Culture vs Christ

And good morning everyone. This time we'll go and dismiss our kids to little district. And for the rest of us, go ahead and grab your Bibles, open them up. We're starting a new series today called What is Truth? Uh where we walk through, we're going to walk through the sermon on the mount for the next eight weeks. Um because again I just believe that in a in a society that is very confused in a culture that's very confused about what is what uh what's right what's wrong what's good what's bad uh what's man what's woman um we need to know and in order to know we need to go to the one who invented knowledge uh the one where knowledge comes from and Jesus who teaches on the sermon on the mount will cover so many topics uh so one of the great things about the sermon on the mount is it does feel topical, but we're going to walk through it verse by verse um over the next eight weeks just to be able to see again in a series or in a season of confusion what does Jesus have to say when culture is saying one thing what does Christ say in regards to it as well and the beauty about scripture is that it's timeless that it transcends era it transcends um cultures it transcends ethnicities it transcends everything and so what was right then is also right today.

And that's what we're going to be looking at is what Jesus taught when it comes to truth. Because again, in a confused world, I think we not only just us as believers, but I think society and culture as well, we're starving for absolutes. We're starving for what is actually right and what is good and what actually provides for us satisfaction that we are longing for. for. So, Matthew chapter 5, we're going to be looking at the first 12 verses uh this morning of Jesus's sermon on the mount, which again is probably the most famous sermon ever given, the best sermon ever given, if you want to call it that. And the idea behind the biatitudes, these first 12 verses, is this is what it means to be blessed.

And if you were to ask anybody, Christian, non-Christian, would you like to be blessed? Everyone's going to say yes to that question. And so the great thing about the biatitudes is it gives you the answer of how to be blessed, how to actually receive blessing. But here's the issue. We don't understand that word. We don't understand that word.

You'll hear people say, "Well, I'm blessed and highly favored." which is likely tied to whether or not they've had a good day or they've had a good week or their bank account is full or things are just working out for them in general. You'll hear other people primarily in the south say, "Bless your heart." That's not a good thing. That's a southern woman cussing you out. You'll hear somebody sneeze and what do they say?

Bless you. That's based on superstitious like a superstitious belief that you're casting out a demon. If you misunderstand what blessing means, you'll misunderstand what the entire sermon on the mount means. And simultaneously, if you miss what the sermon on the mount means, you'll miss what it means to be blessed. And so, this idea of blessing has been woven into the fabric of our entire human history and existence. Literally beginning with Adam and Eve, they were blessed to have perfect and unhindered communion with God before they sinned.

That was a blessing. But even after they sinned, God preached the first gospel when he told them that through the seed of the woman would come a man who would crush the head of the serpent, killing sin and death and evil. While the serpent also bruises his heel, a foreshadowing of Jesus' own torture, persecution, and death. But bruises are temporary. and he'll resurrect three days later. He gave a blessing to them even after they sinned of one who would come to be a blessing for them.

Even beyond that, fast forward with that same promise to send a blessing. God tells Abraham that through his offspring will come a man, the God man, who will then be a blessing to all nations. So this idea of blessing has been passed down from God as a promise throughout all of history. And here we are coming to Jesus. You can picture the scene. Jesus is in Galilee up on this mountain where ready to teach them about this new covenant, this new teaching that will provide for them blessing.

There was another man who went up on a mountain named Moses who brought teaching, brought an old covenant, brought a law to the people, but he had to come down to the people because they were not allowed to come up to the mountain with them or they'd be they they'd be toast in the glory of the Lord. But on this mountain, Jesus invites us to come and sit with him as he teaches truth. Truth. And so we always ask like in our world today and as I kind of walk through this, you're going to hear me say culture says this. Christ says this. Culture right now says truth is your truth.

Whatever you think, go for it. Whatever you believe, go for it. Whatever you want, desire, go for it. Your truth is your truth. Christ says there is the truth. The truth.

And so let's walk through what his truth was. Matthew 5 1-12 beginning in verse one. 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 he taught them saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the 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. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Listen when when people usually preach this most of the times they preach this as a eight separate circumstantial blessings based on different aspects of an individual's life. You can actually go and visit the place where it's believed that Jesus delivered this sermon on the mount in Galilee and you'll see eight stones that are laid out with each of the biatitudes on them as if it is again eight separate blessings or eight separate circumstantial blessings. It's outside of Jerusalem.

It's up in Galilee. Galilee is this beautiful place that if you were to compare it to maybe something in the US, it would be like Napa Valley. Gorgeous rolling hills. I've never been, but the pictures are comparable to it. If I were to tell my parents I was going to Napa, they would ask the question like, "What's wrong with your truck?" It might take you a minute.

We just didn't travel much. But Galilee is beautiful. And where this sermon was delivered is beautiful because it's also just a representation of the beauty of what it means for us when we receive truth at this mountain. Jesus delivers what we need in order to be blessed. But again, don't see this as things you can kind of cherrypick and say, "Well, yeah, in order for me to be blessed, I need to be meek and so let me pull on that." Or, "In order for me to be blessed, I need to make sure that I'm pure in spirit."

So, let me just go and pluck that as if there's different things in different seasons. But instead, I I believe this is a preface, a foundation, a preamble for the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. And here's what I mean by that. If you were to take your Bible seriously, which I hope you do, you should. If you were to take your Bible seriously and you were to open it up this week and you read through the Sermon on the Mount, since that's where we're going to be for the next eight weeks, read Matthew 5, Matthew 6, and Matthew 7. If you were to read that, when you get to the end of it, your response should be, "Uhoh, I'm in trouble."

That should be your response because the sermon on the mount reveals a standard of righteousness that is required to be in the presence of God. If the standard of Jesus and what he teaches us here is not only should you not commit adultery, but if you have a lustful thought in your mind, you are as good as an adulterer. Not only should you not commit murder, but if you have anger in your heart towards another brother, you might as well have killed them. This week, I won't say which one, but two of my sons decided to get into a fight with each other. And one of them literally, I mean, just punched the other one in the face. Just punched him in the face.

And so to, you know, be a good parent, I come and I sit him down and start talking to him about what he did. He says, "I didn't punch him in the face. It was my anger that punched him in the face. You're as good as a murderer, buddy. If you ever thought that the temporary things of this world would satisfy you, then you're in danger of the fires of hell. Laws, oaths, money, etc.

, if you mess up any one of them, even just one time, the sermon on the mount tells you you're in dangers of the fires of hell. When you get to the end of it, and you look at it and you say, "This is what it takes." We should all be a bit nervous. If you get to the end of it and you think, "I've got this," you're in trouble. And what I believe Jesus is doing in Matthew 5:1-12 is providing for us what is necessary in order to live out this new gospel infused, gospel infected, kingdom ethic that is countercultural to the world as we know it. Joby Martin, who's a pastor um in Jacksonville, Florida of Church of 11:22, says this, "The biatitudes are just the invitation of Jesus to us for a gracefueled and spiritfilled life in order to live out the new covenant instructions that exemplify Christ's kingdom on earth or also called Christendom."

The reason why we have a hard time understanding um this word is because the word blessed itself is hard to translate into English. It really is. It's hard to translate into English. The word is mccario in Greek and we don't have a good word for it. Most translations use blessed. Others use happy.

But the point of the sermon is not for our happiness. It's for our holiness. I know happiness is embedded in our vision as a country. Literally, the pursuit of happiness is ingrained within us as Americans. But there's a lot more depth to this word than just hoping that we live a happy life if we do these things. It's actually not necessarily something you express like happiness.

Some of it is, but it's more about what you receive. Other commentators like the word congratulations, which is still a bit off because that's usually tied to an achievement of sorts, right? But that's not the version of this congratulations. This reads more like congratulations to those who are poor in spirit because they've received the kingdom of God because you're in a position to be blessed. This is something that happens to you, not something that comes from you. If we walk through the sermon on the mount and expect that this is something that comes from us, then we're in trouble.

But if we read through the sermon on the mount and and see that this is something that we receive that happens to us, we are best positioned to be blessed. Again, God's not anti-happiness. Heaven is going to be a very happy place. But marios is God wanting so much more for you. Shalom, peace, joy to be received. So much so that it flows out of you onto others.

So what are the requirements for you to be blessed? We're just going to walk through this verse by verse. Look at verse three. Here's the first point. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, this is not talking about money here, okay?

It's not saying that you are blessed if you are poor. It's not what it's saying, okay? It's also not saying if you're rich, you're unable to be blessed or that you're going to hell. It's not saying that either. There are plenty of poor people and rich people, both in which some are going to hell, some are going to heaven. That's just true.

So it's not your blessing is not determined upon your bank account. It's actually worse than that. You're bankrupt. Those who are poor in spirit are spiritually bankrupt. When you read the whole sermon on the mount, your response at the end of it should be, like I said, uhoh, I'm in trouble. because you have come to the understanding that it is impossible for you to measure up to the standard Jesus just placed on the citizens of his new kingdom.

It's impossible for me to measure up. What does he even say? Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And if you aren't, hell is the consequence for those who don't measure up. That makes you get a bit nervous. that will make anyone poor in spirit.

And it's at that moment that the kingdom of heaven is in reach for you. Because when you finally tire of exhausting all the options to be good enough and you give up, you are best positioned for God to do a miracle and redeem you and rescue you from your sin and shame and usher you out of the domain of darkness and transfer you to the kingdom of the beloved son. That is a person who is blessed. Blessed. Culture says there's greatness in you. Christ says there's greatness in our God.

We need to know the difference. If we read through the sermon on the mount and think that we can do this, then we're believing that there's greatness in us. But if we read through the sermon on the mount and see that we can't measure up and that we are spiritually bankrupt in the sense that we can't earn this for ourselves and see that there is greatness in our God, it best positions us to be able to receive from him. You can't pay back the debt that you owe. You're spiritually bankrupt. Which one do you believe is telling the truth here?

culture or Christ. Look at number two. Blessed are those verse four. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Now, how would this make sense if it said happy are those who are sad. That's why to be happy is not necessarily what it means to be blessed.

Now listen, I believe these are linked. So as I walk through these, I want you to see that this is not like one here, one there. I think it's like a chain, like an eight link chain that in order to be blessed, each of them are tied to one another. And what I mean by that is um this is not regret and resolution. This is like for example, you saying like, well, I just as I read through this, I need to try harder. I need to do better.

This is remorse because you've come to your senses that you're spiritually bankrupt and therefore you begin weeping over your sin. You begin mourning over the fact that it's impossible for you to be able to earn or achieve holiness, righteousness, to be able to be in the presence of God. This reminds me of Nehemiah. Wept not just over the walls of Jerusalem as we talked about, but for the spiritual depravity of the people. He wept and mourned over their sin, their sin, their spiritual condition, their state. Well, how is that person blessed?

Because similar to the one who is spiritually bankrupt is best positioned to receive a redemption by Jesus in the form of a kingdom paid for by the blood of Jesus. The person who is mourning will be best positioned to receive the Holy Spirit who comforts them when they first realize I can't measure up like I'm spiritually broken and I need help. We are best positioned for the Holy Spirit to come as a comforter and say it's going to be okay because Jesus Jesus is here. Culture says everyone makes mistakes. No big deal. Sweep it under the rug.

That's what culture tells us. Christ says sin's a big deal. It's a death sentence. It's a death sentence. But there's comfort for those who truly mourn their sin because Jesus forgives and Jesus saves. He forgives and he saves.

Which one's telling the truth? Culture or Christ. Number three, verse five. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Meek does not mean weak. Okay, meat does not mean weak.

Sounds the same, but not what it means. In the Greek and Hebrew Bibles, it means the bit bridled horse. And you're like, "What in the world?" For the city folk in here, it's the thing that you put in the mouth of a horse so that the rider can steer the horse. It'd be similar to an untamed animal having a yoke placed on it and connecting it to a tamed animal so that it becomes trained by it. Blessed are you when you are spiritually bankrupt and come to your senses that there is nothing you can do in your own strength to measure up to God's standards of you.

And blessed are you when your heart is broken and you begin to mourn because you also understand that your sin has broken the heart of God and separated you from the good father. Blessed are you when you understand those things and therefore say to God, I give up and I surrender myself to your will, not my will. I trust in you and not my not me. I believe in the work of Jesus and not my own work. I want to take on his yoke instead of trying to steer my own life. And so blessed are you when you give up the reigns of your life to your heavenly father and you say I'm not the boss anymore.

Jesus is my lord and savior. That person is blessed is blessed. And there's a theological word for this called repentance. I was going this way, but I hand over the reigns of my life. And God then turns me this way and says follow Jesus who is the way. The way.

He places on me a yoke that is light because it is connected to him who is carrying the heavy weight. Just like a wild horse, you become broken and tamed and now can be used, steered, and guided by God. That's what it means to be blessed. Blessed are those who are meek. Blessed are those who give up the steering of their life so that God can steer it for them. Again, culture says, "You are the God of your life.

Steer it, drive it, guide it, do whatever you want." And Christ responds and says, "There's only one God, not you. And you better give him the reigns." Or as the millennials would better understand the term, Jesus, take the will. For you will inherit the earth. Not yet.

The Bible tells us God will make a new heaven and a new earth, and there we will reign with Christ forever and ever, co-airs with Christ. What Jesus gets for being the son of God, we get for being the sons and daughters of God. But that only happens for those who repent and they say, "I no longer want to be the God of my life. I want you to be the God of my life. I want you to be my Lord and Savior. I want to trust you.

I want to follow you. I want to believe in you. And I repent from what I've been doing things my own way. And I trust and turn to the way." the way again. Which one is telling the truth here?

Culture or Christ? Number four, verse six. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Let's be honest. How many of you would say that's me? Maybe some of you, and that's great.

Bless your heart. See what I did there? When we think about righteousness, we tend we tend to think about right activity, which is part of it, but it actually has more to do with right identity. When we think of righteousness, we tend to think of right activity. Am I reading my Bible enough? Am I praying enough?

Am I giving enough? Am I serving enough? Am I doing all the right things? Right activity. But we actually, it has way more to do with right identity. This is the point of Romans.

point of Galatians. The Bible says righteousness doesn't come by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. If it if it were to come by works of the law, Jesus didn't need to come and usher in a new law. Jesus didn't need to come at all. If it were done by works of the law when Moses came off the mountain and gave them the law, then we'll just work it out in history and eventually the people of God will become perfect and then God can usher us into heaven. If it could be achieved by works of the law, by your righteous activity, Jesus would have never come.

But because of our identity, we could never reach the perfection of righteous activity. Because our identity is sinners and you're born that way. Unfortunately, we had no option, no choice but to sin. And Romans 3 is clear about that. You can't debate that unless you want to debate God. and I'm always going to put my money on God's going to win that debate every single time.

It's less about right activity and more about right identity because the right identity is what leads to the right activity. And so blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for righteousness or in other words for a right standing with God for a right relationship with him. John 15 says this, "Abide in me and I will abide in you." If you abide in me, you will keep my commandments. You see that there's relationship first before there's um um relational or righteous activity. If you abide in me and I abide in you, you will keep my commandments.

If we tr if we just try to do righteous living without a relationship with Jesus, we're skipping the first three steps and are therefore burdened instead of blessed. You feel that we're burdened instead of blessed if we walk through the sermon on the mount and say, "I can do all these things in order for God to be pleased with me." It's not going to work. Blessed are you when you are spiritually bankrupt. And blessed are you when you mourn your separation from God. And blessed are you when you hand over the spiritual reigns of your life to God in order to come into relationship with him.

and are blessed are you when you then hunger and thirst and desire more of this relationship because you are receiving comfort instead of condemnation. You are receiving satisfaction instead of shame. Blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for a righteousness that you could not achieve but instead receive. This is why Martin Luther calls it the great exchange because he gives you what you could not achieve. you receive it. 2 Corinthians 5:21 is what he's talking about.

For he who knew no sin, became sin so that you and I might become the righteousness of God. That's imputed righteousness, which means it is literally put on us rather than expecting it to come out of us because of something that we do. Doesn't work that way. If we grew up in a religion that teaches that, it's wrong. It's wrong because it's not what the Bible teaches. This is very, this is the heartbeat of the kingdom of God.

The church, every individual Christian, that God being rich in mercy would look at me, an unrighteous sinner deserving death and hell, and then move towards me by sending his son Jesus to die the death I deserved. and take on the literal hell, the wrath of God as a punishment for my sin. So that by giving Jesus the reigns to my life, he might forgive me, restore me, redeem me, reconcile me, and grant me his righteousness. That's the heartbeat of everything that we do. And that's why it's called good news. Good news.

It's not earned news. It's good news for you that you get to receive this instead of having to achieve this. church. I I cannot get enough of the fact that when he was nailed to that cross in his hands and in his feet that it was counted for me. It was counted for me. That makes me want to worship.

It makes me want to dive into his word. It makes me want to follow his commands, whatever they are. Lord, you have all authority. You are the great teacher. Tell me what to do. I want to do it because I see what you have done for me.

It reminds me of the hymn How Great Thou Art. When I think that God, his son, not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee. Is your soul singing? The only soul that sings is the soul that's satisfied.

Satisfied. Do you hunger and thirst for relationship with Jesus? Because if you do, you'll be satisfied. Satisfied. Some of the reasons you aren't satisfied is because you hunger and thirst for the things of this world. It's just true.

If you were to audit your life every single day, say what was what what what brought me satisfaction today and what robbed me of satisfaction today. Every single time it's going to be things of this world rob me of satisfaction. Time with the Lord brought me satisfaction. Every single time it's going to work that way. I promise you. I mean, right now, I drive my dream truck and I'm still not satisfied with it.

mainly because it's been in the mechanic shop since March 1st cuz it's got a blown engine. I thought the engine was going to be arriving any day and he just told me they haven't found one yet. I have no idea when I'm going to get it back. It's literally getting a it's having a heart removed and and re new heart. I know many of you aren't satisfied because I hear the gossip. I hear the clamoring and can see it on your faces at times.

And if you email me saying, "I'm not satisfied," I'm gonna respond with, "I know you need more of Jesus. You need more of Jesus." The great thing is, I haven't I haven't gotten one of those emails in a long time. But that's going to be my new strategy. If I receive an email where it's like, "I'm not satisfied and here's all the problems," I'm just going to respond with, "You're right. You need more of Jesus and then we'll fix the problems."

When you're not satisfied with your spouse, think about it. It's usually because there's been some level of separation. Maybe that's intimacy, communication, quality time, something. The reason why you're not satisfied is because there's a separation of your intimacy with Jesus, your communication with him, your time with him, quality time, because we're replacing it with something that is temporary. Again, culture says what you need is more of what you already have. That's what culture tells us.

We believe the lie. What we need is more of what we already have. And Christ says, I'm all you need. I'm all you need. That'll satisfy you. Whoever drinks of my water will never thirst again.

That's satisfied. Blessed are the spiritually bankrupt. Blessed are those who mourn their sin. Blessed are those who hand over the reigns of their life to enter into a relationship with Jesus that is like a well that never runs dry. You think our culture is starving for that? I think so.

I think so. I think they're looking for satisfaction. And we have the answer. We have the truth. Number five, blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Some of you, when it comes to personality, are nicer than others.

And that's just true. It's okay. That's not what this is talking about. Praise God. This isn't talking about personality types. It doesn't matter what kind of personality you have because if you have Jesus, you are merciful.

You are merciful because Jesus is full of mercy. Ephesians 2 tells us that we are dead in our sins, but God being rich in mercy makes us alive in Christ. It's him being rich in mercy that is able to bring us out of our dead identity into a new identity that is alive in Jesus. When you're rich in mercy, it means you have more than enough. That's literally what it means to be rich. More than enough.

This means that when God pours out his grace and his mercy on you and over you and in you, you then have the ability to pour out grace and mercy to everyone else around you. And you get to pour it out lavishly. Do you know what that word lavish means? It means if you've ever seen a toddler pour a glass of milk, that's lavish, right? It it it's more than the capacity of the cup to where it then saturates everything in its close proximity. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are you when you have received mercy that you then extend mercy out to those around you. Blessed are those who've been filled with mercy and are thus merciful. Again, culture says this. We cancel those who are on the wrong side of history. If culture was God, we'd all be eradicated and sent to hell already, right? I mean, as soon as you log in on Facebook, straight to hell.

But Christ says, "I have compassion for those who are spiritually bankrupt and mourning their sin and seeking me for help in relationship. I have mercy for them. Number six, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Here's how we know these are not separated circumstances. Can you see Jesus handing out these blessings on this mountain? Hey, anybody that's merciful, I want you to come over here and just kind of gather in this section.

Those who are merciful, I have a blessing for you. Those who are pure in heart, if you're pure in heart, would you please raise your hand? I've got a blessing for you. Those who are pure in heart, raise your hand. The first person that raises their hand, Jesus is going to say, "Not you, straight to hell." The reason why is because the first person who raises their hand and says, "I'm pure in heart."

is the most prideful person in the group. Right? That's how we know these are not based on what we do, but rather what we receive. If you think I'm I'm I'm good. I'm awesome. I am pure in heart.

does not leave you in a good position to receive a blessing. Do you know who the pure in heart are? Every individual who believes in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Those are the pure in heart. I know this because of what Ezekiel and Jeremiah both tell us in the Old Testament. Ezekiel specifically in verse in chapter 36:es 26 and 27 says this.

I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and then give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Can you see that? Who's in charge of your salvation? God is not you. Who's the surgeon and who's the patient here? God is.

He's the surgeon. We are the patients. Again, as I mentioned, my truck is undergoing this process as we speak. And hopefully that heart of stone that decided to blow up is getting removed and it's going to be replaced with a nice 350 5. 7 L V8 engine. Amen.

We have dead hearts and we need new ones. We need new ones. In fact, who does the Bible say was a man after God's own heart? David. That's right. But after David slept with another man's wife and also had that man murdered, this is what David prayed to the Lord in Psalm 51:10-12.

Create in me a clean heart, oh God. A and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. I mean, you talk about a prophecy of the biatitudes. That's the posture of David in Psalm 51.

That's the reason why David is able in that moment to be a man after God's own heart even though he is a dreadful sinner because God is the one who comes to create in him a clean heart and puts within him a pure spirit so that he can come back into the presence with God and be restored in the joy of his salvation. God cleanses his heart and does the same for us. He gives us a pure heart because when we are in Jesus, we have heart of Jesus. Now you might ask, well then why do I still struggle? If I've got this new heart, why do I still struggle? Because though you have a new heart, you still have the same mind.

You still have the same mind. And that's why the Bible gives you a solution for that problem, too. Romans 12:2 says,"Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." The the heart is now training the mind to know what is right and wrong so that we can then keep his commandments and walk in them. But it's flowing out of this new spirit, this new identity. Again, that leads to righteous activity.

Once again, culture says external appearance is all that matters. Righteous activity, but Christ says internal authenticity is what matters. Internal authenticity is what matters. Righteous identity. Blessed are you who are pure in heart. Congratulations on receiving a new heart.

Congratulations. It's like the person who goes into a coma but needs open heart like they need a heart transplant. And then finally they receive one and they wake up out of the coma and the doctors the first thing they hear because they have no idea what's been going on is congratulations, a heart came available. It's the same thing that happens for us as believers. Because again, where do your affections come from? Where does your hunger and thirst come from?

Your heart. That's why these are all linked together like a chain. Which brings me to the seventh one. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Now, there's a difference between peacemaker and peacekeeper. Okay, most of us are peacekeepers, especially parents, right?

you go to your room and you go to your room just to establish peace in the house, which doesn't work because all three of our boys share the same room. So, we just throw them in there, lock the door, and make them work it out for themselves. It doesn't necessarily make peace. It just kept peace by getting sinners away from you. Shalom makers, peacemakers is not the absence of conflict but when the fullness or wholeness of God moves into the conflict. Moves into the conflict.

Think about the invitation of Jesus. Come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened. Let me tell you what heavy burdens you. to be heavy burdened is when you read through the sermon on the mount and you think I'm in trouble. Reminds me of the kid in the bus in the Simpsons um sitcom who laughs and says, "I'm in danger." You might not know that, but I grew up not Christian.

Anyways, bad example, but remember, it's this realization that when we read through this and we see the standard of Jesus, we realize we're in danger. It heavy burdens us because we're all trying desperately, Christian, non-Christian, what humanity is trying desperately to get back to Eden. It's just everyone's trying to figure it out in their own way and are becoming heavy burdened because we're realizing that as we get closer to death, it's not working out for us. It's not working out for us. Heavy burden is thinking God's not going to like you if you can't live up to everything Jesus just taught in his sermon. That is a religious yoke that you can't carry and it heavily burdens you.

It crushes you and helps you realize,"I need someone to help me, someone to do for me what I can't do for myself." And Jesus responds, "Come to me all you who are heavy, weary, and heavy burdened. And I will give you rest, peace, shalom for your soul. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." When the Bible says sons of God, they don't um they they didn't use adverbs in Greek like we use adverbs. This is the way of the Bible saying godly.

You want to be godly, be a peacemaker. You want to be like God, make peace. Now, think about it. What did Jesus do? Jesus is the greatest peacemaker that exists. Jesus was the ultimate peacemaker.

Jesus made peace between a perfect and holy God and an evil and sinful humanity. Listen to Colossians 1:1 19-20. For in Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Listen church, you are sons, daughters of God. You are godly when you bring the gospel of Jesus to those who are far from God with a heart of stone considered enemies of him and you introduce them to Jesus who invites those who are weary and heavy burdened to find rest and peace. That's how we be peacemakers is when we go to those who are enemies of God and invite them to Jesus and help them with the first three stages of of of the biatitudes and then they turn over the reigns of their life to God.

No longer are they enemies of him but now they're sons and daughters of him. That's peacemaking. It's literally the ministry of reconciliation. What culture tells us to do is retaliate. Retaliation. Christ says no.

Reconcile. Reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Why? Because you receive a new heart, new identity.

The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God. Ezekiel 36. He put the new heart in you. All this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and then gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them. You ever hold a grudge against other people? How does that work out? I can tell you this. It's not peaceful, right? It's not peaceful.

Do you feel blessed when you hold a grudge against someone who's wronged you? Thank God Christ doesn't hold a grudge or we would all be in hell, right? Then entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors. You can you can change that out even with peacemakers for Christ. God making his appeal through us because he has made peace with us through the blood of the cross.

We are able to then take that message and help others find peace the same way. Congratulations. Blessed are you when you pray for your one more. When you share the gospel. When you invite someone to a service so that they can hear the gospel. When you share the good news with your neighbors.

Because in that you are being godly. You're being like God. Because that's what he did. He sent Jesus to a neighborhood that needed a savior. Well, he's also sent you to a neighborhood with neighbors who need a savior. That brings me to the last one.

All right. Where are we at? Blessed are those who are spiritually bankrupt. Blessed are those who weep over their sin. Blessed are those who hand over the reigns of their life to Jesus. Blessed are those who deeply desire relationship with Jesus.

Blessed are those um who overflow with mercy towards others. Blessed are those who've receive the heart of Christ and are therefore pure. Blessed are those who like God move towards the enemies of God and make peace by sharing the gospel with them. That last one links to the final one because oftenimes to make peace means you enter war. Think about it. You don't need to make peace where there's already peace.

To make peace, you enter hostile territory. You enter warfare. Number eight, verse 10. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. These are connected. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Now listen, there's there's a difference between being persecuted for righteousness sake and being persecuted because you're a jerk. There's a difference here, okay? There's the internet Christian Nazis. I don't know if I'm allowed to use that term anymore, but that's a political hot topic right now.

But you know what I'm talking about. I don't know of anyone who has ever said, "I came to faith because someone on the internet told me I was stupid." The Bible is not a sledgehammer to beat people up with. Right? The goal is to not argue people into heaven. The goal is to show them Jesus and let him go go to work on the open heart surgery.

Now, if we're on the internet and we're showing them Jesus by showing them truth that is in scripture, absolutely. Absolutely. It's a form of communication. It's a form of media. That's great. We want them to see the word of God.

To be honest with you, we don't understand persecution in the first place because for almost 250 years now in the history of America, it's been politically and socially acceptable to be a Christian. To be a Christian, one nation under God. That line alone has caused many of us to avoid persecution. While there are other countries all around the world where there are literally people huddled in a closet with a half page torn out of Titus trying to have a Bible study in hopes that their government doesn't find out because if the government finds out they get their hands cut off. Like that's persecution for us in America. At most we might experience frustration, not persecution.

Around the world, they experience persecution. So, starting June 14th, it's going to be 50 days leading up to our anniversary as a church on August 3rd. And what we're going to do for those 50 days leading up to the anniversary of our church is out on the the connect table, you're going to see a little thing. uh take one per household and it's going to guide you for 50 days to pray for the top 50 countries of persecuted Christians. We might not have all the money in the world to be able to help them. We not might not have the most manpower to be able to send them.

But what they need most of us is strength to endure and persevere. And what we get to do in providing that for them is praying to the one who provides them the strength to endure. And we're going to do that for 50 days as a household. You are going to pray for the Christians and their influence in these countries where many of the times Christianity is cut off. It's a closed country. You're not allowed to speak of Jesus.

We're going to pray for them. We're going to pray for them. Now, I don't want this to sound discouraging, but persecution in the West is increasing. It is increasing. You've heard me talk about positive world, neutral world, negative world. I don't have enough time to go into that.

Aaron Ren wrote an article and a book on negative world, but it's true. We are entering, we are already in it, but are progressing more into a negative world. When Christian bakeries are getting sued for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a homosexual couple because it violates their Christian ethic and belief that God created man and woman to be married and fruitful as an illustration of Christ's marriage to his bride, the church to be married and fruitful in creating generations of Christians and churches all around the world. That's a form of persecution. When your brother-in-law tells you that you are oppressing his sister because you preach that a wife should submit to her husband as church submits to Christ. Ephesians 5, that's a form of persecution for righteousness sake.

When you participate in a trunk or treat at a public school and someone walks up and asks you if you are an affirming church and you reply by saying, "We affirm the scriptures." and they spit on you, that's a form of persecution for righteousness sake. And you just hand them some candy and say, "Bless your heart." The days of wanting Christianity to create for us a comfortable and easy life. Those days are over. Those days are over.

And let me tell you something, that might be the best thing to ever happen to the church in America. Because, well, let me say that is the best thing that could happen to the church in America. Because when I read the book of Acts, every single time the church was persecuted and scattered, the gospel advanced, more people were baptized, and the church multiplied. Don't be fearful of it. Embrace it. Embrace it.

Preaching the truth and being persecuted for righteousness sake is the perfect conditions for the church to flourish, grow, blossom, and multiply. Do you want that at the cost of your material comfort? That's a question to ask because what culture tells us is that we should have a life of comfort. The good life is expensive because it's going to cost you your eternity. Christ says a life or Christ promotes a life that is free but will cost you everything. Grace and salvation is free but it will cost you everything.

In Matthew 5 1-10, Jesus turns cultural expectations upside down. While the world glorifies power, pride, self-sufficiency, Christ calls his followers to a life of humility, mercy, and dependence upon him. Culture says, "Take control, assert yourself, and seek personal success." Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." In the end, the rewards of the world are temporary, but the blessings of Christ are eternal. The point of the biatitudes is that Jesus didn't come to make people bad or to make bad people better with a new set of rules.

He didn't come to make sad people happy. He came to give life to the dead and salvation to sinners. That's the purpose of this. If you were to read the sermon on the mount and think, "I've got this," you are lost and self-righteous. If you read the sermon on the mount and think, "Forget you. I don't need this truth.

I have my own truth." You're lost and are rejecting the son of God, who is the truth. I know what we believe is by faith, which means we can't see it or touch it, but we believe it to be true based on many eyewitnesses accounts in the scriptures. And by the fact that this book is living and active, which means when you read it, it's reading you, it really does change and transform us when we hand over the reigns of our life. But if you say, "No, no, I'm going to do it my own way. I'm going to do it a different way."

You're gambling with your eternity. And the Bible is clear that the that it never goes well for you. Proverbs 14:12, "There's a way that seems right to a man, and its end, its end is the way to death." There's a way that might seem right to you, but death is your future. But God being rich in mercy says there is the way, the truth, and the life, and it is Jesus. And it is only through him that we get to get to the father.

Blessed are those who make the right choice. Jesus's truth, not the world's truth. The way that I'm going to conclude every single one of these messages over the next eight weeks, the way you know a good sermon is not only the start of it, but the end of it. And so, go ahead and turn with me to the end of his sermon. In Matthew chapter 7, looking at verses 21, he says this, "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven. There's going to be a lot of people surprised when they get to the pearly gates and are waiting in line.

And when it gets to them, the Lord says, "Not you. Not you." Quite possibly the most terrifying verse in all the scriptures. Right? Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven." All right.

What's the will of the father then? If you read, not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord," will get in, but the one who does the will of the father, then I want to make sure I know what the will of the father is. And thank you, Jesus, for coming to the earth and then telling us what it is. Because this is what he says in John 6:40. Jesus says, "For this is the will of my father." So listen up.

This is the truth that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life. and I will raise him up on that last day. It's not hard to know. That's the will of the father right there. Not complicated according to Jesus. Verse 22.

On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? Again, so many people are going to be surprised when they get there. And Jesus says, "Not you." And they're going to say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Look at my resume. Look at all the things that I did.

And to be honest with you guys, I mean, their resume is way better than ours, right? Got any prophets, priests in here? Stand up. Any any demon casters in here? Like you would think if we had a team, we've got hospitality teams. If we had an exorcism team and you're serving on it, chances are you're team Jesus, right?

You would think so. Like the closest I ever got to casting out a demon was I sent a middle school home uh at a summer camp one time. Anyone done any significant maybe like mighty works for the Lord? The kind that thousands of people may know and recognize because it's reached celebrity status in Christianity. Benjamin Keech, he's the author of this book called the counter the counterfeit Christian. He says this greatest deception is to think one is saved while living in rebellion against God.

That's what Satan is trying to do. Make you think you're right with God based on activity and not identity. That's why the biatitudes are so important because it before we get to all of the activity over the next three chapters. Got to make sure you've got the right identity. Got to make sure you've got the right identity. Because if we don't have the right identity, best position for blessing.

Verse 23, I will then declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. You see the relational, I never knew you. It doesn't doesn't say I never saw you. I saw all the things that you've been trying to do to earn your salvation. I never knew you relationally.

Because again, when you think about prophecy and demon casting, it's not lawlessness. Those are good things, right? Those are righteous things. That's righteous activity. So what does it means? It means that you think you're in right standing before God is based on your performance.

That's lawless. But he finishes with this. Everyone who then hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And when the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. When you see founded, think blessed. That house had been blessed by the rock that it was founded on.

The rock is the gospel, the good news about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on your behalf. Because when the rains fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, does that sound happy? No. That's not a happy experience. But it is blessed. Congratulations.

If your life is firmly planted not on what you do, but on what Christ has done for you, congratulations. The blessing that you have is that you know Jesus and therefore know his father. And you'll never hear those words, depart from me, for I never knew you. Because those who never knew him, he'll say this, everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. The sand is what the culture is teaching us. And the rain will fall and the floods will come and the winds will blow and they'll beat against the house and it will fall and great will be that fall.

Church, the greatest anxiety in my life is not whether or not the district is around in 10, 20, 100 years from now. The greatest anxiety in my life is whether or not Jesus knows you and you know him. That's the greatest anxiety because we ask you to serve. We ask you to give. We ask you to invite people. But more than all of those things, let me ask you this.

Do you know Jesus? Do you know Jesus? Is there a burning in your bones? A hunger and a thirst for relationship with him? Not a righteous activity, which is religion, but a religious a righteous identity, which is relationship with him. Relationship.

Listen up. Good behavior does not get you in. And at the same time, bad behavior does not keep you out. Because at the end of the day, it's not based on what you do or don't do. It's based upon what Jesus has done and whether or not you look to him and believe that he did it for you. Again, for the next eight weeks, I'm going to preach this message until you are either tired of hearing it, reject it, and walk away from church.

Or you grow in your hunger and thirst for righteousness, can't get enough of it, and walk away rejoicing because you know without a shadow of a doubt just how blessed you are. If right now you're not sure, I want to give you an opportunity to do the will of the father and look to Jesus and believe in the work that he has done for you. That he lived the perfect life that you could not live. Do you believe that? That he died a horrific death on a cross because he came to pay a punishment of sinners in their place to endure the wrath of God so that you might be able to receive the wealth of God. Do you believe that?

That after God was satisfied with the finished work of Jesus, he brought him back to life on the third day in a glorified state, showing us what we will also receive on that day when Jesus returns and ushers us into glory. Do you believe that to be true? Would everyone bow your heads? Close your eyes. If you believe that today for the first time, like the one who is blessed because they are poor in spirit, realizing that they are spiritually bankrupt. And like the prodigal son, they come to their senses and they understand their need of a savior.

If you believe you need to do this truly, you've come to your senses and want to believe in Jesus for forgiveness and relationship. I don't care if you've been going to church your entire life. Right now in this moment, you realize that I can't achieve this. I have to receive this from the Lord. And I don't know that I've ever done that. And I want to do that right now.

If that's you, would you please raise your hand? Would you raise your hand? We'll continue to have opportunities every week. When Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching. For he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. You can open your eyes.

Culture has no authority. Only Jesus does. Only Jesus speaks the truth. Would you stand with me as we come to this time of communion? on that last night when Jesus was with his disciples, they would have the imagery of this Passover meal that happened thousands of years ahead of them. that would happen when the Israelites were in Egypt.

And one of the final plagues was that the angel of death was going to come through and kill every firstborn except for those who would slaughter a lamb, break its body, and then take the blood of the lamb and spread it over their doorposts. So that when the angel of death came in to kill all the firstborn, it would pass over the houses of the Israelites who had received this blessing in order for death to not come to their house. Instead, life, future, legacy. The disciples in that moment would understand that story but not even really have a clue even though Jesus has already told them multiple times that he's going to be delivered up, die in their place, have his body broken and his blood shed for the forgiveness of their sins and then be raised three days later. So when he's holding up the blood the bread, they're thinking of the Passover of the lamb and what happened to them in Egypt. But in this moment, what Jesus is doing is when he breaks that bread, he's showing them that I am the ultimate lamb that that was pointing to.

And from this moment on for future, you get to look back and remember and celebrate and be blessed by receiving this meal of my body broken and my blood shed. to forgive you so that your shame goes away and you receive satisfaction so that the hostility goes away and you receive comfort. So when we partake of this meal today, if you believe that Jesus did this for you, that he was the ultimate sacrificial lamb, that he's breaking his body and shedding his blood because you are spiritually bankrupt, because you're mourning and weeping over your sin, because you need to hand over the reigns of your life to Jesus and trust him and by repentance, you are best positioned to receive what this meal actually represents is that he forgives you and no longer are you cursed, but you're blessed. Congratulations that we get to receive this. Congratulations that it's for you. So, if you believe that, I want you to come down, grab the elements, bring them back to your seats, and we will partake together at the end of the song.