The Beatitudes – pt. 2 (Matthew 5:1-12)
The Beatitudes – Part 2
Matthew 5:1-12
Last week we started our study of The Sermon on the Mount.
And as I told you then, I find this to be
The most penetrating and revealing section of Scripture in all the Bible.
The Sermon on the Mount does not simply deal with what a person DOES.
The Sermon on the Mount goes directly to what a person IS.
Jesus doesn’t simply come and tell the Jews what they should do
In order to please God.
Jesus comes and tells the Jews what they should be
In order to please God.
AND THIS GETS EXTREMELY CONVICTING.
Over time man has been somewhat successful in curving his actions.
Even lost men have been able to find relatively high levels of morality.
Foreign religions have given tremendous proof of that.
Through false religion we find those who have become moral, devoted,
Sexually pure, and even generous.
In many cases, even lost men have been able to control their actions
Into some sort of acceptable standard.
And this is certainly where the Jews were in Jesus day.
They had found a certain behavioral mold and
Were somewhat successfully fitting their lives into that mold.
But there is one major problem with that.
1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Psalms 139:2 “You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.”
Man may indeed alter his actions,
But God is not simply reading their actions, God is reading their heart.
He is looking beyond what men do, to why men do it.
And it is after the heart is read
That God declares a person righteous or wicked.
And this is the point that Jesus comes to clearly make
In the Sermon on the Mount.
He tells men things like:
• It is good not to physically kill a man, but even if you hate him, God sees you as a murderer.
• It is good not to physically sleep with another man’s wife, but if you have even wanted to God sees you as an adulterer.
You see God examines the righteousness of the heart,
Not just the righteousness of the hands.
THIS SERMON RENDERS MAN GUILTY WITHOUT EXCUSE
The purpose is to drive you away from your own self-sufficiency
And drive you to the outstretched hand of the Savior.
Jesus EXPOSES THE COUNTERFEIT RIGHTEOUSNESS OF MAN
With the intention of motivating them to accept
THE CREDITED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE SAVIOR.
And as we said last week,
Jesus does not start by exposing their hypocrisy,
Instead He starts by explaining what a righteous heart looks like.
THE BEATITUDES
They are the genuine attitudes of a true believer.
This is obviously not the attributes of someone
Who has never made a mistake,
But is the attitude of someone who has been justified in the sight of God.
Last week we saw the first one.
(3) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
And as we said last week, these beatitudes
Form a very strange paradox off of the lips of Jesus.
“Blessed” translates MAKARIOS
Which literally means “happy”
Some Greek scholars used it to describe those who were rich.
That means that Jesus is saying:
“Rich are the Poor”
“Happy are the Sad”
“Full are the Hungry”
In other words, true happiness is obviously not what the world thinks it is.
To find true happiness, we must let go of the worldly wisdom
And grab a hold of God’s.
And Jesus said first of all, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
The poor are not those who have less than others,
But here are referred to as those who have nothing.
They don’t even have anything to sell or trade.
They have resorted to their only option, which is begging.
And these poor are not the financially poor, but the spiritually poor.
In a real sense, they are those who have absolutely nothing to offer God.
All of their righteousness is a filthy garment,
All of their religious accomplishments are unacceptable.
They have nothing to offer, they are totally broke, spiritually bankrupt.
But Jesus said they are blessed,
Because it is they and they alone who receive “the kingdom of heaven.”
Only those who are spiritually bankrupt get to enter.
• God only accepts the broken.
• God only accepts the lowly.
• God only accepts the contrite of spirit.
And we studied that last week.
Let’s look at the second beatitude.
#2 BLESSED ARE THE MOURNERS
Matthew 5:4
There again we see that same word “Blessed”.
Jesus is again giving us the pathway to utter happiness.
And here it is reserved for “those who mourn”
“mourn” translates PENTHEO
And it literally means to mourn or grieve.
What you may not realize is that there are 9 different Greek words
Translated “mourn” throughout the New Testament,
But this one is the strongest.
This word was used for mourning the death of a loved one.
Mark 16:10 “She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping.”
This is someone who is dealing with a horrific circumstance
That is irreversible. It is bad, and they are stuck with it.
And so it seems strange to us that Jesus would say that people
Who mourn like this are in reality those who will be happy.
WHY?
“for they shall be comforted.”
Again, the Greek is in the emphatic which means
“they alone” or “they only” shall receive comfort.
The comfort of God is only for those who mourn like this.
“comfort” translates PARAKALEO
It means “to come alongside to encourage”
The word for Holy Spirit is PARAKLETE
(He is the Helper who comes to you to help you)
And Jesus says, that type of help, that type of comfort
Is strictly reserved for those who mourn.
And that certainly makes sense to us.
After all, are you more compelled to put your arm around someone grieving at a funeral or cheering at a football game?
Comfort is only for those who mourn.
BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN IN A SPIRITUAL SENSE?
What we are speaking of here is someone
Who we already know is spiritually bankrupt.
We already know they are absolutely deficient before God.
WHAT MADE THEM THAT WAY?
The answer is sin.
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
And now you know why they are mourning.
They are unacceptable to God
And they hate the sin that made them that way.
They hate the things they’ve done.
They hate the things they’ve thought.
They hate the things they’ve said.
And they are grieved with the strongest grief imaginable
Because of the consequences of that sin – HELL
This is why that tax collector was beating his breast.
The good news is that because they are mourning,
Our compassionate God is moved to offer them comfort.
Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
God is motivated to comfort the mourning.
Ever see Jesus go to a funeral?
Whether it was Jairus’ family…
Whether it was the widow who lost her son…
Whether it was Martha and Mary over Lazarus…
Jesus was overcome and moved to comfort them.
AND THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES JESUS COMFORTS
DOES THAT MEAN THEY ARE THE ONLY SINNERS?
No, the Bible says all have sinned.
But none of the other sinners receive God’s comfort
Because they weren’t grieved about it.
Think about it at a funeral.
Do you comfort a man rejoicing over the death of his spouse?
They receive no comfort because they did not mourn.
Luke 6:25 “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.”
And the same is true for us and sin.
God isn’t looking for those who have never sinned,
He is looking for those who know they’ve sinned and hate it.
And so the admonition is for us to realize our spiritual poverty
And hate the sin that put us in that horrible condition.
It’s not enough to know you are a sinner, you must hate it.
It must grieve you.
James 4:8-9 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.”
LEARN TO HATE YOUR SIN
And that is just the opposite of the world.
Our world doesn’t hate sin, our world loves sin.
Those who are found guilty of sin generally try to conceal it
So that they can keep doing it without consequence.
This is not the way to deal with sin.
1 John 1:8-10 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
Don’t conceal your sin, don’t ignore your sin, don’t deny your sin.
Hate your sin and beg God to remove it.
Blessed are the Poor
Blessed are the Mourners
#3 BLESSED ARE THE GENTLE
Matthew 5:5
Again Jesus is giving attributes of the truly happy of the truly “blessed”
And here He says that the “gentle” are “blessed”.
“gentle” translates PRAUS (PrOUSE)
It means “gentleness of spirit”
It is the word Peter uses to describe a godly woman.
1 Peter 3:4 “but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.”
And we understand that it refers to one
Who is not boisterous or loud or argumentative.
But one who is submissive and quiet and willing to listen to instruction.
The KJV calls it “meek”
“Strength under control”
(Like a horse)
And Jesus says here that people with this same attitude
Are the happiest people.
WHY? “for they shall inherit the earth.”
Our world thinks that in order to obtain the world
You have to scratch and claw and fight your way to the top.
You have to take what is yours and beat others to the punch.
“It’s a dog eat dog world”
But Jesus says just the opposite.
He says it is not the forceful who will obtain the world,
It is the gentle who will.
The reason of course is because God owns this world
And He will only give it to those who please Him.
Matthew 19:27-29 “Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”
Some day King Jesus will return and reign for 1,000 years
And those who reign with Him, are those who submitted to Him.
THAT CONVERSATION OCCURRED AFTER THE R.Y.R. LEFT.
He hated his sin (he wept)
But he was unwilling to submit
And so even though he owned the world now,
He would not ultimately be the owner of it.
That was for the meek disciples.
Because only the “gentle” will “inherit the earth”.
AND WE UNDERSTAND WHY THEY ARE GENTLE.
• This is a person who has come to grips with his spiritual poverty.
• And as a result of his poverty this person hates the sin that made him that way.
And now when God comes offering mercy,
He is willing to do anything God says in order to be forgiven.
No sacrifice is too great…
No command is too unreasonable…
No expectation is too lofty…
This person realizes they are getting a chance they don’t deserve
And so they are willing to follow any command,
To take any path, and endure any hardship.
They are in no position to bargain, they only wish to submit.
And they are blessed.
WE SHOULD DO THE SAME.
#4 BLESSED ARE THE HUNGRY
Matthew 5:6
Again we are talking about the “blessed”
And this time it is those “who hunger and thirst”
Now in a physical sense people “hunger and thirst”
Because their body is deficient of something it needs to survive.
AND WHEN A PERSON GETS EXTREMELY DEPRIVED,
THOSE DESIRES TAKE PRECIDENT OVER EVERYTHING ELSE.
That is why in the Old Testament we see women eating their children. Their hunger superseded all other thoughts and feelings.
Jesus says that people with that type of hunger are blessed.
Only it is not a hunger for food.
“hunger and thirst for righteousness”
AND THIS MAKES SENSE TO US DOESN’T IT?
• This is a person who is spiritually bankrupt with nothing to offer.
• All they have is sin and they hate it.
• They are willing to do whatever it takes to be forgiven.
• Because all they really want is to be righteous in God’s sight.
I’ve always loved the 7th chapter of Romans,
Because there you see the heart of a man who hungers for righteousness
And mourns over sin.
Romans 7:15 “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”
Romans 7:21-24 “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”
Can you feel Paul’s pain?
Can you identify with his hatred of sin and his hunger to be righteous?
If you can, then you are blessed.
WHY ARE THE HUNGRY BLESSED?
“for they shall be satisfied.”
That word “satisfied” is used other places.
Matthew 14:20 “and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets.”
God didn’t just give a little, God filled them up.
And they alone are the only ones God gives righteousness to.
After that cry for deliverance, Paul went on to say:
Romans 7:25 – 8:1 “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Paul hated sin and hungered for righteousness and God gave it to him.
I know in our world people who stand on street corners begging for food
Have a negative connotation.
People tell us not to help them, because they are scamming us.
Yet I know, that many times I have given them food
Because I was compelled by their hunger. (And I bet you have too)
But you know, I don’t know if I’ve ever went and bought food and then stopped someone at random in the mall and asked them if they wanted it.
If they aren’t hungry, we don’t give it.
And that is true for God as well.
He gives righteousness to those who hunger and thirst for it.
So far we’ve seen the first half of the beatitudes.
The first four deal with coming to God.
The last four are evidences of a heart that has come to God.
AND IN THESE FIRST 4 BEATITUDES
YOU HAVE THE HEART OF EVERY SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION.
That person saw their sin and hated it.
And submitted to God all because they wanted to be righteous.
And so thus far you know the type of attitude God wants from you.
• He is not asking you if you are perfect, He wants to know if you know that you aren’t.
• He is not asking you if you have ever sinned, He wants to know if you hate the sin you know you’ve committed.
• He is not asking you if you have a plan to change your life, He is asking you if you would be willing to listen to His.
• He is not asking you if you are righteous, He is asking you if you want to be.
Because righteousness, reward, comfort and heaven are only for those who know they are sinful, hate it, and long to be righteous.
WHY?
Because they are the only ones who will
Accept the salvation Jesus offered.
Jesus came and died on a cross to be a sacrifice for sin.
And He offers it to all who will deny self, take up the cross and follow Him.
But people won’t do that unless they are convinced that they are unacceptable to God because of their sin, and unless they want righteousness so bad that they will do anything to get it.
THIS MUST BE YOUR ATTITUDE OR YOU WILL NEVER COME TO JESUS.
AND YOU WILL NEVER BE SAVED.
THIS MORNING YOU SEE THAT WE ARE GOING TO PARTAKE IN THE LORD’S SUPPER.
We do this because we realize that without Him we could never be saved.
We are spiritually bankrupt
We are filthy sinners
We can only beg for righteousness
BUT HIS SACRIFICE PURCHASED THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR US
AND NOW WE COME TO REMEMBER THAT.
It is a time of worship!
• Because though we are poor – we are rich
• Because though we mourn – we are comforted
• Because though we are meek – we will reign
• Because though we are hungry – we are filled
AND IT IS ALL BECAUSE OF THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST
We never partake of the Lord’s Supper without a time of preparation to first examine ourselves.
And this morning, if you have realized that
THE BEATITUDES HAVE NEVER BEEN YOUR ATTITUDES,
I want to invite you to see the truth about yourself and come to Jesus.
If you will realize what you are, hate your sin, beg Christ for righteousness and submit to Him, He will save you.
During this time, I will be here at the front,
You come and give your life to Jesus.
