Sunday Morning Podcast December 8, 2019. Bro. Dave Goble.
TEXT: MATTHEW 5:1-10
1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The beatitudes, the long sermon on the mount, was the first public message preached by Jesus. First things, …the advent of Jesus our Savior, and what He would have to speak of, to us. A message to examine and cause one to have a movement toward a discipleship of Christ. We need to get out of our daily routines and opinions. We need to take time to pause to examine our spiritual condition, and think of how God became flesh within Jesus…to walk among us! Emanuel..God in us! And now 2,000 years later, we also can partake of Christ, in a personal and intimate way. Jesus preached the beatitudes, the complete plan of God, in the beginning of the sermon! What we’re meant to do with it, is our service to Him! This becomes our strength, and not just necessarily what we’ve forsaken. Salvation. Service. Strength. Verses 3,4,5, and 6. The poor in spirit. Those that mourn. The meek. And those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. These verses illustrate God’s plan of Salvation. “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” Psalms 34:6 This poor man cried. Then God heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. This poor man. A spiritual poverty we all inherit out of our nature. At an early age “you” walk away from God. It is hoped those that do, remember that, and not go on to being merely religious. Hopefully they will humbly cry out for mercy, after in honesty seeing the vanity of religion. It is then, that God says He will hear. Jesus is interested in knowing, that we realize that we ‘are’ in spiritual poverty! If you make decisions on your “own” knowledge, then there is no humility in that. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” those are the ones that know their spiritual poverty, it is then we are qualified for Jesus to take us with Him to heaven. It doesn’t happen as a jolting from God, but from not resisting our need to change from our spiritual poverty. Then Jesus can comfort us! “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” If we are “moving” in a mentality of “poor in spirit,” then we can get our needs fulfilled. If you are waiting for God to “jolt you out of your seat,” it won’t happen. “Blessed are the meek,” it is this attitude that will bring us out of our poverty, to God’s supply, …to change our life. Not from knowing doctrine, following rules, but instead knowing God. Not after our own righteousness (which are as filthy rags…according to God’s word). So we must “hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
It is in these four verses (3 through 6) that we can see the plan of salvation fully expressed. 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Verse 3, is the covenant God has made with us. For it comes from our part in “being poor of spirit,” which is keeping a mind of humility. Next (verse 4) our “poor of spirit” causes us to mourn, and so God comforts us! Next, we then are meek (verse 5) which will cause us to “hunger and thirst after righteousness:“, (verse 6). The spirit of meekness causes one to know about their life as debased and destructive. Only then did the prodigal son, (Luke 15:11-24) have determination to rise up from his debased condition, and humbly return with hunger and thirst for the righteousness and sustenance he had enjoyed in his father’s house The reason this wouldn’t happen, is when instead a lost soul, would choose life’s table of fleshly treasures. Our focus must be about the spiritual and not fleshly cares and treasures of this life. Martha labored much in the kitchen over the temporal cares of preparing a dinner, while Mary put all her cares at the feet of Jesus, for she had chosen that good part that would not be taken away from her. 41) “And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. 42) But one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10th chapter. Cares deplete your thirst after righteousness! The Spirit of Christ; “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” …The plan of Salvation. Without hungering and thirsting after righteousness, did you have mercy? Not simply forgiving one their trespasses against you, but a proactive desire in your heart to have mercy for another. You can’t have it without being a recipient of real mercy through Salvation. If mercy is not working in your heart, you need to have a “movement” (or repentance) towards truly being humble…. or “poor in spirit.” Only then can you be pure of heart, and “see” God. Only then will you be peacemakers, suffer for righteousness sake, and inherit the kingdom of God. Are you in the place God wants you in?
The Beatitudes, Jesus’s First Sermon
Incomplete