We'll read verses 1-12. Last week we went through verse 6 with the Beatitudes. This week we'll finish. Let me read all of verses 1-12 of Matthew 5. Please hear the Word of God. And seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain, and when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Then he 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. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain 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 are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your award in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. This is the Word of God. May God, by His Spirit, teach us and convict us according to His will. Let me pray. Dear Father, Your Word says that Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Lord, by Your Word, You redeem those who are sinners, and those who are Christians, You make more like Christ. May that be the case today, Lord, as the Word of God is preached. Please take it by Your Spirit. and apply it as you would will for your glory and for our good. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen. Last week, if you were here, we began a two-part study on the Beatitude, which is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. We had a little bit of a context last week that the first four chapters of the Gospel of Matthew make the case of Jesus' identity as the long-awaited Messiah and King the Savior sent from God to save His people to Himself. We said near the end of Matthew 5 that there's a transition of focusing on Jesus' identity to His authority as Messiah King. It's in verse 17 of Matthew 4 that we read, From that time on, Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then in Matthew's Gospel, which really translate to the first eight or nine chapters or so of Mark's gospel, which the Greater Boston Reformed Baptist Church, the Greater Boston Reformed Baptist Fellowship is going through. For the next 12 chapters of Matthew's gospel, Jesus largely shows his authority as Messiah and King by his authoritative teaching and his healing and his deeds. We see then that the Sermon on the Mount is the beginning of this authoritative teaching of Jesus as the Messiah of King in chapter 5. And so in chapter 4 of Matthew, Jesus already declared that the kingdom of heaven is near because the King is here. And then starting in chapter 5, we have the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus teaches with authority as King. And he describes the character and the righteousness of the King and his kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount. and what is necessary for one to enter to become a citizen of the kingdom, and what must be the character and righteousness of the citizens of his kingdom. That's the Sermon on the Mount. And then the Beatitudes at the very beginning of the Sermon on the Mount are the key that unlocks the door to understanding and applying the Sermon on the Mount. With the Beatitudes, which we just read, Jesus beautifully summarizes the entire sermon in his opening 10 verses. He explains the powerful truth that in order to live as a citizen in Christ's kingdom, we must allow Christ to cleanse and recreate our inner life first by the power of the kingdom, which Po preached on a few weeks ago, the spirit of God. And only then we are able to enter into his kingdom according to his character and his righteousness, and then to live righteously in his kingdom, counter to the unrighteous world in which we live. We said last week, that the characteristics described in the Beatitudes are to be the constant qualities in every Christian's life. And it's as a result of Christ's saving and sanctifying work in us. We said the first four Beatitudes, which were covered last week, describe the inner qualities of the Christian. But the last four Beatitudes, which we'll cover this week, describe the resulting outer qualities of the Christian. The first four Beatitudes focus on the Christian's relationship with God, The last four Beatitudes focus on a relationship with our fellow man. And the first four Beatitudes show that by grace, this is how one enters into the kingdom. He acknowledges his sinfulness. He mourns over it. He meekly bows before God, hungering and thirsting after his righteousness. That's the entrance by grace into the kingdom of Christ. With these last four, verses 7-12, we'll see the outward result of the inward change of Christ in our life. And so, in your bulletin, there is an outline. It really is an outline for those who are creatively challenged. It's not a very exciting outline, but you see the outline that we'll go through today. First, we'll briefly review last week's four beginning Beatitudes. And if you were here last week, then Try to pay attention. It won't be new to you, but we'll briefly go through the first four beatitudes. Then we'll focus on the last four beatitudes in verses 7-12. And then we'll try to close by summarizing all eight and closing with how Christ fulfills those things. So briefly, and I'll try to do it briefly. Briefly, the first four beatitudes, focusing on the inner qualities of the Christian and our relationship to God in verses 3-6. Remember last week, We said there's a progression. I think it's a wonderful progression. It really is the gospel. There's a progression from being poor in spirit, to being in mourning over sin, to meekness, and then hungering and thirsting after righteousness. And we said that was the only way to enter into Christ's kingdom. But these are also characteristics of how a Christian in Christ's kingdom continues to live. So the first beatitude, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Who is the one who's poor in spirit? He's the one who recognizes his spiritual bankruptcy before God. He's a sinner unable to save himself. He's a spiritual beggar totally hopeless before and dependent upon God and God's mercy. And only he can enter into the kingdom of heaven. The recognition of one's sin is the first and most important step. And once someone becomes a Christian, he continues to recognize his personal spiritual poverty He can do all things through Christ, yes, but he can do nothing apart from Christ. So the second step, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. The one who recognizes his spiritual bankruptcy before God, he then mourns over his sin. And it's only he who knows the comfort of God's forgiveness and cleansing. And then the Christian who comes into the kingdom of Christ in this way, he will continue to mourn over his sin. He still has sin he has to deal with before God, not for salvation's sake, but in his relationship. And he mourns over others' sins and the results of sin. And he's a Christian who mourns with his brother or his neighbor to provide comfort for them when they're in sin. The third step is blessed are the meek. for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the meek, the humble, for they shall inherit the earth. And so the progress is this. One who recognizes his sinfulness and mourns before God over his sin, he turns then to God in humility, in meekness, apprehending the mercy of God in Christ. And only he is the one who can inherit the earth. That means he has the eternal spiritual blessing and reward of the kingdom that Christ provides. The Christian will continue in meekness and humility. It's not just part of his salvation. He will continue in meekness and humility because humility and meekness is one of the defining characteristics of the Christian. Sometimes we forget this, but one thing that marks a Christian apart from his previous life, the natural man versus the one who's been born again, is there's a humility there, just like with our Savior who took on flesh to save us. I think related to that as well is from humility comes service. Defining characteristic of the Christian is humility that results in service. We'll see that later with the Beatitudes. And also recognize what's the beginning of every verse in the Beatitudes? Blessed. That means there's a happiness, but there's an inner joy that is there. It's not just from circumstance. So as we're accumulating characteristics of the Christian, he's joyful. Doesn't mean he's always smiling, but he's joyful. There's an internal joy and a humility and a service that results. These are things that a Christian continues in, striving for humility before God and man, with Christ as his example. As you think about the entire Sermon on the Mount, I hope for some of you, you'll actually be motivated to read the rest of the Sermon on the Mount at some point in time, but later we'll see that Jesus will say, this is the person then who's able to turn the other cheek and able to walk the extra mile when he's been redeemed and now he's humbled before his God and his brother. and his fellow man. Then the fourth beatitude follows, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. The one who recognizes his sinfulness and mourns before God over it, he turns to God in humility, and then he hungers and thirsts after Christ's righteousness in repentance and faith. You see how the gospel is really outlined in these first four beatitudes. This righteousness that spoke about in this fourth beatitude is the righteousness that's required by God. We cannot stand before God without perfect righteousness. We long to have our sins forgiven. We need that, but we need the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. Our catechism, our Baptist catechism, and I can sing this, but I'm trying not to. Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein He pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone." Justification means that Christ has fulfilled the moral law of God perfectly in His perfect life, and He's fulfilled the penalty that we deserve by breaking that law in His perfect death, burial, and resurrection. And therefore, the sinner who comes in repentance and faith before Christ, he exchanges his sin for Christ's righteousness. Our sin is imputed to Him. He suffers for it fully. And He imputes His righteousness to us so we can appear before God without sin and with perfect righteousness. But the righteousness of Christ, it's only He who is filled in this fourth beatitude. It's only He who is filled, filled by Christ Himself and His righteousness which is given to satisfy fully all of His needs. And the Christian then will continue to strive to know Christ and His righteousness more and more, continually seeking to know and to make Christ known, not content with anything else. And in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ says, this is the one who is able to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. That was mostly a review of the first four Beatitudes. So those who were here last week, you can wake up now. or if you're not here last week, maybe you're still with me. But now we can move on to the second four Beatitudes in verses 7-12. And now there's still a flow, I think, in these second four. They're not just random. They go together. There's a progression from mercy to purity to peacemaking and to persecution. And now it's not merely how one comes into the Kingdom of Heaven. Now, this is the response, the result of one who by grace has entered into the Kingdom of Heaven. These are outward qualities and characteristics of a Christian that will flow from Christ because of this. And so the first of these second four beatitudes that focus on the outer results of the inner change, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. And doesn't it follow, believer, that the spiritually bankrupt beggar which if you are a Christian, that's who you are. The spiritually bankrupt beggar who mourns for his sin in humility before God and is then filled with the righteousness of Christ by the infinite mercy of God. Doesn't it make sense that he would be merciful to others, knowing that others need this mercy just as he did and just as he continues to need God's mercy. So Jesus says, blessed are the merciful. The idea of mercy here is not just pity or sympathy, but this is characterized by a genuine compassion that does something. It's compassion with feet, if you will. From this humility, there arises a desire to serve others, being merciful to them. It's a compassion with a pure, unselfish motive that reaches out to help the one who has a need. It's not just being a hearer of The word, so to speak, it's being a doer of it. It's mercy that meets a need, not just feeling it. It meets a physical need by giving food to the hungry when possible, money to the poor, clothes to the naked, and love to the hurting. In James 2, James tells us if a brother is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body." What does that profit? He says that faith is a dead faith. The mercy that we have from Christ then becomes a mercy that is given to meet physical needs. It's also to meet a spiritual need. Pitying the condition of lost souls. We said last week that David wept over those who would not keep the law. Paul wept for those who would not come to Christ. Stephen, when he was being stoned, Those who even stoned him would be forgiven. It's pitying the condition of lost souls because we remember what it's like to be a lost soul. And then that leads to prodding the lost one to recognize his sins so he can know God's mercy. And then praying for that lost soul and then preaching the gospel to him. And you see there's an alliteration of this merciful giving of pitying and prodding and praying for and preaching the gospel to the lost The greatest way that we can be merciful to others is doing this with the gospel of Christ. Mercy shows sympathy for a mistake, compassion when offended, and it confronts sin that others might come to know God's mercy, and that's not easy. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, this is the person who's able to love his neighbor and even his enemy for mercy's sake. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. God is a God of mercy, and it's His mercy that is being obtained. There's a glorious cycle of God's mercy here, that God showers His mercy upon us through His Son. We gratefully and humbly and obediently then show mercy to others as God in Christ Jesus has shown us mercy. And then God bestows upon us even more mercy, pouring out blessing for our needs and even withholding severe chastening for our sins out of mercy. And we see in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus says, the one who forgives others, God forgives. And later in Matthew chapter 18 with the unforgiving servant parable, Jesus teaches us that mercy is withheld from those who withhold mercy. For the Christian, if we have received from holy God unlimited mercy, that cancels our unpayable debt of sin. We who had no righteousness but were poor in spirit, mourning over our load of sin, in a beggarly, helpless condition, wretched and doomed, meek before Almighty God, hungry and thirsty for a righteousness that we did not and could not attain. It surely follows that we would then be merciful to others because of the great mercy of God bestowed upon us. What a privilege it is that we would be merciful upon those sinners who are just like us. our brother, or even our neighbor. And nothing shows more clearly that we have been mercifully forgiven than our readiness to have mercy upon others. Peter tells the church in 1 Peter 2, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God. who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. And for the one who's not a Christian, this mercy, this mercy is the mercy you desperately need in Christ Jesus, and we'd urge you to come to Him. So after blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy, follows blessed are the pure in heart, the sixth beatitude, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. One who is pure in heart is one who has an inward purity by the spirit of God, which manifests itself in an outward integrity and sincerity in one's life. There's a flow from the inner purity that is through one who's been born again, that manifests itself in an outward integrity and sincerity. The word heart refers mostly to the mind and the will, the personality of a person. The scripture says, out of the heart springs the issues of life. Out of the heart, the mouth speaks and the pure in heart has a right attitude, pure motives, and a focus of a heart towards God first, that's characterized by a single-mindedness and right relationships with God and men, without hypocrisy, with public and private life both transparent before all. And so being pure in heart cannot possibly be without a heart purified by Christ. A new heart must be given to be one who is pure in heart. In Ephesians chapter two, the first 10 verses, a wonderful section of scripture, it begins with saying that we are dead to God in our trespasses and sins. We're dead to God in our trespasses and sins. Those trespasses and sins, we're dead, spiritually dead, in which we walked and we were enslaved to, and we would suffer eternal wrath because of. We have no hope in ourself. But God there's some wonderful passages in the New Testament. It says but God Who's rich in mercy? Because of his great love towards us in Christ. He has made us alive He's raised us from the dead spiritually together with Christ and by grace you're saved by faith and Jesus declares in John chapter 3 we must be born again We must be made alive to God with a new heart to be pure in heart Ezekiel prophesied in Ezekiel 36 that God will replace our heart of stone with a purified heart of flesh, which, energized by the Spirit of God, the power of the kingdom, causes us to walk in purity for God according to His law. The new heart given only to those who, by grace and mercy of God, see their debt of sin, repentantly mourn, and turn in meek faith to Christ, hungering after righteousness. And the blood of Christ cleanses such a heart and makes it pure able to beat for God. And in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, this is the person who's able to recognize that sin is from the heart. It's not merely external. It comes from the heart. So that murder is hatred in the heart, not actually just physical murder. And adultery is lust from the heart, not just the act of physical adultery. So blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. In Jesus' day, the religious leaders of Jesus' day had created a legalistic religion from misinterpretations of God's law and man-made traditions, much like we have today. And so such legalism produced a tremendous guilt and anxiety, and so the people were longing for a way to get rid of their burden of sin, but they had no way to do so, just like we find today. And Jesus then authoritatively teaches that if you want to see God, which is the same thing as if you want to enter into the kingdom of heaven, you must come to him for cleansing of the heart by Christ's perfect blood and righteousness. Then you can continuously see him and walk with him from now through eternity, living in his presence, knowing him in a blessed and personal way as we spoke of through Psalm 34 in our study hour. It's been said that a pure heart cleanses the eye of the soul so that you can see God. A pure heart that's given by the Spirit of God cleanses the eye of the soul so that you can see God. And only the pure in heart can see God. And so for the Christian, we rejoice in God's mercy that He's purified our hearts by the blood of Christ. God has given us a new heart so that we can see Him and know Him forever. And so we are called to love and to serve God with a pure, undivided heart. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will say, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and money. You cannot serve God and anything else. In the Psalms, we read that God is good and to such as have a pure heart. And blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with a whole heart, a pure heart, an undivided heart. So with our brother as a Christian, we're to obey the truth and sincerity to love one another fervently with a pure heart, 1 Peter 1 says. For our neighbor, we're to love our neighbor and our enemy in sincerity and purity and thought and deed and prayerful hope that their hearts might be made pure in Christ as well. With our own heart, we strive to keep our hearts pure through obedience, through the word, through prayer, through fellowship, to walk rightly with our God. But for the non-Christian, This is the pure heart that you desperately need as well in Christ Jesus. The pure heart only known through the blood and righteousness of Christ Jesus and only through repentance of sin and faith in Him, only then you can see God. There's only two left. The seventh one, or the third one for today, blessed are the peacemakers. for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. God is a God of peace. In our church, our benediction almost every Sunday starts out with, now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead in Hebrews 11. God is a God of peace. And He sent His Son to bring peace to men, to reconcile us to God through Christ. We who were once enemies of God are justified and have peace with God in Christ Jesus. So that now we are Christ's ambassadors and we are gladly called to bring God's peace and reconciliation to a sin-darkened world with sinners who are separated from God. We have to remember that the peace that God brings is not a ceasefire. It's not just no more fighting. Sometimes sadly in our marriages that's what we call peace. Peace is actually getting rid of the problem and reconciling and becoming friends again. That's what biblical peace is. That's what God brings us with the peace we have through Christ. And so we move from enemies of God, who actually hate God, and deserve the wrath of God, to be adopted as sons and daughters of God, to actually now be part of the family of God, with God as our Father and Christ as our Brother. This is the peace of God that God brings. But this peace took an immense price by Christ Jesus to bring it. There was much cost to pay through our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring this peace. So likewise, peacemaking, and what Christ is speaking about in His Beatitude, peacemaking for us is often a painful process as well. Unlike the worldly peace, which is generally a compromise that temporarily covers over the problem, this is a real peace that has to get to the heart of the problem. And so biblical peacemaking doesn't just keep the peace, but it resolves the conflict by truth. Jesus was the greatest peacemaker, yet he never compromised truth, even though it led to great conflict and great hurt for him. Ironically, he was beaten and killed for trying to bring peace. And likewise, we must be willing to take the blows and pay the price that's necessary to be a peacemaker. Do you notice what the next beatitude is? Blessed are those who are persecuted. We'll get to that. It's interesting that being a peacemaker can lead to that. What does this look like? Well, it means consistently making peace with God by confessing our sin and our disobedience in our own walk with God. It also means looking to help others to make peace with God through Christ. being an ambassador of Christ to do so. It also means, thirdly, to strive to make peace with all men and to bring them together. Hebrews 12.14, we're told, pursue peace with all men and holiness without which you may not see God. Romans 12.18 says, if possible, as much as depends on you, Christian, live peaceably with all men. In the church, From the Sermon on the Mount, we see that we're to be willing to leave our gift at the altar and reconcile with our brother first before we worship. That's being a peacemaker. In the Sermon on the Mount, we see with the world, we need to be quick to agree with our adversaries and make peace with even those who are enemies against us. So blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Just like with the pure in heart, with those who have mercy, it starts with a changed heart and it works outward. It starts with the pure of heart and the mercy given and being adopted as a son or a daughter of God. Then you can be making peace. And so one cannot be adopted as a son of God until he's been mercifully saved. He's been given a new heart, the pure heart that we spoke of earlier, and has therefore been brought from an enemy of God to have peace with God, now be a son or a daughter of God the Father. Then he's permanently adopted as a son with all the privileges and rights of a son, as an heir to God and a co-heir with Christ. It's a glorious thing. Those are the sons of God that we're talking about. And then now given peace with God and adopted as a son of God with God as his father, the Christian is now able to live out a peacemaking life, which is characteristic of a son of God. I like the way this fits together. At first, it makes no sense. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Well, who is our Father? When you're redeemed, God the Father is your Father. He's a peacemaking God. And so when we're now sons of God, we're called to be peacemakers. We're to reflect the character of our Father, who is merciful, so we are merciful as well. Who is a peacemaker, so we are sons of God. We are peacemakers as well. We need to have a lifestyle of peacemaking, just like we should have a lifestyle of showing mercy, a lifestyle that's pure, that comes from the pure heart that God has given us. We should have a lifestyle of peacemaking that reflects that we are God's sons and daughters, reflecting the character of peace of our Father and our Brother, our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ, because of the peace that they have given to us. And so for the Christian, we rejoice that by God's mercy, we have peace with God through justification by faith, As a result, ours is the kingdom of heaven. We can see God, and we're adopted as sons of God. And so we are called to, from God's peace within, to outwardly seek to make peace with God, help others to make peace with God, and to seek to make peace with all men. And for the non-Christian, this is the peace with God that you desperately need, as well as the mercy as well as a pure heart. This is the peace with God you desperately need in Christ. This is the adoption and the relationship you need to be able to call God Father. You desperately need this. And the wonderful thing about adoption is in earthly adoption, you might be adopted in a family, but your nature doesn't change. You might begin to be like the family you're adopted in, but still it doesn't change you from the inside out. When you are adopted as God into His family, The point is that you're then called in to be adopted as a son or a daughter, to be made more and more like Christ until you are made like him. In the end, you are changed from the inside out. And this is what the non-Christian needs desperately. And 2 Corinthians 5 says, as ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. We implore you to come to Christ. The last beatitude of the eight begins in verse 10. I really think verses 11 and 12 are an extension of verse 10. So the last beatitude is, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Again, this seems odd. We have blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed in all of these verses. Happy, joyful. Remember it was blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who are meek. Blessed are those who are hungry. That doesn't sound blessed to me. And now we have blessed are those who are persecuted. Yay! Nobody said yay when I said it. But it's blessed are those who are persecuted. And we might be thinking, what? But yes, the blessed man in Christ of the first seven will indeed find himself to be persecuted in the eighth. And it's a blessing and it should be expected. And it's interesting, Christ is warning of this and preparing us for this from the very beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, his manifesto of the King. The obedient Christian living out the life of the kingdom according to the Beatitudes and then the Sermon on the Mount that follows will be persecuted. and he'll be persecuted for righteousness' sake. That's the key thing. Not just because you look funny, but you'll be persecuted for righteousness' sake. 2 Timothy 3.12, in this verse that Paul writes to Timothy in the church of Ephesus, he says, yes, which it means, listen up, this is going to be true, yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. It's part of the life of the Christian. When he's following Christ, he will suffer persecution. Here at Greater Boston Reformed Baptist Fellowship, Poe was preaching not too long ago out of Mark chapter eight. Christ says, I must go to Jerusalem to be crucified, to be tortured, to be crucified, to be put to death, but I'll rise again. And the disciples didn't like that idea. But then he says, if you want to follow me, you have to take up your cross and follow me. And then in the Transfiguration, there's the Picture then, but you have the power of the kingdom by the spirit of God himself then to enable you to do this It falls back to here that you will be persecutors a Christian Even though the Christian shows the world mercy Hopefully and prayerfully and sincerity and peace those first three first three Beatitudes of the day The Christian is naturally the world. I'm sorry is naturally hostile to the righteousness of the Christian that he has through Christ Righteousness angers the world because it shines the light on its own unrighteousness. The sinner oftentimes is happy in his condition and nobody's telling him anything different. The Christian comes into his life and now he's jostled out of his contentment. It's not okay to be in sin. In their natural state, that makes them upset. And it then provides persecution to come in response. In the Christian's example, of living for Christ will remind the world of their own sin and their need, and it's not necessarily a pleasant reaction. But Christ did the same thing, and now we walk in the footsteps of Christ. It says, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Do you see how we've come back to the first beatitude? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now it's blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We've come full circle. Only the poor in spirit will be given the righteousness needed to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And because of that new heart and the righteousness given, he will be persecuted, which then full circle is evidence that he is indeed a member of the kingdom of heaven. Only the one who is saved by the blood of Christ and made new on the inside can live out the words of Christ Jesus. And it's strong evidence for one's salvation when he's persecuted for Christ's sake. We have verses 11 and 12. So we have another blessed. It might seem kind of perplexing. What's this? I think what Jesus is doing, He's expanding verse 10 into verses 11 and 12, which ironically expands the Christian's joy all the more. Because you notice it says blessed, and it says, Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you. Falsely, for my sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your award in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." I think this is an extension. Of course, in the outline we say, blessed are you with a question mark. Yes, blessed are you when you're persecuted. And what it says, persecuted, reviling, and say all kinds of evil against you, falsehood. It has three aspects. The persecution, the word for persecute means physical persecution. It means physical harassment in the Greek. It's a true test of one's obedience and devotion, his purity of heart. when you're then faced with physical harassment for your faith. Then the reviling would be the verbal insults. Viciously mocking is what reviling means. Like was done to Christ during His trial and His crucifixion. It's interesting. We're kind of stupid in this when we say, sticks and stones will break my bones, but words shall never hurt me. Is that really true? Tell the truth. Oftentimes, as a father, What you regret the most would be words that you may have said to your kids. And as a kid, those are things you remember far more than maybe the physical discipline. In your marital relationship, it's the words that are used that often it's hard to get rid of. And you know as a Christian, you're forgiven and those things are wiped clean and you can let go of those things. But when we say sticks and stones may break my bones, but words shall never hurt me. Words are oftentimes more powerful and long-lasting than other things. And so we need to remember that. But then even here, blessed are you when they revile and persecute you. These verbal insults can hurt deeply. The faithfulness to Christ may cause even friends and loved ones to say things that cut and burn us deeply. It's hard to forget, but we must follow Christ and seek help and strength from Him. And then there are false accusations. There are evil spoken against you. There are false Those are the worst ones, because you can't do anything about them. They'll put on a blog, they'll post on Facebook, whatever they might be, and you can't do anything to defend yourself. Oftentimes, Christians are like punching bags with their hands tied behind their backs, because they're not going to retaliate. But they have all the strength to deal with it. But we must follow Christ. Why are we to be happy about this? Why does it say, blessed are you? I think the key is because it's persecution. It's not against me. It's persecution against Christ. He says falsely for whose sake? In verse 11, you're being persecuted falsely for my sake. That's where the joy comes from. Satan and the world have a hatred against Jesus so much they ridiculed and crucified him. And now he's risen and he's ascended to heaven. And that hatred then grows and is taken out on his ambassadors who are living for Christ. And Jesus said in John 15, when he's preparing the discipleship, the disciples, For the cross, he says, if the world hates you, know that it hated me first. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. It's a privilege that we have. We have to be merciful because of God's mercy. It's a privilege that we are peacemakers because of God's peace in Christ. And yes, it's a privilege to be persecuted because of Christ and His righteousness. Obviously, we have to make sure the persecution is because of Christ and His righteousness, not because of our being obnoxious. or being wrong, but it's a persecution here because of Christ. And so then, verse 12, we're to rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. How does the Christian respond? How does the citizen of the kingdom respond? We respond by being rejoicing and exceedingly glad. And the word for exceedingly glad in Greek means skipping and leaping for joy. You don't have to do that here today, That means a lot of gladness, exceedingly glad. So the Christian doesn't retaliate with retaliation. He doesn't react with retaliation. He doesn't sulk. He doesn't go to his room and lick his wounds. No, he rejoices. Because one, a reward in heaven is great. If we lose everything on earth, so what? This is temporary. Death is but our entrance into glory. We have treasures in heaven that cannot be taken away, and they're eternally more great. The Sermon on the Mount says you should lay up treasures in heaven. That's where our heart should be. Secondly, we rejoice because the prophets before us were persecuted in the same way. What a privilege it is to be in their company. By the grace of God, Hebrews chapter 11 says of those who died because of their faith, the world was not worthy of them. What a privilege it is to somehow be in their company. And lastly, our reward is great in heaven. The prophets before us were persecuted likewise. Lastly, we share in Christ's sufferings when we are persecuted for His sake. What a great privilege it is to suffer in Christ's place. An honor to suffer in His place as He suffered infinitely more in our place for us. In Romans 8, we're told that our suffering for Christ on this earth is not worthy to be compared to the glory that will know with Him. In Acts 5, the apostles were mistreated and imprisoned and told, don't say anything about Christ again, and they were let go. And they departed, and it said they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame in the name of Christ Jesus. So yes, blessed are you, and rejoice and be exceedingly glad. And so to close, to try to wrap up all of these together, all eight, to try to close with Christ in some fashion. In summary, this might be old by now because we've repeated a lot of things, but stick with me. In summary, the sinner acknowledges his spiritual poverty and his hopeless state before God. That's beatitude number one. And then two and three, he emotionally reacts in mourning and repentance over his sin, and he meekly turns to holy God. And then the fourth beatitude, then upon seeing God's holiness and glory, he hungers and thirsts in faith after the righteousness that can only be provided by Christ. And then he's filled, he's comforted, he inherits the earth, and his is the kingdom of heaven. That was last week. And now, having received mercy, he turns to his fellow sinners with that same mercy. And now, having a heart washed pure by the blood of Christ, beatitude number six, he seeks relationships with God and with man in sincerity and integrity. and he can by the Spirit of God. Now the seventh, when now knowing God's peace at the great expense of his Son, he strives for peace, whatever the cost. And then lastly, with the same righteousness that he craved for and is filled with, that's now displayed in some manner by the Spirit of God and it causes persecution for Christ's sake, yet he is blessed, he is happy, he's leaping for joy, he's comforted, He's filled and he's exceedingly joyful and glad. It's interesting, these work in pairs, the first and the fifth and the second and sixth and so on. Only those who are poor in spirit can genuinely be merciful. Only those whose hearts are cleansed by the tears of mourning can be pure in heart. Only those who are humble and meek can strive for peace with others. And only those who are hungering after righteousness can receive it and be persecuted for Christ's sake because of it. John Stott says, the character of the kingdom and its king that we just saw in the Beatitudes, it's furthered in the whole Sermon on the Mount, is completely foreign to the world. You see how this is just completely different from the world we live in? John Stott says, the world judges the rich to be blessed, not the poor. The world judges the happy-go-lucky and the carefree, not those who take evil so seriously that they mourn over it. Takes the strong and brash to be blessed, not the meek and the gentle. The full, not the hungry. Those who mind their own business are blessed, not those who meddle in other men's matters and occupy their time and do goodery, I like that word, like showing mercy and making peace. The world looks at those who are secure and popular and live at ease as being blessed, not those who have to suffer persecution. The disciples of Christ, the citizens of the kingdom, are so foreign to the world that they become unwelcome guests and disturbers of the peace in a world that rejects them. However, it is then that they can influence the world for good as salt and light in the world, which if you've looked at what comes next in the Sermon on the Mount, that's what Jesus says next. Now that you understand these things from the Beatitudes, now you can go forth and be salt and light in the world. If you're not in the kingdom of heaven by the mercy of God, by the blood of Christ, by the life-giving spirit of God, we urge you then to come to Christ Jesus into this kingdom and unto salvation. Understand that you're helplessly poor in spirit. You need to mourn for your sin, to be humbled before God, desperately needing Christ's forgiveness through his death and his resurrection, and given life through Christ. You must have God's mercy in Christ. You must have a new heart in Christ. You must have peace with God through Christ Jesus. And so we urge you to come to Christ who, though rich, became poor through His poverty, that we might become rich in Him. 2 Corinthians 8. Christ who mourned over sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5. Christ who, though God humbled Himself to take on flesh, to be obedient as a man to the point of death on the cross, Philippians chapter two, who knew hunger and thirst and death as a man that he might provide righteousness for us. We urge you to come to this Christ who out of mercy and compassion upon us laid down his life to save us according to his great mercy. who in his purity and as the Prince of Peace himself came to bring to us peace and reconciliation with God, that we might be adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters. Christ, who is persecuted to the point of death, that we might have eternal life. And the privilege to be persecuted for him is given to us with the promise of greater glory in eternity. If you have not, won't you come to this Christ now in repentance of sin and faith in Him and His work for sinners like you? Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for the simplicity of Your Word, but the depth of Your Word. The Beatitudes are so often misunderstood, but they have such depth, but also such simple application that we can't mine all of it in one Sunday or two, or perhaps even in a lifetime. but teach us, Lord, what Christ has taught about the entrance into His kingdom and the living in His kingdom by the power of His kingdom, the Spirit of God, according to the work of Christ Jesus applied to us, that we might live in such a life that would be pleasing to you, O Father. We pray, Lord, for those who are outside of Christ, that today would be the day of salvation for them, that they would see they must mourn over their sin, they'd see the depth of their sin before Holy God, but see then the depth of what Christ has done to redeem sinners from their sin and to bring them to God. And they'd come in faith and repentance, exchanging their sin for the righteousness of Christ, to know the purity of heart and the new life in Christ. And then help us to live this life by your Spirit, Lord, that we would have lives that would have humility and service and holiness and blessedness, peacemaking, integrity, all of these things, Lord, because we reflect your character in a world that desperately needs to know you. This is the greatest way that we can bring honor and glory to you and be used as a means to bring salvation to the lost. May it be so, Lord, in our lives today. And so in Jesus' name, we pray these things. Amen.