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Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. Just begin reading in verse 1 
and we'll read to verse 16. And seeing the multitudes, he 
went up on a mountain. And when he was seated, his disciples 
came to him. Then he opened his mouth and 
taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs 
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, 
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they 
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger 
and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed 
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the 
pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, 
for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who 
are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom 
of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile 
and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely 
for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, 
for great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets 
who were before you. You are the salt of the earth. 
But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It 
is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled 
underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. 
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they 
light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand. And it gives light to all who 
are in the house. Let your light so shine before 
men that they may see your good works and glorify your father 
in heaven. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
we thank you for the word of God and we thank you for the 
mercy that you have displayed to us in and through the Lord 
Jesus Christ. We confess our sins to you, God, 
and ask for cleansing, fresh cleansing in the blood of the 
Redeemer. How we confess with the church 
throughout the ages, we believe in the forgiveness of sin and 
how we bless you and praise you for this great grace. We ask 
that you would fill each one of us now with your spirit, that 
you would guide us and lead us in our study of the Sermon on 
the Mount, and we pray that it would be of great benefit to 
each of our hearts. And we ask through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. Well, I suppose that most 
of you have heard the word hermeneutics before. If you have not heard 
the word, you are certainly familiar with the concept. Hermeneutics 
is the science of interpretation. It doesn't just apply to the 
Bible. There's a specific hermeneutic 
or a way to interpret Shakespeare. But when we refer to biblical 
hermeneutics or sacred hermeneutics, we're talking about those principles 
that are used to help us to understand what the text means as the Spirit 
of God gave it. As I said, if you've not heard 
the term, you've certainly become aware of either a good hermeneutic 
or a bad hermeneutic. There's a man by the name of 
Harold Camping, and using a terrible hermeneutic, he predicted the 
end of the world yesterday. He said, in complete rebellion 
against Jesus' words that no man knows the day or the hour, 
Camping not only said the year, he said the day, and he said 
the specific hour. Well, 6 p.m. local time came 
and went last night. We weren't raptured. If, in fact, 
that was the case, we've all missed the boat. But from my 
reading of the news, there was no rapture. There was no great 
earthquake. The end of the world has not 
come upon us. Now, this isn't the first time 
a bad hermeneutic has been employed to try and predict the end of 
the world. There's a whole host of people 
committed to a specific type of eschatology that have predicted, 
if not the day of the hour, they have certainly said the year. 
There's a book written that I often see in the thrift store. It's 
Eighty-Eight Reasons Why the Rapture Will Occur in 1988, written 
by a dispensational man named Salem Kerbon. Many of you have 
heard the name Hal Lindsey before he had predicted that the generation 
that saw the forming of the state of Israel in 1948 would most 
certainly be alive in the second coming and the return of the 
Lord Jesus. All of these are the application 
of a very bad hermeneutic. We're going to spend some time 
this morning with reference to a hermeneutic that will help 
us to understand Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. I am convinced 
that if you ask the average Christian today, what is the gospel or 
what does it mean to be a Christian? Very often we will get answers 
that are not consistent with the New Testament document, and 
so we need to, in The line of the reformers and the Puritans 
have a proper understanding of what the Bible says concerning 
the law and concerning the gospel. We need to understand those two 
elements revealed in the scripture so that we can, in fact, live 
properly, so that we can, in fact, know when our justification 
lies or why we are accepted with God, and so that we can be faithful 
witnesses to others. So, I want to look at verses 
1 to 3 this morning under three considerations. First, the interpretation 
of the Sermon on the Mount. Just a bit of a history lesson 
as to the ways that people have approached this particular sermon. Secondly, we'll notice the setting 
of the Sermon on the Mount because it helps us. with our hermeneutic. And then, thirdly, just a brief 
introduction to the Beatitudes, that first section where it says, 
blessed are the poor in spirit and continues all the way down 
to blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness 
sake. Those are the Beatitudes. And instead of sort of just tacking 
one or tacking a couple on to this sermon this morning, I thought 
just give a brief introduction to the Beatitudes as a whole 
at the end of the message. But first, the interpretation. 
How do we approach the Sermon on the Mount? Now, there's many 
other ways that people have approached this particular section. I just 
want to offer up five this morning. The first is what's called the 
two-level approach. I don't know that it's called 
that way, you know, specifically, and if you don't call it that 
way, you're in sin. I'm working from a commentator named Grant 
Osborne. But he highlights the two-level 
approach. He says that this approach to the Sermon on the Mount was 
developed in the medieval church, and basically what the Sermon 
on the Mount records is a higher moral plane for the clergy and 
for the monastic order. In other words, the Sermon on 
the Mount functions to demonstrate just what the clergy and monks 
do, how they live the Christian life. It doesn't really apply 
to sort of the rank-and-file Christian. That's not the way 
we are to approach this. Secondly, there is what's called 
the classic dispensationalist approach. This was popularized 
in the Schofield reference Bible, and essentially what Schofield 
propounded was that the ethics of the Sermon on the Mouth are 
not for Christians in the church age. The ethics that we find 
in the Sermon on the Mount are specifically for those people 
who live during the Millennial Kingdom, when Jesus reigns from 
Jerusalem in that thousand-year period. Unfortunately, classical 
dispensationalism survives even unto this day. In the scholarly 
places, in the seminaries, they've modified it, they've improved 
upon it. But, very often, the popular 
level, classic dispensationalism, is what carries the day. A third 
approach is one we might call the pedagogical. The pedagogical. For those of you who have been 
with us for any time, you'll know that pedagogue is a child 
tutor. It is that use of the law that 
shows us our depravity. It shows us our wickedness and 
it shows us our utter need for the Lord Jesus Christ. This was 
the approach of Martin Luther to Matthew chapter five to seven. to what Paul says, for by the 
law is the knowledge of sin. And so Luther taught that the 
Sermon on the Mount was given for that particular reason, to 
plow us up and to show us our need for the Lord Jesus. Now, 
I believe that that is a part of it. We'll see that as we move 
on through this, but I don't think that's the whole of it. 
A fourth approach is the liberal approach. You know, in politics, 
we have conservatives and liberals. In the church, you have conservatives 
and you have liberals. Liberalism usually refers to 
people who deny a lot of the Bible. Liberalism in the early 
part of the 20th century denied things like the virgin birth. 
They denied things like the resurrection of Jesus. They denied cardinal 
truth about the scripture, and they had an approach to the Sermon 
on the Mount that went sort of like this. It functions as the 
pattern for the social gospel, so that we as the church can 
usher in the kingdom of heaven on earth. In other words, if 
we just all align ourselves with Jesus teaching, if we just turn 
the other cheek, if we just go that extra mile, if we just apply 
the golden rule, well, then we will see the kingdom of heaven 
on earth. That, unfortunately, survives 
to this day. It's not uncommon to hear people 
describe Christianity as simply obeying the golden rule. Just 
do unto others as you would have them do unto yourself, and everything 
will be hunky-dory. Or perhaps you've heard people 
say, if asked the question, what is the Christian gospel? Well, 
to love God and to love my fellow man. Jesus tells us that those 
are the two great commandments. If sin is as bad as sin is, if 
we are as unable as the Bible says we are, there is no way 
under heaven by which we can be saved by loving God and loving 
man. There is an emphasis upon the 
Sermon on the Mount used in a similar way today under the guise of 
social justice. We as God's people ought to want 
social justice, but we as the Church of Jesus Christ need to 
remember that the primary task The Great Commission is not simply 
about ameliorating and helping society in all of its trouble. The primary task of the church 
is to make disciples, to preach the gospel, to call sinners to 
faith and repentance. And so the Sermon on the Mount 
is not simply something that we apply to society so that all 
of our woes all of our troubles and all of our trials go away. 
The Christian gospel, brothers and sisters, is not obedience 
to the law. The Christian gospel is that 
record of Christ's life, death, and resurrection for sinners. That's the gospel. We believe 
and we're saved. And that brings us to what I 
believe is the proper approach to this Sermon on the Mount. 
I'll call it the normative approach. Jesus' primary audience, as we'll 
see in just a moment, is disciples. Those who've already been affectionately 
called, those who've already been saved, those who've already 
tasted and seen that the Lord is good, those who have been 
called out of darkness into marvelous light, have believed the truth, 
and have passed from death unto life. And so Jesus describes 
such people in verses 3 to 16. You'll notice in that section, 
those are not commands. Those are indicative. These things 
are true. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. This describes those. Now, I 
realize to lesser and greater degrees, but it describes those 
who have been the beneficiaries of God's redeeming grace. And 
so the Sermon on the Mount functions primarily to describe how Christians 
are and how they are supposed to be. So Jesus describes with 
the Beatitudes and then he begins to give us very specific application 
on how we are to live the Christian life. So, the normative approach. Jesus announced the arrival of 
the kingdom in chapter 4, verse 17. The Lord Jesus saves and 
commissions his disciples and now the Lord Jesus describes 
what these disciples are and how these disciples are to live 
in light of God's redeeming grace. So, that is the interpretative 
method that we will employ. That Christ's primary audience 
is disciples. But as we move along, we mustn't 
miss that pedagogical function. You are here this morning, and 
you read verses 3 to 16, and you know nothing of poverty in 
spirit. You know nothing of having ever 
mourned over your sin. You know nothing about hungering 
and thirsting for righteousness. You know nothing about being 
merciful or being meek or having been persecuted for righteousness' 
sake. Lloyd-Jones says, these Beatitudes, 
they crush me. They show me my need for Christ. So while it is primarily normative, 
we will also have cause to note that there's a pedagogical function. 
Whenever the law comes, we ought to ask ourselves, where am I 
in relation to Jesus Christ? Let's move on, secondly, to the 
setting. Notice in verse one and seeing 
the multitude, he went up on a mountain and when he was seated, 
his disciples came to him. Then he opened his mouth and 
taught them saying. So, the disciples are mentioned 
conspicuously. There's multitudes to be sure, 
but the disciples, I believe, are the primary audience. It would include the four. Andrew, 
Simon Peter, James and John, and any others of the multitude 
who had believingly followed him, who had come to know him 
as Christ the Lord. Others were, in fact, converted 
among the multitudes. By the time we get to Matthew 
10, Jesus is calling the twelve specifically. Those who, by grace 
alone, who believed in Christ alone, are the disciples that 
are described here. So, again, don't take the Sermon 
on the Mount and say, well, I just need to live the golden rule. 
I just need to be a better guy. I just need to be neat. I just 
need to turn the other cheek and I will be saved. That is 
a work salvation that will end you in hell. You need grace. You need mercy. You need the 
gospel. You need the doing and dying 
of Christ. You need to look and live. You see how important it 
is that we understand this as we approach this section. It's 
not just instructions on how to fix society. It's instructions 
for the church, the disciple, the same one on how he or she 
is to live in this world. MacArthur says trying to apply 
Jesus teaching without receiving him as Lord and Savior is futile. A few times. Trying to apply 
Jesus sayings without having first come to him as Lord is 
futile. You can't do it. You cannot engage 
in the ethics of the kingdom unless you have first believed 
on the king. He goes on to say. Those, for 
example, who promote the social gospel, endeavoring to institute 
Jesus teachings apart from his saving and regenerating work, 
prove only that his principles cannot work for those who do 
not have a transformed nature and God's indwelling power. One 
cannot behave like Christ until one is saved. Ready with me, 
it's important stuff. What's your acceptance with God 
based on? The way that you perform the 
Sermon on the Mount? The way that Jesus has fulfilled 
all righteousness? The way that Jesus hung on that 
cross? In the Bible study this morning, 
or the Confession study, Pastor Cam pointed us to the depravity 
of man prior to the Flood and after the Flood. After the Flood, 
it is highlighted that man is only evil continually. All of the water that God had 
in heaven to release upon this earth could not deal with sin 
at its root level. It didn't need the water, it 
needed the blood. The blood of Christ shed at Calvary 
washes effectually all those whom the Father had given him. 
That's what we need to remember. Knox Chamberlain. says that apart 
from the person and work of Jesus, the Messiah, the blessings here 
promised are not available and the obedience here required is 
not attainable. Jesus is going to say things 
in this sermon that we ought to stop for a moment, bow our 
heads, fold our hands and praise God for Jesus. Therefore, he 
says, be perfect as your father is perfect. There's that pedigree. There's that child tutor. There's 
that law saying you are not perfect. You are not everything you ought 
to be. You're not what you were created to be. God made you upright, 
but you sought out many devices. Praise God for sending the one 
who fulfilled all righteousness. Praise God for Jesus, who was 
perfect. And through his active obedience, 
we have a righteousness imputed to us. Notice, secondly, not 
only the disciples, but the multitudes, the multitudes drew near to hear 
him as well. And again, this sermon will illustrate 
and demonstrate their inability to keep the law. If you were 
listening to the Sermon on the Mount on that particular day, 
which I don't think follows chapter four, verses twenty three to 
twenty five. I don't think Matthew wants us 
to read this as the next event. I think Matthew 5-7 summarizes 
the preaching that Jesus engaged in according to Matthew 4, 23-25. 
It is circuit about Galilee. It is preaching the kingdom. 
It is teaching concerning the scriptures. This is a specimen 
of what he brought to bear on his disciples and upon the multitudes. If you were one of the multitudes, 
and you were unconverted on that day, the answer was not to go 
home and make your life better. Let's get rid of the TV, honey. Let's get rid of the AM radio, 
honey, or the FM radio. Let's get rid of this. Let's 
do this. Let's engage in moral reform. No, this sermon lays 
you low. This sermon shows you how far 
short you fall of the glory of God. So the multitudes would 
be convicted in their inability to keep the law. This sermon 
would demonstrate their need to believe on the Lord Jesus. 
And Jesus is a master preacher. He doesn't just teach data and 
set it out there and say, all right, now let's have a latte. 
How does he end the sermon? He says there's two ways. Two 
types of fruit or two types of trees. There's two types of hearers. There's many who will say to 
me on that day, Lord, Lord, didn't we do these great things? And 
he will say, I never knew you. Jesus doesn't just set doctrine 
out there so that you can take it or leave it. Jesus expounds 
the glorious truth and then he brings it to bear upon his hearers. He wants you to consider where 
you're at in relationship to him. That's the point in the 
sermon. So, we've got the disciples, 
we've got the multitudes, we've got the preacher. Don't you love 
what it says there? It says, he went up on a mountain, 
and when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Seating was the 
preferred posture for the rabbi. This was the preferred posture 
for the man who would authoritatively teach the word of God. And then 
it says this, then he opened his mouth and taught them. It's 
an idiom that's used throughout the Bible. I like what Spurgeon 
says. When he opens his mouth, we ought to open our ears and 
our hearts. When he opens his mouth, we ought 
to open our ears and our hearts to listen to what the king has 
to say. It is Jesus Christ who is the 
teacher here. It is the Jesus Christ that has 
been identified as son of David and son of Abraham in chapter 
1, verse 1. It is the one who came to save 
his people from their sins in chapter one verse twenty one. 
It is the one who was worshipped by the Gentile Magi chapter two 
verses nine to eleven. It is the one who declared that 
his baptism permit it for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill 
all righteousness. It is the one who was led into 
the wilderness by the spirit and was tempted by the devil 
and will emerge from that temptation victoriously. There's already 
a lot going on in Matthew chapter 5 when we consider this particular 
one who's taken this spot on the mountain, who has seated 
himself and who addresses his disciples and also the multitudes 
who are gathered there. It is the one who enters into 
Galilee of the Gentiles and is that light, that messianic light 
that dawns upon these people. It is this one who announces, 
repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He not only announces 
its arrival, he brings it to pass. It is the one who has all 
authority to call men out of deadness and darkness and blindness 
and misery and bondage. He calls Andrew. He calls Simon. 
He calls John. He calls James. And he calls 
them affectionately and saves them. And then he calls them 
and commissions them to be fishers of man. He then goes and he's 
teaching, and he's preaching, and he's healing, and all the 
multitudes have come to him. All of that plus this, brethren, 
he is the one who has the guts, the chutzpah, the wherewithal 
to claim that your destiny rides on relation to him. Isn't that 
amazing? How does the sermon end? The 
people marveled because he taught them as one having authority. He has authority over life and 
death. He has authority over heaven 
and hell. Where you stand this morning 
in relation to Jesus depends upon or has impact upon where 
you will spend eternity. If you are like the person he 
describes who hears the word but doesn't do it, you're like 
that man who builds his house upon a faulty foundation. I mean, who of us would ever 
do something so foolish? I'm not a carpenter. I'm not 
a craftsman or a tradesman. But I know this much, that if 
you're going to build a foundation, it needs to be solid It needs 
to be concrete. It needs to be very, very rugged 
and able to withstand whatever it is that you may face. But, 
you know, a lot of people, when it comes to spiritual things, 
will build their house upon a foundation that is like sinking sand. Well, 
it doesn't really matter what Jesus says. It really doesn't 
matter what parents say. It really doesn't matter what 
the preacher says. What's most important is how 
I define reality. What matters is how I feel. What matters is what's most important 
to me. We live in a me-centered generation, 
just like all the me-centered generations before us. And yet 
we just see and we watch people build their house upon spiritual 
sand. But the important thing for us 
to realize is that the one who is addressing disciples and multitudes 
has the authority to save or to damn. He has the authority 
to bring bliss or hell. He has the authority to bring 
you to heaven, fully clothed in his righteousness, pardoned 
from all iniquity, or he will be the one to make that pronouncement, 
depart from me, I never knew you. Just think for a moment. You've heard bad news in your 
life. I'm sure you have. Your girlfriend broke up with 
you. Your boyfriend broke up with you. You got fired. You 
got laid off. You've got a disease, you've 
got an illness, you've got whatever malady, whatever problem, whatever 
difficulty, whatever trial, whatever issue. I don't want to minimize 
that. God cares for his people wholly, 
completely. Jesus heals people. He's good. He's gracious and he's kind. 
I simply want to illustrate something. The worst news you've ever heard. 
The most terrible thing you have ever heard will look like a walk 
in the park. A holiday by the seaside, a bright 
sunny day in Chilliwack, compared to the authoritative Son of God 
saying to you, depart from me, I never knew you. Who wants to 
face that? Who wants to see Jesus in that 
light? Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, 
is the one whom the strong man, and the mighty man, and the big 
man, and the kings of the earth, in Revelation 6, hide from. They hide from the wrath of the 
Lamb. Please don't mess up on the gospel. Please don't mess up on what 
it means to be saved. This Christ who gives this sermon 
has all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the one upon 
whom our eternal destiny depends. Turn to 721. 721. Not everyone who says to me, 
Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the 
will of my father in heaven. The Gospels are consistent. The 
Word of God is beautiful. Hermann in its demands that we 
search the Scriptures and understand what it means to do the will 
of my Father in heaven. John 6, 40, Jesus says, this 
is the will of my Father in heaven, that you believe in him whom 
he sent. Christ is highlighting justification 
by faith alone, not by our works. not by our contribution, not 
by some synergistic method. He says, Many will say to me 
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, 
cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your 
name? Jesus doesn't deny that they did these things. What are 
they saying? They're saying we deserve a place 
in the kingdom based on what we did. We deserve right and 
title to heaven based on our performance. We really don't 
need the doing and dying of Jesus. After all, we really don't need 
blood atonement. We really don't need the Lamb 
of God. All we need is a little bit of information. Get out on 
the right course and start prophesying and start casting out demons 
and start healing people. And we're fine. Thank you very 
much. Jesus says in verse twenty three, 
and then I will declare it to them. I never knew you depart 
from me. You who practice lawlessness. Notice, he says, I never knew 
you. I didn't know you and got tired 
of you. I didn't know you. And then you send your way out 
of the covenant. I never knew you and we haven't got there 
yet. But when we get to chapter seven, 
I want us to keep that in our mind when we get to chapter 10. 
Remember, in Chapter 10, Jesus says, Do not fear those who can 
only kill the body. He says, I tell you rather who 
you ought to fear. Fear him who can kill both body 
and soul in hell. Most of the times we read that 
in Matthew 10 and we say, wow, God is going to send body and 
soul right off into hell. With Matthew 7 in our minds, 
we ought to know that Jesus is saying, fear me. He's the one that pronounces, 
depart from me, I never knew you, and banishes sinners off 
into hell. Jesus is telling his disciples 
in Matthew 10, don't fear those men, fear me. I have that authority. I have that power. I'm the one 
who not only kills body, but soul, and casts them into hell. You might say, well, that's a 
very harsh picture of Jesus. Yes, because we have an effeminate 
picture of Jesus. We have a Jesus that is our maid, 
our servant, our butler. We have a Jesus that only comes 
to make us happy. We have a Jesus that is to do 
our bidding. We don't have the Jesus of Revelation 
19, thrown on his white horse, riding, conquering, prospering, 
taking that sword and exercising it for the gospel's sake. That's 
the Jesus of Holy Scripture. We need something of the Jesus 
of Psalm 24. Who is this King of Glory? Yeah, these statements probably 
rub us the wrong way because we haven't gotten down who Christ 
is. Notice what Jesus goes on in 
verse 24 to say, Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and 
does them. I will liken him to a wise man who built his house 
on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds 
blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was 
founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these 
sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish 
man who built his house on the sand, and the rain descended, 
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, 
and it fell, and notice, and great was it fall. You see, the one giving this 
particular sermon on the mount has the authority to bring eternal 
blessing or eternal judgment. That's the preacher that we need 
to give heed to. And then finally, a brief introduction 
to the Beatitudes. The word Beatitudes comes from 
a Latin word that means happiness or bliss. It's not just Matthew 
5 and Luke 6 that contain beatitudes. There's beatitudes in several 
places in the Bible, both Old and New Testament. It is God's 
pronouncement. It is God's approval. It is God's 
doing. The emphasis of the stress doesn't 
lie first on our happiness, though that's not far away. The emphasis 
and the stress in the text is God's approval of His people. 
It's God's favor upon his people. It's God's kindness. There's 
a statement given in a promise attached. There's a statement 
given in a promise attached eight times at the eighth one. Then 
there's amplification of what it means to be persecuted for 
the sake of Jesus Christ. I've already mentioned the Beatitudes 
of verses three and following are indicative, not imperative. 
Jesus isn't saying one become poor in spirit, then I'll save 
you one week over your sin, and then I'll save you. You know 
your heart rightly, and you know the Bible rightly to us. Grace 
that taught my heart to fear the Beatitudes presuppose the 
grace, grace of God. Nobody looks like this by nature. No one looks like this by nature. Martin Lloyd-Jones comments. 
He says all Christians are to be like this statement. says 
all Christians are meant to manifest all of these characteristics. 
The grace of God is operative in your heart. You're poor in 
spirit. That's great. Won't be merciful to. They're 
all applicable, they're all descriptions, they're all characteristics of 
the Christian. Lloyd-Jones goes on to say none 
of these characteristics refers to what we might call a natural 
tendency. He's just naturally one who hungers 
and thirsts for righteousness. You ever met that person? I haven't. I met a lot of people that hunger 
and thirst after sin, after wickedness, after debauchery, after evil. I mean, when I think of the world 
of Christians that I know, and I'm not trying to pick on you, 
please don't go home and say, he hurt me. How many of us genuinely, 
as God-fearing people, who we have received the grace of God, 
can it be said of us, we hunger and we thirst for righteousness? As long as we don't do a few 
bad things and try to throw in a couple of good things, I mean, 
we think we're the paragon of virtue. Like Spurgeon said in a sermon 
once, we give 20 pounds for Bibles to China, and then we brag about 
it for the rest of our lives. That's dependency, right? Listen 
to Lloyd-Jones. He says, none of these characteristics 
refers to what we might call a natural tendency. And then 
he says, each one of them is wholly a disposition which is 
produced by grace alone and the operation of the Holy Spirit 
upon us. The Beatitudes describe the character 
and blessedness of the sinner saved by grace and the remainder 
of the Sermon on the Mount prescribes conduct that is consistent with 
that salvation. The normative use of the law. The law shows us our need for 
grace. God saves us by grace and sends 
us to the law so that by the Spirit we can walk in a manner 
that is consistent with God's will for our lives. God is not 
an antinomian. Jesus is not an antinomian. The law is important in the Christian 
life. as long as we understand its 
proper usefulness and our hermeneutic doesn't twist and distort these 
categories and preach law as the means of acceptance with 
God. That is to use law unlawfully. Notice the specifics. We'll unfold 
these in the coming weeks. The first four seem hard to sort 
of categorize these things, but for the preacher, at least, and 
perhaps for you, it might help to see them in some categories. 
Interestingly, the first four, the Greek word, all begin with 
the P. Not maybe in the English there, 
but they all begin with a P. Some say, well, the whole thing 
is like 36 words and they kind of get into all this. But the 
point is, Jesus spoke it to be memorized. Jesus wants you to 
keep this in your pocket. Jesus wants you to keep this 
in your mind. Jesus wants you to keep this in your heart so 
we can separate them into two sections. Hopefully that'll help 
us in our understanding. The first four seem to speak 
to attitude, to the attitude. The internal disposition of the 
believer is saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ 
alone. Christian, he is poor in spirit. He's broken, dependent 
upon God. He's not the one that says, I 
can do it all on my own. No, he sees himself in a desperate 
condition. He sees himself in dependence 
upon the Lord. He is broken in spirit. He is 
not proud. He is not arrogant. He has nothing 
to boast of. He is like that man who, by God's 
grace, said, Be merciful to me, the sinner. The second is those 
who mourn. I don't think this just means 
you're a weepy sort of guy or girl. You know, you flip on the 
radio and there's a specifically sentimental song and you'll just 
start weeping. Oh, Jesus loves you for that. No. The idea has to do, I think, 
with sin. You're not happy with sin. You don't make peace treaties 
with sin. You're not content with sin. You don't say, you know, that's 
just the way it is, right? That's just the way it is. I 
mean, Pastor Butler preached that. We got remaining corruption. 
Who can blame me? I mean, that's just the way it 
is. Now you mourn over sin. It may not even mean you physically 
weep. Watson, in his exposition of 
the Beatitudes, makes this statement. Sometimes the tears are there, 
the cistern just hasn't broken open. The tears are inside. You may not be the weeping guy 
in the closet, but it's more disposition. It's more attitude. 
The grace of God has shown you something about your own sin 
before the Lord. The third attitude is meekness, 
meekness, again, not a doormat, not we just let everybody run 
roughshod all over us. But there is a difference about 
a Christian, even when we're engaged in preaching or apologetics 
or witnessing. We don't get mad at people. We 
don't yell at people. Just thinking about this recently, 
you know, if somebody offends the Christian church or offends 
Christianity as a whole, what is the Christian response generally? 
Yes, we'll point out the wickedness of such a thing and we'll pray 
for that particular person or group. Muslims want to kill them. Muslims want to bomb them or 
destroy them. There's a big disposition difference 
there, right? Meekness in Christianity, not 
so meek when you want to engage in jihad. Because of those wretched 
people in Hollywood who have made this cartoon. Hateness. What's the fourth one? They hunger 
and thirst for righteousness. Again, brethren, is this us? Even if it's a little bit, praise 
God. Notice there's no quantifying element there. They hunger and 
thirst for righteousness all the time. The hunger and thirst 
for righteousness is 100 percent. We all would fail. We all fall 
short. We all are in bad shape. I think what's in view here, 
behind the scenes, is Psalm 42, Psalm 63. It's the deer pants 
for the water. So my heart pants for you. Hunger 
and thirst for righteousness. Notice, those are the attitudes. 
Then there's some actions. Those who show mercy. You ever 
met a Christian who isn't forgiving? You say, well, I've got a big 
problem with forgiving. What's the deal? Those who have 
been shown mercy will show mercy. You see, again, grace is presupposed 
here. Grace is assumed here. We are 
merciful because God has first been merciful to us. This is 
a real disposition. This is a real life characteristic. 
This is a real life action of those saved by grace. You don't 
harbor grudges. You don't hold on to things with 
a tight fist. If your brother repents, you 
forgive him. If he comes and he's sorry, your wife or your 
husband, your child, your father, your mother, if they confess 
their sins are merciful to forgive them. Notice the next one, those who 
are pure in heart. Again, so much of the Old Testament 
is behind each one of these will unfold that God willing in those 
days to come. Those who are pure in heart. 
The idea there is integrity, single mindedness, not duplicity. Not a divided man, not a entertain 
Jesus in the parlor and the devil in the basement sort of a man. 
Not a fair weather fan, not a Sunday only Christian, but someone who 
is characteristically, though not perfectly, but characteristically 
seeking by God's grace to live the way he says to live. You 
know, just going through this, are we surprised? What does he 
mean we got to live this way? He saves you by his grace so 
that you'll live this way, so that you'll go out and shine 
his lights in a crooked and perverse generation. that you will hold 
forth the word of truth, that when we preach the gospel, we 
are coupling it with mercy, with a purity in heart. Notice, he 
says, the ones who make peace, peacemakers. We have peace with 
God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What are we going 
to do? Fight in the church? Have disunity in the church? 
Sow discord among the brethren in the church? Didn't we see 
those are two marks or two works of the flesh? What's the word? Not dissipation. Was it dissipation? 
In Galatians 5, anyone? Ken, is it dissipation? And heresy. Let me just look. My mind dropped 
that word momentarily. If it is dissipation, looking 
at it will highlight that. No, no, I'm sorry. Dissensions. 
Dissensions and heresies. Peacemakers don't spread dissension 
and heresy, do they? How do you spread peace with 
dissension and heresy? So I have this crazy and zany 
idea that very often Christians are the kinds of people that 
fall on their own sword. They don't take that sword and 
try to lock everybody's head off. They're not the Zorro of 
the Christian church. Ninja man, I'm going to slay 
you. No. God abominates those who 
sow discord. Here he commends the characteristic 
or the attitude of peacemaking. Is it so much to ask for peace 
in a Christian assembly? I'm not rambling. I praise God 
for the peace and the unity that we currently enjoy. I pray to 
God that it would stay here. I think it is a fruit and evidence 
that the Lord is at work. Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers. He says, blessed are the ones 
who are persecuted, not because they're weird, not because they're 
irritating, not because they're obnoxious, not because they hold 
up a big sign that says God hates whoever or their website is God 
hates whoever dot com. They're persecuted for righteousness, 
say Jesus goes in to hold on to persecuted for my sake. You're happy, blissful, there's 
divine approval. And then notice how he attaches 
all of these promises. It's almost like we have two 
ends of a loaf of bread. You know that heel portion? Some 
families, they reach past that one and grab the third or fourth, 
and then you end up with those two heel portions at the end, 
right? I really don't know why there's 
a diversion to eating that heel portion. Some of y'all might 
be saying, that's my favorite part. But for a lot of us, we 
reach past that. The Beatitudes function in a 
similar way, or bookends, if you will. What's the reward in 
verses three and ten? Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Yes, eschatologically, when it 
comes in the fullness of God's glory and power, but right now. Repent, Jesus says, for the kingdom 
of heaven is at hand. Those who, by grace alone, have 
believed through faith alone in Christ alone. They look like 
this and they're heaven bound. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
He says they will be comforted by God. It's not a beautiful 
statement. Blessed are they that mourn, 
for they shall what? Be comforted by God. Never stopped 
in Revelation 21 and 22 and just thought about what you're reading 
there. They're just thought and felt the important, the weight, 
the significance of the fact that God will wipe away every 
tear from your eye. It's not a picture of a gracious 
father, most of us fathers or mothers, if our kid gets hurt. 
Instead of saying, suck it up, man up, deal with it. You know, 
it's just the way it goes. It's a tough world. I hope you 
just learn to accept it. We try to comfort them. We try 
to wipe the tears from their eyes. We give them a hug. That's 
the picture that Jesus is giving us of our father. He gives us 
a hug in some weird, sappy, sentimental way. But in divine eschatological 
blessing, God himself will wipe away the tears from their eyes. 
They inherit the earth. They inherit the earth. Psalm 
37 is the background. The meat shall inherit the earth. 
Just the opposite of what the world thinks, right? Who inherits 
the earth in the world system? The strong, the mighty, the calculating, 
the one who's been to, you know, business school. Business school 
isn't necessarily bad for those business school people here. 
The world has it all backwards, don't they? If you take these 
Beatitudes, it is the direct opposite of what the world says 
is blessedness. The poor in spirit? Come on! You've got to eat or be eaten. 
It's a dog-eat-dog world. Mourn? Get up! Quit whining and 
crying. These are just the opposite. 
He says they are filled with bounty from God. What happens 
when you genuinely hunger and thirst for righteousness? God 
will fill you. He will fill you. He will give 
you the desires of your heart. They are the recipients of the 
mercy of God. They will see God. They are called 
the sons of God. I can't imagine a better list 
of blessings. Can you? If you had a piece of 
paper right now and you had ten lines, what would be the best 
things that you can imagine? A sunnier climate. More steak 
and potatoes for dinner. Shorter sermons. More playoff 
hockey. more physical comfort, more gratification, 
more sin, more this, more that. You know what? Lewis was right. 
We as sinners, the problem isn't that we desire things. The problem 
is our desires are so dismal. They're so little. They're so 
futile. God has promised an abundance 
beyond what we could ever think or imagine. And we're like the 
kid who will sit and play with mud pies in the gutter instead 
of going on the holiday by the seaside. We need to align our 
thinking with reward in terms of God, in terms of his promise, 
in terms of what he holds forth to the people of God. In conclusion, 
we have learned, I hope, the necessity of a particular distinction. The history of interpretation, 
it's been called law gospel. We're not to preach the law as 
the means of acceptance with God. Do not go from this place 
and think, well, I just need to do what Jesus says in the 
Sermon on the Mount and I have my acceptance with God. No, you 
need to believe on him. You need to look to Jesus and 
be saved. We need to understand the pedagogical 
use. There may be some of you here 
today that do not know Jesus. And you look at this particular 
list and you ask yourself, does this describe me? I mean, come 
on, let's just be honest. Let's just really think about 
this. Those people who know you best, would they say, yeah, he's 
poor in spirit. Boy, she really does mourn over sin. That's a 
very meek person. You know, there's something about 
that guy. He hungers and he thirsts for righteousness. He's really 
merciful. I wronged him one time and he 
just was merciful to me. It was amazing. He's pure in 
heart. He doesn't want to look at Internet pornography. He doesn't 
want to play with sin. He doesn't want to entertain 
grudges and harbor sin. He really is pure in heart, a 
real peacemaker. You know, I call them all kinds 
of names. I was very upset. I was very 
mean and vicious. And he made peace with me. It's 
pretty amazing. And, you know, they really are 
persecuted for righteousness sake. None of these describe 
you at all. Listen again to Lloyd-Jones. 
He says the second reason for studying the Sermon on the Mount 
is that nothing shows me the absolute need of the new birth 
and of the Holy Spirit and his work within so much as the Sermon 
on the Mount. These Beatitudes crush me to 
the ground. They show me my utter helplessness. 
Were it not for the new birth, I am undone. He says, read and 
study it. Face yourself in the light of 
it. It will drive you to see your ultimate need of the rebirth 
and the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing 
that so leads to the gospel and to its grace as the sermon on 
the Mount. Please do that. Don't just pay 
ear service this morning. Go home today, take this section, 
open it up. If you're not bold enough to 
ask your husband or your wife or your father or your son, is 
this true of me? Ask yourself. Face it. Deal with it. If you come up 
short, there is an answer. There is hope. There is mercy. 
There is grace. There is one who is all of these 
things perfectly. There is one who satisfies all 
of the requirements of God's law perfectly. And that one, 
of course, is Jesus Christ, the Lord. The gospel is the good 
news concerning Christ. R.T. France said this, and I 
think it's beautiful and will end in just a moment. He says, 
far from being a philosophical discourse on ethics, this is 
a messianic manifesto setting out the unique demands and revolutionary 
insights of one who claims an absolute authority over all people 
and whose word like the Word of God, will determine their 
destiny. No wonder the crowds were astonished. Listen to what he says. Not only 
by the teaching, but even more, by the Teacher. It's Christ that 
you need. It's Christ that we all need. 
And it's Christ who offers Himself in the Gospel. Beautiful. He says, believe and you will 
be saved. Look, and you will live. And 
by God's grace, you will indeed manifest something of these Beatitudes 
in your daily life. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for your word and we thank you, God, for the clarity 
of Scripture. We pray, Father, that you would 
help us to understand this sermon, help us to understand our Savior, 
help us to understand the ground upon which we find acceptance 
with you. It's not in our obedience to 
this sermon. It is in Christ's obedience. It is in Christ's death and resurrection. It is by your grace and faith 
in him that we have acceptance with the beloved God. Having 
said that, we know we are called to a holy life. We are called 
to hunger and thirst for righteousness. So we pray whatever has been 
holding us back or our own sin or our own laziness or our own 
weariness, I pray you just help us to shake these things off. 
Help us to see the demands in this sermon as Christians and 
help us by your grace to pursue holiness without which no one 
will see the Lord. We just pray now that you would 
go with us. We pray that you would bring us together again 
this evening so that we may worship you on this Lord's Day. And we 
ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.