I would like to begin with a brief summary so far of what Paul has written to the Romans. The book of Romans is the Magna Carta of salvation. It’s kind of ironic, that most Christians think that salvation can be explained in a few sentences. Whereas, Paul writes 16 chapters in an epistle on the academic level of a dissertation for a Phd. All on the subject of salvation. We are entering our fifth month of studying this epistle, and we aren’t even half way through it yet.

Now concerning this subject of salvation, you should remember as I’ve told you many times, that salvation has three parts. Salvation is comprised of justification, sanctification and glorification. And for salvation to be complete, it must include all three. Justification is the removal of the penalty of sin. Sanctification is the removal of the power of sin. Glorification is the removal of the presence of sin. But before Paul can explain our salvation, he must first show that we need saving. So in the first 3 chapters, Paul spoke of condemnation. All have sinned and are under the condemnation of the law, which is the death penalty.

The antidote for condemnation is justification. Justification is the beginning of our salvation. It is being born again, transferred from the penalty of death to the gift of life. Justification, Paul said, came apart from the law. Justification did not come by keeping the law. Rather, it came by faith in what someone else did on our behalf. Christ, as our substitute, took our place in death that we might receive righteousness, or justification, through Him, by faith in Him.

Then, in chapter 6, Paul moves to the next phase of our salvation, which is sanctification. Beginning in ch 6 vs 1, Paul asks, now that we are justified, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? The point he is speaking of is living in sin. And the answer he gives is a resounding “No.” God forbid! God has given us the power over sin, Paul says, so that we might no longer be under the control, or dominion of sin anymore.

First, Paul said that we have died to sin with Christ. And we have been raised with Christ to a new life. So we that have died to sin are now a new creation. Old things have passed away. As a result of being born again, we have a new nature, a new heart and as such we are not enslaved any longer to sin. So sanctification, the power over sin, is possible because we have a new life and the old man is dead.

And then Paul basically asks the question again but with a different emphasis. “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” The point of this question this time though isn’t can we live in sin, but can we occasionally dabble in sin because we have no condemnation under the law anymore. Again, the answer is negative; “may it never be.”

And to illustrate his point, he uses the analogy of a slave, something very familiar to the culture that he lived in. Basically, what Paul says is that once we were under the dominion of sin, enslaved to sin, but when we died in Christ, we no longer have an obligation to the old master which was sin anymore. We have a new master, which is righteousness. And so we aren’t obligated to obey the old master, but we obey our new master. 6:22 “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.” Why would anyone want to go back to the old life of slavery to sin again? If you truly have been born again, you will not want to go back under sin’s domination again.

So as Proverbs says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. As the heart is changed then so will the actions of a man be changed. As we are imputed righteousness, so will that righteousness work itself out in a man’s actions. So sanctification starts in a change of heart.

Now when we get to chapter 7, Paul is going to change analogies once again. He turns form the analogy of slavery to the analogy of marriage. And maybe some of you out there might think that there is a connection between slavery and marriage more so than others. I hope that’s not the case, but I am afraid a lot of people in bad marriages don’t see much difference in the two.

But I really don’t think that was what was on Paul’s mind. I think instead what he wants to show is that our relationship to God while analogous to slavery, as seen in chapter 6, it is better illustrated as marriage. And I am sure that Paul has in mind here the ideal marriage. After all, if you are married to Christ, then you could have no better husband.

So, Paul uses the analogy of marriage to teach a principle. And in some ways the practical aspects of this principle are like the one used in the previous analogies. In all cases, the relationship changes because of a death. And such is the case here in this analogy.

The principle is stated in vs 1, “Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?” The principle then is that one’s obligation to the law is until they die. Paul is saying that the law is made for man, but once a man dies, it has no jurisdiction over him any longer.

The word law can be given here it’s broadest meaning. Not necessarily Jewish law, though that would be included, but Roman or Greek also. Death ends all obligations, it breaks all bonds, and severs all ties. So when a person dies, he is dead to the law, thus free from it’s authority and released from it’s domination. We saw that illustrated in the slave analogy in chapter six.

But Paul wants to use a better analogy to illustrate this principle. And so he uses that of marriage. Let’s read how Paul illustrates it. Vs.2,3 “For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.”

So the apostle’s analogy then is illustrated by a man and woman who are married. He says the law has dominion over a man or a woman as long as their mate is living. But when their mate dies they are freed to be married to another. If the husband dies the woman is free to be married to another. She is no longer under the law of marriage. After his death she cannot be called an adulteress if she is married to another man.

Every now and then I conduct a wedding. I’m happy to say that I think all of the couples are still married today. God designed marriage to be for life. When I conduct a marriage ceremony I like to use the traditional vows; “I, John, take you, Mary, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” Notice, that marriage is lawful, that means under the law. And the marriage lasts until death. At which point, they are no longer together, nor is the marital bond still in effect. So the marriage does not continue after death.

Jesus said as such. He said that we will be like the angels in heaven, who neither marry nor are given in marriage. I remember the first year after my wife and I were married. My wife had not been saved very long. And when she found out that we would not be married in heaven I remember her asking me about it, and I thought that I saw tears in her eyes as she considered not being with me. Maybe it was my imagination. Or maybe it was tears of joy, I don’t know. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if 30 years of marriage to me hasn’t changed her view on that a little. Her favorite prayer these days seems to be “even so Lord, come quickly!”

But there is a reason why God created marriage. It wasn’t something that man came up with. God was the one who said it wasn’t good for man to be alone. And so God made a help mate for Adam, and then he presented her to him. And at that point God said in scripture; “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

God views marriage so seriously because marriage is a picture of our relationship to God. God looked around the universe and all the galaxies that He has made and He found no one suitable as a help mate for Him. And so He formed man out of the dust of the earth in His likeness, in His image. He created humans to love Him, to have a relationship with Him, that He might be with them and that they might be one with Him. But man’s choice of sin destroyed that relationship. However, God had a plan to reconcile man to Himself, a plan of salvation, that we might be united forever with Him.

So in the illustration that Paul gives, the marriage is dissolved when the man dies. And when Christ died as our substitute, He died in the place of Adam, who was our representative man. Notice, Paul did not say here that the law died, but that the husband died. Christ became sin for us. He was the second Adam, in that He represents man, and took on our sin, and as He died, so vicariously we died with Him.

Now granted that is a rather complex analogy. Commentators have argued over the nuances of interpretation of this passage for centuries. But I believe we can understand the main point of it. The point is that death dissolves the marriage bond. And in the same way death dissolves the bondage to the law. The marriage bond is broken by the death of the husband. And in our case, the legal bond to the law is broken by the believer’s faith in Christ’s death on the cross, as we die through His death. Our old marriage is dead, and we have a new marriage to Christ.

Paul then in vs 4 gives us his application from this illustration. He says, “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”

There are a few important points we need to understand here. First, is found in the statement, “you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ.” It was through Christ’s death on the cross that we also died. That’s the grace of God in salvation. When you realize that the love of God for us did not require us to die for our sins, but He caused Christ to die in our place. That’s amazing. But we receive the full benefit as if we died with Him, so that our penalty to the law was paid in full.

The other point is revealed in the phrase, “so that you might belong to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead.” Our release from the bondage of the law means union with Christ. Our relationship to Christ is like the relationship of marriage. We belong to Christ now, a marriage based on grace, and no longer do we belong to the old marriage under the law.

Now just as in a marriage the consummation of the couple results in fruit, so does our union with Christ result in fruit for God. Paul says, “we might belong to another, in order that we might bear fruit for God.” It’s important that we understand what fruit refers to. Many preachers always seem to make fruit in connection with a harvest of souls. And that may be a part of it. But I think it is more likely that this refers to actions and attitudes and works and speech that are like Christ.

Gal 5:22-23 gives us an idea of what fruit looks like. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” So the fruit of our union with Christ is our sanctification. It is our actions that are changed from works of sin to works of righteousness. The fruit of our union with Christ is that we have a new love, and so we do the things that are pleasing to Him. Because we love Him we keep His commandments. The fruit of our union is that we are being conformed to His image. That is the way our sanctification works, from the inside, out. We are changed on the inside by justification, given a new heart and a new nature, and being joined to Christ, and filled with His Spirit, we then bear the fruit what we have become. So fruit for God is our life of sanctification, or holiness.

Then Paul gives a final analysis of this fruit, born of our new relationship with Christ. He says in vs 5, “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were [aroused] by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”

What Paul is saying is that when we were governed in our old Adamic nature by the lusts of the flesh, we were made even more aware of our sin because of the written law of God. Now we are going to talk further about how that works next week in the passage starting with verse 7, but for now I will just read a bit of it so that you might have a sense of what he is talking about. However, I will not comment on it now so that we won’t duplicate what we are going to talk about next week. But in regards to the way the law stimulated the old nature, he says in vs 7,”I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COVET.’ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind.” So as we said last week, the law acts to magnify sin, to make it more apparent. And I think that is what Paul is indicating here.

But the main point Paul is reiterating here is that in our old nature we bore fruit for death. The only outcome of our sinful nature was that it produced even more sin, and sin produces death. The wages of sin is death, 6:23. But now, having died to that old man, we have been released from the law, just as the wife is released from her husband through death. And in this newness of life in Christ, in this new relationship of marriage with Christ, we serve in newness of the Spirit, no longer serving the old marriage under the law.

So in regards to fruit; our old relationship to Adam in our nature produced sinful fruit. The new relationship to the second Adam, Jesus Christ, produces righteous fruit. Thanks be to God that we are no longer married to our sinful nature. And so we are no longer under the condemnation of sin or the power of sin.

Now our sanctification is characterized by a willingness to serve God in newness of Spirit. That is the liberty that we have in this relationship. A new heart in a new marriage relationship with Christ, is based on love and not obligation. And so out of love we serve the Lord, trying to please Him, to be like Him, that we might be one with Him.

This is the way that Jeremiah 31:33 characterizes it; “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Sanctification is a process of dying to the old man, and living and walking in the Spirit. It starts with a new heart, with the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, and then it is a process of becoming more like Christ, of dying to sin, and living for righteousness. It’s a process that will not end until we are taken to be with the Lord. And then this body of death will finally be done away with forever and we will receive a new, glorified body. That is glorification, the final stage of our salvation. Sanctification is the middle phase. Between justification and glorification we are working out our salvation with fear and trembling, doing what is pleasing to the Lord, serving Him because we have a new spirit, being indwelled by the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to serve Him out of a new nature, a new heart, serving Him out of our love for Him as we draw near to Him, and He draws near to us.

John Newton, the famous preacher of the 18th century who was converted while a ship’s captain in the slave trade and gave up that life for a life serving the Lord, who went on to write Amazing Grace, said this about this intermediate state of sanctification. “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.” What we are now is we have been called, we have been justified by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we have been changed in our nature, we are being sanctified in the image of Christ, and one day we will be glorified in His presence forever when this body of sin is done away with.

I hope that this passage we have looked at today has revealed to you that the genuine Christian life is not that of bondage but of freedom. It’s a life that is not motivated by legal regulations but by love for Christ. It’s a life that is not spent pursing sinful passions that lead to death but walking after the Spirit which is life. And it is a life that does not bear fruit for death, but bears fruit for God, as we serve God with a glad and grateful heart.

The apostle Paul has shown us so far in this epistle that all men are sinners before God.  To use legal jargon, all have been brought up on charges before God.  And all of mankind stand condemned because of our sin against God.  There is none righteous, not even one.  And according to God’s law, we are all given the penalty of death.  

Paul says the only people that escape this penalty are those who are made righteous by faith in God’s word, of which Abraham is given as a prime example. AS evidence that the righteous shall live and not die as a result of the penalty, Paul quotes from Hab 2:4 which says, “But the righteous will live by his faith.” Paul made it clear that Abraham was declared righteous by faith in what God had promised, and not by keeping the law, nor by his own merit. 

So as Paul summarizes in vs 22,  “Therefore IT (faith) WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.  Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,  [He] who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

So we see that Abraham was actually justified by faith in the promise of God that One would come from his seed who would by His death become the sacrifice by which we are justified.  And so, Paul says, this is applicable to us as well, because as Abraham was justified by looking forward to what Christ would do, so we are justified by looking back in faith at what Jesus Christ did on the cross as our substitute, who was raised from the dead resulting in the justification of those who believe in Him.

So having set forth the necessity of justification (because we are all sinners under the wrath of God), and the means by which we are justified (which is by faith in Christ) now in chapter 5 Paul sets forth the benefits of justification. And the first benefit that he gives is that we who have been justified have peace with God. 

Peace as used here indicates reconciliation with God through the death of Christ.  Reconciliation is the removal of the wrath of God and the restoration of favor with God. Peace then means the absence or removal of hostility. As sinners, we are at enmity with God, and we were by nature hostile to the things of God. Col 1:19-22 says, “For it was the [Father’s] good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in [Christ],  and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, [I say,] whether things on earth or things in heaven.  And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, [engaged] in evil deeds,  yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” 

So having been justified, we are at peace with God, because our offense was nailed to the cross with Jesus.  We are transferred from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of God by faith in what Christ accomplished on our behalf.

Let me clarify this benefit of peace though.  Only when we first have peace WITH God can we have the peace OF God. There is a peace that God promises to those who are His, that is based on the fact that we have been forgiven, we have been transferred into his kingdom, adopted as the children of God,  and as such we have been promised that nothing can separate us from the love of God, neither life, nor death, nor anything.  So peace is a double blessing that we receive in justification. 

That is what Paul is speaking of when he says in vs 1 and 2, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand.”  1 Peter 3:18 speaks of this doctrine of substitutionary atonement whereby we can be reconciled to God. “For Christ also died for sins once for all, [the] just for [the] unjust, so that He might bring us to God.”

So though the blood of Jesus Christ we are brought near to God, so that we might stand before Him, no longer condemned, but justified, having gained access by faith so that we might stand in His presence by grace, at peace with God. That’s the second benefit of our justification, we stand in grace. 

This benefit of grace is such an important doctrine that I feel I must deal with it more thoroughly, rather than gloss over it and go on.  And to more fully express it I would remind you of the legal scenario that I started out with.  That we have been brought up on charges before God and found guilty and the penalty is death. 

But let’s think about that in an earthly setting for a moment. Imagine that you are brought up before the court as a person found guilty of the worst type of criminal activity; premeditated murder.  And the court finds you guilty. The judge announces that the punishment prescribed by the law is death.  But then rather than the judge sentencing you to death in the electric chair as you deserve, he announces that he will offer himself as your substitute and take your place in death.  And because he does so, he declares you justified before the law – but it’s evident that it’s not because of any merit of your own, but because of the merit of the judge.

So you walk out of that courtroom a free man, not on the basis of your own rightness, but on the basis of grace.  On the basis of the gift of justification.  Grace is the basis of your justification.  Faith is the means of your justification, believing in who Jesus is, and what He has done. He died on the cross in our place. Justified by faith then is a legal decree by which we are are given a right standing before God. And we stand in grace.  Grace means gift, so this legal standing is given to us by what Jesus did on the cross.  And by faith we enter into that legal standing.  We cannot earn it, we do not deserve it, but by faith we can appropriate it.  As Eph. 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

So on the basis of grace, Paul says, because we do not deserve it, “we exult in the hope of the glory of God.” Hope is another blessing of our justification.  Because we are justified we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  And what that simply means is that we have no reason to boast, as if we did something to deserve justification.  But rather we boast or exult in the hope of the glory of God.  Notice, he doesn’t say “we boast in the glory of God,” but “we boast in the hope of the glory of God.” That means we boast in what God has promised in regards to the future glory that will be revealed to us when Christ comes again.  As Paul told Titus, in Titus 2:13, “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” So the blessed hope is the appearing of Jesus Christ.  It is a sure hope, it is faith in that hope, that we boast in, that we rejoice in. 

It should not be difficult for us to rejoice or boast in the coming glory of the Lord, should it? After all, we also will be glorified when Christ is glorified at the end of the age, when all the world is made subject to Him. We will share in that glory.  But here comes a more difficult thing – Paul says we are to boast, or rejoice in our sufferings while on this earth.  Notice vs 3, “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations.” Another translation of that word tribulations is sufferings. So the next benefit of our justification is that we boast or rejoice in tribulation.

The word tribulations covers a lot of territory.  Some would like this to only be applied to persecution.  But persecution for our faith is only one element of tribulations.  It also can mean affliction, suffering, anguish, burden, or stress.  I would suggest that tribulation is a part of life as we live in a fallen world.  It may take the form of sickness, or anguish, loss of a loved one, stress from work or the stress of life.  I would go so far as to say that this Corona virus is a tribulation. Some are dealing with it more than others.  

In John 16:;33 Jesus said, “in this world you will have tribulation, but take courage for I have overcome the world.” Tribulation then is a universal facet of life. Paul talked about a weakness or infirmity in his flesh, which some think was a disease in his eyes.  He called it a “thorn in his flesh.” Paul said he asked the Lord three times to take it from him, but God said to him according to 2Cor. 12:9  “’My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”  

Notice there that Paul uses that word again, “boast”.  He boasted in his tribulation.  He rejoiced in his tribulation because God’s power would be magnified through it.  It’s important to notice that God would be magnified not by healing him, but by enabling him to go through it, and as he went through it, he was a testimony to the power of God that was in him.  

And while we are in that passage, notice the next verse, “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2Cor.12:10) Notice how Paul defines weaknesses; as insults, distresses, persecutions, and difficulties.  That’s similar to the list I gave for tribulation a minute ago.  But Paul makes an important distinction, which I think is the reason that he is able to boast in these things.  And that distinction is he say these weaknesses are for Christ’s sake. In other words, Christ used these infirmities, these distresses, these persecutions to show forth His power.  Paul spoke in another place that even when he was in chains in prison, he considered it as being a prisoner of Christ. So whatever tribulation he endured, he could even rejoice in it for the sake of sharing in Christ’s sufferings so that the power of God might be manifested.

The point is clear that all men are going through tribulation on this earth, sooner or later, perhaps often, as long as you are in the flesh.  The difference is that for a Christian, we do not go through it alone and without achieving a higher purpose.  Christ lives in me and evidences Himself in my sufferings, so that I may manifest the power of Christ in me.

That’s what Romans 8:28 says. It’s a verse that is often misquoted, and seldom understood. It says “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to [His] purpose.”  God isn’t promising to make everything work out so that no one gets sick, or no one dies, or nothing bad happens.  But God is promising to glorify Himself in whatever circumstances we go through, through those who are called to be His children, who love God and are called to live for God. That is the purpose for which we are called, to glorify God in our body, by life or by death.

We talked extensively last week in our study of the previous passage about the necessity to make sure that our faith is founded on the word of God, on the promises of God.  And it’s important to understand that God has not promised that we will never get sick, or that we will never have financial problems, or that we will never have sorrow.  But God has promised to never leave us or forsake us, to go through the fiery trials with us, and to refine us, and bring us out as gold.  That we might be ambassadors for the power of God which is in us.  God has promised to one day raise us from the dead, to live forever with the Lord and share in  the glory of the Lord.  God has promised to use suffering in this earth, so that we might be glorified in the new heavens and new earth.

Listen to how these promises of suffering and the glory to follow are explained in Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with [Him] so that we may also be glorified with [Him.] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

So back to our text in vs 3, Paul said, “we also exult or rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Notice then this chain of blessings that come as a result of our justification, of which the product is sanctification.  Sufferings, in whatever form they come, reveal our weakness while at the same time reveal God’s power.  And when the Christian realizes he is weak, then he is forced to turn to God for strength, and thus his faith is strengthened.  So suffering, Paul says, brings about perseverance.  

Perseverance is the strength to persistently bear up under trials.  Perseverance is not giving up, continuing to trust in the Lord even though you recognize that you are too weak to go through it on your own.  It’s a commitment.  Perseverance is faith plus commitment.  Not quitting. It’s not a passive quality, but a persistent quality of faith.  In Rev. 2:25, Jesus refers to it as holding fast to your faith.  A few verses earlier in vs10, Jesus says to be faithful even to death. That’s perseverance. 

Then Paul says, perseverance produces proven character.  I came up with an definition of character that I thought was pretty good, if I do say so myself. “Character is the mettle (pun intended)(spirit, fortitude, strength of character, moral fiber, steel, determination, resolve, resolution, backbone, grit, courage) that is produced in the fire of trials.”  So to have your character proven is to endure trials which reveal that you have passed the test to which you were subjected, whatever that might be.

Bob Jones Sr. once said “The test of your character is what it takes to stop you.”  And in Zech. 13:9 God speaks of these tests saying, “I will refine them like silver and test them like gold.”  As the refining fire of the goldsmith purifies the gold of impurities it also makes it more valuable.  So also the perseverance of the believer in trials purifies them, producing proven character.  Or producing tested, evident, character.

Now for that person who passes the test by the power of God working in him, it cannot help but strengthen their hope.  After all, if God just showed Himself faithful in my test, then I can go through more trials with a greater hope, knowing that what God has done in the past can be done in the future. So proven character, Paul says, produces hope. 

Vs5,  “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  Notice how Paul has transitioned from faith in vs 1 to hope vs 4, and now to love in vs 5.  Faith, hope, love, the trifecta of our religion.

It’s impossible to be a Christian without faith.  We have established that already, and fully. But there are people without hope.  I think hopelessness is one of the primary maladies of the world.  The fundamental problem in the world is sin, but sin produces a lack of hope. And that lack of hope is the symptom of a sick world.  

There are also people  who have a false hope. They may hope in the things of this world, or they may hope in false religion. Ultimately, both those who have no hope and those who have a false hope find heartache and disappointment.  But Paul says that there is a hope that does not disappoint.  That hope which does not disappoint is anchored in Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the hope of the world.

Heb 6:19-20 says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a [hope] both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,  where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”  Jesus who came to earth in a visible form of a man, who died on the cross, was raised from the dead and rose into heaven in the sight of 500 witnesses.  This same risen Jesus is the basis for the hope that we have, that He is alive and seated at the Father’s right hand, where He forever lives to make intercession for His people and who has promised to come again that we might be with Him forever. So because He lives, we know that we will live with Him.

Our hope is anchored in God’s love that was expressed by offering Jesus to take our place on the cross. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Paul isn’t saying that God’s love is given out sparingly.  But he says it is “poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us.”  God lavished His love upon us, not sparing anything that we needed to be fully reconciled to Him.  

Notice, he says God’s love has been poured out within our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”   That goes back full circle to this state of grace by which we stand that we talked about earlier.  God granted us justification as a gift because He loved us and had compassion on us. But that is not the full extent of this state of grace.  God also granted us  adoption that we might be the children of God.  We are not just forgiven at the court, but we are also granted sonship to the Judge.  As sinners, at enmity with God, we are justified, then we are adopted, and because we are adopted we are given the life of God, even eternal life.  And then wonder of wonders, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit to live in us.  God Himself dwells in us!  What a tremendous gift that is.  That explains why John could say, John 1:16 “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”

And even that is not all the grace that is ours, for God has promised that we will be granted to sit on thrones with Christ and reign over the world with Him.  That we will be co heirs with Christ.  That boggles the mind.  What blessings are in store for us we cannot imagine – all because of our justification by faith in what Jesus did on the cross for us.  So I pray you know the peace of God because Christ has made peace with God on your behalf.  And then let us persevere in faith in the midst of trials, that the endurance of our faith produces proven character, and a hope that does not disappoint as we go through the tribulations here on this earth.  They cannot compare to the glory which is set before us as promised by God. 

Some of you may be aware that many years ago I used to be an antique dealer and appraiser who specialized in Native American antiques. I looked for things like clothing or weaponry that was from the late 19th century and baskets and textiles. One of the things I learned about from that period was a very rare artifact called a Ghost Dance shirt. It was made in the 1890’s, and rather than being made from the usual buckskin, it was made from muslin and usually painted with symbols of stars and birds.

The significance of this shirt is that it came from a period when the Indians had been restricted to reservations, and their tribes had been decimated by disease like typhoid fever. One of the leaders of the Paiute tribe named Wovoka had become sick and he started having visions in which he was translated to heaven and shown visions by God of his people returning to the old ways and living together again in love and peace. Wovoka claimed that God also said that Jesus would be reincarnated on earth in 1892, that the people must work, not steal or lie, and that they must not engage in the old practices of war or the traditional self-mutilation practices connected with mourning the dead. God said that if his people abided by these rules, they would be united with their friends and family in the other world, and in God’s presence, there would be no sickness, disease, or old age.

Wavoka began to teach many different tribes the doctrines that he had seen in the vision and it quickly spread among most of the Plains Indian tribes. A belief that emerged from this religion was that if they wore a sacred shirt which they made from muslin and painted with certain celestial symbols, it would make them impervious to rifle bullets. The soldiers would not be able to kill them, but they would be protected by the power of God.

Unfortunately, this belief culminated in a disastrous loss of life now known as the Massacre at Wounded Knee. I don’t have time to go into all the details of the battle this morning, but suffice it to say that the soldiers at the forts became frightened by this renewed religious zeal on the part of the Indians, and that fear soon led to a battle between the soldiers and the Indians, in which 25 soldiers died, and 153 Lakota Indians were killed, many of them women and children. It became obvious that their faith in the power of the Ghost Dance shirt was ill founded. The sacred shirt did not have the protective power over death that the Native Americans had believed it would have.

I bring up that story today in order to emphasize the importance of having a sure foundation for faith. Especially in light of the situation throughout the world right now with the corona virus, it is more important than ever to be certain of our faith, and that our faith rests not on visions, nor feelings, nor on a word of knowledge, nor on the strength, or size or zeal of our faith, but on the promises of God.

As the internet has gone wild with people making assumptions, naming and claiming healing, claiming a word from God, all with the goal of removing the fear of getting sick from the virus. As I have heard people say things, or read people’s posts on the internet over the last couple of weeks I have often been reminded of this story, and the futility of the power of faith if it is not founded upon the word of God. That is why here at the Beach Fellowship we emphasize the importance of the sufficiency and authority of scripture. We believe it is the inspired word of God.

If you think about that phrase “word of God” for a moment, we might ask, what does that really mean? Well, let me ask you, if you were to say to someone, “I give you my word,” what do you mean by that? I would think your answer would be that I am making a promise. A guarantee. We’ve all heard the phrase, my word is my bond. Paul has instructed us in Romans that the righteous shall live by faith, which means they believe the word of God. Genesis 15:6 says Abraham believed God. Not beloved in God, but Abraham believed God’s promise. And the scripture says His word will not fail; that the word of God endures forever. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:13 that God cannot deny Himself. Paul says in Romans 11:29 that the the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. So faith is believing the word of God.

You will remember that in our last couple of messages we showed that faith has it’s foundation in the scriptures. Paul quotes from Genesis 15 and Psalm 32 as scriptural evidence for faith. So scripture is the word of God in which we have faith. Any so called faith outside of the word of God is unfounded. The sure foundation for our faith is the word of God, the promise of God.

Now that is really the main point that Paul introduces here in this passage before us today. He introduces a new word that up to now he has not used in this epistle. And that word is promise. Up to this point, Paul has spoken repeatedly of the necessity of faith, that faith is the only means by which a man is righteous before God. But now he introduces this idea of a promise, that we might know specifically what we are to have faith in. Faith here is not meant as an entity that stands alone; faith is not believing in something really fervently, but faith rests upon specific promises from God. So notice that in this passage Paul uses the word promise several times, in vs 13, 14, 16, 20, and 21. What he is saying is that Abraham was justified because he believed in the promise of God.

Now let’s look at vs 13 and see how this is presented. Vs13 “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”

Notice the word promise in vs13. The promise, Paul says is that Abraham and his descendants would be heir of the world. It was a promise not based works or merit of Abraham, but on the power of God. So through faith in God’s promise he would obtain or inherit the world. Now what is meant by an “heir of the world?” Well, in a simple sense, it means that ultimately, as the New Testament explains, you will be a joint heir with Christ and you will inherit everything that is Christ’s. That’s the New Testament view of it. We who come to God by faith, we who believe the promise of salvation, will inherit everything.

But let’s look specifically at God’s promise to Abraham. God’s promise to Abraham was one that was progressive in revelation. God expanded upon His promise to him in each subsequent time that He spoke to Abraham. And if you look at the scripture, you will see that there were three components to this promise. First there was the promise of the land of Canaan. This promise was spelled out in Genesis chapter 12, 13, 15, and 17. And I would suggest that the land of Canaan was but a deposit on the full promise to be heir of the world as spoken of in our passage in vs 13.

Secondly, God promised that Abraham’s seed would be as numerous as the dust of the earth. That promise is found in Gen. 13, 15, and 18. The third component of God’s promise is that from Abraham’s seed all the families of the earth will be blessed, which is found in Gen 18 and 26. Paul expanded on that promise in Galatians 3:16 saying, that the scripture says it is not through Abraham’s “seeds,” plural, that the world might be blessed, but “to your seed,” singular. And that seed, explained Paul, is Christ. So way back in Genesis, in God’s promise to Abraham He was speaking of the coming of Jesus Christ, through whom all the world might be blessed.

So keeping that in mind, as we look at this passage that Abraham or his seed would be heir of the world, we understand that all who by faith are children of Abraham actually are heirs of the world. We inherit the world. 1 Cor. 3:21 says, “All things are yours.” Abraham, as well as those who are his seed, who have received righteousness by faith, are heirs of the world. We will rule the world with Christ and in fact, are rulers now. As Peter said, we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, the people of God, heirs of the world. Jesus promised the church at Thyatira in Rev. 2:26-27 ‘He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received [authority] from My Father.”

Then Paul reminds us again in vs 14, we are heirs not on the basis of works or merit, but on the basis of faith. If you are hoping to gain the inheritance by keeping the law, then the promise is made worthless. The law was only intended to show us we were sinners, under the wrath of God. But the promise to be an heir of the world comes by faith.

And Paul states that the promise is by faith in vs 16, saying, “For this reason [it is] by faith, in order that [it may be] in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, “A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, [even] God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.”

The point Paul is making is that the reason that salvation comes by faith is that it might be a matter of grace. Grace is a gift, God’s unmerited favor. It’s not of works, otherwise we could never obtain this promise because we could never produce perfect obedience to the law. But instead, God has provided it as a gift that it might be fully assured to all who believe.

Notice also that Paul says that this promise is guaranteed to all of Abraham’s descedents, not just to those who were under the law, that is the Jews, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. And that means that the promise is guaranteed to us who live today. Galatians 3:29 says there is no Jew or Greek, male of female, slave or free, but “if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”

So then all who are of the faith of Abraham are the descendants of Abraham. Thus Paul quotes Genesis 17:5 which says “a Father of many nations have I made you.” Back in vs 11 he is called the “father of all who believe.” Paul wants to reinforce the fact that God is not a distinguisher of persons according to race or nationality or pedigree, but His grace is given to only one group; that is believers, those of the same faith as Abraham.

Paul further describes the object of Abraham’s faith as “God who gives life to the dead.” You will remember that God supernaturally gave Abraham the power to have children, and He supernaturally gave Sarah the ability to conceive. Abraham was 100 years old. HIs body was as good as dead. And yet God gave him the ability to produce a son. Then there was another instance when Abraham considered that God was able to give life to the dead and that is described in Heb. 11:17-19. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten [son;] [it was he] to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.” He considered that God is able to raise [people] even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.” Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, because he believed that God would keep His promise to bring forth a multitude from Isaac, and therefore God would have to raise Isaac from the dead. And as Hebrews said, the type which Isaac symbolized of course was Christ, who though He died, was raised again from the dead.

And folks, this is our hope, the promise for us, that though in this body we die, we will be raised again to live forever with God in a new body. Our hope is that even in death God is able to give life to the dead, and we will triumph over this world, we will be raised again in a new body, in a new world, in which we will rule and reign with Christ. That is the fulfillment of the promise that we will be heirs of the world.

But even though in the flesh we may die, we will not die in our spirit. Jesus said, “whosoever believes in Me shall never die, believe thou this?” To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Jesus said concerning life after death in Matt. 22:32 “’I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” Though we die in the flesh, we live in the spirit with the Lord in Paradise, and then at the resurrection, we will receive a new glorified body, in which there will be no sickness or death, and which will reign with the Lord in a new heaven and a new earth. That is the inheritance that Abraham was promised and which we are promised.

Paul adds another distinction about this faith in God. And that is stated as “who calls into being that which does not exist.” Paul looks back all the way to creation and reminds us that God did not need to have something to work with. He did not need evolution to help Him create the world. He called it into existence by the word of His mouth. God spoke and the world was made by His word. He made something from nothing. And that fact of God’s power assures us that what God declares He is able to perform. He doesn’t need our help. God is able to save, and only God is able to save.

What a tremendous hope we have as believers. We that believe the word of God can believe in a magnificent promise, a promise that gives us hope in a world that would otherwise be hopeless. Abraham had that hope. And that hope inspired his faith. Look at vs 18. “In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.” Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Hope simply means the expectation of something desirable. That hope for Abraham was the promise God made that he would have a son. God told him in Gen. 17:5 “No longer shall your name be called Abram,(exalted father) But your name shall be Abraham (father of a multitude); For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” How Abraham must have felt when someone asked him his name. After all, he had no son.

And then, to make it worse, God’s promise of a son didn’t come immediately. God waited until Abraham’s body was as good as dead, 100 years old. I can assure you, now that I’ve reached the ripe age of 61, that I can sense my body is quickly becoming “as good as dead.” I can’t imagine what 40 more years would feel like. God wanted to be sure that His grace would not the product of Abraham’s effort. But notice, against all hope, Abraham in hope, believed. That is the faith that God desires. Believing in HIs word, believing in HIs promise, against all reason, against all science, against all the world might say. Abraham did not waver in unbelief.

Now that is tremendous faith, but I hope that you do not despair thinking that it is unattainable faith. It may be a struggle to have this kind of faith. But the scripture says faith is also a gift of God. God will strengthen your faith as you trust in Him. God’s word reassures our faith. And the Spirit of Christ working in us will help us in our times of doubt if we will turn to Him for assurance.

This promise of God is meant not just for Abraham, but for all in every age who would believe God. Paul says in closing, in vs 23 that “Not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, [He] who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”

Paul says that this was not just written for Abraham’s sake, but also for our sake. And he is speaking not only of his age but for our age, in the 21st century. We are able to receive the credit of righteousness to our account just as Abraham was. And we are able to receive it in the same way that Abraham received it – by faith in the promise of God. As Peter said, we have the promise of God made more sure because though Abraham received salvation by a type, we have received salvation because we have seen the fulfillment of the type in Jesus Christ. Abraham saw the lamb that God provided in order to be the substitute for Isaac, but we see Jesus, who became the sin substitute for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

We have faith in Jesus, who was raised from the dead, who was delivered up to death for our sins, and was raised from the dead for our justification that we might be declared righteous before God. Not on the basis of our works or merit, but on the basis of faith in what He did.

Abraham had faith in only a promise. We have faith in the fulfillment of that promise in Jesus Christ. He is the Seed which is the heir of the world, He is the Seed through which all the nations of the world shall be blessed, and He is the Seed by which will come a multitude which are the children of God.

I hope that you have received this gift of faith that Abraham received. I pray that you know the joy of knowing that you are justified in the sight of God, that you are an heir of the world, and a co heir with Christ. You can have this life of blessedness if you simply trust in His word, if you believe in Christ as your Savior and Lord.

In this time of uncertainty and fear, in this time of anxiety about sickness and death, it is reassuring to remember that God’s promises are sure and cannot fail. He is able to give life to that which is dead. He is able to call into being that which is not. He that lives and believes in Christ will never die. Do you believe this?

Paul says in Rom 10:8-11 But what does [the scripture] say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”–that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

The Puritans wrote the Westminster Shorter Catechism in 1647.  It is a series of questions and answers intended to teach the primary doctrines of the Christian faith. And it has as it’s first question; What is the chief end of man? That is not a vague reference to the Super Bowl by the way.  They meant, what is the primary purpose of man?  The answer is “man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

That principle is important for us to understand. Without that understanding, then it’s possible to put man on a much higher pedestal than what God intended.  We need to understand that God made man for fellowship with Him. That is the purpose of man’s creation. God’s purpose for making man is revealed by analogy in the story of creation.  After God made everything on earth, He said that it was not good for man to be alone.  Prior to that, everything that God made was good. But after making all things, God said one thing was not good.  And that was that there was not a help mate suitable for Adam.

And then God did a strange thing. Rather than immediately making a help mate for Adam, He first caused all the creatures of the world to pass by Adam so that he could name them.  And at the conclusion of that task, Moses writes; “The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.”  Then immediately following, God caused Adam to fall asleep and took a rib from Adam and made Eve from it.

I believe the analogy is this. That before the creation of the world, God examined all the things that He had made, all the angelic creatures, all the worlds and universes in all the various galaxies.  And in all of the galaxies, in all of His creation,  there was not found a help mate suitable for Him.  And so God spoke into existence the heavens and the earth, and all the creatures of the earth, and on the sixth day of creation He formed man from the dust of the earth in His own image, in His likeness, and He breathed the breath of God into his nostrils. I believe that speaks of an intimacy in His touch and a likeness through HIs breath that is not indicated in the rest of creation. He made man to be like Him, to be a companion for Him, to be a help mate for Him.  He made man to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.  By the breath of God, He made man a living soul, that is, a being that would live on forever.

Man was made by God for fellowship and intimacy with God and to be the bride of God.  Yet man sinned against God, thereby corrupting himself irrevocably and completely.  This creation of God was so fouled that it was impossible for God to have that fellowship for which He had created man.  That sin of man had an immediate consequence which was the consequence of the eternal law of God, that is death, both physical and spiritual death. And that consequence was put into motion when man sinned.  Therefore, through the sin of Adam, the human race became destined for extinction. 

Through Adam the corruption of sin is endemic to the entire human race.  Thus the whole world is born in sin. Paul says in Romans 1: 18 that because of sin “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”  The wrath of God is the condemnation of death which is upon all men, for all have sinned.  As the Westminster Shorter Catechism says in question 18,  Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell? A. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.

And then it follows up that in question Q. 19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell? A. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse , and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.

So in the closing arguments of chapter 1, Paul has enumerated the sins of man and shown the progressive nature of the corruptibleness of sin.  He shows how the sin nature manifests itself in defiling the body, soul and mind.  And how because of man’s willfulness in sin, and rebellion against God, He gives them over to be consumed completely and corrupted thoroughly by it, so that the wrath of God justly falls on all sinners.

Therefore, Paul says in chapter 2,  because it has thoroughly been established that the immoral practices of man is an abomination to God and worthy of death, therefore, you too, whoever you may be, are without excuse because you judge others as sinful, and yet you do the same things yourself.  And I believe that Paul is indicating here that even though your sins may not have been done as openly as those described in chapter one, but in your heart you still are guilty of the same sins.  The sins of the heart are described in chapter 1 vs 29-31,”being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; [they are] gossips,  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,  without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.”  All of these sins of the heart are endemic to all men in their natural state to some degree or another.

And Paul says that because we judge others who act on that sinful nature we are in effect casting judgment upon ourselves because we share in that same proclivity to sin.  Even the idolatry practiced by pagans is replicated by us who have made an idol out of ourselves. As Paul said in chapter 1, we worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator.

Paul says in vs2, that we know that God’s judgment rightly falls against those who practice such things.  We have no excuse because we know through creation the invisible attributes of God, and we know in our hearts the law of God.  Paul says in vs 15 that “they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.”  And they have experienced the common grace, or the goodness of God in all the things that He made for them to enjoy.

But I think who Paul is specifically addressing here are people who may appear moral on the outside but are full of corruptness on the inside.  They may not have allowed their natural desires to show to others, but nevertheless, in their judgment of others they condemn themselves because they have the same kind of corrupt hearts. They have the same evil desires. They are guilty of judging others by one standard, and judging themselves by another.  But God rightly judges the hearts of men, and the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. So we see that the wrath of God and the judgment of God are connected.  Heb 9:27 ties the wrath of God which is death and the judgement of God together by saying; “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” 

And so Paul speaks in vs 3 of that judgment which comes after death. “But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same [yourself,] that you will escape the judgment of God?” In 2Cor. 5:10 he tells us more what that judgment looks like: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”  All men will stand before God in judgment for their deeds which he has done in his body while on earth.

But there is an opportunity that God gives, in His mercy, between the condemnation of sin and the judgment of sin, and that is a man’s life. God has every reason to immediately wipe man from the face of the earth and be done with it.  But He is merciful, and in HIs mercy and kindness He allows us time to repent.

This is what Paul refers to as the patience and kindness of God, in which He gives time to repent. Vs4, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”  In our self righteousness, in our comparative morality, it’s possible to mistake the goodness of God and the lack of immediate consequences for our sin, for the approval of God.  When in fact, Paul says it’s just the opposite.  The kindness and patience of God is given to lead us to repentance that we might be converted.

Peter in 1 Peter 3, talks about the patience of God which waited during the days of Noah when God said My Spirit will not strive with man forever, therefore his days shall be 120 years. God gave man 120 years to repent at the preaching of Noah.  But they continued to eat and drink and go about their daily activities as if they had all the time in the world. 

In Romans 9:22 it says, “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” The point Paul is making is the impending judgment and wrath of God upon sin.  But there is another side to that equation which is less apparent perhaps, but nevertheless in full effect.  And that is the love of God, the compassion of God, the kindness of God is working to deliver us from that destiny of wrath.  God in His compassion is giving time to repent.  He is showing mercy by allowing us time to come to repentance.

And that principle of showing kindness to someone when they deserve wrath in hope of producing repentance should be a principle by which Christians operate as ministers of God.  When reviled, we do not retaliate.  When we are harshly treated by our enemies, we pray for them and even show love towards our enemies.  We overcome evil with good.  Those are Christian principles which are exampled by God towards sinners who are at enmity with Him. And so they are principles that we should emulate in our dealings with those who sin against us.

Here is the kindness of God.  Here is the love of God.  Not that He stopped counting our sins.  Not that He no longer takes appraisal of our sin.  But for the one who repents, God stopped counting our sins against us.  God does not hold back His wrath against sin, God has instead counted our sins upon Christ, and poured out His wrath on Jesus, that we might have life.  That is what Jesus did for us, He took the punishment that was due us upon Himself and suffered the wrath of God which was the penalty that we deserved. 

But the fact is that most people think lightly of the kindness of God. In other words, they don’t take it seriously. They think because there is no immediate result of their sin that they have escaped the wrath of God.  Or they have designed a god of their own imagination which is not wrathful, who is only loving, forgiving and therefore they believe incapable of wrath. Whatever their reason, Paul says that rather than escape the wrath of God, they are only storing it up for an eventual unleashing on the day of wrath. He says in vs. 5 “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”  

Notice here Paul makes it clear that it is the evil heart that deserves the judgment of God. It is the man that rebuffs correction, that continues in their rebellion against their Maker. And Paul says that rather than your putting off of repentance causing God to forget about your sin, your stubbornness and unrepentant heart are only causing God’s wrath to be stored up, to be poured out in a deluge at the judgment of God, which Paul calls the day of wrath. There is coming a day of reckoning.  All men will suffer the wrath of God through physical death, but those that are unrepentant will suffer the wrath of God in spiritual death, which John in Revelation calls the second death.  That death is eternal death, eternal separation from God, eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire.  I may not be able to comprehend all that is encompassed in death.  But I believe it because the Bible says it will happen on the day of wrath. 

There is coming a day of judgment for all men.  Paul describes it in vs 6-11.  The fact of it’s certainty is revealed because it is presented twice.  In vs 6-8 Paul presents the judgment of God  with the righteous being first followed by the wicked.  And in vs 9-11 he reverses the order, but says virtually the same thing, only presenting the wicked first, and the righteous last. 

Let’s read the first description of the judgment starting in vs 6;  “who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:  to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.”  I want to emphasize that Paul does not talk here about faith or a lack of faith as being the requirement for deliverance from wrath.  But he speaks about deeds.  God will render to each person according to His deeds.  Those who do good, get eternal life.  Those that do evil, that do not obey, get wrath.

Now that is not to say that justification is not by faith.  Paul has already established in chapter 1:17 that the just shall live by faith.  But let me explain in the words of James. Faith without works is dead.  Or we could say it this way, faith without deeds is dead.  Faith, in other words, is always accompanied by obedience, by doing what Christ commanded.  Faith is not just believing in the existence of God, or that Christ lived and died, but faith is being obedient to what Christ taught.  Faith is the way of life.  It’s a path of life.  It’s doing as Christ did, dying to the flesh and being raised to new life so that we might walk by the Spirit.  God will render to each person according to his deeds. And if you have saving faith, it will be shown by your deeds, resulting in eternal life.

Now I will add that the Bible teaches that there are two types of judgment.  One is for Christians called the Bema seat Judgment.  It is the judgment of rewards for those who are justified by faith in Christ and they are exempt from the penalty of death because Jesus paid that penalty on their behalf.  Thus they are judged according to their works of faith that they did as a Christian and they receive their reward. 

But there is also taught the Great White Throne judgment against those that have not trusted in Jesus as their Savior and Lord. And at that judgment those people still have the condemnation of death upon them because they rejected the substitutionary death of Christ. And so they still face the wrath of God.

So Paul speaks again of the judgment in reverse order in vs9: “[There will be] tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek,  but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For there is no partiality with God.”

Let me remind you of something.  The Jews claimed to believe in God. They claimed to believe the word of God, to keep His commandments.  But as we learned in the Sermon on the Mount, they were guilty of sinning in their hearts, though they appeared outwardly to keep the letter of the law, they failed to keep the spirit of it.  And so Paul is emphasizing that there is no distinction between persons with God.  God will judge on the basis of what men do, not according to what man imagines he is. God will judge not on the basis of heritage or race, or nationality or religion.  But God will judge the heart.

Listen, Paul has told us that the wages of sin is death.  Death is due to all men.  The wrath of God is being poured out and it will continue until it is completely poured out.  One day, on the Day of Wrath, all mankind will be wiped out.  The whole earth will be destroyed. Peter said in 2Peter 3:7-10 concerning that day, “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.  But do not let this one [fact] escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

Peter continues in vs11 “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!  But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.  Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord [as] salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you.” 

Peter says the day of wrath  is coming when all creation will be destroyed God will make all things new.  And the only way to survive the coming wrath of God is to be made a new creation, by repentance of your sins, and faith in Jesus Christ, so that you might be born again.  Made new.  Made righteous. Made in the likeness of Jesus Christ.  You can become a new creation through repentance of your sins and faith in Jesus Christ who took your place on the cross, that you may die to sin, and be raised to newness of life.  I pray that you do not think lightly of the kindness of God, but that it would lead you to repentance, that you might escape the wrath of God.

We are studying this morning a new section of the Lord Jesus Christ’s first recorded sermon which is known as the Sermon on the Mount.  I prefer to title it, the Manifesto of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Because the characteristics of a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven is really what Jesus is speaking of in this sermon.  He is delineating the difference that being a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a citizen of the world.  

And last time, we looked at the principles which Christ taught in regards to living as a citizen of heaven, versus a citizen of this world.  Or the difference between living with a spiritual perspective, and therefore working for the Kingdom of Heaven, laying up treasure in the Kingdom of Heaven, versus that of a worldly perspective, thus laying up treasures on earth, and working for self gratification from the world. 

 And Jesus caps off that teaching by saying, ““No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and the world.”  That’s the distinction between a citizen of the Kingdom and the citizen of the world, the saved and the unsaved, the Christian and the pagan.  You are either serving God or the world, you are either living for one or the other.  Jesus says the Christian will live for the Kingdom of God.

The principle that Jesus is teaching is that we cannot be double minded.  To say we are citizen’s of heaven, and yet consumed and living for the things of this world is to be, in the words of James, a double minded man.  As Christians, we are to be single minded in our new life with Christ. All things have become new, old things are passed away.  So in this new life we have the mind of Christ, the nature of Christ, and we do the works of God.  So we serve the Kingdom of God with a singleness of purpose.

And the synopsis of the passage we are studying today is that if we are truly living for the Lord, serving the Lord, then we can be certain that the Lord will provide for our needs.  That’s the basis for the statement found in vs 33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  In other words, there is no need to be consumed with laying up treasures on earth, to be consumed with worldly things, because if we are laying up treasure in heaven, then the Lord will take care of our earthly needs.  So if we are living for and serving the kingdom of God, then God will provide for our needs  here on earth. 

Now that is the principle which the passage before us is based on  today.  Verse 25 starts with “Therefore…”  We have to tie what has been said in vs 24 about either serving God or mammon, to todays passage, which says, “Therefore,” or, “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, [as to] what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, [as to] what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

But I want to make sure that above all else, you understand the context is speaking of those who are serving the Kingdom of Heaven.  If you claim to be a Christian, but you are living for the world, and yet you want to claim that God will miraculously provide what you want, when you want it, I say that it’s a misapplication of this passage to claim these promises. That’s the error of the prosperity doctrine that is so prevalent in the church today.  And furthermore, if you’re unsaved, it’s not a promise that applies to you.  The only way to understand this passage is in the context of someone who is living for the Lord, serving the Kingdom of Heaven, and busy laying up treasure in heaven.  Then the following promises are for you.

That doesn’t mean though that you have to be a  pastor, or a missionary, or someone who is in “full time Christian service.”  We are all supposed to be in full time Christian service in some capacity or another.  You may be a carpenter, or a house wife, your means of making a living is not the issue. It’s the way you live your life that is the issue.  Are you serving the Lord with your life, or serving yourself and the world?  So these promises are for those who are serving the Lord.

And so the Lord says, “Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”   Now that obviously ties into what we talked about last week.  It’s the principle that we are spiritual, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and we have a new life in Christ.  And so quite clearly Jesus is saying that life is more than this body of flesh.  It’s more than just the feeding and clothing of the body.  Life from God is spiritual life, it’s eternal, immortal life, it’s the abundant life.  Food and clothing are only able to support the body, and are necessary only as long as we are in this body, but Jesus says the life we have in Him is so much more than just the body.

There was a day when the disciples were urging Jesus to eat.  He had just spent time with the woman at Samaria, teaching her the truth about the gospel.  And Jesus responded to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”  So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him [anything] to eat, did he?”  Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.”  I would suggest this spiritual food is what Jesus is speaking of here, as of greater importance than that simply of the physical.

Now I want you to notice that in this passage, Jesus says three times, “do not worry.”  He says it in vs 25, vs 31, and vs34.  Our Lord knows that repetition is the key to learning.  And the worries and concerns of this life are sometimes overwhelming and keep us from accomplishing what should be of primary importance.  It’s natural to worry. As a parent, I think it’s especially natural to worry.  But some would say that to worry is a sin.  And I suppose that in a certain context it can be. But I will say that there is a difference between being concerned and worry. We should be concerned about certain things.  But it’s a sin if our worrying causes us to be distracted from serving the Lord to serving ourselves.  It’s a sin because Paul says in Romans 14:23 that whatever is not of faith is sin.  And Jesus identifies this worrying about our physical lives is a matter of a lack of faith.  In vs. 30 He says, “O you of little faith.”  So worrying as it is described here is a matter of a lack of faith, which Paul says is sin.

Over the years I have done quite a bit of research into the subject of anxiety and depression.  I have given a sermon a couple of times based on Phil. 4:6 and following  which starts with, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  If you are interested in that teaching, you can probably look it up on the church website under “Dealing with anxiety and depression.”  And I can tell you, that a lot of mental problems,  a lot of psychological problems, even severe depression, can be tied to anxiety.  To worry.

But I think the type of worrying that Jesus is really getting at here can be likened to the situation in Luke 10:40 where Jesus visited Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  And Mary was sitting at Jesus feet, and Martha was in the kitchen getting dinner ready.  And she came and told Jesus to tell Mary to help her.  And Jesus responded, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”   Things that we consider necessary, so important, things concerning the desires of the flesh, the body, the world,  Jesus said are often distractions from what is really important.

And if you are trying to serve the Lord, and lay up treasure in heaven, and do the work of the Kingdom here on earth, it is a real temptation to look at your neighbors or friends or even others in the church and see how they are saving for their future, how they are accumulating the world’s goods, how financially sound they seem to be, and feel a certain anxiety about your future.  I confess since I have turned 60 years old, I find myself thinking more about my old age.  I don’t have any retirement benefits.  I don’t own a home.  I don’t have any savings to speak of.  And I cannot help but wonder sometimes what is it going to be like if I reach the age of 70, or 75?  If I cannot physically do the things in ministry that I do now?  And so I am tempted to take matters into my own hands and that can be a real distraction for me. And  I think that type of things is a common concern for a lot of us, whether we are in full time ministry or not.

So Jesus gives us three reasons for not being anxious about our life. Number one, being anxious is unnecessary because of who your Father is.  Number two, it’s uncharacteristic because of your faith.  And number three, it’s unwise because of your future.

First He says it is unnecessary to worry about material things, even the necessities of life because of your Father.  Have you forgotten who your Father is? And the Lord gives three illustrations:  One from food, one from the future, and one from fashion.  And these things are related to God as our Father.

Jesus says in vs 26, “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and [yet] your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?”  Jesus said in Matthew 10:29 that a sparrow doesn’t fall to the ground without God knowing it. God is the Creator and sustainer of all life, but He is our Father.  If God so provides for the birds of the air, then certainly we can expect much more because of our relationship with Him as our Father.  One of my dad’s favorite songs was “His Eye is on the Sparrow.”  If I know that He watches over sparrows, then I know that He cares for me. So we don’t need to worry because God is our Father.

Then He gives a second illustration, which  speaks the fact we don’t need  to worry about the future, verse 27.  “Which of you by worrying can add one hour to his life?”  Now there is a bit of confusion about this verse. In the KJV, it says who can add a cubit to his stature?  And literally, that is what the original language says.  But the word for stature sometimes also means a span of life.  And if you think about it, who would want to add a cubit to their stature?  A cubit was 18”, the length from your elbow to the tip of your finger.  So most translators think the better translation is to say add an hour to your span of life. 

The point being, who can by worrying about it, add an hour or any measure of time to his lifespan?  In fact, it’s likely that excessive worrying will shorten your life span.  So the point is that worrying can’t accomplish anything in regards to our future.

The third point we might say has to do with fashion. Jesus speaks to the issue of raiment, of clothing. Look what He says in verse 28, “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,  yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.”

Jesus says, Look, “even Solomon – ” and Solomon was the greatest and the richest and the wisest man in all the world, “ – in all his glory was not arrayed like a flower.”  The finest things made by man cannot attain the beauty that God dresses a simple flower with. What He is saying is even if you have the wealth and wisdom of Solomon, you still cannot attain the beauty that God bestows.

And then He makes the point from the lesser to the greater in verse 30. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!”   This idea of the flowers and grass of the field being burned in a furnace, is something that should be explained.  In the process of making bread, the women of that day used these clay ovens and they gathered the grass of the fields and bundled it together and let it dry, and then they would use it to rapidly heat the oven, and then once the oven was hot, they would insert the bread to bake.  So Jesus is simply referencing the transient, temporary nature of the body, and making the connection that since God adorns the temporary flowers in such a way, how much more will he clothe us?

Jesus concludes that we are going to worry about such things anyway, and so He says,  “O you of little faith!”  

Now that phrase, “you of little faith,” is used four other times in the gospels and it’s fascinating to note the way it’s used.  It is used, in a similar sermon, in Luke 12:28 when people worry about clothing.  It is used in Matthew 8:26 when the disciples worried about drowning.  They worried about the length of their life.  They said to Him, “How can You sleep when the storm is going to drown us?”  In Matthew 14, again, it was Peter worrying about drowning, fear of losing his life.  And then it is used in Matthew 16:8 when they were worried about their food. 

Every time that phrase is used, “you of little faith,” it is used about somebody who worried about food, clothes, or their life span, the very same three things Jesus speaks of in this first point.  So it’s fitting that this phrase should sum up that point.  And every time it was the disciples.  

Each time that phrase was used, He was speaking to the disciples. Men who should have known better.  It wouldn’t be surprising  to say that of people in the world, but to those who have had saving faith, O, you of little faith.  You believe that God can redeem you, that God can save you from sin, break the shackles of Satan, take you from hell to heaven, put you into His kingdom, give you eternal life, but you just don’t think He can provide for your needs.  You have to take care of this yourself because God isn’t capable of doing it.

You know, worrying means that you are controlled by your circumstances and not the truth of God.  Worry means you don’t understand your position as a child of God.  Worry can distract you from doing what you are meant to do.  Worry is a killing, debilitating, self indulgent, possessive anxiety, that says, “God can’t care for me and I’ve got to do this thing myself.”  That’s sin.  That makes God a liar.  It ignores His love as your Father.  It ignores His power as the Creator God. And it puts your agenda at a priority over serving the Lord.

Paul says in Ephesians 1:18, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,  and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”  We need to have our spiritual eyes opened, so that we might be confident of the power of God, and the love of God towards us.  And when that happens, we can focus our attention on serving the kingdom of God, and not be victims of the double vision we spoke of earlier.

The second reason that we shouldn’t worry is because it is uncharacteristic of our faith.  It is unnecessary because of who our Father is.  And worry is uncharacteristic because of our faith.  Verse 31, He comes right back to the principle again.  Here’s the second statement of this command to stop being anxious, or in this case, don’t start being anxious.

Vs 31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”  Notice He says “What shall we eat?  What shall we drink?  With what shall we be clothed?”  Same three things He dealt with before.  Listen, here’s another statement of the same principle as in verse 25.  Don’t worry about  the necessities of life.  Why?  Verse 32, “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things.”  He’s saying it is uncharacteristic of our faith to act like unsaved people.  That is for the citizens of the world, not for the citizens of heaven. 

The world’s perspective is that this life is all there is and so you better grab all the gusto you can get.  He who dies with the most toys wins. Eat, drink, be merry for tomorrow we die. Jesus is saying, Christians don’t live like that.  We have an eternal perspective. Our faith, the Christian faith, says our life is comprised of more than just supplying for the needs of the body.  But  God will supply all my needs, and God can be trusted. Paul says, “Be anxious for nothing.  But everything by prayer and supplication, let your request be made known unto God.”

And then He goes back to reason number one at the end of verse 32, “For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.” He has already established that the Father loves and cares for us, that’s the first section, and now He says that our Father knows what I need.  If God knows what I need, and if God knows my life, and God knows my needs, then all I need to know is that He cares.  And if I trust that  He knows and cares, then I can serve Him without anxiety for the affairs of this life.  That’s the  essence of what Jesus is saying. 

Now let’s go to the third reason, and we’ll skip to verse 34.  The third reason not to worry it is unwise because of your future.  It is unwise because of your future.  This is an important point.  And again Jesus uses the same phrase to introduce this third point, verse 34. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Now, what the Lord is saying is don’t worry about the future.  The future going to have its own trouble.  Just wait till you get to it.  It’s unwise to worry because of your future.  Don’t worry about tomorrow.  Do what is required of you today.  Walk by faith today.  If you are worrying about tomorrow, then you are doubling up on the stress of your life.  Deal with tomorrows stress tomorrow.  Don’t add it to today.  Today, walk by faith.  Don’t fret about your circumstances.  Remember that the Lord fed the children of Israel manna everyday, and only enough for that day.  They weren’t supposed to worry about the future, because God had promised to take care of them.

We can trust God for the future, and have peace for today.  Isaiah says in Isaiah 26:3  “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” That’s where perfect peace comes from.  And by the way, that’s the opposite of worry. 

So we are to keep our mind fixed on Jesus and the things of God.  And that is the key to peace.  Jesus states that principle in vs 33.”But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” In other words, you get your mind on the spiritual level and God will take care of the physical.  

This is such a great verse, let’s just break it down and look at it carefully for a moment. “But,” that is in contrast to the view of the world,  “seek  first,” as of  our first priority in life, the number one thing, “the kingdom of God,” the rule of God, the reign of God, the dominion of God.”  Live as a child of God, a citizen of heaven, serving the Lord. 

And then He says we seek not only the kingdom, but His righteousness.  Righteousness refers to holiness. The life of righteousness. What He’s talking about here is practical righteousness.  He is saying that the life you pursue, pursue godliness; be concerned about holiness.  Some of us spend all our time chasing after money, cars, houses, clothes, position, power. All the things of this world which will never satisfy.  But instead Jesus tells us to seek as of first importance the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all the things needed of this world will be added unto you.  God will take care of those who seek His kingdom and seek His righteousness.

Put God, His glory and the glory of His kingdom, and your relationship to Him as your Heavenly Father, and your holiness in the primary position in your life, and all those other things that are necessary for your life shall be added unto you.  That is His promise, and when we rest on that promise, we can live without anxiety and worry about the concerns of this world.  I hope that you will carefully consider the priorities of your life, and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and trust Him to supply your needs.  

As most of you are aware, we are studying the Sermon on the Mount, which is the first recorded sermon that Jesus preached.  I think it would be better titled, the Manifesto of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Because what Jesus is teaching is the characteristics of the citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.  He was preaching to Christians, to His disciples.  So it’s not a message for unbelievers, per se. But a message for the church.

And in this message He laid out as of first importance that the citizen of the kingdom of heaven is someone who has been born again.  It is a person who has a new nature, a spiritual person, who has become remade in the image of God.  He is a new creation, and so he acts in a way that is different than the natural man of the world because he has a new nature, a nature like God.  That is really the only way to understand the Beatitudes which Jesus gives at the beginning of the sermon.  They are not natural characteristics.  They are the characteristics of a person that has been born again, made a new creation. 

But just as in the natural world, a child which is born of their parents then must be raised by their parents in order that they grow up to be the right kind of person, to have a successful life, so in a similar fashion those who have been born of our Father in heaven, who have been given a new spiritual nature, who are made righteous through this spiritual rebirth,  must now be raised to practice righteousness, raised to grow up to be like Christ, which is the process called sanctification.  Sanctification is a process of maturing as a result of our salvation by which we begin a new life.  So our Heavenly Father teaches us how to live.  

And this is the instruction that Jesus is focusing on in this part of His sermon.  He has told us how we are to respond to persecution, how we are to keep His commandments, how we are to love, how we are to give, how we are to pray, and how to fast.  All of those types of things He is giving us the Father’s instructions on how we are to live now that we are the children of God.  

As a parent, I think one of the dilemma’s I have faced, and I am sure I am not alone in it, is figuring out how to instill the right traits, the right kind of character, the right kind of behavior in our children.  And for a good parent, that should be the priority of our life once we have kids.  We try to instill in them certain characteristics because we know that they are going to suffer in life if they do not have them ingrained in their nature when they are older.  And in a similar  manner, God our Heavenly Father uses His word, and the indwelling conviction of the Holy Spirit, to teach us and lead us so that we continue to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Because only in this way can we have a successful life. ( I mean successful of course not in a financial or material way, but in a spiritual way, that we may be complete, lacking in nothing.)

The difficulty that we have though as Christians is that even though we have been given a new nature, and are taught a new way to live, there is still present within us the old nature.  The sin nature is still there, though it should have been put to death in us if we have truly died with Christ.  Paul spoke of this necessity in Gal. 2:20;  “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

This old nature is what the Bible calls the flesh which we must daily put to death.  And we also have to fight against the desire of the world and the deceit of the devil.  So we have three fronts in which to fight; the flesh, the world, and the devil.  We have been given the means by the Spirit to overcome the temptation of those things, but it is a constant battle of our affections.  If we love the world and the things of the world, then John said the love of the Father is not in us.  The secret to a victorious spiritual life is to love God supremely, above all else and to love not the world.

And it also needs to be said that we are to love God as our Heavenly Father.  There is much talk in the church today about the need to have a personal relationship with God.  And that is true.  But the devil has a relationship with God, doesn’t he?  What kind of a relationship are we to have, and on what basis?  The kind of relationship we are to have is as a child of God with our Heavenly Father.  And we have as our basis for that relationship the fact that Jesus took our sins upon Himself and took our place in death, that we might be forgiven our sins, and be made the children of God.  So it’s as our Father, who is God Almighty, that we love God and are obedient to Him, and we want to please Him.  He has given us life, and He has promised to reward those who diligently seek Him.  

So as I live for Him, then I can consider these instructions Jesus gives us here in that context.  Because Jesus is warning against returning again to the desires of the old nature.  The pull of the world is still a very real danger for the Christian and we must guard against it.  The word world is one of those church words that perhaps needs explanation.  It’s not talking strictly about the physical universe, or even the people populating the world, but it’s referring to a mentality, an outlook, a way of looking at life.  It’s the natural perspective of man.  And it is informed by the sin nature which all of us were born into in our flesh, and which is orchestrated by the devil as part of his strategy to keep us captive. Ephesians 2 vs 1 talks about the course of this world which the devil has orchestrated in order to hold captive those who indulge the lusts of the flesh and the mind.

The difficulty is that it’s something which our sin nature is inclined to love, inclined to think and do.  It’s instinctive. And so we can easily slip back into the course of the world if we are not actively pursuing God and denying the flesh, so that we might walk by the spirit.

So to guard against that tendency or temptation, the Lord gives us a guiding principle; “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Notice that there is a negative and a positive aspect to this injunction. First let’s consider the negative. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.”  It’s important that we do not limit this text to speaking about only money.  I think that money is certainly included in this principle, but it’s not limited to money. Treasures can be related to a whole host of things.  The point is that whatever things they are, they things that the world treasures.  He is speaking of things that the world thinks are good, that define success. It may be money, it may be fame, it may be power, it may be even something like family or love.  But whatever it is, it’s something that we treasure, that is limited to this life and this world.

What does He mean when He talks about storing up these treasures of the world? It may mean hoarding and amassing wealth.  It may be speaking of a person who is a workaholic. Who is building an empire, so to speak, on earth. But again, I think it has broader implications than just those things. It may be speaking of things which are not necessarily bad in and of themselves, but ultimately they are done for our glory.  The key is they stored up treasure for themselves.  Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.”  It’s things meant to enrich your life, to make your life more pleasurable, more enjoyable, more satisfying here on earth. To bring glory to yourself.

But on the positive side, notice what Jesus says we are to do. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”  Now we must be careful here in interpreting this passage not to go against the greater body of scripture  and say this refers to achieving your own salvation. That would be to deny the doctrine of justification by faith alone which is clearly presented in the gospel. But again, this is teaching for the church, for those already saved. 

A good illustration for this principle is found in Luke 16, the parable of the unjust steward.  Jesus said in regards to that, “make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.” In other words, whether it is money or whatever resources you have, use it in this world so that when you arrive in heaven the people who were benefitted from it will be there to receive you. 

Paul echoes that principle in 1 Timothy 6:17, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.  [Instruct them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”

So to be rich in good works, to be generous, and ready to share is a way of storing up treasure in heaven, Paul says.  It’s investing in the kingdom of heaven.  We do all sorts of things now to invest for our future, so that we will have plenty when we get older.  But so many times we fail to invest in the kingdom of heaven.  That should be our priority.  What we have here in terms of talents and treasure are to be invested in heaven, because that is where our eternal home will be. That is the attitude which pleases our Father, and which will be rewarded by Him when we are joined with Him in eternity.

Now in addition to this commandment, or injunction, the Lord gives us reasons for obeying it, to encourage us to obey Him.  He gives us these incentives for obedience in the remainder of the passage. The first argument that Jesus gives is that we should not store up treasures on earth because  moth and rust destroy and thieves break through and steal the things of the world.  In other words, worldly things are temporal, they are decaying, they are transitory.  The things of this earth are not permanent, but they inevitably perish.  That beautiful flower you pick is beginning to die immediately after you pluck it. The beautiful colors of fall that surround us in nature right now are the last gasps before the leaves turn brown and fall to the ground, leaving the trees bare.

The perfect physique will soon give way to old age, the most beautiful countenance will one day have wrinkles. Moth and rust are a picture of decay and death that is the end result of the things of this world.  And the Lord adds, thieves break through and steal.  I think one of the great thefts is is that of time itself.  Time is flying past.  I quoted Jeremiah 8:20 the other night at Bible study, which has always seemed to me a haunting statement regarding  the deceitful passage of time;  “Harvest is past, summer is ended, And we are not saved.”

There used to be a saying my mother repeated to me from time to time.  She said, “Only one life will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” Time is fleeting, and the no one knows that better than the devil.  He is a thief and a liar.  He comes to steal and destroy.  And one of the things the devil steals from us is time.  He constantly tells us to wait.  Tomorrow there will be more time, or a better time.  And before you know it, the opportunity has passed you by and you can’t get it back.

We spend time on so many things that amount to nothing.  We consider nothing better than to waste time, to not do anything.  We look forward to retiring so we won’t have to do anything anymore.  Listen, we need to invest time in the kingdom of heaven while we have the opportunity.  We need to use this limited resource of time wisely. Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”

But look at the other side, the positive side.  Jesus says “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.”  Peter speaks of this is as “an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Our investment in the bank could fail.  Our investments in mutual funds could fail.  But our  investment in heaven is reserved and protected by the power of God, and it is an imperishable, undefiled and unfading inheritance that will provide dividends for ever and ever.

Then Jesus elaborates on that principle by saying, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”   The way we live reveals our heart.  It’s easy to say, “Oh how I love Jesus.”  But our actions reveal what we really love.  So if we love the world and the things of the world, then our treasure in on earth, and it is doomed to decay and pass away.  There is no eternal treasure in the world.  But if love God our Father and the things of God, then that reveals that our treasure is in heaven.

The Bible says the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. But make no mistake, the key to the heart is the through the eye.  Jesus says in vs  22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” 

Every sin that is described in the Bible begins with looking.  Eve looked at the apple and saw that it was good for food and to make her wise like God.  So the desire for the world starts by looking, and then the heart begins to lust after it, and then you finally submit to it.  That’s why Jesus said if you looked at a woman to lust after her you had committed adultery in your heart.  Learning to control what you are looking at is the key to controlling your affections.  

And I would suggest that includes things like television and movies and things like that.  What you look at has an affect on you.  And it reveals that you have a unhealthy love for the world.  

1John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  The world is passing away, and [also] its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

So the Lord encapsulates this principle by saying in vs 24, ”No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” In other words, either God or the world both make a totalitarian demand upon us.  The world wants more and more and it is never satisfied.  It wants all your attention and demands your full allegiance to self gratification and self glorification. And the Lord is a jealous God, and He desires all of your devotion as well.  

He says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind and all your strength.” There is no middle ground.  There is no neutral corner. God wants all of you.  Notice Jesus says he will either be devoted to the one and despise the other or he will hate the one and love the other. 

The biggest mistake we make as Christians is we think we can compromise with the world.  We think we can have a little of the world, and a little bit of God.  I talked to a man yesterday about this.  A mature Christian.  Once someone who was really sold out for the Lord.  Once considering a call to the ministry.  And then he began to compromise with the world just a little here and there.  At first it wasn’t so bad.  But then one day he came to his senses and he realized that he is far, far away from God.  He said he loved God, but in his actions he proved he loved the world. 

James calls that sin akin to the sin of adultery.  James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

So if a materialistic, worldly outlook is controlling us, then we show ourselves to be godless, regardless of what we might say.  What’s worse than atheism is a materialism that thinks it’s godly.  Jesus said, “If the light that is in you is darkness, then how great is that darkness.” The man who thinks he is godly because he talks about God, says he believes in God, goes to church occasionally, but is really living for worldly things – how great is that man’s darkness!

It is not what we say that matters.  Many at the last day shall say, “Lord, Lord, did we not do this, and do that? But Jesus will say to them, “I never knew you. Not every one that says to me “Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father.”

The question is who do you serve?  God or mammon?  Mammon means riches, or treasure, whatever they may be.  Whom do you serve?  The answer is not in what you say, but what you do.

I heard a preacher tell a story about a farmer who went to his wife to tell her some good news.  He said the cow had two calves, a red one and a white one. And he said that he had felt an impulse that he should give one calf to the Lord and they would keep the other.  The wife thought that was an admirable idea and so she asked him which one was the Lord’s?  He said, “Oh, we don’t need to worry about that right now, when the time comes that they are grown we will sell them and then give the proceeds of one to the Lord.” 

Well, a few months later the farmer came again to his wife, only this time he was crestfallen and  acting very sad.  His wife asked him what was the matter, and he replied, “I have some bad news, the Lord’s calf has died.” 

That’s the way it is, I’m afraid.  It’s always the Lord’s calf that dies.  When the finances get tight, it’s the Lord’s calf that dies.  When the job is tough to handle, the Lord’s calf is the one who dies. When the family is having trouble, it’s the Lord’s calf that dies.  Whatever it is of this world that contends with the things of God, that’s what usually wins out.  What is it in your life that has come between you and the Lord?  God wants your unconditional, total surrender.  And if you are truly His child, then I trust that you will examine yourself and see if you are really serving the Lord, or serving the things of this world. What the Lord wants is your undivided love for Him.  

For several weeks now we have been studying the Sermon on the Mount.  And as I have said, that’s not really the best title for Christ’s message. He didn’t title it as that, that’s just the title that became associated with it by commentators and theologians down through the years.  I think a better title is the Manifesto of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Because what Jesus has been presenting in this message is a declaration of the Kingdom of Heaven.  The kingdom of Christ is a spiritual kingdom, and thus it’s called the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God.  

In His declaration He began by giving a series of characteristics of the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. Just as the church is not a building or an organization, but the people of God, so the Kingdom of Heaven is not a place, nor a physical government, but it consists of people.  People who have been born again spiritually.  Paul states this spiritual reality for the Christian in [Eph 1:3 saying, “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ.” He is speaking of the spiritual realm that we are a part of now in our present state.  He restates it again in chapter 2:6 “[God] raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus.” He’s speaking of a heavenly realm of which we belong, though physically we are here on earth.

Let me expand on this for a moment.  The Bible teaches that all men are born spiritually dead. And as a result, all men destined to die. Every person born on earth is subject to die, sooner or later.  That is the curse of the fall, it is the penalty for sin.  And all men are born in sin and are prone to sin.  God is holy and just, and in order to be holy and just, He must execute justice, and so He condemned man to death because man became sinful. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death.  But God is not only holy and just, but He is merciful and loving.  God loved the world that He had created, He loved mankind, and He wanted to give man life.  So in order to satisfy His divine justice and at the same time provide a way for man to be given life, He sent Jesus to die on the cross, as the substitute for sinners, that those who through faith in Jesus might have life. Physically this body is still dying, but spiritually we are born anew with a new life of Christ, and because we have the life of Christ living in us  we will never die in spirit. That’s the other part of Romans 6:23 which I quoted a minute ago; “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Now for those who have been born again spiritually, they are made children of God.  They are made citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.  1Peter 2:9-10 says, “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR [God’s] OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”

Peter makes an important distinction concerning this spiritual life.  A lot of people want to be assured that they are going to heaven when they die. But the new life of Christ is not just about going to heaven one day, but it’s about being a citizen of heaven now.  Heaven is just a word that speaks of the spiritual realm. It is the realm of Christ, who is the monarch of heaven.  He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.  He rules over the heavens and earth.  And we that have become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven are being remade in His image at this present time.  We have His Spirit dwelling in us now.  And so if we are citizens of heaven, then we will manifest the character and nature and purpose of Christ now in our lives.  

That should help us to understand this sermon.  Christ is explaining how His people act, how they live, how they think, and how they conduct themselves.  If you have been born again spiritually, then you have been given a new nature, a new character, and a new attitude.  And your new nature, new character, and new attitude are patterned after Christ.  Now we may not always act like Christ, but we should.  We should want to be like Christ. That is the result of being born again. We are given the Spirit of Christ, so that according to  Romans 8:29 we are predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.  We are growing to be like Him as we follow Him.  Just like a baby is born after the likeness of his parent’s, but as He grows he is trained by his parents to act like hIs parents. Some character traits are an acquired taste, so to speak.  We learn to like them, and be like them, as we practice them and as the Lord trains us through His word.

So when you read the Beatitudes, you should recognize that is a list of character traits that belong to Christ, and therefore have become our character traits as well. When Jesus starts each beatitude with the word “blessed,” He isn’t saying that if you do this you will be blessed.  He is saying because you are blessed with the life of Christ in you, because you have been born again, you are blessed.  And therefore these character traits are yours because you are blessed.  To be blessed is to have received eternal life, spiritual life.  To be blessed is to have become a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.  And those that are citizens of that kingdom, that have the life of Christ in them, will then exhibit these characteristics because they are the characteristics of Christ.

So then, as the Lord talks about the law, and explains these 6 laws from His perspective, we should understand that these are guidelines for our conduct in the Kingdom of Heaven.  As we conduct ourselves according to these principles we will find ourselves manifesting the life of Christ.  These laws are guidelines for kingdom living.  Obedience to these laws and principles  is how we are conformed to the image of Christ.  It’s not how we are born again, it’s not how we are saved, but how we grow to be like Him.  It’s best summarized in the last verse of this chapter, vs48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  These are designed to conform us to the image of Christ.

Now in expounding these laws as examples of heavenly principles that we are to live by, Jesus follows a certain formula.  He first says what the Pharisees teach concerning the law, and then He gives what the true divine principle teaches.  The law we are looking at today is the law concerning retribution.  I’m sure we all have heard the first part of this law before.  Maybe you didn’t even realize this phrase came from the Bible.  Jesus said in vs38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’”

So Jesus is saying this is what the Pharisees teach.  An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Now what did the Mosaic law actually say? In Exodus 21:24 we can find this statement as a part of a larger statement which includes life for life and hand for hand, and foot for foot.  The various body parts illustrate the principle of an appropriate response for a crime.  If you read the context of this statement you will find that Moses was giving this principle as guide for civil courts.  He specifically mentions that it is to be done by judges as a response to a crime.

What this law teaches is that the punishment should fit the crime.  You have a similar principle in effect today in our laws.  For instance, you have the right to defend yourself in your home.  But there is a law which says the defensive or retaliatory force must not exceed the nature of the crime. So an unarmed intruder isn’t supposed to be shot.  He can be held, arrested, incarcerated, but not executed.  In the community, if someone is caught stealing a piece of candy from a store, it’s not supposed to warrant the death penalty.  That’s the principle that governs our laws today and it’s the principle that the Mosaic law taught.

So what was the Pharisees teaching concerning this law?  Well, they applied it to individuals.  They considered it as a duty or a right to individuals to take their own revenge.  They ignored the fact that this was intended for the judges only. To them it was something to be insisted on rather than something which was intended to restrain them from taking their own revenge.  So the result of their teaching was that it was your right to retaliate, and furthermore, it was necessary to do so.  And so you had individuals retaliating against one another and taking their own revenge.

Now then, what was the Lord’s response?  Vs39 “But I say to you, do not resist an evil person.” I think a lot of confusion has been created by the King James rendering of this text.  It says, “resist not evil.”  And from a wrong interpretation of that text, comes the notion of pacifism.  I would suggest that pacifism is not what is being taught here.  And the NASB rendering of evil person helps us to recognize that it’s not speaking of evil regimes, or evil empires, such as that in Nazi Germany which tried to take over the world and wipe out the Jewish nation.  But it’s speaking of individual Christians response to a person with evil intent.

I believe that these six illustrations of the law which the Lord gives for us here in this passage are chosen for their relation to the Beatitudes.  And if you will remember vs 10 He said, “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.”  Now when you compare that to this principle of non retaliation in vs 39, do not resist an evil person…” I think you will see what Jesus is talking about.  He isn’t talking about governments defense against evil, or against those who would kill it’s citizens.  But He is laying out a principle of response to personal persecution by evil people, who are acting as agents of the enemy and insult you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you because you are a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.

As we have said from the beginning, the Sermon on the Mount must not be taken out of context, without considering the greater message.  That’s why I spent so much time at the beginning of my message reiterating what constitutes the Kingdom of Heaven, and why these principles are laid out in the manner in which they are presented.  The point is that these principles guide how we act as representatives of Jesus Christ.  They show us how to manifest the character and nature of Christ to the world as citizens of HIs kingdom. 

So when we consider this principle, we must consider how Christ reacted to His detractors.  How did He respond to His accusers?  How did He retaliate against those who persecuted Him?  Well, the short answer is, He didn’t.  When they spat upon Him He said nothing.  When they ridiculed Him He spoke not a word.  When they nailed His hands and His feet to the cross, He prayed, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they do.”

But let us not forget that on two separate occasions, Jesus fashioned a whip out of leather cords and He kicked over the tables of the money changers and He drove out the animals and the vendors out of the temple.   And His reason for HIs actions?  “Zeal for Your house has consumed Me.”  So there obviously  are times when retaliation is justified.  But in your own defense, the principle is that you are not to retaliate against an evil person.

So this law is not about pacifism, but about individual response to a personal attack for the sake of Christ.  Particularly an attack on you because of your faith.  The point being taught here is the attitude of a Christian towards himself.  The Lord is concerned about our attitude towards ourselves; our rights as individuals.  He is teaching that we are to be dead to self.  It’s about  how I see myself in relation to others.  I need to die to the spirit of retaliation and self defense.  The sinful nature of our natural man results in an attitude of self defense in regards to perceived injustices to me.  It results an attitude of selfishness in regards to my possessions.  This attitude is rooted in pride and conceit.  But in Christ all that I am, all that I have, are surrendered to the greater glory of Christ and His kingdom.

I may have my rights, prescribed for me by government.  I may have rights which are considered inalienable, fundamental rights of an individual.  But I do not operate under those rights.  I operate as a citizen of heaven.  I live under the banner of love.  And under that banner, I give up my rights for the sake of others.

Jesus had rights.  He was God. And yet He set aside those rights for our sake.  Phl. 2:5-8 says, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,  who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” As followers of Christ, we also set aside our personal rights so that men might be saved. So that they might understand the love of Christ, the grace of God.

Jesus teaches that the child of God has become dead to self, dead to pride. Jesus said, “If any man would be my disciple, let him deny himself ( deny his rights, deny the pride of self) and take up his cross ( die to self) and follow me.”  Dying to self then, Jesus is saying, is the underlying principle of the law.  An eye for an eye is the law of the government, but grace upon grace is the principle by which we are to operate, because that is the principle by which Jesus operates.

Then in delineating how we are to live out this principle, Jesus gives three illustrations.  Let us look at them briefly because they illustrate this principle of non retaliation.  The first is found in vs. 39, “but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”

Too turn the other cheek means not having the spirit of retaliation.  Jesus applies it first to the physical level of someone hitting you on the face.  To strike someone on the cheek was a means of humiliating them in Jewish culture.  And it is often considered the same in our culture. It’s an act of humiliation, an insult. 

But an insult or humiliation can be verbal as well as physical. Many women who are divorced that I have talked to have told me they left their husband because of abuse.  When pressed, many times  they say it is because of verbal abuse.  He’s mean, he’s insulting, he gets angry. While I am not denigrating that sort of abuse, nevertheless it applies to this category of turning the other cheek.  

On the other hand, it would be nice if that was all there was to it.  Turn the other cheek and then the other person is guaranteed to change.  But that’s not what Jesus says will happen.  And I doubt that it happens that way too often in real life.  My Dad, who was an old timey hell fire and brimstone preacher from the South, used to like to say, Jesus said turn the other cheek.  But if he hits me on that cheek, Jesus didn’t say what I had to do then. The point being that he was going to be gracious one time.  But the second time he was going to respond in kind.

Well, that’s obviously not what Jesus is teaching.  Once again, we must warn against a literal interpretation.  This is a principle, and the principle is that you forgive the injury, forgive the humiliation.  And again, let me remind you that this principle does not apply to governments.  Governments are authorized by God to be a restraint against evil and to punish evil.  This is born out in Romans 13:3-4 “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;  for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”  So governments are a minister of God, ordained by God as an avenger who brings judgment on the one who practices evil.  

But as individuals, especially as ministers of the Kingdom of Heaven, we do not retaliate or take our own vengeance.  Paul quoting from the Old Testament says in Romans 12:19  “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath [of God,] for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.”  As citizens of heaven, we let God take revenge, in His time,  and we respond with grace.

I cannot help but think of the fact that at His trial, Jesus was slapped repeatedly on His face.  And yet He did not retaliate.  He could have called 10,000 angels to defend Himself, but yet He did not. He is our example when we are insulted, humiliated and hurt by evil people.

The second illustration is found in vs40, “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.”  Here again the Lord is concerned with how we consider our possessions in light of the gospel.  The example is of a man suing another which would result in losing his inner garment.  The law said that they could not be sued for their outer garment, but they said it was ok to be sued for the inner garment or  the shirt.  

The principle that Jesus is emphasizing in this is the same.  The Christian is not to be concerned about personal insults or injury, even to the loss of property for the sake of Christ. It doesn’t mean that we leave our doors open and advertise that my house is open and available for robbery, I won’t be there.  

No in fact, Jesus said in Luke 12:39  “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.”  But if we lose our possessions because of persecutions against us for the sake of the gospel, then our attitude should be that of offering them up as unto the Lord.  

I would also point out in this illustration a similar situation happened to the Lord at His crucifixion.  John 19:23-24 says, “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and [also] the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, [to decide] whose it shall be”; [this was] to fulfill the Scripture: “THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS.”

The last illustration Jesus gives is about going the extra mile.  Vs.41,”Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.” Once again, we are told to turn around what was meant towards you as evil and using it for good. At that time, Judea was under Roman military occupation. Under military law, any Roman soldier might command a Jew to carry his soldier’s pack for one mile – but only one mile. Jesus here says, “Go beyond the one mile required by law and give another mile out of a manifestation of love.” This is how we transform an attempt to manipulate us into an act of grace.  

The last phrase is just a summation of this whole principle.  Jesus says in vs 42 “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.”  Once again this could be taken to such an extreme literal interpretation that it might be ridiculous.  It would be tantamount to allowing someone to steal from you until you have nothing left.  That’s not what Jesus is advocating. But what He really is talking about is the denial of self and using your life and your possessions for the purpose of the kingdom.

He is rebuking the wrong attitude of people who say “what I have is mine, I worked hard for it, and and I will not let it go lest I suffer.” He is rebuking the wrong attitude of those who are always thinking of themselves first, whether their rights or their possessions, whether they are being hit on the cheek, or asked to go an extra mile, or asked to give something up. 

What the Lord is countermanding is the tendency of a Christian to deny help to those in need, to be stingy, to be selfish and prideful. But rather we are to be gracious as the Lord was gracious to us.  We are to be forgiving as He forgave us.  We are to be merciful because He is merciful. Jesus went the extra mile in accomplishing our salvation.  He not only paid the penalty for our sins that we might be forgiven, but He gives us eternal life and an inheritance in heaven. We have received grace upon grace.  So should we also exhibit grace to the world.

The only limit to this kind of self sacrifice is the limit on how much Christ loved us. The manifestation of our Christian character is going to be that of giving, of serving, of helping those in need.  Especially those in need of salvation.  That is our reason for being here on this planet.  We are being conformed to the image of Christ that we might manifest the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, so that the world might be saved, so that they might receive life and gain entrance in the kingdom of Heaven.   

As Paul said in Romans 12:21, “do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” 

May God fill us with the power of HIs Spirit that we may do the things which are pleasing to Him, and manifest the love of God to the world.  

We have been studying the Sermon on the Mount for a couple of months or more now, and we are continuing today in the passage before us.  However, it’s important to recognize the context of the verses we are looking at.  They must be understood in context with all that has been said before it.

The Sermon on the Mount may also be called the Manifesto of the Kingdom of Heaven.  I believe that is a better title because it describes the purpose of Christ’s sermon.  Jesus is presenting the characteristics of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is a spiritual kingdom, and Jesus is the king.  The Jews were expecting a physical king who would overthrow the yoke of Rome and restore the nation of Israel to prominence in the world, from which the Messiah would rule on the throne of David.  But Jesus, the Messiah, comes the first time to establish a spiritual kingdom in which He rules in the hearts and minds of His people.

So at the beginning of HIs message, He gave a list of characteristics of the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. They are what we call the Beatitudes.  And if you will remember, these characteristics come as a result of a transformed heart – their new nature reflected in the behavior Jesus described.

Then Jesus describes the reaction of the world to His citizens. Jesus says that the world will hate them, and persecute them for His name sake, but their persecution will result in a greater blessing. He says that they will be like salt and light in the world, affecting the world by righteousness and truth.  And in response to that testimony of righteousness and truth, Jesus says that the world will glorify God because of their good works.

Starting in vs 17, Jesus begins to articulate how that life of righteousness will be carried out in the world by His citizens.  And basically, Jesus says righteousness will be established in His kingdom by keeping the law.  He says He did not come to abolish the law, but to accomplish the law.  Righteousness is established by the law.  The law is the way of life for a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.  It is how God’s righteousness is manifested.  It is how we manifest that we are the children of God.  It is how we manifest that we love the Lord.

One of the key phrases to this section of the sermon is found in vs 20, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  The righteousness then of the Christian must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, who were considered the arbiters of the law.  The scribes and Pharisees were in attendance that day, by the way.  And effectively, Jesus just publicly said that they were not going to enter the kingdom of heaven, in spite of their legal expertise, in spite of their self righteousness, in spite of their religious ceremonies, Jesus said that was not enough.  One must exceed their righteousness in order to be a citizen of heaven.

So starting in vs 21 then, Jesus begins to expound the law that the scribes and Pharisees  purported to be keeping.  He takes six examples of the law and expounds them, contrasting what the scribes and Pharisees taught in regards to the law, and what He had to say about it.

Notice He begins with “you have heard that the ancients were told.”  He was not talking about the law of Moses versus the teaching of Christ.   But rather He is referring to the teaching of the Pharisees and scribes.  And Jesus’s response to their teaching is to say, “but this is what I say.”  In other words, Jesus is presenting Himself as the ultimate authority of what the law says, and the correct interpretation of it.

Today we are going to examine the first illustration that Jesus gives concerning the law of murder.  Jesus said in vs 21, “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty [enough to go] into the fiery hell.”

The Pharisees taught the law of Moses, but in such a way as to diminish the import of the law.  They did this in this instance by linking these two injunctions together.  Both are found in the law of Moses.  The first is found in Exodus 20, in the 10 commandments, the second is found in Numbers 35:30.  But in connecting them, they managed to diminish the scope of the law of God, and diminish the consequence from God or injury to God’s holiness, and instead just emphasize a civil responsibility.   If you murder, they say, you will be liable before the judgment, meaning  a civil magistrate.  So by neglecting the import of the law of God, to be holy even as He is holy, and the consequence of not doing that, they emphasize instead a lesser consequence; that of offending a human court.  By keeping the letter of the law then, and not physically murdering someone yourself by your own hand, they managed to be able to say that they kept the law but still commit murder in their hearts.

Now if you study Exodus 20, in the original 10 commandments you would find that the word “you shall not kill,” means “murder.”  The word kill would be better translated as murder.  The law does not refer to capital punishment. In fact, God commands the death penalty for the breaking of certain laws.  Neither does the law  refer to war.  Nations are given the responsibility by God to defend their countries.  And God often uses such conflicts to accomplish His purpose of judgment in the world. We just saw that in our study of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. 

Neither do I think that the text of Exodus 20 has anything to do with self defense.  I think that the Bible teaches that we have the right to protect our lives, and the lives of our families, and those about us when we are assaulted and attacked by those who would kill us.  So the commandment is speaking of murder and not to kill in a justified means.

So in expounding this law regarding murder, Jesus is saying in effect, “You believe that it’s wrong to murder because if you do you’ll be in danger of judgment.”  And on that point the scribes and the Pharisees would have agreed, because that is what they taught from their rabbinical tradition. And their belief that they did not commit murder was one way in which they convinced themselves they were righteous. They thought since they avoided murder then they must be righteous, that they had kept the law of God.  

And I’m sure that Christians today could identify with the Pharisees at that point.  But, this is precisely where Jesus wants to expose the error in their theology. Jesus is going to show how their righteousness must exceed the standard of righteousness which was claimed by the Pharisees. So He proceeds from verse 21 to verse 48 to give six illustrations of how our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. 

Jesus expounds the law based on HIs authority to interpret the law, because He is the author of the law. His exposition exposes the self righteousness of the Pharisees.  It exposes their superficial view of God.  And it exposes their feelings towards others. 

First of all, Jesus’ words to them exposes their self righteousness.  They thought they were righteous because they didn’t kill. “Your religious system,” is what He’s saying, “your your tradition says you are not to murder, because if you do you’re in danger of judgment from the courts.  That is the tradition that’s passed down to you.” Their self righteousness was not founded upon the truth of the law, but on a diminished version of the law.

Their interpretation of the law was  you shall not murder l because if you do, you’ll receive the judgement of the courts.  But what about murder as an offense to God?  What about God’s holy character? They had limited the law so that they didn’t even mention God.  They didn’t mention divine judgment.  They said nothing about the heart.  Their interpretation stopped short of all that God intended. Yet because they didn’t murder and didn’t get into legal trouble,  they were self-righteous, self-satisfied and thought they were justified before God.  

So Jesus goes on to rebuke that thinking in verse 22, and says this, “But I say unto you – ”  He is going to give them the right interpretation. “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty [enough to go] into the fiery hell.”  Jesus is saying, it’s not just an issue of physical murder, it’s the source of murder; the  anger and hatred of the heart. 

In Matthew chapter 15:19, we see that murder is a manifestation of an evil human heart.  Matthew 15:19 says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” Murders, thefts, and the evils that men do, do not happen because of social or financial deprivation.  They happen because of a degenerate human heart.  Murder happens because the heart is evil and desperately wicked, according to Jeremiah 17:9. John 8:44 says the devil is a murderer and the natural man is of their father the devil.  We have murderous thoughts in our hearts because we are children of the devil.  So Jesus is saying that the motivation for murder is an angry and hateful heart and that renders us guilty of murder.

We hear about people that commit murder every day on the news, and I’m sure most of us can’t imagine that we would ever do that.  We can’t understand the type of person that would actually murder people.  And yet we get angry at people.  We may even hate people because of something that we think they have done to us.  We may belittle other people, or even curse them.  We hold a grudge against them. We have bitterness towards such people. And Jesus is saying, that is evidence of the heart of a murderer.

The root of murder is anger.  It’s the motivation for murder, and even if it is not carried out physically, in God’s eyes it deserves the same punishment. In verse 22, He is saying, “You’re in danger of the judgment.  You’re in danger of the council.  You’re in danger of hell fire.” Our Lord is saying  that what is in your heart is what God judges.

Listen to 1 John 3:15.  “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.”  Hate brings you nearer to murder than any other emotion.  And hate is merely the extension of anger.  Anger, hatred, is the manifestation of the heart of a murderer.  And by the way, hatred and anger can even kill the person who possesses it.  It will destroy you from the inside.

Jesus says, “If you have anger or hatred in your heart, you are guilty of murder.”  And He uses three illustrations to reveal this sin in verse 22. 

First one. “Whosoever is angry with his brother, the KJV inserts this phrase “without a cause” shall be in danger of judgment.”  Now that’s the first illustration. I think that there may be some justification for the phrase “without a cause. It may be that there is a righteous anger that is allowed under that phrase. There were times when Jesus took a whip and drove out the money changers and kicked over their tables.  There are times when God’s wrath reaches its  limit and is poured out on a city or a people.   There are times when the vengeance of God goes forth and nations or people are swept into eternity. 

And there are times when a believer has a cause to be angry. Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry, and sin not.”  There is a righteous kind of anger.  We have a cause to be angry at sin, but to love the sinner.  (as we sang in the song previously)  We have a right to be angry at sin because it destroys people.  It ruins lives.  Sin causes men and women to be destroyed, to be shut out of the kingdom of heaven and condemned to an eternity without God, an eternity in hell.  We have a right, if not an obligation to be angry at sin.  And yet we must not take our own revenge.  We must leave room for God.  In fact, we are to love the sinner, snatching them like a brand from the burning to save them from the destruction that sin causes. 

I think the type of anger that Jesus is talking about is perhaps best translated by the word ma-levolence.  Malevolence means malicious anger, hatred, wishing evil on another person, wishing harm.  That’s the sort of anger that Jesus is referring to here. So anger, or malevolence is equal to murder in God’s eyes.  Jesus says such is in danger of judgment.  And that judgment is not just of the civil authorities, but that judgment is from God.

Notice the second illustration He uses in verse 22.  “Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council.”  The Hebrew word Raca is an untranslatable word.  It’s really an epithet.  It’s a curse word. It’s a word of contempt, of derision, of hatred. James 3:6 says,  “the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.” With the tongue we curse men, and Jesus is saying that condemns us as a murderer. 

There’s a third illustration in verse 22.  “Whosoever shall say, you fool, “moros” –  from which we get our word moron “ – shall be in danger of hell fire.” Notice there is a progressive nature to the attitudes that Jesus is exposing.  To call someone a fool, in the sense in which it is meant here, as a form of derision, as word of condemnation, is to take your anger and hatred to another level.  And so Jesus correlates this escalation to a corresponding escalation in punishment; from judgement, to the council, and now to fiery hell.

Notice the word “fiery hell” at the end of verse 22. The Greek word translated “hell” there is the word gehenna, It refers to the valley of Hinnom.  The valley of Hinnom was the garbage dump of Jerusalem.  It was a public incinerator that burned all the time, 24/7, it never went out.  Jesus uses that as a picture of hell.  And He says if you have been angry or if you ever say a malicious word to  someone, or  if you ever cursed them, you are as guilty and as liable for eternal hell as a murderer is because you have the heart of a murderer. 

So Christ’s exposition of the law exposed the self righteousness of the Pharisees. The second effect of Jesus’ exposition of the law is found in verses 23 and 24 which is to expose their superficial worship of God. Worship was a major part of life of the scribes and Pharisees.  They publicly paraded their worship.  They were always in the temple worshiping God, making sacrifices, carrying out the ceremonies of the law.  They believed their worship resulted in righteousness.  But our Lord here condemns that very worship. 

Look at verse 23, “Therefore,” in other words, the “therefore” means since God is concerned with the heart, since God is concerned with attitudes toward others, how you feel about your brother, how you speak to your brother, and whether or not you curse your brother, since God is concerned about the heart listen to this.  “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,  leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”  In other words, reconciliation comes before worship. You cannot negate your dispute with a brother by your worship to the Lord.  The sin of anger or hatred or an argument with someone is not overridden by your church attendance and your worship.

Under the Jewish system of worship, If a man committed a sin, he understood that a breach was between himself and God.  The relationship was broken.  It was to be remedied by a contrite and broken heart, and a man was to confess his sin, and a man was to manifest repentance, contrition and brokenness.  And then in order to manifest outwardly that inward feeling, he was to bring an animal as a sacrifice.  The ceremony wasn’t the issue.  The heart was the important thing.  God said obedience of the heart is better than sacrifice.  The sacrifice was merely an outward symbol of a repentant, obedient heart.  And so when the breach came, and the man repented and in sorrow asked forgiveness, and set things right with God, he then brought a sacrifice. That principle is what Jesus is saying here.

Sometimes we sit around and say, “How can we make our church more of what it ought to be?”   People sometimes  say, “How can we improve our worship?  And they think, well, maybe if we had more of a certain kind of music. Maybe if we had other activities, or special music, or better sermons, or whatever they may think would improve the worship service. 

Listen, if you want to improve worship, then everybody who has something against a brother, go home and take care of it.  And come back when you’ve made things right. Take care of the sin in your life, and then we’ll see the power of the Spirit of God in our midst. 

Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”  First Samuel 15:22 says, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offering and sacrifice, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of rams.” Worship without obedience gets no where with God. Jesus says, leave worship, and get right with your brother first, then you can worship God right and enjoy the fellowship of His Spirit.

Finally, Jesus’s words expose  our relationships with others.  He’s already introduced that in verses 23 and 24.  And now He gives a specific example in 25 and 26.  He says now that you’ve left to get it right so you can worship God,  “Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.”

Notice first of all the urgency in the Lord’s admonition.  Do it quickly.  Don’t put it off. There is a tendency in matters of reconciliation especially to put it off until tomorrow.  Jesus says, don’t  put it off.  Make friends, or reconcile quickly, lest he follow through with the courts and you end up in prison.  And once you are in prison, you will  not be able to reconcile then. You won’t have the means to repay.

Does Jesus mean that the time will come when the person will die and you’ll be  unable to reconcile?  Does He mean the time will come when God will chasten you and judge you, and it’ll be too late?  Possibly either or both of those things.  He doesn’t really explain it further than that.  But what He is saying is you can’t worship Me unless your relationships are right.  So be quick about it and make things right.  Don’t let them escalate to the place where there will be a civil judgment made and somebody loses in the end. Don’t let anger and disagreements stew and fester until they boil over and there is no more possibility of reconciliation. Don’t let it go to the place where God in, in judgment, moves in.  Act quickly. 

I think even more to the point, Jesus is saying that we must always remember our relationship to God. We must not only be concerned with the brother who we are in disagreement with, but we must think of ourselves before the ultimate Judge, who is God. God has the power over all the courts on each and heaven.  He is the Judge, and HIs laws cannot be nullified and are absolute. He has the right to demand that every last cent is repaid. So what are we to do?  Let us come to an agreement with God as quickly as possible.  Do not delay, do not put it off. 

How do you see yourself this morning in light of the law as Jesus expounds it? Have you seen that you have sinned against your brother?  Have you seen that you have sinned against God? Act now to make peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  His terms are easy, and His burden is light. Make peace with God by acknowledging your sin and confess it, and utterly repent of it without any defense or self justification. Humble yourself and if necessary even make a fool out of yourself to make things right with those whom you have hated or been angry against. 

Then the Lord will say to you, that He will forgive your sin even though you are an undeserving sinner and guilty before God, and in regards to the debt you owe that you can never repay, God  has sent Jesus into the world to pay the penalty for your sin upon the cross so that you might go free. You can be forgiven.  You can have peace with God and man.  Call upon the Lord today that you might be forgiven and receive a new heart that you may be obedient to all that He requires of you.  Don’t delay.  Call upon Jesus today. He has given us an offer of peace.  Be reconciled to God.  And in exchange, God will give you a new heart, a new nature, that you might be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.  

I assume that most of you are here this morning because you want to worship God.  You want to say something to the Lord, perhaps, but most importantly, you want to hear from the Lord. It’s essential that we hear from God.  Jesus said that God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. 

And so I want to emphasize to you this morning that when we read the words of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in this passage, you are hearing the actual word of God.  The word of God spoken by the Son of God, who John calls the Word.  God is speaking to us in this passage in the most direct way possible.  And this passage is truth because it is the word of God. 

So my purpose here this morning is not to entertain you, nor to make a nice sounding sermonette, but to faithfully expound God’s word so that you can fully comprehend all that God intends to tell us in these statements. God is teaching us in this passage the essential characteristics of a citizen in His kingdom.  He is telling us how we might enter the kingdom of heaven.  He is telling us how we can receive the comfort of God. He is telling us how we might inherit the true riches of this earth.  He is telling us how we might be filled with righteousness.  He is telling us how we might receive mercy. He is telling us how we can see God.  He is telling us how we can be the sons and daughters of  God.  He is telling us how we might become citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

And so we have been looking at these opening verses, in what is called the Beatitudes, we have been looking at each individually as part of our series on the Sermon on the Mount.  And we have said that they are in a particular order.  That they build upon one another.  And we have said that they are all necessary.  All are characteristics of all Christians.  All are characteristics of a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.  

And as I have said previously, we are born into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “you must be born again.”  You are not naturally entered into the kingdom due to your heritage, you cannot not join such as a club or denomination to enter, you can not earn your way in, or climb up some way or another through your efforts, but citizenship is by spiritual birth. You are born once in natural birth, you must be born again spiritually in order to be part of the kingdom of heaven.  Notice that the Beatitudes are bookended by the phrase, yours is the kingdom of heaven.

Let me reiterate another important doctrine for those who are new here this morning.  The kingdom of heaven is spiritual.  It is the church.  It is the church, visible and invisible.  It is the body of Christ, the called out ones, (eklesia).  It is the invisible, spiritual reign of Christ in the hearts and minds of His people.  The kingdom of heaven is populated by the conversion of sinners formerly held captive to the dominion of darkness, who are supernaturally transferred into the kingdom of God’s Son, by the transference of Christ’s righteousness to our account by faith in the work of Christ upon the cross and His subsequent resurrection.  That faith constitutes becoming a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

So far then in our study of this sermon, we have understood the first Beatitude as a requirement of poverty of spirit, “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  We recognize our spiritual bankruptcy, and out of that recognition of our poverty comes the realization that we need a righteousness that exceeds our own in order to attain the kingdom.

Secondly, having recognized our spiritual bankruptcy, we mourn over our sin.  “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be filled.”  When we mourn over our sinful condition, that really means we repent of our sinful condition to the point of being willing to die to the old man, that we might be made new, and we receive the comfort of God’s forgiveness of our sins.

Thirdly, Jesus said that “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”  We learned last week that this refers to the need to humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and then He will exalt you at the proper time.  It’s a recognition that you cannot do anything to achieve your own salvation, that you are a sinner, and in order to be a citizen of Christ’s kingdom you are going to need a Savior who is willing and able to pluck you out of the pig pen of the squalor you live in, and wash you off and dress you in His righteousness and in His mercy and grace bring you into His kingdom.  

Now we come to the fourth Beatitude.  “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”  In the three previous Beatitudes, there was a predominantly negative element to them, in that they caused us to look at ourselves and see what was missing.  But as we look at this Beatitude, we see a change in perspective, we see the solution.

We have been looking at the hopelessness of our spiritual bankruptcy, mourning over our sin and our helpless condition, and being humbled before God by the inadequacy we have in ourselves, and now we see the deliverance, the filling which comes by the grace of God.  And this particular Beatitude emphasizes the doctrine of grace, which is so fundamental to our salvation.

There are three parts to this statement which will serve as something as a guide for our exposition today. And perhaps it is best to start with the term “righteousness.”  Righteousness is the state of being accepted by God.  It is meeting the standard of conduct that has been established by God.  Many people have a misplaced trust in their own goodness, which is based on a comparison to other people.  And they base their sense of righteousness on their  own standard, and their standard is the failings of other people. So they say, “I’m not a bad person.  After all, I am not like that person over there.  I’m better than that person, so I am basically a good person.”  They base their sense of goodness on other people’s failings, rather than on the holiness of God.

Jesus gave an illustration about that sort of judgment in the story of a Pharisee and a tax collector who came to the temple to pray. And in Luke 18:11 we read that Jesus said, “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’  “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

So there you have a person that did good deeds, he didn’t do the obviously bad sins, he tithed, he fasted, etc, but he was still not justified by his works. He still fell short of the kingdom of heaven.  And that’s because he was trusting in his works to gain entrance.  He was judging himself according to a scale that he had come up with, rather than by the scale of God’s righteousness. 

And yet later in this very Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.  So it’s necessary to understand that God’s standard is what constitutes righteousness, and only that level of righteousness can be acceptable to God.

Now notice what Jesus says, He says, “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst for righteousness.”  They are going to be the ones who are blessed.  Notice that He doesn’t say, you should hunger and thirst for blessedness.  Or to use the common translation for blessed which many Bibles use; happy.  He doesn’t say those who hunger and thirst for happiness.  But that is what the world’s mantra is. The world is seeking happiness. When happiness is what you desire and long for, you will end up missing it.   But when righteousness is what you hunger for, then Jesus says you will be blessed, you will find true happiness.  Happiness is found in pursuit of something else, not in pursuing it directly.

I have heard many a parent say, “I only want my children to be happy.”  And yet that pursuit of happiness almost always seems to be at the expense of righteousness.  They reject God’s righteousness because they think that is going to hinder their happiness, when in fact it’s the only thing that can produce it.

Imagine a man who is suffering from a painful disease.  And he goes to the doctor and the doctor is very concerned about treating his pain and so he prescribes a pain killer for the pain and sends him on his way. That’s not a good doctor.  A good doctor is one who is concerned about the cause of his pain.  If you take care of the cause of his pain, then the pain will go away.  But if you just treat the pain, you may look healthy for a while, you may feel better for a while, but actually you are still a very sick person on the inside, and the doctor has done nothing to help you.  Your condition will eventually get worse.

That’s the folly of the world seeking relief from the pain of life, seeking pain relief in alcohol or drugs, in entertainment,  in sexual hookups and so forth.  They may feel better for a little while, but in the end it’s a bitter cup. Hebrews 11 speaks of the pleasures of sin, which last for a season, but the end is destruction.

We even see the same error in the church. Some people are so focused on trying to find a state of blessedness.  Of course, they interpret blessedness to be health and wealth.  They come to Christianity seeking God’s blessing of health and wealth.  They are big advocates of the prayer of Jabez; O bless me indeed! Enlarge my horizons, fill my bank account. They hunger and thirst for what they think is blessedness.  

Or the hunger and thirst for blessedness and they look for it in spiritual experiences, in some sort of ecstatic experience. We are not told to hunger and thirst for experiences, or for even for blessedness  for that matter.  If you want to have the blessedness of God in your life, then Jesus said  we should hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Seek righteousness and then you will find blessedness.

So what does righteousness mean? It doesn’t just mean morality.  It’s not just some conforming to what’s considered upright, good behavior.  It’s the opposite of sin.  And sin is defined in the scriptures.  Sin is that behavior and attitude that is antagonistic towards God’s nature.  Righteousness is holiness.  Righteousness is being free from the manifestations of sin in all it’s forms.

So we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness.  And the response of God, the blessedness that He gives in response to that desire, is righteousness.  This righteousness that God gives is first of all, the righteousness of justification.  It’s the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is transferred to my account by the grace of God.  2 Cor. 5:21 says, “God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”  Jesus became sin for us at the cross, bearing our penalty so that we might be set free.  And by faith in what He did for us on the cross, God transfers our sins to Jesus, and His righteousness to us.  That’s the righteousness of our justification.

The desire for righteousness then is the desire to be right with God.  When you come to realize your poverty, when you are sick to death of your sin, when you humble yourself before God, and come to the point of wanting to be made right with God, then God grants you forgiveness for your sin, and imputes righteousness to your account on the basis of Christ’s atonement on your behalf.  So in justification we are made righteous.

But there is another aspect of righteousness that God gives us.  And that is not only justification but sanctification. Sanctification is the process of living righteously.  Sanctification is the blessing of God that delivers you from the power of sin.  Having been set free from the penalty of sin, we should naturally want to be free from the power of sin.  And God graciously provides that blessing as well.  And Jeremiah 31:33 speaks of this reality, saying, Jer. 31:33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Please understand that when the Lord says he is going to put His law within us and write it upon our hearts, that He is speaking of rebirth, of conversion, of a spiritual transformation whereby our heart is changed, our desires have changed, our minds have changed.  That is the nature of a new birth.  That is what it means to be born again.  Many people try religion.  Many people attempt turning over a new leaf.   And yet they never find freedom from the life of sin.  They are still suffering under the dominion of sin.  The reason is that they have never been converted. They have never died to the old man, and been born again into a new man.  They have never received the new heart.

You know, I love ice cream.  I know it’s not healthy for me to eat a huge bowl of ice cream every night, but I do it because I love it. On the other hand I hate spinach.  I am not ever tempted to eat a bowl of spinach every night.  You couldn’t make me eat a bowl of spinach every night. The only way that is going to change is if you change my taste.  If you change my desire.  You change my heart and then you will see a change in my behavior.  

And the same is true in regards to righteousness.  I have to have a change of heart.  Because naturally, in my old nature I don’t love righteousness.  I love my sin.  And so there has to be a transformation from within in order for there to be a change in my attitudes and behavior.

Christ did not die on the cross only to set us free from the penalty of sin, but also to free us from the power of sin.  Sin no longer controls us if we are truly saved. Sin no longer has power over us.  We can live victorious lives through Christ who lives in us in the power of His Spirit.

The other phrase that we need to look at is “hunger and thirst.”  Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. What is meant by that description of hungering and thirsting? Many people today have no concept of what it means to be really hungry or thirsty.  But the reality of being actually starving or thirsty is that it becomes the priority of your life.  You will do anything in order to get something to eat or drink. Nothing else is as important.  It’s something that causes you to feel desperate.  You increasingly suffer until you get what your body craves.

The Psalmist expresses this desire in Psalm 42:1-3 “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, While [they] say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

There needs to come upon a person the hunger and thirst for righteousness before there can be the filling of righteousness.  In other words, one must come to the point of realizing their need, of the fact that the fodder of the world is unsatisfying, that they are starving for something that truly satisfies.  You must come to realize that what you have been feeding on is worthless and that it doesn’t sustain life.  You might be eating of what the world supplies, but inwardly, spiritually you are starving to death.

A good illustration of that is the story of the prodigal son. When the prodigal son went out from his father to live  a life of wanton pleasure in the world, seeking the happiness the world promises, he eventually found himself eating the husks with the pigs in the pig pen.  But when he realized he was starving, he got up and went home to his father.  That’s the essence of being hungry and thirsty for righteousness. To be desperate, to be starving, to realize the urgency of my need and that the mammon of the world can never satisfy it.  And then to turn to the supply and Father of righteousness as the only way to be filled.

So then finally, what is promised to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness? They shall be filled. Their hunger will be satisfied with righteousness. This is the grace of God in response to your need. God will graciously grant you righteousness. And notice that it is complete.  It’s not a taste of righteousness.  It’s not a little bit.  But it’s a filling. It’s more than abundant.  The righteousness of Jesus Christ more than satisfies the need on my part.  When God credits the righteousness of Christ to my account, He gives me enough to last forever. Not just enough for today, and then tomorrow I have to go and get some more.  But enough to cleanse even the vilest sinner for ever and ever.

So there is the immediate credit to my account, which tips the scale of God’s justice so completely on the side of righteousness that He may ever consider me as righteous.  But then there is given to me the continual desire of righteousness which comes from a new heart, a continual hungering that causes me to seek the Lord in daily communion, to be fed with His word day by day. And that imputed righteousness to me allows the Holy Spirit to live in me as a holy vessel, filled with the Spirit of God to empower me, that I might do the works of righteousness as a child of God.

And then in that last day, when the trumpet of God shall sound and He will raise us up to be with Him, we will receive a new body in the new heavens and the new earth, and the presence of sin will be altogether removed, not only from my body, but from the world, and we will dwell in righteousness from then on through eternity.  

So the Christian then is one who is hungering and thirsting for righteousness, who is filled with the righteousness of Christ in justification, then continuously hungering and thirsting for righteousness in the process of sanctification, and then in eternity dwelling in righteousness in our glorification.  

Peter speaks of both  this future and present state of righteousness in 2Pe 3:13-15  “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.  Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,  and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.”

The question I would  leave with you today is,  are you hungering and thirsting for righteousness?  Have you been filled with the gift of Christ’s righteousness?  Have you been converted, transformed, into a new creation with a new heart and a new mind?  Jesus said, He who comes to Me I will in no wise cast out. He said in John 7:37, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.”  He said in John 6:51  “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

Jesus gave His life, offered up His body on the cross, so that we might feast upon His righteousness. Call upon the Lord today and ask Him to give you a new heart, a new life in Him.  And He will fill you with HIs righteousness that you might have eternal life.  

Today we are beginning a series of studies in the Sermon on the Mount. I expect this series to last all summer, and possibly into the fall, if the Lord wills. And I hope that many of you will be able to be here for the entire series. If not, then I encourage you to follow along by reading the messages on our website. Because I believe that this message Jesus preached is unparalleled in the scriptures. After all, it was delivered by no less than God in the flesh. God, having left the kingdom of heaven to take the form of man, explains to men the nature and scope of His kingdom here on earth, and the nature and character of those who would be citizens of His kingdom.

In the previous chapter, we learn of the activities of Christ at the beginning of His earthly ministry, immediately after coming out of the wilderness following the temptation of the devil. Matthew says in verse 17 that “from that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” What we have here in these three chapters of the Sermon on the Mount is possibly the first sermon that Jesus preached. And I believe that it was the basis of His regular preaching thereafter. You can find another version of it in Luke 6, which was probably given on another occasion. And I suspect that it was repeated in some form or another as Jesus went into various regions of Judea and Galilee.

And that is supported by what Matthew says in chapter 4 vs 23; 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.” He was proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom everywhere He went. We call this passage the Sermon on the Mount, but if Jesus had a title for His message, it may well have been the Gospel of the Kingdom. Because that is essentially what He is preaching; the nature and character of those who are or would be members of His kingdom.

Now having said that, however, I believe that this message was preached primarily to those who were His disciples. To use a more contemporary term, it was given to Christians. Notice that in the last part of the fourth chapter Matthew says great crowds were following Him from all of Israel, even from beyond the Jordan, and yet in vs 1 of this chapter, it says “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 them.” So His sermon may have had some of the crowd in attendance, but it was delivered primarily to His disciples, which undoubtedly included more than just the 12, but were not just miracle seekers, but genuine believers.

There are a variety of views of interpretation regarding the Sermon on the Mount. And I do not plan on spending too much time trying to delineate them. But I will say that most of them err on either the side which says that it doesn’t apply to the church age, but was a message intended for the Jews, or they err towards the idea that it is a social gospel that teaches a way to create utopia on earth if people will follow these principles. More often than not, many evangelical Christians seem to hold to a view that these principles are not relevant to us, because they are legalistic, and we are under grace and not the law, and so we need not be too concerned about them.

But I would say to such people that if you disregard one section of the message because of that view, then you have to disregard all of the message. And that view makes this seminal message of Jesus basically irrelevant to Christians. Which is a ridiculous idea in light of subsequent themes which He presents in this message, such as “you are the light of the world,” or “you are the salt of the earth.” It’s highly unlikely that any serious student of the word would want to consign the whole of Jesus’s teaching as irrelevant.

The fact is, that there is really nothing in this message which is not presented elsewhere in the New Testament by the apostles. Those of you who were with us in our studies of 1 and 2 Peter over the last few months should recognize many of the principles that Peter expressed have their origin here in the Sermon on the Mount. And similar themes are carried in Paul’s writings, in John and James’ epistles as well.

So it is clear to me, that the Sermon on the Mount is meant for Christians today. It is nothing less than an elaboration of what Jesus called His “new commandment.” That we should love one another as He has loved us. That we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and strength. And in this text, He tells us how to live that way.

One of the greatest misconceptions of the hearers of this original message is also a common misconception of hearers today. And that is what Jesus refers to as the kingdom of heaven. To the Jews of His day, they were expecting a military, materialistic return of the kingdom. They were expecting the Messiah to be the conquering general who would deliver them from oppression from the Romans and take his place on the throne of David. So their view of the kingdom of heaven was one that was concerned primarily with the kingdom of God being established through the nation of Israel and the consequent material blessings of living in that realm.

And among Christians today there is a similar misconception of the kingdom; an expectation that becoming a Christian will enact a state of blessedness in a materialistic, physical realm, that produces for the modern disciple health, wealth and happiness.

But in fact, the kingdom of heaven refers to a spiritual kingdom. Jesus said, the kingdom of of God is among you, and elsewhere, the kingdom of God is within you. The kingdom of God is in every true believer, and is manifested in the true church. Christ reigns in the hearts of His people and in His congregation. There are three parts to the kingdom; the kingdom has come, the kingdom is come, and the kingdom will come. Christ came at His inauguration when He was manifested in the flesh, He is coming into our hearts by faith where He rules and reigns over our lives, and He will come again at the consummation of the kingdom in the last days when He will judge the world and rule and reign with a rod of iron.

So when Jesus preached the kingdom of heaven had come, it was relevant to the people living in that day, that they might recognize Him and worship Him. And it is relevant to the people of our day in that we might believe in Him that we might be saved and transferred into His kingdom, where He rules over our lives. For us, it is a kingdom which is spiritual, even as it was intended to be at His inauguration. It is a spiritual kingdom which governs our actions and controls our hearts and minds. The Sermon on the Mount is not a prescription for entrance into the kingdom, but rather a description of life in the kingdom. How we are meant to live.

Some might say that is unrealistic. That no one can rise to the standard of living that Christ gives us in this sermon. But the fact is that Christ died to empower us to live according to these principles. Paul said in Titus 2:14 “Christ Jesus gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” His death on the cross and the consequent gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to live the life which He prescribes here.

In fact, the impossibility of living out the Sermon on the Mount in my own ability illustrates the absolute necessity of the need to be born again, and to be indwelled by the Spirit of God. It shows me my weakness and my utter dependence upon Him. Without His power working in me, I would be totally hopeless in light of the standards of God.

There is another aspect of the Sermon on the Mount, especially found in the first section of the sermon which is called the Beatitudes, and that is the idea of being blessed. This concept of blessedness is one which we will talk about in greater detail later. But for now, suffice it to say that it is a promise attached to the practice of the principles contained in this sermon. Spiritual blessings are promised for citizens of the kingdom who are characterized by these attitudes and actions. The more we practice them, the greater the blessings that are in store. Many people today are drawn to Christianity in search of a blessing of some sort. But I say to you today, if you really want God’s blessing on your life, then consider the Sermon on the Mount. Don’t look for some sort of mystical blessing through some so called spiritual experience. But practice the precepts set forth by Christ in this message, and you are promised God’s blessing in return.

Another benefit of living out the Sermon on the Mount, is that of evangelism. There is no greater sermon than that which is lived out before others and not just spoken. If more of us were living out the principles contained in this message, then the world would not only be convicted, but it would be drawn to Christianity as something life changing. The problem with our evangelism today is that we proclaim the gospel but we deny it’s power in our lives. And the world can see the disconnect between what the average Christian says and how they actually live. They can see that there is no power to change, there is no power of a new life. But the blessing of God upon those that practice these principles is that they have the power within them to live it out, to live like Christ lived and love like Christ loved us. And the world would be attracted to that. In fact, the greatest times of revival in history have been when people were truly living according to the Sermon on the Mount.

As we begin this study of the Sermon on the Mount, we will by necessity look at it piece by piece, precept by precept. But it’s important that in our introduction today that we emphasize the totality of the Sermon must be always considered as the context. No single part or phrase from this sermon should ever be considered apart from the context of the whole. Unless you understand the point of the whole sermon, then you can’t properly understand the parts. For instance, in the exhortation to turn the other cheek, some proponents of the social gospel have deduced that we should practice pacifism and that all forms of war are not something that a Christian can ever condone. But to make that assumption is evidence that they do not understand the totality of the Sermon. The context is the spiritual reign of God in the hearts of His people and how they are to treat one another and how they are to live in the kingdom of God. Governments have their own peculiar responsibilities which they are to do which may include an act of war in order to protect it’s people.

But the point today is not to debate pacifism, but to point out the importance of maintaining the context of the sermon and also the fact that the order and sequence of the sermon has a divine pattern. In every one of the Epistles, there is a pattern, which is always doctrine first, and then the application. The same pattern is found here in the Sermon on the Mount, first the major doctrines, or characteristics of kingdom life, and then the particulars as to how you are to live in various circumstances.

As we begin our study of this sermon, the first part makes up what is known as the Beatitudes. Today we will only be looking at the first Beatitude. But before we begin that exposition, we need to understand a few things about this section in particular. The Beatitudes are a description of the citizen of the kingdom’s essential nature and characteristics. Jesus is saying in essence; that all Christians are supposed to be like this. It’s not a description of just a few super saints. It’s a description of every one who is truly saved, who truly belongs to the kingdom of heaven.

Another important point to make is that all Christians are to have all these characteristics of the Beatitudes. It’s not like the spiritual gifts, which one person may have the gift of teaching and another the gift of administrations. But all Christians are to exhibit all the characteristics. That is the standard that Christ sets forth. In fact, they are given in a particular order which is dependent upon having the one before it. So they all are meant to be characterized together in one person at one time.

Another important principle is that none of these characteristics are from a natural tendency on our part. Each of the Beatitudes is a quality which is produced by the grace of God working in a new creation by the operation of the Holy Spirit. In other words, these characteristics are not natural. They are not normal or even really achievable in the natural man. For instance, we might think that some people may seem to be naturally humble, or meek, but when the Lord talks about the meek, I think you will see that the meekness he speaks of is not a natural tendency. In fact, these characteristics differentiate between the Christian and the unregenerate person. Paul says in 1Cor. 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” So these characteristics delineate the difference between the citizen of the kingdom and the citizen of the kingdom of darkness.

And that emphasizes the salient point which is this; the Christian and the unregenerate man are from two separate realms. Colossians 1:13 says, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” There is a difference in their citizenship, and consequently there is a difference in their allegiance, and in their actions. If you are of the world, then Jesus said you will do the works of the prince of this world, that is the devil. But if you are of the Lord, then you will do the works of your Father in heaven.

We that are spiritually born again belong to the kingdom of heaven. We belong to God. Notice that at the beginning and at the end of the Beatitudes we have the promise, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus bookends the Beatitudes with the kingdom of heaven. We are of a different realm, responsible to a different sovereign, marching to the beat of a different drum. It is the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. It is a spiritual kingdom to which our heart beats allegiance. It is the realm of Christ ruling in our hearts and minds and reigning in our lives.

So let’s now consider the first of the Beatitudes. My introduction may seem longwinded, but in reality I have barely scratched the surface, however I’m sure we will revisit the greater context again and again. But I want to leave you today with the first of the Beatitudes, as I believe it is the key to all that follows. As I indicated earlier, there is a definite pattern to these principles, and they build upon one another. So the first is by definition the foundation on which others will be placed. In vs 3 Jesus begins His sermon by saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Without the first one as a foundation, there can be no entry into the kingdom of heaven. There is no one in the kingdom of God who is not first poor in spirit. A wineskin cannot be filled unless it is first empty. It’s essential to the gospel that there must be first a conviction and a repentance before there is conversion. One must understand his poverty before he can be made rich. For those who contend that the Beatitudes is legalistic, I would point out that there is no more complete statement of the doctrine of justification by faith than here in this statement.

It also prevents someone from looking at these principles as a means of earning their salvation by works. It’s not something that you can achieve, or attain to. It starts with a realization that you are spiritually bankrupt and need to receive by grace that which is beyond your apprehension. That’s the idea behind the word translated as poor. It literally has to do with being a beggar. Having no means, no inherent value, nothing that you can claim, but devoid of righteousness, bankrupt, in abject poverty in terms of our standing before God.

Notice also, that Jesus attaches the idea of poverty that of spirit. There is no merit to be gained from poverty for poverty’s sake. But poor in spirit indicates that Jesus is speaking of the spiritual realm, that of being in spiritual poverty. There are people in various other church denominations that have deliberately claimed a life of poverty in order to hopefully ascribe to themselves a measure of spirituality due to a misinterpretation of this verse. But Jesus does not teach physical poverty, but rather that a recognition of their spiritual poverty is necessary for entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven unless you first recognize you are a sinner and the immensity of the chasm between you and God cannot be breached by human effort. Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags.” And Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” None of us are able to bridge the gap between us and God because our sins have caused a chasm between us and God, and our best efforts fall far short of His righteousness. That kind of conviction precipitates a call upon God for forgiveness and conversion to a new life in which our righteousness is imputed by faith in Christ.

The natural man does not aspire to be poor in spirit. The natural man is defensive at best about his spiritual condition, and more than likely is prideful about it. Being destitute is not something that the world admires. The world admires self confidence, self reliance, and self achievement. The world says you need to love yourself. The world says whatever feels good to you is good. The world says that you are fine just the way you are and God has to accept the way you are.

But the teaching of scripture is that when men came face to face with the glory of God, they found themselves face down on the ground, unable to even lift their eyes to see God, and like Isaiah, the prophet of old when brought before the Lord said, “Woe [is] me! for I am undone; because I [am] a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” To be poor in spirit is to rightfully appraise a Holy God, and to see yourself correctly in your sinfulness.

To be poor is spirit then is not only a precondition for conversion, but it’s also a prerequisite for kingdom living. It’s an attitude of humility. It’s not a confidence born out of ability, or social standing, or an arrogance as if to say you have arrived, but a humility born out of the fact that God has chosen you, the least of these, not many noble, not many wise, not of your own righteousness, not by works which you have done, but according to His mercy He saved you. And that sort of humility is the mark of one who is poor in spirit. It’s not a false humility either that parades about a facade of being humble only to hope that everyone sees how humble you are. But it’s a heart that submits to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all things – a servant’s heart for the things of the Lord.

Moses was a man who was called the most humble man in the world. David was a humble man, asking “who am I?” when he was called by God. Isaiah as we have already noted was humble before the Lord, “I’m a man of unclean lips.” Humbleness, of course, was a characteristic of Jesus, who took on the form of man, and humbled Himself in the office of a servant, and offered Himself as a substitute for sinners.

To be poor in spirit then means an absence of pride, an absence of self assurance and self reliance. It’s utter dependence upon God, in all things, and for all things. It’s recognizing that there is nothing that we can do in our own strength, but only in the strength which God supplies. It’s not relying on our natural talents, or our natural heritage, or our natural birth. Paul said that all such things he counted as dung for the surpassing value of knowing Jesus.

The question that should be asked by us all is whether or not that is a characteristic that we have. Am I poor in spirit? How do I really see myself in light of my relationship to God, and in the way that I see myself in the world? What does the way that I live my life say about my spiritual poverty or lack thereof? Would the people in my church, or my coworkers, or my neighbors, characterize my life as being poor in spirit? Or would they see illustrations of a life that is prideful.

And the other question that should be asked is how do you become poor in spirit? The way to become poor in spirit is to do as Isaiah did; look at God. When you see God for who He really is, and not who you have made Him out to be, when you see God as He is displayed in scripture, holy, perfect, awesome, fearful, All Mighty, loving his enemies, hating sin, judge of the earth, ruler of the heavens, Creator of the universe, when you see God as He is, then you will gain a better appreciation of how destitute you are.

How do you become poor in spirit? Read God’s word. Read the Sermon on the Mount. Read it not as a list of hyperbolic statements that was never meant to be accomplished, but read it in light of the fact that Jesus said this is the way you must live if you are truly a member of His kingdom. And when you do that, it should raise the bar so high that you cannot help but recognize just how low you are. That’s a good beginning. And with the Lord’s help, and your submission to and dependence upon Him, by His grace you will find that in your poverty He will make you rich. Paul said in 2Cor. 8:9 “For 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.” Blessedness is the riches that God disposes upon those that recognize their poverty in spirit. May you live in total submission and dependence upon the Holy Spirit as you serve in the kingdom of God.