Do you Care about being Happy?

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I'll begin tonight with a simple question, really. Do you care about being happy?
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Do you care about being happy? A poll was taken, I haven't found an updated one, but about eight to 10 years ago there was a poll that said about one in two
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Americans are unhappy. So that is about 50 % of Americans today would say they're unhappy.
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That was eight to 10 years ago, and I cannot imagine it being any better today. And it seems like things like depression are on the rise, and I'm sure this is exasperated by our current economic recession, and no matter what the media calls it, we're in a recession.
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And even that, you look around today and you think about all that's going on.
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Seems like I saw some videos of just like in Chicago, people are just rioting in the streets, right?
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Or there's a shooting, or there's another shooting, or there's some sort of catastrophe. And so all of this seems to exasperate the fact that many people, at least in the
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United States, would say that they're unhappy. And all mankind really cares about being happy, so maybe that's a poor question to start out the sermon with.
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Maybe a better sermon to ask you tonight here in Perryville is this question, are you happy?
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Are you happy? In Matthew chapter five, Jesus talks about those who are truly happy.
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Now we'll see later in the sermon, I'm gonna get away from this word happy because I think in our vernacular, the word happiness tends to be connected with our circumstances.
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So Jesus isn't talking about tonight what we're gonna look at, a superficial feeling. Rather, he's talking more about a state of being, a position, even a disposition, if you will.
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And so we're beginning, if you remember, it's been a few weeks, but we're beginning a Sunday night series in the Sermon on the
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Mount. And what we come to tonight is that famous section known as the Beatitudes.
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So what we're gonna do tonight in this sermon, it'll be a little bit shorter because of the Lord's Supper and business meeting and those things, but what we're gonna do tonight is we're gonna consider this section as a whole, the
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Beatitudes as a whole, which is Matthew 5, 3, or really through 5, 12, kind of all goes together.
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And then we're gonna look at, specifically, we're gonna begin to look at what Jesus means by this first Beatitude, blessed are the poor in spirit.
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So let's consider these words of Christ together this evening. I'm gonna go ahead and read from verse one down to verse 12.
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I invite you to stand with me as we read this section together. Matthew 5, beginning in verse one.
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Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
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He opened his mouth and taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
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Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
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Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
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Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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Fathers, we come to this text tonight. We pray your blessing over it. We pray your blessing over the preaching of the word.
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Help us to cast all of our cares upon you. Help us to understand tonight what it means to be poor in spirit.
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Help us to realize the truth of the beatitudes and to submit ourselves to the teaching of our
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Lord, understand what it looks like to live in the kingdom of Christ. We pray your blessing over tonight.
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We pray it all in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. So we said that the
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Sermon on the Mount then is divided into three main sections. This is a sermon of Jesus.
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It's recorded for us here in Matthew chapter five, six, and seven. And we see, really, we divide it up into three major sections.
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We had number one, the recipients of the kingdom of heaven. That's where we're at tonight. Verses three through 16.
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What do those in the kingdom of heaven, what do they look like? And then section two, the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven.
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So how do those who are in the kingdom of heaven, how do they live? And then section three, which gets into chapter seven, is the right and wrong kingdom.
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So the narrow gate and the broad gate and those who say Lord, Lord, and those who are truly building their house upon the rock.
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So this is the Sermon on the Mount, the recipients of the kingdom of heaven, the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven, and the right and wrong kingdom.
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So here we are tonight in the recipients of the kingdom of heaven. Who receives, this is important, right?
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We wanna know this, right? Who receives the kingdom of heaven? And here we are tonight in that section.
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So two main headings tonight. First, we'll look at the Beatitudes as a whole. And then secondly, we're gonna look at, begin to look at,
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I should say, what poverty of spirit means. So first of all then, the
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Beatitudes as a whole. Really, verses three through 10, I'm counting verse 11 and 12 as more commentary on verse 10.
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So really, there's eight Beatitudes, verses three through 10. So let's just read those Beatitudes again together.
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Blessed are the, verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
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Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
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Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
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God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. And blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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So why do we call this section? Probably, in my Bible, there's a heading that says the Beatitudes. Why do we call these the
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Beatitudes? Well, we call them Beatitudes because it just comes from the Latin word for blessed.
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And so what then actually are the Beatitudes? They are a pronouncement of blessing.
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Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. Eight times Jesus pronounces it. This is who is blessed.
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The poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteous, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted.
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This is who is blessed by God. And in Genesis chapter 12, if you remember, in Genesis chapter 12 verse 3, the
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Lord tells Abraham, in you, in Abraham, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
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How is this so? Because Christ, from the lineage of Abraham, has come, right?
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And now he is fulfilling this prophecy, even now, even in our text tonight, and he is pronouncing blessing.
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Now, some translate, like what is it, what does that mean to be blessed? Some translate that word as simply happy.
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So I think it's like maybe the home and Christian standard, or maybe even the Christian standard Bible, it doesn't say blessed.
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It says happy are, happy are, happy are. It's not a terrible translation, but I think it doesn't capture the full meaning in light of contemporary view of happiness.
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So what then does blessing mean? When Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit, what does he mean by saying they are blessed?
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Does he mean that they're gonna have a bunch of money? Does he mean that they're going to be popular in the world's eyes?
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What does he mean? Well, Matthew's intent, we remember in the Gospel of Matthew, his intent is to show us that Jesus is the
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Messiah. He is the one, the promised one of God, and he has come to lay down his life for his sheep. He has come to give his life a ransom for many.
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He has come to die for our sins and to rise again. So many times in Matthew, he alludes to the prophecy of Isaiah.
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So just for a moment, let's see if this will help us. Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 61. We're trying to figure out right now the
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Beatitudes, and what does it mean, Isaiah 61? What does it mean when Jesus says blessed? When he pronounces blessings, what is he trying to say?
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What is he trying to say that it means to be blessed by God? Well, here's maybe one example that can help us.
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See if you notice any parallel between the Beatitudes and what I'm going to read from Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61.
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I'm gonna read verses 1 through 3. See if you notice any parallels with the
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Beatitudes. Isaiah 61, verses 1 through 3. We begin to understand,
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I think, in this text more of what Jesus means that we're blessed. Specifically there, look at verse 2, for example, to proclaim the year of the
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Lord's favor. So what does it mean to be blessed by God?
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What does it mean to be one of these who is described in the Beatitudes? It means one who has the favor of God upon your life.
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One who is approved by God. Of course, this entails happiness, no doubt, but not a happiness that is based on outward circumstances.
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So John Stott says it this way, happiness is a subjective state, whereas Jesus is making an objective judgment about these people.
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He is declaring not what they may feel like, but what God thinks of them, and what on that account they are.
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They are blessed. So let me illustrate it this way. If you are poor in spirit tonight, you may not feel happy.
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You may not feel joyful and bubbly, right? But you're blessed. You're mourning your sin tonight.
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You may not feel happy. You may not feel bubbly about them, but you are blessed.
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If you are being persecuted for righteousness sake, you may not say, boy, that makes me feel great, but you are blessed.
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That's what Jesus is saying here. Okay, so who are the Beatitudes for?
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There's these eight pronouncements here, Matthew 5, 3 through 10, eight pronouncements of blessings.
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It's extremely important, I believe, to interpret the Sermon on the Mount with these Beatitudes at the beginning.
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It's not unintentional. I think it's very important that they become first. So let me read you a quote from Ian Campbell.
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He says, it is important to note that the Sermon on the Mount is descriptive before it is prescriptive.
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It describes what the Christian is before talking of what the
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Christian should do. For Jesus, obedience grows out of blessedness.
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The statement of our condition precedes the demands of our discipleship. All the imperatives of the gospel arise out of its indicatives.
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Or, as we've been learning in Ephesians, we are to live out the reality of who you are.
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Okay, of who we are in Christ. And so we begin the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus does, in these
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Beatitudes to tell who we are. And then based on who we are, we live out, we desire to live out the commands that Jesus gives.
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So the indicative comes first before the imperative. That means the objective truth of what
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Christ has done for the Christian, and then who we are in Christ is followed by the imperative.
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It's not obey in order to get to be who God called you to be. Rather, it's because we are who we are that we now desire to obey.
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Hopefully that makes sense to you. So who do the Beatitudes describe?
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Friends, very simply, I believe it's clear that the
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Beatitudes describe people who have been encountered by, transformed by, the saving grace of God.
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They are descriptions of who Christians are. Let me just note them again.
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Poor in spirit, those who mourn, meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who are merciful, those who are pure in heart, those who are peacemakers, those who are persecuted.
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Each one begins with a pronouncement of blessing. Blessed are, blessed are, blessed are.
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By the way, not will be, right? But are. Not one day you'll be blessed.
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No, no, no. If you're poor in spirit, you're blessed. If you're mourning, you're blessed. If you, and by the way,
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I'll just give you a hint for that. I don't think Jesus says all sad people are blessed.
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What he means is those who mourn their sin. Like there's a logical order in these things. We'll talk about that as we go on.
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Each Beatitude then begins with the blessed are, and then it ends with the reason why they're blessed.
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So the first and the last are present reasons. So look at verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there's what?
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Is. Right now. You're blessed in spirit now, or you're blessed if you're poor in spirit now, and yours is the kingdom of heaven right now.
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And then verse 10. Blessed are those who persecuted for righteous sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven right now.
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And then in the middle, we have all these future reasons, right? So verse 4. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
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Verse 5. For they shall inherit the earth. Verse 6. For they shall be satisfied.
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Verse 7. For they shall receive mercy. Verse 8. For they shall see God. Verse 9.
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For they shall be called sons of God. Shall sounds funny if you say it over and over and over like that, doesn't it?
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Okay. But the point is, these are future blessings, and not future like, don't think of them as a long distance away, but look at them as promises in which
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Christians have a solid guarantee. These are promises to us. Let me know something further as we just think about these as a whole, and then as you can imagine, we'll walk through each one individually.
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But these are not different classes of Christians.
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So you come up to me and you say, you know, Quadra, I'm kind of the poor in spirit Christian. I'm not merciful.
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That's not really my, that's not who I am. I'm just, I'm kind of like, you know, I hunger and thirst for righteousness, but I'm not,
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I'm not like, I'm not one who is persecuted, right? No, no. You don't get to tease these out.
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Remember like the fruit of the Spirit this morning? This is not a buffet line that you get to walk and say, you know, this is what I like. No, no.
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If the Spirit of God is working in you and has brought you to a state of humility and regeneration before God, if he's working in you, these things appear in your life.
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This is the reality. These are who Christians are in their totality. Further, this is
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Jesus, man, he just, he turns the world on its head. These are completely opposite of the ideas of worldly happiness, are they not?
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Like all of these. Like, blessed are the poor in spirit, the world says, blessed are the rich in spirit.
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Blessed are those who mourn, the world says, blessed are those who never have any sadness.
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Blessed are the meek, the world says, blessed are the strong. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the world says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst to get ahead.
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Blessed are the merciful, the world says, blessed are the strong. Blessed are the pure in heart, the world says it doesn't matter what your heart is.
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Blessed are those who are peacemakers, the world says blessed are those who stand their own ground, never compromise, never, never, what
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I mean is never seek to show humility towards one another. And blessed are those who are persecuted for righteous sake, the world would say no way.
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These are all opposite of what the world would say. Jesus turns these things on their head. The one who can get ahead, the one who is the boss, the one who promotes self, these are the values of the world.
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They are not the values of the kingdom of heaven. So the Beatitudes are a pronouncement of blessing, they're a description of the character of Christians.
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This is a little bit cheesy maybe, but if it helps you remember, you can think of the Beatitudes as the attitudes of being a
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Christian. So the Beatitudes, the attitudes of being a Christian. If these characteristics describe you, you are a
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Christian. This is, now I understand each one of these, there may be different manifestations, different levels, okay, fine, but this is what a
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Christian, if these describe you, you're a believer. If they don't describe you, you're not a believer, okay.
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Again, again, just prove it in verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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No one possesses the kingdom of heaven except who?
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The poor in spirit. It's just a reality. One last note, and I already mentioned it, but I'll mention again, the
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Beatitudes are in a logical order. So we'll highlight this as we go through it, but I really think it's of utmost importance that Jesus begins where he does.
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He could have began any way he wanted, but I think he begins this way on purpose, so it's important that it begins in verse 3.
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This sets the tone, in my opinion, not only for the
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Beatitudes, but for the entire sermon on the mount. So let's jump to the next main point.
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So one, the Beatitudes overall. Now, number two, the poor in spirit. Verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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What we're trying to decide tonight, what we're trying to look at the text, and we won't finish this because I did cut this a little short because of the other things we have going on, but what we're trying to figure out is what does
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Jesus mean, right? If only the poor in spirit have the kingdom of heaven, don't you want to know what it means to be poor in spirit, and don't you want to make sure that's that's who you are?
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Okay, so first, what it does not mean, all right? So some have concluded, and you might hear this today in secular world media even, some have concluded that Jesus means the financially poor, right?
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So it's like blessed are the poor in spirit. Well, what he means is those who are actually impoverished.
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So he means if you're poor, if you're poor financially, you're blessed. And we almost have this mentality, don't we?
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We almost have this mentality that all rich, and this is, I think it comes from influences of Marxism probably in our schools and such, but we have this mentality today that rich people are inherently wicked, and poor people are inherently righteous.
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Like, that's just the way it is. Like, we see someone who's got money, we think, well, he's wicked. And if we see someone who's poor, we think, oh, they're not a sinner, and they just need our help.
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Now, the Bible says things like Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
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So it's not about your outward financial prosperity or lack thereof, but Jesus is talking obviously here about our spirit, right?
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Blessed not are the poor financially, but blessed are the poor in spirit. That's not the material realm.
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D. A. Carson said it this way, what is poverty of spirit? It is surely not financial destitution or material poverty, nor is it poverty of spiritual awareness, still less is it poor spiritedness, that is, a deficiency of vitality or courage.
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And certainly the expression does not denote poverty of Holy Spirit. Okay, so what does it not mean?
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You can be financially poor, and you can still not be poor in spirit. Poor in spirit does not mean to be cowardly.
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Poor in spirit does not mean to be devoid of the Holy Spirit, or that we don't seek, as we've been talking about Ephesians 5 18, to be filled in the
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Holy Spirit. And let's also emphasize this to prepare us for what we're about to discuss.
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To be poor in spirit doesn't mean that we like hate ourselves, or hate our life, you know, like we want to take our life or something, or that we devalue human life.
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If this is what you begin to think, you've missed the point. So what it does not mean. Now, what does it mean then to be poor in spirit?
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I cannot emphasize this enough, and we're gonna take this subject up maybe next week. I'm not sure about the pastors coming from El Dorado.
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We've got to talk more about that. Jacob and I are meeting with them this week, so I may pick this up next week, or it may be the week after that.
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But let me emphasize this, as you study this and read this on your own, this is key to understanding the
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Sermon on the Mount. Look at verse 3 again, and let's just be, it's Sunday night, we can be a little bit interactive, right?
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Is this verse, what type of sentence is this verse?
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What type of verse, what type of sentence is this verse?
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Is it a question, like interrogative sentence? No. Is it an imperative, a command is telling us to do something?
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No. So what is it? Yeah, declarative or an indicative, right?
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It's just stating a truth, so it's not a command. It is, when interpreted rightly then, it helps us to understand the rest of the
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Sermon. None of the Sermon, listen very carefully to this, none of the commands in the
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Sermon on the Mount, let's just pick, I'm just going to pick one, okay? I'm just looking down at my text and I'm jumping over to Matthew 5 37.
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Let what you say simply be yes or no. Anything more than that comes from evil. Okay, that's a command.
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Let what you say simply be yes or no. We'll talk about that when we get to it, but let me give you an example of that command. No one obeys that command rightly before the
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Lord unless they are what? Poor in spirit, right?
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This is where we must begin. We'll talk about this more, what it means, right?
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So what does it mean to be poor in spirit? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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No one possesses the kingdom of heaven other than those who are poor in spirit. So it's vital for us to understand what does this mean.
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So I have five points here and we're only going to do two tonight.
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Okay, so number one, what does it mean to be poor in spirit?
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Number one, poor in spirit is the complete opposite of those in the kingdom of this world.
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So you think about the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of Christ. Those in the kingdom of this world are full of what?
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Self. Self. Self -sufficient, self -confidence, me, me, me, me.
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I'll put it to you this way, it is impossible for you to be full of self and full of Christ at the same time.
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Do you understand that narcissism is not anything new by any chance, but by any means, but narcissism is rampant in our society today and in social media has only influenced that even more.
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I want to see the things that I can do. I want to exalt self above all and autonomy comes with that, right?
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So we think this is my body, my choice. We think I can kill a baby inside of my body if I want to because it's my body.
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I can, if I'm born one way, I can be another way. Society can't tell me what to do.
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God can't tell me what to do. No one can tell me what to do because the God that I follow is the
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God of self. That's the world today. And so many look to the cross and to the resurrection of our
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Lord and they think, what is that really to me? Not only that's irrelevant to me, that doesn't do anything for me, or it's just another means to advance my cause.
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So you have some people that look at the cross and resurrection and say, that's irrelevant to me, or you have other people who look to the cross and resurrection and say, oh yeah,
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Jesus, Jesus is a way for me to get ahead. Jesus is a way for me to make money. Jesus is a way for me to be popular in the world.
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Jesus is a way for me to have a healthy life. Oh yeah, I'll take Jesus. And you remember then that if you come to Jesus for something other than Jesus, that's called what in the
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Bible? It's called idolatry. You didn't come to Christ for Christ. You came to Christ for whatever handout you thought that he had.
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And so you see people looking at the cross and resurrection full of self, they either think that means nothing to me or that I want to use that to get ahead.
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The cry of our culture is individualism. It is self -expression. It is autonomy.
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But again I repeat, you cannot be rich in self and poor in spirit at the same time.
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Secondly, poor in spirit means we acknowledge our guilt.
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Contextually, it's important that not far above the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 4 17.
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So just go back. I have to turn one page. Maybe you don't even have to turn a page. But if you do, flip back to Matthew 4 17 and understand that the
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Sermon on the Mount comes in the context of the preaching of Jesus that is described in this way.
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In Matthew chapter 4 verse 17 it says, "...from that time Jesus began to preach, saying,
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Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." How do you summarize the preaching of Jesus?
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Here's how you summarize the preaching of Jesus. The preaching of Jesus was, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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So the Sermon on the Mount falls under the big category context of the repentance that Jesus is preaching to those who will hear him.
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Poor in spirit means that we understand there's a need for repentance.
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We acknowledge our guilt. Now, to tell someone to repent is not popular today. I was told not long ago, someone phrased it to it this way, this person does not need to repent because it's unpopular to talk about repentance.
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But can I encourage us with something? Calling someone to repentance isn't devaluing them as human.
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It isn't saying that they're less of a person than someone else is. It's simply calling them to acknowledge their guilt before a holy and righteous and awesome
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God. The poor in spirit acknowledge their guilt.
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They know that if they're gonna stand... Have you ever been in court proceedings? I know some of you have. I've been in a few.
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But have you ever been in court proceedings where people stand and it's like, before the judge, and it's like, it's obvious they did it, but they say, what's your plea?
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And what do they plea? Not guilty, right? You're like, dude, you are guilty.
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Like, what are you doing? And there's all sorts of technicalities and stuff maybe whereby they can get out of it. But the poor in spirit, when they stand before the throne of God and God says guilty, they don't say, no, no, not us.
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No, they acknowledge their guilt. They know that the evidence is stacked against them, and they know that they're guilty as charged.
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In a sense, to be poor in spirit is to acknowledge... It's similar to being poor financially.
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You're poor financially, you're in debt, right? You get a letter from, say, the mortgage company, says you're behind on the mortgage, and you don't call the mortgage...
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Or maybe some people do, you know? You call the mortgage company and try to say, oh yeah, I don't owe this. Like, no, I owe this.
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That's what the poor in spirit say to God. I, what you account for me,
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I owe. Any sentence that God could execute on me, the fire we deserve, the fiery flames that would torment our immortal souls for ages upon ages upon ages, but are just deserts.
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We see Christ on Calvary bearing not just sin, but bearing our sin.
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We understand that we deserve the wrath of God, and we see that Christ has bore our sins and our guilt upon the cross.
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I'll allude to this next week, but the point is to be poor in spirit is to be in a state where you acknowledge your need of salvation must come from somewhere else outside of you.
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It cannot come from in here. This is not the message. This is not the message of the 21st century.
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If you want to get ahead, reach down deep inside yourself. This is even, this is even preached in pulpits, isn't it?
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That is, you want to be, you want to do better and be better and have more success, reach down deep inside yourself.
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But the poor in spirit recognize that you have nothing from within to offer
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God. You have nothing of your own doing or your own hands to offer
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God. In fact, all that you have to offer God, the best is filthy rags, the best that you could do.
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All those times, if you could stack up every single time that you helped that that little old lady cross the street, or that you gave a piece of candy to a dirty -faced, freckled -faced little boy and made his day, if you could stack all those things up before God, it would just be filthy rags.
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That's your best. And then you have all the thoughts and the deeds and the motivations, and you understand that you are guilty and you are empty.
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And so the result, of course, of the poor in spirit is that this is how they have the kingdom of God, is because they look outside of themselves.
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And they look to Christ alone as their salvation. It's only the poor in spirit who do this.
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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The proud in spirit will never look to Christ or say, like,
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I don't want to be poor in spirit, I don't want to be rich in spirit, I want to be middle -class in spirit.
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Is that an option? Maybe it's an option, but it's not an option to get into the kingdom of heaven.
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In order to get into the kingdom of heaven, you must acknowledge your spiritual bankruptcy before a holy and righteous
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God. And friends, let me encourage you that this is what we celebrate even tonight in the
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Lord's Supper. Now hear me very, very clearly. All that you have deficiency in,
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Christ has completed. Everything that you lack as a wretched, hell -bound sinner,
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Christ has taken up. Christ has completed, and we see that represented tonight in the
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Lord's Supper. We see that represented in His broken body and shed blood symbolized before us.
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In fact, I'll say it tonight, now I'll talk a little bit more about this after we sing, but that's the only ones invited to the table tonight.
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Those who are poor in spirit. Because the Lord's Supper reminds us that you cannot get into the kingdom of heaven by something that you have done.
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You must look from outside yourself, and you look to Christ, and you remember
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His broken body, and you remember His shed blood, and you remember that it didn't end at the cross, but He rose again on the third day.
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And you remember that the only way that you're in the kingdom and not someone else is not because you were smarter, better looking, more financially prosperous, less financially prosperous, because you lived in Perry County.
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No, no, no, no, no. The only way that you're sitting here tonight, and the only way that you got into the kingdom, is the grace of God.
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Are you poor in spirit? Friends, these are the only way, these are the only ones that get into the kingdom of heaven.
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I know that when I preach, we're gonna close, but I know that when I preach, I always want to remember that there may be those among us.
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I know that there are those among us. I think about my own children, that there are some who are unconverted.
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Others, young folks, may be unconverted, and maybe even an adult in our midst being unconverted.
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What is it that you must do? Since the text doesn't tell you to do something, it just says, blessed are the poor in spirit.
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What is it that you must do? Well, my exhortation is this. Jesus pronounces a reality of those who have been recipients of the grace of God.
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You're never told to go into the eternal counsels of God and try to decide what he has decreed before the foundation of the world, but there are commands in the
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Bible that you are commanded to do. Such as, repent of your sins.
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Such as, believe in the Lord Jesus. Such as, call upon the name of the
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Lord. Such as, humble yourself before the Lord. If you hear these commands tonight and you think to yourself, there ain't no way.
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I'm not doing any of that. Then, okay, that's your decision, but you will face judgment.
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But if you hear these and you have a tender conscience and a tender heart, could it be that even tonight the
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Holy Spirit is working in your heart? And why would you not believe these promises? Don't you want to be blessed?
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Don't you want to be blessed? Well, blessed are the poor in spirit. So cry out to God even tonight in humility and faith, trusting the promise of the gospel.
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Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Help us to understand what it means.
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Help us to live by what it says. Help us to be people of truth and people of the book. Let us be a church that's poor in spirit in terms of ourselves, but rich in grace and full of the
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Holy Spirit and rich in Christ. We pray that you would work tonight by your grace.