Matthew 5, verse 5, for our sermon text tonight. Going through Jesus' Beatitudes, part of the Sermon on the Mount. And so we're just going to read one verse, Matthew 5, verse 5. Actually, I'll read the earlier Beatitudes, too, so we can kind of get back into the flow of the Beatitudes. And let me pray a moment for the reading and preaching tonight. Father, again, your Word here is open before us, about to be read and preached. May your Spirit go forth with the reading and preaching of the Word and do a wonderful work in our heart, we pray, that we might listen to the life-giving teaching of Jesus, that we might receive it with open hearts, and we might go from this place rejoicing, saying, we have heard the Word of Christ. In Jesus' name, amen. So this is Jesus teaching to his disciples. We'll start with Matthew 5, verse 2, but our text is verse 5. And he, that's Jesus, opened his mouth and taught 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 meek, for they shall inherit the earth. That's the beatitude we'll look at tonight. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. It's God's Word. Some of you I know are checklist sorts of people. When you get groceries, you have a specific checklist that you want to get everything on the list, or when you go to Menards, you have a certain checklist. Or maybe at the beginning of the week, you have a to-do list for this week. Or at work, you have a to-do list. Or maybe if you're in school, you have assignments that you have to get done. So you keep a planner, and you have a checklist to check off when you get those assignments done. Now, I usually don't have many checklists on paper. I try to keep them in my head. It doesn't always go that well, but I don't have checklists laying all around. However, sometimes when there's something pretty important in life, then I'll do a checklist, because I don't want to forget something. If I'm going on a big backpacking trip or something like that, I want to make sure I have everything, because it's pretty important when you're out in the wilderness. So checklists can be helpful. They're pretty good things in life in many ways. But there's also some downside to checklist. For one thing, you don't wanna make sure that you base your worth or your value on whether you get your checklist done or not. Some people do that, right? If they don't get a checklist done, they feel like a failure and it's just not good for them. We don't want checklists to do that for us. And also, when it comes to the Christian faith, it's really not a checklist thing. Christianity is not about checklists. It's not like when you become a Christian, you say, okay, or if you want to become a Christian, you have a checklist. Pray once a day or 10 times a day or whatever, go to church, read scripture and give to missionaries. There, I've done it. That's all I need to do. I've crossed off the checklist. Or if I haven't done it, then man, I feel like a bad Christian. We don't want to think of our Christian faith like a checklist. Christianity is not a list of things to do. It's a relationship with Christ who has saved us. It's trusting in him, it's loving him, and it's following him in obedience. And when it comes to the Beatitudes, Jesus' teaching here, don't think of these as checklists for how to get to heaven. That's not what this is. It's not like, you know, if you do all these Beatitudes, then you're good to go. Don't think of it as a checklist. It's not a to-do list of what you need to do to be saved. It's not a checklist for salvation. You don't want to turn the Beatitudes into law and say, you're saved by works if you do these things. Jesus is talking to people who are already disciples. And so the Beatitudes are characteristics of people who trust in God from the heart. The Beatitudes are qualities, spiritual qualities of God's people who have the Holy Spirit working in their hearts. And so for disciples of Christ, if you're a follower of Christ, these are good news, the Beatitudes are. And they're good news for anyone who comes to Christ. Everyone who follows Christ. You don't have to be tough and independent. You don't have to be wealthy and influential and self-sufficient to gain blessing from God. Jesus teaches, as we've already read, that he blesses the poor and the spirit, the weak, the hurting, the humble, the poor, and those who are dependent on him. And so tonight we're gonna look at this next beatitude, the third one, and we're gonna look at it in two different parts. It's pretty straightforward, like I'm gonna do, I think, for each one. First of all, we'll look at blessed are the meek, and then we'll look at, for they shall inherit the earth. So once again, you start with Jesus' word, blessed, and that's where we get beatitude from. It's an old Latin word for blessed. You know what blessed means, I think. We've been over this a few times. It means something like happy or fortunate in a spiritual way. You're blessed by God. You have peace, you have hope, you have comfort because you know you have eternal life in Christ. It's a blessing like that. And when you think about these blessings, Jesus said, blessed are, you know, so-and-so. These blessings, if you look at it biblically, they're more internal than external. That means these blessings don't mean that Jesus is gonna give you health and wealth and prosperity in this life. They're more like internal blessings of your heart and your soul and your mind. And these blessings also are more objective than subjective. Meaning even if you don't always feel it, These things are true of you if you're meek, or if you mourn, or if you're poor in spirit, you're blessed. It's an object of reality. God blesses you. It's real. And these blessings, as we've been talking about as well, they're not just like temporary. You know, sometimes you can say, God blesses me with good health, and that's great, but good health is a temporary thing in this life, right? These blessings that Jesus gives are eternal. As Thomas Watson the Puritan said, true blessedness has eternity stamped on it. So these are eternal blessings. And so the fact is, as you read through these Beatitudes of Jesus and think about the context, that you can be hurting and suffering and poor, but also greatly blessed by God. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. As we learn in Ephesians, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. So that's the word blessed, just kind of a review of that. But who or what are the meek? What does meek mean? And once again, it's not like work on being meek and you'll earn this blessing. No, it's a reality. It's a true statement from Jesus. People who are meek, that God has blessed them. Now, meek is related to poor in spirit. If you have an NASB, instead of meek, it's gentle. Blessed are the gentle. That's a good translation. Or if you have a New Living translation, it says, blessed are the humble. That's also a good translation. So meek is someone who is gentle and humble. That's good to think about it that way. It's a spiritual quality. It's the opposite of being arrogant and proud and self-centered. So when you think of meek, don't think of like this timid, shy little mouse. Sometimes when you hear meekness, you think of that. It's not being a timid, shy little mouse, but it's someone who is not a domineering bully, but someone who is gentle and humble. Someone who is mild, who does not seek revenge or angry retaliation. This person who is meek is not out to hurt others or to do anything to get his or her own way. This meek, gentle, humble person is one who trusts in God and submits to God and God's rule and sovereignty. He or she bows before God and says, you are sovereign, oh Lord, I am not and I'm humble in my position. So if you're a meek person, if you're a humble Christian, It means you know your limits, you know you're finite, you know you're not a superhero, you know, greatest of all time who can do anything. If you're a humble, meek person, you don't play God or think you are God, but you're humble under his reign and rule, and you don't think you're all that. You're gentle, you're meek, you're mild. Now, one thing that's interesting is, meekness or gentleness, however you translate it, both are okay, is a Christ-like quality. And Jesus in another place taught, he said, remember, he said, I am gentle and humble in heart. So take your yoke or come to me, take my yoke upon you and learn from me because I'm gentle and lowly in heart and you'll find rest for your souls. It's that same or a very similar word. Jesus is gentle and lowly in heart. And that's good news for us, who are weary and who are broken, who are sinful, who are needy, that when people come to Jesus with true needs, he's humble in heart and we can find rest for our souls in him. So Jesus is like the best example of someone who is meek and gentle, and that means our salvation. But here Jesus is talking about the people who follow him, the humble and meek. And actually, Jesus' teaching here, of course, you wouldn't know this, it echoes the Old Testament. So Psalm 147 says, the Lord upholds the humble. Isaiah 29 says, the humble will be filled with joy. So Jesus, you know, of course, fulfills all and teaches all that same Old Testament teaching and says, the meek will inherit the earth, the humble, the gentle will inherit the earth. Now, once again, remember I used the term paradox before? Doesn't that seem like a paradox? Don't tough, assertive, strong people who are powerful and rich take control of the earth? They're the ones who rule, right? Nations and people never resort to gentleness to take over other nations. Instead, they use sword and gun and violence. So it seems like a paradox. How do gentle, humble, mild people inherit the earth? Well, Jesus is teaching this, and another thing in scripture you can think about is God humbles the proud and exalts the humble. That's another way to think about Jesus' teaching, because pride is terribly sinful. God will one day humble all the pride and arrogant people who don't trust in him, but he will exalt the humble because humility, meekness, gentleness comes from a heart of faith. And so blessed are the meek. Now the second half of this beatitude is interesting, right? They'll inherit the earth. Meek, gentle, humble people who are followers of Christ will inherit the earth. Now inheritance is a big word in scripture, especially in the Old Testament, coming back into the new as well. But remember long ago in Abraham's day, God said to Abraham, I'm going to give you Canaan, the promised land for your inheritance and for your children's inheritance. And in Exodus 32, God recalls that and reminds his people of the oath to give the promised land to Abraham's offspring. And it says in Exodus 32, and they will inherit this promised land forever. They'll inherit it. So this is Old Testament allusion, inheritance. But what is an inheritance? I think most of you know what an inheritance is, right? You could probably explain it a little bit to me. An inheritance, of course, is like when a dad gifts his son the estate, or when a dad shares all of his inheritance with his children. When he gets to be of age or after he dies, it's bequeathed to them by a will. That's what an inheritance is. And I was looking into this a little bit, into some inheritance stories, and I read of a story of a woman 100 years ago. She's an older widow, maybe 80 years old, and she had $17 million. I don't know what inflation is or whatever, but I don't know how much is $17 million from 100 years ago. How much is that today? A lot. But she was very good with money. However, when she died, no one could find her will. She no doubt had one, but nobody could find it. She didn't have any close family. I think she had like a nephew who was kind of estranged. But they couldn't find anyone to take her inheritance, to inherit her estate. And the story is crazy. I'm not gonna give you all the details, but of course, people like literally came out of the woodwork and said, hey, I'm her son, or hey, I'm her, you know, cousin or whatever. In fact, I think the newspaper said over 25,000 people tried to prove they were her family. They changed their names, they faked their birth certificates, and they even did some other things like that that were illegal, and some of them even went to jail for trying to get this huge inheritance. So we understand, I think, what an inheritance is and how valuable they can be. And so Jesus says, the meek will get the earth, as a valuable inheritance. Now, once again, Jesus is drawing on the Old Testament. In fact, he's probably citing Psalm 37 verse 11, which says, the meek shall inherit the land and be delighted with abundant peace. So Jesus is taking that Psalm and applying it to his disciples. Okay, still, what is the inheritance? Well, it's an inheritance from God, right? That's implied. It's the inheritance God gives his sons and daughters. And it is the earth. Not money, not a huge estate, you know, with lots of possessions, but something a lot, lot better and bigger than money and an estate. The earth. Is it literal or figurative? It's not always the best question because sometimes it can be both. And is it now or in the future, this inheritance? But the earth here means the world or the land or the ground, not the skies, not the planets. Actually, I was looking into this inheritance too and I was reminded that if you look into Mormon theology from the past, did you ever know this, that Mormons say that people who are really good faithful Mormons will inherit worlds and then they can dwell over them with their spirit children. That's unbiblical, right? That's not what Jesus is talking about here at all. The meek will inherit this world that God made. Isn't there a bit of a problem though? Jesus said this around 2,000 years ago that the meek, the gentle, the humble who follow him will inherit the land, the earth. I don't see that. I don't see humble and gentle people inheriting the earth now, right? It seems like the rich and powerful rule. How many presidents and politicians are meek and humble and gentle? So what is Jesus getting at here? That if you're humble follower of him, you'll inherit the earth. What does it mean for you? Well, to interpret Jesus' teaching, of course, you have to think of other teaching of Jesus in other parts of the Bible. It seems like in Jesus' broader teaching, especially here in the Beatitudes and other places, that Jesus is pointing us forward to the new heavens and specifically the new earth. Let me explain that. two other teachings of Jesus. One of them is using the same word earth, don't store up treasures on earth. Store up your treasures in heaven. That's a teaching of Christ. And Jesus said also elsewhere, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. So if you think about the teaching of Jesus, there's more. But also if you think about what Jesus said before this, the kingdom of heaven, It seems like he's pointing forward to the new creation. But also other parts of scripture seem to say the same thing. In 2 Peter 3, I quoted this before, it's a great text. Peter says in 2 Peter 3, we're looking forward to the day of the Lord. And Peter says that day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in heat. That's when Jesus returns, right? The destruction of the heavens by fire, the elements will melt in heat. And Peter says, but we trust his promise and look forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells. So a disciple of Jesus is saying, you know, one day this earth as we know it is going to be rechanged, renewed, burned, cleansed in fire. And so we look forward to the new earth where righteousness dwells. And another text I'm thinking of is Revelation 21. Way in the end, again, I mentioned to read this. Don't forget to read this. John sees this vision and he says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth because what happened to the first heaven and the first earth? It had passed away. And you can even read some of the prophets like Isaiah that talk about a new heavens and a new earth. So hopefully that helps you. When Jesus says the meek will inherit the earth, he's speaking literally. But it's the new earth, renewed creation. So the meek, humble believer who trusts in God will receive the new earth as his or her great inheritance. It's your home. It's your land. And it's like, so if you're one of these humble and meek people who follow Christ, you have a title to the new heaven, the new earth, rather. That's your inheritance as a child of God. It's yours. He promises you that. And when I was studying this, I also thought about Abraham in Hebrews 11. Remember Abraham, God said you're gonna inherit the promised land, Canaan? But Hebrews 11 says what happened when Abraham actually made it to the promised land in Canaan? What did he do? Did he build a house and settle down? No, he lived in tents. He didn't even build a permanent structure. Hebrews 11 said he lived in tents. Why? In Hebrews it says, because he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Think about that. Abraham had that kind of faith where he was actually literally in the promised land, in the dirt of Canaan. But he built a tent and he said, no, my heaven, my homeland is in heaven, in the city of God. In fact, all the believers and the saints, again, read Hebrews 11, all the believers and saints in the Old Testament looked forward to that great heavenly country. Hebrews 11 says they all confessed they were strangers on earth, looking forward to a better country, a heavenly one, is how Hebrews puts it. So in that way, we're like the Old Testament saints today. We know that we don't have a lasting home in this present creation. We look forward to the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, the new earth to come. And this is where pilgrim teaching comes in, right? We're pilgrims here and our homeland is in our inheritance in the new earth. That's what we're looking forward to. So I hope you can kind of understand that now. Blessed are the meek, the humble, the gentle who follow Christ, for they will inherit the earth, the new earth, the renewed earth that's coming. So it seems like mostly future, right? I think it is. But there's an already aspect to it as well. Like I mentioned, you as a believer then, as a follower of Christ, listening to his words here, you trust him and you're a meek person. You already have a title to this inheritance in the new creation. Because you trust in Christ, you're adopted and God calls you son or daughter and you're an heir. of the promise, and you have the claim of a place in the new creation. And the Bible also teaches, it goes into kind of a different topic, but in different places in the New Testament, it talks about how the Spirit works in our hearts, assures us that we're sons and daughters of God, and it also says the Holy Spirit reassures us of our inheritance in heaven. So we kind of get a taste of that heavenly inheritance already because the Spirit is working in us, that peace, that joy, that love that we will ultimately and perfectly enjoy in the new creation. So we do already have a taste of it because the Spirit's working in us and because we have a title to this inheritance. So what about application? I think you can kind of understand the gist of Jesus' teaching. What does this mean for you then as a believer tomorrow or whatever? Well, there's other ones. You can think about that for yourself. But one thing that I'm thinking of here is just a reminder as believers, it's good to be meek and gentle and humble. These are virtues that Christ praises, that the Bible commends. It's good to be humble. It's good to be meek. It's good to be gentle. So don't let the culture and the world tell you otherwise. Don't listen to people who say you have to be more aggressive, more macho, more willing to trample on people to get somewhere in life. No, listen to Jesus' words, blessed are the meek, the humble, the gentle. It's good to be meek. But also for you, another application, switching gears a little bit, if you struggle with pride, which some of us do, right? True Christians can struggle with pride. It's a good reminder here that God does not bless the proud. He exalts the humble. And so if you're proud and arrogant, you need to come to terms with the fact that you're not great, that you're limited, that you're finite, that you 100% of the time every day depend upon God for all things, especially salvation. So if you're proud and you read this, hopefully, you know, the Lord works an attitude of repentance. Oh God, I'm so sorry that I'm proud. Make me meek, make me humble, make me gentle like Jesus talks about in this parable. And you can pray for humility. That's one thing we should do all the time. And one more point of application is patience. I mean, you can be so thankful for all the good things that God gives us in life. Like I talked about this morning, God has given us many things to enjoy in liberty. But remember as believers that your true home is not here. It's in the world to come. This world is broken and full of evil and sorrow and sin and pain, but you have a title to an eternal homeland, the new earth, where there is no more brokenness, evil, sorrow, sin, or pain. So as you look forward to that, be patient now, because God promises you that one day you'll receive this inheritance of the earth. So in conclusion, I guess, remember, checklists aren't bad if you use them in a right way. But remember, the Christian life is not a checklist. Beatitudes are not a checklist for your salvation. They're promises of Christ to anyone who is his disciple, anyone who comes to him and follows him in faith. So take these words of our Savior to your heart and let them soak in and give you comfort. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Amen. Let's pray.