“ The Beatitudes”
Introduction:
A. Everyone in life tries to be happy. Every heart searches for this universal
goal. Even infidels and atheists desire
to be happy.
B. Here are some ways that most
people try to be happy:
1. Jobs, money, relationship,
family, accumulation of stuff (Eccleasiastes and Solomon’s search).
2. True happiness can only be
found in the Lord (Phil. 4:4).
C. The beatitudes tell us how
to really be happy--A happiness that comes from pleasing God.
D. The Key word in the Sermon
on the Mount is “blessed.” This word
basically means the same thing as happy, but describes the effects and nature
of true happiness on a child of God (Ps. 1:1ff; Rev. 14:13; 22:14).
E. Foy E. Wallace Jr. referred
to the beatitudes as “kingdom characteristics”.
Every one of these characteristics is indicative of the nature of true
Christianity.
F. Many have thought that the
beatitudes are a disattached group of some of the most beautiful
and wisest statements ever made. For
years, this is what we have been taught.
But really there is a progression and intend to each statement in the
Sermon on the Mount. The sermon as a
whole has a main point with each verse building upon one another. The Sermon on the Mount takes a person from
spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity.
It could be entitled the growth of faith. Notice how it is all tied together:
1. The beginning of faith
(faith begins) Vs. 3-5 Three
characteristics of the progression of faith:
a. Poor in Spirit- for a person
to begin to become a child of God he must realize his own need for salvation,
his inability to save himself and his spiritually depraved situation. He must reach the bottom and then reach out
for God.
b. Mourners- The next logical
step to possess faith is to recognize the source of your spiritual poverty
(SIN) and mourn over it. If there is
anything in the world that we should cry about it is sin. Remember, godly sorrow leads to repentance (2
Cor 7:10).
c. Then, a person must be meek
enough to humble himself, admit his wrongs, and be humiliated over his
sin. It is at this stage that a person
begins to submit to God’s will and do what He wants.
2. The progress of faith (Vs.
6)
a. When a person recognizes his
own spiritual poverty, mourns over the cause of it—Sin, and humbles himself to
the point of being ready to do God’s will the next logical step is to seek out
God’s will. All of us have seen people
who have come out of the world, and are on fire to study their Bible because
they realized that it could provide them with spiritual sustenance.
3. The perfection of faith (Vs.
7-9).
a. When a person truly fills
himself with righteousness, it is then that the blessings and characteristics
of a Chrsitian begin to exhume from the once spiritually dead person. Three simple attributes of a child of God now
exists; mercy, purity, and peacefulness.
4. The Trial of Faith (Vs.
10-12; 2 Tim 3:12).
A. When a person does change
his lifestyle he can surely expect to be tempted and tried by the devil (I Pet.
5:8, James 1:12).
Now
that we have laid the groundwork for our sermon let us delve into these four
main points deeper.
I.
The beginning of Faith
(Matt. 5:3-5).
A. The need to posses faith is evident in the scriptures. No one can even begin to please God without faith in Him (Heb. 11:6, Rom 10:17).
B. This text describes the
experience of a person who turns from darkness to light and mark the beginning
of a life, which will ultimately result in eternal blessedness.
C. Notice the three infancy
steps that every person must make:
1. “Poor in Spirit”
a. The Greek word for poor
means more than just being broke. It
describes a person
who is a pauper, a person who has nothing whatsoever to lean upon
financially. In fact, the same word is
used as a noun to describe Lazarus as a “beggar” in Luke 16:20,22. Also, this same
word is used to describe the poor widow with only two mites to her name in Luke
22:2-3.
b. It must be noted, however,
that Jesus is not talking about a financially poor person. He is talking about a person who is poor
spiritually. A person who is a spiritual
pauper, spiritually bankrupt. Only those
who recognize their spiritual poverty
and dependence upon God as provider can be in the
c. Have you recognized your own
spiritual poverty and need for God (Luke 19:10—all lost—Rom 3:23, Isaiah
59:1-2, Jn 3:16, Heb. 2:9-10, Heb. 7:25, James 1:21).
2. “Blessed are those who
mourn”
a. The Bible teaches that we
ought to mourn over our own sin (2 Cor. 7:10, Matt. 23:37, Rev. 5:1-4)
b. Why should you and I mourn
over sin? Because of what it does to
others and ourself!
i.
Disobey your father and creator (How you felt when you disobeyed your
parents as a child).
ii.
Stab your Savior in the back (Jn. 14:15,15:14).
iii.
Savior nailed to the cross and sufffered the agony of dying for your
personal sins (Acts 2:36, I Pet. 2:24).
iv.
Separation from God (Isa. 59:1-2, Hab. 1:13).
v.
Your destiny for eternity in Hell is enough to make anyone weep (Mk
9:44, Luke 16:19-31).
c. When we truly mourn for sin
to the point of repentance we will be comforted by knowing that we can be saved
(I John 2:25, Acts 8:20-22, Acts 3:19, I Jn. 1:6-7).
3. “Blessed are the meek”
a. Meekness is the attitude
that results from the death of self-righteousness and and confession of one’s own sins—HUMILITY
(James 4:6, 10; Luke 14:11, I Peter 5:6,
Luke 17:10).
b. “inherit the earth”—can possibly mean two things:
i.
The Greek word can also mean land and could be referring to the
heavenly inheritance, the new promise land (2 Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21:1, John 14:1ff).
ii.
Could mean that we will enjoy this earthly life more now that we are
doing God’s will (John 10:10).
iii.
Can not mean that we will live forever on the earth as Jehovah’s
Witnesses teach (Matt. 24:35, 2 Pet 3:10-12, Ps. 37:17—this whole Psalm talks
of the blessing that will come to those how obey God, but what blessing is it
to live in an earth that is filled with sin?).
II.
The Progress of Faith (Vs.
6).
A. The next logical step after one has realized his own poverty, mourned over his sin and the consequences that it brings and has humbled himself to God is to seek and search out what God would have him to do (Matt. 6:33—Psalm 119:172, Jer. 6:16, 10:23, Prov. 14:12, Psalm 19:6ff, 2 Tim 2:15, Prov. 15:28, I Pet. 2:2, 2 Pet. 3:18, Heb. 12:14, I Pet. 1:15, I Pet. 2:21).
B. Illustration- man who has
been in desert w/out any food or water for days, or preachers
luncheon.
C. “Shall be filled”—(2 Tim
3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:3, Jn. 8:31-32, Matt. 6:33b).
III.
The Perfection of Faith (Vs.
7-9).
1. God has saved us according
to His mercy (Heb. 8:12, Titus 3:5, Eph. 2:4-5, Ps. 85:10).
2. Therefore, we must remember
where we were before Christ and be merciful to those who are in sin—James 2:13.
B. “Blessed are the pure in
heart”—(Ps. 24:3-4, Ps. 73:1).
1. There are 2 ways to know
your heart is pure:
a. If your own heart doesn’t
condemn you (I John 3:20—you know if you are living right, God knows—Prov.
15:3, Heb. 4:13).
b. If the word of God does not
condemn us (James 1:23-24, Jn. 12:48).
2. Here are some things that
make us impure in heart:
a. Music we listen to
(Rap—dirty language, sex, violence; Country—adultery, drinking, etc.).
b. TV & Movies we watch (R
rated Christian????)
c. Books we read (Romance
Novels, dirty books).
d. People you hang around with
(I Cor. 15:33).
e. The language you use (Eph.
4:29,
C. “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Vs. 9).
1. Christians must make ti
their aim in life to be peaceful toward all men (James 3:17, Heb. 12:14, Rom.
14:19).
2. However, the only way we can
be peaceful people is when we conform our lives to the gospel of peace (Rom
10:15, Eph. 2:14, Col 1:20, Phil 4:7, Lk 2:14-15).
IV.
The Trial of Faith (Vs.
10-12).
A. The Bible teaches that true Christians will receive some form of persecution (2 Tim. 3:12, Acts 14:22).
B. Once one has become a child
of God he can expect trouble from the devil (I Pet. 5:8, Eph. 6:10-12, 2 Cor
10:3-5).
C. But, instead of letting it
get us down, we should be glad to suffer for the cause of Christ (Acts 5:42,
James 1:2-3, 12; 2 Tim 4:7-8).