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Pastor Mike Abendroth, Luke 6:17-26 THE Sermon
My introduction is basic this morning, three quick questions. I wanted to come up with 20 questions, but I'm a product of the public school system in Omaha, Nebraska, so I'll just give you three this morning.
Question one, how do companies encourage employees? How do companies encourage employees? I found some interesting strategies for motivating employees. Get to know your employees through a personality test.
Promote workplace friendships. Promote employee-led interest groups such as a book club, sports team, our gardening group. Do work outside. Outdoors and nature reduces stress, improves focus. Install hanging planters of easy to care for indoor plants like jade pothos, whatever that is.
Next question, how would you encourage people that are doing the Lord's work? How would you encourage people that are in gospel ministry, not working during the day, but in ministry for the Lord? After all, ministry is difficult, it's hard, there's satanic opposition, trials, discouragements.
What would you say to someone who's discouraged as they minister for the Lord? Before I answer that question, my third question is, how did Jesus motivate His apostles for gospel ministry? How did the Lord Jesus motivate people?
And that is really the question of the hour, literally. How did and how does Jesus motivate His people for gospel ministry? Maybe I could ask you this question, this is a bonus question. Do you like to be encouraged?
Do you like encouragement from people? Maybe in your life, this is bonus question number two, I know some of the WPI grads are counting, this is bonus question two. Who in your life is the biggest encourager?
If you look back in your life, I'm 64 now, who's been my biggest encouragement? And so today we're going to look at the master encourager, the Lord Jesus. Please turn your Bibles to the gospel of Jesus according to Luke, and we are going to look at encouragement from the master.
It's going to be specifically in the context to His disciples, His apostles, but the principles for them apply to us as well. Encouragement in gospel ministry in difficult times. I read this week that one man said, Luke is the most beautiful book in the world.
I think he's probably right. And the reason is, it's because it talks about who the Lord Jesus is. Luke knew some of his writers had some idea about Jesus. He knew they knew about His life in general, that He was sinless, that He was spotless, that He died not for His own sins, but others.
He knew the people knew He was literally resurrected from the dead. But the people at that time, remember, they didn't have their Bibles, they didn't have all the New Testament. He knew that they had kind of fragments.
He knew that their knowledge of Jesus wasn't complete. And so what he decided to do is, he decided by the inspiration of the Spirit of God to write some complete account. Not fragments, not pieces, but a complete account of Jesus so that anyone who would read the gospel of Luke would say, oh, as an unbeliever, that's who I'm supposed to believe?
That's what He did? And for the believer in the midst of trials and temptations, the believer would say, I'm thankful that I'm still trusting in this risen Savior. Now, as you know, there are many paradigms that we use theologically.
Revelation from God, response. That's why we hear the Scriptures, then we sing. You look outside at God's revelation and you see a beautiful fall day, and you respond with, wow, that looks great. There's theology that leads to methodology, that leads to doxology.
We know that paradigm. We know the paradigm, at least you better know it, guilt, grace, and gratitude, praise the Lord. And there's another paradigm that we're going to talk about today that you need to know.
And if you think of the history of the world, the history of the universe, what four words would you use to describe the history of the world? Probably you would say something like creation, fall, redemption, and what would the last one be?
Creation, fall, redemption, and what would the last one be that could summarize the entire world? Consummation. Consummation. And that's what we're going to really stress today, that Jesus is going to motivate His disciples, His apostles, by saying, while it's difficult on earth, there's a later.
There's an after. Heaven is real. And that when you work and toil, as 1 Corinthians chapter 15 would say, your toil is not in vain. Yes, it's difficult. I mean, the apostles basically all get killed. One gets stranded on Patmos.
But in the light of difficult ministry, we can't just walk by sight, we have to walk by faith. And so we're going to see Jesus today, the master encourager, knowing that ministry will be hard, exhausting, and difficult, how He encourages, how He reassures, how He helps His disciples.
Now, we've been looking through Luke, and of course it says in chapter 6, verse 12, how He prayed, and we looked at the prayer life of Jesus and how that should motivate us to pray. We've seen the sovereignty of Jesus, have we not, in verses 13 and following, as Jesus calls the disciples, many of them, but chooses the 12, and the 12 only.
And we're going to see the encouragement of Jesus, but first, let's take a look at the kindness and power of Jesus, found in verse 17 through 19, as Jesus begins to minister to a great multitude, as your ESV Bible probably says.
This is the setup for the sermon that we're going to look at, the Sermon of Encouragement. So before we get to that sermon, here is the intro, as it were, and you'll see the Lord Jesus and His kindness and His power.
And He came down with them. Remember, He was up on a mountain to pray, verse 12. So He comes down the mountain with them and stood at a level place, which was a little outcropping someplace, a little plain, with a great crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and even a long way off, a hundred miles maybe, at the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases.
And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch Him, for power came out from Him and healed them all. And what we see is Jesus is becoming well known. The fame of Jesus is spreading.
His popularity is increasing, and now the people want to come. The people want to come to hear Him and then to be healed by Him. And of course, we know Jesus' primary ministry on the way to the cross is a proclamation of the truth.
It's not simply just healing people, but He's proclaiming the truth of God, because after all Jesus isn't just a king, He isn't just a priest, He's a what? He's a prophet. Remember in Deuteronomy, Moses said, there's going to be a better prophet, Deuteronomy chapter 8, the ultimate prophet who's going to come, and the prophet speaks for God.
And Jesus is proclaiming the truth. He's preaching the gospel. The Messiah is there. He's in front of us, as it were. And to authenticate His message, to confirm His message, to give a corroboration to His message, He does the healings.
It's one thing to get up and just run your mouth. It's another thing to say, I'm telling you the truth from God, and I'll prove it by miraculous, instantaneous, organic healings. So Jesus is proclaiming the truth, and He's backing it up with the miracles.
It's not just backing up with miracles, but it's also showing His kindness and His grace. I think I would be remiss if I didn't say, all these people that came up to be healed of their diseases, I just in my mind think, oh, just a bunch of people.
But each one, can you imagine each soul Jesus knowing, each person that was suffering and sick, Jesus, like a good doctor, like a doctor that has a good, what kind of manner do we call that? A bedside manner, where everyone, the Lord Jesus, He knows them, and He heals them with power and kindness.
This isn't just one case, this is just not a big blob of people, image bearers. And here Jesus, the Incarnate One, heals these people. And I just keep thinking about the compassion of Jesus. He sees the people, and they're like a sheep without a what?
A shepherd, but now the shepherd's here. You can't tell probably from your English Bibles, but in verse 18, and those who are troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And basically this scene is one after another, after another, after another.
They just keep coming, wave after wave of people coming to Jesus, and He heals them. They're troubled, they're harassed with unclean spirits, and all they want to do is try to touch Him. Can you imagine the mob of people, and they're just trying to come up to touch you.
And the text says, I mean this is, if you just read this fast, it doesn't really hit you, but the more you contemplate it, the more wonderful it is. For power was coming from Him, and healing them all.
Remember the lady that had the blood issue, and she's like, if I just come up to His cloak, and what? If I just touch it, I'm going to be healed. That's exactly what was happening here. Supernatural, divine power, healing people.
And what Luke wants you to do is, all eyes on Jesus. I almost want to move to the side when I say side note. Unlike false teachers today, who say, I'm going to do a healing ministry on TV, and just somehow lengthen legs, and cure backs, all these are cleansed.
By the way, if someone says they have the gift of healing, I want them to go to Boston Children's Hospital and heal everyone. And if they don't, they're the most sickest liars in the world, right? How could you have the power to heal people, and not heal?
Of course, God heals today through medicine, and sometimes supernaturally, but not through people anymore. Yet Jesus here, you can tell He's the Messiah, because what He does is, He not just preaches, He heals.
He confirms who He is. Power is coming from Him. And by the way, when power comes from Him, He's not somehow depleted of power. He's the God-Man. I love it that Thomas Goodwin said, Christ is love covered over in the flesh.
Isn't that good? Love covered over in the flesh, and divine, human, Jesus begins to heal. And so now we come to the sermon of encouragement. I'm going to read verses 20 through 23 in Luke 6, and just notice how many blessings are found.
And you can count them. And by the way, if you count them, you'll know the outline today. How many points in the outline? And He lifted up His eyes on His disciples. That's important. We'll talk about it in a moment.
And said, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, and revile you, and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for so their fathers did to the prophets. And of course, you counted not one, two, or three blessings, but four. Here Jesus is going to encourage His disciples.
He did encourage His disciples. They're going to go off in gospel ministry. And He's warned them about the trials and the difficulties. And so, what do you tell the people before they go out and minister?
This is kind of like an ordination sermon, where Jesus is going to tell His disciples and His apostles, I'm just going to try to give you some rebar, some spiritual strength. Because you're going to need to be built up, because when you go out there, it's going to be difficult.
Satan is real. Sin is real. The Pharisees are running around trying to control things. They don't want to give up their power. And it's going to be very, very difficult. So what do you tell people before they go out in gospel ministry?
My mind just said what they should have told me before I moved to West Boylston, Massachusetts. But seriously, what does Jesus do? And we're going to see the principles of how He encourages, perfect for us.
Say, I'm working behind the scenes, and I'm in the nursery, I'm in the chair ministry, I shovel snow, and it just gets discouraged, and my own sin, other people's sin. This is just, it's just a slog. And so we're going to watch and look and examine what Jesus said, because it is very, very encouraging.
Okay, I have a few comments I want to make to set this up. Introductory comments. People spill all kinds of ink. Is this the same sermon as the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5? Or is it different? Some call Luke 6 the Sermon on the Plain, level place.
And then Jesus gives, in Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount. So they're either the same sermon under two different times, or two different versions of the same sermon. It doesn't really matter for us, and so I don't want to belabor all the different views.
Certainly it's true, if I preach a sermon in Omaha, Nebraska, and preach it here, it's going to be a little different. But here's something bigger that I want for introductory comment. Are these words given as an evangelistic appeal, or are these words given to encourage?
Most people have taught, many people have taught, that the Sermon on the Mount, and the Sermon on the Plain, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the poor. This is kind of like how you need to think of things before you enter the kingdom.
You've got to think of yourself needy and wanting, and so we're preaching the law to people, and this is kind of like how they should act. But does it not say, in verse 20, He lifts His eyes on His disciples?
He's not just talking to the crowds. Did He not say in Luke 6, 22, they're persecuted, see at the very end there, verse 22, on account of the Son of Man? Did He not say in verse 23, there's a great reward in heaven?
This is not an evangelistic appeal. This is encouragement for people going out into the thick of things in gospel ministry. Certainly unbelievers should be realizing their spiritual poverty, that's true.
But that's a right doctrine from a wrong text. This text is gospel encouragement, the Master sending out His troops. Don't you think someone who does that would try to encourage? Here's basic message from Jesus.
Ministry is hard, but it's worth it. Ministry is difficult, but there's little joys on earth, and there's the ultimate joy in heaven, because consummation awaits, because Jesus is alive, because He keeps His promises, and our citizenship is in heaven.
This is to His disciples. Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. How do you encourage people when things are difficult? That's the point. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the allied expeditionary force, you're about to embark on the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months.
The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave allies and brothers in arms on the other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of the Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle.
We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking. And that's in Second Assumptions 12. What was that from?
That is a very, very famous Dwight David Eisenhower message to the troops before D-Day. It's going to be hard. The enemy's savage. But I have full confidence. You've been trained. You're ready. And there are things on the line like freedom.
I think that was a great letter. But I think Luke is better. I think Luke is better. Our outline today is simple. Four God-bestowed blessings designed to motivate you in ministry. Four God-bestowed blessings designed to make you stay the course.
Instead of saying out there in the middle of the battle, I don't even know what's going on. What's happening to me? I can't figure this out. Why the slings and arrows? Why the persecution? Why less than heaven on earth?
Why sleepless nights? Why criticism? Why condemnation? Why persecution? What does God think of me? What's my relationship with the Lord? Am I justified? Am I redeemed? And am I forgiven? Four blessings for motivation in gospel ministry.
Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. Oh, I have a question for you. What's blessed mean? If this is the outline, it might be good for us to know what's blessing mean? Now some translations translate blessing what?
Happy. Happy, peppy people holding hands. As one theologian said. Everybody's a theologian. It's not happy because happy is kind of a feeling. Happy is based on a circumstance. So what is blessing? When God blesses someone, He approves them.
If you want one word equivalent for blessing, it's approval. God approves you. That's what blessing means. God has favored you. God looks at you in a way that you would say, I'm His. He's mine. This is a word of grace.
It's a gracious word. It's a kind word. It's a pronouncement. These are not, if you do these things, you'll be blessed. It's front loaded. You're blessed. It means approval. It means God the greater condescends and blesses out of love and kindness.
The same kindness He would show people as He healed them, as He got rid of their troubling spirits. When others don't approve of you in ministry. When others wouldn't approve of the apostles as they killed them and martyred them.
When you're in the midst of the battle and people don't like you. This is not really a Christian nation anymore. This is post-Christian for sure. If you know up front, God approves of me. I'm right with God.
He's pleased with me. I have a friend that sticks closer than a brother. The promises in Christ Jesus are yes and amen. My sins, though many, I've been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. I'm cleansed.
I'm right with God. And if you're right with God and you know the worst thing that could happen to you is you're dying, you're killed, there's death, and absent from the body, what? Present with the Lord.
He front loads it and says, you're blessed. You men are approved, not based on who you are, or merit, or works, or anything else, but by grace and sovereign grace. You will not face an easy life, but I need you to know you're right with me.
I need you to know, in summary fashion, all your sins are placed on Christ. All Christ's righteousness placed on you. And God declares you not guilty. There's no condemnation. So go out and minister. It doesn't matter if people don't like you.
It doesn't matter if someone says, you know, bad job, good job. The promised blessing of God. He cares for people. I just was in Nebraska doing a conference, and as you know, I grew up in Nebraska, and if you see the license plates on Nebraska, it says Nebraska, the good life.
There's an argument in the legislature in Nebraska about the slogan for Nebraska. Some want it to be the economic development department. The good life is calling. We need more people than Nebraska. Some want it to be, welcome to Nebraska land where the West begins.
And others in the state legislature want the slogan to be this, Nebraska, honestly, it's not for everyone. It's true. I was back there last week, and I thought, I can't believe I grew up here and stayed here for like 20 years.
What am I doing? I took the girls to the house that I grew up in. I don't know, it looked like it was 800 square foot. I thought I was rich. While we get so many blessings on earth, babies and grandchildren, taste buds and music and all the things that come with it, I mean, God's grace is good to us on earth.
This really isn't the good life. And when you're in heaven, it will become all the more apparent. This might be good, but there's something better. And so everything about this message from Jesus is going to try to appeal to those men.
Yes, you're, you're blessed, but this isn't heaven. The consummation is still to come. To use language of some reformers, it's first the cross and then the crown. Jesus, a suffering servant, he suffered first and then glory.
It's a theology of suffering, then the theology of glory. Blessing number one, God bestowed, designed to motivate you in gospel ministry. God's blessing number one results in a dependence upon God. Dependence on God.
Here's the ordination sermon. Here's boot camp. Here's the strengthening by the Lord Jesus. He's been kind as he preached and now, of course, he's kind as he equips these men. Verse one, excuse me, number one, verse 20, blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God.
Does that mean we sell everything? Now if you think kind of Old Testament like, you'll begin to realize that the poor people in the Old Testament and poor people today, they couldn't trust in credit cards.
They couldn't trust in 401ks. They couldn't trust in their own resources because they had none. So poor people generally, especially in the Old Testament fashion, trusted in the Lord. They had no one else to depend upon and so for them, they can't even go to Costco.
They can't go to 7-Eleven. They can't go to Cumberland Farms. They can't go to Hannaford. What do they do? They're dependent on God. They're looking to God. That's what poor people do. They say to themselves, I have a need and I have to be relying upon God to meet that need.
I can't meet that need myself. Certainly when the disciples and the apostles go out, because remember this is on his disciples that he said these things or to the disciples, I'm sure they were literally poor.
I'm sure they didn't have much and they need to depend on the Lord. But also, doesn't this apply in the spiritual realm as well? Apostles, what do you have in terms of spiritual resources? And of course when Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 on the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the poor in spirit, that's also very true.
Dependent on God for all my physical things, all the resources I have on earth, I'm dependent upon God. But also when it comes to any spiritual thing that I have, I'm also dependent on the Lord. Everything I have is the Lord's.
Everything's been given to me by the Lord. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who's blessed us in Christ with what? Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And when you're poor and when you're dependent on God for physical things or for spiritual things or both, what does God say?
Jesus says, for yours is the kingdom, heaven, joys, glory, crown. And again, it's not if you're poor financially, it's yours, it's a matter of status. By the way, probably Luke was the richest writer in the New Testament.
He was a doctor. It's not just, well, I have a lot of money, therefore I can't be in this category. But it's a dependence upon the Lord. And of course, if that's true for them, I think about you. I think about me in the ministry of the gospel, in the proclamation of the truth to friends and neighbors, behind the scenes work here at Bethlehem Bible Church.
We realize that we have no righteousness. It's all Christ's righteousness. We realize that everything we have is the Lord's and He sees us as blessed. Does this make sense now to you more when I, more sense to you now when I read what Paul says, echoing the Lord Jesus essentially?
For to me, to live is what? Christ. Everything about me, when I'm on earth, it's for the Lord Jesus. You don't have to be a full-time missionary, you don't have to be a pastor, you don't have to be salaried, but I'm on earth for one reason.
To proclaim who Jesus is, reflect that in my marriage, open my mouth to tell my friends and neighbors. For me to live is Christ. He's in a jail and then he says to die is what? Gain. That's what Jesus is telling the apostles.
He's sending them out. When you're on earth, you know what? I'm here for the gospel and ministry, but when you die, it's gain. There's a later, there's an after. I mean, I think to myself, what are the greatest treasures that I have in my life that you could call gain or something that I've received?
And you think about a wife and you think about four kids and you think about grandchildren, think about friendships, you think about ministry opportunities, you think about all these things. For me to live is Christ and to die, gain.
If you worship money, you can't say that. If you worship power and fame, you can't say that. For me to live is shopping, right? You see that on cars. I live to shop. Those are the people that go at 3 a .m. to L .L. Bean on a Friday night.
We had some people from California stay with us the last few days and, you know, there's the, what do you do in New England? I said, when we first moved to New England, they said, come with us. We're going to Littleton.
It's called a Kimball supper. Okay. We're going to go at midnight to L .L. Bean. Okay, we go. Since there's an after, you can say, for me to live is Christ and to die, gain. Paul said, therefore, we have our ambition, whether at home or to be absent, to be pleasing to Him.
He also said, I'm hard-pressed from both directions, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better. It's good now and I want to live for the Lord Jesus. Disciples, apostles, Bethlehem Bible Church, all those that would serve the Lord, it's good now.
I want to live for the Lord. But there's something better. Yours is the kingdom, the ultimate kingdom. You probably read Matthew Henry a little bit. More people own it than read it, but that's true for many books.
He wrote something that people could read after he died. The Lord had used him to be so influential. He didn't want people to be discouraged and so he wrote something so they could read it later and now we're reading it later.
Would you like to know where I am? I'm at home in my father's house, in the mansions prepared for me here. I'm where I want to be, no longer on the stormy sea, but in God's safe, quiet harbor. My sowing time is done and I'm reaping.
My joy is as the joy of harvest. Would you like to know what I'm doing? I see God, not as through a glass darkly, but face to face. I'm engaged in the sweet enjoyments of my precious Redeemer. I sing hallelujahs to Him who sits on the throne and I'm constantly praising Him.
Would you like to know what blessed company I keep? It's better than the best on earth. Here are the holy angels and the spirits of men made perfect. I'm with many of my old acquaintances with whom I worked and prayed and who have come here before me.
Lastly, Matthew Henry writes, would you like to know how long this will continue? It's a dawn that never fades. After millions and millions of ages, it will be as fresh as it is now. Therefore, weep not for me.
Isn't that good? You're going to go out and minister. While you're ministering, it's all for Jesus. And you can remember you're blessed, you're approved by God, and you can remember there's a payoff one day.
There's a later. In the Old Testament Proverbs, the fool said, there's not a later. I'm just going to do now no consequences. And of course, we don't want to act foolishly. We want to be thinking, there's a later, there's a consummation, there's an end.
I won't be toiling and striving. I won't be sweating the whole time. I'm not going to be having trials and tribulations and persecutions and my own sin, other people's sin. The kingdom is for me. How do you motivate people?
A carrot or a stick. I don't advise trying it sometime. You motivate people by grace and grace alone. And that's exactly what he's doing. The second bestowed blessing, all revolving the Son of Man at the end of verse 22.
If you don't get the Son of Man part, this doesn't really work. Not just depending on God, but real blessings, similar but a hair different, is trusting God. It's trusting God for both earthly and heavenly provisions.
The first one was poor. The second one, in verse 21, blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Now, both temporal and spiritual things apply. You disciples, off you go, door-to-door evangelism as it were, city-by-city, knock on the door, some will receive you, some won't, shake off the dust of your feet, off you go, don't bring a lot of provisions, God will provide for you.
There were times that they were literally hungry, but there's also the spiritual aspect of this, hunger. You who are hungry will eventually be satisfied. And it's just like the other one, there's an end, there's a time where you're not hungry, there's a time you're not thirsting, both literally and spiritually.
Jesus said to the woman at the well, everyone who drinks of this water from the well, literal water, will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be what? Thirsty again.
How much more in heaven? You want true satisfaction? You want true contentment? It's only found in the Lord, and it'll be ultimately found in heaven. Blaise Pascal said, the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God himself.
You watch celebrities, and they seem to have it all, and they've got what? Nothing, because they're trying to fill and satisfy their soul with everything except the one who satisfies the soul. You're going to be satisfied one day.
You're going to be satiated, you're going to be glutted, you're going to just have so much, just total satisfaction. And back to the Matthew Henry thing, I mean, there are times I've been satisfied, but it just doesn't last.
Maybe it's a bad analogy, but you go to the store, you go to the store that the Abenroth shop at, you go to T .J. Maxx, Marshalls. Once I was driving down Gold Star Boulevard to get to the Goodwill they had there, and I had all the kids in the car, I had the minivan that the Bartlett's had given us, and a policeman pulls me over, I was speeding, and he's just talking to me to see maybe if I'm drinking or something.
Where are you going, sir? I'm headed down to the Goodwill to get close to my kids. All right, just go. Poor guy. But if you go to a good place and shop, you know, I've done it before, I've seen my family do it.
You're looking in the bag on the way home, checking out your cool stuff that you got. And before you know it, it just doesn't satisfy. Things in the world are not meant to satisfy, they can't satisfy.
You're like, well, I thought if I just got married my life would be, you know, I'd find satisfaction in my wife. In many ways I do, but she can't ultimately be satisfied. But hear the Lord in His goodness and kindness to encourage these men.
He's like, there's hunger now, literal, spiritual, figurative, but you're going to be satisfied one day. So whatever that hunger is, there's an end, there's a later, there's heavens and glories and joy.
The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Number three, third blessing, is having a godly sorrow for sin. Real blessing results in a godly sorrow for sin.
Verse 21, blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Now think about the context. He's sending the men out to do ministry. You're going to weep now, but you're going to laugh. What would they be weeping about?
Certainly their own sin. That's true. I want to never minimize that. But I think it's a little bit more than that. They're going to go out into the world, and they're going to see sins of all kinds. Sins in the world, sins of people, how sin affects, how it's so detrimental.
And when you go out in gospel ministry, what happens is you don't just see your own sin, although that's true, you see everybody else's sin. And it makes you not happy, it makes you sad. The God who made the universe and made us is dishonored with sin.
Sin tries to defame God, if it were possible. Sin is destructive in the lives of families. And so you go out and you do gospel ministry, you better brace yourself. You better remember that you're blessed ahead of time.
You better remember there's something later, because sin destroys, makes you cry. Of course, I think of the Lord Jesus with Lazarus. He's going to heal him, but why is he crying? Because he knows the effects of sin, even on his friend, and he weeps.
Every sin is against God primarily, right? Against you and you only have I sinned and done evil in your sight, right? Psalm 51. But I want you to know, to encourage you men and anyone else in gospel ministry, paid or not, it doesn't last forever, for you shall laugh.
You shall laugh. Joy, cheering, happiness. Listen to this, Revelation 7, the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Revelation 21, he will wipe away every tear for their eyes. Death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. One man said, human hands are poor at drying tears.
But apostles, disciples, Bethlehem Bible Church, one day, for all you true believers, no obituaries, no wakes, no deaths, no memorial services, no tears, nor crying, no hospital beds, no rest home beds, no doctors, no hospitals.
Laughing at the end, joy at the end. Of course, he gives us some joy now, assurance of salvation, forgiveness, trust in the promise of God. Yes, I get that, but there's the ultimate, the consummation, the eternal comfort.
Isaiah 25, he'll swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. This is the Lord, we've waited for him, let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. And finally, number four, we want to be dependent upon God.
We want to trust him. We want to have a godly sorrow for sin. And lastly, there's real blessings found in when we're persecuted for righteousness sake. We're expecting it and we know it's going to happen.
Verse 22 and 23, blessed are you when people, I mean, this is upside down theology compared to the world. You're blessed when people hate you and when they exclude you and they revile you and they spur your name, not for being dumb, not for being stupid, not for being foolish, on account of the son of man.
That's a divine name for God, the son. Rejoice in that day, leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, so their fathers did to the prophets. I'm going to send you men out, I'm going to send you out for gospel ministry.
You stand approved and by the way, there's going to be persecution and difficulty. It's not going to be an easy road, but you're blessed. Think about the end. Think about the consummation. I love Romans 8, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.
Second Corinthians, for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, hated, ostracized, I mean, I'm not approved by man when they're doing that, but God approves me.
Language like this from the Lord Jesus should make you think there's no reason to move to Iceland. There's no reason to go move in some kind of place and I'm going to go move to Moscow, Idaho. There's nothing like that here.
Did you get that, some of you? First Peter chapter one, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it's tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Friend, there's a later, and so when people persecute you for Jesus' sake, instead of being sad, what's the text say? Be glad, state of gladness, delight, and what's the other one? Leap for joy. This is like a little calf just running around, a little sheep running around, they just kind of jump, oh, to be able to run again, oh, to be able to skip, you know, kids are just so happy they just kind of skip, it's the first time I ever skipped in 27 years, this pulpit.
You're so happy you just jump in the air. If somehow somebody gave you $10 million, I wonder what your response would be? I probably would jump. White men can't jump, but neither can pastors who are old.
Matthew Henry doesn't have his body yet, glorified body yet in heaven, but his spirit's jumping, leaping, joy. So Jesus, the great preacher, doesn't give worldly advice, doesn't just give advice that doesn't make any sense.
He gives advice that is counterintuitive and designed not for evangelistic, for these disciples, they're trusting in him. But how can you brace yourself in gospel ministry for the slog, for the difficulties, for life?
You're blessed, approved by God, based on the work of Jesus, approved by God. And by the way, when you have these difficulties, when you're hungering, when you're not satisfied, when you're weeping, and when you're persecuted, there's the end that you have in view.
So we're to think of heaven. We're to think of our citizenship in heaven. Therefore, my beloved brothers at Bethlehem Bible Church, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. If it stopped there, that would be enough.
But what does God, through Paul, tell us that sounds exactly like Jesus? Abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain, and heaven is there to reward you. As I said the other day, I'll remind you, dear Christian at Bethlehem Bible Church, what's your ministry to the saints here?
To live as Christ, you ought to have a ministry, and so many do. And if you're new and you're just visiting, you haven't taken membership class, fine. Several people came up to me a couple of weeks ago and said, I've been coming, a member, I don't have a ministry, I want to serve.
Hallelujah. And for those that still don't have a ministry, they just come every Sunday. Of course, you're welcome to come. But on the positive side, may I encourage you, you're a blessed person. Graced by God, you're blessed, and if you're so blessed, even though there's trouble now, it's worth serving.
It's worth giving your heart, your life, and serving Jesus, since He's not here. God doesn't need your good works, your neighbor does, BBC does, and so may I say to those that serve here, thank you. May those that say, I should, good job, and may those that say, you know what, I just don't have a ministry, I just show up on Sunday, that's it.
Reread the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Plain, and I think you'll want to serve. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you that our labor's not in vain. Thank you, Lord, that like the disciples, ours is the kingdom of God.
Thank you that we'll one day be ultimately satisfied. Thank you that heaven will be laughter and joy and merriment. Amen? And thank you that our reward in heaven is great.