mean, folks, really he was Jesus.

[7:15] He didn't need any extra clout. Jesus Christ knew who Jesus Christ was. He didn't have a need to raise himself above men, but he had a need for his disciples to understand that he was their rabbi.

[7:30] He was their teacher, that he was the one that they needed to listen to. Jesus didn't need to raise himself up to make himself look good. He raised himself up so that his voice could be heard and he raised himself up in the position that he did and in the place that he did so that his disciples and those round about would understand who he was and that he was teaching them.

[7:56] Just as many rabbis did of that time. So, his disciples came unto him and he opened his mouth and talked to him, which is exactly the position that he took.

[8:09] That's exactly what he intended on doing and he wanted the disciples to understand that, he was their rabbi. He was their master. He was their teacher.

[8:19] And folks, it is no different now. Jesus Christ, he is our master. Jesus Christ is our teacher and he is these things through the Holy Spirit of God. If we read this Bible without the Holy Spirit of God being our teacher, it'll do us no good.

[8:35] I knew this Bible backwards and forwards and diagonal and sideways as compared to most professing Christians that I knew long before I was saved, but I didn't have the Holy Spirit as my teacher.

[8:46] Once I had the Holy Spirit as my teacher, then I understood the Bible. I understood it as man understands it beforehand and man don't understand it very well.

[8:57] I promise you, I'm speaking to you from experience, but as the Holy Spirit understands it and as the Holy Spirit instructs us to understand it, that's where true understanding comes in.

[9:08] Jesus Christ, he's got his disciples around here. Remember, this would have been the inner circle, the twelve disciples. This would have been the inner circle, but there was an outer circle of people there too.

[9:19] Remember, the multitudes had come and they had come to where Jesus was. So there was the inner circle of the disciples and there was the outer circle of these other people. So as he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, blessed are the poor and spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[9:36] Now as I said, folks, anybody can be poor and spirit. I was poor and spirit before I was saved. You were poor and spirit before you were saved, but if this is written to and toward kingdom people and it's being taught to and toward kingdom people, then what is Jesus referring to here when he says, blessed are they who are poor and spirit, those that are poor and spirit.

[10:00] And he tells them why they would be blessed. He says, poor and spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So blessed are they who are poor and spirit. They are presently poor and spirit.

[10:12] Remember I said this is written to kingdom people, to those that are within the kingdom of God. They are presently in the kingdom of God. And he says for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[10:24] So why would kingdom people be poor and spirit? Have you all not heard yourselves? Christians should be the happiest people on the face of the planet. We should.

[10:35] I mean, I'm born again and I don't deserve it. I'm on my way to a place called heaven and I don't deserve it. I ain't going to hell which I do deserve and I am going to heaven which I don't deserve.

[10:46] That is reason enough to be joyous. Hallelujah. So why would Jesus say, blessed are they that are poor and spirit? These are the people who realize their position outside of Christ because they've been there.

[11:01] They've been there. They understand that they're undeserving. They understand how depraved they are. They understand the depravity of man that man is completely helpless and hopeless to save himself.

[11:15] They understand that it is crossed and crossed alone who can save. And when we realize that and we should think about that on a daily basis, that keeps pride from seeping into our minds and it keeps pride from swelling up within our hearts to remember that we did not save ourselves nor did we do anything to draw the attention of Christ Jesus into our lives.

[11:41] We done nothing to make him look down at us just as Noah did nothing for God to look down on him and say, I want you to build a boat. Abraham did nothing or Abram at that time.

[11:53] He done nothing for God to choose him as the father of the Jewish nation. He done nothing to deserve that. He done nothing to merit that. God simply chose him and God simply looked down on me one day knowing that I was a lost sinner, knowing that I was depraved and completely helpless to do anything about it myself, knowing that I was on my way to hell, God looked down and he's the one that saved me.

[12:22] And this should make us poor in spirit, poor knowing that we were poor. We had nothing but folks for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[12:35] We can all be poor in spirit and we all should be poor in spirit. But we know that ours is the kingdom of heaven. Those of us that have been born again, those of us who are the kingdom people, we are the children of God.

[12:48] Yours is the kingdom of heaven, a kingdom that God created, a kingdom that is all God's, a kingdom that God rules from. It's ours as His children.

[13:02] Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse four, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Well, folks lost, folks can mourn just as well as safe folks can.

[13:15] Everyone of us in here mourned, everyone of us in here have lost loved ones. Everyone of us in here have had bad times rolled up in our lives, whether it's job loss or health problems or death in the family, whatever the case is, everybody in here is mourned.

[13:30] And chances are we've all mourned before we were saved and we've mourned since we were saved. So again, this isn't something that you can say to someone, well, if you mourn, then God's going to comfort you.

[13:45] Remember this is written to kingdom people. This is written to those of us who are of the kingdom of God, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that mourn over what?

[13:56] Well, we just come out of blessed are they who are poor in spirit. Why would we mourn? Folks, we should mourn for our sin. We should mourn for our sin that offends a God, that saved our souls.

[14:09] Again, we're talking about saved individuals. And you sin every day whether you want to admit to it or not, and I sin every day whether I want to admit to it or not.

[14:20] We are sinful creatures. We are sinful by nature. It's within our flesh. It's part of us. It's who we are. Y'all have heard me say it time and time again that we're not sinners because of what we do.

[14:31] We're sinners because of who we are. That's what we do. We're sinners. But God looks down on sinners in compassion and in mercy and saves sinful souls.

[14:45] So when the Bible here says, when Jesus said these words, blessed are they that mourn, He wasn't saying, blessed are they that mourn because mama died or daddy died or grandma or grandpa or whatever the case is.

[14:56] He's saying blessed are they that mourn over their condition, over their sin, over their sinfulness towards God, blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.

[15:07] And folks, even if a lost person regrets their adulterous affair, even if a lost person regrets their murder, even if a lost person regrets any number of things, that's no guarantee that God will comfort them.

[15:24] We can't have godly things unless we're godly people, folks. It's that simple. Now, can we be lost and have blessings of God? Absolutely. We're lost people alive right now.

[15:36] That's a blessing from God. God's under no obligation to allow them to live. God's under no obligation to allow them to get food, to sustain their bodies or allow them water, to sustain their bodies or allow them medicine or healthcare or whatever to clear up that cold that they might have.

[15:54] God's under no obligation to do any of that. So yes, lost people can be blessed of God, but if they mourn, will they be comforted of God?

[16:05] God can use whatever situation it is they're mourning over to draw them to Him. Absolutely. And I pray that for a lot of people sometimes.

[16:16] We know people that are lost, that have suffered a great loss in their life or they've come down with some horrible illness or they've had a heart attack or cancer has come in or whatever the case is.

[16:28] And for those people, if they're evidencing rotten fruit that shows that they're lost, I pray, God used their situation to draw them to you.

[16:39] Used their situation to draw them to the fold that they might see the door that they have in Jesus Christ and they might enter in. God can use a situation like that.

[16:51] But for Jesus to stand here on this mountain top or on this hilltop and to say, bless her today that mourn, for they shall be comforted. That's not necessarily lost folks, folks.

[17:03] It's to kingdom folks. That's to us. Bless her today that mourn over their sin. They mourn over their condition. They mourn because they have afflicted God. But God will comfort those that have sinned against Him and have accepted Jesus Christ.

[17:17] They've accepted the gospel. They've repented of their ways. That's just because we repent doesn't mean that we shouldn't mourn over our sins. Now, should we dwell on that?

[17:28] Should we dwell on our sins? No, that'll drive us crazy. But we should remember not only what God has brought us out of, whether it be last year or 10 years ago or 50 years ago, not only should we remember the sin that God saved us from then, remember the sin that God has saved you from that you committed today, but mourn over that sin because it's still offensive in the eyes and in the mind and in the heart of the thrice holy God who has never, ever once committed sin and thought word or deed.

[18:03] First five, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. I'm just going to ask you all, what does it mean to be meek? No answers?

[18:14] I'm teaching. So if I ask a question, you're more than welcome to spit something out. What? That's true. It is.

[18:24] It is teachable. We can't be teachable and that's a fruit really of meekness.

[18:34] That's not meekness in and of itself. Maybe I'd do better to give you all examples. There's only two people in the Bible who are described as meek.

[18:44] One of them being Moses in Numbers chapter 12 and that's actually a parenthetical line where it states that Moses was meek above all men that were in the earth and the other is Jesus Christ right here in the same gospel and Jesus Christ speaks it off himself in Matthew chapter 11.

[19:05] Matthew chapter 11, Jesus calls himself meek. But anyway, those are two examples of meekness or of meek people I should say.

[19:17] So that being said and knowing what Moses did, what did Moses do? Moses finally surrendered to God. Did he not? Did he not fight against God though?

[19:27] Those of you Bible readers that have read the book of Exodus, they're in the first few chapters of Exodus when God's telling Moses, hey, you need to go to Pharaoh, you need to go down to Egypt, you need to tell that head Egyptian to let my people go.

[19:41] And Moses falls and says, Lord, I can't do that. He'll never listen to me. Lord, I got a stammering tongue. Lord this and Lord that. Spit out every excuse that he could think of.

[19:52] But he finally gave in. Did he not? So that's where being teachable is a fruit of meekness. Moses had to be taught.

[20:03] It ain't you that's going to do this anyway, Moses. It's me. I'm going to do this thing. This is what God had to get across to Moses. I'm going to use you. You're going to be my instrument to do this thing.

[20:15] Jesus crosses the ultimate example of meekness. Moses was a good example. Jesus crosses the ultimate example of meekness though. One line that I can think of in the scripture that shows us what it is to be meek.

[20:32] That really and truly shows us what it is to be meek. And that is when Jesus Christ was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. And he said, not my will, but thou will be done.

[20:45] That's meekness. That is meekness. Now Jesus Christ, he was meek all throughout his ministry. He was meek right here at the very beginning of his ministry.

[20:56] He was meek all throughout it. But the ultimate example of that is when it come down to the line. The night of his arrest.

[21:07] He was praying. And he said, not my will, but thou will be done. Father, let this cup pass for me. If it be at all possible, let this cup go somewhere else.

[21:17] Let it go to someone else. Let it go, let something else be done. But nevertheless, not my will, but I will be done. Folks, that is what it is to be meek.

[21:28] It is to completely, utterly, and wholly submit yourself over to God. Now some people will say, submit yourself over to authority.

[21:39] I don't agree with that, but I will agree with submit yourself to God's authority. Because we go submitting ourselves to authority in general, then authority in general can use us for some ungodly means.

[21:53] But to submit ourselves over to the authority of Almighty God, that is the ultimate act of meekness that we can do. So, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

[22:05] We have submitted, and once again, this is kingdom folks that we're talking about, kingdom people. So, if we've submitted ourselves over to God, if we've been meek toward God, and we've been meek, of course, toward our fellow man and all those around us, it says for they shall inherit the earth.

[22:24] The earth will be ours. So, if we're submitting ourselves over to God ultimately, and completely doing that, folks, people will look at us, and they'll say, look at this godly person.

[22:38] Look at this person following the scripture. Look at this person doing his best to keep the commandments that are in the scripture, to walk holy after God.

[22:48] Look at this person who has the spirit and therefore walks in the spirit, as Paul puts it. Didn't he say that if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit?

[23:00] Folks, that's meekness. That is meekness to walk in the spirit of God, but the world will look at you, and the world will say, and the world will have all kinds of ought to speak against you for doing that.

[23:14] We get into that here towards the end of the beatitude lesson today, which are persecuted for righteousness sake. But the world will look at you in all kinds of ways and shapes and forms and manners, and they will.

[23:26] They'll make fun of you. Why is that? Because meekness goes against everything that the world knows. Submitting yourself to God goes against everything that the world knows and everything that the world does.

[23:38] They refuse to submit themselves to God. They refuse to submit themselves to the authority of scripture. They refuse to submit themselves to the working of the Holy Spirit and to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[23:56] That is the opposite of everything that Jesus Christ is teaching, not only in these beatitudes, but really throughout the entire sermon on the Mount. What Jesus Christ is teaching here, and particularly in these beatitudes, is completely contrary to what the world thinks and what the world does and what the world says.

[24:16] It's completely contrary to those things. But if we're meek and we've submitted over to God, they shall inherit the earth. Now there's two different ways you can look at this.

[24:28] They shall inherit the earth. One of those is the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ, which I happen to believe is a fact. You can think what you want to.

[24:39] We find that in Revelation chapter 20, but we also find in Revelation 21 and 22, a whole new kingdom and a new earth and a new Jerusalem.

[24:52] We find all of these things in those last two chapters of the Book of Revelation. So if it pertains to the Millennial Kingdom and it could, it would also extend to the everlasting kingdom, which is talked about in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

[25:12] So y'all can do with that what you want to. I personally think that it's talking about the everlasting kingdom, where there is a new heaven, a new earth.

[25:23] Where in 12th righteousness is the way that Peter phrased it in his writings. And there will be a new heaven, a new earth, and there will be a new Jerusalem, and that kingdom will last forever and ever.

[25:36] It is prophesied in the Old Testament that the Messiah would come. He would reign from the throne of David and that reign would be forever. That's what I think this is getting at.

[25:47] But folks, you and I will share in that reign with Jesus Christ. We won't be equal to Jesus Christ, but we will share in the reign with Jesus Christ.

[25:58] We will reign with him, as per the Scriptures tell us. Verse 6, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

[26:11] I taught this one verse right here at a youth event one time, or I preached this one verse at a youth event one time. And my thought then was, it's great to tell people, you know, blessed are you, blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

[26:29] It's great to tell them that. But what good does it do to tell them that if they don't know what righteousness is? What are they hunger and thirsting after? What is righteousness?

[26:40] You can answer it in one word, Jesus. Jesus is righteousness. And folks, this is reiterated. Just one chapter over from where we're at. We'll read it here in the next, within the next few weeks.

[26:54] It's reiterated by Jesus Christ. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. From Jesus Christ tells the folks to seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

[27:09] And all these things shall be added unto you. He's reiterating exactly what we're reading right here. We seek first the kingdom of God and seek first the righteousness of God.

[27:20] And everything else will be added to us, including inheriting the earth, including comfort, including these other things that we're reading about here in the Beatitudes.

[27:30] But blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Folks, this would have to be something. And remember, I said earlier, you can't have anything godly unless you're a godly person.

[27:42] It's impossible. We cannot have or do anything godly unless we are godly people. So this hunger, if we're talking about kingdom people and we are, this hunger has to be a godly hunger.

[27:55] And this thirst has to be a godly thirst. That means that God had to put that hunger there. And God had to put that thirst there. This is what it means for the saints to persevere, or the perseverance of the saints as it's more commonly called.

[28:15] What are we persevering after? We're persevering after righteousness. And if we're persevering after righteousness, it simply means we're persevering after God. We're persevering after Christ.

[28:25] We're chasing after Him. And why is that? Folks, if God put that hunger there and it's a godly hunger and God put that thirst there and it's a godly thirst, that doesn't mean that God cannot completely fill that hunger or fill that thirst.

[28:40] You all probably heard it said that all men are born with a void in their heart that only God can fill. Some people call it the hole in the soul that only God can fill.

[28:54] And this is very true. If you don't believe me, just look out at the world. Look at your past life before you were saved. What did you try and fill that hole with?

[29:05] What did you try and fill that void with? What were you pursuing after? What were you hungering after? What were you thirsting after? And it never did work did it.

[29:15] But God can fill that. God can fill that void. But that doesn't mean that we get filled and we're just completely satisfied. Never to do anything again.

[29:26] We should continually hunger after God. We should continually thirst after God. Even the psalmist, even the psalmist, talked about himself being as a heart, being as a deer, the panath, the panath after the things of God.

[29:44] Folks, we should be exactly like that. We should be top on our list of priorities is to hunger and thirst after righteousness.

[29:55] And God says they shall be filled. And that's very important. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. That's written in the present tense. For they shall, that's future tense, they shall be filled.

[30:10] One day we will be completely and totally filled. But until that day, until that day, if it's a godly hunger and a godly thirst, we should constantly be hungry after God, be thirsting after God, and be persevering and chasing after God.

[30:27] Because he is the only one that's got that substance force, that sustenance force instead of substance, that sustenance force. He's the only one that can fill that. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

[30:42] Once again, this doesn't mean that the lost person is merciful towards someone, that they're just automatically going to receive the mercy of God. Again, we're talking about kingdom people here.

[30:54] And y'all are going to hear me say that throughout the next few to several weeks about writing to kingdom people, because we have to keep that in our mind, because folks, this can easily be preached to people.

[31:08] And someone can easily say, all you've got to do is buy the homeless man that's hungry down there on the street corner, a cheeseburger, and you're going to merit salvation with Almighty God.

[31:20] And that ain't what the scripture teaches. And that's not what it's teaching here. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Folks, it should come as natural to a child of God to be merciful.

[31:35] Why? Because God has shown mercy unto us when we didn't deserve it. None of us deserve it. None of us deserve salvation. None of us deserve to be born again.

[31:46] None of us deserve to be sitting here with a Bible in our laps right now, or in our hands, or where the case is. Everyone of us deserve nothing more than the flames of hell for all of eternity.

[31:57] But God was merciful toward us. So we should be merciful to others. And this merciful is too full. Should we be merciful to those that are physically hurting?

[32:08] Yes, absolutely. Should we be merciful to those that have suffered injury, or who are sick, or ailing, or whatever the case is? Absolutely we should. How many times has God raised us up off of what we thought was our deathbed?

[32:22] Or raised us up from injury? Or raised us up from various different ailments, whatever it was? How many times has God done that? But folks, it doesn't stop there when we see the poor sinner.

[32:33] Like the parable of the Good Samaritan, when we see them laying on the side of the road and they're laying there naked and they're laying there destitute, they've been left for dead and they're bleeding out and all that, we should not pass on the other side of the road.

[32:48] We should be merciful to those people. We should be merciful to all those that are lost, to all of those that have not Jesus Christ, that have never received the free part of sin.

[32:58] We should be more merciful to them than those that we know that are saved and born again and on their way to heaven that have suffered the most mauling accident of their lives.

[33:09] Because that can be fixed. And that can be fixed by man, by God through man. That can be fixed by medicine, it can be fixed by time, it can be fixed by all kinds of different things.

[33:22] I'm talking about a physical accident. But there ain't but one, there ain't but one that can fix the sin in a person. There ain't but one that can save a soul and we should be merciful to those people.

[33:35] Not one sinner walking this earth has any Christian, any right to look down their nose and say, I hope they burn in hell and I have heard professing Christians say those very words and shame on people for having that attitude.

[33:52] Shame on people for having that attitude. That's not mercy. That's not mercy. In my personal opinion, that's not a child of God uttering those words. I don't think the Holy Spirit would allow that.

[34:06] But we should be merciful to people. Yes, those that have suffered physical problems, whatever they might be, yes, be merciful to them. Cater to those needs, helping those needs, all that we can.

[34:17] But be merciful to those that are sin sick. Be very merciful to them. If you all are like me, it's easier to be merciful to some than it is to others.

[34:28] Some people don't want that mercy. That doesn't mean we turn a blind eye to it and it doesn't mean that we don't care for them folks. If they don't want you praying with them, pray for them.

[34:40] There ain't nothing in this world can stop you from praying for a lost soul. Nothing in this world can stop you from doing that. It don't matter how much they say they hate you, how much they don't want to talk to you, how much they never want to see you again.

[34:53] They ain't nothing in this world. When you get along with God or go to your prayer closet, whatever the case is, there is nothing in this world that can stop you from praying for a soul that needs the mercy of God.

[35:05] Hallelujah. Never one of us should be merciful. Verse 8, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, and only the pure in heart shall see God.

[35:18] I'm not adding to the words of Scripture. I just added to that. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. This doesn't mean, this doesn't say, I should say, this doesn't say, blessed are those that do more good deeds than others.

[35:32] It doesn't say blessed are those that do more visitations than others, or that memorize more Scriptures than others, or that pray more heartily than others, or that go to church more often than others.

[35:43] It says blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And let me tell you something right now, dear Christians. If you have a pure heart, it is not your doing that it's there.

[35:53] It is Almighty God's doing. God is the one that took out your stony heart, your cold stony heart. It was dead. It was useless. It was useless to you.

[36:04] It was useless to God. It was useless to everything and everybody. God took out that stony heart, and he put in a heart of flesh. That's a heart that he can use. It's a heart that he can wrench.

[36:15] It's a heart that he can mold. He can use that heart. And he does so every day in the life of believers. But that's a pure heart.

[36:26] But if we back up to the very first of these Beatitudes, and we read on through someone with a pure heart, these are the ways that they should be acting, that they should be living.

[36:38] This is not to obtain, once again, not to obtain salvation. This is a guidebook. This is a model of how saved people should be acting, not how they act to be saved.

[36:54] This is how kingdom people, blessed are the pure heart, for they shall see God. Why? Because they're pure in heart. Folks, the Bible says, Jeremiah chapter 17, the heart is deceptive above all things and desperately wicked.

[37:09] Who can know it? And that hasn't changed. The heart is still deceptively wicked, or deceptive above all things, and desperately wicked.

[37:20] It still is. And it's still that way in the heart of a believer. That's why when I hear church people, when I hear Christians tell others or say, I'm just going to follow my heart, I'm like, don't do that.

[37:33] Pray about it. Pray about it. Or when people say, well, God knows my heart, be careful with that. Be cautious with that.

[37:44] Blessed are the pure in heart. How do we have a pure heart? Only by an act of almighty God through the new birth that is wrought by the Holy Spirit, in combination with the word of God, with the washing of the blood of Jesus Christ.

[38:01] The regenerating work of the Holy Spirit of God can be accomplished that way. And that's how we obtain a pure heart. And only those with a pure heart, only those that have been regenerated.

[38:11] Only those that have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. Only they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

[38:25] Once again, this can be preached out of context as I've heard it done and say, all you got to do is go out here and be peace. If you've got neighbors that are fighting against each other, somebody kicks somebody's cats or somebody shot somebody's dog, and you go make peace between those two neighbors, hey, you're going to get a check mark next to your name up in heaven.

[38:43] That is not what the Bible says, and it is not what the Bible teaches anywhere. And that's not what Jesus Christ was teaching here. But kingdom people, we should be peacemakers.

[38:56] Paul said, with everything in you, if at all possible, live peaceably with all men. And y'all know as well as I do, that's awfully difficult to do sometimes.

[39:10] It's hard to live peaceably. But children of God should do that. Why is that? Blessed are the peacemakers for they should be called the children of God. The peacemakers shall be called the children of God.

[39:21] Does that mean Gandhi was a child of God? Does that mean Mother Teresa was necessarily a child of God? No, it's not their acts that make them peaceful.

[39:32] God, no, it's not their acts that make them a child of God. It is no one's acts. It is no one's self merit that makes them a child of God. It is Almighty God. We just come out of the verse and says, blessed are they that have a pure heart for they shall see God.

[39:47] And then the only way to obtain that pure heart is by God putting it there. So blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

[39:58] The only way we can be called the children of God is if God makes us his child through adoption. We are adopted into the family of God.

[40:09] Everybody in here is born again. You are an adoptive son or you are an adoptive daughter of Almighty God. And the peacemakers are the ones that shall be called the children of God.

[40:22] We should strive to make peace. We should strive to live peaceably with all men according to the scripture. Once again, I know that's hard to do sometimes.

[40:34] I failed at that pretty recently. And if you all are honest with yourselves, you probably failed at it as well. Maybe pretty recently like Spencer has. But what do we do?

[40:46] We repent. We repent. We, and the Holy Ghost of God will draw us to that repentance and praise God when I feel that when I feel that I have offended God and it draws me to a point of repentance.

[41:01] I praise God because he's letting me know that I'm one of his. He has let me know that I'm his child. He's let me know that I am a peacemaker and I am called and I can and I should be called the children of God.

[41:17] First 10, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Once again, this can be easily preached out of context. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs should be the kingdom of heaven.

[41:31] It doesn't say blessed are they which are persecuted. That's how a lot of people want to read this. Much like a lot of people want to read Matthew chapter seven and just say, judge not and leave it at that.

[41:46] Like the rest of the chapter doesn't exist or something. Folks, we have to read this in its entirety and not only in the immediate context that it is given in, but we have to consider the context of the entirety of scripture surrounding that.

[42:02] Y'all have heard me say time and time again, if we take certain scriptures out of context, we can justify any sin that we want to eat, drink and be married. Well, the Bible says to do it. Well, what's the context surrounding that though?

[42:14] I mean, my goodness. David had an affair, Bible says he was a man after God's own heart. I guess I can go out and have an affair, huh? No.

[42:25] What's the context surrounding all that? And did God not send a man to David that drove him to a point of repentance that exposed his sin to him much like he does with the Holy Ghost with us, exposed his sin and David repented and David said, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.

[42:46] He didn't say restore unto me thy salvation. He said the joy of thy salvation. Praise God. That's the God that I serve. That's the God that I'm a child of.

[42:58] But we have to consider the rest of scripture when we're interpreting any verse, bless her they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[43:10] If we're persecuted for righteousness, folks, only a child of God is going to be persecuted for what is truly righteous. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.

[43:21] We read that just a few verses ago. And this is the same righteousness that we're talking about. It's the righteousness of Almighty God. And if we are persecuted because of that righteousness and Christians ever since the dawn of Christianity, they have been persecuted for their belief in a man named Jesus Christ.

[43:40] The Jews have been persecuted long before that and they were persecuted simply because they were God's chosen people. It's been that way from the get go and it'll continue to be that way.

[43:52] It goes all the way back to Cain slaying Abel. Abel was killed. That didn't stop God, though. God produced another baby in Abraham's wife, Woon Seth came along.

[44:08] Praise God. He didn't get his plan at all. Nothing will stop the plan of God. Nothing will. The blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. We can be persecuted for all kinds of things.

[44:20] I can be persecuted for being white. I can be persecuted for being bald. I can be persecuted for having an obvious Scotch Irish in me somewhere. I can be persecuted for a ton of different things.

[44:31] And that's not going to matter a hill of beans as far as the end of this verse goes. The kingdom of heaven being theirs and the kingdom of heaven being mine. But if I'm persecuted for righteousness sake, folks, there's only one group of people that will be persecuted over righteousness sake and that is the children of God.

[44:50] That is those who are pure in heart. That is those that are meek. That is those that show mercy. That is those that have done all these other things that we've been reading about this evening. The blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake.

[45:02] For theirs is. Blessed are they. That's present tense. For theirs is. That's present tense. Folks, the kingdom of heaven is ours right now.

[45:12] If we're a born again child of God, we don't have to wait for it. Now granted, we might have to wait for across to set up the millennial kingdom. We might have to wait for new Jerusalem to fall. We might have to wait for the earth to be burned up and to be made new and made afresh.

[45:29] We're in dwelleth, righteousness. We might have to wait for those things. But that kingdom is ours right now. And that's not my interpretation. That is what the Bible says.

[45:39] For theirs is the kingdom of heaven presently. It's mine because I'm a child of God. And it's yours if you're a child of God. It is mine right now.

[45:51] Praise God. Once again, that's not my interpretation. That's what it says. Blessed are you women shall revalue and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.

[46:02] Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. So he says, blessed are you when men shall revalue and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.

[46:22] That word falsely is key in that verse. Because there are some people out there. There are some so called preachers and so called Bible teachers right now that say that they suffer persecution because of people who actually truly believe the word of God calling them out in their heresy.

[46:42] They'll say, see I'm suffering persecution. The kingdom of heaven is mine. No, no. This says, blessed are you when men shall revalue and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely, falsely.

[46:56] If someone's teaching falsely and all the real Christians are doing is calling out the wolf that's in sheep clothing, that's not accusing them falsely.

[47:09] And that's not coming against them falsely. And that's not being unbiblical either by the way. Jesus Christ done that himself. So I ain't saying go out here and start a war or start a fight or anything along those lines.

[47:22] But first, if I know which one of those sheep out there in the field is actually a wolf and I fail to warn you, that is my fault.

[47:33] And that falls in my lap. That blood is on my hands. If you fall under some spell or some teaching that that false prophet or false teacher might be giving you.

[47:47] A blessed are you and men shall say when men shall revalue and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. That's the other key in this.

[48:00] Look what I've done for God. Look what I've done for Jesus. Look what I've done for the Bible. Look what I've done to push the kingdom of God forward. Look what I've done for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ and all these people are coming against me.

[48:14] Look what I've done to the folks. You be careful with that attitude. Jesus said for my sake, for my sake, you go out, you do what Christ said, you do what the scripture commands, you go out into the world and you preach the gospel.

[48:32] You tell people about Jesus Christ. You spread the good news that God has sent a savior in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ saves sinners to the uttermost.

[48:42] You tell people that there is no sin that they've committed that God cannot forgive. You tell those people, it doesn't matter how filthy and rotten and dirty they've been in their life, it doesn't matter where they were last week or last month or last night for that matter, that God can save them from their sin.

[48:58] You tell them about Jesus Christ. Tell them that He can wash them white as snow. Tell them that He can remove that darkness and bring them into His marvelous life. You tell the world all of that and if they persecute you and they speak all manner of evil against you for that, then yes, you're suffering persecution for the sake of Christ.

[49:21] But you don't go out and you don't pick fights and you don't go into certain crowds. I mean, if the good Lord sends you there, by all means, yes, go. But you be careful.

[49:32] I don't think the good Lord's going to send many preachers into honky-tonks to jump up on the stage and start preaching a sermon. I ain't going to say it hasn't happened and I ain't going to say it won't happen.

[49:43] I'm saying it'd be a very rare occasion, I believe, if that happens. Those people ain't no frame of mind to consider the gospel. Not that God can't work through alcohol.

[49:56] Not that God can't work through booze or work through drugs or anything else. I ain't saying that that's a hindrance to God. I'm just saying you be careful. You be careful what spirit you listen to.

[50:07] We'll put it that way. Make sure it's the spirit of God. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. For great is your reward in heaven. And that doesn't just apply here to the Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and speak all manner of evil against you.

[50:22] Folks, that applies to every one of these Beatitudes. Great is your reward in heaven. Great is your reward in heaven if you recognize and you have the sense that you are poor in spirit.

[50:34] Great is your reward in heaven if you are indeed merciful. Great is your reward in heaven if you are me. Great is your reward in heaven for all of these things. Rejoice and be exceeding glad.

[50:46] For great is your reward in heaven, folks. This is why Christians should be the happiest people on the face of the planet because great is our reward in heaven. And I'm not talking about your reward as far as any crowns that you might get.

[50:59] I'm not talking about your reward as far as getting a hand pat on the back from Jesus Cross. I'm talking about your reward that you will be with the maker of this universe.

[51:11] You will be with your Savior. You will be with the very one that took your place on a cross and you will be with Him for all eternity in a perfect place where there is perfect love and there is no sin and everything is harmonious.

[51:26] That's our great reward that is in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. And that's very important and that's as far as we're going to get tonight.

[51:38] But so persecuted they the prophets that were before you. Jesus making a point there. They believe the same thing that you believe is what Jesus was saying.

[51:50] Jesus had Jesus was saying they believe the exact same thing that you're believing. Now the prophets of old they didn't know the name Jesus Christ.

[52:06] The prophets of old didn't know the name Jesus Christ but they believed in Him aside. The prophets of old didn't know the details about the kingdom of God that we know.

[52:18] Why is that? The prophets of old all they had was the Old Testament and they were writing the Old Testament as they were going. They had the tar, they had the penitent, they might have had some of the historical books and some of the poetical books but all in all folks they did not know what we know.

[52:35] They saw everything through a glass darkly and much of what we see is darkly and dimly but it's going to be brought to full light and to full sight for us one day after a while but we know more than they knew.

[52:51] But Jesus says they were persecuted in the same way and they were persecuted because of the same thing for their belief in the Word of God.

[53:02] Folks that is probably the most meek thing that you can do this day and time is believe this Bible. You believe this Bible and when you believe this Bible you say not my will but thy will be done Lord.

[53:17] But anyway that brings us to the end and that is far from verse 20 where I was hoping to get to 9 but that's okay. Anybody got any questions or any comments on any of that?

[53:29] Yes sir? I'm not a preacher. Well God bless you, I appreciate that. I appreciate that encouragement. I like it when it comes from kids because if you're a bad preacher they'll tell you that too.

[53:47] But anyway, anybody else got anything? No. God bless you, I appreciate your attention tonight.