"The Beatitudes - 8 Keys To Joy and Peace. Part 2" with Doug Batchelor (Amazing Facts)

[Music] we're talking about the Beatitudes that you find there in the Sermon on the Mount and it's in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 first 12 verses and right now we're in part two in that series on the Beatitudes talking about eight keys to joy into peace you know they say in flying in aviation your attitude determines your altitude have you heard that expression before and what that means is the attitude of the plane the plane is fixed but attitude of the plane going through the air if it's attitude is like that it hits the air it goes down if it's attitude is like this it goes up because the attitude is like that it's going to turn and so the attitude determines the altitude and they say that's true of you depending on what your attitude is in life but I'd like to see your Beatitudes determine your altitude the Bible Beatitudes that word there means blessing but it really is a beatitude because it's dealing with the inner life all of the Beatitudes are dealing with the inner life now we did an introduction we covered about three of them last we got like to review that quickly it doesn't take long you turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter five and we'll start with verse 3 Jesus is speaking to a multitude of disciples he's up on a hillside he sits when he teaches and he opens his mouth and he says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven doesn't say someday it will be but he said now it is the kingdom of heaven is at hand and the poor in spirit are those who recognize their spiritual poverty then he says blessed are those who mourn when they realize that they're poor and wretched and there is sinful and our struggles they mourn for that he promises they will be comforted this also is those who may be a mourning personal loss and Bible tells us that when Martha and Mary came to Jesus after the death of Lazarus he saw everybody weeping and he wept with them but then he comforted them with a resurrection they were comforted and then he says blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth talking about humility which is the opposite attitude of the devil who is proud and selfish of the meek after we realize our poverty of spirit we realize how weak we are we mourn those things that will develop within you an attitude of meekness have you heard of someone who's been through a humiliating experience they're more likely to behave meekly than those who are proud and arrogant now that brings us to our subject for today are you hungry anyone hungry I just need a little breakfast this morning hoping that it would help me be more into the message a few grapes and nuts because I'm gonna talk about hunger we may get on to some other Beatitudes but Jesus said blessed happy are those who hunger that sounds like another paradox right there you think it would be happier those who are filled but he said no you're blessed if you're hungry are you hungry for what if you're hungry and thirsting for righteousness those are the ones who will be filled this is one of the most important VIII attitudes and you see a change is taking place first it's talking about you know your your poverty of spirit and your mourning and humility and now it's saying you're not gonna just look at the problem anymore now you're going to hunger after the answer I don't want to always be mourning that I am poor of spirit at some point I want righteousness how do you get that righteousness you hunger for it now hunger is a it's a desire we all have I don't know if you're hungry now I've made up my mind you will be before I'm done today I'll stay within the timeframe but everyone gets hungry it's part of life and it's something that is ongoing the hunger and thirst for righteousness are also something that it's an ongoing hunger and there's an ongoing filling that happens when you have that ongoing hunger for righteousness probably ought to decide or give you the definition for right now biblically righteousness means integrity virtue purity of life rightness correctness of thinking feeling and acting that would be a definition for the Bible word for righteousness do you hunger and thirst after that righteousness now righteousness is a definition of Christ so when you say you're hungry and thirsting after righteousness it means you're hungry and thirsting to be like Jesus to have his attitudes in fact as you go through the Beatitudes they're all talking about being christ-like he became poor that we might be rich so as you go through them one by one and we'll do this before we're done I'll show you that really the essence the quintessence of all the Beatitudes is to be like Christ now all of us are hungry but sometimes we're not hungry for the most important thing are you hungry for righteousness are you hungry for the attitudes and spirit of Jesus you know the Bible says that the world is filled with a hunger that is never satisfied Ecclesiastes 1:7 all the rivers run into the sea yet the sea is not full it's constantly hungry to the place where the rivers come they return again all things are full of Labor man cannot express a VI is not satisfied with seeing very rarely do you say I've seen enough I'm gonna close my eyes the rest of the day it's like there's a hunger there the ear is not satisfied with hearing proverbs 27 2010 and destruction are never full so the eyes of man are never satisfied it's not talking about physical scene it means there will always want more more and more someone asked Rockefeller who was a billionaire at the time how much money does it take before a person's happy he said a little more so it's a little more never satisfied the hungers of the world and we're all hungry for different things some people have different hobbies and and different things that they crave and some have different addictions you know it never satisfied if a person has a problem with alcohol they don't say one more drinks all I'll ever need they always need more and it never satisfies I remember hearing a story about some guys that were sitting around a campfire and they were telling their fantastic hunting stories you know guys get together and each one tries to top the other guys story and this one guy started to spin a yarn he said yeah years ago I was hunting out on the tundra of Siberia in a sleigh and a pack of 12 wolves hungry wolves started to chase me and he said so I whipped the horse and started to gallop but they were gaining on me and I knew they were gonna overtake me and those wolves were starving and they were gonna eat me so I took my rifle I turned around and I shot one of the Wolves and as I expected they all stopped and they were so ravenous they ate the dead wolf but it didn't take very long before they got up and they wanted more and they came after me so I turn around I shot another wolf and they stopped again and they eat that wolf I said this carried on he said until there was only one wool left and he kept chasing me and it spent some wait wait wait a second here if you're telling the truth that one wolf out of 12 that's left is now filled with the other 11 wolves how in the world is that possible he said yeah it surprised me too there was nothing that would satisfy that wolf and that's the way it is with sin it doesn't satisfy it says it's always more more and more we hunger for those things that don't satisfy some are not hungry for righteousness because we have spoiled our appetite with other things you ever hear your parents say don't ruin your appetite I want you to be hungry when dinner comes how many of you want your kids to be hungry when dinner comes but you want them to be hungry for the right things and if you see them eating junk food you know it's gonna ruin their appetite and they won't be healthy the Bible talks about that Isaiah 55 verse 2 why do you spend your money for that which is not bread a lot of people buy things and they regret that they bought them and they they go one spending sprees and they think they're gonna be satisfied with materialism and I knew one man and his wife I mean I've run into all kinds of addictions in ministry and they really had a shopping addiction they were deeply in debt credit cards were just through the roof he go to visit them their garage was filled with things they had bought online boxes that had not even been open they impulsively bought you've heard of hoarding they were hungry for something they thought maybe if I buy this or i buy that it'll satisfy me and they weren't satisfied they were in debt it was ruining their health the only thing that'll satisfy your soul is Jesus he is righteous we must hunger and thirst for that righteousness but some of us are spoiling the spiritual hunger because we're ruining our appetite with junk food you're taking the edge off your spiritual hunger with the things of the world I think that the people in the Church of we would hunger you know I'm sorry I'm sorry in a sense that there's probably very few of you here that have really been hungry and I'm not sorry that I want you to suffer I'm sorry that you won't ever know what I'm preaching about today because unless you've gone days without eating and you've had to you know be satisfied with things like the grass and weeds and just handfuls of this and that so the your your stomach hurts so much you tighten your belt hoping it'll take away the pain not too many of us pray that prayer Lord give me this day my daily bread and you really are praying they'll be bred for one more day some parts of the world people are dying from malnutrition for the first time in many years Americans are dying from over nutrition do you know the American life's the lifespan actually went down over the last two years for the first time in generations why we're eating too much of the wrong things so when I talk about hunger people in the Bible they knew one hunger was there were famines where they wouldn't eat and Jesus said I want you to hunger I want you to crave I want you to yearn people are driven by hunger you know my appetite and I'm not a starving person but just my regular everyday appetite like you have dictates my schedule how many of you build your day around your hunger I admit it I plan on eating something in the morning I plan on eating lunch a matter of fact we often have our staff meeting and I meet with the different pastors it's kind of nice now we're meeting at the new amazing fax offices and they know the Doug is gonna start squirming in his chair if we've been going an hour and a half and it's getting around lunchtime I say this meeting has to be over but we got this important item to talk about say it doesn't matter I've got something more important I have an appointment with my stomach you know what I mean at some point you say we got priorities here I'm a hungry and the hungrier you get the less important everything else seems isn't that right blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for righteousness if we would hunger and thirst for righteousness I see it all the time you know I get to quarter after I see you better than you see me and you start looking around the clock you're like this some of you look at the time clock I'm looking at cuz you know I'm watching that clock up there and you figure when that says zero he's supposed to be done some of you I could even hear your stomachs growl I know it's embarrassing but first the next year or two or three around you they hear it too that's cuz you're really hungry but we think about it don't weigh every day we've got we've got a very intimate relationship with our appetites and Jesus said you know it's a it's a good thing he designed us to eat and it's an ongoing need problem is we offer often hung green for those things that do not satisfy you know a doctor who is only treating your symptoms instead of the disease he's not really helping the patient there's a lot of doctors and folks come to him and they they've got some chronic problem and the doctor says you know I can give them some medication that'll make him feel better for a little while it's like a guy guys I play racquetball with and the reason their shoulders hurt is because they strain it constantly playing racquetball but what they do is they go to the doctor they say can you give me a cortisone shot so it won't hurt anymore that ain't the problem the medicine is not going to help but it'll give them temporary relief but as long as they keep straining that shoulder they're not really dealing with the what the issue is and oftentimes we are hungry for things that give us some temporary satisfaction but it doesn't last cause we're not dealing with the deeper issue the only thing that will really fill you that will really satisfy you is when you hunger and you thirst for righteousness now hunger is an ongoing need so being a Christian doesn't mean there's one time that you feel a hunger it means it's something that goes on Bible promises in Psalm 107 verse 9 he satisfies the longing soul and he fills the hungry so you doesn't say he satisfies the full soul he satisfies those who hunger it's generally true that a woman is more likely to say yes to a young man who proposes if she believes he really wants me if you think that you just happened to be the one that's nearest and if someone else comes along he'll want them instead you're saying I'm not interested in that guy because he just wants somebody and I happened to be here I want him to want me and I want him to really want me all right of course he can take that too far too first becomes obsessive but God wants to be wanted he wants us to hunger for him he wants to fill those who are hungry for him do you want him you know sometimes before we really want God you need to be famished you know the story of the prodigal son Luke 15 15 he went after he spends everything he's now poor in spirit he's a little bit meek he's humiliated he joins himself to a citizen of that country who sends him into his fields to feed swine and he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods the swine eat you get hungry enough and you'll eat pigs food is what this is saying and no one gave him anything but when he came to himself what brought him to his senses hunger and it wasn't just hunger he thought I'm eating pig food and if it wasn't eating it's not clear whether he did or not he said he feigned what it means he was willing to eat what the pods the pigs were eating their husks and then he remembers the banquets in his father's house where even the servants ain't - they're full they said one and the world is wrong with me I've forgotten how much better it was in my father's house he says he comes to his senses he said how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger I will arise and go where's he coming from a far country when you're hungry it'll drive you a long distance if you're hungry and thirsting for righteousness how far will you go until you're satisfied because you're starving you've got to go until you get to the food you know when I'm hungry it seems to increase until I do something about it your hunger for God is something that will deepen your hunger for righteousness will increase God has blessed people with a constant reminder in them when they're hungry for food and thirsty and if they don't satisfy that something has to happen go for it your life depends on your hunger hunger is a good thing if you don't have an appetite then it's a sign of bad health isn't that right your body is designed for hunger you go to the doctor and you say doctor just something's not right and I don't feel very good and he might ask you how's your appetite because if you have no appetite now some of us wish we had less appetite but I'm not talking about that kind of food but if you have no appetite the doctors thinking something's wrong because it is normal for you to be hungry when you're empty and if you're not feeling that if you've got a fuel gauge on your car that says full and you run out of gas you're gonna something's wrong with my car it's supposed to tell me when I'm empty right and in the same way God's designed us where we get this signal when we're empty and spiritually you ought to recognize that signal when we're empty spiritually how was your appetite if you have no hunger for the things of God how do you know if you're hungry for God what are the signs are you seeking after the things of God and righteousness you have a yearning in your sight in your heart and a desire for his holiness if you see in yourself something that is wrong you are you satisfied without are you disgusted because you are hungry for righteousness do you long for his word you have an appetite for the bread of life the Bible tells us that this would be a sign of a good hunger John 4 32 jesus said I have food to eat that you don't know about now this is a story when he's met the woman at the well and both talks about hunger and thirst in this story and he tells the woman she's come to draw water and she said he said if you knew who it wasn't talking to you you'd ask me and I'd give you living water artesian water that would spring up and satisfy your thirst and she's still thinking about physical water he said Oh Lord that would save me a lot of trips to the well I wish I could have that water he said you don't get it yet go call your husband she thought that's an interesting change of conversation and she said trying to divert she said well I don't I don't have a husband ha ha Jesus said that's honest good answer honest answer you don't have a husband because the guy you're living with now you're not married to but in fact you've had five husbands before him and all of a sudden she realized he's reaching into her heart now he's interested in not physical water he's talking about spiritual water he ultimately reveals to her that he's the Messiah which is what he wanted to do he knew this lady was unsatisfied I mean after you've been married five times and it still isn't working you're not satisfied you're looking for something and it's not working and he thinks he's saying the only man who's ever gonna satisfy you is sitting in front of you right now you realized that she had six others married to five living with one that six it wasn't until she met number seven she's like a type of the church she was satisfied and she said ah when he told her he knew her whole life she said we know Messiah when he comes he'll tell us all things he said I who speak to you a.m. he now he told her something he didn't tell the religious leaders she dropped her pot she said this is the Messiah she runs to town she says come see a man who told me all things ever I'd this is the Messiah and the whole town comes out at this point the disciples come back and they come to bring him physical food and this year Jesus eat he said I've got food you don't know about there's a who brought him anything to eat they're still thinking on the physical level and he's saying my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work jesus said I've got this spiritual food it's satisfying so if you've only got so much time in the morning and you either need to get your physical food or your spiritual food do you have a hunger for the bread of life which hunger is greater now I don't know I I'm not pretending and I'm at the place where I'm gonna say well I've only got time to usually I do both I bring my bowl in I got my cereal and I read while I eat it's a nice connection spiritual bread physical bread but if you had to pick between the two most of us would say I gotta have a physical bread but Jesus said man doesn't live by bread alone but by what every word that comes from the mouth of God do you do you treasure his word as the real bread that satisfies you job chapter 23 verse 12 I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food where did he put it as a priority said more Jeremiah 15:16 your words were found and I ate them and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart do you hunger for the word of God first chronicles 22 what are you seeking are you seeking God now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God is what David said to Solomon seek after God seek after righteousness Jeremiah 29:13 and you will seek for me and you'll find me when you seek for me with all of your heart you know if a person is hungry and they know that there within the range of food they will really look for it I was reading a piece of history Shackleton's first expedition to try to get to the South Pole and he made a couple of strategic mistakes they were still very new at Arctic exploration and they thought they could get there with ponies he didn't listen to some advice he had from another arctic explorer while in Chris he's in the Antarctic the arctic explorer was and you need to take dogs and they said dogs no we'll get the English ponies well after about 50 days the ponies were all dead the three of them were trudging on I think they got so hungry they ate the pony sorry kids and finally they realized Shackleton realized they were not gonna make it back they had run so low on food they might make it to the pole but they died there no one would ever know about it so within a hundred miles of the South Pole he turned back but they knew they barely had enough food to make it back and that they run out along the way said weeks later the ponies dead rations all but exhausted they turned back towards their bait base the goal was not accomplished altogether they trekked 120 days on the return journey as Shackleton records in the book heart of the Antarctic the time was spent talking about food they talked about elaborate feasts gourmet delights sumptuous menus as they staggered along suffering from dysentery not knowing whether they would survive every waking hour was occupied with thoughts of eating after months of wanton hunger when rescued we suddenly found ourselves able to have meals fit for the gods and with appetites that gods might have envied you buddy they went from this incredible hunger and they ended up getting to a ship in a station where they just had an abundance of food you know you got to be careful I heard about some people that matter of fact it's in that book called a Dutchman down from paradise written by till Strait any of you ever read that testimony no takers a Dutchman bound for paradise I see one back there oh yeah that's our two three that's a great book look it up there must be some left over on Amazon written by a Ryan till stirs family and they talk about during the Second World War they were in an Indonesian POWs camp and everybody was starving it was a Japanese POWs camp and suddenly the war ended and the Americans hoping to help the starving prisoners they flew over with parachutes they dropped canisters full of food a lot of it rich food and so many of these poor starving POWs daddy has left him there walked off these canisters of food came down from heaven they opened up and it had things like milk and cheese and chocolate and macaroni and I don't know what else but just all kinds of stuff in there and they had been so hungry they'd survived through the famine but they ate and they ate so much of the wrong things many of them died from overeating all that rich food their bodies could not handle it and that's dangerous but it's not that way with God if you're starving he provides a feast and it won't hurt you you want to feed on the Word of God it's not only hungry and for righteousness it's thirsty you know I wonder if Jesus when he said that beatitude if he was thinking of psalm 42 verse one as the deer pants for the water brook so my soul pants for you O God my soul thirsts for God for the Living God you know why David was a man after God's heart David longed for righteousness you can read psalm 32 and 51 John 4:13 jesus answered and said whoever drinks this water will thirst again but I'm offering you water and if I give it to him it will spring up within them it's artesian it continues to satisfy because it continues to spring up and then John and Jesus said in John 7:37 if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink proverbs 25 25 as cold waters to a thirsty soul so as good news from a far country and the gospel is that good news and you know how the Bible ends and let him who thirsts come whoever desires let him take the water of life freely now everybody is hungry and thirsty there's things that drive you there are yearnings you have their desires you have but you're never going to be satisfied unless that desire is ultimately righteousness so what is it that you're hungry and thirsting for we talk about hunger we talked about thirst I could say more services in some ways more important you can go 40 50 60 days without food three or four days without water it depends on where you are if you're a humid climate one man went 9 days no water in a Mexico earthquake in the desert you might not make it half a day without water and so it's it's very crucial that water is representing the Spirit of God hungry and thirsting for righteousness does Jesus care about the hungry you know I remember going to India and the first time I went 20 years ago it's it's a lot more prosperous now there's a growing middle class in India because of the tech industry but I remember we went through some very poor communities I mean there are places we saw where they just pick up the bodies did we dead people lying on the street people riding around them and we'd see beggars come up to us these ladies holding babies and we didn't speak the Tamil language but they look at us and they go and then they point to the baby an international language and meant I'm hungry my baby is hungry and it would break your heart and we sometimes give something had to be careful because of the other beggars would see you were given something is like it all swarmed but it's so hard to watch someone that's hungry when you get food and people were giving us too much food at the hotel so we would go out on the streets and we we'd see the beggars and sometimes beggars would rob each other we just gave them food now if a selfish person like myself can care about someone hungry if it hurts me to see someone else hungry how does Jesus feel even Jesus said if your son asks for a loaf of bread will you give him a stone if he asks for a fish will you give him a serpent if you then being evil know how to give good gifts and he's talking about food there dear children how much more does your heavenly father care about your hunger I'm paraphrasing so God doesn't want you to stay hungry if you hunger and thirst for righteousness will you get satisfied and what would be more satisfying sitting with a swollen stomach after a big potluck or having your heart full to overflowing because Jesus has rained down on you with his righteousness he cares about your hunger you know even after he resurrected that little girl he told the parents give her something to eat I mean the Savior was concerned I think she's hungry cura something to eat all right so much about that I could do a whole message on hunger and thirsting but I got a couple more Beatitudes next one blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy now remember that the Beatitudes are going in sequence you can't mix them up there's an order there's a progression there are steps it's an advance that's happening here what you see is the first step in entering the kingdom is being poor in spirit recognizing your spiritual poverty then you mourn over that spiritual poverty the third one is you then meekly submit to the Word of God the fourth one is you a hunger for righteousness that you don't possess which will produce in you when you have that righteousness an attitude of mercy towards others when I say blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness I did it myself and you probably did it with me I automatically thought about my hunger and my thirst and my righteousness but you know really to hunger and thirst for righteousness you need to care about other people's righteousness do you hunger for righteousness in the world when righteousness fills the earth do you hunger and thirst to see righteousness among loved ones that are lost it's not just hungry for justice for me and thirsting for righteousness for me we should have a hunger and a thirst for righteousness for everybody why do we do mission work because I hunger and thirst for their righteousness because it was here eat something good and you tell someone else hey try this right how many of you eaten something bad and you tell someone taste this you probably have this is awful want to taste come on how you sure yeah oh this is so hot your try sub but when we when we experience something good we want to share it and when you are full and overflowing with the righteousness of God you want to pass it on well then what happens is that creates within you a sense of compassion for others mercy you know Bible tells a story about this man who is falls among the thieves in the Gospel of Luke he's beaten and he's left for dead and priest passes by Levite passes not by they may feel some pity but they don't do anything the mercy Jesus is talking about is the mercy that acts it's a it's an act of mercy it's a forgiveness it means that if someone's offended you you forgive them if someone has need you feel compassion for them how many of you remember that big parable of the great Judgment Day Matthew 25 where Jesus said it will be a day what God separates the sheep from the goats and he says to the Sheep well done blessed are you My servants enter into the joy of the Lord good and faithful I was hungry and he gave me food I was thirsty you gave me drink I was naked you gave me clothes I was alone and you visited me I was sick or in prison and you came to me I was a stranger you took me in I doubled up there's six of them and they'll say Lord when did we see you in any of those conditions we don't remember that occasion he said in as much as you did it to the least of these you did it to me now that that to me is a really powerful proverb because you realize Jesus does not say to the righteous you kept the Sabbath and you didn't lie and you didn't covet you didn't steal you didn't commit adultery into the kingdom you go he doesn't judge them based on sins of commission he judges them based on sins of omission he says to the goats depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels for I was hungry you didn't feed me I was thirsty you didn't give me drink I was naked stranger alone in prison you didn't help me and they said Lord we would never neglect you he said in as much as you didn't do it to the least of these you neglected me so Wow let's say you did not have mercy on anybody you were surrounded in the world by needs people are suffering don't you have mercy on them the Good Samaritan had mercy on a total stranger and he stopped he wrapped up his wounds he poured in the oil on the wine he put him on his animal he said you ride I'll walk he takes him to the end he says I'll take care of you for a while but I've got to go so I'm gonna give money to the innkeeper and he can take care of you Wow that's going the second mile for an enemy that's what it means blessed are the merciful they will obtain mercy do you care are you touched do you just have pity or do you have pity that acts I mean you know I've often seen people suffering and you go tisk tisk tisk and you think praise say a little prayer for them and you go on your way and that's pretty cheap everyone does that biblical mercy is proactive it does something for those that are in need Jesus says those will be blessed you know there is a blessing in ministering to the needs of others doesn't Jesus say it is more what more blessed to give than receive by the way where is that verse yeah it's not in the Gospels Paul says it it is more blessed but he's quoting Jesus it is more blessed to give than receive you're blessed when you give and so he's calling us to have that kind of mercy now when it says have mercy we are showing mercy and others because we've received mercy from God is that right we receive such abundant mercy that takes us to the parable in Matthew 18 where this is man he squandered the king's substance he's ten thousand talents and debt the King said now you know the law you're that's a terrible waste you stole all my money you wasted all my money you're going to jail I'm selling your family I'm selling your goods and the servant falls down and says master have mercy on me have pity and he cries and he sobs and he sees a family crying and the King is moved with a compassion now if I had a servant like that it say you get what you deserve ten thousand talents you realize how much that is that's the entire budget for Palestine for a whole year it was a fantastic amount of money it's like our national debt today trillions of dollars and the king said alright I forgive you you know what that means the king says I'll pay I'm gonna suffer the loss now if I was that man and I'm going around and I'm carrying a burden a home and I would ten thousand talents of the king I'd be thinking about it every day I couldn't enjoy anything if I had that kind of debt on my shoulders could you ten thousand talents I don't like on the credit card company one month ten thousand talents the Kings is forgiven gonna strike it from the record he goes and he finds a fellow servant that owes him a paltry measly sum takes him by the throat puts him in prison to be tortured for forty two dollars or whatever it was it was nothing and when the King heard about it he said you wicked servant I forgave you that massive debt because you asked me couldn't you have had compassion on your fellow servant as I had pity on you so when the Bible says blessed are the merciful it's not just saying that we care about the suffering of others it means we're willing to forgive others what's the one statement Jesus makes his commentary on the Lord's Prayer if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespass there are some people who do not like to pray the Lord's Prayer because they know that part that says forgive us as we forgive others it depends on if you're in Luke or if you're in Matthew trespasses or debts but it's the same principle and some say I don't want God to forgive me the way I forgive others because we have a hard time forgiving others blessed are the merciful they will obtain mercy you know at the end of Matthew 18 he said that wicked servant who would not forgive now don't forget this God is not saying tell you what you forgive everybody and I'll have mercy on you he says I have mercy on you first but then you must share it or you don't get to keep it God takes the initiative first he shows us mercy in the gospel God is the one who initiates the gospel he first forgives and then he says now after I've forgiven you so much it's supposed to transform your heart so you then are willing to forgive others and if you don't he said to that wicked servant delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay everything that was oh and jesus said so my heavenly father shall do to each of you if you from your heart does not forgive every man his brother their trespasses Wow in other words forgiveness from God is a free gift but there are criteria to keep it you need to share it you don't get to keep the gospel if you don't share the gospel it's all about sharing blessed are the merciful they will obtain mercy Ephesians 4:32 be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving one another how just as God in Christ forgave you Colossians 3:12 therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved put on tender mercies kindness humility meekness long-suffering he's basically summarizing Beatitudes here bearing with one another forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another even as Christ forgave you so also you must do it's not optional say O Lord I can't you don't know what they said about me or what they did to me or how they're treating me or they're talking to others about me how can I forgive them not until they repent you gotta forgive him for your own sake because unforgiveness is a poison that will corrode its container if you have unforgiveness in your heart it's like an acid that eats out the container you put it in and so even for your own benefit it doesn't mean that you can change them and they may not forgive you you don't have control over that but you can choose and say Lord I'm I'm gonna choose by your power to let it go you may think about it but then you say Lord I forgive them and take that away from my mind and he will first Peter 2:23 who when Jesus was reviled he did not revile in return when he suffered he did not threaten but he committed himself to him who judges righteously how can we do less if when Jesus hung on the cross he said Father forgive them they know not what they do even from the cross Stephen about to be stoned said Lord lay not this sin to their charge God is saying blessed are the merciful you'll be blessed you know I'm like any of you I mean these things people have said or done that have hurt me and I find that when I chew on it and I think about it it doesn't it eats at you takes away your joy I do just have to give it to the Lord and say Lord I realized that I was I was once such a lost sinner I had no care about other ones I acted selfish acted diabolical and lost people are gonna do devilish things and you love these people because they're not saved yet isn't that right it's easier to forgive people when you realize they're acting like lost people and Jesus loves lost there's a sickness let me just give you one more quote and we're gonna do I got seven minutes for one more beatitude nothing can justify an unforgiving spirit he who is unmerciful towards others shows that he himself is not a partaker of god's pardoning grace in god's forgiveness the heart of the erring one is drawn close to the great heart of infinite love the tide of divine compassion flows into the sinners soul and from him to the souls of others the tenderness and the mercy that Christ has revealed in his own precious life will be seen in those who become shares of his grace but if any man has not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his he is alienated from God fitted only for eternal separation from him by are having unforgiveness for others jesus said all men will know you are my disciples by what love for one another the world is yet to see what the modern church looks like when we really love and forgive each other I've always said I would really have no problem being a pastor if it wasn't for people finally for today blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God now you know all through the Beatitudes Jesus is reminding us and he's reminding those who are listening that he's interested on the inside he said if you're gonna clean a cup clean the inside of the cup first he wants us to be pure in our hearts the Bible tells us without holiness nobody will see God the whole gospel is designed to forgive us there's a righteousness that Christ offers to us we hunger and thirst for the righteousness he gives us that righteousness first as a gift through his sacrifice he it comes immediately by by faith you received the righteousness of God that you hunger for immediately you can be satisfied by trusting in his promise that's called imputed righteousness then as you follow on to know the Lord then he gives you an imparted sanctification righteousness and that's when you've got this purity of heart and you are filled because you've been changed inside now did you get what I said is really important blessed are those who hunger thirst for righteousness you can be filled through justification immediately like the thief on the cross is that right but you don't stop there the Beatitudes to go on you're longing now for purity on the inside it's not just that you're being covered but you want to be transformed you want a purity of what a heart and you know in the Bible once his heart I want a purity in my mind as a man thinks in his heart so is he and we want to have new thinking Zig Ziglar it tells us we need to be changed from our stinking thinking by the gospel and God gives us purity of heart psalm 15 verse 2 Lord who may abide in your tabernacle who might dwell in your holy hill he who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart God wants us to be honest in our hearts he wants us to be pure in our hearts he doesn't want you know covetousness the last of the 10 commandments is really a heart problem it's something going on in the heart John 1 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him and he said Behold an Israelite in whom there is no deceit most assuredly I say to you hereafter you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man said here is an honest Israelite an Israelite who is pure in heart first Timothy verse 5 Paul says keep thyself pure Enoch walked with God for three hundred years he was seeking purity of heart Hebrews 12 verse 4 follow peace with all men and holiness now catch this without which no one will see the Lord zukie has climbed a tree why not cuz he was short he was short and climbed the tree so he could see God Zacchaeus wanted to see God you know the word Zacchaeus means pure the pure will see God did he see Jesus he hungered for that view and he got it Isaiah 35 verse 8 a highway shall be there in a road it'll be called a highway of holiness and the unclean will not pass over it 1st Peter 2:1 as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you might grow thereby so how do we grow in this purity how do we grow in this holiness it's through the Word of God first John 3:3 everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure what level of purity are we talking about a Christian is like Christ God is calling upon us to be christ-like the purpose of the gospel is to restore in us the image of God I know that seems you it's interesting there's two different extremes one person you say God is going to give you a gift of righteousness all you do is ask for it believe and he will forgive all the sins of your past you know what they say that's too easy that doesn't make sense and then you tell those people we'll don't worry then he wants you to be sanctified and you will be like Christ says that's too hard so there's some people no matter how you put it to them they say it's too easy it's too hard it is easy to come to Christ by faith well I guess for some people it's not but it's a simple thing to receive that righteousness to receive that purity he gives you a new heart and then you long for it to be your character now you mean it's like Paul says there in Romans a wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death you know we see the sinfulness in ourselves and we hunger for righteousness we hunger for purity we hunger for the characteristics of Christ then he promises in Romans I thank God that I no longer have to walk after the flesh but I can walk after the spirit we can be spirit filled how do you see these things coming to pass look in the Bible you'll see example after example you know I recommend you miss a pastor done how can the Beatitudes become real for me you read the word read great biographies read the biographies of David Livingston and Charles and John Wesley and George Whitfield and Luther and even Augustine I mean if he went through a dramatic conversion but I mean you read these beyond biographies and the longing of their life was purity of heart purity of soul and they wanted to be at one with God and they ended up God did wonderful things through these men and women so read some of those things and what's the promise blessed are the pure in heart for what they will see God did anybody get to see God Genesis 30 to 30 and Jacob called the name of the place penny al pre said I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved he had what they call it christophany he saw Jesus prior to his incarnation Deuteronomy 5 for because the Bible says no man has seen the father the Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire God told the whole nation Deuteronomy 34 10 but since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses whom the Lord knew face to face judges 6 verse 22 now Gideon perceived it was an angel of the Lord so Gideon said alas o Lord God for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face this was again Christ the Lord said peace be to you do not fear you will not die they were so afraid if they saw God face to face they died now the whole problem was sin in Genesis man ran from God he was separated from God because of sin we've been separated our sins have separated us but through the sacrifice of Jesus and the washing of the blood we can be restored to the presence of God this is one of the final promises in the Bible they'll be no more curse but the throne of God and the lamb will be in it and his servants will serve Him notice last chapter the Bible they will see his face can you say Amen his name will be on their foreheads [Music]

Channel: Doug Batchelor

Views: 34,379

Rating: 4.8762889 out of 5

Keywords: ellen g white, doug batchelor, amazing facts, sabbath school, sunday school, seventh day adventist

Id: bDl26-FbFFc

Length: 52min 54sec (3174 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 30 2019