 Good evening. It's a joy to be back again. I lost count. I think it's 13, 12, 11. I don't know. I know it's past 10, right? So anyway, it's good to be back again and looking forward to our weekend together and as Nikki mentioned the Sermon on the Mount is just been released and you are the first church to purchase it. So we're very thankful for that. We've been waiting four months every time the publisher sent the file to the printer. It was corrupted. And so I don't think the enemy wants this published and after this weekend you'll know why. So I may not be invited back next week, next year. So we'll see. These are hard messages. In fact when Jesus got done it says the people were struck down out of their mind. And Ecclesisanto struck down. I mean just stood there in awe with their mouth dropped. Like this cannot be what he's really saying. And yes it is what he's really saying. So we're going to take a journey. Obviously we don't have time to look at the entire Sermon on the Mount but you can buy the book. But we are going to start with the beginning of the Sermon and tonight we're going to have two parts looking at the eight blessed Beatitudes, glorious part and a great way to start the Sermon. You'll see why because everything that Jesus preached there on the Mount is hinged on those eight blessed Beatitudes. It's the foundation for everything he's going to say. And then tomorrow morning we're going to look at the Christians impact on the world. What it means to be salt and light. And then we're going to consider living out the golden rule. And then lastly our last final message will be the end of Jesus's Sermon. Wise man, foolish man, which one are you? And I guess we could re-term that to our gender. Wise woman, rich, I mean wise woman, foolish woman, which one are you? So for tonight if you would turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter five, Matthew chapter five. And we will begin our time together and no I did not color coordinate for this conference. I don't know how that happens. It happens a lot and I'm not that kind of girly girl. So just happened to be what I've been gone so much that they actually just pulled what was off in the closet that wasn't in the laundry yet. So after this conference I have a few weeks at home before I go out again. So it's been a busy spring for Debbie and me, but so no I did not color coordinate. But all right, well let's pray together and then we will begin. Father in heaven, what a gracious God you are. We just sang about your glory, about your honor, about your power. Father so great and holy are you. So glorious is your name. And yet Lord we are living in an age when the name of the Lord is no longer set forth as glorious. Our Father's name has been maligned. Jesus's name is used for cursing. And Father we want to be different. We don't want to live like the rest of the world and we don't want to even live like some professing Christians live, Father. We want to be set apart. We want to be different. Even if it incurs persecution as we just sang about and as we'll learn tonight, even if we're hated by all men for your namesake. Father we have you. You are enough. You are enough. And so Father I would pray this evening as we begin this blessed portion of the word of God, the Sermon on the Mount, that you would resonate these messages in our heart that you would not let us go, Father, until we bow the knee to the Savior, to our Lord and repent of anything that is hindering our walk with you. So Father give us the grace that we need listening for these precious ladies and also teaching for myself, Lord. I would ask it for the Savior's sake that His name would be glorified in Christ's name. Amen. Charles Haddon Spurgeon whom we named our firstborn son after once said this, We hear when we hear of men living in sin and yet claiming to be Christians, we are disgusted with their pretenses, but we're not deceived by their professions. He who believes the truth should himself be true. How can we expect others to receive our religion if it leaves us foul, false, malicious and selfish? We sicken at the sight of a dirty dish and refuse even good meat when it's placed there on. So pure and holy is the doctrine of the cross that he who hears it aright will have his ears cleansed, he who believes it will have his heart purged and he who preaches it should have his tongue purified. Woe to that man who brings reproach upon the gospel by living an unholy walk in life. Now ladies, Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote this over 150 years ago and yet do you know the words are still true today? My sisters, we are living in the age of apostasy. In fact, I believe we are living in possibly what Paul mentions in Thessalonians, the great falling away. And I will tell you, it's grievous to me because I hear about these things often and hardly a week goes by that I don't hear about another brother or another sister who has fallen morally or has fallen doctrinally. And my heart is grieved and I'm sure your heart is grieved too because many of us are making a mockery of the Savior that we profess as our Lord. Our public lives are a disgrace. Our personal lives are a sham. And no one, not even professing Christians, have you noticed that? Not even professing Christians seem to care anymore. We were in Idaho a few weeks ago and I was talking about with the sister that was housing us about confronting a certain individual and she says nobody does that anymore. People just don't care. You can be angry. You can commit sexual immorality. Nobody confronts it. It's all accepted in the church. But ladies, there is one who cares and he cares so much. He left us a profound sermon so there would be no doubt as to what he expects from those of us who profess to be his daughters. And the one I'm speaking about is Jesus and the profound sermon that he's left for us is the sermon on the Mount. In fact, you know John R. Stott says the sermon on the Mount is the sermon that we are most familiar with and yet it is the least obey. Isn't that the truth? We can all probably quote a lot of the sermon on the Mount but do we obey it? In fact, when you think about it, you know there's only three chapters, 110 verses. That's it. But what powerful words spoken from our Lord. And if you know anything about the Gospel of Matthew, it has been 400 years since God spoke. He ended with Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. It has been 400 years since God spoke and now God is speaking. And he's speaking through his son Jesus and my friend, we would do well to listen this weekend and listen to what Jesus says. In fact, if you'll let your eyes turn to Matthew 5.17, I don't have time to go into all the background up till now. Again, you can purchase the book and look at all that. But really, Jesus has just begun his public ministry. And he starts his public ministry in Matthew 5.17 by saying, repent, or Matthew 4.17, sorry, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent. This is how he begins his public ministry. That's not the way we begin our public ministry. Right? We're too secret friendly for that. Can you imagine saying, yeah, here's my beginning of my ministry. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. And so since just as how Jesus starts his public ministry, since the kingdom of heaven is at hand, just does what does it take for a kingdom citizen to enter into heaven? What does the genuine kingdom citizen look like? What does repentance look like? Well, Jesus is going to answer these questions in the Sermon on the Mount. And ladies, this message would shake those that were sitting on the Mount with him because you know what they thought? They thought the kingdom would be ushered in by political or military force. They weren't expecting someone to die on the cross. And by the way, before we get into these few lessons this evening, Jesus is describing in the sermon what every kingdom citizen looks like, not some super Christian. You know, a few years ago when that book radical came out of my husband read it and I said, what'd you think? And he said, not much. He said, that's what every Christian's life should look like. Every Christian's life should look like that. Ladies, if our lives do not measure up to these chapters, then may I encourage you tonight as your sister in Christ, do some serious self-examination. Also, we need to keep in mind, this sermon does not describe some effort to attain righteousness on us on our own. It's not a self-righteousness like the Pharisees, but it is a righteousness that is a result of a right relationship with God. So with that in mind, let's consider the first few verses and we're going to look in this first session at the first four blessed de-attitudes. And then after a little break, we'll consider the last four blessed de-attitudes. Let's consider this together, verses five, and we'll go through one through six. Matthew starts with this, and seeing the multitude, he went up to a mountain and when he was seated his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth and he taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you and men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven and so persecute today the prophets who were before you. Now, you have an outline there and we are going to look at three beginning blessings. There's three of them and then we're also going to look at the first four blessed de-attitudes. It's interesting, we begin with Matthew's opening words which read like this. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. And so the question comes to my mind as I'm looking at this first verse. What multitudes is Matthew speaking about? Well, look at chapter four verse 25 and that gives us what these people were. Notice what it says. There followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee to capitalist Jerusalem, Judea and from the Jordan. These are the multitudes that had gathered together and Jesus saw them. They came to him to hear this sermon. You know, it's interesting there's many times in Matthew's gospel that is recorded that when Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion. I think of Matthew 9.36 that talks about when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion. Why? Because they were as sheep who had no shepherd. And in Matthew 14.14, Matthew writes, when Jesus saw the multitude, he was moved with compassion. Why? Because they were sick. Also Matthew 15.32 it says, Jesus says to his disciples, I have compassion on the multitudes now because they've been with me three days and they have nothing to eat. And if I send them away fasting, I'm afraid that they'll faint on the way. And so Jesus had, when he saw the multitudes of people, he always had compassion, whether they needed a shepherd, whether they needed healing, whether they needed something to eat. He saw crowds of people and he had compassion. Now, ladies here in Matthew 5, it doesn't say he did, but you know he did. You know he saw these multitudes from Galilee, Decapolis, Judea and he had compassion. Ladies, these were multitudes that knew nothing of the gospel of the kingdom. And seeing these multitudes led him to do something. And you know what it led him to do? Preach. Open his mouth and preach. In fact, the word seeing here means he was aware. He perceived, he considered. Ladies, this is the first beginning blessing if you're taking notes. He saw them. He saw them. You might say, Susan, why is this a beginning blessing? Well, think about it. Christ saw the multitudes and it led him to go do something. You know, Jesus didn't say, yeah, I see all these people, but you know, quite frankly, I'm really tired. I've been exhausted. I've been ministering all day. I've been healing people. I'm weary from all these endless questions. You know what? I just think I'll go take a nap. Or you know what? I'm hungry. I think I'll go fishing with the disciples. Ladies, I hear many of us in this room. We see crowds of people with spiritual needs. But you know what we do? We quickly drown out our conviction by getting busy. We dull our conscience with social media and television. But not our Lord. Not our Lord. He did something. He saw the multitudes and so he opens his mouth to preach. In fact, Matthew says he went to the mountain and sat down. This is the second beginning blessing. He sat down. You might say, oh, why is this a blessing? Are you kidding me? I'm going to sit down. Did you know sitting was the normal position for the Jew when they were getting ready to teach something formally? In fact, if I was teaching in the Biblical world, I would have come up here and sat down with my legs crossed. Like Indian style or whatever. And you would have done the same thing. But not in the Biblical world. In the Biblical world, they wouldn't stand like we do today. I came up here and I stood and said, okay, Susan, get ready to teach. It was formal. But in the Biblical world, they sat with their legs crossed. He sat down. In fact, if Christ had stood or walked, they would have not considered this teaching formal, but informal. So it's very different than the way we do it. So Christ sat down. And it meant that he was going to teach them something. Now, the text says that he went up on a mountain. We're not sure what mountain this was. It's not indicated. It wasn't a huge mountain because if it were, the crowds could not have followed him. They couldn't have seen him if it was a large mountain. Most people believe it was kind of like a slope, a big hill. You've seen some of those in California. You know, they're kind of just big hills. In fact, we're not going to be covering that this weekend. But remember when he's talking about Needless Worry, he says, consider the lilies of the field. Consider the birds of the air, which likely they were there. He was pointing to them as he was teaching them. And so it wouldn't have been a huge mountain, just more like a slope. And again, they would not have been able to hear him if it was a huge mountain. Now ladies, it also mentions in this verse that his disciples came to him after he was seated. Why? Anytime Jesus sat down with his legs crossed, he's getting ready to say something. They did not want to miss it. You know, they didn't have excuses like some church members I know today. I mean, as a pastor's wife, I think I've heard it all now. I think I've heard every excuse there is why people miss church. But these guys, these multitudes didn't want to miss it. Jesus is getting ready to teach. You know, it reminds me of the story of Mary and Martha. Remember when Jesus came into town and you know, Martha's in there, you know, welcomed into the house and she had a sister called Mary, remember that? But Martha was distracted. Remember what Martha was doing? She was in the kitchen, I guess, and you know, getting everything ready and Mary comes out or she comes out and she says to Jesus, she says, you know, hey, my sister's not helping me. Mary's not helping me. Would you tell her to get in there and help me? I'm paraphrasing all this. And you know what? Jesus said, Martha, Martha, she's chosen what? The best. She's going to sit at my feet and worship. She's going to worship. She's going to listen to my teachings. Ladies, that's what a disciple is. They're a learner. They're a pupil. In fact, a disciple is a person who attaches himself to another person for the purpose of growing towards Christ's likeness. And we would do well to remember this weekend, we are the pupil, okay? We are the learner and we would do well to sit with these multitudes and these disciples at the feet of Jesus and listen to him as he opens his mouth and teaches this wonderful sermon called the Sermon on the Mount. Well, this is exactly what he does. It's seen in verse two. We now have our third beginning blessing in verse two. You know, it's interesting that Matthew, sometimes in our reading, you know, we just read fast and, you know, get our coffee, get our Bible, do some reading, go about our day. We don't stop and think about what the author is writing. Matthew says he opened his mouth. Why is that interesting? Because according to Matthew's gospel up till now, do you know Christ had not opened his mouth very much at all? He told John to baptize him. Or two to Satan when he was tempted in the wilderness. He told a few people to repent and the disciples to follow him. That's all he'd really said. But now he opens his mouth. He's got a lot to say. Ladies, this is the third beginning blessing. He spoke. He opened his mouth. He opened his mouth. You know what? You might say, Susan, remember what our brother Paul says? How will they hear without a preacher? How will they hear without a preacher? Ladies, all public teaching begins with opening our mouth. And I think this behooves us to open our mouths and speak God's words to others. You know, I've been around a lot of women and women like to use their mouths for a lot of things. And quite frankly, I love you girls, and I'm not accusing you of any of this, but most of it is idle chatter. It's idle chatter about nothing. I remember often having conversations with my daughter. She goes, Mom, I just hate women events. I just hate them because it's all idle chatter or gossip or slander. Ladies, we need to use our mouths to instruct others in the things of our Lord, right? Not for idle chatter. And so Jesus opens his mouth, and this is the beginning of his sermon. So we turn from the three beginning blessings, which are these. Jesus saw, he sat, and he spoke to now the blessed beatitudes. And as I mentioned, we're going to look at four in this lesson and finish the last four before we go home this evening. The Lord willing, if we're not taken out of here, then that would be just fine with me, right? Well, let's look at the first one. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The first blessed beatitude is blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, since Jesus is going to talk a lot about this, blessed, blessed, blessed, what does it mean to be blessed? Well, it means to be happy, supremely blessed, fortunate. And ladies, the state of blessedness is not dependent on circumstances or people. And that's interesting because in our culture, we would say we are blessed if my circumstances are all going the way that I would like for them to be going. And if I'm getting along with everybody, including my husband, then I'm blessed, right? That's not what Jesus is saying. In fact, it's all in our culture. We think of happiness or blessedness as always laughing or joking or smiling. So who's blessed? And yet we know Jesus was happy, right? But we don't see him doing a lot of those things in the New Testament, do we? Laughing, joking. Ladies, his happiness was manifested by a calmness and a joy that he possessed even in the face of death. So who's blessed? Notice what Jesus says, the poor in spirit. You know what that is? Poor describes a beggar that is crouching in a corner. This one is so physically poor that he's utterly dependent on another person for his next meal. Now ladies, listen carefully. Jesus is not talking about one who's physically poor. He's not talking about the homeless people because notice what he says, blessed are the poor in spirit. What does that mean? The indication of this person's soul. Ladies, this is someone who is utterly dependent on God because she realizes she has nothing within herself. She realizes she's spiritually bankrupt without the redeeming grace of Christ. There's no pride. There's no self-reliance. You are completely helpless and hopeless. In fact, one man said, he that is poor in spirit has the sense of the loathsome leprosy of sin which he brought with him from his mother's womb. It overspreads his whole soul and totally corrupts every power and faculty thereof. End of quote. What a contrast to the Jewish world. What a contrast to our world, right? So prideful. It's all about us. In fact, I told you about a conference. Don't worry, I didn't attend it. But the title of it was It's All About Me. It's All About Me. Ladies, that's the way the Jewish world was. The scribes, the Pharisees, the hypocrites, they were full of pride. They did their alms to be seen of others in the corners of the streets in the synagogue where everybody would pass by and say, oh, isn't that wonderful? And they loved it. They loved the praise of men. They wanted to be noticed by others. Jesus says, no, you're not blessed if that describes you, but you're blessed if you're poor in spirit. Now, why are we blessed if we're poor in spirit? Notice what Jesus says, for yours is the kingdom of heaven and ladies, this literally reads, listen very carefully, yours and yours only is the kingdom of heaven. Yours and yours only, only the poor in spirit, beggars for God's mercy. Yours then, is the kingdom of heaven. Ladies, Jesus makes it clear to the Jew who was listening that day that his kingdom is not referring to the kingdom of this world. The Jews were hoping for a Messiah that would usher in a political or military kingdom. Jesus wasn't even talking about that anymore. Now, ladies, it's not by chance that this is the first beatitude that Jesus mentions because if you do not recognize your depraved state, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. You will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Unless you realize you are without hope, unless you throw yourself upon the mercy of God, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. In fact, you know without this being in place, you will not be able to live out the rest of this sermon on the map. There is no way. Why? You'll have no power to do it. You'll have no power to do all the things that Jesus is going to mention, not be angry in your heart, not lust in your heart, not, you know, keep your promise. You can't do any of that. You will have no power. Well, let's move on to the second blessed beatitude. Jesus says blessed are those who are fortunate are those who mourn. In fact, one man puts it this way. Happy are the unhappy. What a paradox. Happy are the unhappy. Jesus says blessed are you if you mourn. What does that mean? Well, mourning is someone who grieves or wails like someone who's mourning for the dead. Now, what are these wailing about? Not at a funeral. It's not for the dead. That's what Jesus says. They're spiritual poverty. The fact that they are nothing without their savior. The fact that their heart is desperately wicked. They're poor in spirit, just as he mentioned in the previous verse. It's like Isaiah who saw himself in the light of the Lord. Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. Why? Because I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Woe is me. Ladies, when Isaiah saw himself in the presence of God, he knew he was sinful. He's sinful. And ladies, this inappropriate attitude which follows the first, the poor in spirit, because once I recognize how destitute and bankrupt I am, I wail my sinfulness. I mourn over my sin. In fact, I remember this to be true in my own life. Most of you know my personal life. The age of five when my Sunday school teacher asked who didn't want to go hell, raised my hand. I heard my dad preach on hell, didn't want to go there. I knew it was a real place. Then at the age of 13, when I went off to youth camp and I had an emotional experience and came back and I got saved and baptized again. The age of 13. And then at the age of 18, when I was in a car accident and I came back home after that trip, mission trip, and I got saved and baptized a third time. But my life never changed. But you know when God threw me in that hospital bed at the age of 30 for the first time in my life ever. I saw myself as a sinner. I mourned over my sin. I wept over my sin. I felt nauseated about all the sins I had committed. All the hypocrisy in my life. I never mourned over my sin. I never saw myself as spiritually bankrupt. I was a good pastor's daughter and good pastor's wife. I read my Bible every day. I taught a lady's study and I coached the woman's salt. I was in church every Sunday. And ladies, I never mourned over my sin. Never saw myself as spiritually bankrupt in my sin and we rarely confess it, much less mourn over it. If you are a genuine kingdom citizen tonight, you will mourn over the fact that you are a sinner and that you still even sin. In fact, the Greek rendering here is we continually mourn over our sins. Blessed are those who continually mourn over their sins for they will be comforted. When is the last time you grieved over your sin? When is the last time you really grieved over your sin? When is the last time you grieved over your pride, your loose tongue, your anger, your selfishness? A genuine kingdom citizen mourns over their sin. Ladies, we don't buy into the modern psychology of our day that minimizes and rationalizes our sin and renames it. You know, instead of adultery we now call it an affair. Instead of getting angry, I was a little irritated with my husband. No, you were angry. Speak what it is, right? Genuine kingdom citizens, we own our sin, we confess it, we mourn, we repent of it. In fact, Jesus's half brother James would say the same thing, draw near to God and he will draw near to you, cleanse your sinners in your heart, you double minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. Then he will lift you up. In fact, Jesus says in Luke 6.25, woe to you who laugh now for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you who laugh. I thought of that with my brother. You know, a year ago he died and went to a Christless eternity. His best life was this one. But now mourning and weeping. And ladies, may I also say this, we should mourn over the sins of others as well. Ladies, we shouldn't laugh at sin. We shouldn't minimize sin. We shouldn't join the Christian crowd which says we need to lighten up. Have you had anybody say that to you lately? Debbie got a text from someone the other day that said she was just too zealous about her religion. You know, she has lightened up a little bit. You know, the church now says we need to accept homosexuality as a lifestyle. We need to allow sinners in the church. You need to live together before you get married to see if it's going to work. You need to accept the anger and unrighteousness of others. In fact, I was with a group of people the other day. I was horrified that we're laughing about pornography. Ladies, pornography is not a laughing matter. Sexual sinners are not laughing in hell right now. It's not a laughing matter. My friend, we need to get back to the biblical doctrine of sin and see what Jesus has to say. Not what the church is telling us today and even your well-meaning friends. We need to see what does Jesus say? Well, Jesus says those who mourn will be comforted. Those who mourn over their sin will be comforted. In fact, the Greek is they and they alone will be comforted. You'll be consoled. Ladies, the world doesn't know this kind of comfort. Why? Because they have the weight, the guilt of their sin upon them. I remember when God saved me, I actually would go to bed at night with this heavy neck ache because of the guilt of my sin and I knew I was living a life of hypocrisy. And I remember after God saved me and I had to confess a lot not only to the Lord but to my husband and a lot of other people too. And my parents and I mean it was I had a whole list. And you know that guilt went away? That heavy neck ache I had? The guilt of my sin? The world doesn't know anything about being consoled or being comforted or being forgiven. In fact, now we're so angry and that's why we're you know that's why we're seeing an increase in anger in our society? You know how many people are angry everywhere you go? You know what that is? That's guilt of their sin. They don't have a savior who can console them. And so they react in anger and unrighteousness. Read Romans 1. That's where we're at today, ladies. And just like we continually mourn over our sins we're continually comforted. Isn't that a blessed beatitude? You know, David knew this. Remember when he committed adultery with Bathsheba? Had her husband murdered on the front lines of battle? After that incident do you know he wrote several penitent psalms one with Psalm 32? You know what he said there? Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is what? Covered. Covered. He was consoled. He was comforted. In fact, the songwriter put it well. Nothing in my hand I bring Simply to the cross I cling Naked come to thee for dress Helpless look to thee for grace Foul I to the fountain fly Wash me, Savior, or I die. Ladies, does that describe you mourning over your sin and then being comforted by the blessed Savior? And again, what a rebuke to the Jewish leaders that Jesus is preaching this sermon to. What a rebuke to some of the people in our churches today. Pride themselves and their spirituality but they do not mourn over their sin. In fact, you know, Jesus illustrated it well. Remember in Luke when he's talking about the parable of the two men that went up to the temple to pray and one was a Pharisee. Remember that story? And the other was a tax collector. Remember the Pharisee, you know, ah, thank you, Lord. I'm not like him. Well, you know, I tithe and I fast twice a week and I, me, me, me, me. I do everything. You know, I'm so wonderful. How great I am. Remember with the tax collector who wouldn't even look up to heaven and he beat his breast and said, what? God, be merciful to me, a sinner. You know what Jesus said? Not that prideful Pharisee but that tax collector went to his, down to his house, justified. Not the prideful, arrogant Pharisee. Not the hypocrite. Well, let's move on to the third blessed beatitude. Jesus says, blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Those that are fortunate, those are blessed are the meek. Meek would indicate they're humble, they're patient, they're gentle. In fact, the word meek has been used to describe an animal that has been tamed, not one that's out of control or wild. Ladies, people that are meek don't think of themselves at all. They look to the interest of others. This would be the opposite of someone who's spiritually proud. Ladies, my, God hates pride people, prideful people. He hates it. He gives grace to the humble but he hates the proud. Again, think very carefully. I know it's the end of a week, but think very carefully with me. This is a natural flow. If you think about these beatitudes, because once I recognize I am poor in spirit, that causes me to see how depraved I am. That causes me to mourn over my sin. And then what happens? I have no pride left. I'm meek, right? I'm meek. Ladies, to think that God would save any of us should humble us, right? We shouldn't be prideful. We should be meek. To think that we have been chosen before the foundation of the world should humble us, right? Not make us prideful and arrogant. And again, humility is a virtue that the Jews did not seek after. And it's not a virtue we seek after in our society either, does it? In fact, I remember when I was being interviewed on a television program and the guy just said, you're just too humble. You just need to. And this is a Christian interviewer. You're just too humble. You need to be more, you know, talk more about yourself. And I was like, I don't think so. Not unless I want God to, you know, strike me dead right here. But you see it so much even in the Christian world today. People trying to rise to the top, trying to promote themselves. Ladies, that's what the Jews thought. They thought by promoting themselves and being prideful and keeping, you know, all these letters of the law and, you know, Jesus says, you omit the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. But they thought by doing all that they would be granted entrance into heaven. Ladies, the proud will never embrace the gospel if it is their very pride that keeps them from the cross. In fact, I remember the last time I saw my brother in the hospital, the one that passed last year and the last thing I said to him was, Carl, I'll pray for you. And he said, don't pray for me. Don't pray for me. His pride kept him from the cross. Ladies, many people are too proud to give up their reputation, their friends, their sin, their selfish lifestyle. Pride has ruined so many men and women. I can't even keep count of it anymore. And ladies, it's pride that's going to send many to hell because they will not bow their knee. Well, Jesus goes on to say that those who are meek will inherit the earth. What is he talking about here? Well, the Jews took special pride in the land that was promised to them and so to inherit the earth that would indicate what? God's blessing on their life. In fact, the promised land became emblematic of heaven. Ladies, Jesus is not saying it's the, he's not saying the proud Jew, Jesus is, excuse me, Jesus is saying it's not the proud Jew that will inherit the everlasting promised land but those who are what? Those who are meek. Well, let's consider the fourth blessed beatitude in verse 6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. So the fourth beatitude has to do with hungering and thirsting for righteousness. In fact, the Greek rendering here is that we're hungry and thirsty not for partial righteousness but for all the righteousness that there is. So it's not like saying, I'm a little bit hungry. When I got here tonight I told Karen, I said, I didn't think I was going to be hungry because I haven't been hungry all day but now I'm hungry. But I'm just a little bit hungry. So could I just have two meatballs and some vegetables? I'm just a little bit hungry or maybe I'm a little bit thirsty. That's not what Jesus is saying here. You know what he's saying? It's not saying I'm hungry for some food or for some drink but I'm hungry for all the food there is. I'm thirsty for all the drink there is. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for all the righteousness there is. Not a little bit of righteousness. That's the age in which we live in today, isn't it? Just go to most churches. That's the way it is. A little bit of righteousness. Ladies, does this describe you? Have you ever tried an experiment of going without food and water for a while? Have you ever done that? I think I've told you about the time I went on the maple syrup lemonade diet with my daughter. Ten days of that thing and you know day eight I was like I love you my daughter and I'm not doing this diet anymore and I really did think that was the only time in my life that I thought I might die of starvation. I really did. I was that hungry. And ladies I would encourage you do that. Don't go on that diet but go without some food or water for a while and see how parched you become or how hungry you become and then you'll get a glimpse of what Jesus is saying. Hungry and thirsty. You'll do anything. I remember opening that pantry. I told you the story after eight days on that silly diet and opened the pantry and there was some you know saltine crackers and I took them out of the package as fast as my little hands to open that package and it was the best thing I've ever eaten in my whole life to this day. It was so good. I was so hungry. That's what Jesus is saying. You can't waste like the deer pans for the water so I pan for you. I want it all Lord. I'm not satisfied with just a little bit. I want it all. Ladies we have to eat and drink to sustain our physical life so why do we think it's any different in the spiritual realm? I know many Christian women that are satisfied with a small crumb or a drop of water. It's very disheartening to me as I go around and travel and teach women how few, few have ever read their Bible. The 66 letters Christ left them. They have no idea what's in it. We're satisfied. A crumb, a drop of water. Ladies Jesus would have something to say. Genuine followers of his know nothing of that type of Christianity. I've often told you about the lady who mentors me. She says, Susan I believe there's two movies playing called Christianity. When we get to heaven we're going to find out we were in the wrong theater. Ladies the Christianity that we see today is not the type of Christianity that Christ is talking about and sermon on the Mount. A genuine disciple wants to replace all their unrighteousness with all the righteousness they can get. They want it all. What's righteousness? It's the act of doing right. The act of doing right. Now I know we as genuine believers were declared righteous in God's eyes, you know. But we still long for what? Practical righteousness in our life. We want to be holy as he is holy, right? We want to be pure as he is pure even though many of our friends today are teaching the opposite. They've returned Romans 6-1. Shall we stand that grace may abound? They said, yeah, go for it. Then more and more. So graceful abound. Ladies that's heresy. That is heresy. We want righteousness in our life. We want righteousness in the lives of others. And ladies again this beatitude follows well after the others. Listen very carefully. If you realize your destitute state of being poor in spirit that results in what? Morning over your sin which results in an attitude of humility and then once you're there. Man, you're hungry and thirsty for all the righteousness that you can get. You want it. Now what happens to this person? Notice what Jesus says. They'll be filled which means to be gorged. To have a supply of food in abundance. In fact it has the idea of feeding and fattening of animals in a stall before they're slaughtered. Ladies Jesus makes this clear in John 6.35 I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never hunger. He who believes in me will what? Never thirst. Never. In fact in the physical realm when you crave a certain food after you eat it you're satisfied, right? In fact sometimes I eat and I think I just don't think I could ever eat again. I don't know what happens to our bodies but we do. We get hungry and thirsty again, right? We do the process all over again. Ladies the same it is in the spiritual realm. We cannot depend on yesterday's spiritual nourishment to help us today. You must hunger and thirst for all the righteousness there is. Today, tonight, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year until you're in heaven. Always hungering and thirsting for the righteousness. Again this is a stark contrast to the Jews. They prided themselves on their outward righteousness but not practical righteousness. In fact Jesus pronounces a woe on them. Woe to you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. You are white washed tombs. You appear outwardly what? Beautiful but inwardly you're full of hypocrisy, deceit, dead men's bones. That was the scribes. That was the Pharisees. That was the prideful Jew. And I'm afraid that describes some of us as well. Well there are three beginning blessings. Jesus saw the crowds. He sat down to teach them and he spoke. My friend, do you stop long enough to see the crowds of people that are lost and without hope? You see them at the mall, grocery store, the park, even on the street corners, in your church? Yes, even in the church. Do you take your eyes off yourself long enough to see men and women who are lost and going to hell and need a savior? Do you close your heart to them? Do you get busy with trivialities of life and drown out your conviction? Or do you do what Jesus did? Open your mouth and speak the truth. We also saw the first four of the blessed beatitudes. Does being poor and spirit describe you? Are you relying on your religious works for salvation or have you seen yourself as spiritually bankrupt? Has there been a time when you mourned over your sin and are you still mourning when you sin or do you justify your sin and minimize it? Are you meek or are you prideful thinking your way is the only way? Do you hunger and thirst for all the righteousness there is? What are you hungry for? What are you thirsty for? Food, water, more time on social networking, more time to watch TV, movies, or attend more concerts or sporting events? Are you hungry for more money so you can buy new and bigger and better material things? Jesus says those who belong to His kingdom see themselves as desperate, they mourn, they're meek, and they hunger and thirst for all the righteousness they can get. And to these and these alone will be the kingdom of heaven. Those alone will inherit the kingdom of heaven and they'll be filled. The quote from Charles Spurgeon that I began this lesson with ended with this prayer. Lord, evermore make us vessels fit for your own use and then fill us with the pure juice of the great of sound doctrine and wholesome instruction. Do not allow us to be such foul cups as to be only fit for the wine of Sodom. End of quote. Ladies, my prayer for you this weekend in all sincerity, and I know many of you are tracking with the Lord you're zealous, you're passionate for Christ, but I'm not so foolish to think that there are not many of you in here that are not. That are not. Many of your lives were like mine 32 years ago. Your living life of hypocrisy and you know it. Maybe some of you don't know it, but some of you may. My prayer is we're just going to cover a small portion of the Sermon on the Mount this weekend. Don't have time to cover it all, but that you will soberly examine your life to make sure it matches up with what Jesus describes as those who belong to him. If it doesn't, I pray you'll see how desperate you are. I pray you'll mourn over your sin. I pray you'll humble yourself and thirst and hunger for all the righteousness that comes from Christ alone. Let us this weekend sit with the disciples at the feet of our master and listen to this sermon. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, what a gracious God you are to send your son Jesus in the form of a man to grow up and then at this point in his public ministry to begin by preaching this sermon that caused people to be struck down out of their mind. And Lord, I fear if someone today would preach a sermon like the Sermon on the Mount, many in our churches today would not only be struck down out of their mind, but they'd vacate the church. And so Lord, I pray that you will help us to not compare ourselves with the person in front of us or beside us or behind us, but Lord to personally examine our own hearts in this brief time we'll have together this weekend. As we study just a small portion of this blessed sermon, thank you for preserving it for us, Father. Thank you for loving us enough to preach this sermon and to leave it for our benefit, our comfort, our hope, our conviction. And I pray, Lord, that you would bless in our brief time to come with our break and then, Lord, give us alertness as we come back for the final session before we go home tonight in Christ's name. Amen.