Congratulations to the Hungry

Introduction:

Who Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness"? (Matthew 5:6)

Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness?

Psalm 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

How Do I Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness?

Philippians 3:8-12 - ...For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Why Are We Congratulating the Hungry?

How to Grow Your Appetite:

1. Taste .

   Psalm 34:8 - Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!

2. Eat .
3. Fast .

   Psalm 42:1 - As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:05

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of Matthew in chapter five.

  00:05-00:13

  As we continue an eight-week-long congratulations party.

  00:15-00:17

  Now, who is ready to party?

  00:18-00:19

  (congregation cheering)

  00:21-00:23

  Sounds like the back corner's ready to party.

  00:24-00:25

  You party animals.

  00:28-00:29

  (congregation laughing)

  00:32-00:33

  I think some others are catching on.

  00:36-00:37

  Hopefully you all do.

  00:38-00:42

  Because we're having the party, we blew up the balloons, right?

  00:47-00:49

  So, like what's the party all about?

  00:50-00:55

  I was thinking if like there's a visitor here for the first time right now, you're probably like, what is going on?

  00:56-00:56

  Here's what's going on.

  00:57-00:59

  We're having an eight week long congratulations party.

  00:59-00:59

  Why?

  01:00-01:07

  Because we're going through the Sermon on the Mount and the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount is a passage that is commonly called the Beatitudes.

  01:09-01:16

  Now these Beatitudes aren't just like random like grocery list of statements that Jesus kinda like hodgepodge together.

  01:16-01:21

  There's a spiritually logical flow to the Beatitudes.

  01:22-01:25

  It's like a ladder or a staircase.

  01:25-01:28

  Each step sort of leads you to the next one.

  01:29-01:32

  And in these Beatitudes, we find what Christians are meant to be.

  01:33-01:36

  We're meant to be all of these.

  01:38-01:39

  So let's look at the flow here.

  01:41-01:58

  Again, Matthew 5, verse two, it says, "And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

  01:59-02:02

  Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

  02:04-02:09

  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

  02:10-02:14

  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

  02:15-02:19

  Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

  02:20-02:24

  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

  02:25-02:32

  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  02:34-02:35

  See, that's the congratulations.

  02:37-02:37

  It's the word blessed.

  02:38-02:40

  A lot of people say, well, blessed, that just means happy.

  02:41-02:44

  Yeah, it does, but it means more than that.

  02:44-02:55

  What Jesus is doing in the Beatitudes, He's saying, "Congratulations." If you find yourself in this condition, congratulations, because there's something glorious in store for you.

  02:57-02:58

  That's why the word blessed is repeated.

  03:00-03:05

  So before we get this party started, let's just bow our heads for a moment and please pray for me as I will pray for you.

  03:06-03:09

  Pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word.

  03:10-03:18

  I will pray for you and for me to have all of our hearts open to receive what God wants to speak to us today.

  03:18-03:19

  Let's just take a moment.

  03:28-03:37

  Father in heaven, open our hearts up to receive what it is you wanna say to us today.

  03:42-03:45

  Thank you, Father, we praise you in Jesus' name.

  03:46-03:49

  All of God's people said, amen.

  03:49-03:59

  So, we wanna wish you a congratulations to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

  04:01-04:02

  (congregation applauding)

  04:09-04:11

  Oh, then there's another way, there you go.

  04:11-04:13

  (congregation applauding)

  04:15-04:18

  You guys are way readier than the first service was.

  04:22-04:24

  Who are we congratulating today?

  04:24-04:26

  Well, who's our Lord congratulating more like?

  04:27-04:28

  Look at verse six.

  04:28-04:29

  This is our verse today.

  04:30-04:40

  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

  04:42-04:45

  So on your outline, first of all, who are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness?

  04:49-04:50

  Kind of a weird statement, isn't it?

  04:51-04:53

  Jesus is like, congratulations to the hungry.

  04:53-04:55

  Like, who congratulates the hungry?

  04:58-04:59

  Well, let's look at what our Lord is saying here.

  05:00-05:03

  First of all, hunger and thirst, hunger and thirst.

  05:07-05:08

  Everybody hungry for something.

  05:10-05:11

  Right?

  05:12-05:15

  For some people, they're hungry for money and stuff.

  05:16-05:20

  Some people are hungry for success and fame and popularity.

  05:20-05:23

  And some people are hungry for pleasure.

  05:24-05:26

  What's going to make me feel good?

  05:28-05:32

  Jesus says the kingdom people aren't after those things.

  05:33-05:36

  Here Jesus says kingdom people are hungry for one thing.

  05:36-05:37

  What is it?

  05:37-05:38

  Bible say?

  05:40-05:41

  Righteousness.

  05:41-05:55

  Jesus said, "Disciples of his, followers of Christ, kingdom people are hungry for righteousness." And you go through the flow of these first three, you see this whole staircase idea, right?

  05:55-06:02

  You see, Jesus says, "It starts with being poor in spirit." You're this guilty, helpless sinner, right?

  06:03-06:07

  And that makes you mourn over your sinfulness.

  06:09-06:11

  And then you get to the place where you're meek.

  06:11-06:13

  You're like, I'm done with myself.

  06:13-06:14

  I'm done.

  06:15-06:20

  I'm done constantly trying to assert my self-interest and everything, I'm done with that.

  06:21-06:22

  That's meekness.

  06:22-06:24

  Pastor Rich talked about that last week.

  06:25-06:26

  See what the issue is?

  06:27-06:29

  Sin, sin, sin.

  06:29-06:30

  Do you see that?

  06:30-06:31

  Sin, sin.

  06:31-06:33

  That's what Jesus is addressing here.

  06:34-06:38

  And we get to this one, we have to ask, well, what does the sinner need?

  06:40-06:42

  A sinner needs righteousness.

  06:43-06:45

  That's what a sinner needs.

  06:45-06:47

  Like, well, what's righteousness?

  06:49-07:01

  Righteousness is simply being right before God and living right before God.

  07:03-07:04

  "Oh, but there's a problem.

  07:06-07:10

  "The problem is people wanna be happy.

  07:12-07:16

  "That's a huge problem." Wait, what?

  07:18-07:20

  It sounds like he said the problem is people wanna be happy.

  07:21-07:22

  Yeah, yeah, that's what I said.

  07:23-07:24

  That is the problem.

  07:28-07:30

  The Bible never tells us to seek happiness.

  07:31-08:01

  You know why? Because in our flesh we're gonna start looking to things of the world to make us happy. But according to Jesus here, in this statement, happiness results from seeking something else, and that's righteousness. See, that's where the problem comes in.

  08:02-08:09

  If you put happiness before righteousness, you are going to be absolutely miserable.

  08:14-08:16

  So hunger and thirst, what's he talking about here?

  08:17-08:20

  Well, note this, it's a continual action.

  08:22-08:23

  Hungry and thirsting, it's continual.

  08:24-08:31

  It's not, yeah, I gave my life to Christ in 1995 and boy, I was hungry for righteousness back then.

  08:34-08:38

  No, it's not a one-time thing, nor is it like an occasional thing.

  08:38-08:43

  You know, like a couple times a year, I kind of get a hankering for righteousness.

  08:46-08:48

  No, that's not it either.

  08:52-08:56

  See, the tense here is I'm always hungry for righteousness.

  08:58-09:11

  It's the word picture here is like those who hunger thirst for righteousness need that the way a body physically needs food and water, right?

  09:12-09:13

  Constantly, right?

  09:14-09:15

  We need it.

  09:17-09:22

  True Christians hunger and thirst for righteousness.

  09:25-09:27

  Like, why is that?

  09:29-09:32

  Because God's Spirit changes your appetite.

  09:33-09:34

  That's how that works.

  09:35-09:40

  By nature, you're not naturally hungry for righteousness.

  09:40-09:43

  You're not naturally hungry for the things of God.

  09:43-09:46

  By nature, you're hungry for sin, right?

  09:46-09:47

  You enjoy sin.

  09:47-09:49

  You indulge in sin.

  09:49-09:50

  That's what you love.

  09:54-09:56

  And that doesn't satisfy, by the way.

  09:57-09:59

  You look at people that are addicted to drugs.

  10:00-10:04

  I've known many people, unfortunately, that have had addiction problems.

  10:04-10:05

  It's never enough.

  10:06-10:09

  It's never like, "Oh, I've done just enough drugs.

  10:09-10:11

  I'm good now." It's never enough.

  10:12-10:12

  It doesn't satisfy.

  10:13-10:22

  There are people that are addicted to physical intimacy with various people, it's never enough.

  10:23-10:24

  You're never satisfied.

  10:26-10:36

  People that are addicted to affirmation, constantly wanting, you know, constantly needing applause from people, it's never enough.

  10:38-10:43

  You see, when you come to Christ, the Bible says God's Holy Spirit comes in and dwells you, and he changes you.

  10:44-10:51

  Don't tell me for a second that the God of the universe who created all things and has infinite wisdom comes and dwells in your heart and you're no different.

  10:52-10:57

  Everything changes, including your appetite.

  10:59-11:01

  I'm not hungry for sin like I used to be.

  11:02-11:04

  Now I'm hungry for the things of God.

  11:08-11:10

  Yeah, some people come to church hungry.

  11:12-11:13

  Not for righteousness.

  11:13-11:15

  They come to church hungry for a temporary fix.

  11:16-11:19

  Like, man, I'm really out of control in my finances.

  11:19-11:23

  Maybe if I get serious about God, things will get taken care of.

  11:24-11:27

  Boy, my marriage, my marriage is in a really bad place.

  11:27-11:35

  So let's go to church and maybe she'll think that I'm serious and sort of patch things over and they're just looking for a quick fix.

  11:39-11:50

  Not great, because when things start to feel a little better or we get out of crisis mode, we stop coming to church.

  11:52-11:54

  Like, whew, glad that's over.

  11:54-11:56

  That's not hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

  11:58-12:01

  That's wanting to eliminate the pain, not the problem.

  12:03-12:05

  That doesn't work physically, does it?

  12:06-12:10

  Could you imagine if you went to a doctor And you're like, "Doctor, I got these stomach pains.

  12:10-12:16

  "It feels like there is a knife twisting "in my stomach all the time.

  12:17-12:29

  "I think there's something seriously wrong, doc." What would you think if the doctor said, "Well, take some Tylenol." Like, "Well, is that gonna heal up my stomach?" "Well, it'll mask the pain.

  12:30-12:33

  "You won't feel what is bad, that's good, right?

  12:34-12:40

  "You'd wanna see another doctor." Like, no, no, no, you're not addressing the real problem.

  12:44-12:49

  The people that hunger and thirst for righteousness, they have new appetites.

  12:49-12:51

  They're going after the real problem.

  12:54-13:00

  I'm not looking to God just for healing or a quick fix or some gift from God.

  13:00-13:03

  I'm desperately hungry for God.

  13:06-13:11

  not just what I can get from Him, not just giving my get out of hell ticket.

  13:13-13:15

  I want fellowship with God.

  13:15-13:20

  I want for my life what God wants for my life.

  13:22-13:24

  That's the person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness.

  13:27-13:38

  The hungry and thirsty person desires to be free from sin because I know if I'm gonna be right with God, I gotta be free from sin because sin separates me from God.

  13:39-13:41

  I wanna be free from sin's power.

  13:42-13:46

  I wanna be free from sin's desire, from sin's bondage.

  13:46-13:51

  I wanna be, my sin so dishonors my God.

  13:53-13:55

  I wanna be done with that.

  14:00-14:07

  See, the person that's hungry and thirsty for righteousness, They want God not just to forgive them.

  14:08-14:14

  And listen, the hungry and thirsty person doesn't even just want God to save them.

  14:16-14:22

  The person that's truly hungry and thirsty for righteousness wants God to change them.

  14:25-14:28

  Do you have a desire for God to transform you from the inside out?

  14:29-14:32

  If you don't, then you don't know him.

  14:35-14:44

  You know, it always strikes me, Psalm 51, you know, David committed all these sins, and Psalm 51's like this psalm of repentance, right?

  14:44-15:00

  Where he's crying out to the Lord, and you know the verse that really always caught my attention was this one, verse 10, where he says, "Created me a clean heart, O God, "and renew a right spirit within me." Do you see what David's saying?

  15:01-15:06

  He's not just saying, "God, I want to avoid bad consequences.

  15:06-15:16

  "I want to avoid the shame that I'm experiencing now "because of Israel knowing about my sins." And he says, "You know what I want?

  15:18-15:19

  "God, I don't want to be that guy anymore.

  15:20-15:31

  "God, I want you to change me from the inside out." That is the heart cry of the person.

  15:31-15:33

  who is hungry and thirsty for righteousness.

  15:35-15:43

  Not just God save me, but also God change me." That's who we're congratulating.

  15:45-15:53

  You're like, "Well, why are we congratulating those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness?" I'm so glad you asked that because it's on your outline.

  15:53-15:57

  Because it says, first of all, they.

  15:58-15:59

  Jesus says they.

  16:00-16:05

  I wanna remind you again, in the Greek, that's emphatic.

  16:05-16:07

  That kinda tells you how Jesus said this.

  16:08-16:21

  He says, "For they will be satisfied," meaning these are the only people that really experience any kind of satisfaction, are the people that hunger and thirst for righteousness.

  16:23-16:25

  Like, all right, well, what does the word satisfied mean?

  16:27-16:32

  Well, actually, that Greek word was used to describe an animal that was filled up.

  16:33-16:36

  Feeding an animal until the animal can't eat anymore.

  16:39-16:40

  That's what it means to satisfy.

  16:42-16:50

  And right away we recognize, I can't satisfy the righteousness hunger on my own.

  16:51-16:52

  That has to come from Jesus.

  16:56-17:00

  See, when I received Jesus Christ, He gives me his righteousness.

  17:01-17:02

  That's called imputed righteousness.

  17:02-17:13

  2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sin, God made him "who knew no sin to become sin, "so that we might become the righteousness of God." Jesus gives us his righteousness.

  17:16-17:19

  He changes me by the power of the Holy Spirit.

  17:20-17:24

  Now, because of that, I'm hungering and I'm thirsting.

  17:25-17:43

  So what Jesus is saying here is congratulations to those who have been born again, people that are new creatures in Christ, 'cause they're hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and they're gonna be satisfied.

  17:45-17:50

  You know, it's a paradoxical statement when you think about it.

  17:53-17:57

  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

  17:58-18:02

  How can you be hungry and full at the same time?

  18:03-18:11

  I mean, just taking that statement on its own, how can that be?

  18:12-18:14

  Like, what is Jesus saying?

  18:15-18:19

  If we're to always be hungry, how can we always be satisfied?

  18:22-18:28

  I think in order for us to understand that, we need to understand the nature of righteousness.

  18:29-18:31

  You ready for a quick systematic theology lesson?

  18:32-18:33

  Oh boy, am I?

  18:34-18:36

  Yes, you am, all right?

  18:37-18:57

  All right, when it comes to righteousness, holiness, salvation, there's three words you gotta know, three big theological words that describe salvation, righteousness, holiness, and past, present, and future tense.

  18:58-19:00

  The first word is justification.

  19:02-19:05

  When you receive Christ, your sin is taken away.

  19:06-19:06

  You're justified.

  19:06-19:08

  Second word is sanctification.

  19:09-19:16

  That's the Holy Spirit working in you to make you more mature in Christ, to make you more Christ-like, to grow you as a believer.

  19:16-19:17

  That's sanctification.

  19:17-19:19

  The third one, anybody know what it is?

  19:19-19:19

  Shout it out.

  19:20-19:23

  Glorification, you've taken this class before, yes.

  19:24-19:30

  Glorification, that's when you get to heaven and you are actually made perfect.

  19:31-19:33

  We will be like Jesus.

  19:35-20:00

  So you see, in justification, you say, "I was saved from the penalty of sin." And in sanctification, you say, "I am being saved from the power of sin." And with glorification, you say, "I will be saved from the presence of sin." Now, do you see where the satisfaction comes in?

  20:04-20:07

  I'm satisfied knowing that I've been pronounced righteous in Christ.

  20:08-20:10

  There's a satisfaction that comes from that.

  20:12-20:21

  To know there's nothing that I can do to save myself, but Jesus Christ and His love and grace and power and wisdom, He has taken away my sin.

  20:21-20:23

  I'm satisfied knowing that I've been pronounced righteous.

  20:23-20:24

  That's justification.

  20:26-20:26

  And you know what?

  20:27-20:31

  I'm satisfied now in pursuing the things of God.

  20:35-20:46

  But ultimately I'm going to be satisfied in heaven when I'm out of this fallen flesh that still craves sin.

  20:48-20:55

  That's when I'm going to experience the fullness of the satisfaction that Jesus promises.

  20:57-20:59

  You're like, "All right, thank you, Pastor Jeff.

  20:59-21:02

  I learned some great three-syllable words.

  21:03-21:04

  Wait, just...

  21:04-21:14

  No, five-syllable words that I'm sure will razzle-dazzle my friends." So, what does this look like on the day-to-day basis?

  21:16-21:17

  What does it look like?

  21:18-21:23

  Now, I want you to consider a few verses from Philippians chapter 3.

  21:25-21:26

  The apostle Paul wrote this.

  21:31-21:45

  Leading up to these verses, Paul was sort of bragging about his religious pedigree, his background, his history, his position, he was bragging about all the things that, or he was actually saying all the things he could have been bragging about, right?

  21:47-21:59

  But look at this in verse eight, he says, "Indeed, I count everything," all that stuff I could have bragged about, "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth "of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

  22:01-22:22

  "For his sake, I've suffered the loss of all things "and count them as rubbish." "In order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

  22:24-22:36

  That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

  22:36-22:37

  All right, that's a lot.

  22:37-22:45

  But what he's saying is, he is satisfied in his justification because it comes from Christ by faith.

  22:46-22:47

  He knows it's not from him.

  22:47-22:51

  He says that there's the righteousness that comes by faith.

  22:51-22:53

  But then look at this next verse.

  22:53-23:05

  He says, "Not that I've already obtained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

  23:09-23:16

  Do you see this Paul saying, I have a righteousness from Jesus by faith, but I'm not perfect.

  23:19-23:20

  So I have to press on.

  23:21-23:27

  Listen, this is what the Christian life is really all about.

  23:29-23:33

  The Christian life is becoming what God has already pronounced you to be.

  23:37-23:42

  You are perfect and becoming perfect at the same time.

  23:43-23:47

  You are righteous and you want to grow in righteousness at the same time.

  23:48-23:56

  It's a paradoxical thing that somehow we can be satisfied in Christ, yet have this drive to want to know him more.

  24:02-24:09

  So you see, Christians are pronounced sinless, but we don't live sinless, but we should sin less.

  24:11-24:14

  Wait, sin, sin, okay, thanks, Jay.

  24:14-24:15

  No, that's right.

  24:19-24:36

  I live right before God, and at the same time I hunger and thirst for righteousness while I'm satisfied by the presence and promises of God.

  24:39-24:45

  That is why we are congratulating those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

  24:46-24:47

  They're the only ones.

  24:49-24:57

  that have ever and will ever experience true satisfaction.

  25:01-25:02

  Nothing else will do it.

  25:05-25:06

  So I could stop there.

  25:07-25:13

  But there's somebody asking, all right, how do I hunger and thirst for righteousness?

  25:21-25:24

  Well, everybody hungry for something.

  25:27-25:34

  I just have to ask you, do you really hunger and thirst for righteousness?

  25:40-25:43

  I can't answer that for you.

  25:46-25:53

  I mean, if you're hungry, you know it and God knows it.

  25:56-25:57

  I can't tell.

  26:02-26:25

  But you have to ask yourself, "Do I really hunger for the things of God?" And honestly, I think in churches, what we experience is a whole lot of people that say, "I know that I need to.

  26:25-26:38

  Yeah, I know that I need to, but I don't as I should." Right?

  26:38-26:39

  I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand.

  26:41-26:47

  Is there something stirring in your heart right now that you're asking yourself, why don't I hunger and thirst for righteousness?

  26:55-26:57

  I knew somebody would be thinking that.

  27:00-27:02

  So you know what I was thinking about this last week?

  27:02-27:06

  Why aren't people hungry?

  27:13-27:15

  And then you know what I got thinking about?

  27:16-27:17

  I got thinking about my dog.

  27:20-27:21

  I think of my dog, Wanda.

  27:24-27:27

  Like if she's not hungry, why isn't she hungry?

  27:30-27:31

  And I thought, you know, there's three reasons.

  27:33-27:34

  If you've got a dog, right?

  27:35-27:35

  I mean, dogs are dogs.

  27:36-27:45

  If you get a dog and your dog's not hungry, it's gonna be for one of the same three reasons, right?

  27:46-27:47

  If your dog's not eating, why?

  27:47-27:48

  You're like, why is it?

  27:51-27:53

  You're like, well, maybe she's sick, right?

  27:54-27:58

  Dogs don't eat if they're sick, well, except maybe grass, right?

  28:00-28:00

  Ain't that a treat?

  28:03-28:06

  Maybe your dog's not eating because she's sick.

  28:09-28:12

  And I'm like, you know what, another reason your dog might not eat?

  28:13-28:14

  She's distracted.

  28:16-28:17

  Like, what are you talking about?

  28:17-28:23

  You know, I've never in my life had a play motivated dog until Wanda.

  28:24-28:26

  Anybody else have a play motivated dog?

  28:27-28:30

  Every other dog that I've had has been food motivated.

  28:31-28:33

  I've never had a play motivated dog.

  28:33-28:34

  It's crazy.

  28:34-28:48

  You could put like a bowl of like beef and gravy on the floor and throw a ball and she will chase the ball and leave the food behind 10 out of 10 times.

  28:50-28:53

  So maybe she's not hungry because she's too distracted.

  28:57-29:00

  And then I thought, you know why else my dog won't eat?

  29:02-29:04

  Is maybe she's already full.

  29:05-29:07

  Maybe Aaron fed her and I didn't know about it.

  29:10-29:13

  And I thought, you know what, church?

  29:20-29:22

  Maybe it's one of those three reasons that you ain't hungry.

  29:26-29:28

  For some of you, you're not hungry because you're sick.

  29:31-29:33

  And what I mean by that is you're not saved.

  29:35-29:44

  What I mean by that is you're not saved, you've never experienced the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, therefore your appetite was never changed.

  29:46-29:48

  You're still sick in your fallen condition.

  29:53-29:56

  You're like, I've never really been hungry for righteousness.

  29:56-30:01

  then you don't know the Lord, because when you do, you're hungry for Him.

  30:04-30:07

  And some of you are just like the dog, too distracted.

  30:09-30:14

  You're too distracted, just too busy, even with good things.

  30:16-30:19

  But these good things have distracted you from the best thing.

  30:23-30:25

  But you know what I think a lot of it is in the church?

  30:25-30:28

  You know why I think you're not hungry for righteousness?

  30:29-30:34

  Is because you're already full of other stuff.

  30:36-30:40

  You fill up on sin, right?

  30:41-30:56

  You're filling up on sin and you're just constantly consuming sin and you're looking at things on TV that you shouldn't look at and you're looking at things on the internet that you shouldn't look at and you're worried, what's gonna happen?

  30:57-30:58

  What if this happens?

  30:58-31:03

  And you're all worried and you can't get out of your own head and you're gossiping.

  31:03-31:10

  Oh, you just love to tell stories about people and give the latest news and rumors about people and angry, right?

  31:10-31:14

  Just like hair trigger, short fuse, ready to blow.

  31:14-31:18

  And you're constantly looking for something to be angry about and addicted.

  31:18-31:23

  And this chemical or whatever, this habit that's just addictive.

  31:23-31:24

  I gotta have it, gotta have it.

  31:25-31:29

  And you're so full of all of these things.

  31:30-31:42

  Listen, you aren't hungry and thirsty for righteousness for the same reason that a guy who ate a box of Ho-Hos isn't hungry for vegetables.

  31:46-31:47

  You're full of garbage.

  31:54-31:58

  Like, yeah, I'm guilty.

  32:01-32:02

  I haven't been hungry like I need to.

  32:04-32:06

  Like, well, how do I get there?

  32:07-32:12

  Well, let's keep the hunger gimmick going here, right?

  32:12-32:15

  There's three ways to grow your appetite that I can see from Scripture.

  32:17-32:18

  Three ways to grow your appetite.

  32:18-32:20

  Excuse me, I'm gonna go through these quickly.

  32:21-32:22

  Three ways to grow your appetite.

  32:23-32:24

  Number one, taste.

  32:25-32:26

  Taste.

  32:28-32:38

  Psalm 34, verse eight says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." First thing you gotta do is taste.

  32:38-32:42

  You know a day that really changed my life?

  32:43-32:51

  I mean, I'm talking like, a day that set me on a whole new course and I haven't looked back.

  32:52-32:57

  And you're like, oh, the day you received Jesus, that was an awesome day, but that's not the day that I'm talking about.

  32:58-33:06

  And then wait, wait, wait, the day you got married, that was a good day too, but that's not, that's not even what I'm talking about.

  33:06-33:08

  You're like, oh, the day that your kids were born.

  33:09-33:11

  Like, yeah, that was okay.

  33:11-33:15

  But that's not the day, That's not the day that I'm thinking about.

  33:16-33:24

  You know, the day that I'm thinking about is the first time that I ever tried General Tso's chicken.

  33:31-33:34

  Holy moly, amigos, have you tried this?

  33:36-33:39

  Look, I didn't, this was in college, okay?

  33:40-33:42

  I didn't have Chinese food until college.

  33:43-33:44

  Like, how did that happen?

  33:44-33:46

  Look, I grew up in Shakora, okay?

  33:47-33:49

  Not a lot of Chinese restaurants in Shakora.

  33:50-33:52

  Not a lot of any restaurants, actually.

  33:53-33:54

  I think they have one now.

  33:55-33:59

  And a few dollar Generals, but when I was a kid, none of that.

  34:00-34:16

  But I remember when I was in college, this guy was like, "Hey, hey Jeff, you gotta try this." I'm like, "What is that?" He goes, "It's General Tso's chicken." I'm like, "Nah, I don't really want to." "You gotta try it." "No, I don't really want to." "You gotta try it." "No, I don't really want to." And it was one of those things where it's like, it's on the fork and he has it like an inch from my mouth.

  34:17-34:18

  You gotta try this, you gotta try.

  34:18-34:18

  I'm like, I don't wanna try.

  34:19-34:19

  You gotta try this.

  34:20-34:21

  I tried it.

  34:24-34:25

  And I never looked back.

  34:27-34:31

  And I'm like, I don't even know who General So is.

  34:33-34:35

  But I am enlisting in his army.

  34:38-34:43

  And since then, I have eaten a lot of General Tso's chicken.

  34:47-34:49

  You know what changed it for me?

  34:49-34:50

  You know what turned that franchise around?

  34:52-34:53

  I tasted it.

  34:55-34:56

  That's what I love about this verse.

  34:57-34:59

  Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

  34:59-35:02

  Some of you don't have much of an appetite for righteousness because you never really tried it.

  35:04-35:12

  You never really tried spending time in the Word, Like slowing down and it's incredible.

  35:13-35:18

  The wisdom, how can this be so simple and so profound at the same time?

  35:19-35:26

  Some of you have never slowed down to consume it.

  35:27-35:34

  Some of you have never slowed down to really pray, fellowship with God in prayer, like dedicated time alone, privately.

  35:35-35:37

  Some of you have never taken the time to do that.

  35:39-35:43

  Some of you have never trusted God with finance.

  35:45-35:50

  You don't have any wonderful stories about God's provision because you haven't been faithful in giving to him.

  35:53-35:54

  That's why I love this verse.

  35:54-35:58

  He says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." Taste and see.

  35:59-36:01

  It's an invitation to experience.

  36:01-36:02

  I mean, I can tell you.

  36:04-36:05

  I've been a Christian since '95.

  36:05-36:09

  I can tell you some stories about how awesome it's been to follow the Lord.

  36:09-36:11

  It has been incredible.

  36:12-36:16

  I can tell you all about it, but don't take my word for it.

  36:18-36:18

  You taste and see.

  36:21-36:28

  Like that General Tso's chicken, you're not going back when you really taste and see that the Lord is good.

  36:33-36:35

  Now I want General Tso's chicken.

  36:40-36:42

  Number two, how do you grow your appetite?

  36:43-36:45

  Number two, eat.

  36:47-36:48

  Eat.

  36:51-36:56

  You know, I can't make this plant grow.

  37:00-37:01

  I can't.

  37:02-37:03

  I mean, I tried.

  37:04-37:06

  I tried bribing it.

  37:07-37:13

  Like, look, listen, please, if you get a little taller, I'll put you in a nicer place in the house.

  37:13-37:16

  I could try bribing it.

  37:16-37:17

  That didn't work.

  37:17-37:18

  I could try threatening it.

  37:19-37:24

  Like, if you don't grow this week, I'm throwing you into the forest.

  37:24-37:25

  That doesn't do it either.

  37:27-37:28

  Right?

  37:28-37:29

  I could beg it.

  37:30-37:31

  Like, oh, please grow.

  37:31-37:34

  Please, everybody thinks I'm so lame because you're so little.

  37:34-37:35

  Please grow.

  37:38-37:42

  I can't do a thing to grow this plant, can I?

  37:44-37:44

  Do you know what I can do?

  37:46-37:50

  I can put it in a place where it'll grow naturally, right?

  37:54-37:56

  You know what, this is plastic.

  37:56-37:57

  It was never gonna grow anyways.

  38:01-38:02

  It's an illustration, people.

  38:03-38:05

  And I killed all the real plants.

  38:06-38:08

  But look, it's the same for you.

  38:09-38:12

  Look, you can't make yourself grow.

  38:12-38:13

  You can't.

  38:13-38:15

  But you know what you can do?

  38:15-38:19

  You can put yourself in the places where you'll grow naturally.

  38:19-38:20

  That's what you can do.

  38:23-39:45

  Put yourself in situations where you can know Jesus more, where you can experience fellowship more, where you can consume righteousness more. Like get to church, right? And not just show up as a spectator, show up and serve. Get involved in a small group with people who will love you and encourage you and pray for you and keep you accountable. Listen to worship music throughout your week. Listen to biblical sermons and podcasts. Get to where you'll grow. And you're going to find the more you know the Lord, the hungrier you become to know him more. And finally, the last way to grow your appetite is to fast. If you're a believer and you find that you're not hungering and thirsting for righteousness the way that you should, then you need to fast. Like, well, what is fasting? Fasting is stopping the feeding of ourselves with other things to focus on our relationship with God. We stop eating other things because we want to focus our appetites on the Lord.

  39:45-39:49

  Pastor Taylor, do you want to come up here and demonstrate for us what fasting looks like?

  39:50-39:51

  (laughing)

  39:52-39:54

  It's pretty self-explanatory, right?

  39:55-39:56

  Don't eat!

  39:59-39:59

  Right?

  39:59-40:01

  But it's not even just about food.

  40:04-40:11

  You only can consume so much every day.

  40:13-40:45

  And what you do with fasting is you take a season instead of eating, and maybe it's other things, instead of watching TV, instead of scrolling mindlessly on the interwebs, instead of playing video games for hours, if that's your thing, instead of watching every sport on TV, instead of all of that, it's, you know, I'm cutting that out for a season, I'm going to use that time and I'm gonna spend time in the word and in prayer.

  40:48-40:51

  Fasting is one of the greatest gifts that God has given us.

  40:51-40:54

  And I think it's the most underused gift that God has given us.

  40:57-41:02

  Fasting allows you to focus all your appetite just on seeking the Lord.

  41:04-41:09

  So if you're sitting here right now and you're like, man, I'm just, I hear what he's saying, I'm just not very hungry.

  41:09-41:12

  Well, then maybe you need to stop filling yourself up with other things.

  41:15-41:25

  Maybe you say, "I'm skipping lunch every day this week "and I'm gonna spend that lunch hour "just in the Word and in prayer." I'm not being legalistic here.

  41:25-41:27

  You know, figure out how it's gonna work for you.

  41:27-41:33

  Maybe you're gonna say, "I'm gonna go without eating "for the next three days just to focus." I'm gonna, whatever that looks like for you.

  41:34-41:39

  The fasting is I'm cutting other things out to redirect my appetite.

  41:42-41:44

  So you want to watch your appetite for righteousness grow?

  41:47-41:49

  I would encourage you to taste and see that the Lord is good.

  41:49-41:57

  I would encourage you to eat, put yourself in a place where you'll grow and fast.

  41:58-42:02

  Maybe cut some stuff out so you have room for other stuff.

  42:04-42:09

  Our worship team would make their way back up front and join me on the platform.

  42:09-42:13

  You know, everybody hungry for something.

  42:17-42:18

  What are you hungry for?

  42:25-42:27

  Have worldly things lost their appeal to you?

  42:30-42:32

  Are the things of God precious to you?

  42:36-42:42

  Do you find yourself hating sin the way God does?

  42:47-42:50

  Are you becoming more and more dissatisfied with yourself?

  42:55-42:57

  Can you say this with the psalmist?

  43:00-43:07

  As a deer pants for flowing streams, So pants my soul for you, O God.

  43:09-43:11

  Is that the cry of your heart?

  43:13-43:19

  I am desperately hungry for the Lord.

  43:21-43:22

  Is that you?

  43:25-43:44

  Well, if it is, I am pleased to announce on behalf of the leadership of Harvest Bible Chapel, Pittsburgh North, the elders, ministry team leaders, and nursery workers, we would like to wish you a sincere congratulations.

  43:45-43:46

  [APPLAUSE]

  43:59-44:03

  because if you're hungry, you're gonna be satisfied.

  44:04-44:04

  Let's pray.

  44:05-44:22

  Father in heaven, we confess before you that we have stuffed ourselves with so much, and then we wonder why we're not hungrier for you.

  44:24-44:51

  I pray, Father, today, We want nothing more than to be in your presence, to grow in Christ, to not only be satisfied with the salvation he purchased, but to be satisfied in the pursuit of growing in righteousness ourselves.

  44:53-45:06

  I pray, Father, you would lay a heavy conviction on people who haven't been hungry and thirsty for you, and that you would make that the appetite that truly drives everything that they do.

  45:08-45:10

  Glorify your name, Father, we pray in Jesus' name.

  45:11-45:11

  Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:6-7 and Philippians 3:8-12

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. How would you respond to someone who says, “I don’t really hunger and thirst for righteousness.”?
   

3. What are some practical ways a believer can increase their appetite for spiritual things?
   

4. Jesus said the hungry and thirsty will be satisfied. What does this satisfaction actually look like in the life of a believer today?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Congratulations to the Meek

Introduction:

Who Are the "Meek"? (Matthew 5:5)

Forsaking all Self-interest to the Will of God for the Sake of others .

Philippians 2:3-8 - Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Why Are We Congratulating the Meek?

How Do I Cultivate Meekness? (Psalm 37:1-11)

1. You Don't Fret over the wicked or the state of the world.
2. You Wholly Depend on God to Deal with Wrongdoers .
3. You Wholly Depend on God for Vindication .
4. You Ask God to remember those opposed to you.
5. You Pray for pportunities to be Trained and Tested .

   Congratulations to the poor in spirit, you have the kingdom of heaven!

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:05

  All right, Matthew chapter 5, are you there? I feel special, I got fresh balloons.

  00:07-00:09

  I think the little kids took all the other ones.

  00:12-00:18

  All right, Matthew chapter 5, let's read there. We'll start at verse 1.

  00:21-01:15

  "Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

  01:16-01:37

  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So we're in week three of our celebration of the Beatitudes and today we are kicking off Meek Week. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

  01:43-02:19

  Okay, okay, some of you, some of you are enthused, but maybe we don't seem to be too excited to be meek. Are you not enthused about the next step in our progression through the Beatitudes? I mean, why not? Well, because it's not something we aspire to, is it? Our human nature recoils at the thought of This is one of those uncomfortable verses in Scripture that we tend to pass over.

  02:20-02:47

  Or if we do dwell on it, we find the idea of meekness so unappealing that we just push it away. That's because of what we think meekness means. We think meek people are timid, they're weaklings, they're cowards, they're pantywaists, they're sissies, wussies, simps, and pusillanimous pipsqueaks. Meekness is for the timid sheeple.

  02:49-02:52

  When I think of meek, I think of piglet.

  02:54-03:16

  Yeah, the word has negative associations in our culture. No one, no one rolls out of bed in the morning thinking, "Today's the day! Today I'm going to be more meek! Carpe piglet!" No, no, we don't do that. But we're told right here in verse 3, did I get that right?

  03:16-04:10

  Verse 3? Yeah, no, verse 5, I'm sorry. Verse 5, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." We're told that being meek is a good thing. Followers of Jesus ought to be meek because He is meek. He says in Matthew 11 29, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle that is meek and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls so we must figure out what it means sometimes we're told well meekness is not weakness we hear this a lot in the church we we must soothe the ego with the reminder that if you're meek it doesn't mean you're weak god doesn't expect you Of course not. So let's just stop right there and not pursue this meekness thing too much further.

  04:12-04:49

  Other times we're told that the Greek word "praos" that is translated as meek really means "strength under control." You like that better than "meekness isn't weakness"? I do. In fact, there are a lot of writers who say that in ancient Greece, Prous described a horse trained for battle. One writer put it this way, "Wild stallions were brought down from the mountains and broken for riding. Some were used to pull wagons, some were raced, and the best were trained for warfare.

  04:50-06:20

  They retained their fierce spirit, courage, and power, but were disciplined to respond to the slightest nudge or pressure of the rider's leg. They could gallop into battle at 35 miles an hour and come to a sliding stop at a word. They were not frightened by arrows, spears, or torches. Then they were said to be meeked. To be meeked was to be taken from a state of wild rebellion and made completely loyal to and dependent upon one's master. Another metaphor for meekness is an iron fist and a velvet glove. You know, great strength covered with a kind and humble exterior. We like that image, don't we? It conjures up notions that I'm kind, I do good to everyone, but push me too far, antagonize me too much, and I'm gonna to be within my rights to let you have it. Yeah, I can be as humble as the best of them, but I got something in reserve. I got my ace in the hole that I can play when it's called for. Yeah, we like these metaphors, don't we? A lot of guys here right now are thinking themselves, "Yeah, yeah, I'm comfortable with those descriptions of meekness. I can work with those." Just now skip down to the part where you tell me how to become meek, wrap it up with a bow, and I get to go on with my day off.

  06:23-06:35

  Except none of those metaphors is any more true or accurate a meaning of meek than the idea of being a sissy boy. Meekness has nothing to do with physical or moral strength or courage.

  06:36-06:44

  Biblically, meekness has nothing to do with tamed horses, because Jesus isn't a tamed horse.

  06:45-06:51

  He's the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah, and we aren't tamed horses either.

  06:52-06:58

  We're his sheep and the people of his pasture. We need to live accordingly.

  07:00-07:05

  I think I might be stepping on some toes this morning, so this would be a good time to pray.

  07:07-07:13

  If you'd pray for me that I would faithfully preach God's Word, And I'll pray for you that you receive it.

  07:15-07:15

  Let's pray.

  07:26-07:29

  Father God, your Word is truth.

  07:31-07:40

  I pray that your Word would penetrate us to the joints and marrow, That you would plant your word deeply in us.

  07:42-07:53

  That you would rattle our cages. That you would shake us up. That you would make us meek like our Savior Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.

  08:00-08:04

  So who are the meek? Why does meekness matter?

  08:05-08:16

  The opening of this series, Pastor Jeff explained that the Beatitudes are like a ladder or a series of steps. They're all connected and one leads to the next.

  08:17-09:13

  So far we've learned that we are poor in spirit. As Pastor Jeff said in week one, being poor in spirit is our default setting as sinners. And pride keeps us from recognizing it. We need the Holy Spirit to illuminate our true condition and bring us to confession and repentance. Then last Sunday we learned that we must mourn over our sin and the wrong that we've done. So step one, what we are is spiritually bankrupt. Step two, what we must experience, that is godly sorrow. And now step three, what we must be, meek. Before we define it, we're going to take a moment to understand why this step is crucial and why we can't skip it.

  09:15-09:25

  If we consider the world from the Bible's standpoint, that is a biblical we understand that all wrongdoing, wickedness, and injustice is due to sin.

  09:26-12:02

  We can't expect fallen human beings to do what is right and obey the commands of God. We know the world is broken. There's evil and injustice at every turn, and we object to injustice across society. And we usually we point our finger at other people and identify them as the cause of most, if not all, of the So we look to our leaders at the local and the state and the national level to fix things. We want them to sweep into power, restore sanity and order. We also object to injustice in our own lives. It isn't fair. It's been uttered by every one of us at some point in our lives. We get upset when people say or do things that that hurt us or our families our friends our neighbors we want we want justice we want things to be made right and we long for righteousness the next beatitude anticipates this actually Jesus says blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness I'm not trying to steal Jeff's thunder from neck for next week but but we're on a ladder remember we can't really hunger and thirst for righteousness until we deal with being meek. Meekness is a prerequisite to truly hungering and thirsting for righteousness. But our tendency is we go from mourning over the wrong we've done straight to hungering and thirsting for righteousness. This is actually natural. We think to ourselves, "Well, I broke it and now I got to fix it," or "Jesus has done great things for me in my salvation and and I want to do great things for him now." You know, those are all admirable thoughts and Jesus recognizes this, but it is a proud desire to do right and fix things. Even though we have an incomplete understanding of righteousness, it is good to hunger and thirst for righteousness, but our perceptions of right and wrong are often subjective based on personal experience and tainted by pride. And if we don't deal with our pride first, our efforts to set things right can and will go sideways. After all, how does a person who's been wrong typically seek justice? It's payback time.

  12:03-13:35

  It's time for revenge. It's time for retaliation, retribution. Those are all people try to right wrongs. And if our hunger and thirst for righteousness is not grounded in meekness, and we try to do right things from a place of pride, our righteous deeds will be like filthy rags, and we will expose Jesus and the gospel to contempt for the wrong reasons. Because, beloved, we're going to encounter people who don't appreciate our dedication to the gospel and biblical righteousness. We know they have very different ideas about what constitutes justice and righteousness and they're going to push back with mocking and insults and attacks and persecution. And if we don't have a solid understanding of meekness, we may respond in kind and our efforts to bring about righteousness will look like retaliation, retribution, and revenge. If we fail to become meek any good we might do will look no different from the world's methods of handling problems we will act just like everyone else in the name of Jesus will be brought into disrepute so we have to firmly understand meekness so what does meekness really mean well as I said the Greek word is prowse and and it's translated variously as meek, gentle, humble, and considerate.

  13:38-14:50

  It is described as the positive moral quality of having a mild disposition and dealing with people in a kind manner with humility and consideration. A meek person isn't loud, boastful, easily angered or pushing. Why a meek person is just nice and kind. Is that it? Is that all there is to it? It's not even the half of it. Biblically, meekness is an outlook, it's an attitude, it's a disposition, if you will, of the heart and mind toward God and other people that's founded on our relationship with God and our trust in Him. It is a disposition that remains fixed regardless of what God brings our way, what people do, what events transpire, and whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. So I've got some definitions here regarding God. Whoa, that didn't even didn't fit, did it?

  14:52-15:21

  All right, but anyway, regarding God, the meek are disposed to accept all of God's dealings with them as good, and this disposition is founded on trust in God's character, omniscience, and omnipresence. The meek person is not occupied with self or even self-preservation, but rather the glory of God first, and then the well-being of others. All right, so that's the vertical regarding God.

  15:21-17:59

  Regarding people, the meek are disposed to treat others considerately with honor and respect. A meek person is not easily provoked, disturbed, or angered, and when wronged, the meek person responds with humility and relies wholly on God for defense, deliverance, and justification instead of taking matters into one's own hands. What do you think Pastor Taylor? Should I should I get that down to one sentence? Would it be better to have this in one sentence? That's that's I acknowledge that's all pretty long. You might say one sentence, "Love the Lord your God with your whole self and love your neighbor as yourself." That's pretty familiar to us, isn't it? But I thought we need to get to some really granular level. We need to put this under a microscope. Here's meekness in one sentence. Meekness is forsaking all self-interest to the will of God for the sake of others. Forsaking all self- interest to the will of God for the sake of others. You might say that poor in spirit was our old default setting. Meekness is to be our new default setting in Christ Jesus. Note that meekness has nothing to do with strength or weakness, fortitude or timidity, courage or cowardice, or anything else that we commonly associate with meekness or our opposition to it. It has everything to do with our estimation of God and his providential care. This meekness is not something we can attain by our own effort. Strength under control or the iron fist and velvet glove, those qualities might be attained by human ability. That's why we like them. We can do it ourselves. But you know in the wild horse analogy, the horse's strength has been harnessed. The horse has been trained, not transformed. But to be this, to be this, this is impossible to do apart from the Holy Spirit's transformational renewing of our minds.

  18:01-18:40

  So what does meekness look like? True meekness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit that grows out of dependence on God. See Galatians 5 23. You could say that our meekness quotient is directly proportional to our dependence on God. So Joseph, who despite being sold into slavery by his brothers, served God and his masters faithfully and looked to God to vindicate him. When his brothers came into Egypt looking for food, he had it in his power to abuse and mistreat them.

  18:41-19:23

  It's payback time. That's not what Joseph did. Instead, he showed them mercy and took actions that ultimately brought about confession and forgiveness and led to reconciliation and his family's deliverance. Meekness looks like Moses who is meeker than anyone on the whole face of the earth. When God said he was going to wipe out all the people because of their idolatry with the golden calf and start over with Moses, Moses said, "Really? You'd do that for me, God? Well, Now that might set your plans back a little bit, but hey, if you want to start all over with me, that's fine with me.

  19:23-19:28

  I'm already tired of leading these miserable, complaining people around the wilderness.

  19:30-19:31

  No, that's not what Moses said.

  19:32-19:40

  No, Moses interceded for the people and called upon God to remember his covenants and his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

  19:42-20:00

  of Moses's meek intercession, the Lord relented from the disaster that he spoke about bringing on all the people. You see in the examples of Joseph and Moses, we see men who had the ability to act in their own self-interest, but they did not.

  20:01-22:07

  They had God's favor and power and resources backing them up, but they forsook those resources for the glory of God. They put the will of God before their own self-interest for the sake of others. Meekness looks like the Apostle Paul when he was wronged and stoned and beaten, imprisoned, maligned, and persecuted. How many times did he fight back? Shout it out if you know. How many times did he fight back? How many times did he carry out retaliation and retribution. Anybody you know? And how many times did he round up all the believers for street fights with the Jews and the Gentiles? Zero. You see, Paul's meekness can be summarized in a comment he made to Timothy. "Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds." Meekness looks like Jesus because he's meekness personified. Remember when Jesus was arrested, Peter, who was not being meek, lashed out with a sword and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant and Jesus said essentially, "Enough, enough, Peter. This isn't how we fight. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels." Jesus was going into battle but as a meek lamb and it looked unlike any combat the world has ever seen. What does meekness look like in a disciple? Well in Philippians 2 verses 3 through 8 Paul points us to the meek Lamb of God and he says "do from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

  22:10-22:16

  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

  22:17-24:12

  Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not account equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a slave. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. You see, Jesus gave up his self-interest and submitted to the Father's will for our sake. Defending himself with 12 legions of angels would not have resulted in our salvation, but his meek submission to his father's will did. So now that we have a biblical definition of meekness and a few examples of what it looks like, why are we congratulating the meek? Because they will inherit the whole earth. Inheriting the land is a God promised to give the land that Abraham could see to him and his offspring forever. Throughout the Old Testament we read about the land which I'm giving you, the land which I'm bringing you into, the land that I'm giving you for an inheritance. There are at least a hundred and seventy instances where God unconditionally promises he will give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's offspring the land of Canaan. At least 55 times he confirms the promised gift with an oath, and 12 times he states that the covenant is everlasting. But here in verse 5, Jesus promises the whole earth. This is a future promise as well as a right now promise. We know that right now the whole earth belongs to God.

  24:13-25:12

  The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, according to Psalm 24. So it's his and he can do whatever he wants with it. In fact, in the beginning he gave humanity dominion over the whole earth according to Genesis 1, but our ability to exercise that dominion was corrupted by the fall of Adam and Eve into sin. It was necessary therefore for Jesus to redeem it through his sacrifice and then give it to his people as an inheritance. So when do we get this inheritance? We now or do we get it later? The answer is yes. If you're a disciple of Jesus, if you're in Christ, you have inherited the earth now because everything that belongs to Christ belongs to you. What is his is yours and you will receive the earth to come because Christ is making all things new including a new earth.

  25:13-26:21

  but but you cannot skip over meekness you only inherit the earth if you are a meek disciple of Christ and it's at this point we run into something of a stumbling block this reward sounds great but there's something nagging there's something you can't quite put your finger on some idea about meekness that is troubling you. Let's go back to the definition of meekness again. Forsaking all self-interest to the will of God for the sake of others. Our problem is we do not trust God enough to be meek. The reason little profound spiritual growth occurs in our lives is because we refuse to be meek. Our hearts are not fully with God, instead of depending on God, we act primarily out of pride and fear. We don't embrace meekness because we're afraid God won't take care of us in all things.

  26:23-26:27

  So instead of depending on God for all things, we operate from a place of pride.

  26:28-28:55

  We subscribe to "God helps those who help themselves" school of theology. As the old song says, "God bless the child that's got his own." On the one hand we say, "I believe in God. I believe he'll take care of me." But on the other we think and act along the line of self-sufficiency. We look out for number one first. Why do we do this? Why do we not fully trust in and depend on God? Because of what our I see and what our hearts have experienced. We see horrible things happening throughout history and in the world around us. We ask, "Where was God when those things were happening? People have done bad things to me and I've been deeply hurt. Why didn't God stop that from happening?" We suffer a great deal from death and loss. Why did my parent die? Why was my child taken from me? Why did I lose my job? Why do I have this terrible disease? Why was I in that terrible accident that left me maimed? We think it's strange that we suffer disappointment, pain, and hardship when we are children of God. Wasn't I supposed to be set free from those things when I believed in Jesus? At least, weren't those things supposed to decrease? We think it's strange that we suffer, but we serve a suffering Christ. My aim is not to revisit the recent series on Job and what we learned about suffering and the sovereignty of God there. My aim is to point out that we make our suffering a barrier to fully depending on God. We are afraid that meekness will only lead to more suffering. We will lose out what we need to live. We will fall prey to the wicked, will be misused and abused. We don't want to be victims. We don't want to be the world's designated doormats. By our thoughts and actions we demonstrate that we are not confident that God will do what he promises. Like the Israelites in Elijah's time who tried to cover all the religious bases by worshiping Yahweh as well as Baal and other gods.

  28:56-29:26

  We are afraid to fully depend on the Lord and as a result we go limping back and forth between self-effort and God, failing to realize that A) we're even doing so and B) the consequences of such wavering. I'm going to make what might seem like a brief detour here, but it illustrates the consequences of rejecting complete dependence on God and seeking one's own way in the world.

  29:28-29:33

  Remember in Genesis 1 we had the whole earth and then we lost it in the fall?

  29:35-31:16

  Well, ever since people have been trying to get it back. In Genesis 10 we read about a guy named Nimrod. You might laugh, but Nimrod was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. You might think, "Mighty hunter before the Lord? That's a compliment. That's a sign of God's approval." It's not. It's a description of self-sufficiency and independence, and built the cities of Babel and Nineveh, two empires that in the future would torment Israel. It's likely that Nimrod is the one who led the people to glorify themselves by building the Tower of Babel, and ever since God threw all the people there into confusion, human beings have sought to build their own version of Babylon and to get what they can for themselves. Human history is a seeking to conquer the earth. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, the British and other European empires, even the American Empire, have all sought self-glorification and dominion at the cost of great destruction and millions upon millions of people perishing through war and starvation, disease and genocide and unspeakable cruelty, and not one of them ever gained or possessed the whole earth.

  31:18-31:33

  We are born into this wild and reckless world and we come to believe that the only way to survive is to look out for number one. We go about staking our own little claims on the earth, in building our own little empires, and striving to make our own names great.

  31:37-32:26

  and what wreckage we have left in our own wakes. None of us is anywhere close to gaining the whole world, but we are very much in danger of forfeiting our souls. But then we hear a still small voice, "Come to me. Come to me, you who are poor in spirit. Come to me and mourn over the sin and pride that has caused so much devastation and be meek. Be the opposite of all the sinful things you have ever been. As much as we embrace the appeal of salvation though we hesitate at meekness. We turn back at meekness because we know how the world works and we trust more in what we see than we do in God's promises.

  32:27-33:12

  We must learn how Jesus works. We must push past the barriers of fear and pride that lead to self-preservation and go all in, depending on Jesus, if we're going to meekly inherit the earth. Ironically, when we have Jesus, the things of this world begin to lose significance. The things of earth will grow strangely dim, as the hymn says. Pastor Jeff is going to elaborate on this more next week, but this morning we should recognize that when we become meek, we stop striving and clawing for a little patch of dirt and a smidgen of self-esteem, and we inherit everything. We inherit the whole earth.

  33:15-33:32

  All right, if you're persuaded that meekness is essential for a disciple of Jesus and that the reward for meekness is great, you want to know how do I cultivate meekness? How do I grow in the fruit of this Spirit?

  33:34-33:53

  Turn to Psalm 37. You want to look in your Bibles. Tom, turn to Psalm 37. We're going to do something a little different this morning. I'd like to read through this responsibly, verses 1 through 11. I'll read the odd-numbered verses and I ask you to read the even-numbered verses.

  33:58-34:55

  All right, well, if you have your Bibles, please open your Bibles. I'll start at verse 1. "Fret not yourself because of evil doers. Be not envious of wrongdoers, For they will fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Self in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your injustice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath.

  34:56-35:05

  Fret not yourself, it tends only to evil. For the evildoer shall be cut off, but "But those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

  35:06-35:09

  "In just a little while, the wicked will be no more.

  35:10-35:14

  "Though you look carefully at his place, "he will not be there.

  35:15-35:24

  "But the meek shall inherit the land "and delight themselves in abundant peace." All right, thank you.

  35:25-35:26

  That's good, thank you.

  35:27-35:28

  All right, so number one.

  35:31-36:33

  read it all later read it all later it's it is it is an excellent song so number one how to cultivate meekness you don't fret over the wicked or the state of the world three times the psalmist says do not fret it is don't worry don't be anxious about what is going on around you or about what the wicked are doing Now I'm sure there was no one here fretting about people and things the past four years. Am I right? Yeah indeed there was much to fret about but we shouldn't have been fretting. Why not? Because the Psalm says, "Because fretting yourself tends only to evil. It leads us to say and do things that are unmeek." And right now you don't have to dig too deep into the news or social media to see that people are completely losing their minds over the new political situation.

  36:35-37:01

  Never in my life would I have imagined that some of my family members and friends could be so angry and swear the way that they do. This is fretting on steroids. We're seeing fretting dialed up to 11. But what about us? In past time did you spew venom and anger and unkind words out of a fretful spirit?

  37:02-37:06

  Are you doing it now in response to people who think differently than you?

  37:08-37:14

  Or maybe you fret silently. You don't lash out, but you do worry incessantly.

  37:16-37:51

  You're anxious all the time about many things. Beloved, we are called to depend on God alone. So do not fret, put away anger and wrath, lest you make your faith in Christ appear fraudulent. What is the remedy to fretting? The remedy is you wholly depend on God to deal with wrongdoers. You must have full confidence in the Lord that he is taking care of you in good times, in sorrow, in success, and in disappointment.

  37:53-37:54

  Look at what the psalmist says.

  37:55-38:05

  Trust in the Lord, delight yourself in the Lord, commit your way to the Lord, be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

  38:06-38:08

  You have believed in Him for salvation.

  38:09-38:14

  Do you not believe He is a good Father who will care for you and shelter you?

  38:15-38:19

  You have trusted in the Lamb of God to save your soul.

  38:19-38:23

  you not depend on the Lion of Judah to defend you?

  38:26-40:37

  Depend on the Lord to act in your behalf and he will give you right desires. He will vindicate you and he and he alone will deal with the wicked. He will bring them to account in this life and in the life to come. The wicked will be cut off and be no more but those who wait on the Lord shall inherit the land and we know it means the whole earth. Yes, the meek, that'll be you, shall inherit the whole earth and delight themselves. Delight yourselves in abundant peace. Next, the meek wholly depend on God for vindication. By this I mean you patiently wait for God to prove you right and you will, and he will, I mean if you proceed from a place of meekness. We so often want to assert ourselves and justify ourselves. I know I'm right. But once again, the the morass of social media gives ample evidence of people verbally assaulting others and asserting their own point of view is correct. But that should not be us, beloved. The meek looks to God to bring forth their righteousness as the light and their justice as the noonday. Next, you ask God to remember those opposed to you. The psalmist says to trust in the Lord and he will act, and also to refrain from anger and forsake wrath. When we've been hurt or someone is opposing us, we should ask God to remember them. Now when the Bible says God remembers, it doesn't mean he forgot to do something. It means he's about to take action. Therefore, to ask God to remember those who've harmed you or insulted you or taken something from you is to ask him to take appropriate action from his viewpoint, not yours, and in a way that will give him great glory and do the most good for you and for those opposed to you.

  40:39-42:02

  Finally, you pray for opportunities to be trained and tested in meekness. If you're going to bear the fruit of meekness, you need to have your buttons pushed from time to time. How will you ever know if you're becoming meek if you aren't confronted with situations in which you have a choice to a) behave proudly, blow your top, deny the Lord and ruin your good confession, or b) respond meekly with humility and grace and display your complete confidence in the Lord to take care of you. This seems like a dangerous prayer, but I assure you it is better to be prayed up about it, to ask for the Lord's help ahead of time and for skill level appropriate training in meekness. Then it is to be confronted out of the blue with a situation in which you fail miserably. The best way to cultivate the fruit of meekness is to prepare and practice so that when you're in the orchard of life and the game isn't going your way, you'll be ready with the ripe fruit of meekness. How's All right, so if our worship team will come back to the stage, we'll look at what we've learned this morning.

  42:03-42:09

  We've learned that meekness is not what we imagined it to be, or even what we would like it to be.

  42:10-42:15

  We've learned that real meekness is a fruit of the Spirit, born out of total dependence on God.

  42:17-42:22

  we've learned that our resistance to meekness reveals that we don't fully trust God.

  42:24-42:58

  And that realization has brought deep conviction to your heart. But it's time to stop wavering and to depend fully on God for his providential care in all of life and to demonstrate to others the fruit of meekness that grows from such dependence. If you will make this commitment, If you will get out of bed tomorrow morning and say, "Today's the day I start becoming meek," then congratulations, beloved. The earth and everything in it is yours in Jesus Christ.

  43:00-43:18

  Let's pray. Heavenly Father, our Lord and our God, make us meek. Make us like our Savior, Jesus Christ, so that we can be like Him in all things of life to all people. We pray in His great name. Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:5 & Psalm 37:1-11

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Why do we find unbiblical definitions of meekness either unappealing (e.g., it’s weakness) or more appealing (e.g., it’s strength under control) than the definition presented during the message?
   

3. Do you find the definition presented during the message unappealing? If yes, why? Utilizing Philippians 2:3-8, how would you define meekness?
   

4. Why is genuine meekness essential to hungering for righteousness?
   

5. What is one characteristic of meekness that you can commit to cultivating this week (Psalm 37:1-11)?

Breakout
Pray that the Lord will impress on you the imperative to be meek, and that as a congregation we will be committed to Biblical meekness.

Congratulations to those Who Mourn!

Introduction:

Who Are the "Those Who Mourn"? (Matthew 5:4)

Why Are We Congratulating those Who Mourn?

Revelation 21:4 - He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

Romans 7:24-25 - Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

How Do I Mourn? (James 4:8-10)

1. What Keeps Me from Mourning?

   James 4:8-10 - Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

   1. You aren't Drawing near to God.
   2. You're too Invested in your sin.
   3. You don't see Sin for what it is.
2. How Do I Know I Really Mourn My Sin?

2 Corinthians 7:10 - For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

→ You Repent without Regret.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:01

  So who's ready to party?

  00:02-00:03

  (congregation cheering)

  00:04-00:05

  Good seven of you.

  00:09-00:10

  Awesome, hey, seven's a party.

  00:11-00:11

  All right.

  00:12-00:16

  I know, you're like, I'm saving all my energy for that game tonight.

  00:19-00:20

  Right?

  00:23-00:24

  Is that what it is?

  00:25-00:28

  Show of hands, who's going to some Super Bowl party tonight?

  00:29-00:30

  Oh, am I allowed to say Super Bowl?

  00:31-00:33

  Who's going to the big game party tonight?

  00:34-00:34

  Raise your hands.

  00:35-00:39

  So I can see that those of you that are like, you're like embarrassed to say that.

  00:39-00:42

  You're like, me, yes, but I don't want anybody to know.

  00:44-00:49

  Our youth group's having a big game party here tonight.

  00:52-00:57

  So who's, again, show of hands, who's cheering for Taylor Swift's team?

  00:58-00:59

  (congregation laughing)

  01:02-01:04

  Just Jane Auer and Justin.

  01:05-01:05

  Wow.

  01:06-01:06

  Wow.

  01:07-01:10

  Two spiritual giants cheering for Taylor Swift's team.

  01:11-01:12

  I'm starting to...

  01:16-01:18

  On that note, who is cheering for Philadelphia?

  01:20-01:21

  Okay.

  01:21-01:22

  That's hard.

  01:23-01:25

  That's hard to be from Pittsburgh and cheer for Philadelphia, isn't it?

  01:27-01:28

  All right, they need Jesus too.

  01:30-01:35

  All right, since we're on the subject, slightly different poll, who thinks the Taylor Swift team is gonna win?

  01:35-01:38

  Whether you want them to or not, who thinks they're going to win?

  01:40-01:44

  Okay, how about, who thinks Philadelphia is gonna win?

  01:45-01:58

  All right, well, we're gonna have a much better party right now, because we're going through the Sermon on the Mount, And this is Jesus' first sermon.

  01:59-02:01

  And this is his introduction.

  02:01-02:10

  He starts it by saying, "Blessed, blessed, blessed." In this section, this introduction to his sermon, we call it the Beatitudes.

  02:10-02:12

  Let's look at it again, shall we?

  02:12-02:24

  Matthew chapter five, verse two, it says, "And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  02:25-02:44

  "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.

  02:46-02:51

  "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

  02:52-02:56

  "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.

  02:58-03:05

  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  03:07-03:10

  Blessed over and over, blessed, blessed.

  03:11-03:17

  The Greek word is mekerios, and most people say, well, that means happy, but we talked about this last week.

  03:17-03:18

  It means more than happy.

  03:20-03:24

  It is literally a blissful condition of the soul.

  03:25-03:42

  So what you're reading as you go through Jesus' introduction here is what Jesus is saying is, "Congratulations." If you are this kind of person, congratulations because God has something awesome in store for you.

  03:43-03:50

  What we see in the Beatitudes, again, we talked about this last week, but there's a spiritually logical flow.

  03:51-03:55

  You have to see these as steps on a ladder.

  03:57-04:02

  And Jesus here is describing what Christ followers are meant to be.

  04:03-04:05

  So let's just pause for a moment and pray.

  04:06-04:10

  I'm gonna ask that you please pray for me as I will pray for you.

  04:12-04:13

  And then we're gonna get this party started.

  04:14-04:15

  Let's just take a moment and pray.

  04:23-04:31

  Father in heaven, we come in here today with so many distractions.

  04:33-04:42

  Not just a football game on later, but much deeper and more important things that are weighing heavy on us.

  04:42-04:54

  And I pray, Father, that your Spirit would help us to just shelve those right now, and our minds and hearts would be laser-focused on what your Word has to say.

  04:57-05:06

  And when we do, we'll find that maybe those distractions aren't as big as we think they are when we put them next to you.

  05:08-05:10

  So, Father, glorify your name.

  05:11-05:14

  as we study your word together today.

  05:16-05:20

  In Jesus' name, and all of God's people said, amen.

  05:21-05:25

  So congratulations to those who mourn.

  05:25-05:26

  Look at verse four.

  05:27-05:35

  Jesus says, "Blessed are those who mourn, "for they shall be comforted." Do we get that video?

  05:36-05:37

  Are you ready, church?

  05:37-05:38

  Congratulations!

  05:52-05:57

  See, last week sort of prepared you, but let's be honest, that was kind of weird, wasn't it?

  05:59-06:01

  It's like, "Hey, are you mourning?

  06:04-06:08

  "Well, congratulations!" Like, what?

  06:08-06:16

  I just imagine like a visitor coming in here, somebody watching this stream for the first time like, "These people are weird.

  06:17-06:25

  Congratulations to those who are sad." What's that all about?

  06:28-06:29

  Mourning.

  06:29-06:34

  Like, you know, the obvious question is mourn what?

  06:36-06:39

  'Cause there's so much we mourn over.

  06:41-06:43

  What's he talking about?

  06:44-06:45

  Well, we gotta start here.

  06:45-06:49

  Jesus wasn't just talking about any kind of mourning at all.

  06:51-06:58

  Like we said, the Beatitudes, there's a logical, a spiritually logical flow to the Beatitudes.

  06:59-07:04

  So just look at verse three again with me and flow it into verse four.

  07:04-07:06

  And you'll see exactly what Jesus is talking about.

  07:08-07:13

  Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  07:13-07:19

  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Do you see the flow?

  07:22-07:26

  You see, Jesus is talking about the person that says, "I'm spiritually bankrupt.

  07:26-07:36

  I'm begging for grace and mercy, and I'm mourning over what put me in that condition.

  07:37-07:38

  And what is that?

  07:39-07:40

  It's sin.

  07:42-07:44

  It's mourning over your sin.

  07:46-07:48

  And right now you might be like, "Wait, wait, hang on a second, Pastor Jeff.

  07:49-07:54

  "Are you telling me that God wants me to mourn?

  07:54-07:56

  "I thought God wanted me to be happy.

  07:57-08:07

  "And you're telling me that God wants me to be sad?" And I would say that if that's your response to this, you're not really looking at it the right way.

  08:10-08:17

  Because mourning is just appropriate.

  08:20-08:21

  Here's what I mean.

  08:23-08:26

  You know, we talked about being poor in spirit last week, spiritually bankrupt.

  08:26-08:30

  you've got nothing to offer God, you're broken spiritually.

  08:32-08:45

  But can we just stop and acknowledge for a second that simply acknowledging that you're guilty about something doesn't quite seem to be enough, does it?

  08:46-08:49

  Just a simple acknowledgement, it's not enough.

  08:50-08:50

  And here's what I mean.

  08:51-09:01

  Husbands, did you ever get that sense that your wife is upset with you about something, but she hasn't verbally articulated what that is?

  09:02-09:08

  Don't raise your hands, 'cause you gots to go home, hopefully with her.

  09:10-09:13

  Okay, this is just a raise your hand in your heart question.

  09:14-09:20

  But have you ever had that feeling like she's mad at me about something, but she hasn't articulated what that is?

  09:21-09:32

  Well, husbands, how would it work if you went to your wife in that moment and said, "Apparently I'm guilty of something and I'm acknowledging that." Can we be done with this?

  09:36-09:38

  How would that fly in your house?

  09:41-09:45

  Not well, I can tell by the uncomfortable laughter.

  09:45-09:47

  That would not go well in your house.

  09:48-09:50

  Now you see where we're going here?

  09:51-09:54

  Or what about somebody that's in court?

  09:55-09:57

  They committed a heinous crime.

  10:00-10:09

  And I've never been in a courtroom to actually see this, but you ever see like in those TV shows and movies where they're like, are you sorry for what you did?

  10:09-10:10

  Have you ever seen that?

  10:11-10:18

  But could you imagine the guy's, he's guilty, and he's just like, yeah, I did it.

  10:22-10:28

  Wouldn't you feel that like, that's not enough just simply acknowledging that you're guilty?

  10:28-10:29

  You see what I'm saying?

  10:32-10:43

  Many many years ago, this is a horrible story, but there was a young man in my former church that was having a hard go at things.

  10:45-10:50

  He's having a really hard time in life as a young man, and our camp manager took him in.

  10:52-11:00

  So they took him to the camp, put him up, gave him some work, trying to help this young man get on his feet, and the young man stole from the church camp.

  11:01-11:04

  Stole money from the church camp.

  11:05-11:11

  Well, even with the police, and I'm giving you the short version, even with the police getting involved, the camp manager did not want to press charges.

  11:11-11:13

  He says, "I'm just trying to help this guy out.

  11:13-11:15

  "He's had a hard go at things.

  11:15-11:18

  trying to help him out, and the police said, "Well, this is a probation violation.

  11:18-11:24

  "There's nothing you can do." So he went to jail, where I did prison ministry.

  11:25-11:42

  Well, the boy's mother came to me, and she said, "He's so, "she said, 'He's so torn up about what happened.'" She goes, "Are you gonna see him?" And I said, "Well, actually, I'm going in this Friday "to the prison." She goes, "Well, he's just so torn up about what happened.

  11:42-11:44

  "I hope you get a chance to talk with him and pray with him.

  11:45-11:49

  Well, I went in that Friday, and he did, he came to Bible study.

  11:50-12:17

  And he came up to me, and I said, "Hey, how we doing?" He's like, (laughs) he goes, "I guess you heard about what I did." I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, I heard about what you did." He's like, "Yeah, yeah, you heard about." He was laughing the entire time he was talking about it.

  12:19-12:20

  And I'm like, why are you laughing?

  12:21-12:23

  You stole from a church camp.

  12:24-12:25

  Like, are you proud of that?

  12:25-12:27

  Like, I don't understand why you're laughing.

  12:28-12:32

  And he just giggled the whole time he was talking about it.

  12:34-12:38

  Well, a couple of days later, his mother came back to me.

  12:38-13:04

  She goes, "Hey, did you get to see him in prison?" I said, "Yeah, I talked to him." "He's really broken up over this, isn't he?" I said, "Not at all." And she was like, "What are you talking about, not at all?" I said, "He laughed the entire time he was talking about it." Would you say that something was missing there?

  13:09-13:17

  Now we kind of see why this is logical that this is the next step in the Beatitudes.

  13:17-13:18

  Are you seeing it?

  13:19-13:22

  Because mourning proves sincerity.

  13:29-13:30

  It's not just for show.

  13:32-13:36

  And look, you can pretend to mourn and you can fool me, but you can't fool God.

  13:37-13:48

  But when you're really mourning in your heart, when you are really broken over your sin in your heart, you know it and God knows it, and that's all that matters.

  13:50-13:58

  And you've gotten to the place where you're like, look, no excuses, no blaming other people, no comparing myself with others.

  13:58-13:59

  We talked about that last week.

  14:00-14:03

  No rationalizing why I did what I did.

  14:06-14:11

  I have to ask you, have you mourned over your sin?

  14:13-14:19

  Have you, you personally, have you mourned over your sin?

  14:24-14:29

  Have you considered who your sin has hurt?

  14:34-15:03

  who trusted me that I've taken advantage of. An addiction I've had that has caused me to lie and to steal and to live this deceptive lifestyle. My gossip and slander that has damaged the reputations of the people that I talk about. What is it for you? Have you You mourned over those things?

  15:07-15:18

  And maybe it's not just like the sins that you've done, but the sins that are things that you haven't done.

  15:20-15:27

  I think that's been a bigger struggle for me, realizing that I haven't been the husband that my wife has needed me to be.

  15:31-15:45

  I'm sure every dad in here can relate to the sleeplessness that comes when you realize you haven't been the father to your kids that they've needed, and you mourn over that.

  15:48-15:49

  Have you done that?

  15:54-16:02

  You know, we disregard our creator, the God who loves us, and we so often just treat him like he's not even there.

  16:02-16:06

  Oh, and then we need something, and then we're gonna act religious for a while.

  16:10-16:17

  Can we really take inventory of our lives and our sin and not mourn?

  16:23-16:23

  Have you done that?

  16:27-16:31

  Because mourning is just the natural response.

  16:32-16:37

  And if you really understand your sin, you know that whole blessed are the poor in spirit.

  16:37-16:48

  If you really, really understand what that means, and you're not a sociopath, then you're going to mourn over your sin.

  16:56-17:02

  Second question, why are we congratulating those who mourn?

  17:02-17:03

  Right?

  17:05-17:11

  That's the those who mourn, but why are we congratulating these people?

  17:11-17:15

  Just like we said in the first Beatitude, we're gonna say it again this week.

  17:15-17:19

  Could you imagine if Jesus stopped at the word mourn?

  17:20-17:22

  If he's like, blessed are those who mourn.

  17:26-17:28

  Amen, end of sermon, you're loved, go home.

  17:28-17:29

  Could you imagine if he stopped there?

  17:30-17:31

  Like, happy or the sad?

  17:32-17:36

  Like, what do you, why would you say such a thing?

  17:36-17:52

  Oh, but he goes on, he goes, "For they shall be comforted." They, just like the previous, the word they is emphatic in the Greek.

  17:53-17:55

  It shows us the sense in which Jesus said this.

  17:57-18:01

  It emphasizes how this is contrary to expectation.

  18:01-18:06

  What Jesus is saying here, again, this is so paradoxical.

  18:06-18:18

  But Jesus says, "Only the sad are happy "because they alone are comforted." There's the congratulations.

  18:21-18:35

  Jesus said, "The people that are tore up over their sin," he says, "Congratulations, because those are the people that get comfort." Like comfort, what do you mean comfort?

  18:35-18:39

  Well, the word in the Greek literally means come alongside to help.

  18:42-18:51

  It's this picture of somebody broken and somebody else comes alongside and puts an arm around and says, "Hey, hey, we're gonna get through this.

  18:52-19:03

  "I got you, you're not alone." And this is what God does for us with his Holy Spirit.

  19:05-19:07

  He comes in and dwells.

  19:11-19:15

  So he's the comforter, but what is the comfort that we receive?

  19:17-19:19

  You see, he doesn't just come along and say, "You know what?

  19:19-19:25

  "Yeah, you're a broken sinner and you should be upset." Yeah, that's true, but it doesn't stop there.

  19:25-19:27

  Here's where our comfort comes.

  19:27-19:29

  Our comfort comes from the promise of the gospel.

  19:30-19:38

  You see, what is the most comforting thing someone who mourns over their sin can receive?

  19:40-19:43

  The answer is forgiveness.

  19:47-19:49

  Don't you see the picture?

  19:49-19:54

  God Himself puts an arm around you and says, "Yes, you sinned against Me.

  19:58-20:03

  But My Son took your sin on Himself.

  20:05-20:08

  I punished Jesus for what you did.

  20:11-20:13

  You are forgiven because of Jesus Christ.

  20:13-20:16

  I'm not going to hold your sin against you.

  20:18-20:20

  And nothing will ever change that.

  20:23-20:28

  So you see, we have this glorious comfort in the promise and hope of the Gospel.

  20:28-20:37

  And someday, someday when we stand before God Himself, He's going to comfort us in person.

  20:39-20:41

  Revelation 21.4, can we put that up there?

  20:44-21:13

  It says, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." I've had people ask me, "Wait a second." I've had people ask me in this verse, "It says He'll wipe away tears, But then later in the verse, it says, "There's no mourning or crying." So what's going on there?

  21:17-21:32

  I believe that when we stand before God, in that initial moment, we're going to fully realize the price that was paid for our sin.

  21:34-21:35

  I mean, I think we understand it.

  21:35-21:38

  And if you're a born again believer, you understand it now.

  21:38-21:47

  But I think on that day, you are going to fully understand it in a way that you never have on earth when you see your God and your Savior.

  21:49-21:58

  And I think the full magnitude of the price that was paid for your salvation is going to just...

  21:58-21:59

  It's going to cause you to weep.

  22:02-22:03

  What does God say He'll do in that moment?

  22:05-22:12

  Like a dad, He's gonna stoop down and He's gonna wipe the tear from your eye.

  22:16-22:18

  And that'll be the last one that you cry.

  22:20-22:22

  So do you see the flow here?

  22:23-22:26

  I realize that I'm a broken sinner.

  22:27-22:28

  That brings me sorrow.

  22:28-22:34

  I go to God for grace and I'm comforted by forgiveness.

  22:36-22:44

  And by the way, if you're a born again believer, this isn't a one and done thing.

  22:47-22:53

  It's not like, you know what, I came to Christ in 1995 and I can't stand there and say, well, yeah, you know what?

  22:53-23:01

  Back in '95, I mourned for my sin pretty hard, but that was a tough couple of weeks, but glad that's over.

  23:01-23:09

  No, no, for a true Christian, we never get over mourning or sin.

  23:13-23:19

  And at the same time, we never get over the comfort of forgiveness that we receive from Jesus Christ.

  23:21-23:27

  A true Christian lives in both of these at the same time.

  23:28-23:35

  That we live a life of mourning our sin and rejoicing in the gospel simultaneously.

  23:39-23:46

  You know, great example, we're not gonna read, we're not gonna read the whole chapter today, but just write this down, Romans chapter seven, that's exactly what Paul went through.

  23:47-23:49

  I'm gonna paraphrase it for you, but I do wanna look at a couple of verses there.

  23:52-24:04

  Romans chapter seven, again, this is a paraphrase, but Paul's like, "I believe that the law is good, "so why do I do the things that I don't wanna do?

  24:07-24:12

  "And the things that I don't wanna do, I do them." He goes, "What's the matter with me?

  24:13-24:16

  "I know what God said, but I keep disobeying.

  24:17-24:35

  "Like, what's the matter with me?" And he walks through that whole experience Sometimes I read Romans 7 and I'm like, "Wait, did I write this?" But the last two verses, this is exactly what Jesus is talking about with these first two Beatitudes.

  24:36-24:40

  Verses 24 and 25, Paul says, "Wretched man that I am.

  24:41-24:46

  "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" There's the mourning right there.

  24:48-24:51

  Like, "Oh, what is the matter with me?

  24:51-24:57

  What can possibly, who can possibly deliver me from this?

  24:58-25:00

  There's the mourning, but then look at the very next verse.

  25:00-25:01

  There's the comfort.

  25:02-25:06

  Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

  25:10-25:20

  In other words, using Paul's terminology, you and I are miserable sinners in a body of death.

  25:21-25:51

  And Jesus would say, "Congratulations, because you have been delivered through Jesus Christ, our Lord." That's why we're congratulating those who mourn, because only when you get to the place where you are sincerely mourning over your sin, will you sincerely receive the comfort that God offers through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

  25:52-25:55

  That's why we're having the congratulations party today.

  25:58-25:59

  I could stop there.

  26:03-26:14

  But I know that there are some people right now, like, okay, I intellectually understand what you're saying, but emotionally I'm not there.

  26:15-26:16

  So how do I mourn?

  26:18-26:19

  How do I do that?

  26:22-26:44

  I gotta tell you, this is a hard sermon to put together because I can share with you some commands that say, you know, do this, or God says, don't do this, but this particular beatitude, it's really all about emotion, isn't it?

  26:44-26:48

  That's sort of a hard thing to command, right?

  26:49-26:54

  I just wanted to get to this point in the sermon and say, okay, church, mourn.

  26:56-26:57

  Go ahead, I'll wait.

  27:01-27:02

  Are you mourning?

  27:04-27:05

  Some of you are smiling.

  27:08-27:08

  See the challenge here?

  27:09-27:12

  How do I just, how do I get you to mourn?

  27:13-27:15

  Like sackcloth and ashes.

  27:17-27:18

  Let's do it, church.

  27:21-27:26

  I thought, wow, that's a really tough question to answer.

  27:26-27:28

  How do I mourn?

  27:32-27:35

  Mourning is an expression of sorrow in the heart.

  27:36-27:40

  And all I can tell you is, if you're really poor in spirit, you're really gonna mourn.

  27:48-28:06

  So instead of trying to answer how do I mourn, I think there's two better questions that we need to answer. And maybe these two better questions will help us get to the heart of the matter because God wants your heart.

  28:11-28:39

  So let's answer these ones instead. Maybe instead of saying, "How do I mourn?" maybe we should ask, "What keeps me from mourning?" Because right now I know there are people sitting here and there will be people sitting in the next service and there are people that are gonna be watching this stream and listening to this podcast that are just like, "Something's just not clicking here "because I don't feel any of this sadness "that he says I'm supposed to be feeling.

  28:40-28:45

  "Why am I not feeling it?" Well, the Bible has the answer for that.

  28:46-28:50

  We're gonna jump to James 4, verses eight through 10.

  28:52-28:53

  We're gonna go through this very quickly.

  28:54-28:55

  Look at what James says here.

  28:55-28:59

  He says, "Draw near to God, "And He will draw near to you.

  29:00-29:04

  "Cleanse your hands, you sinners, "and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

  29:04-29:07

  "Be wretched and mourn and weep.

  29:10-29:14

  "Let your laughter be turned to mourning "and your joy to gloom.

  29:16-29:24

  "Humble yourselves before the Lord, "and He will exalt you." Right there, what keeps me from mourning?

  29:25-29:28

  You're like, "Something's not clicking here." Teach me for mourning.

  29:29-29:30

  There's three things right here.

  29:31-29:37

  If you're not mourning right now, and you realize because of what Jesus said that you should be, here's why you're not.

  29:37-29:39

  Number one, because you're not drawing near to God.

  29:40-29:41

  That's why.

  29:42-29:44

  You're not drawing near to God.

  29:46-29:51

  You know that you should be spending time in prayer.

  29:52-29:55

  You should be spending time in his word.

  29:55-29:59

  You should be spending time in fellowship, you can be on Sunday morning, you should be.

  30:00-30:02

  You know that you need to.

  30:06-30:08

  And you certainly intend to.

  30:12-30:14

  But for a lot of people, it's just procrastination.

  30:15-30:17

  I'm going to, yeah, yeah, you know what, yeah.

  30:19-30:26

  You know what, it's summer break, but when the kids get back to school, that's when I'm really gonna buckle down and seek the Lord the way I know I need to.

  30:27-30:52

  Oh, no, things are so busy with school, but when we have Christmas break, and January's coming around the corner, and turn the calendar for new year, then I'm really going to, well, January was busy, so maybe once I get through President's Day, then I'll be ready to, and we just keep putting God off, that someday we're really gonna get serious about drawing near to God.

  30:57-31:02

  The Bible tells us that when you keep putting God off, what you're doing is you're hardening your heart.

  31:03-31:06

  And hard hearts don't mourn sin.

  31:10-31:20

  So I would say to you lovingly, if you aren't mourning, you probably aren't drawing near to God either.

  31:24-31:28

  What keeps me from mourning, letter B, you're too invested in your sin.

  31:30-31:31

  You're too invested in your sin.

  31:32-31:54

  James says, "Cleanse your hands, you sinners, "and purify your hearts, you double-minded." James says, "Your hands are filthy, your hearts are filthy." James says, "Knock it off." He says, "You're not mourning your sin "because you love it." And we typically don't think of our sin in those terms.

  31:58-32:03

  But if we're going to be brutally honest, you know, think about your favorite sin.

  32:06-32:12

  If we're brutally honest, what we would say is, I do love it.

  32:13-32:14

  You know, that addiction.

  32:19-32:26

  Like, you know, I know I should cut this addiction, but I, quite frankly, I love it.

  32:27-32:29

  I realize the damage that it's causing.

  32:29-32:30

  I realize it's a sin.

  32:30-32:34

  I realize addiction is a worship disorder that offends God.

  32:34-32:35

  I realize I should.

  32:37-32:39

  I just, I kind of like it too much.

  32:41-32:42

  James says, knock it off.

  32:45-32:51

  Maybe it's lust and the various expressions of that.

  32:52-32:59

  That you're like, I know I should stop that, but if I'm being honest, I enjoy it too much.

  33:00-33:01

  Knock it off.

  33:02-33:14

  That inappropriate relationship that I know it's not appropriate, and I'm married, and she's married, and it's just too flirty, and I shouldn't be doing that.

  33:15-33:17

  But I just kind of get a rush out of it.

  33:21-33:22

  Or all the gossip.

  33:22-33:30

  You know, I know I shouldn't be talking about people, but oh, I just love to be the one to give the news and update people.

  33:34-33:42

  Listen, if you've allowed sin to become part of who you are, you're not going to mourn it.

  33:45-33:47

  For some of you, you're too invested in your sin.

  33:49-33:53

  You love that more than you love Jesus, and that is a huge problem.

  33:56-33:58

  What keeps me from mourning?

  33:58-34:00

  For some, you're just not drawing near to God.

  34:00-34:02

  For others, you're just too invested in your sin.

  34:03-34:05

  And for others, let her see you don't see sin for what it is.

  34:07-34:08

  You don't see sin for what it is.

  34:09-34:11

  See again, James says, "Be wretched and mourn and weep.

  34:12-34:19

  "Let your laughter be turned to mourning "and your joy to gloom." You don't see sin for what it is, laughter, joy.

  34:19-34:23

  That's how the world views sin, right?

  34:25-34:26

  We laugh at it, right?

  34:28-34:29

  That's what the world does.

  34:30-34:37

  And sadly, too often, so does the church.

  34:40-34:43

  I read a quote this week, I can't remember who it was.

  34:43-34:46

  I think it was, I think it was Martin Lloyd-Jones that said this.

  34:46-34:55

  He says, "The church has a defective sense of sin." Yeah, we do.

  34:58-35:01

  We don't mourn over sin.

  35:02-35:03

  Even in the church, what do we do?

  35:03-35:04

  We laugh at it.

  35:04-35:06

  We make jokes about it.

  35:06-35:10

  We minimize it, and that is not of God.

  35:13-35:15

  That's not of God when we do that.

  35:17-35:19

  Think about it this way.

  35:22-35:36

  Would you tell a really tasteless, disgusting joke about suicide to a family that experienced that horror?

  35:36-36:04

  Would you do that? No! Would you tell a joke about drunk driving to a family that lost a family member due to drunk driving? Would you do that? Of course you wouldn't. So why do we think it's appropriate to joke about sin in in the face of Jesus Christ, who died because of our sin.

  36:13-36:16

  That's why James says, "Hey, you need to stop laughing at it.

  36:17-36:19

  And you need to take a serious look at it.

  36:20-36:23

  My sin killed my Savior.

  36:23-36:24

  You think that's funny?

  36:28-36:33

  If you were standing at the foot of the cross while Jesus was being crucified, would you be bragging about your sin?

  36:37-36:38

  Is your sin worth celebrating?

  36:41-36:44

  That's why James says your laughter needs to turn to mourning.

  36:45-36:46

  Your joy needs to turn to gloom.

  36:47-36:49

  You need to see sin how God does.

  36:50-36:51

  You need to see sin for what it is.

  36:56-36:58

  So maybe that's why you're not mourning sin.

  36:59-37:06

  You have just so minimized it and trivialized it and turned it into a joke.

  37:14-37:15

  That's what keeps me from mourning.

  37:15-37:17

  So you're like, OK, you know what?

  37:18-37:20

  Maybe some of you are like, I'm on board.

  37:21-37:22

  I'm on board with you.

  37:22-37:23

  I see what God's saying.

  37:23-37:26

  And so, how do I know that I really mourned?

  37:28-37:33

  How do I know that I really, really mourned over my sin?

  37:34-37:39

  That I really had that genuine emotion that Jesus is talking about here?

  37:39-37:41

  How do I know that I've done that?

  37:43-37:45

  I just want to close with one verse here.

  37:47-37:51

  But 2 Corinthians 7:10 tells us how you know that you've mourned.

  37:52-38:03

  He says, "For godly grief," some translations say godly sorrow, we could say the same thing, "For godly mourning," right?

  38:04-38:18

  "For godly grief produces a repentance "that leads to salvation without regret, "whereas worldly grief produces death." How do I know that I really mourn?

  38:18-38:29

  There's one way that you know that you are doing exactly what Jesus is commending in this beatitude.

  38:30-38:32

  It's when you repent without regret.

  38:34-38:34

  That's how you know.

  38:40-38:45

  Don't tell me how sorry you are over your sin if there's no repentance, because you're not really sorry.

  38:50-38:55

  Then tell me how bad you feel if there's no plan to turn from it.

  38:57-39:00

  See, that's what Paul does here in 2 Corinthians 7.

  39:00-39:08

  He compares, he says, "Everybody's sorry about something, but there's worldly grief and there's godly grief." Worldly grief, what's that?

  39:09-39:10

  What's worldly grief?

  39:10-39:23

  That's, "I'm sorry that I got caught." "I'm sorry that you're upset about what I did." Not upset about what I did, I'm sorry that you're upset about what I did.

  39:24-39:25

  Worldly grief is self-centered.

  39:29-39:30

  It's all about me.

  39:32-39:37

  I feel uncomfortable because of the results of my sin.

  39:38-39:40

  And Paul says that does not lead to salvation.

  39:42-39:42

  Where does that lead?

  39:45-39:48

  He says worldly grief produces death.

  39:49-39:51

  That's what you get from worldly grief.

  39:53-39:56

  He says, on the other hand, godly grief, what is that?

  39:57-39:59

  That's the person that's like, you know what?

  39:59-40:01

  I am so sick of this sin.

  40:03-40:09

  It dishonors God, it's hurt others, it's made me such a hypocrite.

  40:09-40:11

  This sin that I'm committing is wrong.

  40:13-40:15

  See, godly grief is Christ-centered.

  40:17-40:21

  Even if nobody else knows what your sin is, you know that God does.

  40:22-40:23

  Like, I gotta be done with this.

  40:25-40:32

  And he says it produces a repentance that leads to salvation.

  40:33-40:36

  See that repentance, repentance.

  40:38-40:40

  Now we're talking about mourning as the emotion.

  40:41-40:43

  Repentance is not an emotion.

  40:43-40:44

  Repentance is action.

  40:45-40:48

  Repentance is I am walking in my sin.

  40:48-40:52

  I'm turning my back on sin and I'm walking towards God.

  40:52-40:54

  Repentance is action.

  40:58-41:02

  Has grief over your sin led you to take action?

  41:07-41:09

  You're like, well, no, not really, seriously, no.

  41:09-41:16

  okay, then you haven't mourned your sin the way God calls you to.

  41:20-41:36

  Notice he says, "Godly grief produces a repentance "that leads to salvation," look at these last two words, "without regret." That's another key, by the way.

  41:38-41:44

  You know, the person that actually does turn from sin, but really deep down feels like, man, you know what?

  41:46-41:48

  I kind of miss that sin.

  41:48-41:50

  I kind of miss doing that.

  41:52-41:53

  Yeah, I would love to do it again.

  41:53-41:57

  Just, even if I could do it just one more time, I would love that.

  41:59-42:01

  But I guess I'm really not supposed to.

  42:03-42:07

  Now, without regret means no regrets in repenting.

  42:10-42:14

  Well, there is one regret for the sincere mourner, actually.

  42:15-42:34

  The sincere mourner says, "My only regret "is that I didn't repent sooner, "because then I would have received "the comfort of God sooner." "So my brothers and sisters, you are poor in spirit.

  42:35-42:36

  Last week we talked about that.

  42:36-42:39

  How do I get there?" You're already there.

  42:41-42:52

  Your sin has offended a holy God, and it's hurt others, and by nature you stand condemned over that.

  42:52-42:59

  And the reality of all of that should have you broken inside.

  43:03-43:04

  Are you there?

  43:06-43:11

  Has your mourning over sin led you to repentance?

  43:13-43:17

  Well, if that's you, then we got a message for you.

  43:28-43:38

  So my friends, on behalf of the leadership of Harvest Bible Chapel, I would like to extend to you a heartfelt congratulations.

  43:39-43:41

  Give yourselves a hand if you are mourning.

  43:43-43:44

  (congregation applauding)

  43:47-44:00

  Because our Lord said, congratulations to those who are mourning because you and you alone are going to experience the comfort of God.

  44:01-44:21

  If our worship team would make their way back to the stage here and those who are serving communion, you know, there's no better way that we can capture what Jesus is talking about than by ending this time around the Lord's table.

  44:24-44:32

  Because as we come to the Lord's table, There should be a brokenness in us in this moment, truly.

  44:33-44:35

  We're remembering what?

  44:35-44:37

  The body and the blood of Jesus Christ.

  44:37-44:41

  We're remembering this price that was paid.

  44:41-44:58

  And there should be a sense of mourning over this, but at the same time, there should be a sense of celebration and that my God loves me so much that this is the price that he paid so that I could be forgiven of my sin.

  45:00-45:02

  This is also the comfort.

  45:03-45:04

  So the worship team's going to play.

  45:04-45:06

  We're going to invite you to stand.

  45:07-45:10

  And when you're ready, come down the center aisles and receive the elements.

  45:10-45:15

  And when everybody has received, I will lead us in taking the Lord's Supper together.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:4 & James 4:8-10

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What exactly does it mean to “mourn” over your sin? Why is mourning necessary?
   

3. What would you say to someone that says “I’ve never mourned over my sin. And I don’t really see why I need to!”
   

4. How does God comfort those who mourn? What does that look like?
   

5. Read 2 Corinthians 7:10. Explain the difference between worldly grief and godly grief. What does it mean that worldly grief brings death?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Congratulations to the Poor in Spirit

Introduction:

Who Are the "Poor in Spirit"? (Matthew 5:1-3)

Romans 3:23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...

James 2:10 - For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

Why Are We Congratulating the Poor in Spirit?

How Do I Become Poor in Spirit?

Luke 18:9-14 - He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

3 Signs That You Are Poor in Spirit:

1. You Humble , Exalt yourself.
2. You compare yourself to God , not Others.
3. You bank on God's Mercy , not your Works.

   Congratulations to the poor in spirit, you have the kingdom of heaven!

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  00:00-00:16

  Harvest Bible Chapel, I am so excited because we are having a party today.

  00:16-00:17

  Who's ready to party?

  00:20-00:25

  So Harvest Bible Chapel, I would like to say, congratulations.

  00:27-00:28

  Give yourselves a hand.

  00:29-00:30

  (congregation applauding)

  00:34-00:35

  You're like, what are we celebrating?

  00:38-00:42

  Well, this is going to be an eight week long party.

  00:44-00:49

  And the party for the next eight weeks, congratulations.

  00:52-00:54

  Like who are we congratulating?

  00:54-00:56

  Well, what are some things that we congratulate people for?

  00:57-00:58

  Shout them out.

  00:58-01:00

  What are some things we congratulate people for?

  01:01-01:02

  Birthday, marriage, okay.

  01:02-01:04

  Congratulations, you're getting married.

  01:04-01:05

  Something else.

  01:06-01:07

  Okay, new job.

  01:07-01:08

  Congratulations on the new job.

  01:09-01:11

  Or retiring from that job.

  01:12-01:14

  Congratulations on your retirement.

  01:14-01:15

  What else?

  01:17-01:18

  New baby, yeah, new baby.

  01:19-01:21

  Congratulations, you're having a baby.

  01:21-01:22

  Congratulations.

  01:22-01:24

  We get congratulations, right?

  01:25-01:26

  What's that?

  01:26-01:28

  He said graduation.

  01:28-01:31

  Oh, a graduation, congratulations.

  01:35-01:40

  Well, we're gonna be in the Sermon on the Mount.

  01:40-01:43

  If you wanna open your Bibles up to Matthew chapter five.

  01:44-01:49

  And the Sermon on the Mount is actually Jesus' first sermon.

  01:51-01:52

  And it's so interesting.

  01:55-01:57

  The first sermon of Jesus.

  02:00-02:05

  This is how he introduces, this is his intro to his sermon.

  02:08-02:12

  Matthew chapter five, it says, "Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain.

  02:13-02:16

  And when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

  02:17-02:26

  And he opened his mouth and taught them saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  02:28-02:30

  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

  02:32-02:35

  Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

  02:36-02:41

  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

  02:42-02:46

  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

  02:48-02:51

  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

  02:53-02:58

  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

  03:00-03:15

  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." This is how Jesus introduces the greatest sermon ever preached.

  03:18-03:20

  in a section that we call the Beatitudes.

  03:21-03:27

  And notice every one of these statements of Jesus starts with the word blessed.

  03:30-03:36

  Like, well, if we're going to understand what this is about, we better know what the word blessed means, right?

  03:37-03:46

  Well, if you pick up a commentary or get online and look things up, most people just simply say this, Blessed means happy.

  03:51-03:52

  Yes and no.

  03:54-04:00

  I would say yes and more than that.

  04:00-04:07

  Happiness doesn't really cover the full meaning of what the word blessed means.

  04:07-04:19

  Because at least in our context, when we think of happy, we think like something good happened to us, like a cookie, we had an Oreo, we're happy.

  04:19-04:22

  Or we had a rollercoaster ride, we're happy.

  04:23-04:25

  Or I got a raise at work, I'm happy.

  04:28-04:36

  But you look through what Jesus was talking about here, and you know, these things don't sound very happy.

  04:38-04:43

  You know, if you're like, happier are the people who are mourning, like, what?

  04:44-04:49

  That doesn't really make sense.

  04:51-04:52

  What does blessed mean?

  04:53-05:00

  Well, the Greek word is mekarios, and it means a blissful condition of the soul.

  05:01-05:11

  But here's the thing, it's not about external circumstances because worldly things cannot make you happy.

  05:13-05:27

  So the better sense of the word blessed is this, congratulations, congratulations.

  05:27-05:30

  That's the better sense of mekerios.

  05:32-05:41

  What Jesus is saying in the Beatitudes is this, if you miss this, you are so not going to be enjoying this party for the next eight weeks.

  05:41-05:50

  What Jesus is saying is this, if you are this kind of person, congratulations because there is something awesome in store for you.

  05:52-05:53

  That's what he's saying.

  05:54-06:01

  And when we go through the Beatitudes, you gotta get this too, the stress here is on being, not doing.

  06:02-06:08

  The Beatitudes are about who you are, not about what happens to you.

  06:09-06:17

  And these beatitudes are all constant life patterns of true believers.

  06:17-06:38

  And Jesus said, "The people that live with these attitudes are the people who are truly blessed." Therefore, Jesus is saying, "Congratulations to you." Beatitudes, and really when we go through the whole Sermon on the Mount, this is what Christians are meant to be, all right?

  06:39-06:41

  Who's the Sermon on the Mount for?

  06:42-06:46

  You know, I read so much stuff over the past month, all kind of goofy ideas.

  06:46-06:50

  People are like, well, this is for like people in the millennial kingdom or like people in heaven.

  06:51-06:56

  No, the Sermon on the Mount is for disciples of Jesus Christ, that's who it's for.

  06:58-07:13

  And in his introduction, Jesus is giving these characteristics of a Christ follower And these beatitudes, this is all Christians should be exemplifying all of these.

  07:14-07:22

  And you're going to see as we go through these over the next eight weeks, that each of these demands the others.

  07:25-07:27

  So look, this isn't a checklist, okay?

  07:28-07:34

  This isn't some checklist we're gonna go through and say, "Okay, I did that one, I did that one, I did that one, okay, good, ready for heaven.

  07:35-07:36

  That's not how it works.

  07:36-07:43

  What we have here is a spiritually logical flow.

  07:45-07:47

  Think of it more in terms of steps on a ladder.

  07:49-07:52

  And all of it must be spirit-powered.

  07:54-07:56

  With that said, I want us to bow our heads for a moment.

  07:57-08:01

  I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word.

  08:01-08:06

  I will pray for you to receive it, and then we're gonna get this party started.

  08:10-08:12

  Father in heaven, do what only you can do.

  08:16-08:20

  By the power of your Spirit, we pray in Jesus' name.

  08:21-08:24

  And all of God's people said, amen.

  08:25-08:26

  So, we're ready to party.

  08:27-08:29

  Congratulations to the poor in spirit.

  08:31-08:32

  (congregation laughing)

  08:46-08:47

  I see some of you aren't yet on board.

  08:51-08:52

  I was ready for that.

  08:54-08:56

  So let's look at verse three, shall we?

  08:59-09:09

  Jesus starts his sermon by saying this, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." What's he saying?

  09:09-09:11

  I mean, this must be pretty significant.

  09:11-09:15

  This is the first statement in Jesus' first sermon.

  09:17-09:19

  Well, first of all, poor, what does he mean by poor?

  09:19-09:22

  He's not talking about material stuff here, okay?

  09:23-09:25

  Some people think that poverty is a virtue.

  09:27-09:34

  If poverty's a virtue, listen, never give money to a poor person because then you're robbing them of their character.

  09:35-09:36

  Poverty's not a virtue.

  09:38-09:41

  He's describing an internal condition.

  09:41-09:54

  He says, "Your spirit is poor." But this word for poor in the Greek, it draws a picture from a beggar.

  09:56-10:04

  It's the posture that a beggar would take, bowing timidly, begging for help.

  10:06-10:09

  Because you see, in Jesus' day, often beggars were crippled.

  10:10-10:22

  They were unable to provide for themselves, so they had to completely and totally rely on the grace of someone else to provide for them.

  10:22-10:34

  and they would come before them in this beggar's posture and say, "I need your help so desperately." Do you get that picture of the beggar in your mind?

  10:35-10:38

  Please, I need you to help me.

  10:39-10:45

  I have nothing to offer you back, but I so desperately need your help.

  10:45-11:00

  And Jesus here is saying, "Be that guy in your spirit." that you go before God and say, "God, I am a guilty sinner, God.

  11:00-11:03

  I got nothing to offer you, God.

  11:06-11:11

  And honestly, God, I know that I don't deserve anything from you.

  11:13-11:20

  God, my only hope is that you will show me grace.

  11:20-11:22

  That's the only hope that I have.

  11:28-11:29

  That's the poor in spirit.

  11:31-11:36

  The poor in spirit are people who agree with God about their condition.

  11:39-11:42

  And we could spend weeks just talking about this concept.

  11:42-11:49

  We're not going to, but there's a couple of verses I want us to look at that really drive the point home.

  11:49-11:53

  Romans 3.23, a lot of you probably have this memorized.

  11:53-11:59

  It says, "For all have sinned "and fall short of the glory of God." Those who are poor in spirit recognize that.

  11:59-12:04

  I have fallen short of God's glory.

  12:09-12:10

  I've failed.

  12:13-12:14

  I have failed.

  12:14-12:17

  I see that God has a perfect standard.

  12:18-12:21

  And I look at the landscape of my life and I see that I haven't met that.

  12:22-12:26

  I have fallen short of what God expects from me.

  12:28-12:30

  Guilty, guilty.

  12:34-12:38

  And in case there's someone saying, well, I'm not really that bad.

  12:38-12:40

  You know what James 2.10 says?

  12:41-12:46

  It says, "Forever keeps the whole law, but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

  12:48-12:50

  Wrap your brain around that.

  12:50-13:05

  Imagine walking into an earthly courthouse because you committed one crime and you walk in and the judge says, well, legally, you are guilty of committing every crime in the United States of America.

  13:05-13:07

  Do you think that judge is gonna let you go?

  13:10-13:11

  No, no.

  13:12-13:28

  James says, "If you broke the law, even at one point, you lived your whole life, and just one time, just one time, you told this little white lie to get out of trouble, you're guilty of breaking God's whole law." You know why?

  13:28-13:33

  It's because rejecting the law is rejecting the law giver, and God takes His law very seriously.

  13:35-13:39

  God says, "Oh, you didn't agree with me when I said this in that one part.

  13:40-13:43

  "Well, you have rebelled against God.

  13:43-13:50

  "That is a serious crime." We could go on and on.

  13:50-13:53

  Romans 5 says that we are weak, we are ungodly.

  13:54-14:00

  Romans 5 says we are enemies of God, and to add tragedy on top of tragedy, there's nothing that I can do about that.

  14:04-14:09

  You see, my friends, we are guilty and helpless.

  14:09-14:13

  us. That's what we are.

  14:17-14:18

  Someday you're going to die.

  14:20-14:27

  And you're going to walk into your court date and you're going to be judged by the holy God that you have sinned against.

  14:29-14:37

  And you have no defense, you have no excuse, you have no clout and you will get no second chance.

  14:38-14:47

  "You will stand before this holy God, guilty and helpless." Like, man, I thought we were having a party.

  14:50-14:53

  Like, why are you talking about this?

  14:56-15:05

  Because of the reality that the only people who receive grace are the people who know they need it.

  15:06-15:06

  That's why.

  15:07-15:17

  People that know they have nothing to offer God, they're 100% dependent on the grace that God shows in His love.

  15:18-15:20

  And that's the cross of Jesus Christ.

  15:21-15:37

  The cross of Jesus Christ forever stands as a testimony to how completely, spiritually bankrupt every single one of us are, because it took the death of the spotless, perfect son of God to pay for my sin.

  15:38-15:40

  That tells, that says a lot about God.

  15:40-15:44

  That says something about me too, how horrible my condition is.

  15:48-15:57

  So the first statement of Jesus' first servant, he says, congratulations to the spiritually bankrupt.

  16:02-16:08

  And that's where the servant has to start, my friends, because nothing happens until this happens.

  16:09-16:18

  Listen, this, this is the fundamental characteristic of a Christian right here.

  16:21-16:24

  Broken and poor before God.

  16:29-16:40

  Everything else that we're going to be looking at over these next few months in the Sermon on the Mount, Everything is a manifestation of the fullness of Jesus Christ in you.

  16:44-16:48

  But this verse is about emptying.

  16:50-16:55

  If you're gonna be full of Christ, you gotta be empty of yourself.

  16:59-17:21

  So Jesus says, "Congratulations to the poor in spirit." You're like, "Man, I'm not sure why you blew up "all these balloons, Pastor Jeff, "because I don't really see the, "why are we congratulating the poor in spirit?" That's next on your outline.

  17:24-17:42

  He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for," hang on a second, I was thinking this past week, wouldn't this be a completely different sermon Jesus stopped at the word spirit, that Jesus was like, "Hey, congratulations to the spiritually bankrupt.

  17:45-17:49

  You are loved." What?

  17:50-17:51

  That doesn't make any sense.

  17:52-17:55

  But you see the rest of the verse tells us why we're having the party.

  17:57-18:10

  He says, look at this, "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." For theirs is, actually, in the Greek, the word theirs is emphatic.

  18:11-18:15

  And that tells us the way that Jesus said that.

  18:15-18:19

  He was giving a little bit of shock value here.

  18:19-18:32

  He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Like, well, what is the kingdom of heaven?

  18:34-18:35

  Like, what is that?

  18:37-18:44

  Man, we could spend so much time talking about that, but really we can boil the kingdom of heaven down to one statement.

  18:45-18:49

  The kingdom of heaven is the place where Jesus Christ rules.

  18:50-18:51

  That's the kingdom of heaven.

  18:51-18:54

  It is the place where Jesus Christ is ruling.

  18:56-19:01

  In other words, he's talking about salvation.

  19:03-19:13

  When you come to Jesus Christ, poor in spirit, spiritually bankrupt, you receive his grace and his mercy.

  19:13-19:16

  And in that moment, everything changes.

  19:18-19:21

  The Bible says that you are forgiven of your sin.

  19:21-19:24

  The Lamb of God has taken away your sin.

  19:25-19:26

  You are pronounced not guilty.

  19:26-19:27

  You are forgiven.

  19:28-19:30

  You are an adopted child of God.

  19:30-19:31

  You're no longer his enemy.

  19:31-19:33

  He has brought you in as His child.

  19:35-19:37

  Bible says you're regenerated.

  19:37-19:38

  God puts His Spirit in you.

  19:38-19:42

  He turns a dead sinner into an alive saint.

  19:43-19:46

  That's what changes when you come to Christ.

  19:48-20:00

  And all, and we could go on and on, but everything the Bible says about salvation and grace and being born again, everything the Bible says can be summed up in one statement.

  20:02-20:07

  "Yours is the kingdom of heaven." You get it all.

  20:08-20:10

  The Bible says you're given a new citizenship.

  20:11-20:15

  You belong not to the kingdom of the world anymore.

  20:15-20:19

  You belong to the kingdom of Jesus Christ where he reigns.

  20:21-20:22

  And you have to notice this.

  20:22-20:32

  He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It's present tense.

  20:35-20:42

  Again, I do a lot of reading and so many people wanna take these beatitudes and throw them into the future.

  20:43-20:49

  Like, "Yeah, theirs is the kingdom of heaven, "he's talking about the thousand year millennial kingdom." (mimics gibberish) No.

  20:51-20:55

  "Well, you know, theirs is the kingdom of heaven, "he's talking about the ultimate glorification "of believers in heaven."

  20:56-20:56

  (mimics gibberish)

  20:57-20:59

  No, he did not say that.

  21:00-21:10

  He said, "There's is the kingdom of heaven right now." We have the kingdom now and we have all the blessings that come with it.

  21:10-21:18

  As we already said, we have his spirit dwelling within us, which means we have the peace of Christ, which passes all understanding.

  21:18-21:20

  We have the joy of Jesus Christ.

  21:21-21:23

  We have comfort through the hardest of trials.

  21:24-21:27

  We have perfect provision, God providing everything we need.

  21:28-21:30

  We have hope.

  21:31-21:37

  There is nothing that can happen to me that will rob me of what God has for me.

  21:42-21:45

  We have the body of Christ, the church.

  21:45-21:49

  We have a spiritual gift given to bless others in the church.

  21:50-21:54

  The Bible says that we are heirs with Jesus Christ.

  21:55-21:56

  Can you wrap your head around that?

  21:57-22:00

  You are a fellow heir with Christ.

  22:00-22:04

  That means we have everything because we have the kingdom.

  22:08-22:24

  So as you see, it's very clear when you study the Beatitudes, that Christians, followers of Christ, and non-Christians, these people live in two different realms.

  22:27-22:33

  Because the Beatitudes are actually bookended by this same statement.

  22:33-22:34

  Did you notice that?

  22:35-22:40

  The first Beatitude, "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." See the last one, verse 10?

  22:42-22:48

  "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." What's that mean?

  22:48-22:52

  Jesus is saying the first thing and the last thing you need to know is this.

  22:55-23:01

  Jesus says, "When you receive me, you get my kingdom." That's where you belong now.

  23:06-23:08

  This congratulation is starting to make sense.

  23:11-23:13

  Why are we congratulating the poor in spirit?

  23:16-23:36

  Because according to Jesus, when you are spiritually bankrupt, And you come to God for His mercy and grace, you get everything, literally everything.

  23:40-23:44

  I could stop here, but I still have some time.

  23:46-23:48

  And who likes a party that ends early?

  23:50-24:04

  There is a question that we do have to answer, obviously, and that is this, there's gonna be people that are sitting here, people that are watching this stream or downloading this later, that maybe they're like, "Man, you know what?

  24:05-24:08

  I really want this kingdom, I really want these promises.

  24:08-24:11

  So how do I become poor in spirit?

  24:17-24:24

  What do I have to do to become poor in spirit? The answer?

  24:26-24:26

  Nothing.

  24:29-24:31

  You already are, amigo.

  24:33-25:24

  There's not a thing you have to do except recognize and acknowledge that you already are. Because you see, there's one thing, there's one thing that keeps people from recognizing that they're poor in spirit. And it is that one thing that will keep people from coming to Jesus Christ. Yes, even people sitting in the church. This one thing will keep you from coming to Christ, from acknowledging you being poor in spirit. That one thing is pride.

  25:27-25:41

  So we're going to spend a few minutes talking about that, because for many of you this is a problem. Well Have you truly acknowledged that?

  25:46-25:57

  Well, Jesus illustrated the difference between somebody who's poor in spirit and somebody full of pride.

  25:58-26:00

  He spoke this in a parable.

  26:01-26:03

  We're gonna have it on the screen here, Luke 18.

  26:04-26:06

  You don't have to turn there, but you wanna write the reference down.

  26:07-26:09

  So you're gonna wanna go back and read it again.

  26:10-26:13

  But here's how Jesus illustrates this point that he's making.

  26:13-26:34

  Says, "He also told this parable "to some who trusted in themselves "that they were righteous," ding, ding, ding, "and treated others with contempt." Jesus said, "Two men went up to the temple to pray, "one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

  26:35-26:50

  "The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus, "God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, "extortioners, unjust, adulterers, "or even like this tax collector.

  26:51-26:52

  "I fast twice a week.

  26:53-26:55

  "I give tithes of all that I get.

  26:58-27:12

  "But the tax collector, standing far off, "would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

  27:18-27:26

  Jesus said, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

  27:27-27:39

  For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, "but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Like, how do I get poor in spirit?

  27:42-27:43

  You are.

  27:45-27:47

  You gotta recognize that you are.

  27:49-27:51

  Because nothing happens until you do.

  27:52-27:55

  Like, okay, well, how do I know if I'm poor in spirit?

  27:55-27:58

  Well, on your outline, here's three signs that you're poor in spirit.

  27:58-28:00

  This comes from Jesus' parable here.

  28:01-28:02

  Here's three signs that you're poor in spirit.

  28:02-28:04

  Number one, you humble yourself, not exalt yourself.

  28:06-28:08

  That's a sign that you're poor in spirit.

  28:08-28:10

  You humble yourself, not exalt yourself.

  28:12-28:14

  Do you see the difference in the prayers?

  28:14-28:19

  The Pharisee, me, me, me, me, me, me, I'm so special.

  28:19-28:22

  Me, me, me, me, I'm better than other people.

  28:22-28:29

  Me, me, me, me, that's needs mercy.

  28:35-28:44

  But you know, there's something in us, there is something in every single one of us that wants to exalt ourselves.

  28:48-28:53

  There's something in every one of us where we're just, we'll be in a conversation with someone.

  28:53-28:59

  We're like, oh, oh, take a breath because I wanna say something awesome about myself.

  28:59-29:05

  I wanna point to something about me that you should be so like wowed by.

  29:05-29:17

  And there's just something in all of us that we're wanting to point to our accomplishments or our character or something that we're just like, I'm proud of this.

  29:18-29:19

  We all do that.

  29:25-29:27

  How do you really think about yourself?

  29:32-29:42

  I gotta tell you, a couple weeks ago, just in my quiet time with the Lord, He laid a question on my heart that just crushed me.

  29:43-29:44

  And now it's your turn.

  29:46-30:07

  But the Lord, in His still, small voice, He asked me, "How dependent am I on God, really?" Oh, I know the church answer, and we sing here, "Lord, I need you," and we sing that, but how dependent am I on God really?

  30:09-30:10

  How about you?

  30:12-30:13

  That's a question I've been wrestling with.

  30:15-30:17

  Are you really dependent on the Lord?

  30:22-30:24

  If the Lord said, "You know what?

  30:25-30:31

  I'm stepping out of your life for a week, and you can just take care of things yourself." Would you even notice?

  30:33-30:47

  Have you become so accustomed to just doing things your way in your power, by your wisdom, that you wouldn't even notice if God stepped away from you?

  30:50-30:55

  If God removed his spirit from you, would you notice?

  31:03-31:05

  Well, this is the first sign that you're poor in spirit.

  31:08-31:12

  You realize there really is nothing in me worth bragging about.

  31:14-31:14

  Is that you?

  31:15-31:18

  Like, you know, yeah, there's really nothing about me worth bragging about.

  31:18-31:19

  Is that you?

  31:19-31:32

  Then Jesus says, "Congratulations, you are poor in spirit." Number two, second sign that you're poor in spirit is obvious from the parable.

  31:32-31:35

  You compare yourself to God, not others.

  31:37-31:38

  That's a sign that you're poor in spirit.

  31:38-31:41

  You compare yourself to God, not to other people.

  31:42-31:42

  See the Pharisee?

  31:43-31:45

  He's like, "I'm so thankful.

  31:45-31:58

  "I'm not like other men, extortioners, "Unjust adulterers, this tax collector, "so thankful I'm not like them." Oh, BTW, comparing yourself to other people, stupid.

  32:00-32:01

  It's stupid.

  32:01-32:04

  It's fundamentally, objectively stupid, why?

  32:04-32:07

  Because you can always find somebody worse than you, right?

  32:09-32:10

  It's not hard.

  32:13-32:16

  But you can also always find somebody better than you.

  32:21-32:29

  The tax collector, he compared himself, not to other people, he compared himself to God.

  32:30-32:31

  Do you know how I know that?

  32:31-32:34

  Because of one word, sinner.

  32:38-32:41

  That was the only word that he had to describe himself.

  32:44-32:53

  And if you feel anything other than that in the face of God, then you have never faced God.

  32:57-33:05

  Because someday when you stand before God, you're gonna find out that God doesn't grade on the curve, he grades on the cross.

  33:08-33:17

  And you see, the question is, or you're like the tax collector in this parable who was like, forget everybody else.

  33:17-33:19

  Like who gives a rip about everybody else?

  33:19-33:21

  God, I am a sinner.

  33:23-33:24

  Jesus says, is that you?

  33:25-33:29

  Congratulations, you are poor in spirit.

  33:29-33:30

  That's awesome.

  33:32-33:41

  Thirdly, third sign that you're poor in spirit is you bank on God's mercy, not your works.

  33:43-33:43

  That's how you know.

  33:44-33:47

  You bank on God's mercy, not your works.

  33:48-33:55

  You see the target of the parable very clearly said right on the front end, to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.

  33:59-33:59

  There's pride.

  34:01-34:02

  There's pride right there.

  34:03-34:05

  Great definition of it.

  34:05-34:07

  trusting yourself that you're righteous.

  34:08-34:11

  Again, we're all tempted to go this route.

  34:12-34:18

  Self-reliance, self-confidence, self-expression, believe in yourself.

  34:18-34:21

  That's the world's way, okay?

  34:25-34:35

  And if I pulled you aside after service, and we can have a real honest conversation, real private, honest conversation.

  34:36-34:38

  And I said to you, "You've gone to heaven.

  34:41-34:44

  Would you say something like, 'Well, yeah, I'm going to heaven, I'm a good person.

  34:45-34:47

  Yeah, yeah, I'm going to heaven.

  34:49-34:50

  I mean, I was in church today, wasn't I?

  34:51-34:52

  Like, why are you asking me this?

  34:53-34:56

  Like, I'm a really moral person, Jeff.

  34:56-34:58

  I mean, why would you even ask me that?

  34:58-34:59

  Am I going to heaven?

  35:00-35:01

  Of course I am.

  35:01-35:02

  I'm a good person.

  35:06-35:07

  That's not being poor in spirit.

  35:11-35:14

  We said it positively here, we're gonna say it negatively now.

  35:15-35:21

  You will never receive God's grace if you don't think you need it.

  35:26-35:35

  Several years ago, a friend of mine, And I reached out and she said, "My mom's in the hospital and she's dying.

  35:37-35:40

  "She doesn't know the Lord." And she goes, "Would you go talk to her?

  35:40-35:54

  "She goes, 'Would you please share the gospel with her?'" And I said, "Oh, absolutely." So raced up to the hospital and tracked her down and got talking to her, some chit-chat, introductions, all that, and, you know, we know your family.

  35:57-36:24

  I said, "You know, I gotta tell you "something really important." I said, "I wanna share with you what the Bible says, "because none of us know when, "but someday we're all gonna stand before God, "and it's just my concern that you're ready for that." I said, "You know, the Bible says that we're all sinners." And as soon as I said that, you could see it on her face.

  36:24-36:47

  She was like, she kind of rolled her eyes, I said, "You know, we're all born with a sin nature, a selfish nature, and we're all born with that." And she says, "Well, I'm not really a sinner." I'm like, "Oh, okay." Well, I said, "Let me ask you a question.

  36:47-36:49

  I said, "If I can be so, well, let me ask you a question.

  36:49-36:56

  Have you ever told a lie in your life, even once?" She says, "No."

  36:56-36:57

  (congregation laughing)

  36:58-36:59

  Are you telling one now?

  37:01-37:02

  I didn't say that.

  37:05-37:08

  A bedside manner is a little better than that.

  37:10-37:11

  She, no, I never lied.

  37:11-37:26

  I said, "Have you ever wanted something "that somebody else had?" She goes, "No." I'm like, "All right, we're gonna have to dig "into the archives." I'm like, okay, let me ask you this.

  37:26-37:35

  When you were a little girl, when you were a little girl growing up, I said, did you always do everything your parents told you to do and you respected them perfectly all the time?

  37:36-37:38

  And she was like, yeah.

  37:40-37:46

  This conversation went on and on and on for an uncomfortably long amount of time.

  37:47-37:53

  I could not get this woman to confess to ever doing anything wrong.

  37:53-37:54

  Like, are you Jesus?

  37:54-37:56

  Like, what is going on here?

  37:57-38:02

  And I just, the conversation ended the way it began.

  38:02-38:07

  I was, I just prayed over her.

  38:07-38:15

  But I gotta tell you, I walked out of there just completely like, what do you do?

  38:17-38:37

  How do you, how do you convince somebody to receive the grace of God and Jesus Christ when they don't think they need it, when they refuse to acknowledge that they are a sinner, when they fail to recognize that they're poor in spirit.

  38:40-38:54

  We can pick on that lady, but there's people here in the same boat that you would say, yeah, Jeff laid it on pretty thick today, but I'm really not that bad.

  38:57-38:59

  You're also not, porn spirit.

  39:07-39:10

  I hear men, they're puffing their chest out.

  39:11-39:11

  I don't need anyone.

  39:12-39:12

  I don't need anyone.

  39:14-39:15

  I don't need anyone.

  39:16-39:17

  You know what that is?

  39:18-39:18

  It's pride.

  39:20-39:21

  and you're not getting out of the gate.

  39:22-39:25

  In Jesus' sermon here, because you're not poor in spirit.

  39:27-39:29

  Do you know how women say it?

  39:33-39:34

  I am enough.

  39:35-39:38

  That was something that was popular a couple of years ago.

  39:38-39:39

  Thankfully, I hope that's waning.

  39:41-39:42

  But you hear women say, I am enough.

  39:44-39:52

  Don't let anyone tell you that you are not enough because I've seen wall art that says that, I am enough.

  39:55-39:56

  No, you aren't.

  39:57-39:58

  You're not enough.

  40:00-40:04

  And if you really think that you are enough, why are you here?

  40:05-40:06

  Because you don't need Jesus if you're enough.

  40:08-40:14

  And you can't even get past the first sentence of Jesus' sermon, ladies, because you're not poor in spirit.

  40:17-40:28

  And you're like, "Well, okay, okay. I guess I do kind of need God." No! You're desperate for Him. Can you recognize that?

  40:32-40:46

  Because if you don't see how spiritually bankrupt you are, And you will never see how infinitely valuable Jesus Christ is.

  40:48-40:57

  And if you're not willing to see your need, then you're unable to see how Jesus meets it.

  41:00-41:06

  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It's not the finish line.

  41:10-41:11

  These are the starting blocks.

  41:13-41:13

  Are you there?

  41:15-41:16

  Are you there?

  41:18-41:29

  Because if you are, if you are, let's give a congratulations to the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  41:29-41:29

  Come on.

  41:30-41:31

  (congregation applauding)

  41:33-41:35

  (congregation applauding)

  41:37-41:45

  On behalf of the leadership at Harvest Bible Chapel, poor in spirit, congratulations.

  41:47-41:47

  You get everything.

  41:49-41:49

  Let's pray.

  41:50-41:58

  Father in heaven, I thank you for your word.

  41:59-43:11

  Yes, God, your word oftentimes will tear us before it builds us up. Father, I want to pray against pride. There's something, Father, in all of us. It's sin, it's self-centeredness, that we want to exalt ourselves. Father, I pray that you would give us spiritual eyes to see the condition of our hearts. According to our Lord, we are broke. Father, I just pray that we're able to recognize that and come to you on those terms. Empty-handed, dependent, like Jesus said later on, like a child. Father, we thank you for the glorious promises that comes with that, that when we come to you empty-handed, we walk away with literally everything. We praise you, Father, and we thank you for that. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:1-3 & Luke 18:9-14

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? How do we become poor in spirit?
   

3. “... for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” What is the significance of Jesus using the word IS? How would you explain this to a young child asking what it means that we get the “kingdom of heaven”?
   

4. How do you convince someone they are poor in spirit if they consider themselves “not that bad of a person”?

Breakout
Pray for one another.