How to Take over the World

Amen.

Seize the Day Versus Living Before the Face of God

Carpe diem, Latin phrase. We usually translate it, seize the day. It was used by Horace, the Roman poet, who coincidentally, he died just a few years before the birth of Jesus. But we use this phrase to mean seize the day.

If it was translated literally, it would be something like pluck the day. So Horace is using an agricultural metaphor to say the time is right now. In fact, he goes on to say carpe diem and then put no trust in the future.

So the idea is seize the day,.

Seize the moment,.

Capture the advantage of the day right now. Get what you can out of life right now. Because in the future, you may not have that opportunity. Well, this evening, I ask you to turn to Matthew five, verse five.

Jesus promises his followers a glorious future. In fact, the sermon title tonight is simply this, how to take over the world. How to take over the world. And we encourage any federal agents listening now to this message.

To listen on to the end, hear the gospel. Jesus promises his followers the earth. So what then are these inheritors of the earth like? Are they those who carpe diem? Are they those who seize the day, so to speak?

Are they the aggressive? Are they the ones using the advantage of every opportunity afforded to them to get ahead, to step on those beneath them? Are they the ones who live by the ethic of this world, wrapped up in self-promotion, self-preservation, self-pride?

Actually, Jesus says it this way, blessed are the meek. Jesus' followers are not a physical kingdom of warriors intended to create a new world order. Rather, they are the meek, the gentle, the humble.

And it is to these people that Jesus promises everything. Carpe diem, no? I like a different Latin phrase better. Corum Deo, which means before the face of God. That is the idea of Christians living in the presence of, under the authority of, and to the honor and glory of God.

And we see today, this is only done by those who are, in fact, meek. Let's stand and read this verse together. Jesus continues in his third beatitude, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Father, would you help us understand this text tonight? Bless the preaching of your Word. We pray that we would exposit it correctly. You'd apply it to our hearts. Encourage our church. Grow us in the faith.

And we pray that we would cultivate meekness. Some of us in this room need to cultivate meekness as believers. Others need the grace of the regenerating work of the Spirit of God, even tonight. And we pray even tonight that would happen.

We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. How to take over the world. Begin to remind you where we are at. In the introduction to this series, we talked about, and I haven't decided, by the way, if I'm gonna stop after the beatitudes.

It'll take us a while, the way that we're doing this. So maybe I'll stop after the beatitudes, go to something else, and we'll come back. But if you take the Sermon on the Mount as a whole, we really divide it into three sections.

So the end of the Sermon on the Mount, we call the right and wrong kingdom. So Matthew 7, 13 to the end, okay? This is where Jesus discusses there's two ways. There's a broad way and a narrow way. There's two houses, there's two foundations.

You build on the rock or you build on the sand. You have to decide which way you're gonna go. Then the middle section, which is the biggest section, we call the righteousness of the kingdom. That's where Jesus explains the righteousness, the Christian ethic.

It teaches us what kingdom living is. But where we're at tonight, the first major section is these beatitudes, the recipients of the kingdom. And so over the last couple weeks, and the next few weeks at least, we'll be, or whenever, the way that we're preaching on Sunday night is a little bit different.

But as long as it takes us, we're gonna get for sure through this first major section, the recipients of the kingdom. These beatitudes are pronouncements of blessing. We've seen that the poor in spirit are blessed.

Those who mourn are blessed. And tonight we see the meek are blessed. These are the people. You wanna receive the kingdom of heaven? This is what it looks like. This is actually what regeneration produces.

Meekness as a Fruit of Regeneration

All right, so first let's discuss, number one, meekness is a fruit. Number one, meekness is a fruit. Blessed are the meek. If we just look at this particular Greek word used here in Matthew 5 .5, we find it's really, it's only used four times in the New Testament.

Three of those times are in the book of Matthew. So what does this word mean? I wanna describe it this way, maybe an odd illustration, but take a cake, for example. What is a cake made of? Well, you would not say that a cake equals eggs, right?

Cake and eggs are two different things. Eggs are one ingredient that help make up cake. Am I right about that? I hope so. So when we think about the word meek, we're gonna make a meekness cake. Is that lame?

And we're gonna put some words together. Instead of just one word that equals meekness, I'm gonna give you some words that when we think about these words together, we get the idea of what Jesus means when he says meekness, okay?

So gentleness, humility, considerate, courteous, submissive, pleasant, mild. And maybe the most important ingredient here, Christ-controlled. Someone said meekness is strength under control. Well, a meek person is controlled by Christ.

They have faith in Christ's power and provision and plan and protection. They're controlled by Christ. Now, meekness, we noted, is a fruit. What does it mean? It reminds us that none of the Beatitudes come about in the natural person.

This is why Jesus in his master, is there a better preacher than Jesus, right? The Son of God clothed in flesh. It's why he begins his sermon where he does, is because he shows us that these Beatitudes, attitudes of being a Christian, we said, these are produced in the followers of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Regarding the Beatitudes, James Montgomery Boyce, that's not the Southern Baptist James Pettigrew Boyce. James Montgomery Boyce was the Presbyterian. But he says, Christ's statements are intended to teach, among other things, that the kind of life he requires actually is impossible for men.

And it remains impossible until men first come to Christ, acknowledging that they cannot live it and asking him to live in them. So as we talk about the Sermon on the Mount, we're not talking about an ideal for men.

It's something that's just hard for men to live. Rather, it's impossible. In and of ourselves, it is impossible to live out the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. But we've already noted the necessity of the Holy Spirit's work.

And when he works in a soul, we've said, here are the things that he produces. And we've already noted that there's an important order of the Beatitudes. Listen to A .W. Pink. He says, first, there is poverty of spirit, a sense of our insufficiency and nothingness, a realization of our unworthiness and unprofitableness.

Next, there is a mourning over our lost condition, sorrowing for the awfulness of our sins against God. And now we have meekness as a byproduct of self-emptying and self-humiliation. Or in other words, there is a broken will and a receptive heart before God.

Meekness is not only the antithesis of pride, but of stubbornness, fierceness, vengefulness. It is the taming of the lion, the making of the wolf to lie down as a kid. Okay, the Beatitudes are what the Holy Spirit is producing in the people of God.

Jesus is not saying here in this text, blessed are those who are naturally inclined. You know people who are kind of naturally inclined to what you would call meekness. You would consider them kind of a weak person, like they kind of live like a doormat maybe.

Like they never stand up for themselves at work. Maybe they never stand up for themselves in the home. They're always just kind of, they're like the epitome of someone who wants to be controlled by tyranny or whatever, right?

So you see people kind of inclined to that. But that's not what Jesus is talking about here, right? This is why you must be born again. Man must be regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit to see the kingdom of heaven.

So in the new birth, the Holy Spirit removes our natural inclinations, our old nature, and replaces it here with the new nature. It's a radical change, a meek nature. The natural man's disposition is stated in Romans 3 .18.

There is what? No fear of God before their eyes. Biblical meekness does not come natural to any person. Because naturally we're for self, we don't fear God, we're full of pride. We're not submissive to God or His Word.

So Jesus is not saying meek is weak in the sense that these people are pushovers or afraid to take a stand or are doormats. True meekness produced by the Spirit is seeing ourselves in the proper light.

And this comes when our eyes are open to the gospel. So when we see our poverty of spirit and when we mourn our sin, what is the natural outflow of that? Is it not meekness and humility and gentleness?

Like how could we be hard with other sinners when we understand the grace that we have been shown? I'm gonna borrow from Milton Vincent. In the gospel he says we see the glory of God that is the fountain of goodness and holiness, majesty, might.

We see the gravity of our sin, depravity, wretchedness, our misery and rebellion. We see the giving of Christ in our place, His propitiation and substitution. The gracious love of God for us, like 1 John 3 .1, see what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God.

And so when our eyes are open to these truths, we get a proper view of God and a proper view of self and we come to Christ in repentance and faith. The gospel, friends, leaves no room for pridefulness or self-glory or boasting.

I saw a shirt one time that said, I am the wretch the song refers to. And we sing that song, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I think some Christians, although they wouldn't say it this way, would try to sing the song, Deserving Grace, how sweet the sound that saved an okay person like me.

No, friends, when we understand the reality of our depravity, then we understand we are the wretches the song refers to and it produces in us meekness, true meekness, who can see the glories of the gospel and remain prideful.

I love the way Thomas Watson put it. He said, see how the Spirit of God adorns the hidden man of the heart with a multiplicity of graces. The workmanship of the Holy Spirit is not only astonishing but various.

He makes the heart meek, pure, peaceable, et cetera. The graces, therefore, are compared to fine needlework which is intricate and various in its textures and colors. Oh, the Spirit of God is working us.

Think of Joseph and his coat of many colors. The Spirit of God is sewing within us, in our hearts, a coat of many colors and part of the colors that are in this fine tapestry of coat that is within us is that of meekness.

He's working in us and he's producing in God's people humility and gentleness and kindness and being controlled by Christ. Meekness is not something that comes naturally. We all want to be noticed. We all want to be recognized.

And so what we're saying here is that you can't go out and produce meekness in your life. Naturally, you won't do that. You can't do that. You can't reach down somewhere in natural man and find Christian meekness.

It always comes from outside of us and it's produced in us. This is part of understanding our poverty of spirit, right? Blessed are the poor in spirit, okay? So the idea is I do not have the resources, the desire, the tools necessary to meet these demands.

I cannot declare a blessing of meekness, right?

I am meek, right?

You can't just say that. I didn't say it, I declared it, right?

No, no, you can't do that.

It doesn't work that way. Left to myself alone, if I see this beatitude, this pronouncement of blessing for the meek, honestly, I'm undone. Because in and of myself, I cannot be meek. Yet, as I mourn my flesh, I'm reminded that if I am in Christ, friends, if you are in Christ, then the Holy Spirit is working this grace in your heart.

So no, I can't muster up meekness in my life, in and of myself. However, I can look to Christ. I can look to His Word. I can see the reality that if I'm not meek, I am not blessed. If I'm not meek, I will not inherit the earth.

Blessed are the meek for they, right? That's exclusive.

Who will inherit the earth?

The meek. Blessed are the meek for they. The meek only will inherit the earth. And I can trust that through these things, the Spirit of God will continue. As I think about Christ, as I look at the Word, as I humble myself under His teaching, that God is producing meekness in my heart.

Note this carefully, though. As the Holy Spirit is producing these things in our heart, we do engage our wills, right? We engage our wills to fight the inclination of the flesh. Listen to this for just a moment.

As a Christian and teenagers, you guys listen to this especially, too. Actually, it's for all of us, but I know you have within you a youthful zeal that things come up in your life and you want to boast about it, right?

You want to spike the football. You want to brag about who you are. So we have to fight the inclinations of the flesh. Honestly, all men and women need to do this, right? We have to continue to fight the inclination of the flesh.

So we engage our will. We strive to restrain by grace the inclinations of the natural man. And we cultivate humility and gentleness. This is what it means to be meek. Now our second point. But first, meekness is a fruit.

It's produced in us by the Holy Spirit. Secondly, meekness is a following. And here's what I mean by that. Meekness is following the way of Christ. Okay, so meekness is a fruit in that the Holy Spirit produces this in His followers.

And meekness is a following in that we follow Christ. The Greek term for meek can also be used in reference to a domesticated animal. So the idea of tame. The picture I want to put in your mind is one of submission.

You submit to the authority of Christ. So as the Holy Spirit brings change in our heart, we choose now to be resigned to the will of God. The meek are characterized by their following of God. Inwardly and outwardly.

God, you are my all. Through the gospel, I've seen who I am, and now I've seen who you are, and I've been rescued by grace. I am all yours, all of me. So this is not talking, again, about a person who's just naturally nice.

You guys know a lot of nice people in our area. You know nice people in your life. Jesus is not saying blessed are the nice, right? You know a lot of nice people who actually aren't following God. He's saying blessed are the meek because the meek follow God.

Turn in your Bibles just a moment to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Jesus is quoting this verse in Matthew 5 .5. Psalm 37. Psalm 37, verse 11. 37, 11. But the meek shall inherit the land, and delight themselves in abundant peace.

So Jesus is quoting this in Matthew 5 .5, but look at these commands that come before verse 11. So look at verse three, four, and five. Verse three, all commands. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Verse four, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Verse five, commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him and he will act. Okay, so what I'm saying here is the meek follow God.

They, sorry, I gotta go back to verse three. They trust in the Lord. They delight in the Lord. They commit their way to the Lord. The meek are resigned to delight in God, to trust in God, to commit their way to Yahweh.

But let me show you something else. Remember how specific, the word specific for meek is only used four times and three times in Matthew. Let's look at that a couple more times in Matthew. So the first of the uses in Matthew 11.

So turn to Matthew 11. So we delight in God. We trust in God. We commit our way to God. Then in Matthew 11, look what Jesus says about himself. Matthew 11, 29. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. If we want to be saved by his death, we must imitate his life in a sense. I should say it this way.

Those who are saved by his death will imitate his life. And he says he is gentle in that text. By the way, that's the word. That's the same word. When Jesus says I'm gentle and lowly, he's saying I'm meek and lowly.

That's a synonym in English. Blessed are the meek. We might say blessed are the gentle. Okay, so you're telling me the king of kings and the Lord of lords, the one who reigns upon his throne, you're telling me that Christ is meek.

If we understand the term rightly, yes. Jesus laid down the glories of heaven to clothe himself in human flesh to rescue sinners, to take our sin upon himself, to be nailed to a cross, to take the wrath that we deserve.

This is the meekness of Christ. Here's the other time in Matthew 21, or Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew. Go to Matthew 21. Matthew 21, verse five. So we're talking about imitating Christ, Christ in his meekness.

Matthew 21, same word for meekness is used here. Say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey. That's the same Greek word there for meek.

Meek.

By the way, though, meekness is not weakness because look down at the bottom of the chapter, well, towards the middle of the chapter. Look down at verse 12. This is meekness, by the way. And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple.

And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.

Right?

So this is the disposition of the saved. We are meek, we're humble, we're followers of God, we're submissive to him and his word. We seek to imitate the God-man, Jesus Christ. We're meek, but it doesn't mean we're afraid.

To confront sin.

That's what Jesus does, right?

Meekness doesn't compromise sin. If you say, well, I can't call out that person's sin, I can't deal with sin in our culture, I can't stand and preach against the sin and debauchery of our age.

Why?

Because I'm trying to be meek like Jesus. Then you misunderstand the meekness of Jesus because Jesus in his meekness preached to sinners and against sinners. But let me just encourage you and caution you.

Meekness does mean that we're patient and we confront sin in love. So listen to me, and this is an area that we all can grow in, myself included. How could God save a wretch like me? How could others, how can this church, just listen to me, how can this church put up with pastor like me?

I'm so imperfect. I'm so in need every week and day of the grace of God. How do you put up with someone like me? Now listen, turn the tables on your heart or your own self. How does this church show its patience towards someone like you who needs so much grace, who needs to grow so much in Christ-likeness and sanctification?

In other words, when we begin to have this understanding of who we are, it helps us in our interactions towards others and the way that we confront sin in others. This is revolutionary. Christian meekness is so unlike our godless world today.

We don't cheat to get ahead. We don't fly planes into towers. We go to the stake pleading for the lost. In that song that we sang earlier, it says we will not be burned by the fire. Well, that's not totally true.

I mean, in the grand scheme of things, we make it, right? The church wins. But sometimes we are burned by the fire. But do you understand the difference is? The difference for the Christian is we go to the stake pleading with lost souls to repent even while we're burned alive, right?

Read Fox's Book of Martyrs or read some of the stories of the martyrs. As they are being beheaded or tortured or burned alive at the stake, what are they doing? In meekness, they're preaching the Gospel.

They're pleading with sinners to repent.

And believe the Gospel.

They're not saying,.

Christ will have vengeance on your wretched soul, although that is true and there are times that we can say things like that. They're pleading with sinners, don't you understand the goodness of God in giving Christ?

Repent and believe the Gospel. This is completely counter-cultural. We don't seek to get people back or even if we have the opportunity to. We don't justify sinful, angry behavior. We are kind, we're known for our kindness.

We lay down our lives for the brethren, right? We want to be like our Savior. We're living in the presence of, under the authority of and to the honor and glory of God,.

Coram Deo.

For me to live is Christ, or I might say it this way, for me to live is meek. For Christ was meek. Okay, you say to me, and I've had conversations like this with people,.

Brother Quatro,.

You don't understand. I'm just a tough guy. I'm just a tough lady. I'm just not made that way. That's not me. I have a temper. I just have a temper. I'm prone to get angry. I just come across aggressive.

Now friends,.

Think about what's the difference between that and someone saying, I'm just born gay. Like what's the difference? Like someone said, well I'm just born mean so I don't have to cultivate meekness. Maybe you were born mean.

Maybe you were born a jerk. That's why Jesus says what? You must be born again.

Amen.

And so meekness is possible and inevitable for every Christian because the Spirit of God is in us. I'll go to the last point in just a moment, but take a second on a Sunday night. You know, a lot of churches do away with Sunday night services, and sometimes they do different things.

Sometimes they just cancel altogether, but let me encourage you with something. We have an opportunity on Sundays, twice, every Lord's Day, to sit under the preaching of the Word of God. And I want to encourage you with something tonight.

Don't neglect sitting under the preaching of the Word of God tonight. Are you meek? Are you cultivating meekness in your life? Okay, if you're not, you may be a Christian, you just may be in sin. You need to repent and cultivate meekness.

Let me remind you of something, brothers and sisters. It's not all about you. Quit making it about yourself. Quit making it about your own plans and dreams. Make it about Christ. Some of you, perhaps, you're not cultivating meekness because the Spirit of God hasn't produced that in you because you're not born again.

If that's you, call out to God. Say, I see my wretched condition. I see my lack of meekness and my need for grace. And call out to Christ even tonight. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, suppress the inclinations of the flesh.

Kill them so that meekness shines forth. So meekness is a fruit. Meekness is a following. Thirdly, the meek await a glorious future. Now, how do we take over the world? You've been listening this whole night so that you could understand the secret to taking over the world.

Well, the answer is, I got to go back to our text, the answer is our verse. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. It's only the meek who inherit the earth. Now, I was in a Bible study one time.

I won't tell you where. I was in a Bible study one time, and this lady says to me, I don't understand why that is such a good promise, right? Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. It's kind of like saying, listen, or in her mind, it was kind of like saying, listen here, Brayden, if you just do good, when I die, I'll give you all my trash, right?

All right, that stinks. I don't want that. I'll just take that to the dump and burn it, right? So, let me tell you something, and I want to be gentle here. This is the damaging effect of the ideology of dispensationalism.

Just the idea that we're just going to live, live, live, then one day we'll be raptured out of here, and then the whole earth will just be burned up, and then some people don't even understand eschatology.

Okay, when we talk about heaven, some people think of heaven as just this place that you just go and you live, and you float on a cloud, and you play the harp or whatever. Friends, the Bible talks about this, a new heavens and a what?

New earth.

Okay, blessed are the meek. Only the meek will inherit the new earth. So, let me say it in two ways, okay? So, in one sense, I think that we can understand. So, what does it mean to inherit the earth?

I'll back up for a moment. In one sense, I think that we can understand that when we are united to Christ by faith, what's His is ours, and Christ is King. Okay, Paul makes this argument in 2 Corinthians 4.

What's Christ's is yours. We'll go out and preach to Perryville because Christ owns Perryville, right? We're like Ron Swanson. We got a permit, right? It's like, you can't preach here. Yeah, I can. I got a permit.

Christ is King, right?

Christ is King. Christ owns Perryville. Christ owns this city, county, country, world, and what's His is ours.

Why?

Because we are in Christ. So, this brings us great security and satisfaction. Not that we're safe in the sense that we can't be killed, but we will feast in the house of Zion, right?

We are secure.

We are in Him, and we are inheritors. Blessed are the meek, they shall inherit the earth. We are inheritors of all that is Christ. He has accomplished that, not just for Himself, but for His people. And we are satisfied with all that God is for us in the person and work of Jesus.

Okay, but secondly, so that's one sense. Everything that is Christ's is ours for the meek. But let me dabble in a little eschatology here. I take this literally. The meek will literally inherit the earth.

It's ours forever. It will be remade, and we will reign with Christ forever. Matthew 19, look at that for a second. In Matthew 19, verse 28. Let's start in verse 27. Peter said in reply, see, we've left everything and follow you.

What will we have?

Okay, let me say this. You've left everything, right? You've left your old way of life. Some of you have left your friends and your family. Some of you perhaps have left better opportunities with work or something like that.

You've left.

Jesus, we've left these things, we've followed you.

What do we get?

Verse 28. Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones. He's talking to the disciples there, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

But the point I want to make is, Jesus talks about there a new world. What is this new world? It is the new earth when Christ returns. And there's different ideas, is the whole earth going to be destroyed and remade, or is it going to be like regenerated, like our heart is, we're not destroyed and then remade.

Okay, but the point is, not to delve into that, the point is, the new earth is the place where Christ is going to dwell with the meek forever. And He will reign as He's reigning now, and we will reign with Him, and we will inherit the earth.

So let me press on your flesh for just a moment. Because you say, hey listen bud, if I am this way, if I don't carpe diem, if I am meek and humble and gentle, if I'm not aggressive and take what I can get, if I don't seize the day, then I'll miss out on stuff.

I've got to push past the little people. I've got to go on. I've got to seek opportunities, maybe on promotions and vindicate myself. If I don't do these things, I may not gain notoriety. If I don't step on people and boast in myself, I may not get the things that everyone else gets.

And guess what? That may be so. But hear the promise tonight. Blessed are the meek, because what do they get? They shall inherit the earth. You can look at your wicked neighbor, right? You've pled with him for the gospel.

He continues to do wicked things. And it seems like your house is just always in need of repairs, while his is always just getting bigger and bigger. They just put in a new pool. They just got a new truck.

And you're disappointed. Let me tell you something, if I may press this analogy a little bit. One day, that's yours. What do I mean by that? I don't mean for you to be materialistic, of course. What I'm saying is, one day the whole earth is yours.

Those things that you think are so important now, that you think you're missing out on now. I didn't get to see the Grand Canyon. I didn't get to see Mount Everest. I didn't get to go see the rainforest of the Amazon.

There's so many things that all these people, wicked people, they're getting to do. One day, the whole earth is yours. You'll have a hundred billion years, and then a hundred billion years on top of that, and then all eternity.

Explore all you want.

Do what you want. Right? Under Christ, and in glory of Christ. Why? Because the whole earth will be yours. This is how we take over the world. We are the meek. So in Christ, the meek have all satisfaction, all security, and a glorious future.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Meekness is a fruit. Meekness is a following, following God and His Word. Meekness, the meek, await a glorious future. So in conclusion, why is this a grace?

And probably this is one of the graces in your life that you haven't thought about recently. Why would you not want to be a Christian man or woman cultivating meekness? In your relationship with your spouse.

In your relationship with brothers and sisters in the church. Why would you not cultivate meekness? What reason do you have? Can we produce it in ourselves? Of course not. But we can look to Christ in His Word.

We can listen to a sermon like tonight and we can say, Holy Spirit, create more meekness in me. I want to be more like Christ. Produce His fruit in me. I want to make the Gospel of Jesus shine, as it were, in my life by this meekness.

And based on this text tonight, why would we not want to do these things? Again, look at verse 5. The meek are what? They are blessed. They are blessed. Don't you want to be blessed? But you hear today and you say, Well, yeah, but in my mind, blessedness has to do with health and wealth and prosperity.