Happy Are the Humble A

The idea that Jesus deals with the inside and with our attitudes and our feelings in our thinking, does not mean that there is no commitment to the outside. There's going to be an outside your created in Christ Jesus unto good works throughout and when he said was that of the poor in spirit, and blessed are those who mourn, how could such negative sounding conditions good. Even things to rejoice about.

Well, I can assure you he wasn't telling you to give all your money away were to constantly be sad how then are we supposed to apply those simple statements and how they show you and me and every believer the way to true happiness, both today and for all eternity.

Consider that as John continues, the study began on Monday. It's titled the Beatitudes now with the lesson here is John figure Bible with well let's look at Matthew chapter 5 together. Matthew chapter 5 verse one says and seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain and when he was seated his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus came to bring men happiness. Jesus came to bring man blessing. Jesus came to make life meaningful and the key to the kind of happiness in the kind of blessedness that's talked about in these Beatitudes.

The word blessed was our theme for part of our discussion last time. The key to that kind of blessedness is following a new standard for living a new kind of life and that is what Jesus sets forth in the sermon on the Mount, the whole sermon on the Mount introduces itself with the promise of blessedness. Happiness. Deep inner satisfaction. So Jesus came offering a new standard for living and his emphasis was not on externals. It was on internal was not telling them a new way to live every day. He was telling them a new later. Think first that would result in a new way to live every day it was, not talking only about behavior, he was talking about attitude. He was saying that the inner part of a person's life is the real key to happiness.

Jesus is offering blessing and happiness based on the new standard of life, a new kind of living a righteous standard and if you will, and this will be a keyword a self less standard selfless standard. This great sermon. The greatest sermon, no doubt ever preached focuses on this kind of happiness. This kind of blessedness and the amazing thing about it is, as we said last time. The only people who can know this blessedness are the people who know they can't live this way on their own and so they're totally dependent on Jesus Christ and I believe beloved that this message is for all of us. I know that historically, some evangelicals have objected to the sermon on the Mount said it's too hard. Matthew 548 be perfect, as your father in heaven is perfect. That's too hard that's not for us. If it's too tough. We just pass it off to the millennium, but there are lots of problems with that.

It's really impossible for many reasons. First of all, the text does not say this is for the millennium.

Secondly, Jesus preached it to people who weren't living in the millennium. To me that's the greatest argument of all three. It becomes meaningless if your portion of the millennium because it says blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness sake. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you say all manner of evil against you falsely now in the kingdom.

My friend nobody is going to get away with that stuff. Laura rule with a rod of iron. Matthew 544, along with many other things would become meaningless. Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them. It despitefully use you and persecute you at the same idea. That is not to be any of that in the kingdom and by the way. Another reason I believe this is for all believers of all ages is because every principle found in the sermon on the Mount is found somewhere else in the new test.

This isn't just for some super saints living in the kingdom. This is for us.

It is the distinctive lifestyle of a believer of any age. It calls upon us to come to a new standard of living is Jesus saying to us, look, this is the way you must live if you are to know happiness. If you are no blessedness in isn't it wonderful that God is offering us that the God is not a cosmic killjoy, but God is not finding his greatest joy in raining on your parade. God wants you to be happy. God wants you to be blessed, and he gives us here. The principles and you know another thing that we ought to say about this is this is distinctive living, you live like this and I promise you, you will be different. You really well in many ways I guess you have to say that Christians today have lost their distinctiveness. We have been shaped by the world. We have been molded into the world, though the world's music and its sex morals it's marriages, it's divorces it's morality.

It's liberation movements, its materialism, its approach to food its approach to alcoholic drinks its approach to dance its approach to entertainment's approach to sports its approach to all kinds of things we get pushed into that and it's very easy for us to lose our distinctiveness that were seeing in our day, something the Lord is no doubt had his heart broken over for all the years since the church began.

And that's the corrupting of Christianity and Jesus is really saying here, God wants you to live different God doesn't want you to live the way everybody else lives.

And if you live this way, you'll be happy if you live this way you will be blessed and you know I've always believed that the manufacturer knows more about the product and that anybody out and on if if I have a car and I bought a car.

First thing I do is read that little book tells me what to do right now to stick to key and shift it, but there's other stuff I need to know if I get something that purchased and applied.

I read that stuff. I want to know what they say how that thing works. It's amazing to me that the manufacturer of everybody lives in the world is God. And yet, very few people want to turn him and find out how they best can know happy how best can I know blessedness how best can I know fulfillment. You made me you tell me. And Jesus does right here. I say again is dealing with the inside.

Melanie admits the idea that Jesus deals with the inside and with our attitudes and our feelings in our thinking, does not mean that there is no commitment to the outside because when the inside is right. The outside is right.

Faith without works is what dad there's going to be an outside your created in Christ Jesus unto good works, but the trio outside the real outside can only be produced by the real inside true spirituality starts in the inside and touches the outside. Now as you look at the Beatitudes, you'll see that there like sacred paradox there almost given an absolute contrast to everything the world know. Look with me quickly. Verse three first received the poor in spirit poor in spirit is the right attitude toward sin, which leads to morning, in verse four, which leads after you seen your sinfulness and you've mourned to a meekness sense of humility, then to a seeking and hunger and thirst for righteousness, you can see the progression and that manifests itself in mercy. Verse seven in purity of heart verse eight in a peacemaking spirit. Verse nine, the result of being merciful, and pure in heart and peacemaking is that you are revile and you are persecuted and you are falsely accuse why because by the time you have been poor in spirit mourned over and become humble sought righteousness lived a merciful, pure and peacemaking life. You have sufficiently irritated the world so they're going to react when it's all said and done.

Verse 12 says you can rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. And when you live like that poor in spirit morning meek seeking righteousness as a result of it becoming merciful, and pure, and peacemaking, and having the world revile and persecute and say all these things against you, then you can be sure that verse 13 is true. You are the salt of the that's what it takes. You are the light of the work can't be salt and light beloved. You can't start verse 13 to start verse three.

So let's look at verse three Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven so basic, so necessary when asking five questions and I want you to just answer them with me as we look at this one state why does Christ begin with this, why does he start with being poor in spirit. When he's talking about a new kind of living a new standard, a new way to live.

Why does it begin here.

Why is this the source of happiness.

Well, simply because it is the fundamental characteristic of a Christian is the very first thing that must happen in the life of anybody who ever enters God's kingdom.

Nobody yet ever entered God's kingdom on the basis of pride, poverty of spirit is the only way in the door to the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ is very low and the only people to come in the crawl.

Jesus begins by saying there's a mountain you have to scale.

There are heights you have to climb there is a standard, you must attain, but you are in capable of doing and the sooner you realize it the sooner you'll be on your way to finding another words he saying you can't be filled into your empty.

You can't be worthwhile until your worth less and on amazes me that in modern Christianity today there is so little of the self emptying concept seen a lot of books on how to be filled with joy and how to be filled. How to be filled with this now be filled with the spirit, soberness, lots of books on how to be filled but I don't think I've ever seen a book on how to empty yourself of yourself.

Can you imagine a book entitled how to be nothing really be a great seller in our day. How to be a nobody. You know, and so much of our modern Christianity. Pharisaism feeds on pride, poverty of spirit. On the other hand, is the foundation of all graces, you know, if you don't have poverty of spirit. Beloved, you might as well expect fruit to grow without a tree as the graces of the Christian life to grow without humility.

They can't long as were not poor in spirit, we can't receive grace now even at the beginning. You can even become a Christian. Unless you're poor in spirit and is you live your Christian life you'll never know the other graces of the Christian life as long as you violate poverty of spirit.

And this is tough.

Jesus is saying.

Start here.

Happiness is for the humble happiness is for the humble until we are poor in spirit, Christ is never precious to us because we can't see them for the looking at ourselves before we see our own wants and our own needs and our own desperation. We never see the Maximus worth of Christ until we know how really damn we are.

We can appreciate how really glorious he do we comprehend how do we we can understand how wondrous this is love to redeem us till we see our poverty. We cannot understand his riches. So out of the carcass comes the honey it is in our deadness that we come alive, and no man ever comes to Jesus Christ. No man ever enters the kingdom who doesn't crawl with a terrible sense of sinfulness. Repentance. Proverbs 16 five says Courson are the proud God gives grace to the humble.

This has to be at the very beginning. That's why it's first listen, the only way to come to God's kingdom is to confess your own unrighteousness. Confess your inability to meet God's standards. Confess that you can't do it.

You can't do call experiences. I think it's a will take the time to look at Philippians chapter 3, but Paul in that passage says touching the law. I was blameless and he says however I have no confidence in the flesh, no confidence in the flesh.

It all begins here people you enter God's kingdom with a sense of helplessness you enter God's kingdom with a sense of desperation and if you want to know happiness as you live in his kingdom.

You keep that same sense of helplessness and desperation. The church at Laodicea said I am rich, and have need of nothing, in the words of Jesus to them were and you don't know that you are poor and blind and naked. You think you you are, how many fools around the world and never see the truth. Fools who do not see the reality. I am rich, and have need of nothing, and their desperate Jesus begins here because this is what you gotta begin and this is what you gotta begin to get saved. And this is what you gotta begin to live the Christian life and blessedness is no room for pride and as I said Christianity today in our world is feeding on pride is just feeding on the exaltation of the individual. Second question, what does this term mean poor in spirit. What kind of poverty.

Talk about how some people suggested its material poverty it take Luke 620 would says blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the kingdom and they say see it's just plain poor know when you have two records in the Bible in the Gospels you compare the blessed are the poor. What poor are all kinds of poverty right you could be poor in terms of money to be poor in terms of education is to be poor in terms of friends to be poor in terms of a lot of things. So when you read Luke say Blessed are the poor, and you find Matthew lesson are the poor in spirit.

You make the conclusion simply that Matthew tells us what kind of poverty. Luke was referring to Saul no big problem. We just put the two together comparing Scripture with Scripture counterpart was a poor young without money and there a lot of people written on this thought God just blesses and gives his kingdom to poor people nonadjacent folks if he just means a people without money than the worst possible thing we as Christians can ever do is give somebody money. I mean, alleviating the poor is terrible. You know, feeding the hungry is ridiculous. We must stop immediately.

Any aid to anyone who is poor. In fact, what we really want to do is get all the money out of everybody we possibly can. So they'll all be poor weeds.

It would all be sort of con men say we just need to get it all. Only thing is, in so doing we will get it lose a stupid we can go around the world abolishing that kind of stuff we have to close every orphanage, every hospital all the missions and everything that reaches out to needy people's spiritual blessedness came from material poverty, no on the other hand, riches can really mess up people I think poor people have a running start on the right attitude toward life.

Believe it or not, because the in their desperation they seek a source beyond themselves. The self-sufficiency of the rich causes them to be hard-pressed to know God and that's why the Bible says it is easier for a camel to go to the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom because he trusts in his riches for men is not to trust but there been a few righteous people who were rich, not many Nicodemus Joseph of Arimathea was some wonderful ones in the Old Testament.

Philemon was no doubt wealthy, but you know God isn't talking about material poverty. In fact, you realize a David said in all his years. He never saw the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread in Paul's life he had times of hunger, and he had times of thirst.

But he never was a cringing beggar in the Lord Jesus never went around with this 12 begging for food. They were accused of being mad the disciples and the Lord they were accused of being ignorant. They were accused of turning upside down and believe me, if they have been bankers. They would've been accused of that to but no such accusations ever leveled was okay. Poverty is we tell poor in spirit was to capture the word poor took us interesting work from a verb now watch this one. The verb in the Greek means a shrinking from something or someone to cower and cringe like a bigger that's what it means like you just chronic friends and cower like a bigger debt.

Classical Greek uses this word to refer to one who is reduced to beggary who crouches in a corner of the dark wall too big for us and the reason he crouches and cowers is because he doesn't want to be seen if he is so desperately ashamed to even allow his identity to be known, beggars have all that stuff piled on all those things pulled over their face and they reach like this, lest they should be no by the way, the word poor here. The very word is the word used in Luke 16 when it says Lazarus the beggar. That is what the word means it is not just poor it is begging for and by the way, there is another word in the Bible for normal poverty. Panisse Panisse means yours generally and sometimes as an overlap, but generally Panisse means you're so poor you have to work just to maintain your living.

Total cost means you're so poor you have to pay your reduced to a cringing cowering beggar kinase you can earn your own living. You can earn your own sustenance so costs you are totally dependent on the gift of somebody else. All you've got going for you, no skill, no nothing. In many cases, your crippled your blind your death you're done you can't function in society to sit in the corner with your shamed arm in the air, pleading for grace and mercy from somebody else you have no resource in yourself to even live total dependence on somebody else. Not just poor begging for now that says Jesus just get is a happy man. You say you got a beach well is not talking about physical baking physical poverty is talking about poverty of spirit listen, this is the best diagnosis of of man you could ever find. Man is empty poor helpless can he work to earn his own salvation as he Panisse poor so that he can do just a few things. If he cranks out hard enough and works hard enough you may get in by the hair of his chinny chin chin you can cut that now he's not been a cysto class. He is absolutely incapable of anything and totally dependent on grace from somebody else choices happy are the destitute, cowering, cringing beggar's for what news folks. The world says happier. The rest of the famous and the self-sufficient and the proud was mean, in spirit, we talk about that from it means, with reference to the spirit which is the inner part of man, not the body, which is the outer part that's all he's begging on the inside, not necessarily on the outside Isaiah put it this way. Isaiah 66 to but to this man will I look here's God talking Ellis to this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. It's the matter was shakes in the inside because of his destitution.

Psalm 3418.

Put it this way, the Lord is nigh under them that are of a broken heart and to save such as B of a contrite spirit. Psalm 5117 the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Isaiah chapter 57 in verse 15 adds this for thus set the high and the lofty one, who inhabit with eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him. Also, who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the con fright will listen.

People God identifies with people who big on the inside, not people who are self-sufficient, not people who can work out their own salvation, not people who believe in their own recent those who are destined big happy are the humble that was John MacArthur's lesson today on grace to you. It's part of his look at the Beatitudes, along with teaching each day on the radio. John also serves as Chancellor of the Masters University in seminary John that final point you made today, God identifies with people who are spiritually destitute. I can imagine there are people listening right now who acknowledge their spiritual bankruptcy. Yet they still question whether they really have come to saving faith in Christ when you talk with people who question their faith. How do you typically approach those situations. I'm sure you want to be encouraging, but you also don't want to build up false hope will first of all, the kind of desperation that you feel becoming a Christian as the Spirit convicts you of sin and righteousness and judgment as the spirit excites your conscience and you feel guilty and you feel that beatitude attitude your spiritually bankrupt you feel meek and humble and broken your morning over your sinfulness, your hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

The all those things are the convicting work of the Spirit of God that brings you to repentance. And when you come to repentance and faith by the power of the Holy Spirit and you believe I am convinced that the Bible promises that the spirit of God comes in and the spirit witnesses with your spirit that you are a child of God. So this is what we see in the kind of the immediate moments when someone is born again, there is joy there is peace there is a sense of a burden lifted you hear people talk like that because the spirit of God does a convicting work first and then a confirming work of assurance that after the transformation after regeneration is taken place so there will be evidence of that transformation. What is the evidence of it. Joy, gratitude, desire to worship the evidence of it also will be new desires old things passed away. New things come new affections, new longings love the word want to be a part of the church love the Lord and want to grow in grace. That's all Holy Spirit confirmations. I don't dismiss those kinds of things don't. Don't dismiss those kinds of things. I know you've written a lot on the subject of assurance. We have a resource that sort of condenses those ideas right it's called, is it real because even after you have been assured by the Holy Spirit doubt can come you can you can go through times of doubt Satan can tempt you to doubt you can doubt because maybe, maybe there sin patterns in your life and that is always going to create doubt and there is the possibility that you really never were really regenerated and without doubt is legitimate and it's the prompting of the Lord. So yes, this booklet is it real really will be a help to you that anyone who wants a copy will send it free of charge gives you 11 test questions to answer that will evaluate where you are before God in your spiritual life includes discovery and application questions. A prayer suggestion and even an assignment. Is it real free to anyone who requests a copy would love to send one to you. Yes, this booklet is our gift to you. Just call us or go to our website and request a copy of is it real get in touch today. Our number here 855 grace and our web address Jide TY.org again is it real.

It's a great resource if you've ever wondered my really saved. This booklet can help you answer that question and experience all the blessings that come from knowing that you are God's child to get a free copy of John's book with using real call 855 grace or go to TTY.also friends.

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