The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 4: Sermon on the Mount - Beatitudes

Episode Date: March 31, 2019

Jesus did not come to make bad people better or sad people happy. He came to give life to the dead and salvation for sinners.

Amen, amen. How we doing church? Everybody good? Hope so. If you got your Bibles, grab them. We're going to be in Matthew chapter 5. We're in the fourth week of the series that we are calling mountains, and we're going to teach on the beatitudes or the sermon on the mount, at least the first part of it. And the reason I'm doing this sermon is because Dr. Paul said I had to. And so I just do whatever he says. And the last time I was teaching this sermon, I was standing on the mountain of beatitudes. and it is a beautiful place, and if you've never been there, you should go. You should sell a car or sell a kid or sell a kidney on the black market. Whatever you need to do to get there, you should, all right?

I promise. It's pretty awesome. So it was really intimidating there to talk about the sermon on the mount. Because the last time the sermon on the mount was preached there was by, you know, the greatest preacher ever, Jesus himself. And so the thing is about this, about the beatitudes, is I think that they're very familiar, but they're very often misunderstood. And so we're going to unpack that, and then we'll talk about each one. Chapter 5, verse 1 says this of the book of Matthew, seeing the crowds. The reason there are all these crowds following Jesus at this point because of the end of Matthew

Chapter 4, we find out that he moves into Galilee. Galilee is a beautiful place. John the Baptist, his first cousin, gets arrested in Jerusalem, and so Jesus is like, I'm out of here, and he moves to Galilee. It looks like Napa. It looks like the mountains of North California. It's beautiful, all right? So you've got to live somewhere.

You might as well live somewhere awesome. That's why we live here. All right, anyway. So all these crowds are coming because he's healing the sick, he's casting out demons, he's doing all that kind of stuff. So big crowds show up, and it says he went up on the mountain. And when he sat down, his disciples came to him. Now, part of what Moses is, I mean, part of what Matthew is doing is Matthew is writing

to a Jewish audience, and he wants the folks to understand that Jesus is the greater Moses. And Moses had a bunch of people following him, and he went up on the mountain to receive the law from God to give to the people. And what's going to happen here is Jesus has a lot of people following him. And so he goes up on the mountain to receive the law from God and he is going to give it to the people. But the problem is if you've ever read through the whole sermon on the mount and you take it very seriously at all, you will look at it and you go, well, that's impossible.

I mean, there's nobody that can pull this thing off. You mean, it's not just don't commit adultery, but don't lustre in your heart. It's not just don't murder, but it's don't be angry at your brother in your heart. Well, this is impossible, and you're absolutely right. Which is why I think Jesus starts with the beatitudes. What if the beatitudes are not eight separate circumstantial blessings, but what if the beatitudes is just building blocks of the gospel and its implication in our life? You see, the reason why I think Jesus starts with the beatitudes before he rolls out the ethic of what

looks like to follow after Jesus is because the gospel lets us know that the verdict comes before performance. Where else does that happen in your life? You see, usually it's your performance and then the verdict, but in the gospel, it doesn't go that way at all, that God chooses you, graces you and loves you. And then because you are chosen, because you are forgiven, because you have received grace, then it changes everything about you. So let's read through the beatitudes and then we'll unpack them one by one, and hopefully you'll be able to see how they are really linked together. It says, and he opened his mouth, and he taught them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure and heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. This means a little more to me today than it did on Thursday, but I appreciate it.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and under all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. The beatitudes. Even if you're new to Bible study, you've heard this before. But I think they're most often misunderstood for a number of reasons. One is that the Greek word macarios is kind of hard to translate into English.

Some translations used to translate it happy. Like happy as the peacemaker and happy, happy. And here's the thing. How many of you just know that God is not so concerned with your happiness? He's really concerned with your holiness. Very, very different. And I've got bad news for us as Americans, man. Again, our motto from the beginning has been the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And it's not going well. It's not. A survey just came out two weeks ago, and they ranked countries on how happy the country was. We came in 19th. It's like our mom. motto, it's our thing. And the whole world, we are about the pursuit of happiness, and there's 18 countries, apparently, around the world that are happier than us. Number one is Finland. Number two is Denmark. Number three is Norway. Number four is Iceland. Number five is the Netherlands. So wherever Anna and Elsa live, those are the happiest people. I think it's just cold and they're inside drunk. That's what I think. So they poll well. But that's just, I think so.

So I don't think the word, the word doesn't mean happiness. It really means like, I don't know, flourishing. Blessed is a really good translation. Like God's plan for you, God's hand on your life is much bigger than the circumstances in which you find yourself. And part of the reason I think we misunderstand these is because we'll even talk about the eight beatitudes. As if they're eight separate events. And in fact, if you go to the Mountain of Beatitudes, there's a church at every place where something happened. and they had these little headstones where Jesus preached the sermon on the mount.

It looks like little grave sites. I don't know why they do that, but they do. And each one is different. There's eight separate headstones. And I think the way that this is most often taught is this. This is like, hey, if you're down and out, God's got a blessing for you. If you're pure at heart, God's got a blessing for you. If you're merciful, God's got a blessing for you.

To which I look at some of those, and I'm like, well, I'm not very merciful, so I guess that doesn't apply to me. Now I thought somebody would be like, no, pastor, you're full of mercy, but that's fine, whatever. So what if instead, you've got to follow along here, that really it's like the order of salvation. What God is doing, where Jesus is doing here is Jesus is laying out the process of salvation. Jesus is laying out the gospel from the moment the Spirit of God begins to reveal our own sinfulness all the way to that moment where we are face to face with him. So I need you to put on your theological big boy pants and let's roll. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, what does it mean to be poor in spirit?

I don't think he's talking about financially poor. I think what he's talking about here is when you get to that place where you realize at the sole level, Houston, there's a problem. And the problem is me. this means that you come to the utter realization that you are spiritually bankrupt, that it's not try harder, do better, that what you need in your life is not to just turn over a new leaf, but you need a brand new life. You need someone to do for you what you can never do for yourself. You've tried to be good.

And again, man, you can do it for several hours or days or, you know, depends on you. that you come to church, you're like, you know what, I'm going to do better. And you try and you try and you try, but when you lay your head down on the pillow at night, still at the sole level, you know something is busted up and broken, that you are spiritually bankrupt. Now, listen, that can never happen from your own mind. This is a gift of God. Here's what he says.

When you find yourself in a place where you are at rock bottom spiritually speaking, and sometimes it's crazy because everything else in your life is going awesome. I mean, you've got the job you wanted, you know, your kids are doing fine, your marriage is all right, and yet somehow you lay down at night and go to bed and you go, what is missing in here? Ecclesiastity says that God has put eternity in our hearts, and he is saying this, blessed is the man, blessed is the woman that realizes that you are bankrupt in the soul level. Listen, if you're down and out, if you feel like life is hopeless, if you feel like God needs to do something for you because you can't get you of what you're in, then I got good news for you.

You are perfectly positioned for God to do a miracle in your life. You see, so he says, blessed of the poor and spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The way Jesus would say it is this. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. In other words, when you began to realize that you, on your own, by nature and nurture, are a wretched, wretched, blackhearted sinner, then you are perfectly positioned. The kingdom of heaven is within reach. that God is stirring that up in you.

Some of you are familiar with the prodigal son story that Jesus tells. It's in Luke chapter 15. It's about the kid that goes to his dad. He's like, forget you, I'm done with you. Give me what's mine now. Give me my inheritance. And he goes out and he squandered as it away on wild and reckless living. And he finds him the best job he can find is feeding pigs, which was a horrible job for an Orthodox Jewish boy.

And one day he's feeding the pigs and he looks at the pigs. he's jealous of the pigs. And in that very moment, the lowest point in his life, the Bible says, and he comes to his senses. Blessed is the man who comes to his senses because he realized, by my own activity, I have demonstrated my utter depravity. Because when you get there, then the kingdom of heaven is within your grasp. Which leads to the second one. I think this is why he says this next. Blessed are those who mourn.

You see, if these things aren't connected, I don't know that this makes sense. I don't think what he's saying is happier, you who cry. That doesn't make any sense at all. If you find yourself in a set of circumstances that make you sad, where's the blessing in that? You should cry. God gave us emotions to navigate this thing called life, and God works in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. But I believe what he's talking about here, if what Jesus is doing is laying out the gospel, is blessed are those of you that because you realize that we are a spirit,

bankrupt, then we begin to mourn over our sin and sinfulness. When we get a picture of who God is and how much he loves us and what he did for us on the cross, and then we look at our own rebellious activity against God and the damage did his cause on the people that we love so much, we begin to mourn and weep, not because we got busted, but because deep in our souls, we know that we are sinners. And so he says, blessed are to those who mourn for they. shall be comforted. You see, Jesus said that he would send the Holy Spirit, and one of the primary roles of the Holy Spirit was to be our comforter.

In other words, you're on the verge of salvation right here. When the things that break the heart of God begin to break your heart, you were on the verge of the Holy Spirit moving into your life and giving you a comfort, a peace that transcends all understanding. That was Jesus' invitation in Matthew chapter 11. He said, come to me all you who are weary and heavy burden. He was talking to religious people. He's saying, come to me all you who are exhausted by trying to live rightly to prove yourself righteous before a holy and righteous judge.

Is that not exhausting? And he says, so if you are worn out at the soul level, come to me all who are weary and I will give you. rest for your soul is what he says. This is what he's saying here. Blessed are those who mourn, again, that you mourn your sin and sinfulness. By the way, theologians would call that regeneration. That God begins to convict you of your sin, to turn your eyes to Jesus and say, I need for you to do something that I could never do for myself, which leads to the third one. Blessed are the meek. If you're taking notes, I believe this is the moment of salvation in the beatitudes. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Now, I don't know anybody that has publicly said, I would love to be meek. I would like to be known for meekness. Like at my funeral, I want people to stand up and be like, that brother was meek. And I think it's because we don't understand what the word means. It rhymes with weak, and it's usually used in like meek and mild. and so we don't understand what it means. That word meek in Greek means a bit bridled horse. So you would take, it doesn't mean weak at all.

It just means, it means like guided strength is what it means. So you take this thoroughbred, all right? This big, powerful horse. And when you put the bit in his mouth and turn over the reins to its maker, its master, then he can direct the energies of this thoroughbred in the way that he would have him go. By the way, theologians would call this repentance. Blessed are you, when you get to the place in your life where you realize this ain't working, I am headed in the wrong direction.

God, I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and I am ready to turn over the reins to him. I ain't the boss of me anymore. You are. The Bible would say anyone who calls on the name of the Lord, that's what that means. So that you would redirect my life. That's what repentance mean. At one point in your life, you had your back towards God and your face towards this world, and you realize that you're a sinner in need of a Savior.

You surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and then he turned you around. And now you are pursuing him with your back to the world. I think this is why the promise, blessed are those who make, it ends with a directional language. For they shall inherit the earth. I don't have time to go through it completely, but if you get to the last book, the book of the revelation. Everything burns up that we know and John sees a new heaven and a new earth. And those who are in Christ Jesus, we rule and reign over the new earth. That's what this means. For everybody that surrenders their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, that one day we will

inherit the earth, not the broken, busted up thing that we live on now, but this perfect new heaven, new earth, it is a directional change. But for anybody, that remains the Lord of their own life, you will continue in the direction that you are on. God will give you in eternity what you ask for in this life. And you reject God here, and you will live in a godless eternity forever. But blessed as a man, and blessed as a woman that turns over control of their life to the Lord. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Which leads to the next one. Blessed to those who hunger and hunger and and thirst for righteousness, for you will be satisfied.

Now, 1122, you're experts in righteousness. Not living rightly, you've got a lot of work to do there, but understanding what righteousness means. Because remember, we studied the book of Romans for 34 weeks last year. And remember, Paul makes it very, very clear that when he uses the word righteousness, he's not talking about right activity. He's talking about a right standing before God. And so, listen, there are some of you, and you wake up every day.

and you were just, just can't wait to do good things. God bless you and your ministry and we love you and we're really intimidated, impressed by you. I'm married to one of those kind of people. But it's not about right activity. It's about the imputed righteousness of Christ. It's about what God has done for us on the cross. You see, Romans chapter 3, here's how Paul unpacked this idea of righteousness. Romans chapter 3, verse 20, Paul says,

for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. In other words, no matter how many right things you do in a row, you will not be declared righteous before God. And lots of religious people declare themselves righteous because of their right activity. That is called self-righteousness. No good. No matter how good you think you are. This is not about right activity. It's about right identity.

But now, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, righteousness is manifested in the person of Jesus Christ, and our righteousness means that we have a right standing before God because our identity is in Him. Now make no bones about it. if our identity is in Jesus, our activity will change. You cannot be a fruitless Christian and be connected to the vine. It just doesn't work that way. Now, it might not be coming along as fast as your wife and your grandma were hoping, but he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion, I promise.

So it says, the righteousness of God, through faith, in Jesus Christ, for all who believe, for there is no distinction for all of sin and fall short of the glory of God and are justified. by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood. That word means a payment that satisfies, which means this. If Jesus made the payment that satisfies,

God cannot be dissatisfied in you because it's not about your activity. It's about your identity in Christ. That God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faiths. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Here's what this means. Because of God's holiness, because of God's righteousness, all sin must be paid for. All sin must be paid for. And any sin against an almighty eternal God would require an everlasting eternal payment. because God is just all sin must be paid for because he is merciful he delayed the payment that's how we made it here this morning imagine it's the first time you sin he demanded payment you'd just be a greasy spot you'd be gone okay but by his mercy payment was delayed and yet by his grace he made the payment he's the just and the justifier and so blessed are you who hunger and thirst for that not

right activity. Blessed are you who hunger and thirst for that manifested righteousness. You could put Jesus' name in there. Blessed are you, you know, when you eat and eat and eat, you're never fully and finally satisfied. Everybody understands that, right? Like the more you eat, the more you want to eat. Do I need to remind you of Thanksgiving? Remember? You gorge yourself. It's for the pilgrims, man. You gorge yourself and you're sitting there just feeling like, nope, I'm done, I'm not eating again until Christmas, all right? And by half time of the Detroit game, you're in the refrigerator, but anybody need a turkey sandwich? Some of you show up in yoga pants. You're like, listen, I learned last year. I will not be uncomfortable. Right? Yeah, man. The more you feed that appetite,

the bigger and bigger and bigger it grows. What he's saying is, blessed are those that hunger and thirst for this understanding of the gospel and what Jesus has done for us. I just got to be honest, man. I can't get over the gospel. I mean, just in my own life, I just cannot get over the gospel. I know how sick and twisted I am. And I can't reconcile it in my mind. I believe it. I've staked my whole life on it.

I trust Jesus for my salvation and not my own behavior. And yet I still find the gospel almost irreconcilable that he would die for me. that he would die for me, that it's not about my activity, it's about his activity on the cross, that it's not, if I obey, then maybe one day when I die he will accept me, but that he has accepted me in the cross, therefore it changes all things about obedience in my life. This is why when we sing songs like, how great thou art, I don't even know how you really get through it. Because the second verse when he says,

And when I think of God, his son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in. That's what I'm talking about. Like I cannot reconcile in my mind when we sing about this thing that Jesus died for me, that Jesus died for you. I scarce can take it in. That on the cross my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin. which leads to then sings my soul, my Savior, God to thee. So I lose my mind over here.

Now, I don't understand how some of you do it, man. You worship like a mannequin. It's in my heart. Is it? I'm telling you. Or last week we sang a song. I don't know the names of our songs, but it is this one part in our song. We didn't write it.

Where he said, you stand by my side and you stood in my place. Are you kidding me? I can't hold back the tears. I can't hold back to worship. I just can't get over the gospel. And as I know him more, and as I read my Bible more, and as I experience him more, it is not this shrinking understanding

as if the gospel is just the thing that got me into it, as if the gospel is just like the contract that I signed to begin this thing. It's not like the gospel is just the diving board that puts you in the pool. The gospel is the whole thing. It's not the ABCs of Christianity. It's the A to Z.

And the more you begin to understand, understand that. And the more, it's really not like you get in the gospel. It's like the more the gospel gets you and gets in you, then the thing that grows as your hunger and thirst for righteousness grows is the gospel goes bigger and bigger and bigger in your life. When we sing that Phil Wickham song, that Fast Amazing Grace one, and it says, who am I that you would take my place?

Blessed are you when your hunger and thirst for what Christ did on your behalf grows deeper and deeper and higher. and higher and bigger and bigger, for you will be satisfied like nothing else in this planet can satisfy you. So that's why some of you're so dissatisfied. I mean, seriously, you come see me, and you're like, I'm just so dissatisfied. I'm like, where are you looking for your satisfaction when I bought a new house? Now it's just your house, isn't it?

You know you can only be in one room at a time? That's just true. Whether you live in a double wad or a mansion. Just one room at a time. And then you bought that car, and you thought it was going to be awesome, man. You thought it was going to be awesome. I'm going to look so cool driving it. You can't even see you driving it.

Just take a picture at the dealership and just look at it. That's what I would look like. By the time, most of the, by the time you can afford it, you look like a dork driving it. But whatever. That's a different sermon. And if you're real young and you're in it, everybody thinks it's your mom's car. It's a lose-lose situation. But no matter what, it just won't.

satisfy the only thing that will satisfy your soul is a right standing before God. Blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for that deepening relationship with Jesus because he will satisfy you. Because the opposite of this is true too. Woe to you that look for, that you hunger and thirst for the shiny things of this world. Whatever it is, man. Success, sex, stuff, whatever it is. Woe to you.

You will live your entire life utterly dissatisfied. Then he says, blessed or the merciful. Now, aren't you glad this is not a personality type? Like, this is for all of us. Do you know that everyone who is in Christ Jesus, everyone who has turned over the reins of your life to Jesus as your Lord, that you are merciful? You may not be acting it super good right now,

but you are full of mercy. Because by your nature and nurture, this is Ephesians chapter 2, you were dead in your trespasses. You were a child of wrath. We don't use that terminology a lot, do we? We don't sing very many songs about that, right? Your wrath, oh God, will burn us to a crisp.

Glory, no. That's what it says, it's in the Bible, that we were children of wrath. And it says, but God, who is rich in mercy, when the Bible says rich, it means you have more than enough. So he didn't give you just enough mercy for you to not die and go to hell today. but God who is rich in mercy

saves us by grace through faith here's what this means that he doles out the mercy on you that you were so full of mercy he keeps the mercy coming and mercy coming and mercy coming that he doesn't just merely wipe away your sins he also gives you the righteousness of Christ that you did not deserve and he changes your name to his name

he adopts you and makes you a co-air with Jesus of everything that he has there's so much mercy poured out on you it gets all over everybody else that's what that means. Blessed are you who are merciful. Because you keep pouring out mercy and he will continuously pour more mercy

and more mercy and more mercy into you. Once again, the verdict precedes the performance. Now, what's begin to happen here in the beatitudes, much like the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments, says the first few are about our vertical relationship with God and the last few are about our horizontal relationships with one another. In other words,

Blessed are you when you recognize that you're a sin in the need of a Savior. Blessed are you when God regenerates your heart and you mourn over your sin. Blessed are you when you repent and you turn to Jesus for your salvation? Blessed are you as you continue to deepen that relationship with Jesus because now, blessed are you when you begin to act like Jesus and it changes the way you treat each other. That's what's happening here in the Beatitudes. That change over time would be called sanctification. By the way, when the Bible talks about salvation, it really, salvation is in three parts in the New Testament.

That we are saved from the power of our sin. We are being saved from the penalty of our sin. We are being saved from the power of our sin. And one day we will both save from the very presence of our sin. In other words, we are justified, we are sanctified, and one day we will be glorified. And all of that is called salvation. And so he says, Blessed are those who are pure in heart.

Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they shall see God. By the way, here's how we know that he can't be talking about a personality type. Any pure at heart people in the room, anybody's like, that's me, glad there's that, be able to have a tattooed on me. Pure in heart right here.

Okay, anybody? No. Because the moment you raise your hand, you're full of pride. And you're a liar. like the list is long of how wretched your heart is if you self-identify as pure and heart. In fact, if you raise your hand right now, you're prideful, and the Bible says that God opposes the proud. But he says the pure and heart, see him. Here's how I know God opposes the proud.

Yesterday, I'm playing golf at the Tim Tebow Foundation golf tournament. It's this celebrity golf tournament thing. It's awesome. My friend Jeff Moore is here. We played together, and we played with Josh Scobie, which, by the way, incredible golfer. Me, not so incredible, okay? Because, you know, I read my Bible too much to play, but whatever, okay. I'm terrible, man, but he's actually playing with Scobie is a picture of the gospel.

I hit it bad, he hits it good, we use his. We won the whole tournament. We won. Why? Because we used my scorecard? No, we used his. It's a picture of the gospel. I should probably tell him that.

So here's the thing, man. If you've ever played sawgrass, there's only one thing that matters. It's only one thing. Can you hit it on the green of 17? That's all that matters. And so we get up to 17, man, and there is a crowd. And they announce Scobie. And then it's my turn to get up there.

And this guy from the NFL Red Zone, we'd had dinner with him tonight before. And so we told him about the church and stuff. And so he does a full on an hour. Hey, we got Pastor Jobi Martin for the Church of 1122. And y'all must have been there because it was like, and I was like, oh, dude, I've never been so, I don't get nervous. Like, I'm not nervous right now at all.

I was so nervous. I am praying the most theologically inaccurate, dear Jesus, if you would just make this ball, get on that green. And so, man, I hit the thing. And golfers, you'll understand this. If your slice lands in the fairway, they call it a fade. And so my big old slice starts out over the left, kind of hangs over the people, and boom, it lands on the face.

green and the place cheers I took my hat off then one of these like I just won the masters for not a short amount of time then we get on the green my man Jeff Moore he puts about an 18 foot bender in there boom birdie I did it again I didn't even put we also didn't even use my shot whatever okay I'm taking credit we get to the 18th hole my son and a couple of his friends pull up they they came in late and so the TiVo people bring them up on this golf cart and I look over and I'm like man, this game is easy. I'm about to impress my son and all these people that are watching. And I get on 18.

And you would think in golf, the harder you swing, the further it goes. Man, with everything I made of. And look at me, I'm made of some stuff. You understand what I'm saying? And I'm talking about, I barely hit the ball. Somehow it went six feet this way. and fell in the water, like not even fast. Like, is it going to fall?

Yeah. Blump. God opposes the proud. You understand what I'm saying? So, I really just wanted y'all to know I made it on 17. But anyway. So is this what he's talking about here when he says, Blessed are the pure and heart?

Because who's that? Who's that? I'll tell you who it is. If you've surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, you're pure in heart. You're pure in heart. And you will see God. Do you know why? Because it ain't your heart anymore.

Ezekiel, 3626, and I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. God rips your wretched heart out, sends it to hell itself, and gives you a new heart his heart. And then you say, well, then why do I still struggle? Because he didn't give you a new mind. This is what? You still got the same jacked-up thoughts that we've had for a long time, This is why Paul says in Romans 12, don't be conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

You've got to get your mind to line up with the pure heart that Jesus has given you. And when that happens, you will see God. 2 Corinthians 517 says it this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. The old is passed away, and behold, the new has come. Do you know what this means in our day-to-day living?

You don't have to do the stuff you used to do because you're not the person that you used to be. man sometimes especially today I hear some people be like I don't like Jovie Martin me either I don't like him at all I hope God would crucify all of him

and burn all of him away so that all that is left is the Jobby Martin that he had in mind when he created me that would rightly reflect Jesus Christ and I know what he started man he started a good work when he gave me a new heart and then he makes this promise because you'll see God

that's what you were created for. You see, when God created the very first man, I'll talk about this all the time. He puts together the dust of the earth, and the Bible says that Adam is not yet a living creature, and he breathes the ruach of life into his nostrils. The Bible wants us to know that God is intimate, that he's close, that he's right at his face when he breathes,

which means when Adam opens his eyes, the very first thing he sees is his father in heaven. For sermon research purposes only this week, I watched the set of YouTube videos. I want you to know that, okay? Called My Life as a Turkey. There's this thing with birds called imprinting. And this biologist gets these turkey eggs

and he incubates them. And then as they're cracking out of the egg, he's got his face down there and making turkey noises. Okay? That's really why I was watching it. But whatever, okay. And so when they come out of it,

of the egg, the first thing they see is this face and this biological phenomenon is called imprinting. Whatever they see first, that is their mama, and that is who they will follow. And so, up until their adulthood, this dude is just walking through the woods, and the birds just follow him wherever he goes. I don't think it's just a biological phenomenon. I think it's a theological reality to the very first human being, they opened his eyes, and the face of God was imprinted on his soul. That's what we were created for. There's a problem, though. Adam and Eve's sin. Sin separates. But in that separation, God says, I've got a plan for this. I'm going to send my son. And that enemy that tricked you is going to bruise his heel, but he'll crush his head.

And you and I will be face to face again. Blessed or the pure in heart, for they will see God. You see, Moses asked to see God. The reason that Jesus is the greater Moses, is because what Moses did was very limited. Remember, Moses goes up on the mountain of God, and he looks at the people and says, God said, don't come up here, or you'll get burnt to death. And then Moses says to God, I want to see your face. Show me your glory.

Well, Jesus hadn't died yet. Sin has not been paid for yet. And so God's like, bro, you can't see my very loose translation, but this is what it means. He says, bro, you can't see my glory. If you were to see me in my glory, you would be burnt up like a crisp. So let me take you, put you in the cleft of the rock.

I'm going to cover you with my hand. I'm going to walk. I'm going to kind of cruise by and you can see the afterburners. That's all you get to see right now. And it was so powerful that when Moses comes down the mountain, his face is glowing and people wouldn't even have to wear a mask because it's crazy. And yet what Jesus does in the new covenant is he goes up on this mountain to hear from God. And he goes, no, y'all come with me because when you see me, you see God. And for every single one of us who have been given a new heart, who have surrendered our

lives to Lordship of Christ, there will be a day where we breathe our last on earth and we breathe our next in heaven, and we will be face to face with our heavenly Father, and we will not be burnt up. We will glorify Him forever and ever and ever. Blessed are the pure and heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God, not peacekeepers. That's what most of us are, a peacekeeper. Like at home this afternoon, when your kids are driving you crazy, you're like, you're getting there, you get in there. Ah, peace. You didn't make none. You just kept it by keeping them apart. from each other. No problem. Blessed are you when you bring shalom, wholeness, completeness into the situation. And it says this, for you'll be a son of God. By the way,

Greek didn't have adverbs, so this is the Greek way of saying, you will be godly. That every single one of us were enemies of God. And when Jesus came, he made peace between a treasonous race like us and the great and mighty king. And what he said, saying here is, blessed are you when like Jesus did, you're willing to do almost whatever it takes to introduce people that are far from God to the God that loved him so much that he sent Jesus on their behalf. Blessed are you when you make peace? There's nothing more in the world you can do to be more like Jesus than at great expense to yourself to help reconcile men and women unto God. Paul is going to say it this way in 2 Corinthians 5 and all this is from God,

who through Christ reconciled us to himself. In other words, made peace. He reconciled us to himself. And he gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

God making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, God made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. In other words, blessed are you, when the moment you are rescued, you begin to understand that you were a part of the rescue team. We don't have forever to do it, and God has placed people in our life, and blessed are you when God uses you to make peace between enemies of God. God himself through the reconciling work of Jesus Christ, which leads to the lesson. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Now this is important. Some of you're like, yep, I get persecuted all the time. Well, some of you get persecuted

because you're an idiot and you're a jerk and you post stupid stuff on Twitter and you should be persecuted for it so that you would stop. Don't use Bible verses to be dumb. You understand? But blessed are you when you're persecuted. for righteousness sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's where the promise it started with was that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. These are like bookends.

And listen, how should you respond when you're persecuted? You should respond the way Jesus responded. Listen, man, I get it. It's not the most awesome thing to roll into church, see your name on a sign about going to hell. I really not. I believe in Jesus. He said I'm going to heaven with him, okay?

So I'm going to go what Jesus says, not what placard say. But the way that you respond is just the way Jesus would. He's hanging on a cross over the men that literally nailed him. And when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. But he uttered these words. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And folks, you realize that being persecuted and being a Christian have gone hand in hand. since Jesus was here.

And by the way, who most often persecuted Jesus? Was it the world or the religious? It was always the religious. You see, man, the gospel will blow up religion because the gospel says it's not about our religious activity, it's about Christ's activity on the cross. The gospel is about trust, and religion is about good behavior. So religious people get really, really aggravated

when the gospel saves other people than they have pre-decided it should save. You see, but we believe the gospel fuels a church. It's a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. But listen to me, most evangelical Americans like me, just kind of assume that this world ought to accept us, especially in America. That is a new cultural phenomenon that for a long time, and in many, many places today, for the sake of Jesus' name, men and women are being persecuted. not in spite of their faith, but because of their faith. And I think this is why he gives a little bit of commentary.

He says, blessed are you and others revile you and persecute you and utter all kind of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad. That's kind of a weird response, isn't it? Rejoice and be glad. Why, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. In other words, don't get too comfortable here

because this earth is not your permanent address. that we are residents of another kingdom, which you may want to look at your life. If you've never felt the current culture of our society pushing hard against you, it very well could be just because you're going with the flow. If you've never felt any kind of persecution because you're a Jesus follower, you'll really want to check which team you're own. Because people that live out the gospel as laid out here in the beatitudes,

who surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and begin to live by a brand new ethic, you're just not going to fit into this world very well at all. But blessed are you, because it won't be long. It won't be long. For your reward is guaranteed in heaven. And then the rest of the sermon on the mount is about what it looks like

when the gospel, as laid out in the beatitude, take hold of your life. Then you're salt and light. It changes your marriage. It changes the way you forgive. It changes your generosity. It changes everything about you. And listen, man, I read a whole bunch of commentators this week,

and I am smarter than zero people that have ever written a commentary. And it seems to me, though, what most evangelicals have done have just replaced the law of the Ten Commandments with the Law of the Sermon on the Mount, which means I think you missed the whole point. If you read the sermon on the Mount, which, again, it's not the suggestion on the Mount. It's not an op-ed by Jesus on the Mount. It's a sermon. This is what it looks like to live rightly before the Lord.

Your only conclusion is there's no way. There's no way I can nail this thing. Which is why I believe he started with the invitation of the gospel. Blessed are you when you read the sermon on the Mount and you think, I can't pull this off. Perfect. You're poor in spirit. You know that you need Jesus to do for you. you what you could never do for yourself. You were perfectly positioned to now hand over the reins to

your master and maker and watch him guide your life. It's going to change the way you treat people. I know when people persecute you, you're going to want to fight back, but Jesus didn't fight back that way. And so you don't have to defend you. And by the way, church, you don't have to defend me. I have a defender. His name is Jesus. And so it changes you. And here's how you know what a sermon's about. It's how it ends. And here's how Jesus ends the sermon. determine. He says, now if you take your Bible seriously, these verses will freak you out. He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, by the way, Jesus is equating himself with a great judge. I'm going to be the determiner of eternal life. He says, not everyone who says to me,

Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven. We just read that the will of the father is to surrender your life to Jesus. And on that day, By the way, there's a bunch of people on that mountain. And he's like, listen, man, wake up, wake up. There's going to be a bunch of surprised church people when they get to heaven and they don't get in. He says to them, on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? They're like, no, no, no, have you seen my resume? Have you seen how many good things I've done?

Now, I don't know how many good things you've done, but anybody cast out demons before? A couple of you, I know, but I'm going to tell you, I've never cast out a demon, all right? I sent a seventh grader home from camp one time. That's the closest that I came. And I think he was possessed, because when I met his mama, I was like, oh, that's one of them generational kind right there. But if you're on the exorcism team of church, you would assume, I think they're going to heaven. And Jesus is like, no, man. It's not about the good work that you've done.

Because if you're trusting in your own good works, then you believe in a works-based righteousness. You have declared yourself righteous. You are self-righteous. You are your own king, not me. See, in our context, it would be this. I sang the songs with one hand up. I tied, I didn't tied, but I gave many times.

I went on a mission trip. I sponsored kids. I led a disciple group. I was on staff. And look what he says. He goes, and I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me. You see, this whole thing, all of the sermon in the mount, starting with an invitation to a relationship with Jesus and the beatitudes, all the way to the very end, is about that one thing.

It's about this. Do you know him? Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? It's what our whole church is about. We're a movement for all people to discover and deepen. This is it. A relationship with Jesus Christ, not more religious activity. Now again, when you know them, do your activities change?

For sure, for sure. But your activities do not determine your destiny. Your identity in Jesus does. And then he gives this illustration. Every one of them who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house. But it did not fall.

because it had been founded on the rock. The rock here is the person and work of Jesus Christ, the gospel of grace through Jesus Christ. And here's the other alternative. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it.

Let me just ask you, what have you built your life on? I know some of you've been coming to church a long time. And I want to give you the opportunity right now to hand over the reins, to repent, to be meek, to allow Jesus to put the bit of his control in your mouth, to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, to build your house, to build your life on the rock of Jesus' declaration that it is, finish that would he died on the cross somehow that counted for you? Is that what your life has built on? Because I know there's a bunch of church people, man, and they're like, I've been

coming here a long time. I've never done that thing. I've never surrendered my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ because the other option is to build it on you. And it may go okay for a little while, but great will be the fall. And so the fundamental question is simply this. Do you know him? Because Jesus says, come to me. all you who are weary and heavy burden. He didn't say come to disciple group or come to church or come to better behavior. He didn't say come to right doctrine or right theology. He said, come to me.

Come to the person that died on the cross for you and I will give you rest for your soul. Have you ever come to Jesus that way? Come to Jesus and surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ. I would like to give you that opportunity right now. If you would just bow your head and close your eyes. and I would ask you this question, do you know him? Are you ready to surrender your life to Christ as your Lord and Savior? And you say, how do I do that?

That you admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior that Jesus did not come to make bad people better or make sad people happy. But he came to offer salvation to sinners. And maybe for the very first time you were ready to admit that. And in this moment right now that you believe that you trust that when he died on the cross, somehow that counted for you. And so the Bible says, so confess him as Lord and you will be saved. And so if you are ready to do that right now, to put your faith in Jesus for your salvation,

to know him as you're a Lord and Savior, to confess him as Lord, would you put your hand in the air and say, Father, here I am, I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. God, I thank you for the continuous invitation to come to you. to come to you for our salvation, to come to you in prayer to continuously make our lives about coming to you, Jesus. God, I thank you that there is salvation in this place. Not because we came looking for you, God, but because you have come chasing after us through your son, Jesus Christ. God, I thank you that our blessing is found in you and you alone.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.