Bible Study Matthew 5 - 5-6

Like I mentioned a little early on, a few months back we started a study on the Gospel, according to Matthew. And Matthew starts with the book of Matthew, starts with prophecies of the birth and preparation of the Messiah. And then it progresses through Christ's teachings about repentance and concludes with the suffering of the Messiah. Christ's teachings in the book of Matthew are basically divided into, let's call it, five big speeches. Let's call it speeches. Some people call it discourses. But a discourse is like just a type of a big sermon or a speech or a presentation. And the first one is the section of what we call the sermon on the Mount. That's from Matthew 5 till just about the end of Matthew 7. So that is the first, let's call it, presentation of Christ with elaborating on some of these teachings. The central theme of Christ's teachings, in a way, is about how to be like Christ.

It's basically how to live. Really, it's how we need to change our lives so that we become more Godlike. And for us to be more Godlike, he gave us the example of how we should be. So really, Christ's teachings are basically that.

In other words, what we say to others, what we teach, what we preach, should be exactly what we think and how we live. There should be no hypocrisy. We should be exactly that. In Portuguese, there's a little saying that says, pão pão, cáis cáis. Obviously, you don't know what I said. So I'll translate it. But it means bread, bread, cheese, cheese. In other words, it means you are what you are. If you are bread, you look like bread, and you act like bread, and you are bread. And if you're cheese, you look like cheese, and you are cheese. And that basically says, don't be a hypocrite. It's just, don't be a hypocrite. And really, that's what Christ said. We must not be hypocrites. And that's why you read right towards the end of Matthew in Matthew 23, where he really gave a thrashing to the Pharisees. He says, you're a bunch of hypocrites, because you're acting as very godly, very nice religious people. But inside, you're not. Inside, you're not. And so what Christ is telling us is how to be like Christ. And therefore, his first discourse, his first preaching about how to be like Christ, where does he have to start, but with the Beatitudes, which are the attitudes of us to be in. Basically, what we should be inside. That's really what he covers. And so we started, and as a matter of review, just the first two Beatitudes, which we covered last time, in Matthew chapter 5. So you might just want to keep a marker on Matthew 5, because we will go to it back and forth a few times. But in Matthew 5, verse 3, which begins with the Beatitudes, it says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. Those that are poor in spirit, they will be in the kingdom of God. That's what it is. So, through Christianity, it was to become like Christ starts, obviously inside, but really where it starts, the very like starter point. It's like your starter engine in your car, when you turn the key and that starter is poor in spirit, his humility. Now, that's got nothing to do with poverty. It's not being poor, physically speaking. It's not because you're a poor person, you've got nothing, or because you don't have, you appear not to have anything. But it's also not about don't steal, or don't lie, or whatever. It's actually be able, which is interesting, which is very interesting. But when you think about it, that's where Satan actually started going wrong. You think about it, that's where he started going wrong. So, being poor in spirit is the first aptitude, which is blessed by God. We covered that, as I mentioned before, but let me just summarize it very simply. It's humbly looking to God for the littlest.

Now, put it another way. It's having a humility that you actually have an attitude of being completely dependent on God. And if you put it another way, it's not trusting in yourself. It's the opposite of pride. It's the opposite of not thinking that you're the great guy. In other words, it's faith. Think about it. It's very tied to faith. Because if you're humble, you're going to trust in God and have faith that God will fix it for you.

It's actually very interesting. And then it goes on to the second beatitude. It says, blessing that thou so mourn, for they shall be comforted. And what is mourning? Is it dressing in black and crying? Yes, that's mourning. But is that all that is meant by that? To mourn is to lament, is to be disappointed, to be heartfelt and sad for certain things.

Correct. But that mourning is grieving not only maybe for a lost one, which I'm not saying it's wrong, but it's grieving for the deception and the suffering and the ignorance and the fear and the blindness of this world. It's sighing and crying for this world. So, true mourning leads to an action to desire a change, a repentance. It means that you have a desire and you pray not only that you repent, but that others may repent.

Now, we know that we can't change others, but we desire and pray for them to repent, for us to repent, for the whole mankind to repent, for our own good. And that's why we mourn.

We mourn for that action step. And in the end, you think about it just like I mentioned humility is based kind of indirectly in faith. Mourning for others is based kind of indirectly in love for others. You think about it. It's faith and love for others. And so, this mourning, which is you do it because you love others and you grieve for the sorrows and the pains of this world. And if we desire a change, and it leads you to have what we call a self-mind.

And it leads you to ask, what shall I do? What shall I do? Now, you and I know we cannot change others. So, what shall I do? Now, many people get involved in, because they don't understand God's plan, they get involved into a lot of activities which are good work stuff activities, which I don't say it's wrong. No, it's not wrong. It's good to be involved in some of those things.

In charitable activities. But we have to put that in the right context. That these charitable activities that you and I may get involved in this world are only band-aid. They don't fix the problem. They don't fix the cause. And so, what shall we do? Well, let's think about the plan of God. Does God also want these problems to be fixed?

Yes. Is He going to fix them? Yes. Is He going to fix them next Tuesday? No. He's going to fix it when Jesus Christ returns. And that is not band-aid. That is genuine fixing. That is the establishing of the Kingdom of God, ruling on earth, with individuals, with leaders of government under Jesus Christ. They are not corrupt. Now, you look today, there's all a corruption amongst leaders. If you can't see it, then I think we all can see it.

So, I won't even say that. You can't see it, because all can see it. There's all a corruption. But the leaders under Christ will be incorruptible. And the Bible says that we'll be incorruptible. Quite often, you and I think incorruptible says, well, we will be spirit beings, we'll be perfect. But think about it. Incorruptible means nobody will be able to bribe us. We will not be bribed. We will not be manipulating things our way. We will be incorruptible in more than just in the one sense that you and I may think about. But those leaders have to be trained, have to qualify.

Those leaders have to be held to a high standard so that when, quote-unquote, the ninja plays out or role-plays these leaders, they don't have anything to do with it, because they're pure white. Why? They're dressed in white, all that. And how are they white? Because they've been washed with Jesus Christ's blood. But not only that, they're now incorruptible. You can't corrupt them. You can't bribe them.

You can't make because they've been tested and tried under all these things for a number of years, as long as they lived. Maybe 13, maybe 17, whatever. Some people lived to 18, 19 years old. They've been tried, and now they are what is called faithful. Faithful. They're called and chosen and faithful. Therefore, they can be put in those positions of leadership because they're incorruptible, because they're faithful. So, that's why Christ said, go and make disciples. Yes, go and make disciples of those that are called, so that they are being disciples.

He doesn't say, and obviously we are in process of becoming leaders, but doesn't say, go and make leaders. That's interesting, isn't it? He says, go and make disciples. In other words, followers. A good follower will become a good leader. And that's our job today, to be good followers of Jesus Christ. That's our training. And so, the way we can help the world is not with band-aid and whatever temporary fixing. The way we can help the world is by getting ourselves ready, so that we can help the world when God comes in and says, right, you, Peter, John, Mary, whatever, you get in there and now you help me, Christ, to fix this world.

That's our role. And so, when we mourn, we understand the bigger picture. That our job today is to be trained to be good disciples and to preach the gospel to the world, not to fix the world today, but as a witness. And therefore, in our logo, we have preached the gospel and prepared a people. Those are the two basic responsibilities we have. For us to be prepared to rule under Christ and at the same time to warn the world, so that they at least have hope. When these things come, they have hope to hang on, because we can't fix it.

And if you and I think we can fix it, I think we're deceiving ourselves, because no man can fix this mess. Nobody can fix this mess. You may be the wealthiest, richest man, or maybe the greatest woman, or whatever it is. They can't fix this mess. And you know what? Whatever they're going to do. And let's assume they all have good intentions. Let's say they have.

In the end, we'll just have bigger problems, because we don't have enough man-brain power to fix it. And we're going to wait for the real saviour of the world.

I don't know if it means just the saviour of ours individually, but it's the saviour of the world. In other words, it's going to come to save mankind. That's what it is. It's the saviour of the world. And around that, it's the saviour of the church, because it's going to be coming at a time that it says, you read that at the end of Daniel, it says at the time that the power of the holy people will be destroyed, then it's the time. Which means what? Basically, the church will get to a point where we cannot do the work anymore. And that's frightening.

And therefore, he's going to come to save the church, which is basically his bride.

And so, he's the saviour of ours individually, of the church, and of the world. He's the saviour.

And so, when we look at these Beatitudes, and we can start kind of meditating on them, we can really flesh out a lot of meat out of them.

The first one being, poor in spirit, that we depend in God, we have absolute trust in Him, in absolute faith. And building on that, we now mourn for the world, and we wait for Him to help us to change, because we can't change the world.

Like we heard in the Seminent, we don't have the power. That power of God will come through Christ to save the world.

But in the meantime, we have the love for the world, and the concern that we can pray for them.

But then we get to the next Beatitude, which is, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Which is on verse 5.

Blessed are the meek, because they all receive a reward, which is not heaven.

They'll receive a reward.

Doesn't say, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit heaven.

No, they'll inherit the earth. That's our reward.

Now, what are the meek?

And he has a big misunderstanding. Oh, what the meek?

Meens.

Some Bibles translate it as gentleness, which is not incorrect, but it's not complete.

It's not the full meaning. Some translate it as being humble.

But why would you have the first Beatitude being humble, and the third again being humble?

Because in the end, they're building one on top of the other.

So, yes, being meek includes being gentle, includes being humble, but it's more than that.

So, what is being meek?

Being meek comes from the Greek word, a Greek, 42-39, pras, which yes means gentle, mild, meek, but that still doesn't explain. What is meek? Or it comes from the Hebrew word, where it's used in Old Testament, Hanav 06035 in the concordance, which means humble, lowly, meek, poor, but it still doesn't give us a good grab on the meaning.

So, because these Beatitudes, and think about it, they are accumulative.

One builds on top of another. They're accumulative.

So, it can't just be simply humility. It's more than that.

Now, turn with me to Numbers 12 verse 3.

Numbers 12 verse 3.

In Numbers 12 verse 3, we read about Moses.

Now, if you read in the New King James Version, it says, Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.

But if you read the Old King James, it says, Now the man Moses was very meek.

If you read some other translations, like the American Standard Version or the Derby, it also says meek.

Now, was Moses a very gentle type person? He never got angry.

What?

What? Didn't he kind of break the two tablets and made like a squash juice thing and made two million people drink it?

Now, that was not very gentle.

I think, if you remember, he had a little problem with his temper.

Right till the end, he went to this rock and hit the rock, and it says, Haven't we done whatever, or whatever? And the water came out, but then God said, You are not going to go into the promised land.

Why?

Because the rock represented Christ. You can't hit the rock twice.

You see, the first time, yes, he was instructed to hit the rock, which was Christ, symbolically.

But you can't sacrifice Christ the second time.

Spiritual meaning, you know. And if you do that, you can't enter the promised land.

Okay, that was a physical point, but teaching a spiritual lesson.

If you think that you can become a Christian, throw away, receive God's Holy Spirit, throw it away, and then say, Well, I'm going to get it the second time, you can't enter the promised land, which is the kingdom of God.

There's some deep spiritual lessons in all these things, but the point is, he wasn't very gentle.

Now, I'm sure he was a good leader. Of course he was, and in fact, but what is meekness?

Because it's one of Christ's characteristics.

Look at Matthew 11, verse 29. Look at Matthew 11, verse 29.

Matthew 11, verse 29.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle, and lowly in heart.

But some Bibles have a little marker there, next to the word gentle, and if you follow the little marker on a margin, it says meek.

It's the same Greek word, praos.

Because if it was gentle being humble, and lowly in heart is humble, it basically sang, I'm humble and humble.

So what is it meek? Because you use meek and humble.

Now, if you look at some commentaries like James B.

James Possett Brown, commentaries says, persons of a lowly and gentle carriage.

If you look at Calvin's commentary says, persons of a mild and gentle disposition.

You see, these people don't get it.

Now, I'm not saying that those are incorrect. I'm just saying they're not complete.

That's not the full meaning.

And so, let's go to the Bible to get the meaning of what we kiss.

And so, let's go to Zephaniah.

Zephaniah is a book just towards the end of the Old Testament.

Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachite.

Towards the end.

Zephaniah. And look in chapter 2, verse 3.

And this is an interesting chapter. Yeah, I gather yourselves together.

A very, very interesting, good, and desirable nation.

That's not my topic now.

But look in verse 3. Think the Lord all unique of the earth.

Who hath upheld his justice?

So, Yah is two things.

Meekness and justice.

And then he says, seek righteousness, which is related to justice, and seek...

You see, Yah has another translation here.

Because it's the same word, same derivative, sigmichness.

If you look at the King James Version again, and if you look at the Dabi, the word there is michnis, sigmichnis.

So it's all unique of the earth that are upheld as justice, and it says, seek righteousness, sigmichnis.

So Yah is two parallel thoughts.

Meek with justice.

All unique and all the workers of judgment.

Now look at Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 2.

Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 2.

See, there's two thoughts.

One is do justice, obeying God, and the other one is being michnis.

Obeying meek.

And look at Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 2.

O you rebellious and polluted, oppressing city, she has not obeyed His voice.

So that is the opposite of righteousness, right?

Not doing the right thing. It's the opposite.

So it's those two thoughts. One is righteousness, not obeying voice.

And she has not received correction, which is the opposite of lack of michnis.

So not being meek is not receiving correction.

Therefore, to be meek is to be teachable, malleable, correctable, mild, gentle, yes, because you tame your lamb-like.

You teachable, you correctable, you malleable.

Now, it does not mean you're naive.

Yes, you're humble. Yes, you're gentle.

But that humility and gentleness is to be teachable, correctable.

Look in Zephaniah 3, verse 7.

I said, surely you will fear me.

You will receive instruction. You will be teachable.

In other words, to receive instruction is based on the fear of God, the beginning of wisdom.

Michnis is an attitude of mind that is receptive to receive instruction.

And, of course, it is required to be humble, to be meek.

It was required to trust God. It's required to mourn and sigh and cry, desire change to be meek.

Because you desire change, and you're humble, and therefore now you are teachable and correctable.

You are tame, you are lamb-like.

So, michnis is a gentleness, which is mildness, which is lamb-like, which is moldable, which is teachable.

In other words, you're not inflexible. You're not stubborn.

You're not stubborn. You don't have preconceived ideas. You are not twisting the truth. And you do that because you are meek. You are meek because you have a healthy and respectful fear of God.

And therefore, you're able to discern right from wrong.

And therefore, you have the attitude that Jeremiah talks about in Jeremiah 10.24. Jeremiah 10.24.

That says, O Lord, correct me, but it was justice.

Not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

And brethren, we need to be asking God for correction, but in mercy.

God, correct me, but please, a little bit at a time, because otherwise I'll be squashed.

I know I've got too many things wrong, so just show me a little bit at a time.

Go slowly. In South Africa, you'd say, Ambagashli.

That's an African term that means, go slowly. Go slowly. Ambagashli. You know, go slowly. So, in mercy, in there.

Look at verse 23 of the same chapter.

O Lord, I know the way that man of man is not in himself.

It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.

Therefore, I need to be corrected, Father.

And that is the next attitude that comes straight after being humble, straight after the sign that I need a change.

Therefore, now I need to be corrected.

And I am being teachable. I am malleable, like pliable play in God's hands.

Not hard and brittle, but pliable and moldable.

You can see how these beatitudes build one upon another.

Look at the attitude of David in Psalm 25.

Psalm 25.

Psalm 25.

I mean, once we start digging deep into Christ's teachings, it's amazing what pearls you find in there.

It's just amazing.

So, Psalm 25 verse 4 and 5.

Psalm 25 verse 4 and 5.

It says, Show me your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me.

For you are the God of my salvation. Oh, you await all the day.

It's an amazing attitude that David had.

He was teachable. He was malleable.

Look at verse 9.

The humble, he guides injustice. And the humble, he teaches his way. In the King James Version says, the meek.

In the old King James Version says, the meek he guides injustice. And the meek he teaches his way.

It's the same Hebrew word. It really is amazing what we get from you. Look at verse 12 and 13. Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way he chooses.

And so we have this profound fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. Which in a sense, when you look at the first beatitude, it was based on faith.

And the second one, based on love. And this is based on a proper, deep, profound respect for God. You see how these things all tie together so beautifully. It's so encouraging. So those that fear God, that respect God, that respect what he says, that are willing to be teachable and willing to follow instructions, are the only ones that God can trust.

Are the only ones that God can trust. With that tool that we heard in the sermonette, of power and glory and eternal life, to rule the earth.

That's why it says, the meek shall inherit the earth.

Because they are the ones God can trust to rule the earth.

It really is amazing. Look at Proverbs as well. Proverbs, let's look in chapter 4. Let's just look at a few Proverbs quickly. Proverbs chapter 4.

Proverbs chapter 4, starting verse 1.

Proverbs chapter 4 verse 1. Yea, O my children, the instruction of the father, and ye have honour to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, you know what's good teaching? Do not forsake my law. When I was my father's son, tender, and the only one in sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, let your heart retain my words, keep my commandments and live. I was very encouraged with somebody mentioned early on that his dad was a great example to him.

And this is what God wants.

God wants parents to be a wonderful example to their children, so that through the parents, the children can have a glimpse of God-like characteristics.

But that's exactly what Satan hates. And that's why he wants to destroy the family. He wants to destroy the family unity. He wants to destroy the fatherhood and the motherhood and all that, so that children that are born and without parents, and they have no concept of a loving dad.

What a terrible thing that we see in this world today.

Let's continue reading in Proverbs. We were reading in verse 4, verse 5. Get wisdom, get understanding, do not forget, not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you. Lather, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principle thing. Now, it's an interesting thing. Wisdom is the principle thing in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, it takes it one step further. It's God's only Spirit, which is the principle thing. And we'll come to that in a moment. So think about that. Let's read verse 13.

It says, take from hold of instruction, do not let go. Keep her for she is your life. You know, it was received instruction. And now, I'm not saying wisdom is not important. Wisdom is not the principle thing. But I'm just saying that with Christ's teachings, we go one step further. It takes it one step further. That wisdom is extremely important if you don't have God's only Spirit. But when you have God's only Spirit, you can take it one step further beyond wisdom. So I'm not disdaining wisdom. Please don't misinterpret me or misquote me. I don't mean to come by any means across that way. Wisdom is very important. Look at verse 20.

Out of it, spring the issues of life. And you know what? To be teachable, you need to be meek. You need to have this sense of malleability, receiving instruction, to be able to grow in this wisdom. Look at Proverbs 17 verse 10. Look at Proverbs 17 verse 10. It's an interesting problem. It says, rebuke is more effective for a wise man. Now, if you read that in the old King James Version, it says, a, rebuke. It doesn't say two, it doesn't say three, it doesn't say ten, it doesn't say a hundred. It says, a, one rebuke.

A rebuke. Every proof is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool. So how many times do we have to be told? If we're a wise man, we should only need to be told once. And that's why we teach children, our parents speak once to your children, because that's part of teaching that one rebuke is sufficient. So that's, you know, how many straps do we need? Do we need a hundred straps? Do we need to be smacked and smacked? Because we have a sticking point in our lives, and I think we all sometimes have some points in our lives which are sticking points.

Certain things that we struggle and then we keep tripping on it. Is that a financial problem? When are we going to learn how to manage our finances properly? Or is it maybe a marriage problem? When are we going to resolve this? What is the problem that keeps repeating itself?

What's our sticking problem? Is it maybe because we're not being teachable, not being meek on that point, and receiving that instruction in the area of our lives? And that's why in the New Testament Paul talks about, you know, a four-action plan. I'm not going to go there, but you know, it's in Timothy that talks about this doctrine. What is doctrine? It's teaching. It's teaching the right way.

Whatever it may be, teaching about how to manage finances, whatever it is, there's teaching, there's doctrine. Then there's reproof, which is speak once. It's a rebuke, a gentle, gentle loving. Why? Because if you do it once, you're not angry. You're not going to shout, you know, because it's not, I told you ten times, how many more times must I tell you? Don't do it!

You just do it once. Look down, do it. One reproof. You're not angry. It's nice and calm. It's nice and gentle. So, a reproof. And then correction. What is correction? Correction is a tweak in the direction.

It's saying, listen, that's where it's wrong. It should be there. Not that way, that way. It's correction. It does not mean, necessarily, that you take a whip and smack them. No. It means just a redirection, a tweak, a refinement, a fine-tuning of the direction, a correction. Like you do to a satellite, going, for instance, to the moon, and when it's slightly off track in what you do, you do a little correction.

You're not taking a thing and explode the satellite and blow it to shreds because it's kind of the wrong direction. No, but you do a correction. You just correct it. Put it in the right direction. And then instruction. And what do you mean by instruction? You demonstrate what you've taught and reproved and corrected. That is the way you re-teach. You re-emphasize the teaching now in the correct direction.

And that's what Paul said in Timothy about how we need to learn. And that's what we need to be. We need to be easily correctable. What are some of the problems of that? Well, when we're wise in our hearts, and we think highly of ourselves because we're not humble, we think we know it all. When we are self-righteous, I am right. I don't need to be corrected. Those are the problems. When I justify myself and I say, yes, you're right, but! The problem is that, but. Yes, but. We've got to be careful of that. We've got to look at that. We need to look at those sort of things. So what are some of the prerequisites to be teachable?

In other words, to be meek. First, we must be humble. Not puffed up. Not think of ourselves more than what we should think. You know, in other words, not being proud. Secondly, we must have a heartfelt feeling of anguish for the wrong that is happening. And therefore, we must recognize that it needs to be a change. In other words, we need to mourn and desire that change.

And we recognize that we've got to change ourselves. We can't change others. And then, we desire to be malleable and teachable and gentle and man-like. In other words, so that we can be corrected and instructed. But now that we have those attitudes, we get to the next beatitude, which is in verse 6 of Matthew 5, which says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be fulled. Because now that you are teachable, you now are hungry and thirsty for the right way to mold you and to teach you. You are hungering for the right way, for that daily food, spiritual food, which is the Holy Spirit.

And that spiritual food is the Holy Spirit, is the only thing that is truly gonna make you fulfilled and happy and content. And that's why you say, if you're hungry for that and you're striving for righteousness, you're gonna receive God's Holy Spirit, because God gives the Spirit to those that obey Him, that's 532, and therefore, you'll be fulled. So you will now, as you are obeying God, as you are pleasing God, as you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, you will have less tendencies of being depressed and sad and empty.

Now, I'm not saying that some people may not have a chemical problem in their bodies and things like that. I'm not saying that, because there are those situations as well. What I'm saying is that if you do your part from a spiritual point of view of striving to please God, you will then be fulled.

You will be satisfied. Look at Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. And we'll start in verse 1. Isaiah 55 verse 1. Lo, ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. Are you thirsty? Come to the water. What is the water? It's the Holy Spirit. The rivers of living water. Out of me will flow rivers of...

or out of him will flow rivers of living water. That's God's Holy Spirit, because we are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. So he who thirsts, come and get the Holy Spirit. And you have no money. Come by and eat, because it doesn't take money to get God's Holy Spirit.

He says, come and buy and eat. Buy wine and milk. You know, it's what really satisfies spiritually speaking without money and without a price. Because it's a free gift, God's Holy Spirit. Why do you spend money for what is not bread? What does not really fulfill you? Now, it's obviously spoken as spiritually, because obviously physically we don't eat bread. And your wages for what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.

Encline your ear and come to me. Here and your soul shall live. And I'll make you an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David. So we see, we need to have this appetite for God's righteousness, which is the only way for us to be full and happy, truly happy. Look at verse 6. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Interesting. While he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to your God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, in your ways are not my ways, says the Lord.

We need to seek God while there is a chance. Yes, we've got time now. One day we may not have that chance. We may not have that chance.

Now look at the Pharisees.

Look at Romans 10. Now this is a very important point that we need to understand about seeking righteousness. Look at Romans 10, verse 1-3.

This is a very important point about seeking righteousness.

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God from Israel is that they may be saved.

For I bear them witness that Israel is ill for God, but not according to knowledge.

That's just political modern-day terms. A lot of Jewish people, they fear that he's ever forgot. There's no questions about it, but not according to knowledge. That's what Paul's saying. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness. Now, Yah is the crux, a very important principle for us to understand. Be ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness. In other words, self-righteousness.

Have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

The Pharisees, they were seeking God, but not with understanding. They had self-righteousness. They were self-righteous. We must not have self-righteousness. The Pharisees, yes, they were very obedient, but Jesus criticized them. On the outside, very obedient outside. Jesus heated the crux of the issue when he criticized the Pharisees. Because he called them, you bunch of hypocrites. Where is that? I mean, the real one that sticks to your mind, and my mind sure is Matthew 23, 23. Easy one to remember. So let's look at that very briefly. Matthew 23, 23. Matthew 23, 23.

Wilt you, frauds and Pharisees, hypocrites? For you, pay tithe of mint and anise and common. There was you, pay tithe, you tithe for the slightest, smallest little thing. Now, he's not saying they should not tithe, because later on he says, you should have done that anyway. But he says, but you have neglected the weightier matters of the law. Justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. In other words, yes, you should have five, but you should have done, first and foremost, justice, mercy and faith. Forget not what is fair, what is just. Justice to fellow man. Forget not being merciful. Don't forget being merciful. And make sure that you walk in faith. This is the crux of the law. We need to anger and thirst for this attitude. And that's not a list of do's and don'ts and legalism, because in the end, the end of the law is love. The purpose of the law is love. Christ said, by this you shall know me, if you love one another. The end of the law is love. But if our application of righteousness leads us to feel that others need to show more love to us. Have you ever heard people saying, I don't want to go to church because the people aren't loving to me? Have you ever heard that? Well, I have. If our application of righteousness leads us to feel that others need to show more love to us, rather than how can I show more love to the others? If our application of righteousness separates or minimizes or forsakes Christian fellowship, there's a problem. Just take an note of Hebrews 10.25. I'm not going there, but just take an note of that. In other words, if our application of righteousness neglects justice, mercy, and faith, then that righteousness is not focused the right way. Christ in John spent a lot of time talking about, seek the real food, I'm the bread of life. And spent a lot of time says, I am the bread, I am the word, I'm the life. Are we really like Jesus Christ? That's the question. Because that is what the Jews did not understand. You see, they focused on, well, you've got to have tassels, or, oh, well, you've got to, whatever, on ritual things, rather than on a new and living way that replaced those sacrifices and rituals. And that's what Paul said in Hebrews. If you look at Hebrews, chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10, that all section there is so amazing, so fascinating. It's so fascinating, that whole chapter. It really takes a lot of meat in there. And it's not my purpose today to go through that. But just look at here, at Yah, it says, starting in verse 19, it says, we've got boldness to enter the holy by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way. Christ is taught us something, a new way of doing it. It's not of physical sacrifices, which only pointed to Christ, nor with things to remember us, to remind us, to keep the law, because we have the Holy Spirit that writes the law in our hearts. So those ritual things pointed to Christ and pointed to the Holy Spirit, but now we've got a new and living way, which is consecrated for us through the veil that is through His flesh. So there's no other way to reach God's righteousness. It's a new way. Paul lived this new way. A new way, he says, this is put on the new man. It's a new way. But you see, an inhibitor to God's righteousness is self-righteousness. Because when He's self-righteous, you're not hungry and thirsty for God's righteousness, because you already got it. You already got it. You see, self-righteousness, think about it, is spiritual cancer. Self-righteousness is a disease which prevents healthy, godly righteousness.

And some of the symptoms of that disease are pride in obedience, rather than being humble and poor in spirit. He's helping self-pity, rather than mourning for others. And it's lack, a lack of teachability, because you're not meek.

And you can see how those things build up. So then hunger and thirst for God's righteousness is something we really need to focus on, rather than try to establish our own self-righteousness. We need to submit to the righteousness that comes from God, as we saw in Romans 10. We need to pray and ask God for His righteousness. We need to hunger and thirst for that, that it can only come through God's Holy Spirit by writing His laws and His principles in our minds and hearts, and changing what we are. And that's why I said a little earlier on, in the Old Testament, wisdom was the big thing. In the New Testament, we take it one step higher. Beyond that, yes, wisdom is important, but you need God's Holy Spirit to put it to practice. You need God's Holy Spirit. Remember that the spiritual weightier matters of the Lord, it was justice, mercy, and faith. Those are very, very important. We need to live by every word of Christ, because they are spirit and they are life. We need to have the same love that God had, that He displayed by giving us His Son. We need to have that. We need to strive to live this new and living way through Christ's living in us. And so the central theme in Christ's teachings is how we are to be like Him. And He's actually teaching us, but right at the beginning, using the Beatitudes. We saw that the first one being humble, that we need to depend on God, that we have to have faith. The second, that we need to mourn, and we need to have love. Mourn for others. We understand we can't change others, and therefore we are prepared to suffer patiently in life for them, in hope, for the time of Christ when people will change. We then need to understand that we need to be teachable. We need to have that fear, respectful fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. And we need to understand that we can only change ourselves. And therefore we become malleable, gentle, meek, tame, lamblike.

And then, by being tame and lamblike, we then hunger and thirst for that righteousness, like daily food and drink through the power of God's Holy Spirit, so that you and I can be full, because only God's Holy Spirit will follow us up.

Because it's God's righteousness that kills that thirst, not our righteousness. We therefore avoid being self-righteous. We avoid being proud in obedience and having self-pity and not being teachable, but we submit to the righteousness that comes from God.

So, brethren, pray and ask and seek God's righteousness, which is a key to be fulfilled and happy. Let's sprinkle our hearts from an evil conscience through Jesus Christ's blood. And that means we are now in the process of becoming more like Jesus Christ.

We are becoming more to think and live like Christ, and that's what we say, because it represents what we are. In the next Bible study on the book of Matthew, we'll continue these beatitudes to see a little bit more of what Christ taught us about Himself and to have the mind of Christ in our lives.

The Bible study on the book of Matthew, which is a book of Matthew, is a book of Matthew, and it is a book of Matthew.