with me at Matthew chapter five we are on the third of the Beatitudes this morning blessed are the meek. Matthew chapter five verse five blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Now we began this I referenced something that Martin Lloyd-Jones said about the Sermon on the Mount that it could be summarized essentially as being Christian countercultural. So when we look at the Sermon on the Mount we are looking at the teaching of Christ about the Christian life and the Christian life If it is anything is counterculture to everything in this world. It is. It is not only distinct and different, but it is opposite and backwards from the way the world thinks the world puts a high premium on self-confidence. And yet Jesus said, happy are the spiritually bankrupt. Those who are spiritually impoverished, those who recognize their inability, their weakness, their Their lowliness, they are the ones who will inherit the kingdom of heaven. The world puts a high premium on happiness and joy. And when I say joy, not joy in the truest sense, because joy is the fruit of the spirit. But the world puts a premium on pleasure and enjoyment of life and happiness and bliss and making life comfortable. And yet Jesus said is blessed. Are they that mourn is the broken. that will be comforted. And when we come to the third, meekness, it is once more entirely countercultural. Pride, happiness, boastfulness, confidence, assertiveness, self-care. These are things which the world consistently tells us we should concern ourselves with. You've got to love yourself. You've got to forgive yourself. You've got to take care of yourself. You need a good self-image. And yet we look at the Word of God and we don't We don't see that. We see that we should have a right self-image, which is one of weakness and lowliness and inability. We need to be broken over our sin, not proud with no regrets. We should actually be grieved. We should be meek and lowly, as Christ is meek and lowly. Blessed are the meek. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, world conquest, Possession of the whole universe given to the meek of all people. The world thinks in terms of strength and power, of ability, self-assurance, aggressiveness. That is the world's idea of conquest and possession. The more you assert yourself and express yourself, the more you organize and manifest your powers and ability, the more likely you are to succeed and to get on. But here comes this astounding statement Blessed are the meek but they shall inherit the earth and they alone. Once more then we are reminded at the very beginning that the Christian is altogether different from the world. As a barber as a business owner one of the things that I learned in my training is that essentially I'm not just selling a service but I'm In one sense, selling myself, I am branding myself. It is the personality, the service, the personableness of my business that makes for repeat customers. It's not just the quality of the haircut, but it's the conversation and the agreeableness, right? I remember many, many years ago that I was very young and had need of a screw for a light fixture. I went to a local hardware store and the hardware store owner just, he refused to let me pay for this screw which cost probably every bit of a nickel back in those days. But it it engendered him to me because of his integrity. And so as businesses, you note that you're promoting yourself. You're consistently trying to put yourself out there and to promote yourself. And it's always been something I had a lot of issues with because it just seems to be so counter-Christian, right? But that's the way the world thinks. You promote yourself, you put yourself out, you brand yourself. You make it look good and sleek. So the ones who work hard and push and are confident and assertive and who believe in themselves, they're the ones who are successful. And so we look at athletes or movie stars and they will consistently brag about all of their awards and all of their accomplishments and all of their abilities. But here Jesus says that it is the meek which inherit the earth. So I want to look at this in two parts. What is meekness? What does it mean to be meek? Because James asked a question two weeks ago. What is the difference between being poor in spirit and being meek? And there is a difference, though they're very much connected. What is meekness? And then I want to look at what is the inheritance? So we're just going to break the beatitude into two parts. The first part, the second part. And we're going to question, look at it from that perspective. What does it mean? To be meek. Well, many times when we hear the term meek, we associate it, happy birthday, Randall, we associate it with, I had to beat you all to the chase, we associate it with humility, and there's a good reason for that. But it's not merely humility. When we talked about being poor in spirit, being spiritually bankrupt, if you'll remember, we noted that it's not just that the poor in spirit are spiritually weak, but that they recognize their spiritual weakness. That's really the essence of what Jesus is getting at. They are aware of their impoverishment because all people are weak. They just don't realize it. So a recognition of weakness, we could see as humility, and then meekness itself, Jesus said he was meek and lowly, so well that's humility. What really is the difference? Well, if you look through scripture, the way the word is used, you will find that it covers a wide variety of applications. For instance, Meekness is first and foremost absolutely associated and linked with lowliness of mind. Jesus in Matthew chapter 11 said, learn of me. For I am meek and lowly, meek and lowly are used there as as being connected there, they're associated to be meek is to be lowly, to be gentle, to be lowly, humble of heart. Common take my yoke upon me learn of me I am meek and lowly so it very much is connected with lowliness in Ephesians chapter four verses one and two were told to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we have been called with all lowliness and meekness. So once again meekness is linked with lowliness of heart. Secondly, however, it's not only linked with lowliness of heart, it's also associated with gentleness. I beseech you, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ. The meekness and the gentleness of Christ. And actually, Jesus said I am meek and lowly. You know the book Gentle and Lowly that is taken from the same text. The title of that book is taken from that same text because it can be translated I think the ESV does translate it as gentle rather than meek. Speak evil of no man but be gentle. showing all meekness to all men. Titus chapter three, verse two. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. What's number eight, you remember? Gentleness or in the authorized meekness, the word can be translated as either meekness or gentleness, so it's connected with gentleness and then, of course, self-control. Third, meekness, we're to receive meekness, receive with meekness the engrafted word. It has to do with a willingness to accept of God and to receive from God. Instruction James chapter one verse 20, receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your soul. It's opposed to the wrath of man which works not righteousness. But it has to do with. Rather than a flamboyant expression of wrath it has to do with a humble and willing reception of divine truth. Fourthly we see in Scripture the divine promise. That the meek he will God in judgment and the meek he will teach his way. So the ones who are meek will be taught of God, they'll be able to receive instruction from God, they'll be taught, they'll be led in the way of righteousness. All of this has to do with a pliable and a compliant heart, okay? So a meek spirit is one that, for lack of a better term, is teachable, is instructable, it is yielded. The term has to do with being yielded. I mentioned this in our discussion two weeks ago when we were talking about the difference between poverty and spirit and meekness, and I said that In the horse world in times past, we refer to having a horse that's broken to ride or breaking a horse to ride. In older days, they would refer to the horse as being meeked. If you truly break the spirit of the horse, then the horse is no good. He loses his ability. He is entirely unusable to his master. But to have the horse meet is to have him all of his strength and all of his ability yielded to the will of his master. That's what when we speak of breaking a horse that's what we mean to have a heart that is pliable to the will of the rider. The same is true of the Christian who has been meet. He is yielded to the will of God. He receives with joy. the purposes of God to to say it again differently he is content with whatever the will of God is for him early in the week I don't know Monday or Tuesday I was looking into this and I noticed the connection between being meek and being content and I ran a little bit of a rabbit trail down an old book written by Jeremiah Burroughs Burroughs was he was a Puritan he was a very gracious soul But he wrote a book titled The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. And for Burroughs, he was saying being content doesn't mean just being willing to endure the will of God, but rather to to readily and joyfully accept the will of God for the Christian, even when when circumstances are disagreeable to our Constitution, when they're difficult, even when they grieve us to recognize that it is the will of God for us. And we desire the will of God more than we desire our own happiness and our own comfort. We long for what God is doing through the difficulty and therefore we don't seek to skirt it by, you know, by something that would be improper. The temptation when you get into a difficulty is to compromise your convictions to get out of the difficulty because our world puts a premium on ease and happiness and pleasure. And so pleasure at all costs. But for the Christian, he's willing to endure difficulty and suffering. hardships because he recognizes that it is often in such hardships and difficulties that God is growing him and so the will of God is his chief delight Matthew Henry said the meek are those who quietly submit themselves before God to his word to his rod who follow his directions and comply with his designs and are gentle towards men. That's probably the best definition that I'll be able to give you throughout the remainder of this time. But it essentially has to do with this heart that is yielded to the will of God, that is teachable, that is submissive, that is humble and lowly, It is affiliated with all those things, so it is connected to spiritual poverty, but it goes beyond that. Spiritual poverty, blessed are the poor in spirit, has to do primarily with recognizing our own weakness, having a right view of ourself. Like Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6, when he stands before the glory of God, he sees the Lord high and lifted up, and he says, woe is me. I'm an unclean man I dwell amongst an unclean people I have unclean lips I'm cursed or like was it Manoah who was Samson's father who said you know we're dead because we've seen the angel of the Lord when he realized that this messenger that came was the angel Lord he goes up in this fire in the smoke of the fire he's like well we're dead people now we've seen the Lord That is what spiritual poverty is. It is humility. It is a self-recognition or a correct diagnosis of yourself. But meekness is built upon that because we recognize our own inability, because we see ourself in light of the glory of God, because we see our weakness in our spiritual poverty, because we are broken over the condition of our soul and of our inability to please God. Now we're meek. Now we are submissive to God's will. Now we are yielded to God's will. Now we are teachable. Now we're willing to take correction. The man who is uncorrectable is a man who is yet to be humbled. Right? I mean, I'll get into this a little bit, but when I talk with people and when someone, you know, they come, they've made a profession in Christ, in trying to counsel, there are character qualities that I look for. And one of the things that I look for, one of the first things I look for is, is the person teachable? Is he willing to receive correction? How does he respond when you contradict him? Because a person who says I've come to Christ and he wants to go out and he wants to be the teacher and he wants to tell everyone where they're wrong and what's going on and he's not willing to receive correction especially from older men men who have walked with the Lord and know God's word. That's a really really bad sign because it evidences pride of heart and the lack of this lowliness which is character quality of Christians. So so make this as Matthew Henry said I love this definition I think this kind of encompasses all those various ways that we read in Scripture it is the maker those who quietly submit themselves before God to his word to his rod who follow directions and comply with his designs are gentle and are gentle towards me and this is not a quality which is natural when the Bible speaks about the meek sometimes we we have trouble distinguishing between constitutional character and Christian character. There are people, and I know them, who are just very blasé. They are very relaxed, very chill. Anything can come. They don't seem to be shaken. They don't seem to be tumultuous about it. They just kind of take life as it comes. I've known people like this. They frustrate me. I don't understand them. I don't see how you can go through life flying by the seat of your pants and just whatever happens, no big deal. I have a friend who when I grow up, I want to be more like him. He's in his mid to late 70s, but he's just one of the most happy and easygoing people that I've ever met. He's very active. He's very active in all sorts of things. He's not that he just has no drive. But he was telling me about, like for instance, he was driving his car. He's driving the car along and he sees a couple of deer prancing through a field. So he stops. You know, that's what I do when I see deer prancing through a field. I just stop to watch them, right? Of course not. But he stops because he wants to watch the deer as they jump along in the field. And then as he's sitting there, the deer start coming towards him and apparently they don't realize that he's sitting in a car and so they just ran right into the side of his car you know I've hit deer as I was driving but I've never been hit while I was sitting still but he did crash the side of his car well if that happened to me I would be Just be, you know, all torn up emotionally. It would be a disaster. Now I've got to get it fixed. Now you've got anxieties. Now you've got to talk to a body man. You've got to deal with the insurance. You've got to come up with a deductible. And he tells the story like it's, you know, some really exciting, interesting thing. And then supposedly, you know, You look what happened they ran into my car and they smashed the door and I'm driving a rental and no big deal. That's not what we're talking about when we say me. All right. When the Bible refers to the meek it's not just referring to people who are constitutionally easygoing in the church there are all sorts of different temperaments. Well, Clyde Hayen is a very easygoing person. I've never met anybody quite like him. He's not who I was referring to, but Clyde is unflappable in every situation. And a lot of that is his constitution. But that's not necessarily what we're referring to. Some people, on the other hand, are very tense, very meticulous, very detail-oriented, very anxious. like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. That's much more my personal constitution. But this is not natural. This is a supernatural thing because it's a fruit. Meekness, gentleness is the fruit of the spirit's work in our life. Furthermore, meekness is not simply niceness. It's not the same thing. Another another man that was street evangelist I was talking to last summer. He's talking about someone being godly. And he said, well, what do you mean when you say godly? So I started explaining to him. And he said, well, the reason he asked was because most people, when they refer to someone as being godly, what they mean is they're nice. They're nice people. They're polite people. They live upright lives. They're very polite, very kind, very nice. But that's not what this is. Being meek and being nice is not necessarily the same thing. Jesus, who said that he was meek and lowly, certainly did not come across as being nice and polite when he was weaving a band of cords into a whip, flipping tables over, and running the money changers out of the temple. That wasn't a nice thing to do or a polite thing to do. but it was in fact the reaction of a very meek and lowly man thirdly meekness is not merely external I'm not talking about simply polishing off the outside there was a story of these men who went golfing you know there was one was a pastor and the others were not but the two men who were with him they were you know they would shoot a bad shot and which granted I know nothing about golf and so I don't really know what that entails but they would shoot a bad shot they would hit the ball into the water or whatever and they're throwing their clubs and they're stomping around and the pastor never said a word. He would make a bad shot and he would never say a word. Finally at the end the men said well you know we just want to commend you for your your humility and your character and he said oh if you'll notice everywhere I spit on the ground the grass ceases to grow forever he was a seething pit of emotion on the inside he just had it all polished up on the outside my suspicion is that sometimes when people get old they grow gnarly and tough and ornery and irritable And they didn't seem like that when they were young. I wonder many times if it's not simply the polish that's being worn off. They no longer have the strength of necessary to keep the cap on it. It was always there, but now that their strength is failing and they don't have the natural energy that they did, they can't keep the polish on and what is on the inside is actually showing forth. That's not what we're referring to with meekness. Meekness does not simply mean biting your tongue. We're talking about having a meek and a quiet spirit, quiet heart. Fourthly, meekness is not synonymous with being weak. I mention this with the illustration of the horse. A horse that is yielded to its master is not a weak animal. It's much stronger, really, than its master, but its will is yielded. Meekness in our world is seen as weakness because it's non-retaliatory. It's not lashing out. It's not boasting of its own strength. But it's not a form of weakness as we see in Christ. A meek person like Christ may at times actually have to flip tables over. A meek person like Moses, who was said to be the meekest man on earth, stood toe to toe with the king of Egypt. and expressed to him the will of God and feared not the consequence. meekness is not necessarily non confrontational OK so I'm not saying that a meek person never says anything controversial or hard never is in the face of some great difficulty but it has to do with that quiet teachable spirit that is yielded to the will of God and submits itself to God it's not a natural characteristic but it's something which is to be true of all believers those like Brother Clyde that I mentioned who naturally has a more easygoing spirit and people like me who naturally are more tumultuous and anxious and my whole life I have plans. I have plans for everything I do. I have plans for when my plans fail and I have a contingency plan for the contingency plan. It's just the way I live. I try to sort out all the details. Think of all the things that could possibly go wrong and make plans for all of those kinds of things. It's the way I think. As I go through the day, I'm just constantly going through these issues. But we are all, as Christians, to be meek. We are to be yielded. We are to be submissive to the will of God. When troubles come, we don't immediately try to get out of the difficulty, but we prefer, rather, the will of God to our own pleasure. It was William Perkins who, as he was dying, was suffering greatly, and he overheard his friends talking about it, and he said to them, don't pray that my burden is made lighter, but pray that my patience is increased. That's the spirit of the meek man. Meekness has both an attitude toward God, an effect toward God, as well as toward man. Godward meekness, as we've said, has to do with a willingness to yield and submit one's own will to God. to be humble and lowly to accept God's designs accept God's rod to accept it as from the hand of God with a certain joy and willingness but it also has an effect on the way we treat others the meek person is gentle towards others he is not harsh with his tongue he is thoughtful and careful he is non retaliatory The meek, you know, there is a certain softness and gentleness even in his, even in his rebukes, even in his confrontations. When I listen to preachers, I don't listen to just a lot of preachers these days, but when I do, just like I said, when I'm talking to someone who says they've come to Christ, I look for these qualities of gentleness and teachableness. When I'm listening to pastors, I'm not necessarily listening for styles. I'm not necessarily listening for scholarship, but I do look for character qualities and attitudes. And so that's one of the reasons I don't listen to a lot because I don't know their character, then it's hard really to take what they say. to be real. But it has to do with a certain gentleness toward men. So that's basically what we mean here. When Jesus says, blessed are the meek, it is an unnatural, supernatural, spiritual gift whereby the sinner, all sinners, are made to be pliable, teachable, submissive to God's will, willing to joyfully receive from God his designs, his will, his purpose, his word, his rod, for the very reason that We recognize our own spiritual poverty and the supremacy of God in all things Now let's move on to the second half What does he refer to here as the inheritance I wanted to touch on this because it is It's relevant to our message. It's relevant to some of the things we've been considering in recent times about the inheritance of the Saints the relationship of the church in the church Jew and Gentile like the plan of God both present and future for his people blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the land this is a quotation which comes from Psalm chapter thirty seven verse eleven which says the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. You might not notice it at first, but there's a big difference. The meek shall inherit the land is turned into the meek shall inherit the earth. When we read in the Old Testament things about the land and especially the inheritance of land, what immediately should come to mind is the promise which God made to Abraham. In Genesis chapter 17 verse 8 I don't think I put this in my notes let me flip over there. We read about the covenant which God made with Abraham the covenant of circumcision and in that covenant he promised to Abraham's descendants the inheritance of land. I will establish verse 7 my covenant between you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant everlasting not temporary not for a season not to be discontinued but an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your offspring after you and I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God now there there are there's a there's a view that is very common in the Christian church which says if we are going to understand the Bible We need to go back and to investigate what is the authorial intent. Now I'm all for authorial intent. OK. So don't misunderstand me when I say this but there is an over emphasis an extreme view about authorial intent which says this. We have to understand what the original human author meant when they wrote or we can't understand what is intended by the text and so for instance rather than bringing the Bible forward into our times we try to take ourselves back and churches back into biblical times to understand the meaning of the text because the original meaning of the text is the original meaning and I believe that's right except for one thing you have to take into account that the original author of the text is not the human author but God and the human authors their intentions when they wrote were not necessarily fully informed because if they were then Peter would not have said that the prophets searched their own writing studied their own writings to see who was the Christ and when was he coming they were prophesying about Christ and they were prophesying about his coming but they not only were not fully informed they didn't even understand what they were saying they were going back and studying their own prophecies You see there's this there's a certain mystery to Scripture because God is the author. So throughout church history the church has recognized that later revelation helps to interpret earlier revelation. The New Testament is the interpreter of the Old Testament. Nehemiah Cox said the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. So the same message in both Testaments but it was hidden and concealed in one sense in the Old Testament unfolded and unpacked in the New Testament. So what I would argue along with the historical position of Christians is that we let later revelation interpret over earlier revelation. When I started this I'm not trying to confuse you but when I started I said there's this over emphasis on authorial intent. To the extent to where some today would argue that in order to understand the passage you can only have. The revelation which came before it and a seated revelation. So in order to understand Genesis 3 you can only read Genesis 1 and 2. Which is a bizarre view. But the reason that they would argue that is because to know what Moses knew, to know what was in Moses' mind, you can only have the revelation that came before it. It takes the supernatural entirely out of the study of scripture it takes the understanding that God is the human author out of the study of scripture because of this view this over emphasis on the human author's intention and because of this idea that antecedent scripture earlier scripture is what is necessary to interpret the scripture as it is written rather than allowing the latter revelation to interpret the earlier revelation many people today would argue that the Jews are the people of God and that the promise which God gave to Abraham was summed up in the physical inheritance of the Jews. And so the physical land of Canaan and the physical reign of Christ in that land is essentially what is promised. This is why you see some of the views about the millennium and about the coming of Christ and about the The Jews inheriting the land and the Gentiles kind of being second class citizens and how the new temple will be built in the millennium and there's going to be these new sacrifices, memorial sacrifices, actual animal sacrifices in an actual temple somewhere in the future. That all comes because of this overemphasis on the human author's intent and the human author's words. Now I'm saying all that to point this out. When we read the New Testament, we find that the New Testament says that that temple that was prophesied in Ezekiel is actually the church of the living God. Peter said, you are the temple of God. Paul said, you are the temple of God. Peter said, you are like living stones being built into the house of God. Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. So the temple that was prophesied was not a physical temple in the future where physical animal sacrifices would be being made but it was a spiritual temple that would be built the church pictured in the physical temple the physical temple was a top a picture a prototype of the Church of Christ and the sacrifices that were made were reflective and typological of the spiritual sacrifices the fruit of lips the offerings which we make to God the same kind of language is used in the New Testament of believers that were pointed to in the Old Testament of the Jews. The people of God, the Israel of Israel, the Old Testament, the Israel of God and the New Testament. They were a peculiar people, we mentioned this a couple of weeks ago in the sermon. The church is called a peculiar people. They were a holy nation. We are a holy nation. They were a royal priesthood. We are a royal priesthood. So the eschatological fulfillment, if you will let me use a big term, of the Old Testament temple is the New Testament church. In the same way, why is that relevant? What does that have to do with what we're talking about? The reason it's relevant is because the promise which God gave to Abraham about an everlasting inheritance of the land, the land of Canaan. and this promise in Psalm 37 that the meek will inherit the land all of the emphasis in the Old Testament about the land is interpreted for us in the New Testament not merely as a piece of property in the Middle East it's not that the meek inherit the land of Canaan but the meek inherit what Jesus said the earth the earth the land of Canaan was a top or a picture of the earth. The inheritance of the Jew in Canaan picture the inheritance of the believer inheriting the new earth. Abraham understood this. A lot of people today don't understand this, but Abraham understood it. In Hebrews chapter 11, we read this. We just read that God promised to Abraham an everlasting inheritance to Abraham and to his offspring but in Hebrews 11 we read this by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going by faith he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. Why? For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. He went out by faith because he had a promise of God that he had an inheritance that he was going to have, but he never inherited any of that land. He was a stranger in the land of promise, and he didn't inherit it, yet God promised to give it to him. He understood that the promise was not received in his lifetime, but it was something that would be received in the future. It was the promise not of the physical inheritance of the Jew in the Middle East, but it was rather the inheritance of a city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God. Abraham died in faith with all the rest verse thirteen not having received the things promised. But having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on earth. We're told in Hebrews that this was so that they wouldn't be made perfect without us but we have joined in that inheritance. Not only this but in Romans chapter nine which should be fresh on your mind we read not long ago. that the promise given to Abraham by God has not fallen to the ground. Why? Because it's not the children of the flesh but the children of the promise that are counted as offspring. The promise was given to Abraham and to his offspring, to his seed. But that wasn't a reference to his physical descendants. There was an inheritance which they had in the land of Canaan but that was to picture the inheritance of the believer. in the new earth now in one sense this inheritance that the believer has is already present just like many things we have this already not yet dynamic we've been given the spirit but we have not yet tasted the fullness of that we have been saved and yet one day our salvation will be consummated We are in the kingdom of God and yet we are in the kingdom of God as aliens looking to Emmanuel's land when we will one day be in the consummated glory of God's kingdom. In the same sense our inheritance is present and future. The apostles referred to themselves as having nothing yet possessing all things. What is this first Corinthians chapter three. Paul speaking to the Corinthians there you know the Corinthians were all caught up in their favorite preacher you know I'm of Paul I'm of Apollos and Paul said what is Apollos what is Paul servants through whom you have believed as the Lord assigned to you. I planted Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants or he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one. Each will receive the wages, his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building. But. Paul is already yours. Apollos is already yours. let no one boast in me and for all things are yours verse 21 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or present or the future all are yours and you are Christ and Christ is God's he already said in verse 16 do you not know that you're God's temple God's Spirit dwells in you The promise that God would dwell among his people, that we would be his people, that he would dwell in his temple with his people. He dwells in the temple. You are the temple. And all things belong to you. Paul belongs to you. Apollos belongs to you. Things present belong to you. Things in the future belong to you. As Christians, we have been made joint heirs with Jesus Christ. If children and heirs and if heirs joint heirs with Christ, who has inherited all things from his father, And so all of these things are ours. The cattle on a thousand hills belong to our father and we are his heirs. So now, presently, we are able to enjoy life and to receive benefit because in one sense, though the world sees us as meek and lowly, as the weak and the ignoble, as those who have nothing, in one sense we have nothing and in another sense we possess all things. But then there's that future inheritance when we will judge the world, when the saints will judge angels. when we will be heirs with Christ sitting on his throne. I believe, essentially, what we have in the promise to Abraham is the promise of the inheritance of believers in the new earth. When we see in Romans chapters nine, 10, 11, the the addressing of how we are to think about the Jews, national Israel, Paul, makes the statement in Chapter 11 that all Israel be saved he talks about the gifts and the callings of God being irrevocable he talks about this hope this being grafted in being broken off and grafted and he talks about this olive tree talks about his desire to see them say he talks about the divine sovereignty and human responsibility their unbelief and God's election and all of these matters but all of that has to do with salvation. It doesn't have to do with inheritance and restoration in the Middle East. It's not about the nation being restored as a kingdom of this age. It doesn't have to do with the rebuilding of a physical temple. It doesn't have to do with the offering of animal sacrifices in some millennial golden age of latter day glory after the return of Christ it has to do with the restoration and the salvation of the very people through whom God gave us the gospel but the promise about inheritance and the promise about land and the promise about being joint heirs that is a promise which was not intended to be physical and temporal but rather everlasting. That's what he said in Genesis chapter 17 verse 8 which I would have a problem even if it's only for a thousand years. It's still not everlasting. And if it was something they inherited and then it was broken off for 2000 years and then they received it back for a thousand years. That's not everlasting either. But it was a reference to the believer inheriting the glory of the new heaven and the new earth, when God will make all things new, when he will reverse the curse, set all right, judge all things, establish his consummated glorious kingdom. and will make us to share in the inheritance of Christ, all the fullness of his glory, all the fellowship of the triune God. We will sit and reign with Christ forever and ever. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. One thing that I wanted to know before we quit this is that the Bible instructs us to pursue meekness. The S.V. translates the term humility here in Zephaniah chapter two. But listen to the way the King James translated Seek ye the Lord because it's the word can be translated humility or meekness as I said it can be translated as gentleness. It has to do with lowliness and humility and so forth. Seek ye the Lord all you meek of the earth which have wrought his judgment seek righteousness seek meekness. Pursue it. Seek humility. Seek meekness. Seek gentleness. Pursue meekness, all you meek of the earth. We are told in Colossians to put on then as God's elect, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness. As those who have been elected of God, as those who have been set aside and made holy, as those who have been loved by God, we are to put on tender hearts towards others. We are to put on kindness. We are to put on humility. We are to put on, pursue and put on meekness, to wear it as a garment, patience, bearing with one another. And if anyone has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive. And above all these, put on love. which binds everything together in perfect harmony, and let the peace of Christ rule your hearts, to which you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father. Through him. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would teach us. More and more of what it means to have a meek and quiet spirit. That your spirit would work in our hearts to produce this fruit. Help us, Lord, as though we we know it is a fruit of God. We also know it's our duty and responsibility to seek as well as to put it on. Lord, you have granted us all things. We were able to to glean from draw from the teachings of Paul and Peter. We're able to learn. From Luther, Calvin. From Spurgeon. We're able to build upon the work of your spirit in your church throughout all ages. We inherit the promises of Abraham. We see the example of Christ. We have the apostles instructions and explanations about who Christ was and why he came. We have in him an example that he left that we should follow in his steps. And we have professed your name. We have come to Christ. Oh, God, make us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling which we've been given. Those of us who are Christians help us, Lord, to live as Christ lived, not thinking that we are going to merit righteousness, not depending upon our own strength to do so. But it's because in our weakness, your strength is made perfect. It's because your spirit works in us that we have faith. And that we pursue these graces. So Father, as we came to Christ, we came broken, humbled, yielded to your will. Would you increase this work in our lives, in Jesus' name, amen.