Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit | Jeff Vines

all right good morning everybody how are we give a little shout out if you would over to Hannah one of Gardens our campus over there if you would come on and over at lone Hill as well say hello to them Fireside Room turning your Bibles if you would to Matthew chapter 5 we're in a series called lookup here and we're saying basically that with all the turmoil in our world and even in our individual lives God continually calls us to look up here to look up to God and to began to put the principles of Scripture into our lives and life would be so different if we would just trust him in this and the basis of this series basically comes from the Sermon on the Mount and we're gonna take an intense look at it probably like you've hopefully like you've never looked at it before and as we get into it JT Fisher who is a world renowned psychiatrist so he spent his entire life looking at the issue of mental health and here's what he says about the Sermon on the Mount he says for nearly 2000 years the Christian world has been holding in its hands the complete answer to its restless and fruitless yearning here rests the blueprint for successful human life with optimum mental health and contentment so if you want optimum mental health and contentment in your hands the Sermon on the Mount now the Sermon on the Mount I don't know if you know this is the most famous piece of literature in human history did you know that it's been quoted by presidents and prime ministers even rock stars and musicians Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan George Bush Bill Clinton sting the Rolling Stones Gandhi and even Napoleon himself all quoted quite often sections of the Sermon on the Mount and there's a common saying today that goes like this you don't really need to believe all the dogma of the Christians if you just live by the principles found on the Sermon on the Mount all will be well with you and your relationship with God so there you have it folks forget about the doctrine of justification by faith and the doctrine of grace and any major theological precept just design your life after the teachings live by the teachings Jesus presented presented in his discourse on the Sermon on the Mount and we you get to heaven on Judgment Day you can just present a little certificate your baptism certificate and a little note from your pastor that said I lived by the principles of the Sermon on the Mount give it over and you're good with God you're good to go now does anybody see a problem with this if you're going to try to live your life by the Sermon on the Mount and you think that's going to get you in well let's talk about that for a moment let's take a 40,000 foot view of what we're gonna be looking at here because the first thing Jesus does is he's going to confront you concerning your relationship to the world around you he's going to say if you're going to live your life based on the principles of the Sermon on the Mount you're gonna have to be salt and light in the world salt is not about flavor it's about preservation so if you want to preserve food and there's no refrigeration no freezers you just pump everything full of salt they obviously weren't concerned about heart attacks but they did want to preserve food so the first thing Jesus is gonna do he's gonna tell you that your default attitude if you're a Christ follower is that when you see people's lives falling apart physically spiritually emotionally while most people just run away you're gonna run toward them you're gonna be all about high-maintenance people how you doing so far I always like to look at the military guy who says those bodies I'm going in I'm gonna put myself in harm's way on behalf of someone else I'm gonna bear this burden carry this load subject myself to drowning you know when you try to help a drowning person the first thing that it was a lot try to drown you Jesus is saying we're gonna live by the principles of the Sermon on the Mount if you see a neighborhood falling apart economically socially in poverty most people move out as a Christian you're gonna move in so if you're in the community it's changing all around you with people you don't necessarily like you're not gonna run you're gonna move deeper into it and you're gonna pour yourself into it your time your money your heart your emotion Jesus says you're gonna be different when everybody else is moving out you're moving in and if that wasn't hard enough then he changes the topic and he says let's talk about your relationship to each other you've heard it said don't kill people well Jesus said I tell you that when you hate your brother or when you're angry with your brother you've killed them if murder is wrong he's going to tell you that the seeds that grow to murder are also wrong and he's going to tell you that if you're gonna be his disciple every single person you meet every personal encounter that you have even though they're of a different race regardless of class moral character personality you're going to treat them as your exact equal you're going to see them as something precious in the image of God something that is infinitely precious so if you mean a Republican or a Democrat or a rich person or a poor person or middle class or lower class or religious irreligious Christian Muslim Hindu or atheist all of them Jesus says should feel welcomed and cherished by you not just tolerated no not just tolerated but cherished by you so if you're going to live your life by the principles of the Sermon on the Mount you're gonna embrace high-maintenance communities and high maintenance people how you doing so far well here we go next thing he's gonna talk about a sexual integrity he's gonna say the Christ followers understand that a sexual sin is more than the Act it's also the thought Jesus will tell you that even if you look upon someone in an improper way you've committed adultery in your heart if you see an attractive man or an attractive woman and suddenly your imagination takes over and you start wondering what it would be like to be with them jesus said then you have been with him when we get to that section he's gonna show you and you're gonna see how determined Jesus is to show you and me how immoral how a violation of design that it really is to give yourself to someone sexually that you've not given yourself to emotionally economically spiritually psychologically Jesus demands that you keep mind and body inextricably tied together don't give your body to someone that you're not willing to give your entire life to don't have sex unless you've married this person and made a covenant with them to take care of them economically for the rest of their lives don't do something with the body that you don't have enough integrity to do with your whole life and he's gonna remind you that God does not penetrate you with his spirit until there's full commitment you shouldn't do the same with someone else no body commitment until life covenant commitment now let's go back to that common saying people say you don't need to believe all the dogma of the Christians if you just live by the principles the Sermon on the Mount all will be well with you and God how you doing come on now and it just gets more difficult because the next thing he says it's not enough just to avoid tally lies don't exaggerate don't embellish that pretty much does away with every sermon illustration I've ever given come on don't embellish don't exaggerate don't ever swear speak in exact phrases that correspond to reality let your yes mean yes your no mean no every little word you say every little yes every little know every little offhanded comments should be is absolutely true is if you swore on a stack of Bibles in other words the whole truth nothing but the truth so help you God number five he's gonna tell you how do you respond to people who are hostile toward you your political opponents your in-laws your siblings your mother-in-law your work mate this is where Jesus is gonna tell you and confront you to turn the other cheek and that the other the cheek is where you kissed people in Jesus day but the real meaning here is if somebody wrongs you if you're a Christ follower really living your life by the principles of the Sermon on the Mount then you never think about payback or revenge or hostility so in some idiot cut you off on the 210th you see I just violated the some another man I call somebody an idiot so when somebody created when somebody created in the image of God precious in His sight cut you off on the 2:10 let him go when you get the church and somebody stole your parking place let him go when somebody took your seat in church that you always have let it go when a co-worker is abusive or unkind when a Democrat abuses you on social media when a Republican belittles you in the public resists the default to move in and exact revenge you say if you're gonna live by the principles of Sermon on the Mount you're going to instantaneously forgive it's gonna be the posture of your life and everything you do is to promote restoration so you're not apathetic and you're not passive you do move in but when you move in it's for the purpose of telling the truth and to promote peace to show them what real hope and love and care is all about restoration what are the peacemakers and then he moves into the next area your response and - toward the port Jesus says that when you give to the poor don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so Jesus assumes that if you're gonna live your life on the basis of the Sermon on the Mount that you're automatically a generous person giving to the poor giving to those who are less fortunate and he assumes that generosity coincides with a constantly downsizing in your life he assumes that every time you get a raise you're not gonna build bigger and bigger barns and bigger and bigger houses and have more and more stuff you're gonna live the way you've always lived and the more he gives you the more you're gonna give away how're you doing with that one and then he says don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing in other words don't tell yourself about it when you aren't generous don't sit yourself down and say dude you're awesome and don't treat the poor in a condescending way as if to say here you go you loser look at me I'm such a good person to help these pathetic people don't have a patronizing paternalistic attitude Jesus said I don't want you to do that because because the reason you do something is just important as the fact that you do it and then he goes on he starts talking about your spiritual life you want to live your life by the principles of the Sermon on the Mount when you pray don't do it in public so as to be heard going to your room shut the door and he's gonna tell you this is the acid test of what your heart is really like you come to church you pray you worship you engage in the sacraments you may even do so in life group and Rudy group and a sunday-school class but the real acid test of where your heart is when you're alone when you do not have to think about anything else when your thoughts are yours to spend as you want do your thoughts automatically and spontaneously go to God when you're in your car by yourself when you're walking on the beach when you find yourself alone what is the default of your heart what do you start thinking about anything about God and His goodness and your relationship with him do you take an introspective look at where you are with God do you think about what he's done in the past where you are in the present and where God will take you in the future Jesus will confront you and he will say if you're going to live by principles of the Sermon on the Mount that you've got to ask yourself the question what is it that captures your heart your time your money your attention Jesus is gonna tell you that whatever you think most about in your prayer time or private time wherever your heart tends to go by default that thing is your real God he's gonna say your real God is what you spend your time thinking about when you're by yourself what your mind automatically drifts to what most captures your heart and it gets more and more difficult he goes to the next thing he says your attitude toward money he says don't store up treasures on earth but where your treasure is there will your heart be also now look a storehouse and we'll get to this later but just in the 40,000 foot view a storehouse is the place that you put your money that is most easy for you to put it there okay it's the place you don't mind you don't have a lot of regret there's no buyer's remorse you love forking over the cash in this area that's your storehouse what is it a couple of weeks ago I had a chance to play at a very very nice golf course and had I played it it would have been the most expensive round of golf I ever had do you think I played it absolutely absolutely because I love golf and the question geez is going to confront you with is it something I don't care pastor Jeff you love golf do you love my kingdom as much even more when you spend your resources would you spend that much resource I'm building my kingdom and if not then you know now where your real God is and if you find it difficult to give away ten fifteen twenty percent of your income to God's mission in the world it's because your real storehouse is in something else so generosity radical generosity is a sign that your heart is moving toward God a lack of generosity is a sign that your heart is moving away from God a lack of a private prayer life Jesus is going to tell you is a sign that you're not moving toward God that you're self-centered your other oriented and you have other kinds of false gods in your life so I Got News live your life by the principles of the Sermon on the Mount you're good to go are you getting it yet block 9 your attitude toward the circumstances he says don't be anxious he says a real Christ followers not going to worry so much remember the Lord's Prayer section is in the Sermon on the Mount and he's going to say because you know that your father's in heaven and he has your best interest in mind and you know because he's in heaven II as a perspective you don't have he's able to connect the dots of your life so even in unfortunate sets of circumstances you may not know what God is doing but God knows what he's doing so you don't worry you trust in the goodness of God in fact Jesus is going to make the point then it ordered it and painful worry is always a form of pride because you think you know better than God how your life ought to be going and you're afraid he's gonna mess it up and if that's the case where he's a sign of where your real God is it's in your outcomes those are your gods so he's gonna confront you with what really gives you peace in your life when are you able to go and for most of us in the West it's how much money's in the bank account come on let's just be honest that's what gives us peace if we don't have enough we're worried all the time we're we're in sake and Jesus will tell you and me that's because you're real God isn't money and he'll tell you in the Sermon on the Mount can't serve both God and money got to make up your mind which one you're gonna get your peace from and he says when you come to have to choose between your real God what gives you peace and what you say gives you peace you're always going to choose the one that you think will advance your agenda not God's so if you like generosity it's a sign that you rule God is not God if you have a lack of a private prayer life and you only pray when you come into this place it's a sign of who your real God is and your constant striving and anxiety is also a sign of your real God and he keeps going talks about your attitude toward people who have what you determined are wrong beliefs amen even the children will cry out if they adults though what is your response to people who strongly disagree with your political views if I were to go on your social media page what would I discover about you what would I learned that you hate how do you treat people who you consider to be immoral Jesus is gonna say judge not less you not be judged or lest you be judged but that can't mean don't criticize a reprimand because otherwise you have to throw most of the Bible out to judge it's not the absence of rebuke or criticism but to give such correction without humility and winsomeness and love and hope and restoration it's not about an apathetic life a passive life it's about when you confront somebody that they know almost right away that you're not confronting them to prove yourself to be right you're actually talking to them because you want restoration between the two of you and our nation right now is so divided we are militantly divided we've lost our ability to have cordial conversations we just sling mud at each other and yell and scream and make accusations and what Jesus is going to tell you that if you're going to live your life on the basis of the Sermon on the Mount then you're gonna be salt and light which means that people would not always agree with you they may even persecute you but they will never feel that they're hated by you okay how you doing I'm assuming that we've all got this down and we live our lives on the basis of the Sermon on the Mount so we are good with God right wrong and if you think you're living that way you're delusional man most of you violated one of those in the last 30 seconds I mean think about that the Sermon on the Mount a life of joy divestiture in which we are constantly shedding power shedding wealth shedding comfort a life and absolute integrity and sexuality and speech a life where you love people so much that you never treat anybody with disdain or indifference a life of love and trusting God that you never worry and never Stan gee life at the highest knows bleep top life Jesus says if you be like this if you live like this oh yeah you're gonna stand out you're gonna be noticeably different cuz Ming nobody else gonna be this way you will stand out in the darkness so there's a beauty and there's a wonder to the Sermon on the Mount as we're gonna see you week after end oh we're just in the introduction not of this sermon of the series don't worry but there's also a horror associated with the Sermon on the Mount now stay with me for much of the twentieth century I've seen this statement again and again am i reading in my conversation I hear it by those who have abandoned the church but still want to talk about goodness and it's they find it difficult I also read it in books that try to keep a sense of morality while debunking all religion they also find that difficult I still hear it among young people when I tell them that I still believe in the church that it's the hope of the world with all of its sin and frailty and imperfection it's still the hope of the world and goes like this here's the modern statement we are modern people we don't believe a lot of the old beliefs miracles and the resurrection stuff we are modern people we live in a scientific age and so much of the Christian dogma we just throw it out but wait the Sermon on the Mount what a wonderful thing what a wonderful ethical blueprint of how we all should live yeah well I'm still waiting on somebody to live that way see what they're saying we don't need all the dogma all the Christian dogma we don't need you're all we need his Louise live by the Sermon on the Mount okay I'm that funny you're obviously not laughing but that Virginia stem Owens is a writer and an author who taught literature at a number of prestigious universities she recently gave her students an assignment it was very easy step one read the Sermon on the Mount step to write an essay she was totally shocked at what came back although she writes later she shouldn't have been many of them had never even heard of the Sermon on the Mount most of them had never read it and all of them almost all of them are unacquainted with it so you know what their essay responses were I hate the Sermon on the Mount one person said one student I did not like the Sermon on the Mount it made me feel like I had to be perfect and no one is I don't feel safe another student said the things asked him the Sermon are absurd to look at a woman like that as adultery to be angry or insult someone like that is murder those are the most extreme stupid inhuman statements I've ever heard and Virginia Owens concludes by writing this finally biblical illiteracy has come to the point where people in America are able to respond to Jesus Christ without filtering him through 2,000 years of cultural aise honest ignorant ears can finally hear the sermon on the mount as it really is and they hated it it was horror it was disgusting you know what she's saying she's saying you and I as Christ followers we've been able to soften the Sermon on the mouth for far too long now now we got a whole new generation that never heard of it never read it and when they read it they read it as it really is and it makes them mad because they can't live up to it anyone who says you don't need doctrine or Dogma you don't need the church you just need to live by the principles Jesus gave during the Sermon on the Mount and it will be good with you and God anyone who ever says that has never read the Sermon on the Mount because if you look at what the sermon really says and you start to grasp it you know what you're gonna do lord save me from the Sermon on the Mount help me God please take it away I was out in Palm Springs not too long ago with a friend of mine and there was a golf tournament on so we got to sit right on the bank at PGA West and watch all the pros warm-up and after about 10 minutes I just got depressed and my friend Brett moly could tell I was depressed and he said what's wrong and I said man what is that I can't do that I had this I this illusion that I was good but look at that I can't live up to that I just wanted to quit I quit that's it I'm not doing this anymore see the reason we do that is because when we read and understand the words of the Sermon on the Mount if you're honest that's exactly how you expect people around you to live you've expected people to live that way you've been demanding that everybody else should live that way and down deep in your heart you know you should be living that way but you ain't living that way and at the same time it's so detailed highlights motives as well as action did you start to think nobody can escape in other words this is what you know life should be this is what you know you should be like but you fall infinitely short you can't even come close to it unless you lie to yourself if you truly try to understand the Sermon on the Mount it will condemn you expose you it will disgust you because you'll realize man who can do that it's unfair it's unrealistic the problem is if you see the beauty of it and a horror of it at the same time what in heaven's name can you do now this is where it gets good this is step one of the Sermon on the Mount series imagine for over 400 years the people of Israel have not heard from God four hundred years between Malachi and Matthew no prophet no teacher no preacher no words and Jesus comes on the scene and it's 30 years before he really says anything he says a few things in the temple but it's 30 years before he starts his teaching ministry and now he's about ready he's ready he's been baptized he's accepted the role of massage ship he's been tempted in the desert and now he goes out he's gonna preach his first sermon okay so it's been a long time jesus knows the primary question on everybody's mind before he preaches his first word and it's this dude what do we need to do to be right with God because we're all in trouble and the first words out of Jesus mouth the Sermon on the Mount is what blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven now please hear me now this is the part of the sermon that was 30 minutes long that I cut to 30 seconds okay so you better listen to the 30 seconds I have made a purpose of my life to study every world religion and philosophy I've not gotten to them all but I can tell you this there is nothing nothing even close to what Christ teaches okay I didn't say there weren't other good point say there's nothing close to this fundamental doctrine because when most people approach God here's how they do so even the Atheist the Atheist will tell you what I don't believe in God but just in case there happens to be a God I'm good anyway okay Bertrand Russell was asked what are you gonna do if you meet God he's well I'm gonna tell him that he didn't give me enough information but I was good anyway that's what he trained Russell they noted atheist say so a theist believes this I don't believe there's a god but if there turns out to be when I'm okay cuz yeah I've done some bad things but I've done a lot of good things too and not only the atheist but most people all people read all people in the religious world will tell you this well you know I know I've got some dead over here and I've done some bad things and pretty bad things but I've also done some good so it's not like I'm destitute I got some money in the bank now I have some good things to bring to and so I may have a lot of debts I got it and I've done a lot of bad things I got that too but I got a lot of assets too so I'm good I'm not perfect anything here's somebody well nobody's perfect I'm not perfect but I've done some bad things but I'm still do the good in the bank I'll admit I do need some forgiveness and I really would like you God now that I know that you're real I really would like you to forgive me further bad things but I got some good things too over here so consider this I bring that to the table only those who are Christians or those who are becoming Christians will tell you they got no money into bank they got nada nothing they are completely and utterly bankrupt to say that you have no money in the bank means that not only have you sinned I mean come on everybody says yeah I've sinned everybody believes they've sinned but you're also admitting that even most of your good deeds are done not with pure motives not out of good intentions that most of our good deeds are done to keep control of my life to show that I'm worthy of blessing to earn my own self-respect to get people to like me to see me to honor me so Jesus just breaks that with the first words out of his mouth they haven't heard from a teacher or a prophet for hundreds of years and the first thing Jesus says you won't know how to get in the kingdom blessed are the poor in spirit what does he mean by that blessed are those who know they got nothing in the bank they got nothing and even their good stuff is often done by impure improper motivation poor in spirit is not an economic statement it's a spiritual metaphor of bankruptcy I have no collateral I have no backup funds there's nothing I can bring to the table nothing it's not that I don't it's not that I have a poor resume I got no resume and my only hope is mercy only a Christian can say that because everybody else thinks that's ludicrous that's why I think that was one of the clinchers for me when I was younger no man could make up the doctrine of justification by faith you wouldn't do that because you want to control things you want to say well if I do this this and this then God will accept me that's where religion comes from so I'm gonna give you this list no man would ever make up the doctrine of justification by faith so Jesus says are you poor in spirit do you know you've got nothing and are you mourning that's that makes me attitude what's mourning well again it's metaphorical mourning is the spirit of repentance you know you're spiritually bankrupt you know you don't have a lot of good and even the good that you do have you know you have a lot of debts but even the good you have is not real true good because it's not done purely out of a spiritual honest motivation and so you get to that point when you realize man you start mourning I'm sad as I'm in big trouble and then he says are you meek and meeting this is what the recognition that you were powerless so a Christian doesn't come to God saying I'm really bad at all these things god I know but I'm good over here so I'm good here I don't need you there but over here where I'm bad I need some forgiveness but I really deserve it because I got money in the bank that's not what a Christian does a Christian says man I see now how even my good deeds often have impure motives outside of your complete grace and mercy I'll have no hope God the only way I can be saved is by absolute grace come on I read come on I went through those ten forty thousand foot view of the Sermon on the Mount can you even do one of them come on to look at a woman improperly is adultery some of you did that before you got here in the parking lot let's just be honest not you came today and you're new anything man these people well welcome to the world of sinners but it's not that we want to be I'll get to that in a moment in fact the next part of the beatitude is are you hungry and thirsting after righteousness blessed are the poor in spirit theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn they will be comforted blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness their gonna be filled so a person who is a Christ follower or who is becoming a Christ follower actually hungers and thirsts after holiness and righteousness the problem with the word righteous is righteousness is it's a non-starter we don't really have a definition in our world today but the Sermon on the Mount the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to give you a definition of righteousness it's a life of love equality and uncondition ality and integrity full of integrity and word and deed and sexuality and generosity and justice and trust and inner peace so how did the students of mrs. Owens literary class respond the same way most people respond when they are confronted with a righteousness revealed in the Sermon on the Mount they say this is unrealistic it makes me feel bad I want nothing to do with it but here's the strange thing if you're a Christian you read and study the Sermon on the Mount and you love it but then there's a to it because you know you don't live it you with me so you love it oh this is good oh no this is bad this is good no this is bad but you want it you want it the words crawl into your paradigms and they cause an explosion of reality and truth you find you finally see what real love and real justice and real mercy and real peace and real forgiveness and real purity you discover you were playing in the puddles now you see the ocean you were playing in the dirt now you see the mountains I should live like this I should be bold and happy and loving and just I should be like this but I'm not but I really want to be only Christians no they don't just need a little bit of help man they need a Savior they're starving for righteousness they hunger for it now if you're truly dying of hunger what do you do do you plant a garden no you can't wait for the food to grow you'll be dead do you go out and get a job earn some money and try to go to Burger King no you don't if you're literally starving you need a gift right you need a gift right now and Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit the ones who come knowing they got no hope no job no garden to be planted they need grace the irony is that the true christ follower is not somebody that looks at the Sermon on the mountain say well I'm not even gonna try because you can't do it anyway and it really doesn't bother me some just go on the wall with my life there's a problem with that person they're called grace abusers the real Christ Lord looks at and says man oh I love that I really wish I could do that but I don't but I want it and then they discover in the gospel which is why it's good news how to get it Paul got it in Philippians he said I want to be found in him I want to be found in him I want to be found in him [Music] see in my mind I just violated the Sermon on the Mount just about see you see my point you see my point you see and so did he I want to be found in him not having a righteousness of my own based on my own moral efforts but a righteousness that comes from God through faith in Christ I want to rights listen not of my own or moral efforts but that comes from God through faith in Christ what is that remember there's one of two ways to be righteous before God 1 keep the law perfectly which none of you can do and if you think you can you're delusional and if you think you've got a lot of money in the bank that overrides all your debts you're still delusional see people say that Christians are delusional I'm telling you they're the only ones with a reality on life we know how bad we are and we know we need help so you either keep the law perfectly or you pay the penalty for breaking it and God said I'm gonna have my son pay your penalty past present future so that when I see you I look at you not as having offended the law but I see you as righteous having paid the penalty for breaking it because you've claimed my son as your Savior that's the righteousness and then then Paul says in Romans 4 I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes first to the Jew then to the Gentile for in the gospel the righteousness of God has revealed a righteousness that is by faith the righteous will live by faith the power of God not your power to be good God's power to save you from yourself now there there are some there are some religious police in the audience and right now they're thinking Oh Patra you gonna tell them they should be good people anyway you're missing the point the real christ-followers still pursues the Sermon on the mountain that kind of life why not to be righteous you pursue because you are righteous because what happens is when you enter the kingdom through a low door do you realize you need you need grace and mercy and forgiveness then the Bible says Christ comes on the inside and it's no longer you who live but Christ who lives in you and suddenly you find you got new passions so the genuine Christ follower who came through a low door gets the Spirit of Christ and now you see the Sermon on the Mount you love it but you don't do it but you want to and your whole life is the journey of the pursuit of Christ right but you're never going to be saved about how good you are that's a gift of God now I you know I'm so glad we're doing this in a series there's so much more to say I just hope and pray that maybe some of you've been in church for 30 40 years and you've never had the clay that the click just happened that you thought man all these things I've been doing I thought they were earning favor with God you know when I sign up for bumper bag when I sign up to serve I thought all of these were earning me merit points and now Jeff tells me they're not they're not now if I go out of here and 1500 people will take their name off the serving list all that does is tell me this you didn't come to Christ to the load or because had you come to Christ of the load or knowing you had nothing you'd have a change of heart to where you want to serve and you want to give not to earn salvation but because of the salvation you've already been given now here's here's where it ends this weekend here's where it ends this word blessed in the Beatitudes it does not mean happy happy used to one happy is the one who and we define happiness in America is pleasurable satisfaction I'm gonna be happy if I I'm gonna be happy if I know all through the Old Testament all through the Old Testament every time this word do you Hebrew Aramaic all the way up to the time Jesus speaks this were blessed is a word that means to have God's favor on you and it's more often than not associated with a hero David Solomon Samson so heroes were able to do great things now were the heroes of the Bible good people oh my goodness can you say Bathsheba okay so so they weren't fantastic people but there was a season in their lives where God did something great out of his grace and mercy and these people were said to have had the favor of God on them and they were said to have been blessed now before Jesus will talk to you about what he wants you to do and how he want you to live he will first talked about to you about what you have to be first until you until your beam is transformed there's no way you're gonna have even any chance of doing any of these things and part of that beam is that you've been transformed by the grace of God and you know these are things that you do out of love and appreciation not out of a some kind of effort to earn right or favor with God so you go to heaven but before he talks about you the Beatitudes are about him don't you see who was the first one to be poor in spirit he was he humbled himself and became a man the god of the universe why can you and I be rich as kings because he became poor utterly poor why can you and I be comforted because he mourned over our situation and our plight why are you and I inheriting the earth because he became meek he was like a lamb led to the slaughter why are you and I obtaining mercy because he got none from pilot or Herod or the Romans or anybody else not even his own father his father turned his back on his own son so he would not have to turn his back on us so if you don't understand the gospel and you come to the Sermon on the Mount you're gonna cry out and say God saved me from the Sermon on the Mount this is too much but if you understand the gospel you're gonna say God save me through the true understanding of the hero of the Sermon on the Mount who did for me what I could not do for myself who emptied himself so that I could become filled right I love this paraphrase the message of Jesus Christ in some is this do not be afraid little flock for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom he is doing for himself great things that we cannot even imagine therefore be bold be unafraid dear brothers and sisters in the Lord we have a great gospel there's nothing else like it in heaven or on earth it isn't either spiritual nor real it's not a spiritual experience it's not really just a list of do's and don'ts rather it is the still small voice that you do not expect and cannot command it is the trumpet call of the age to come it is the Word of God which is indeed at work in all you who believe the work and Word of God is in you because you came in humility and now he is doing a good work in you that he's promised to bring to completion the spiritually destitute there are the ones who get the Kingdom and that's just the intro to the Sermon on the Mount you come through a humble door and when you do he gives you what you desperately need for gift father I think you embrace you for the power of your word I thank you for the Sermon on the Mount I look ahead and I thought man where we're going it opens up a whole new world it will be a shift in the way that we think about goodness about righteousness I pray that there would have been a click in the minds of so many that perhaps for the first time their gratitude is overwhelming them to realize what God did through Christ Father I pray that our eyes would be open that we would come to understand that possibly the reason we don't have a passion for these things is because we're still bringing our own merit and only when we come before Jesus and say I got nothing nothing save me does he put his spirit in us and changed not only what we do but what we want to do their prayer in Christ's name

Channel: ONE&ALL

Views: 3,871

Rating: 4.8644066 out of 5

Keywords: JEsus, Sermon on the Mount, Hey Up Here

Id: uyApXIMLlns

Length: 42min 11sec (2531 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 03 2018