The Beatitudes from Fifty Thousand Feet (Part 2 of 2)

Guest (Male): Do you feel blessed by God when things are going well and then cursed if you're facing difficulties? Today on Truth for Life, we'll find out why our circumstances aren't a litmus test for whether God is blessing us or not. Let's join Alistair Begg as he examines the beatitudes Jesus proclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount or in the opening verses of Matthew chapter 5.
Alistair Begg: Here in these principal points of character, we have this wonderful challenge. So first of all, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Secondly, he says blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted or if you like, happy are the sad. Happy are the sad. Thirdly, blessed are the meek. Blessed are the meek. Who are meek people? Well, they're folks with a gentle spirit, tenderhearted. It's meekness is not weakness. It is if you like power under control. The opposite of violence and vengeance it's embodied in the Lord Jesus. Take my yoke upon you he says in in Matthew 11 doesn't he take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. Now when we get to this, it's possible that we get messed up because temperamentally some of us are more tenderhearted than others. Some of us would you know hit a fly on a windshield you know without even giving it a thought and others of us are taking it to a habitat in the in in in the flats you know and everything. Just temperamentally we're different and so we tend to say oh you know that that that is meekness as if it were a natural commodity. But none of these are natural commodities. None of these are if you like Christmas tree ornaments where we go in the box and we bring out poverty of spirit and then we hang that on the tree of our lives and then we bring out another one which is repentance over sin and we hang that over our lives and then we go in and we get meekness out and we hang that on our lives as well. No, this is a supernatural process where the Lord Jesus by his spirit is producing the sinners and hopefully in increasing measure. So when we see this word meek, we're not talking about somebody who lacks conviction. We're not talking about an individual who just is generally speaking a nice person. We're not talking about a personality thing. This actually combines courage and strength and conviction and it comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. So how does it work itself out? Well, meek people are gentle in their dealings with others. And indeed when God finally destroys all who in their arrogance resist his will, then he says only the meek will be left to inherit the earth. Martin Lloyd Jones he said this, the woman who is truly meek is the one who is truly amazed that God and others can think of her as well as they do. And that's a very helpful insight. The the woman who is truly meek is the one who is completely amazed that God and others can think of her as well as they do. In other words, when we receive encouragements in a note or whatever else it is, we realize how perverse our hearts are when we when we start saying to ourselves well she really has got me doesn't she? I mean I'm so I'm so delighted she realizes what a wonderful person I really am. What a terrific note and what a bright lady she was to write that to me. Now the meek person says I don't think she actually knows me. I don't think she knows me. It's just an just a tangential thought about humility for a moment. I think it's Chesterton who who in one occasion in his writings makes the distinction and this is the distinction. He said it used to be that a man or a woman understood the importance of being humble in relationship to themselves. But being forceful in relationship and unbending in relationship to truth. But now he said in his generation this has completely reversed. People are forceful and unbending in relationship to themselves and have a false humility as it relates to truth. So we we combine self-assertiveness with a loss of conviction, courage, boldness in relationship to the truth of scripture. Meekness. You talk about an evangelistic potential. People may not be able to identify it. We may not even be on the right track to call it meekness but but something of this blessed are the meek they will inherit the earth. Sorry we're we're we we I got to get the plane back up 50,000 ft. Next blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Happy are the hungry. Happy are the hungry. A hunger for righteousness is an evidence again of the fact that we're in the kingdom. No hunger or thirst for righteousness we call in question whether we're actually in the kingdom at all. And the hunger and the thirst here is intense as the deer pants for water so my soul longs after you says the psalmist. Thomas Watson the Puritan says she has most need of righteousness that least wants it. She has most need of righteousness that least wants it. Blessed, happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness who are committed to depending on the righteousness of Christ in terms of it viewed objectively and who are committed to righteousness in terms of it understood subjectively as a commitment to doing the right thing. So that we say to one another the very important question that we almost must ask of every decision is what is the right thing to do? And this is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a Christian is not unique. There are very moral people in the world that don't trust in Christ. But the Christian of all people should be asking that question. And when we fail to ask that question, when we fail to ask the integrity question and think in terms of expediency here or whatever else it might be, then then we then we're often on a on a slippery slope. And we know the perversity of the human heart which can say you know I know that God's word says this, but I feel comfortable to disobey it because I know that God will forgive me and then I'll come out on the other side of it even though I flat out disobeyed God and I'll be fine. He'll just give me a pat on the back and I can keep going. That is that is absolutely perverse. And there's no confidence in that person that they are actually in Christ at all. So for example, the fellow falls in love with a a lady at the office, is enamored by her, decides that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her and not with his wife, professes to be a Christian, tells his wife you know I believe God has brought this woman into my life. You're wrong. I believe he's brought her into my life. Well, you can't do that because God's word says you can. Yes, I know but God is a forgiving God. So I'm going to do it and he'll forgive me and then after he's forgiven me I can move on again. Now my answer to that man is you have one foot on a banana skin and your other foot is is is teetering on the brink of hell. And what you're telling me right now is that you're probably not a Christian. Person says I can't believe you would say that to me. You know what I'll say anything to you. Scare the be jabbers out of you. Use any biblical methodology I can find in order to prevent you from such abject foolishness and devastation. And I mentioned it in this arena because it happens in this arena all the time. I I can turn around the other way and then listen to the ladies comes in. You know my husband's a nice man. He's provided for me but there's no fun in it anymore. There's no thrill in it anymore. I remember when we used to go to the high school games it was great back then but I met you know Jeremy and Jeremy has put the thrill back and after all you know I've bred my children, I've done the thing, I've done the lunches, I've done the meals. Surely it's time for me. No. Surely it's time for me. I mean all the magazines say assert yourself, avenge yourself, be yourself, enjoy yourself, please yourself, get your stuff. Well, what's the answer? The answer is do you have a hunger and a thirst for righteousness? And what you're telling me is you don't. And if you don't desire the pure milk of the word in the way that a baby gravitates to its mother's breast, then there's either there's at least something wrong with your feeding mechanism or it may be that you were still born. And that there is no hunger and thirst because there is no life. You see how quickly we go to people say oh no you're a Christian. Of course you're a Christian. I know you don't hunger and thirst for righteousness but that's okay. That's that's not an issue. Half the time we ought to start with the possibility that the person is not a believer at all and lead them to Christ. There you go. Blessed are the merciful. See the wonderful balance. Happy are the hungry. Blessed are the merciful. For they'll be shown mercy. In other words, those who are conscious of being the unworthy recipients of God mercy will reflect that in their dealings with others. The meek person says you know I know I'm a sinner. The merciful person says and I'm showing compassion because I know you're a sinner too. And the more we show mercy, the more we are the recipients and the discoverers of God's mercy. There was a Roman philosopher in the first century who called mercy the disease of the soul. Don't be showing mercy. Get him. Pay him back. Get her back. Let's litigate this. Let's get our rights. Well, there's Jesus here. Jesus here who when he was reviled did not revile in return but committed his cause to him who judges justly. You mean like committed to God? Yeah. You mean be merciful? Yeah. But I can't be sure what will happen. You can't be sure what will happen either way. Go God's way. Trust God. Of course you got the wonderful picture of of mercy don't you in the story of the good Samaritan. A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho who fell among thieves and they stripped him of his raiment and departed leaving him half dead. King James version. And then we have the story of the two jokers showing up down the road. One has a little look. One comes over, has a closer look. Nothing much is going on. Incidentally, Jesus begins to tell this parable in response to a character who tries to justify himself by creating an exclusive realm for neighborhood involvement. Jesus has already said I want you to love your neighbor as yourself and the guy seeking to justify himself said who's my neighbor? In other words, tell me who the 10 people are I'm supposed to do this for. You know as long as I can get a small group I don't don't make me love people I don't like. I mean give me a give me a just a group at my table that I can handle. I don't want to go to another table. I don't like table 4 and and certainly I'm not going over there by the door where she is. So let me know who my neighbor is so that I can love my neighbor. And Jesus in response to that tells them a story where the Samaritan is the guy who comes out the winner. Absolutely turning everything on its head and making these self-limiting people realize that the extent of God's mercy is vast. There's a wideness in God's mercy that is wider than the sea. There's a something in his something that is more than liberty the hymn writer says. It's the same hymn that has the verse but the love of God is broader than the measure of man's mind and the heart of the eternal is most wonderfully kind. See the intervention that I was referencing under the previous point in terms of going and grabbing someone and arresting them. In first blush that doesn't sound very merciful, does it? Well, where is this person? This person is walking up the freeway with a large trailer going 80 mph towards them. Mercy. Rabbi tackles them and throws them onto the ground at the side of the freeway. And then doesn't say you this, that, the next thing but says I jumped in front of this truck because I care about you and because I know that what you're doing I am capable of. And I could in 30 seconds be in your position. And it is only the keeping mercy of Christ that has me where I am and I want to tell you of his mercy. But it is not a mercy that winks at sin. It is with mercy and with judgment my web of time he wove. And I the Jews of sorrow are lustered by his love. That's the hymn the sands of time are sinking. Oh trysting place where heaven's love and heaven's justice meet. So we make the mistake of thinking that when we are going to go in there and take action that somehow or another that would be antithetical to meekness and that merciful will be expressed in saying well who am I to say anything? I mean who am I to do anything? That's a cop out. That's a pagan cop out. That 's why we can't get a conviction on the basis of right and wrong with half the juries 90% of the juries in the country because that's the way their minds work. Well, who am I to say? I mean I could have killed somebody. That's not the point at the moment Mrs. Samuelson. The point is you've had the evidence presented. The law says this. Now execute a judgment. And when you do go back in the room and weep. See mercy says I do nothing. I'm dissolved into into futility. No, it 's not. God showed mercy at great expense and went to a phenomenal extent to do so. Happy are the holy our time's gone. Happy are the holy. Blessed are the pure in heart in heart the control center of our lives. Pure catharsis from which we get our Greek word catharsis. Those who are free from the tyranny of a divided self for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free. How can I develop this kind of heart? Stay in the word of God. Walk in the spirit with God. And come consistently and continually to God in prayer. And what we discover is the purity of heart actually cleanses the eyes of our souls and God becomes visible to us. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God and then blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God. What makes a peacemaker? Well, first of all, they've discovered peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. They seek to lead others to peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. They seek to operate in circumstances that are uproarious in a way that makes peace with others. And when there is conflict and animosity they are the kind that they are the kind of individuals who are trying to find the point of agreement. They're the kind of folks who can be contending without being contentious, who can disagree without being disagreeable. And it's not peace at any price. But peacemaking is a hallmark of God's children. And then finally uh the eighth characteristic and the way it's written down you may think there are nine but I think it's the same thing from 10 and 11. Blessed are those who are persecuted for doing the right thing. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven and blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Thomas Watson again says the way to heaven is the way of thorns and blood. Set it down as a maxim if you will follow Christ you must see swords and staves. In other words, there is a blessing that attends those who suffer solely because they uphold God's standard and because they refuse to compromise. One of the things that we're unable to go to in America when we travel the country and go from sea to shining sea, we're unable to go to any uh martyrs monuments. Um as best I know. I'm not sure that there is ever been a time in in the these fair shores when people have died for their commitment to the scriptures and their commitment to Christ. In other words, you can't go somewhere in in in Boston and say and uh you'll see that this monument here is for those who because of their undying commitment to the Bible were burned at the stake in the way that you can in Oxford. You say this is where Latimer and Ridley died and they were burned for refusing to um recant their convictions regarding Christ and the gospel. And today in mainland China uh there are people who are imprisoned for their faith. In Egypt they're imprisoned for their faith. In Nepal there are 40 countries in the world right now that are experiencing religious persecution. And to them in a peculiar way and in a particular way this word in this beatitude comes home surely with great conviction. And through their tears and through their loss and their sadness they're trying to hold on to what Jesus is saying. There is actually a happiness that attaches to this. We were reading in Romans 5 in our team prayer time this morning and we're reminded of the fact that if we try and question whether God loves us by looking at our circumstances, we will always get it wrong. We'll always get it wrong. Well, it's sunny and we're fine and we're going on vacation. God must really love us. It's miserable. It's snowing. I don't have enough money for a tank of gas. Therefore God must really not love me or whatever it is. Now when we use that as a quantifier, we'll always get it wrong. And the way in which Paul addresses it in Romans 5 is he says we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We rejoice actually in our sufferings because we know that in this God does this. And ultimately he says we rejoice in God. Well, let me give you just all of this by way of summary. I try to write it down as a as a summary. Now what about this blessed person? This uh individual the the the blessed person recognizes her own emptiness and doesn't rejoice in self-sufficiency. She's not confident of her own ability but keenly aware of her inability. She's not assertive about her accomplishments but is learning to be saddened by her sin. She's not self-serving but she's self-sacrificing. She's gentle, merciful, pure, peaceful and knows what it is to endure hardship. She is from the perspective of the average tennis tournament or bridge club or local wine bar a flat out loser. That's the challenge. That's the challenge. And you see how we've got the message of the gospel kind of the wrong way around because we got a message that's for winners. We've got a message that's for cheerleaders. We've got a message that's for high school quarterbacks. We've got a message that's for the CEOs. Jesus had a message for the poor, the brokenhearted, the blind, the lame, the last and the left out. Jesus's whole ministry was to those who irrespective of what they did sports wise, business wise, any wise had been brought to the place where they realized that the gateway was poverty of spirit. And indeed that the continuance along the journey was in the cultivating of that perspective.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life. While Christmas is coming up quickly, if you're looking for meaningful gifts, we have an online store that is filled with books to encourage your friends and family to grow in their love for Jesus. One of my favorites is the Puritan prayer book The Valley of Vision. If you're not familiar, this is a classic collection of prayers and meditations that reflect the Puritans' deep reverence for God and dependence on his grace. And this special edition of The Valley of Vision comes in a bonded leather cover and makes an encouraging keepsake that will inspire family prayer and private devotions. We are excited to make this book available at our cost of just $11 while supplies last. So consider ordering a copy for each member of your family or your Bible study group. Visit truthforlife.org/gifts or call us at 888-588-7884. And when you check out, please remember to donate to support Truth for Life. We are 100% listener funded and we rely largely on your giving during these closing months of the year. Your support will help us continue to offer books like The Valley of Vision at these low prices and will bring Alistair's Bible teaching to people all around the world. Thanks for joining us this week. On Monday, we'll begin a study in 1 Peter where you'll find out what it means to be in the world but not of the world. I hope you can join us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the learning is for living.