Matthew chapter 5, you can look there with me. Matthew chapter 5, this morning I'll read through verse 16. Matthew 5, 1 through 16. This week, we'll look at the first four Beatitudes that are in this chapter. Next week, we'll look at the final four Beatitudes. This week we'll go ahead and read verses one through 16. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. He opened his mouth and began to teach. He began to teach them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. Christ proclaimed when he began his ministry that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, that the kingdom of God had come. If you look back at chapter four of Matthew, just a couple verses before where we're at this morning, verse 17 of chapter four, look what Jesus says, or look what Matthew says about Jesus. From that time, Jesus began to preach and say, repent. for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then look again, verse 23 of that same chapter. Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. So the picture is Jesus comes on the scene, his ministry begins, and he begins proclaiming, the kingdom has come. The kingdom is here. And not only does he proclaim it, but his works reveal that it's true. He begins to heal. He begins to exercise works of compassion and mercy that show supernatural kingdom power working through him in the lives of the individuals that he's ministering to. So he's proclaiming the kingdom of heaven is here, and he's showing the kingdom of heaven is here. And then not only is he announcing that the kingdom of heaven is here, but as we work our way through the New Testament, we see that when we are converted, when a heart is changed and when someone is brought to faith in Jesus Christ, they are transferred out of one kingdom and into another. They are transferred out of the domain of darkness, the kingdom of darkness, and they are transferred into the kingdom of heaven. And so Jesus announces the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then we read in Colossians 1, you are in that kingdom. You have been transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved son, Jesus Christ. And so we have a present kingdom here. We're members of that kingdom. And then we look around and we look inside of us too and we realize This can't be the kingdom, not really. I mean, something's wrong. Something is still really wrong with what's going on around us and what's going on inside of us. And that's what the Beatitudes are all about. The Beatitudes are about kingdom citizens. Philippians chapter three says that if you are in Christ, your citizenship is in heaven. First Peter two, it talks about how you are an alien and a stranger in this world. And the Beatitudes are about citizens of heaven, aliens and strangers in this world, living kingdom-type lives in a world that still remains fallen and broken and messed up. What does it look like for a citizen of heaven to live as a member of heaven in a world that is fallen? That's what the Beatitudes are about. We learn two things from the Beatitudes. One, what are the marks of someone who belongs to the kingdom of heaven? What are the marks of someone who belongs to the kingdom of heaven? How can you tell that the kingdom of heaven has really come upon the heart of an individual? So one, what are the marks of the kingdom of heaven in someone's life? And then two, they teach us about the blessing that the citizens of heaven enjoy even as they sojourn through this fallen world. Not just the blessing that awaits, but the blessing that they enjoy now in this fallen world as citizens of heaven in a world that is broken. And so that's what we're going to be looking at this morning, the first four Beatitudes. So when I say the Beatitudes, they are the eight statements of blessing that Jesus makes in verses 3 to 10 of Matthew chapter 5. From verses 11 down, it's really just building on verse 10, the blessing of verse 10. So there are eight different Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5, verses 3 to 10. And notice something, look at verse 3. Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then look at verse 10. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So verse three is the first beatitude, and the promise is theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 10 is the final beatitude, and the promise is theirs is kingdom of heaven. And so like bookmarks at the beginning and the end of these Beatitudes, Jesus says, I'm talking about people who belong to the kingdom of heaven. I'm talking about the blessing that is yours if you are in Christ. And at the same time what he's saying is, this is gonna be true of everyone who belongs to the kingdom of heaven. The things that he's saying in verses three to 10 and further down and throughout the Sermon on the Mount, really, but the beatitudes that he pronounces, the blessings that he pronounces, and the characteristics of the person who receives them, those things are going to be true of everyone who has entered into the kingdom of heaven. And so they teach us what sort of marks characterize someone who belongs to the kingdom of heaven And then they teach us about the blessing that the member of the kingdom of heaven enjoys even now in this fallen world. So the first blessing that Jesus pronounces in verse three is on the poor in spirit. Verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I'm sure many of you know the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke chapter 16. If you are familiar with that story, you know that there's a rich man who day after day, it says he lives in the splendor of his wealth. He's clothed in fine linen. He's very likely got nice food to enjoy. He's showing off all of his wealth. And then Jesus compares the rich man with this guy named Lazarus. And listen to what Jesus says about Lazarus. He says, and a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, the gate of this rich man, covered with sores and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. That is a pathetic picture, a pathetic in the sense that it calls out empathy. That is a pathetic picture of poverty. This man is impoverished with regard to his physical condition. He's got sores covering the entirety of his body. He's covered in sores. He's impoverished in terms of his social standing, his social status, his position in society. He's begging, laid at a gate, begging for something, anything, anything anyone would give him, just begging for anything that he can get. He's in the lowest position in society. He's impoverished just in terms of dignity. I mean, dogs are coming and licking his wounds, and he can't do anything about it. It is a picture, I mean, he's begging for crumbs, another thing, he's begging for the crumbs that fall off the table, which reminds us, what does that remind you of? Another story in the gospel. Canaanite woman, a Seraphim woman, who comes to Jesus and she begs for mercy. And it seems like at first Jesus gives her somewhat of a cold shoulder and says, the mercies, you know, the bread, it's not for you. It's for the children of Israel. And she's Seraphim, she's Canaanite, she's not an Israelite. And he says, it's not for you. And she says, but Lord, even the dogs like me, even the dogs need the bread that falls from the table of the children. Can't I have, isn't your mercy enough to give even a dog like me a little bit of crumbs? That's the picture here of poverty. Lazarus is a picture of poverty. And in fact, that word, there's a couple different words that in Greek you can use for poverty. This word for poor man, Lazarus, is the same word as poor in Matthew chapter five. It's extreme impoverishment, extreme poverty. Jesus says blessed are those who are extremely poor in spirit, who are beggarly, and spirit, who have no spiritual resources, nothing of their own to offer. It says, blessed are they. They're the people who know that they must enter into the kingdom. I mean, imagine Lazarus there at the gate, and imagine for a moment that Lazarus longed to enter into the house of this rich man. He longed to go and dine at the table of this rich man. But Lazarus is at the gate and he knows a guy like me is never allowed into a place like that. That's me and you. That's all of us by nature. We long to enter into this kingdom. And yet, like Lazarus, we're sitting at the gate with dogs licking our sores, unable to buy the smallest amount of food, certainly unable to buy the kind of clothes that are adequate and appropriate for entrance into a kingdom like God's. We sit at the gate and we're helpless. And Jesus says, blessed are those who realize that that's their condition, because the kingdom actually belongs to the ones who know they have no right to enter it. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is, notice it's not future, ah, this is amazing, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You could be the most impoverished materially person on the planet. and yet you belong to the kingdom of heaven and you are rich. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Why? Because that spiritual poverty that you feel, that you know you have, it drives you to the only place where riches are found. Listen to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9. You know, he's writing to Christians, you know this, you've experienced this, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. Why is spiritual poverty such a good thing? Because it drives you to the one who makes you rich. He became poor for you on the cross. He endured what your poverty deserves to endure. And he did it to make you rich. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And there is a sense in which this speaks especially of us right at conversion, that point where we are for the first time driven to Christ by a realization of our poverty. If you've never had that sort of experience, not experience in the sense of you can pinpoint the exact moment that it happened, but the experience of being able to look back and see there was a time when I was self-sufficient, and now I know that that is foolishness. If you can't see that in your life, then you are not the one about whom Jesus is speaking here. You are not yet in the kingdom. The only people in the kingdom are the people who have seen their spiritual poverty enough to look to the one who can make them rich. So there is a sense in which it speaks specifically or especially about us at the point of conversion. But it's also something that characterizes us continually. Jesus doesn't mean it only characterizes us at conversion. It characterizes the life of the Christian from conversion to glory. As believers, we are called to live lives of spiritual poverty. And there's a way to misunderstand that. And I don't want us to misunderstand it. Our spiritual poverty doesn't mean we lack all riches now. No, you've been made rich in Christ. They're yours. The riches of Christ are yours because of what he's done for you. So you're rich. But apart from that, you are poor. If you could take Christ out of the picture, then you as a believer, you understand that I am in the worst position imaginable. If I don't have Christ, then I am hopeless. And so what this looks like in the life of a believer is that we grow in our understanding that if I do not have the grace of Christ, I'm just like Lazarus, still. If I do not have the provision of Christ, I am as helpless as the most beggarly sinner. I need Christ. And, you know, that's kind of, I know we understand that, but it is kind of counterintuitive if we think about the way that most things in the world work. Think about raising children. What's the aim of a parent who is raising that child? Well, they wanna see them grow, and hopefully when that child is eight years old, the mother still doesn't have to help that child go to the bathroom and things like that, or make that child a glass of water, or help that child get dressed. Hopefully by the time a child is 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, there's a growing degree of independence. That child can do more and more on his own and needs his parents less and less for the very practical things of life. But that's the opposite of the Christian life. As the Christian grows, we grow more and more dependent on that. We're not like the child who goes less and less to his mother or to his father for basic things. We're like a child who becomes younger and younger as he lives, and realizes more and more, I can't even do the basic tasks without Christ. And so it's something that should characterize us, not just that conversion, but throughout the span of our lives, we are called to be spiritually poor. And we're blessed because of that, because it drives us. Day after day, moment after moment, it drives us to the source of riches in Christ, his mercy. And it doesn't look like either denying the evidence of God's grace in our lives. And so to be spiritually poor does not mean that I deny that God has done some form of work of sanctification in my heart. It's not unspiritual for us to recognize I used to be a lot more impatient than I am now. Christ has helped me not be so impatient. And so to be spiritually impoverished doesn't mean we falsely, humbly say, I'm the most evil person in the world, and I'm far more evil now than I was before I became a Christian. That's absurd. As Christians, we are growing. Christ is exercising his grace in our hearts, and we are becoming more like Christ. And it's good to acknowledge that. And so spiritual poverty doesn't look like a denial of transforming grace in our hearts. But it does look like I could never do that on my own. And it does look like I've got a very long way to go. We're called to be spiritually poor from conversion to glory. So blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Think about a couple ways that this applies. So that's how it applies directly to our relationship with God. But think for a moment, how does that apply to your relationship with other people? How does it apply in your relationship with other people to be poor in spirit? It was prayed this morning in our prayer meeting that the Lord would help us to practice mercy toward others, to have mercy toward others by recognizing how undeserving we are. And that's a good prayer, and that's a good application of what it is to be poor in spirit. A person who is poor in spirit is not a condescending person. He doesn't look at other people and think that he is somehow superior to them. He recognizes, if I were left to myself apart from the grace of Christ, there is no sin in this world that I'm not capable of committing. Not a one, apart from the grace of Christ. And so it's impossible for us, when we are poor in spirit, to look condescendingly upon those who practice the kinds of sins we ourselves are capable of without Christ. And then also, think about the way that it applies in terms of criticism that you might get. If I know that I am poor in spirit, if I know that I am capable of sin, capable of wandering, capable of failing, capable of error, if I know that, then when someone comes, and especially when they do it humbly and they say, you know, I think you might be wrong about this, our initial reaction is not gonna be to buck up and say, no, you're wrong. Here's why you're wrong. I'll show you all the six different points why you're wrong about that. Our first reaction will probably be, you may be right. You might be right. Let me seek the Lord on that. Or it might be, you are right, I see it right now. You know, you just told me that, I see it, yep. That's true of me. The person who is poor in spirit is willing to hear and consider godly criticism, because he knows he's capable of making all kinds of mistakes, sins, and failures. So blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then next in verse four, the second beatitude, blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. So this word mourn means to mourn, obviously, to be sad, to grieve, to weep for, to experience sorrow over. So what causes this sort of mourning or grief or sorrow or sadness in the life of the person who's blessed? Well, think about it for a second. It can't be that anyone who mourns is blessed because they'll be comforted. We know that as Christians we do experience the comfort of the Lord when we mourn anything. He's willing and able to draw near and comfort us. But this can't be talking about anyone in the world who mourns about the normal types of bereavements that we experience as human beings, because not everyone in the world is blessed. And so there is a particular kind of mourning that results in the blessing of God that Jesus has in mind here. And that particular kind of mourning is mourning over anything that stands in opposition to the glory of God, either inside of us or outside of us. Anything that stands in opposition to the glory of God, either something in our own lives and in our own hearts or something in the world around us, anything that dishonors and defames God, causes the heart of the citizen of heaven to grieve and to mourn and to be sad and to sorrow. So that's, as I mentioned, it can look like grief over our own sin, sorrow over our own sin, which is what the Apostle Paul, he talks about that in 2 Corinthians 7, where he actually rejoices that the church in Corinth was sorrowful, mourned over their sin, and he was joyful because their sorrow and their mourning over their sin led to repentance. And so there's a sense in which it is good and right for Christians to mourn over their own sin. We see that in the life of David in Psalm chapter 51, where he is grieved over his sin with Bathsheba. And he cries out to God. That grief over his sin, it drives him to God, and he cries out to God that he would wash him, that he would cleanse him, that he would make him pure, that he would make him new, that he would restore a right spirit within him. It's a good thing to grieve our sin. But not only our sin, we see in the scriptures another pattern too, and that's grieving sin in general. Grieving sin in the world that dishonors God and strips him of the glory that he's due from his creatures. We see that in Psalm 119, verse 136, where the psalmist, he says, my eyes shed streams of water because they do not keep your law. My eyes shed streams of water, not just for my own sin, but for the sins of others, because they do not keep your law." Now, it would be hypocritical of us to act as though we were mourned or grieved over the sins of others who fail to keep God's law when we're not grieved over our own sin, but both of those things go hand in hand. We are grieved over our own sin because of the way that it dishonors Christ. And we are grieved over the sin that we see outside of us because of the way that it dishonors Christ. It is a love for Christ and a love for his glory and a desire that God's name be rightly worshiped that leads us to grieve over sin of every form, inside of us and outside of us. And that's what Jesus has in mind here in Matthew chapter five, where he says, blessed are those who mourn. They mourn over the reality of the presence of sin in this world. And that type of mourning, that type of grief over sin should shock us. How is that possible? How can a heart as naturally sinful as the human heart, as naturally opposed to God's glory as our heart is by birth, how can a heart like that begin to grieve when God's name is not glorified? It's impossible. it is not possible for you to make your heart grieve sin like that. God is the only one, by His Holy Spirit, who has the power to make a heart feel that way about sin. And so if you don't grieve sin, Don't despair. Run to the one who can give you real grief. You can't make it happen on your own. You can put yourself in a position beneath God's grace for him to do a work of renewing upon your heart. You can run to him, you can cry out to him, but you are powerless to change your heart. Listen to the way that, I think it was Albert Barnes, I actually forgot to write the name of the one who said this, but listen to the way that he puts it. It is God, and God alone, who can produce in the deepest heart of man a thing so instinctive as what is here spoken of. No sinner can give this to himself. If we feel it at all, to however slight a degree, it is from no other cause than that the love of God has found us, and the breath of the Holy Spirit Creator has blown upon us, quickening us into newness of life. Do you grieve your sin? He says, even in the slightest sense, do you see grief in your heart over sin because of what it is before God? He says, that's evidence that the spirit God creator has blown life into the heart. We can't create it unless he has wrought it within us. And then Jesus says, not only does he leave us in our mourning, but he promises they shall be comforted. That's the promise. It's not just a suggestion. It's not just a possibility. Jesus is promising you that every ounce of grief that you feel over sin, every ounce of grief that you feel over the brokenness of the world that has resulted from sin, every bit of it, he says, will be comforted. What does that look like? I think there's a present reality of that in our lives now, and there's definitely a future reality of it. The present reality is this. If I am grieved over sin, what can comfort me right now in this moment? What can comfort me? Nothing but forgiveness. Nothing but being washed of that sin. I mean, there's nothing. Imagine a person who is grieved by sin, grieved by their sin before God, and who is offered a kingdom, but no forgiveness. Is offered life that would never end, and yet no reconciliation with God. There is nothing that can comfort the grieving heart as it grieves over sin, other than forgiveness. And that's, when we read things like, blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven, blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account, that's the comfort we enjoy right now, is the certainty of forgiveness. We enjoy that. We boast in that now. It's not a future thing. You are forgiven if you are in Christ, and that is your comfort. But there's also a future fulfillment in the fullest sense, and that's in the sense that we will one day live in a place where grief over sin and sorrow over sin and the consequences of sin are no longer present because sin is no longer present. That's the world that we long for. If you're a Christian, you long for that. Even if sometimes it's a weak longing, there is a seed planted in your heart that longs for a place where sin is eradicated and all of its painful consequences are eradicated. You long for that. You look for that. That's the blessed hope of the Christian. He will wipe away every tear from your eyes. There will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain. Those are not my words. Those are the words of God's Word. There will be no mourning, and no crying, and no pain, and no sorrow, because there will be no sin in the world that Christ is creating. So I hope that up to this point, I hope that up to this point you don't feel like the application of this is to walk away and think that it's spiritual or mature or the mark of a growing Christian to be very sad all the time and to have a sad countenance and to be downcast and discouraged over your sin. This isn't in contradiction with Galatians 5 that talks about the fruit of the Holy Spirit being joy. But it does keep us from a superficial understanding of the type of joy that a Christian delights in and that a Christian possesses. Our joy is not superficial. It doesn't pretend that everything is okay. Either in our lives or in the world we live in, it's not like that. It doesn't just pretend that everything is chipper. It recognizes the reality of sin. It recognizes the devastation of sin. And yet it recognizes that as deep as that devastation runs, the grace of Jesus Christ runs deeper, and it heals more abundantly than the scars of that sin. And that's our comfort. That's our joy. And so we can laugh, and we can rejoice, and we can be glad. Not because we don't see the reality of sin, but because we know the reality of grace that's sufficient to cleanse us of that sin and pardon us of that sin. And so it's not a superficial joy. It's a real joy. It's an unshakable joy because it's founded on unshakable forgiveness and grace. And then another thing we learn here, I think, is that true joy isn't possible, and perhaps this is implied already, but true joy is not possible apart from mourning over sin. If I don't see my need to be comforted, if I don't see my need to be forgiven, then when I think that I'm forgiven, it's not going to be that comforting to me. If I don't know that I'm sick and a doctor says that he's made me well, then I'm not going to be all that joyful because I didn't think I was that sick to begin with. But if I believe that I'm dying and a doctor tells me, I've made you well, then I recognize that something amazing has happened. Something amazing has happened to you if you are a Christian. It should never have happened to you based on the laws of logic. A sinner should never be right with God, ever. But you are, because the righteous one was counted not right with God. And so there is a deep joy, a real joy, that flows out of this mourning. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. And then third, verse five, blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Now the word here for gentle in the NASB is translated a number of different ways. So if you have NASB Bible translation, verse five says blessed are the gentle. A lot of other translations say blessed are the meek. Some others say blessed are the humble. And so there's a couple of different ways to understand this translation, this word. The best word, and I'll explain why I think this, is meek. The best definition or translation would be meek. Blessed are the meek, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And here's why I think that. It's almost certain that Jesus, in verse five, is quoting Psalm 37. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Jump back with me to Psalm 37. And read to begin with verse 11. He says, the humble will inherit the land. So the meek are blessed for they will inherit the earth, Matthew chapter five. The humble will inherit the land in Psalm 37. And when we see that, when we see the connection here between the humble who will inherit the land in Psalm 37 and the meek or the humble or the gentle who will inherit the earth in Matthew chapter five, it helps us understand what it means to be meek. If I had to ask you, what does it mean to be meek, how would you answer that? How would you define meekness? I'm sure we have an idea, we can explain it, but sometimes it's helpful to see a picture of it in practice, in action, an illustration of it. And that's what we get in Psalm chapter 37. Let me read verses seven to 11. So just to make that more clear, this is about the meek man, the humble man who will inherit the land or inherit the earth as Jesus says it. Sorry, I didn't have a button to turn that off So this is describing the meek or the humble person who will inherit the land and look at how he's described in verses 7 to 11 of chapter 37 The first word rest Rest in the Lord Wait patiently for him Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while, and the wicked man will be no more, and you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land." Or in the words of Jesus, the meek, the gentle, the humble will inherit the earth, and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. What does it mean to be meek? Well, look at the scenario in chapter 37 here in these verses. The scenario is a wicked person. Look at verse seven. Don't fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. So we're talking about a wicked man, a man who carries out wicked schemes. But the problem is that wicked man seems to be prospering in his way. He's wicked, but he's prospering. But then the meek, he looks on that wicked man and he may feel the temptation to fret and to be worried or even to take action and to assert himself and make sure that that wicked man doesn't get what he doesn't deserve and that this humble man gets what he thinks he should get. He doesn't fret. He doesn't move quickly to anger and wrath according to Verse eight, cease from anger, forsake wrath, do not fret. It leads only to evil doing. So look at the picture. There's this wickedness that seems to be prospering. There's this righteous person that doesn't seem to be prospering. And he feels this temptation to fret, and yet God is telling him, don't fret. Don't worry. Rest in the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Obey the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Why? Verse nine, for evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Or verse 10, yet a little while, the wicked man will be no more, and you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be there. but the humble will inherit the land. Why should the righteous, meek, humble, gentle person not fret when evil and wickedness seem to prevail? Because just a little longer and wickedness will not prevail. Just a little longer and evil will be eradicated. Just a little longer and the meek, humble, gentle person who waits on the Lord will inherit the land, will inherit the earth. Do you realize that Paul in 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul, he says that all things belong to you. Have you read that? I think it's in chapter three of 1 Corinthians. All things are yours. That's kind of the idea here. The land is yours, the earth is yours. You are going to inherit the new creation together with Christ. And so wickedness may seem to prevail, and we're not to have a fatalistic outlook on it and just pretend like things are only going to get worse. But when we see wickedness prevailing, the comfort, the assurance of knowing that God will one day establish us in righteousness, will establish us in this promised kingdom, in this promised land, that his faithfulness will deliver us, that's what enables us to be meek and quiet in heart, comforted, steadfast in trusting the Lord. And that's the picture here. The meek person is the person who doesn't fret when wickedness prevails, but he quietly and calmly trusts in the Lord and in the certain deliverance that the Lord will give. That's the meek person. He doesn't take things into his own hands and try to do things his own way. He waits on the Lord. He trusts in the Lord. He obeys the Lord. because he knows the Lord, as Paul puts it, the Lord will rescue me from every evil work, every evil deed, and he will bring me safely into his kingdom. Do you believe that? I'm serious, do you believe that? Do you really believe that God will deliver you from every evil deed? and will one day bring you safely into his kingdom fully and completely. Unless that's real in our Christian life, in our minds and in our hearts, we will not be marked by meekness. It's impossible. Because we will think that this is our opportunity right now, right here, this earth, this life, right now is when I need to get mine. And if someone tries to take that from me, then the person who is not meek, who is not looking forward to that promised final certain deliverance, will immediately try, or maybe not immediately, but will eventually try to get it, to get this life now. Take things into his own hand, get revenge, get vindication for himself. But the meek man, he's convinced. The weak Christian is convinced I can wait on the Lord. When I know that people are talking behind my back about me, when I know that that person is treating me unfairly, when I know that my spouse is not being kind to me, when I know that my parents are not loving me the way that they should, then I also know that I can wait on the vindication that comes from the Lord. Not take it into my own hands. He will be my deliverance. He will rescue me from every evil deed He will establish me in his perfect and righteous kingdom Sometimes that looks like deliverance now in this life. Sometimes it looks like vindication now in this life, but it might not You may never experience vindication now but you will One day you will and you you have to believe that if you are a Christian or you will not be this meek person Finally, the fourth beatitude, the last one we'll look at this morning, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. So to understand what it looks like to hunger and thirst for righteousness, we have to understand what righteousness is, as Jesus is speaking about it here. And we know if you've read through the New Testament, really all the scriptures, but especially the New Testament, you know that there are several, or not several, two really distinct ways to understand righteousness in terms of the Christian's righteousness. And so on the one hand you have righteousness in the sense that Jesus's righteousness is credited to us through faith because of his death on our behalf. That's one form of righteousness. That's the kind that 2 Corinthians 5 speaks about when it says that God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. He became sin so that we would be counted righteous. That's one way to understand it. Imputed, justifying righteousness through faith. But what Jesus has in mind here is more of a practical righteousness. That first doctrine is foundational, and if we don't keep that at the center of our Christian life, then the whole edifice of Christianity will come crumbling down. We have to remember that we are righteous solely because of the righteousness of Christ, and that's our only grounds of salvation. But that's not exactly what Jesus is talking about here. He's talking about practical righteousness. Righteousness that conforms our life to the image of Christ. Righteousness that makes us good and accurate reflections of the righteousness of God. That's what he has in mind. And so he's saying, blessed are those who hunger for that kind of conformity to Christ. Not just for ourselves, but for the church. We long for that for ourselves, but we long for that for the church. We long for the body of Christ to be clothed, not just in the justifying righteousness that's been imputed to us. We long for the church of Christ to be clothed in the garments of practical righteousness. Godly lives, lives that reflect the glory of our King. And we don't just desire that for ourselves or for the church, but we desire that for the world. We desire that the righteousness of God be established in all the earth. And then Jesus says that you'll be satisfied if that's your longing. If you hunger and if you thirst for righteousness, there will not be one craving in your heart that longs after righteousness that will not be completely satisfied. I'm thirsty right now, my mouth is dry, and I long for my thirst to be satisfied. And I could reach down and have it satisfied, but it'd only be for like one minute or two minutes, and I would need to take another drink. But there is coming a day when our longing after righteousness is satisfied completely, and we will never experience that longing and that sense of not having it fully, because we will have it. We'll have it personally. Jesus promises, or Paul, the apostle, promises that the work that Jesus has begun in you, he will perfect. He will bring it to completion. You will be presented before Christ blameless. Not just justified, but he'll make you blameless. and not just for ourselves, but for the church. In Ephesians, Jesus says that one day he's gonna present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but she will be holy and blameless. Look around you. Every Christian in this room We, as a body of believers joined with the universal body of Christ, will one day be presented to Christ blameless, without any spot or wrinkle. We are spotty people right now. We are wrinkly people. Sin looks bad on us. But there's coming a day when the church will be free of that. We will be clean. And not only that, but according to his promise, 2 Peter 3.13, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells in all the earth. We long for personal righteousness and its promise to you. You will be satisfied. You will be made like Christ. We long for church righteousness. The church will be presented blameless without spot or wrinkle. And we long for global righteousness. And Jesus says, I'm establishing a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells and there will no longer be sin. In just a moment, we are going to take the Lord's Supper together. And as we do that, what we've already seen in the Beatitudes are so helpful. If you think about it, we have entered into this kingdom, we have tasted, we have seen the goodness of the salvation that Christ has promised us. And yet that taste that we have, it sends us longing for and searching for and reaching for the fulfillment that's yet to come. And that's what the Lord's Supper does for us. The Lord's Supper, it reminds us that the bread, it represents the body of Christ given for us. And the cup, it represents the blood of Christ poured out for us. And it reminds us the blessing has come, the blessing of the kingdom has come in the person of Christ and in his work. We have been rescued from our sins, forgiven, and made righteous. But the Lord's Supper also, it points us forward. We're told that we're to proclaim him until he comes as we take the Lord's Supper. And so every time we take the Lord's Supper, we're reminding one another, we're reminding ourselves that we look forward to the day when the promised blessings of the Beatitudes are fully realized at the coming of our King, when he ushers in the consummation of his kingdom. I've mentioned this in a series through 1 Corinthians, but the Jews used to say every year at the atonement, they would say, maybe next year in Jerusalem, during the exile. They longed to be back in Jerusalem, and they would say, maybe next year the kingdom will be restored. Maybe next year we'll be back in Jerusalem, and we'll be taking this meal, we'll be celebrating this feast together in Jerusalem. And every time the Christian takes of the Lord's Supper, we look back and we see the death of Christ, but we look forward and we say, maybe soon our King is coming. Maybe soon all that is wrong with this world, all that is wrong with me, will be made right. You are washed and you are cleansed by the blood of Christ if you are in him through faith. And as you long for the coming kingdom to be fully realized and manifested, take the bread, drink the cup, and rejoice in the assurance of the promise that He's bringing it soon. We look forward to a promised coming kingdom, it's certain. And we are to take in the assurance that He will be faithful to do all that He has promised to do. In just a moment, I'm going to pray. And as I do that, some folks are gonna come and spread out the trays. Once they're done doing that, following the prayer, everyone can, we've done this a couple times now, but everyone can make their way around the chairs and then come through the center aisle here and split off onto both sides of the table. Once everyone has had a chance to go through and take of the bread and the cup, we'll stand together and respond to the Lord with singing. So let's pray. Father, we give you thanks that you remind us of simple truths that we forget and take for granted. And we thank you for the truths that you've given us this morning in Matthew chapter 5. We thank you for the hope that it's presented to us. We thank you for the reminder that we are blessed even as we go through a world full of suffering and sorrow. We thank you that we are reminded there, Lord, that you are faithful to do what you've promised to do and that you will bring that promised fulfillment of the blessing you've promised us. And so, Father, we pray now that as we take of the Lord's Supper together, would you make us sensitive to what it represents, help us to see the faithfulness of Christ who gave himself over to death on our behalf, Help us to mourn the reality of sin and yet rejoice in the reality of forgiveness. Strengthen our faith, Lord, as we take this supper together, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.