Blessed Are the Meek (The Beatitudes Part 2)

Moore's Corner Church

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The Beatitudes & The Gospel (The Beatitudes Part 3)

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Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

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Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

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D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

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If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

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Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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So it all starts by recognizing your need for God's grace. The next statement, blessed are those who mourn.

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So remember, Jesus is taking them step by step. So if poor in spirit means that, what are they mourning over?

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Well, the mourning would be a mourning over sin, that we have offended a holy

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God. And this godly sorrow, you know, some people are sorry because they got caught, right?

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That's one reason people are sorry. Others recognize that I have sinned,

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I have offended a holy God, and that godly sorrow is what leads to genuine repentance.

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And all who seek the Lord in this way, the promise is that they shall be comforted.

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Why? Because God forgives all those who come to him in humility and faith.

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And don't you know that Jesus deals with people, he dealt with people in the most gentle of ways.

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You know, I don't think there was ever a man who was as gentle as Christ.

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Now, Christ could be hard too. Those people that were proud, right, the religious leaders.

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Jesus was not only hard, I would say he was harsh with them. But to the lowly, to the humble,

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Jesus was very kind. He was very compassionate, even to the worst of sinners.

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So Christ deals with such people in the most gentle of ways. Matthew chapter 12 verse 12 says,

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A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax he will not quench.

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Now that doesn't really translate well in our modern day. What does that mean? One commentator says this,

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The bruised reed that he will not break, these represent people who are deemed useless by the world.

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Christ's work was to restore and rekindle such people, not to break them or to quench them.

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And this speaks of his tender compassion toward the lowliest of the lost.

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You know, the world would just discard people that they don't really matter. They're not going to benefit me in any way.

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The world doesn't care about people like that. But Jesus cares, the Lord cares. So Jesus was very kind to those who showed humility.

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So blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Okay, the next verse, verse five,

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Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. When you hear the word meek, what's the first other word that pops into your head?

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Weak, right? That's the way a lot of people think that. Meekness is weakness. Now we kind of know that's not true.

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Weakness is one thing. Meekness is not weakness. It's subdued strength.

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That's one way people describe it. Being meek doesn't mean you just roll over and give up all your rights and you're weak and you're cowardly and all the rest.

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No, being meek means that you are a person who, you know, you're in control of your emotions.

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You have strength, but you don't necessarily show it. You're in control.

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A meek person is patient. Someone who is meek is long -suffering. Someone who is meek has a forgiving disposition.

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Someone who is not meek, you know, they fly off the handle. They insist on having their way. A meek person is slow to anger, not easily provoked.

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A meek person is one who doesn't return evil for evil. A meek person, and this really should be our goal, to overcome evil with what?

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Good. When somebody does something to us, we're not offended. Now, being upset when somebody is speaking against God or offending

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God, it's good to have zeal for God. But when someone speaks against you, it's best just let it go.

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Don't insist on your own way. Don't strike back when someone offends you. Blessed are the meek.

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Happy are the meek. Why? Because according to Jesus, the meek shall do what?

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The meek shall inherit the earth. So when Jesus comes, the kingdom comes to this earth when

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Jesus comes. So when Jesus comes, the meek inherit the earth.

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Do you realize Christians, another way to put this, is that one day Christians will rule the world.

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Christians will rule and reign on the earth. Now, as far as, and I don't want to get too much into this, but the people that are in control of the world right now typically are not meek people.

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You know, selfish, ambition, that's how you get to the top. You know, it's kind of cutthroat. And many of them are corrupt.

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Obviously many are cruel. But Jesus says in the end, the first will be last in the last first.

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So the kingdom of heaven, when it comes to this earth, it will overturn this world system.

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So this world system to the believer, to the one who has the Holy Spirit, we're kind of grieved by what we see around us every day.

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And the good news is it's not always going to be like that. Why? Because the meek shall inherit the earth.

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And this is tied in closely with that verse 6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

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Does it bother you to see the violence and the corruption and just the lawlessness that abounds and the insanity that's happening in the culture?

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Well, it should because the believers should hunger and thirst, not for that stuff, we should hunger and thirst for what? For righteousness, for God's standard to be upheld.

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So those who hunger and thirst, Jesus says they will be filled. You might not be fulfilled today.

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You might not receive that fulfillment. Things probably aren't going to change tomorrow.

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But those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled. So let me ask you, is this what you are hungering and thirsting for?

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See, every person in the world wants certain things. The normal selfish inclination is

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I want all this stuff for me. You know, I have all these things that I want, things that I think will make me happy.

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Well, I mean, that's human nature, I guess. But what we really should be thirsting for is what?

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God's righteousness. We need to be hungry for God's righteousness.

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And if we are, the promise is we shall be filled. Isn't it good news to know that things are not always going to be like this?

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So this is the hope that Jesus is giving them in the Sermon on the Mount.

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So first, God puts into the hearts of His people a mourning over sin.

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Then you're comforted as a child of God. The promise is that God's people shall inherit the earth.

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Jesus is kind of going through this, leading them along point by point. We desire righteousness and mercy.

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He says in verse 7, blessed are the merciful. For what? They shall obtain mercy.

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Why should we be merciful to other people? One way mercy is translated or defined as a loving kindness.

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Why should you be merciful to others? As a Christian, why should you be merciful to others?

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Because God has been merciful to us. Right, because God has been merciful to us.

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So mercy is the compassion and loving kindness of God upon those who are admittedly undeserving.

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And because God has been merciful to us, we should show mercy to others. You see, yeah, but they did this.

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You don't realize they don't deserve it, right? They don't deserve it, but neither do we. But we show mercy to others because God has shown mercy to us.

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The Greek word eleo, translated mercy, means benevolence. It's the compassionate treatment of those in need or in distress.

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So blessed are the merciful. And then verse 8, such a wonderful verse. You know, it's kind of hard to pick, you know, which one is your favorite?

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I don't know. Do you have a favorite? I was thinking about this. Which one's the best? Well, it's kind of like a package deal, really.

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But I like this. This is hard to beat, and I'll explain why. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see

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God. Think about that for a moment. You, if you trust in Christ, if you are following Christ, He has given us a new heart, right?

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So the pure in heart is not somebody who's perfect and never does anything wrong. The pure in heart are the people who have received

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Christ as their Savior. He has given us a clean, a new heart. So the promise is, you shall see

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God. You realize what that means? Well, I don't know. I have no, I don't know what that,

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I mean, how do you even begin to explain what that means or what that looks like?

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In Revelation 22, verse 4, it talks about how in the new heaven and in the new earth, we shall see

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God's face. Not the face of Jesus, we shall see

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God's, like God the Father's face, which, again, it's hard to even contemplate what that means.

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But this, understand, this is the ultimate reward of man.

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Some of you were brought up in a church that had a catechism. Some churches have them, some don't.

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But the first question is, really, any catechism is this. What is the chief end of man?

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And do you know what the answer is? What is the chief end of man?

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It is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. You realize that's the reward of the believer.

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That when we are in glory, when we see God, we will be with Him forever.

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A lot of us think that eternal life is the reward. Being forgiven of sin, well, that is a reward,

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I guess. Eternal life, though, we think of as the reward. That's not actually the reward.

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Because there are others who have eternal existence, but they are eternally existing, conscious, without God.

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That's not heaven. That's not something we want. So eternal life really is not the reward.

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Eternal life with God is the reward. God Himself, better put this way,

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God Himself is the reward. You remember what God told Abraham in Genesis 15, 1?

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He said to Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.

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That's my favorite. If I had to pick one beatitude, this is it. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see

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God. This is the Christian's greatest reward. Verses 44 and 45, just skip ahead and look at it.

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Verses 44 and 45 further expand on the beatitude in verse 9, which says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

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You know what the world's version of a peacemaker is? You know what the United Nations calls peacemakers?

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There's these guys with machine guns standing there. They're peacemakers. That's the world's version of a peacemaker.

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It's not God's version of a peacemaker. I realize that's necessary in the world we live in. I'm not saying that, but this is

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God's version of a peacemaker. Verses 44 and 45 expand on this.

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Jesus says, but I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

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See, if you're not convinced that the Sermon on the Mount is about showing people, like, the deeper implications of the law, like, you can't keep it, you're not keeping

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God's commandments, if you haven't realized it up until this point, you realize it now.

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You know how hard this is, loving your enemies, blessing those who curse you, doing good to people that hate you?

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We usually want to do good to the people that love us, right? We want to do good to the people that do good to us.

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Or if I do something good for a person, you know, they'll pay me back. That's the way we are naturally.

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But this is a high, it is a higher ethic. Bless those who curse you. How many of us are doing this perfectly?

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Zero, probably? Yeah, if you are perfect in this, you come and talk to me, maybe we'll make you the pastor of the church.

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I don't know, but I think there's only one person who did this perfectly, and that was

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Jesus, who on the cross, while people were mocking him and spitting at him and reviling him, what did he say?

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Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Thanks for listening.

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I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website,

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MorrisCornickChurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.