Bible Study Matthew 5:6-12

Jesus Christ, when He came to earth, He came to give us an example or a model of how to live and to teach us some very important principles. Part of our vision of who we ought to be.

Part of our goal of who we ought to be is to be a perfect man, like we heard in the sermonette, and as such, to put on the full stature of the measure of Christ. And brethren, that is to grow in the grace, because it's in the gentleness, kindness, lovingness approach of Christ, and in the knowledge of Christ. Which means is, Christ living in us through God's only Spirit, and therefore we get to know more and more what He is like, so that we can become more like Him. That is growing in the knowledge of Christ. And to help us that, Christ, through His ministry for His three and a half years, that He served and He taught us a number of lessons, and we have those recorded in the four Gospels. And we started a few months ago a study on the book of Matthew, and maybe in ten years' time we'll finish it the way it's going. We're just joking. But it's so important anyway to dig in and get the meat out of Christ's teachings. And so today we want to continue with that, and we are going to be basically concluding the section of the Beatitudes. And that is until the end of verse 12 of Matthew 5. And we did start that section already in previous sermon-stroke Bible studies, so it's a sermon in the form of a Bible study. And so please feel free to maybe put a marker there in Matthew 5, because we'll be coming in and out of Matthew 5. But what Christ is teaching us how to be like Him.

And it starts right down to the very basic thing, which is, be humble. Be poor in spirit. Be humble. And that's in Matthew 5, verse 3, because those are the ones that will be in the kingdom of God. Those are the ones that will be in the kingdom of heaven.

And we went through that, and we spent a little bit of time talking about that. And humility, in a sense, is looking up towards God for deliverance, depending on God, and not thinking that I can do it, or that we can do it. No. It's God can do it, and as being humble and following His guidance with His help and with His strength, then yes, we'll do it. But the glory and the honor is God's. And that is the important part, which is humility.

And in a sense, true humility demonstrates faith in God. Think about it, because we trust in Him. Then He moves on in verse 4, Blessed are those who mourn because they shall be comforted. And we went through it showing that mourning is a grieving process, and particularly in this world we grieve for the deception, the suffering, the ignorance that exists in this world, the blindness, physical and spiritual blindness that exists in the world, the sufferings in the world.

And therefore, because we mourn, we ask ourselves, what can I do? And yes, physically, we maybe can do some things, but albeit it's very limited, because most of the things you and I can do is just like plastering and fixing a little bit of the effect, but not fixing the cause. Because the only one who's going to fix the cause is when Christ comes back. And so, yes, it's okay for us to do a little bit where we can help, but there is one thing we really can do, and that's preparing ourselves to be the ones that will be able to solve the world's problems tomorrow when Christ is going to be young.

He was preparing ourselves to be the bride. And part of that mourning helps us to see that there's so much we lack in capability, so many problems we had. When I was 40 years old and 50 years old, I'd really been baptized in the church for 20 plus years, and I thought I had all the answers! Well, now I know I don't have all the answers, and I realize I need God's help.

And I think we all need to mourn in that way to say, we just don't have it, and we need God's help. So, we need God's work in us, and these beatitudes are actually just that. And so the next one is, once we have that humility and the desire to say, well, I need to be better, the next one is nicmas, which basically means an attitude of being teachable, of being able to say, with gentleness, God help me, because I'm malleable.

I'm like clay in your hands, and I'm going to be malleable clay, not hard and brittle, but malleable, moldable, shapeable, teachable by God. And it says those will be nearer to earth. We will then be able to rule in this world tomorrow, because God is able to shape us to the stature of Jesus Christ. So, meekness, it's very important. We want to be corrected. I mean, just turn to Jeremiah 10, verse 23, just as a reminder, Jeremiah 10, verse 23, it says, Lord, I know, Jeremiah 10, verse 23 and 24, oh Lord, I know the way of man is not himself.

It was I know, and I'm on, I'm on, that I know that I'm not, I just don't get it. It's not in me, it's not in man who walks to direct his own steps. I need your help, God. I need your guidance. Oh Lord, correct me. Now, quite often we think, correct is, well, take a sneak and doo-doo, whack him. No. I mean, how many times are you driving, or at least I know, how many times I'm driving, and I have a proclivity because of coming from a different country that you drive on a different side of the road, my subconscious has a proclivity to kind of move towards the right lane.

And I have to correct my direction. I'm not taking a stick and beating myself, but I'm correcting. In other words, I'm recalibrating. And so when we look here, maybe we should also look at God recalibrate me, really kind of fine-tune me to actually go your way. And so correct me, but with justice. In other words, in the right way, in the correct way, but I look at it also, and I'll get into that, but you know what?

There's no justice without mercy. Think about it. We're going to come to that. There's no justice without mercy. And so when God corrects us with justice, it means correct me also with that mercy, because you and I would never receive the righteousness of God, the justice of God, if He was not merciful for us. So it's a big, big point here. So correct me with justice, which includes mercy, which includes that loving, kindness, grace, not in anger, but in loving kindness. And quite often do I say, well, why doesn't God fix things? Well, I'm learning that God's a lot more patient than me.

And thank God that He's a lot more patient than I am, and than what we are. And thank God that He, in His mercy, gives us time in the hope that we all repent. Thank Him for His mercy. And so God correct me. You know, He was calibrating me. Show me a little bit better how to go your way. But please, in merciful. Please, not everything at the same time at a while. I'm going to change all this. I'll get very discouraged. So a little bit at a time, you know, a little correction at the time. So it is nice to think that otherwise you bring me to nothing. And so back to the point of Niktas. Niktas is having that attitude. It's like father through the guidance of your spirit, with the mercy that Christ's giving us, guide me in loving kindness in your path. And that is such a beautiful attitude for us to have. That's why it's here in the Beatitudes. Now, if you are humble, and therefore you want to repent and change, in other words, you mourn, and if you are malleable and teachable, now you ask God for the right way, which is the next Beatitude, which is in verse 6, which says, "...blessed are those who hunger in thirst for righteousness." Because you and I ask God hunger in thirst for that right way, for that daily food which, believe it or not, comes through God's Holy Spirit. So, the first attributes of the Beatitudes, which are kind of related in a way that demonstrates faith, and the second one of mourning, which in a way demonstrates love for mankind, because we want people to repent and change. And the meekness is that we have the meekness of wisdom, and the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, and therefore we have the fear of God. So, we think about those underlining characteristics behind these Beatitudes. Love, faith, the fear of God. And now, in verse 6, hunger in thirst for righteousness, you and I can only have God's righteousness with His Holy Spirit. So, think about how profound these Beatitudes are once you really roll up your sleeves and meditate on the depth of the meaning of these Beatitudes. I think it's beautiful. And hunger in thirst for righteousness, I mean righteousness is one of the key themes in the sermon of the Mount. I mean, look at it just a little bit further in verse 10. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. So, it's a theme. Look a bit further in verse 20. He says, but I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the tribes and theresies, you by no means will enter the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. And you and I know, probably off by heart, Matthew 6, 33. Right? Okay, let's go back to it. But seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness. Seek first God's righteousness. In other words, He is righteous, which is God's. And all these other things will be added to you. And the Beatitude says, when you do that, you will be full, will be comforted. Because God's Spirit gives us that peace of mind, that comfort, that it's beyond human understanding. Now, we covered this verse, lost time, so I'm just kind of going through it in review. And so we did go into Romans chapter 10. So I want to go back to Romans chapter 10 just to tie it in and to thread it in so we can lead on to the next Beatitude. But Romans chapter 10 verses 1 through 3, the eyes pole referring to His Jewish brethren. Jewish, in other words, of Judea and of Benjamin, is fellow brethren and Levites that were there. And He says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God.

Yes, they're zealous for God, but their zeal is misguided. That's what He's saying. In other words, their zeal is not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness. You see what Christ is talking about here?

Blessed is He that is angry and thirst for righteousness. It's not my own righteousness because it's my self-righteousness. I can't be angry because I've got it. I can't be thirsty because I've got it. Well, it's something I haven't got. That's why I'm hungry and thirsty. It's not my righteousness, it's God's righteousness. And therefore He says, for being ignorant of God's righteousness, they seek to establish their own righteousness. In other words, their self-righteousness.

And that was the problem with the Jewish community.

They were seeking their self-righteousness. But they have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

And this is the point we really need to understand. The righteousness of God is what you and I need to seek. It's not my righteousness or our righteousness. It's God's righteousness. And that's what we need to be hungry for and have a thirst for.

Now look at Galatians 2, verse 16.

Galatians 2, verse 16.

And I'm going to put the propositions there, or the conjunctions, or whatever the word is. I'm not very good in grammar, so please forgive me. But anyway, what joins one word to another. I'm going to put it as it is in the old King James Version, not in the new King James Version. So even though I'm going to read the new King James Version, I'm going to put those prepositions as in the old King James Version. So in Galatians 2, verse 16, which by the way is how it should be read, for us to really get the full understanding. It says, knowing that a man is not justified. In other words, you and I are not made right. We are not made righteous with God. You know, just is made right. That's the same basic root word.

By the works of the law. You see, the Jews were trying to be, make themselves just by works of the law.

What do you mean by that? Well, for instance, the example I usually give, and you've probably heard me say a number of times, if I have broken a traffic law, I cannot pay the fine of that traffic law by now going to court and say, yeah, but I don't do it anymore.

That doesn't pay the fine. You should have done it. You should have been doing it the right thing anyway all the time. But you've got to fine it because you broke it. So works of the law do not pay the fine. Just because now always cross the traffic intersection on a green light, does not pay the fine when I cross the two for red light in the past. Doesn't pay it.

But I'm always now going on the green. That's tough. Good. That's what you should do anyway. But pay it for when you enter red. That's fine. You see, so works of the law, you know, is obeying the law now, doesn't pay the transactions, the infractions of the past. Doesn't, for any law.

And so we are not by right, the fine is not paid. That is not fixed by now just being a good boy and obeying. We should have been a good boy before. Right? So that's what you're saying. But how? What pays for our fine?

In spiritual sin, the fine is death. Right?

The penalty of breaking the law is death. So what can pay for my death? I can't. There's nothing. I can do it to pay for my death so I can come back alive again. Nothing. I can't even do anything sometimes to get better. I say, I've got to go and ask God to heal me. Okay, maybe I can take some medication to relieve some of the symptoms. But it's God that has got the immune system that comes in and God that created all that, because if that immune system is not functioning, you could take all the medicines you want and that would not help. God has got that process in your body to help, and you may be just doing something to help it. And we're all supposed to do our part anyway.

But spiritually speaking, as far as sin, the penalty is death. There's nothing I can do to pay for that. Nothing. The only thing I can do is pay for my life. And once I pay for my life, the debt is paid. Well, now I'm dead. There's nothing I can do. I'm dead!

But Christ, by dying for us, is paid for us, so we can come back to life.

Now, how did Christ pay for us? Well, because he lived a sinless life, yes. Because his blood pays for us, yes. But doesn't it? The Bible says, life for life. So it's one life for one life. So amongst so many billions of people, life for life, so there's only one. So how can Christ's life pay for all the billions of people's lives? Because his life is so much greater than everybody else's, because he created everybody else. But if he did not trust, and I'm just saying, if he had not trusted that the Father would resurrect him, why would he do it?

He did it because he had absolute trust in his faith that the Father would resurrect him. And because of the faith of Christ, he died for you and I. And because of the faith of Christ, I can be justified. And that's what Paul is saying, yes. We are justified not by the works of the Lord, but by the faith of Christ.

Because he had faith, he did that. And the Father is faithful, is of his word, and he did exactly that. So there is that absolute mutual trust faith in one another. And because of the faith of Christ, we are justified. Even we have believed in Christ. Of course, we have believed in Christ. Yeah, it's correct. We believe in Christ. When we get baptized, we believe in Christ. We believe that his faith is good enough, his action is good enough for us.

And because of that, we get baptized, we receive God's Holy Spirit, and all that follows that. So because even we have believed in Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. So that again is of, not in, the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Lord. For by the works of the Lord, now flesh shall be justified. Why? Because the law only tells us what's right and wrong. The law only says, this is right and it's wrong. It doesn't pay for our transgressions.

And so, as we learn and we start living this, and we want and we hunger them first for God's righteousness, we then serve God just like Christ served God. And you know what? It's not in five minutes.

It's not in a year. It's a lifetime-long process. And we learn and then we slip up again, and then, whoa, I slipped up again, and get up. And as we go along, we hope to be coming better. By the way, that's why when our baptized people always ask, write down what you're repenting of. I don't want to see it, but write down what you want to change for yourself. Because in 20 years' time, you want to go back and you say, Oh, well, I haven't changed. I'm all that bad still. I haven't had any growth. Go back and read what you wrote 20 years ago, and you say, Well, I have grown. And that's a bit of encouragement to you. I have grown. And if you haven't done that, there's no reason why I can't do it now. Because maybe you can look back at that instantaneous time and see God has growth. And that's encouraging. We're not perfect yet, but it is encouraging. So, brethren, there is a process. Justification is a process of making us more like Christ. Yes, we justify at one time when our sins are forgiven, but we're not quite yet completely righteous. Perfect! So that the working of perfection is also a process. So it's duality, I mean. So, yes, we justify it freely, but we need that grace time and time again. And that's a big reminder every year when we are through Passover how much we need it all the time. So, it's not ours, but it's about... So, going back with the Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes. And it says, blessed are the merciful.

And so, we seek righteousness, we seek justice, and we know it's not ours, it's God's. And we know it's God that makes us righteous through Christ's blood. He makes us righteous. We must be hungry for that.

But do you realize, and the Psalm mentioned earlier on, but do you realize that being righteous in God's eyes means you and I need to be merciful? Well, just look at Matthew 6, in a model prayer, verse 12. Matthew 6, verse 12. It says, and forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. You know, forgive us, God, as we forgive.

We require Christ to forgive us, for us to be just.

Because it's the righteousness of God, and for us to be at one with God, and to receive that righteousness through the Holy Spirit, we need to have a relationship with God that needs to be healed. And that is only healed because Christ is merciful to us.

You see, you cannot be righteous and have God's righteousness unless we are merciful as well. Because we'll only receive mercy from God and forgiveness, and that means we'll be justified with God, and if we're justified with God, then we'll receive the Holy Spirit to become more righteous. We only can reach that step if Christ forgives us. We can't have righteousness, justification with God if Christ hasn't forgiven us. But He forgives us just like we forgive others. So if we're not forgiving others, how can He forgive us?

And therefore, how can we be right with God, justified with God? And therefore, if we're not justified with God, we don't have that relationship with God. We, therefore, don't receive the Spirit, which is God's righteousness in us. It's like a good circle, you know, a virtuous circle, you know, not a bad circle, but a good circle, a virtuous circle, a virtuous circle. So look at what Christ said just one or two verses later in Matthew 6, in verse 14 and 15. He says, for if you forgive man, they trespass us. Your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive man, they trespass us. Neither will your Father forgive yours.

So you and I cannot receive mercy if we don't show mercy. And if we don't receive mercy, we're not justified to be in front of God. And therefore, to be just as God's justice, there has to be mercy.

And so the very next thing we have is we have, you know, scriptures that says, mercy triumphs over judgment. That's seen in James 2. It's so true. Because when we go to the judgment seat and you and I have done things wrong, there's nothing you can say to justify yourself. In fact, if you try to justify yourself, it kind of is like negative points, you know? So the only thing you can say is say, I'm sorry, Father, forgive me. Right? And what we just finished reading in Matthew says, if you forgive others, I'll forgive you as well. So mercy triumphs over judgment.

You know, God wants us all to come to repentance, doesn't he? Romans 2 verse 4 is one such verse that says it very clearly. Romans 2 verse 4. Let's just look at it to get the context there. Romans 2 verse 4 says, Do you despise the riches of God's goodness and forbearance and long-suffering? And I think this is a problem when we kind of look at other people and say, There he goes again! Or there she goes again with me to say, Well, but I also sometimes, I also go again. And we need to show mercy and not be so critical of little things. Not knowing, you know, what we despise, forgetting, not knowing that the goodness of God, you know, the mercy of God, the patience of God, the grace of God leads us to repentance, leads us to see, Man, I have to change and I really want to change. And yeah, I'm messed up again. Please, God, help me. And with God's Holy Spirit, He gives us the strength and the power to do just that. God's Holy Spirit is the spirit of power. It's in God's mind. It's got a way of thinking. It's got enormous power. It's got the power to create earth. He has the power to create angels through God's Holy Spirit and created everything through Christ. He's the Creator, because we're reading Ephesians, Colossians, I think, sorry. And so, that's God's power. And now He gives us that power. Now, does it mean that now you and I have the power to create things? No. He gives us that power. But that power is like, think of it, it's got all these dimensions of power. But He's only given us one dimension of power within that power, which is to change ourselves. I couldn't even change my wife, not that I want. But I'll just say that as a joke. But, you see, we cannot change somebody else. We can't change somebody else. She can't change me, either. And all I'm saying is, we need to look at ourselves and change ourselves. And God, in His forbearance, gives us time, a lifetime, to change. And that's why I say, while there's life, there's hope. If God is keeping us alive, and if there's somebody out there that is, that you and I think, wow, you know, that person is so bad. While there's life, there's hope. And that's what I look at. God desires all to repent. And look in 2 Peter, chapter 3. It says the same thing, but in different words. 2 Peter, chapter 3.

And look at verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering towards us. His patience, His good, His goodness, as we saw in Romans, is so that we may repent. He's long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You know, brethren, God looks at us, and sometimes we look at others and we say, oh, how's that possible? But you see, God looks at the heart, and you and I cannot see the heart. And that brings us to the next beatitude. We go back to Matthew 5. It says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Because God looks at the heart, and God wants a clean heart, and God wants us, as we seek righteousness, and as we are merciful, He wants us to analyze our hearts through this process of judgment, mercy, and faith. Remember, justice, mercy, and faith. And they go together again, and God wants us to look at our hearts, and in faith, change ourselves. And you know, brethren, the problem with the heart is that you and I can't see it. Look at Jeremiah 17 verse 9. Look at Jeremiah 17 verse 9.

It's so easy for me to turn, or even to just not even turn, but say to myself, well, that person does this, but I don't do that. It's so easy to kind of get that thought process.

You see, look at Jeremiah 17. The heart is the sinful above all things. And you know who the heart deceives? Muah! Me! Myself and I. Your heart is not deceiving me, because I don't know your heart, but it's deceiving yourself. My heart is deceiving me. And he says, the heart is deceitful above all things. Wow! Does that mean it's more deceitful than Satan? No, no, no. But you know, we've got to be careful with our heart. It says, desperately. I mean, desperately means pretty bad. It's pretty bad. Desperately. Wicked. Who can know it? It's basically saying, you don't even understand your own heart. Wow. So I, the Lord, says God, says I, search the heart. God is looking at our hearts. I test the mind.

And you see, there's a very close, tight-knit relationship between a heart and a mind. And sometimes we think it's the same thing, but it actually is not, because the heart is the motive, it's desire, it's the intent. The mind is the thinking process, the reasoning power of the mind. It's the processing power. One plus one is two and three and four and whatever. It's that reasoning power. And if the motivation is wrong, it can lead the thinking process to go wrong. They are so closely knit together in the way we, quote unquote, made, fabricated. But it's two different things. One is the heart is the seat of emotions, the seat of feelings, the seat of motivations. And the mind is the capability of reasoning and power to think. And the two are so interrelated that sometimes we use one term for the other. But it says, therefore, God searches the heart and tests the mind. Because He searches the heart, is other motives right? Is the intent right? And if the motive is any intent right, what is our thinking? I mean, how many times do you say, well, I mustn't think of this. But then there's still that desire to say, I want to think that. And then you have to kind of go back this working of the reasoning with the the motive and says, hey, I mustn't have that desire any day. I must change myself. I've got to change the heart because the heart is deceitful. So this whole thing is very deep. And so God says, you know, I test the mind even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his feelings. So God looks at the fruits. You know, look at example of David, a man after God's heart. But look at David in Psalm 51, when he recognized the sin of the mate and the prophet and highlighted it to him, Psalm 51. Psalm 51.

Let's read from verse 4. He says, against you, you only have I sinned. You know, you could say that he had sinned against Bathsheba's husband, killed Uriah. And yeah, but he recognized that he sinned against God.

And I think that's the thing we all have to realize that when we sin, it's against God. We have let God down. Because I mean, Christ has died for us and we have disappointed him. We've let him down. He says, continuing in verse 4, In other words, I have this natural tendency to do wrong right from birth. This desperately weakened heart and deceitful heart and things like that. That's there. But then he says, we all, you desire truth in inward parts and in hidden parts, you will make me to know with it. So he says, clean me and watch me and watch me. And then look at in verse 10, Create in me a clean heart of God. He recognizes that his heart, his motivation and his intent was not right. And he had to change them. And that motivation and intent led him to some incorrect thinking and deduction process. And thinking that he could get away with it. And he said, God, please clean me. And he says, renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cost me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. And then a little later, he says, in verse 16 and 17, he says, because you don't desire sacrifice, else I would give it. You do not delight in being offered. The sacrifices of God is a broken spirit. Back to humility, to the first beatitude, right back to humility. We've got to get a look at ourselves. He says, are we humble? A broken account, right? Spirit, these are God, you will not despise. And so brethren, we've got to keep our hearts pure. Look at Proverbs 4, verse 23. Look at Proverbs 4, verse 23.

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Keep your heart with all diligence. In other words, make a lot of effort and to ask God for a clean heart, to change, to clean it, to purify, to purify our conscience, to do all these things to us through the washing of the blood of Christ and through the waters of the Holy Spirit, and to wash us, to cleanse us, and to change our motives, our intents, our desires to be right. Because if our desire is wrong, it will affect the thinking process to be wrong. And therefore, it will allow us to think on the wrong things.

Look at Hebrews 8, verse 10. Hebrews 8, verse 10. Hebrews 8, verse 10. And this is a section about the new covenant, as you know. And then in chapter 8, verse 10, it says about, this is the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel, and he's doing it with us today. And he says to the Lord, I will put my laws, you know, God's law of love, of outgoing concern for others in your mind, and I'll write them on their hearts. So you work on it so that both our thinking process is correct, and our motives and intents are also correct, through God's Holy Spirit. Brethren, this wall is not a perfect wall, and God does not desire sacrifices, but he does want sacrifices to desire.

It's actually a living sacrifice. Do you know where that is? A living sacrifice? Turn to it. Romans 12, verse 1. Romans 12, verse 1. I beseech you brethren, you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. This is the sacrifice that God wants.

So sacrifices pointed to the sacrifice of Christ, and to the sacrifice that you and I need to do. Those are the ones that God looks for, which is a living sacrifice ours, which is holy, which is acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service. Hey, it's just what you should do anyway.

You don't get a naughty badge for it. That's what we should do anyway. It's our reasonable service. And do not be conformed to the society, to this world, but be changed by the renewing of your mind. So our thinking process must be changed, and our motivations and our thinking process and all that must be changed. What? To the stature of Jesus Christ, right? To become like Christ. That you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

As we know, it says, every thought must be brought into the captivity. Every thought, we've got to say, hey, this thought is wrong, right there, before the actions. And you know also, it talks about the wisdom from above. First it's pure, and it says, wisdom that is teachable. And what does it call that? The meekness of wisdom. What do you mean, the meekness of wisdom? That is a wisdom that is characterized or driven by a teachable attitude. A meekness of wisdom. A wisdom that looks at that teachability works, and therefore it becomes wise because it's teachable. It's that meekness of wisdom, which is not envious, not self-seeking, but it's meek. It's hungry for righteousness and merciful.

And that is the fruit of God's righteousness. And what is the fruit of that righteousness? If you go back to James 3, run about from verse 13 through 18, the fruit of that righteousness is peace. Peace. And that pizin was the next beatitude, which is in Matthew 5, verse 9, which says blessed are the peacemakers. Because with your pure in heart, we have that meekness of wisdom. We come in from being humility, not self-seeking, being teachable, being repentant. You know, it was morning, hungry for righteousness, understanding we've got to be merciful, and being pure in heart.

And therefore now, because we've got the right motive, the motivation is right, we are peacemakers. Because we are in the sermonette. We're not like Samos, who says, kill them, zap them. No. Christ's teaching is a whole different way, which is not natural. Peace-makers. It says here, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.

So you and I, to be a real son of God, and son of God, you can look at it in two different ways. You say, what do you mean, two different ways? Yes, we're going to be children of God, but a son of God also means representing the characteristics of God. Like it says, well, that man was the son of Belial, or that man was whatever it is, you know. It represents those characteristics. So the son of God represents, we represent the characteristics of God. We're the sons of God, and we have the characteristics of God. So think about it. Peacemaking is the pinnacle of God's character. That's what God is. He's a peacemaker. And understand, you do not say, peace, open, or you do not say, peace, lava. He said, peacemaker, which is somebody that quote-unquote makes fabricates, makes an effort to make peace. Look a little bit further in Matthew 15, Matthew 15, verse 18 through 19. Matthew 15, verse 18 through 19. So it's then Peter answered and said to us, explain, think about it, verse 18, Matthew 15, 18. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. How many times you're talking to somebody else? I don't know if that's going to you. You're just talking quite innocently, quite happy, and you say something, and you say, oh, I should have said it that way. And then you realize you offended that person, and then you're going to go back and apologize. Maybe you never done it, but I've done plenty of times. I've done plenty of times. It just came out. And then I've got to look and say, there's something wrong still in my heart, because it wouldn't have come out if my heart was right. So I've got to really analyze myself. Why did that come out? In other words, it didn't even go through the thinking process. It kind of just, boom! It's shortcut. It's a shortcut. You know, it didn't even reason. I said, if I had reason, it would have been, oh, I shouldn't have said it. How many times we say things that, oh, I don't mean it that way. And thus, we've got to be careful, brethren. So that's what he says.

He says, yeah, but those things proceed out of the mouth, come from the heart, and defile a man. For out of the heart proceed wrong thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blessings. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man. Obviously, it does not mean that you don't eat with your hands pulsing, doesn't it? But, you know, you wash your hands and all these other things, fine. But it don't make it a big scene out of it, because really, if there is a little bit of impurity, and if you're healthy, your immune system will take care of that. That's really what he's saying. But what we've got to really be careful and pay attention is to what's inside you, what we're thinking, but even more, what is our mouth of intent and our heart. Hey, maybe my heart is not right. You see, brethren, think about this. Unmet desires. Think about this. Unmet desires. You know, it was unmet wishes and things like that, you know, which could be legitimate. We're not saying they're illegitimate, but unmet desires come from deep in our hearts. Check. Okay, that's right. But if we allow them to become to be, they could become demands. And he says, not just, I wish I had this, but I must have this.

And they become so strong, and he says, it's my right to have it.

And then, he could become an idol.

In other words, is that desire an idol?

An idol is something other than God that we've set our hearts on, that motivates us, that masters are thinking in our way of behaving, conducting. That makes us kind of demand for something, and that demand, which is now idolatrous demand, think about it, leads us maybe to judge other people.

And if they don't satisfy our needs, we start criticizing them. And then, we say, well, if they don't do it the way I want, we all started from a desire.

I then end up saying a few little snide and remarks that are just a little cutty, but just clever and subtle, but cut him or her. Have you ever done something like that? Well, maybe you haven't, but I have, and I have to repent. I have to repent.

And so, when we say those hurtful things, is there peace or not? There's no peace. And look at James 4. James 4. James 4. Understand, James is writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad, basically to the Christians amongst those twelve tribes. So, he's actually writing to Christians. So, writing to the world is writing to members of the Church of God around the world. And he says in verse 1, where do wars and fights come from among you, brethren, in the Church of God?

Wow! Do they not come from your desires? They come from the heart, desires, for pleasures. They're war in your mind. And those desires become lusts, and you do not have. Become demands, become lusts. And then you sin by murder. So, then Christ say that be careful how you speak that you could be murdering somebody, you know, and therefore you desire for something you can't obtain, and you fight in war. How? With words, quite often little snide remarks the idea, you fight in war, and yet you do not have because you do not ask. And you ask and do not receive because you ask a mess that you may spend it on your desires, your pleasures. And then, continuing a little further, it says, adulterers and adulteresses. Do you not know that the friendship with the wall is enmity against God? In other words, there's no peace. And you see, peace has got to start with peace with God first. That's reconciliation with God first. And then he says, well, do you think that the Scripture says in vain that the Spirit, which Spirit? The Spirit of man in man! Oh, carnal mind! The carnal mind, the Spirit of man in man, which is in us, yearns jealousy. You and I have to change our human carnal spirit to become divine spirit with the help of God's only Spirit.

And you know what? And then he continues. In verse 6, where he gives more grace, therefore he says, God resists the proud. He goes back to the first beatitude, lack of humanity.

So these beatitudes are tied in a circle, in a virtual circle, that when you go through this, you are proud. And then, because you're proud, you don't mourn, and so on. And then there's no peace. Brethren, there's a lot in the beatitudes. And peace starts first with God. And Christ given us reconciliation. Then we need peace with man. And when we make peace with man, because we have peace with God, and God gives us of his Holy Spirit, and God is not author of confusion, so there's no peace. We are peace lovers, not peace lovers, but peacemakers. So we're making peace, then, only then, can we have inner peace, because we've done our part.

Now we go to the lost beatitude, our blessing. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Do you know what? The other seven were beautiful attitudes to be in. Of the eighth beatitudes, seven are beautiful attitudes for us to be in. The eighth beatitude is the end result of the other seven. Because this one is the end result, because if you are getting the result of being persecuted for righteousness sake, you are now being like Christ, which is persecuted. It says, if they persecuted me, they'll persecute you. And so we'll be coming like Christ, and we'll get the same privilege.

Reverend, there is a cause and effect. Yes, there is a cause and effect. Sometimes we are punished, because we've done something wrong. Yes, there is a cause and effect. But sometimes we've done nothing wrong, and we're still persecuted. And that's what Peter talks, I'm not going to turn there, but Peter talks about, if you've done something wrong and you've persecuted, well, you've deserved it. But blessed are you, if you've done nothing wrong and persecuted for Christ's sake. And that's why it ends here in verses 11 and 12, this, blessed are you, when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. There's a big lesson here on the Beatitudes, and the end result is, yes, there will be persecution. But it says, rejoice and be exceedingly glad.

Amen.