Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons Podcast, where you can listen to audio from our most
recent sermons and more. Thanks for listening, and be sure to add this show to your library
if you'd like to automatically receive new episodes each week.
Good morning, everybody. Glad that you could join us online. I'm looking forward to sharing God's
Word with you today a little bit different than what we normally do, and honestly, differently
than we prefer. But I echo what Berger said. We're grateful that we have the opportunity and the
technology to do these things. And so I'm glad that you're tuning in and you're joining us. But if you
have your Bible, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join us. We're going to be in Matthew chapter
five. And we're going to continue our study in Matthew, but we will be doing so as we begin our
study on the Sermon on the Mount. All right. So chapters five, six, and seven are a sermon that
Jesus taught. And we're going to look at the introduction to that today. A couple of things
before we get into this. If you're visiting with us online, thank you for being here. We, you know,
maybe you woke up this morning, you heard that a bunch of churches were canceled. And so you're
trying one out and however you ended up with us, you ended up with us and we're grateful
that you're here. And here's the deal. We'd love to meet you. And so next Sunday, we hope
to be back. There's no reason why we shouldn't at this point in time. And so we would love for
you to join us and to be with us in person next week. Next week is Baptism Sunday. We're
excited about that. We've got quite a few people who are going to be getting baptized next Sunday.
And so that will be an exciting service to be at as we partake in the Lord's Supper
together. And as we see, I believe right now we got like six that are coming forth and forward in
baptism. Now, Pastor Dave was supposed to be doing a baptism class today. And obviously for some others
who would like to get baptized, and obviously, you know, we're not able to do that. And so if you're
one of those who signed up for the baptism class, be looking for, or you maybe even already received
something from Pastor Dave about that class, we're going to get you into the class that we can talk
through baptism with you. And we look forward to scheduling your baptism at a future date. All
right. Another announcement that I want to share with you guys is on Sunday, February, this
Sunday, February, the 8th, I've got to check my calendar now. I think I may be giving you guys the
wrong date. Nope, that is correct. On Sunday, February, the 8th, immediately following the service,
we're going to be doing an informational meeting about a mission trip to New York City for this
spring. The informational meeting will be about a partnering for a women's conference with Iglesia
Bautista Nueva Vida, which is New Life Baptist that we partner with Pastor Walter and his congregation
there. We will be doing a women's conference to reach their community and also to encourage the women
women of their church. So if you're a lady at Willow Ridge Church and you're interested in going,
please mark down on your calendar, Sunday, February the 8th, immediately following the service in room
102. We'll have a meeting where Brent Hawkins will go over some of those details, answer some questions,
and to allow you to begin to pray through if this is something that God has for you to do.
Also, I just want to thank, you know, I know there may be thoughts out there about, you know,
overreactions or things and should churches have shut down today? And I just want to say that in light of
a lot of that that can be out there, you know, we would much rather be live as well. And this creates
a definite certain level of additional work and nerves, especially for Berger, as he works to be able
to provide us venues like this. This doesn't just happen through, you know, snapping our fingers and
this just works out. It's a lot of hard work on his end. And so I just want to take this opportunity,
you know, just to acknowledge that and to thank him. And also to say right now, pretty much every
church in our county is doing a live stream. So if something happens on Facebook, if something
happens on YouTube, and all of a sudden this just goes away, we are recording this right now. We're
doing this on a separate feed that he and I are on so that he can record it. So if all of a sudden
Facebook just becomes overwhelmed or YouTube becomes overwhelmed because of the number of churches,
not just in Lexington County, but all over the state, all over the Southeast,
this is being recorded and we will get it posted as soon as we possibly can.
But I'm at home just like you guys are, right? And so I'm excited. I got my coffee that's right
here with me. Last night, you know, sometimes we get wisdom from some really great sources and
a little Grayson Howard at our church. Leslie sent me a message through Facebook last night when I said
I'll be sipping on my coffee during the message that he was afraid that I was going to spill some
coffee on my Bible. So here's what I'm doing to make sure that I don't spill coffee on my Bible.
I'm going to make sure that I put my lid on this, right? So I've got my coffee. I've got it there
with me. I hope you have that too. And Grayson, buddy, thanks for looking out for me and I'm not
going to spill any on my Bible. But also like I'm at home with you guys, I just want to go and say
this on the front end of things. We have a very loud hound dog at our house named Otis. Some of you
have heard stories or even seen pictures of Otis and Aaron. The kids are doing the best job
they possibly can to keep this very energetic hound dog quiet. But if all of a sudden you start hearing
some loud barking, then that means that he has seen a squirrel, a bird, a leaf, or sometimes nothing and
has just decided to start barking as loud as he possibly can. So don't panic. That's not anything
happening at your house. That's happening here. And I'm just going to pretend like it's not there and
just work through it. And so I hope that you can as well. Well, I'm going to start off. I'm going to read
the first verse of Matthew 5 and then we'll pray and get into our study time this morning. So would
you join me? God's Word in 5.1 says, seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain and when he sat
down, his disciples came to him. Let's pray. God, we thank you, Lord, number one, that this storm is not
as bad as anticipated. Lord, we thank you that we've been blessed with the things that we've been blessed
with in order to gather together, even if it's online, Lord, to open your word. And Lord, while
this situation by no means is ideal for us, we would much rather be together as a body, as a family
together. God, we thank you that as you open your word, as we open your word, Lord, that you gather,
that you meet here with us as well. So God, speak to us and may you be glorified in all that is said
and done. And so Jesus, let me pray. Amen. All right. So we're coming, like I said, to the beginning
of a three-chapter section of Matthew known as the Sermon on the Mount. This is the first recorded
sermon that we get from Jesus. It had been there before that Jesus has been teaching to repent.
Talking about the kingdom, but this is where we get in detail. This is the greatest amount of detail
that we get of this. So a couple of things about this sermon that Jesus taught. We acknowledge,
historically speaking, the theologians have looked at this and said that they do not believe that this
is all that Jesus said during the Sermon on the Mount. Instead, we're getting the condensed version.
Now, there's a much more condensed version found in Luke chapter 6 and verses 20 through 49.
Luke, Dr. Luke gives us his condensed version. But here we get Matthew's condensed version of that.
So there have been people that kind of argued back and forth about the credibility of that. And we see
the credibility in it. We see the unity in those. And we trust that Matthew and Luke both recorded
all that the Holy Spirit had for them to record and that it is perfect for us, for what God
needs for us. But by no means do we think that this was a short, we think it was a very lengthy
time that Jesus was there, both with a crowd and with his disciples.
The second thing is, as we go through this, all right, chapter 5, 6, and 7, we're going to talk about a lot of
things, we're going to talk about oaths, we're going to talk about anger, we're going to talk about lust,
we're going to talk about marriage, we're going to talk about judging others, maybe there's fasting,
there's a lot of things that we're going to talk about. And I think this is very important,
that this sermon needs to be understood in light of Jesus as King. Okay, number one, Jesus is King
and his call of repentance for us to be a part of his kingdom. And then this sermon is not necessarily
how to become a part of the kingdom, but this sermon is instead intended for those of us who are a part
of the kingdom, how we are to live, what our lives are to look like. And more importantly, as God deals
with the heart, we're going to see this in our marriage, like who we should be as members of the
kingdom of heaven, as members of the kingdom of God. So if Jesus is our King, then this is who we should
be as we are a part of the kingdom. And then from this, what we will find is that as kingdom citizens,
like as we look at this, there's a couple things that we can draw from it. Number one, it's going
to determine our internal ethic, okay, our internal ethic, like who we are, like at our heart, at our core,
that this really deals with that old, that sinful, and the new, and the holy, and the
righteous of who we are in Christ, right? So it's going to determine an internal ethic of who we are.
And then it's also going to determine an intentional ethic, okay? So it determines who we are, but an
intentional ethic of how we choose to live. So that as you and I see situations in our life, as you and
I are working through the different struggles and the things that we face, that internally, this is who
we are. And so that this is our internal ethic, but then it should also be our intentional ethic of how we
are seeking to live. So we can look at this and say, all right, God, like how should I approach
a topic like fasting? How should I approach a topic like anger? How should I approach marriage?
Like, who should I be, and how should I live in this world? But then also within there, that when we
find, and we will, we will time and time again find that we miss the mark, right, that we don't live up
to the expectation, is that we continue to go back to the call to repentance that Jesus has called us to.
And we're going to see this in this first section as well today. Because here's the spiritual reality,
or the actual reality, the spiritual reality for you and I, is we're not crushing it. You know, like
we're not out there checking all the boxes, doing all the things, you know, like we have those issues
within ourselves. And hopefully through the leading of the Holy Spirit, like you and I, as we study
through this together, right, we will experience sorrow for our sin. And then as we experience sorrow
for our sin, that will lead us to repentance in God. And then in our repentance before God, we'll
experience the sweetness and the goodness of his continued overflowing forgiveness in our life.
All right. So let me read verses one and two of Matthew five. And then this is going to kind of give us
the setting. And then we're going to look through these eight different beatitudes or kingdom
characteristics that we see. So verses one and two, seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain and
we had sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying, so we're
going to pause right there for just a moment. So here are a couple of things that I find fascinating
that kind of help explain the setting and the context of this passage of scripture. So the Bible tells us in
Matthew four, that a crowd has started to follow Jesus. So if you get your Bibles with me, look back
at Matthew four, uh, verses 23 and the first part of 24, it says, and he went all throughout Galilee
teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing, get this in healing
between every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all of Syria.
All right. So what we have happening in this is Jesus is teaching. Jesus is not hiding his teaching. He's going
into synagogues. He's going into public places. He's teaching. He's going out. He's healing. The Bible tells us, right?
Every disease, every affliction, all the things that are there, it goes down later, um, in, in verse 24 and explains
various diseases and pains. Like he's even healing those oppressed by demons, like paralytics or, or walking.
Like there's all sorts of healing that is happening, but it says very clear in verse 24 that his fame has
spread. Okay. People have heard about Jesus and they're intrigued. Okay. So this crowd that has followed
Jesus, this crowd that has come to Jesus at the beginning of chapter five, there's two groups of people who were
there, right? There's a much smaller group of disciples, those that Jesus has called. We saw that in the calling of his
first disciples. Now there's been some time that has been there. So, so more disciples have come and follow Jesus,
but there's a larger group of people, right? That they're not following Jesus as their, as their Lord.
They're not following Jesus as their savior, for instance, but they are following Jesus because they're fascinated.
Um, they're intrigued about what will he do next? You know, is he some miracle healer? They don't know who
he is. They don't know what he's about. They're hearing his teaching. It's different than before.
And so they're, they're, they're curious. Now this group of people largely that will be following Jesus.
Now, both disciples, um, and, and the crowd, if you were to describe them in their physical condition
of where they are, okay, they're tired, they're discouraged, they're oppressed. All right. And they're
looking for a leader. They're experiencing, uh, the, the oppression of Rome and, and with
that, right. The weight of the Roman empire on them, it's affected, uh, the people, uh, that they feel
that weight spiritually. They feel that weight physically. They feel that weight through, through
their government. Right. And so all of them are just exhausted. They're just worn out. So Jesus steps
into this moment, right? Jesus sees the setting and Jesus makes the decision. And there's lots of things
that Jesus could have done, but Jesus decides because this isn't the mission. This isn't why the
father has sent him. He makes the decision of obedience. And instead of starting a political movement,
instead of starting a, a, a wartime rebellion, instead of starting a, a political, um, insurrection,
uh, Jesus decides to teach them. And very specifically, he will teach them what it means to be blessed.
Now, the people who were there would not have considered themselves blessed. In fact, they would
have considered themselves the opposite of blessed. They would have considered themselves oppressed.
You know, when, when, when we look at where we are, you know, what we're going to have to come to
is an understanding of as followers of Jesus. How do we ultimately see ourselves? In spite of the
conditions around us, in spite of what we're, what we're facing, are we, are we resting in hopeful?
Um, do we see ourselves blessed in who we are in Christ? So let's, let's talk about this word blessed.
A literal translation of this word blessed is the word happy. All right. Now you and I think of happy,
we think of a couple things, right? Like, um, I'm happy if I get a big bowl of ice cream. I'm happy
when I get to go on vacation. I'm happy when I get to spend time with my family. Um, I'm happy when my
favorite sports teams win. I like, like we, we, we see this word, we're happy. And, and this word happy
though, that we see in scripture that Jesus is going to kind of work out for us. It's a little bit
different, um, than our notion of a fleeting coming and going only emotional. Now happy is emotional in
the, in this context. It's emotional state, but, but it's also, it's capturing a bigger idea that
holds with itself a piece of internal, of eternal, right? Internal and eternal connotations, right? So this
word captures the idea that as recipients of God's grace and God's favor, you and I are therefore
fortunate and blessed. And as a result of that, right, we are happy, right? We are happy. It's an emotion,
but it's also a state of being at the exact same time. So let's, let's understand this, this context.
Let's look at it this way. Jesus is going to come to this crowd and Jesus is going to say to them,
listen, in spite of your earthly current standings, in spite of your temporary circumstances,
you are blessed when your current spiritual standing is in Christ, right? These are the words that we can
see and that we know in the fullness of his message of this is what it means to be blessed. And that when
we are blessed, we are blessed now, and we are blessed for eternity. So what Jesus is doing for them, and I
hope it's what Jesus is doing for us, is he's changing their, their perception of themselves and their
perspective, trying to make those words the same, their perception of themselves and their perspective of
their earthly situation to cause them to look at an eternal kingdom standing with Jesus as king and
them as citizens of the kingdom. So for you and I, is Jesus your king? And do you and I live in the
reality of the internal impact of what it means to be citizens of the kingdom, even though in the
fullness of that, right? It's not the reality in which we live in. There's still brokenness, there's still
sin, there's still evil in the world, but we can hold to the fact that we are part of the kingdom and that
we will be a part of the fullness of the kingdom. So Jesus is going to give eight statements that we're
going to look at concerning this state of blessing. And what he does, there's a pattern for this, right?
He'll explain who we are first and then that we are blessed and then why we are blessed. So like who we are,
why we are blessed, right? And the blessed will be described culturally speaking, all right? So if you're
in that first audience and you're listening to what Jesus is saying, you're hearing some negative terms.
And even for us, as we're going to hear these today, we're going to hear negative terms. But in the
fullness of the gospel, Jesus is, is, is showing us in light of what he's done in light of who we are,
of what this means. So let's, let's look at the first one, Matthew five verse three, blessed are the poor
in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So here we go. Number one, the blessed are the poor,
the blessed are the poor. Now the poor Jesus says are the poor in spirit, right? This, this isn't
connected right here with what we see with financially, right? There are people who are blessed spiritually
in Christ and they have wealth and there's people who are blessed in Christ and they do not have wealth
and everywhere in between. Well, we're going to talk about money much later on, right? Like we're
going to get there, but Jesus is here is talking about the poor in spirit. And so what Jesus means
by that, the poor in spirit is that, that the poor in spirit see themselves. We see ourselves as
spiritually broke, right? Uh, it's actually the same word for poor that would describe someone who's in,
who's in bankruptcy. All right. That we see ourselves spiritually bankrupt. Now here's the thing that's not
great. I don't want to see myself as spiritually bankrupt. I want to see myself as spiritually
rich. Well, let me explain. This means that when we are spiritually poor, when we are spiritually
bankrupt, that, that this means that you and I recognize in ourselves, right? That we do not
have the ability to produce a righteousness of ourselves that's pleasing to God. And that's where
blessing begins that you and I realize that in and of ourselves, apart from the kindness and the favor
in the work of Christ, that we can do absolutely nothing to save ourselves, that you and I can do
absolutely nothing to deserve, right? A relationship with God. And that while this is the first step of
salvation, right? This is the repentance that Jesus is calling us to. But then this is a continual
process on and on in our life and sanctification, right? As we become more like Christ, that we see
those things of brokenness within our lives and we repent of those. We talked about this a few weeks
ago, right? Like the sorrow, the dependence, the turn. It's an intellectual, it's a heart issue.
It's a physical issue as we turn and follow him. And so when we are poor in spirit, we're incapable of
righteousness, ourselves of salvation. And then we recognize that Jesus is capable.
Jesus is capable. He's capable, not just for himself, right? In the fullness of his righteousness
and his perfection, but he's capable in that and that he imparts that righteousness and that
perfection to you and I when we put our faith, our hope, and our trust in him. That's the beautiful
picture of this. And then here's the deal. This is what God's word says, that blessed are the poor in
spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's the reward. I'm spiritually broke. I'm spiritually
busted. And so what do I get? The kingdom of heaven. And so we are poor in spirit when we are broken
before God. And in that, we become partakers of the kingdom. So let's look at the second one found in
verse four. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted, right? Blessed are those who
mourn. We mourn a lot of things in our world. We mourn things that we maybe should mourn for, right?
When you lose something and you grieve something. I think maybe sometimes we mourn things that we
shouldn't. We mourn for the simple comforts oftentimes or the pleasures, the sinful desires
that we have when they're taken away from us. But the call here is blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted. So we're looking at this in light of the gospel. Now, God does give comfort
to those who mourn, especially in the loss or the passing of those whom they love. We see this,
you know, Jesus, Jesus mourned, Jesus grieved when he heard that Lazarus had died, right? Even though
Jesus would, would resurrect Lazarus, right? He still, he still grieved in that. And so if you're out
here today and you're walking through a season and it may be a close season, it may be a short season
of times that you've lost someone that you love, or maybe it's an extended period of time. It's been
weeks, months, and sometimes even years. And you're mourning that, right? We have the God who comforts
us through his Holy Spirit because we know that all the things of this world will pass away. Death
will be no more, right? With our eternity in him. But this in mourning, it's more than just mourning the
loss of someone that we love, right? It's looking at bringing us back to repentance again, mourning the
sorrowful. That this attitude flows from our spiritual brokenness as we mourn over our sin.
Now, when Jesus is talking to the group, right? So I'm going to try to make sure that I continue to
connect to where we are, to where Jesus is in this original context, right? These people would have
thought that they would know what it means to mourn. Remember, they're controlled by Rome.
And crucifixion is something that we know of from the Bible because we see that that's how
the Roman government executed Jesus. But in that also, if you remember the story of the cross,
right? Jesus's crucifixion isn't the only crucifixion that's happening at that time,
right? Jesus was in the middle cross and there were two thieves who were on either side of Jesus.
So the Romans, you see, they crucified a lot of people. When people that they heard that were trying
to lead an insurrection against them, right? They would crucify them. When people broke the law,
they would crucify them. And their crucifixion process, for the most part, not always, but for
the most part, was done in a way as extreme measures in order to keep the people in order so that they
knew. So here's what Rome would do a lot of the times. So there's a story of a group of Jewish
zealots who are tired of Rome. They're tired of the oppression that Rome has been given them. And so
they decide that they're going to lead a charge against a small Roman battalion and overthrow the
battalion and set their people free. Well, long story short, they don't. They fail and they're captured.
And on the road that they were, on one of the roads around the town, I believe it was in Jerusalem,
right around the city that they were in, they were forced to carry their cross. And they would carry
their cross. And then whenever someone fell down, right, we read that Jesus, you know, he fell when
he was carrying his cross and had to have help. When they fell down, they would then stop and they
would put that cross up there and they would crucify that, that rebel there. And then they would move
down the road. And when the next person fell, they'd crucify him there and they would keep going.
And then once they had died, not only did they leave the crosses up, but they left the bodies
on the crosses as well. And it was a reminder to everyone who walked past and saw those to make
sure that you obeyed Rome. In fact, there's a lot of theologians believe that when Jesus is with his
disciples and he says, take up your cross and follow me, that it's very likely that Jesus was on one of
these roads where you would have actually seen a cross, been the reminder of what's there. You know,
these people would have known mourning. Chances are they would have known someone whose life had been
taken in an unjust manner. And so Jesus tells them, though, that those who mourn are blessed. But we see
mourning here, right, in light of repentance, in light of sorrow. We see mourning, I think the best way that we
see it in the life of a believer, follower of God is found in Isaiah 6. In Isaiah 6, God gives a vision
to the prophet Isaiah. And Isaiah sees the throne room of God. And Isaiah responds to the throne room of
God. And he responds in a way of awe, but also repentance, because he sees the holiness of God in light of the
sinfulness of himself. And here's his response, Isaiah 6, 5. It says, and I said, woe is me, for I am lost,
for I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the
King, the Lord of hosts. You see, when we see ourselves in light of who we are, in light of who God is,
right? And when we mourn who we are in repentance, here's the promise of what Jesus gives us.
We get not wrath, we get comfort. So when we acknowledge that we're a sinner, when we acknowledge
that we're broken, when we acknowledge that we're sinful, what we get is not the wrathful hand of God,
but what we get is the comforting embrace of God. Guys, that's beautiful. That's beautiful.
That's a deeper level of comfort than what we could ever think that comfort could be, right?
We deserve wrath. We are guilty and we in repentance are acknowledging that we are guilty
and we deserve the full punishment of God. But when we acknowledge that, we get comfort.
Guys, would you embrace holy sorrow and repentance so that we can experience the comfort of the God who
loves us? All right, third Matthew. Matthew 5, verse 5.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. So blessed are the meek. So what does it mean
to be meek? You know, when I think of meek, I think of passive, silent, timid, even weak, right? The
meek are the weak. Don't be meek, be strong, be bold, be courageous. But Jesus says, blessed are the
meek. And that in their meekness, there's inheritance that come. I read this definition this week and I
loved it. It says this, that the meek are those who delight in a servant relationship with God
and who subjects himself to God quietly without resistance. I'm going to tell you,
to submit yourself to God is a bold step of faith that requires not meekness to the sinful patterns
of the world, but a meekness to God so that we can go and live by the power of Holy Spirit and all
boldness and truth to be who God's called us to be. And here's the deal. Jesus himself. Jesus.
Now, every town, you think that you're brave? We think that we're strong? We think that we have a
level of endurance. Jesus, every town he went into had people who hated him. Jesus stood face to face
with people who wanted to see him dead and he did not back down. Jesus went and faced the cross and the
beating and all of that was there. Jesus, folks, in his humanity was a strong man. In his divinity,
he's all powerful. But listen to how Jesus describes himself in Matthew 11, 29.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle, gentle and meek and lowly in heart.
And in that, you will find rest for your souls. The son in complete obedience and surrender
and gentleness to the father calls us in the same way.
You see, before kings win kingdoms through sending soldiers into battle to take.
And Jesus says, I'm going to come and I'm going to fight and I'm going to win through my surrender,
even surrender by death on the cross.
And in that, when we respond in meekness, that you and I were given a promise.
And the promise is not that we will get, you know, not that we would just be a person in the kingdom,
but an inheritance of the earth, the new heaven and the new earth.
And in that, the kingdom.
Because we come to God with a meekness that simply says, I am yours.
I am yours.
Jesus looks at a crowd.
A crowd who believes they need a war hero.
They need a political hero.
And they'll take arms to overthrow the government so that their limited kingdom could be established there.
And Jesus says, no, no, no.
Come in meekness.
And there is an inheritance.
It's a future inheritance that will fully be known and fully be received.
But it's found in submission to God.
And would you be meek?
Verse 6.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the hungry and the thirsty.
What are you hungry for?
What are you thirsty for?
You know, they say never go to the grocery store when you're hungry.
Right.
Because you'll buy more food than you actually need.
Right.
You'll blow the budget.
You'll get things that aren't on the list.
And specifically, they say that you will get more junk food.
Because when you're hungry, you see things that you think will satisfy you.
Even though they won't.
Even though they're not good for you.
So they say, eat a meal before you go to the grocery shop and never go hungry.
Right.
I ask you, what are you hungry for?
What are you thirsty for?
What are you there to receive that you think will satisfy you?
When I was in college, I went on a summer mission trip to Mexico.
And again, let me emphasize Mexico in summer.
All right.
And it was hot.
It was way hotter than this boy from South Carolina knew that he could go through and that he could experience.
And we went to build a church.
And what they had for us, they had all of our materials and they were going to have water there for us.
And so I didn't bring my water bottle.
Most people didn't bring their water bottle.
And we got there.
And anyway, the water wasn't there.
And the water didn't show up.
We were expecting water.
It wasn't there.
So we're working in the sun and the heat all day.
And we knew that there was a little, I'll describe it as like a convenience store, like right down the road.
And so they said, well, when we need to, we can go there and we can get drinks.
And so I'm going there and I'm thinking like, hey, I'm going to get some Gatorade.
I'm going to get some bottles of water.
You know, I'm really going to get my electric lights back up.
I'm going to hydrate, do all the things that I need to do.
And we walk in and they had two things on the shelf to drink.
They had glass bottled Cokes and glass bottled orange Fanta.
So that's it.
No Gatorade, no water, Coke and orange Fanta.
Now, I was exhausted.
I was thirsty and we had a long day of work still ahead of us.
So I grabbed a Coke, I grabbed an orange Fanta, popped them both, walking back down on both.
And I want to tell you, in that moment, as parched as my mouth was, as thirsty as I was,
that was by far the best tasting Coke and orange Fanta I'd ever had leading up to then.
And honestly, probably ever since.
And I remember remembering and thinking how good it was.
But here's the deal.
How long do you think that satisfaction lasted?
Not only did it not last very long, but in all honesty, I think it made my condition worse.
Because instead of getting what I needed to satisfy me, I settled for the lesser things.
The Bible tells us, Jesus tells us, that blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
What do you hunger and thirst for?
Do you hunger and thirst for the things of God?
Do you hunger and thirst for God himself?
Do you hunger and thirst for the things of this world?
Or do you hunger and thirst for Jesus?
You see, Jesus looks at this group of people.
Maybe they were physically hungry.
Maybe they were physically thirsty.
You know, we see later on when Jesus feeds the thousands with just a few pieces of bread and fish,
that people would come starving and they needed physical things.
And Jesus accommodates that.
But are we looking for ultimate satisfaction in the things of this world that will fade?
Or in the God of this world, in Christ?
Because when we hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Then, then, in spite of the circumstance, there we will find satisfaction when Jesus is enough.
Do you hunger and thirst for Jesus?
So, verse 7.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
The merciful.
Jesus calls us in being the merciful, right?
To show mercy.
Jesus calls us to show mercy because we have been shown mercy.
Danny Akin says in his book on the Sermon of the Mount that Matthew 5, 7's call to be those who show mercy is the natural flow from the previous four statements that Jesus gave.
Let me read to you what he says in his book.
He says,
The person who knows his spiritual bankruptcy, verse 3, grieves over his pitiful condition, verse 4, submits his will to God's will in all things, verse 5, and longs for godly righteousness, verse 6, shows mercy to the poor and needy because he knows himself to be poor and needy as well.
Mercy can be viewed in a lot of ways, serving others, encouraging others, providing for others.
But mercy means at its deepest level, at its ultimate call in our lives, forgiving others because we have been forgiven, right?
That as we have experienced the grace and mercy of God, then therefore we are able to extend that to someone else.
Let me just say that you and I have never had anyone sin against us to the depth that we have sinned against God.
I don't care what it is that they've done to you.
I don't care what it is that they've created.
I do care in that I respect it or I'm sorry, I grieve with you in that because I know it could be a great loss.
Some of you have experienced great loss within that.
But what I'm getting to is how we've been sinned against pales in comparison to how we've sinned against God.
And every thought and every action and every deed that is ungodly is an offense before him.
And not only does he experience that offense from me as an individual and from you, but he experienced that from all of mankind for all time, right?
This is the depth.
And so if God can forgive us and God does forgive us and God shows mercy to us.
Jesus says the response is not simply gratitude for God for forgiving us.
But it's our call to forgive others.
Again, let's put ourself in the context.
They're oppressed.
They're afflicted.
They've had their own countrymen.
We're going to look at this a little bit more in the coming weeks, right?
Known as the tax collectors turn against them.
They've had their own rulers turn against them and partner with Rome to oppress them.
They've had their property taken.
They've had their businesses taken.
They've had their finances taken.
Jesus says forgive.
Jesus says show mercy.
I imagine they would say that's hard, and it is.
And I imagine for you and I, if we're being honest, sometimes to forgive others is hard.
But when we are shown mercy, when God in salvation gives us the power of the Holy Spirit, it is a daily commitment and a pleading with the Holy Spirit to grow us so that we can forgive those who have hurt us.
So that we can show mercy to those as God has showed us mercy.
Will you show people mercy, even if your feelings tell you they don't deserve it?
Matthew 5.8 says,
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the pure.
You see, the world says change what you do so that you can change who you are.
Jesus, in this statement, he's not necessarily attacking a characteristic of the Roman world on them as much as he is the Jewish world, right?
The Pharisees who will say it's more about what you do than about who you are.
But God says, what I'm going to do is I'm going to come and I'm going to change who you are from the inside.
That God's concerned with your heart above all else.
And then from our heart, what will come from that is our obedience in our relationship with God.
In 1 Samuel 16.7, when David is anointed as king, right?
David, we think of David and we see all of his leadership characteristics, right?
Even though David's got all of his faults that he has, right?
All of his struggles that he has, we see David as a leader.
But those around David, when David was anointed as king, would have not have seen David as this great leader.
And so they thought that David was the least likely of all of the brothers who were looked at to be chosen to be king.
But God, the Bible tells us that God, that they saw the outside, but that what God saw was the inside, right?
And that's how God chose David.
Matthew 15.18-19 says,
But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person.
For from the heart comes evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, faults, temptation, slander, right?
That from the heart is the source of this.
But that purity is possible.
If not, Jesus wouldn't have said, blessed are the pure.
But specifically, what does he say?
Blessed are the pure in heart.
Again, this isn't works-based righteousness.
It's about the power of God and what God's going to do.
And it's possible as we put our faith and trust in God and salvation.
But as we continue to draw near to God, as we continue to pursue him,
in that, in that, right, they shall see God.
Now, I think right here in this, they shall see God.
I think it's a two-part.
I think it's an immediate and eternal, they shall see God.
I do think it's an eternal, they shall see God, right?
Like when we will spend eternity with God, like we will see, like the day of our faith is made sight, right?
This is this.
But I also think that as we draw closer to God, that we'll see God.
Not in the instance that, you know, you're seeing me through this right now, but we'll see God at work.
We'll see God at moving.
We will see God growing us.
We will see what God's doing at hand.
We'll be able to see and experience relationally who God is.
It's a pure in heart.
Lastly, in Matthew 5, 9.
I'm sorry, not lastly, I'm sorry.
But we see this.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Right?
Blessed are the peacemakers.
So now, Jesus, again, look at a group of people.
They're ready to fight.
And Jesus said, wait, wait, wait.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
Because, see, they lived in a world where they did not believe that there was peace.
So they can't be peacekeepers.
They have to be peacemakers.
And when they're peacemakers, they will be called sons of God.
You see, this world wants you and I to look at ourselves as peacekeepers.
But God calls us to be peacemakers.
When I think about it with the word keeping the peace,
I think we use that phrase with a layer of positivity that I'm not sure is there.
Oftentimes, in keeping the peace, what we mean when we say that is we're going to choose to tolerate sin.
We're going to excuse injustice.
We're going to desire the glory of man or the pride of ourself.
Hey, keep the peace.
But peacemakers, you see, that's different.
Because peacemakers realize that in the moment, what our world needs is not a false peace that's kept,
but a true, eternal peace that's possible, but only through Jesus.
So peacemakers call others to repentance.
Peacemakers practice repentance themselves.
Peacemakers love justice.
Peacemakers desire justice themselves.
Peacemakers desire, above all things,
not the peace of man,
but the glory of God.
And so their obedience is found there.
You see, I think sometimes when we use the word peace,
we're settling for a counterfeit peace.
A peace that's
not really possible.
A peace that if it does happen,
will always be temporary.
And it seeks the glory
of man.
But when we see
true peace,
what we find is that
it's only possible through Christ.
And in this,
peacemaking
always carries with it
eternal ramifications.
The Bible does tell us,
so if you're like,
alright, great,
Bo says I don't have to keep peace,
I can just go out and
make everybody mad.
No, no, the Bible says
that we are to live at peace
with others
in Romans and in Hebrews.
Right?
In fact,
I believe it is in Romans,
okay, this is off the top of my head,
I believe it is in Romans,
and it says
as best as you can accomplish
for yourself, right?
Like, as best as you can do.
Like, you can't force this on others,
but this is the standard
that you're to hold to yourself.
But peacemaking
is the ultimate peace
that we're called to.
And it's found
only in the gospel of Jesus.
I read a guy this week
who said
the number one
first step
in peacemaking
is evangelism.
Sharing the gospel.
There will always be
a conflict
in the world.
There will always be
an internal conflict
between man
as long as he's separated
from God.
But through the gospel
of Jesus Christ,
there is hope
that is found
and an everlasting peace
can be found
for an everlasting
people.
For blessed
are the peacemakers.
For they
shall be called
sons of God.
You see,
it's not about
keeping the peace
because there is
no peace to keep.
It's about
peace that comes
from Christ
and Christ alone.
Now,
this one is the last.
I apologize
from earlier.
This is the last
verses 10 through 12.
Blessed are those
who are persecuted
for righteousness
sake,
for theirs
is the kingdom
of heaven.
Blessed are you
when others
revile you
and persecute you
and utter all kinds
of evil against you
falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad
for your reward
is great in heaven
for so they persecuted
the prophets
who were before you.
All right,
lastly,
all right,
blessed are the persecuted.
I want to share
with you guys
right now
with what is happening
all over the world
is persecution
is just rampant.
Physical persecution
against the church.
There are Christians
who are losing
their lives.
In fact,
going on in India
right now,
you guys know
we partner with a church
and a Bible college
and a lot of things
over there.
In the city
where we go the most
to do our ministry,
almost every Sunday
there are pastors
who are drug out
of their churches,
women who are assaulted,
men who are beaten,
pastors who are thrown
in prison,
for doing nothing illegal,
but simply gathering
and meeting together
as the church.
I want to encourage you
to be praying
for that situation,
that our brothers
and sisters in India
would be strengthened
by God
and would remain
faithful in this.
But we see
that persecution
is a continual thing
that Jesus
doesn't say might happen,
but he actually promises.
You see,
living a life
that reflects
these beatitudes
and the righteousness
of God
is an invitation
to persecution.
John 15, 18,
Jesus says,
if the world
hates you,
understand
that it hated,
understand
that it hated me
before
it hated you.
This is what we see,
that the world
in its depravity
hates Jesus
and that the more
we become like Jesus,
the more we stand
for Christ,
the more
that we will
experience these.
But Jesus
gives us
three things
of comfort here.
We close on this.
Number one,
when you face
persecution,
it is evidence
that you're
a citizen
of the kingdom.
when you stand
for the Lord,
when you love
others,
when you seek
to glorify God,
when you share
the gospel
and you face
persecution,
it is a
reminder,
it is evidence
that you're
a child of God.
Or else,
why would you go
through that?
It's the evidence
of who you are.
Number two,
a reward
awaits you.
I know it's
hard in the
moment,
I know it's
hard in the
moment,
but a reward
awaits you.
It's a
reminder that
Paul gives
to Timothy
as Paul is
imprisoned
and awaiting
certain execution.
There's a
reward
that's there.
And I love
this.
I'm going to
read to you
verse 12
again.
Rejoice
and be glad
for your
reward is
great in
heaven.
So that's
the reward
that awaits
you.
But then
verse 12,
at the end
of verse 12,
for so they
persecuted the
prophets who
were before
you.
Number three,
when you're
persecuted,
you find
yourself in
excellent
company.
Right?
The men
and women
of faith
who have
experienced
this.
And when
we experience
it,
it's hard,
it's
difficult,
but we
stand
in
excellent,
excellent
company.
So go
and be
blessed
and be
the kingdom
people in
Christ
that God's
called us
to be.
Would you
pray with
me?
God,
we thank you
so much for
today and
this opportunity
to gather.
God,
I pray that
we would
be who
you've
called us
to be
from who
we are
from the
inside out
and that
we would
go and
live in
the reality
that in
Christ we
are blessed.
God,
thank you for
keeping us
safe.
God,
be with the
workers,
the police
officers,
the linemen,
or all of
those who
are out
taking care
of whatever
needs to be
taken care
of.
We're not
just in
our community,
but all
over this
region that
is experiencing
this from
Texas to
New York.
Lord,
keep them
safe.
Lord,
may we
live for
the glory
of your
name.
And it's
in Jesus
that we
pray.
That's it
for this
week's
message.
Be sure
to check
back next
week for
a new
episode.
And in
the meantime,
you can
visit us
online at
willowridgechurch.org
or by
searching for
Willow Ridge
Church on
Facebook,
Instagram,
and YouTube.
Thanks again
for listening.
Bye.