The Rewards of the Kingdom #3
Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at Hand • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
It has been said that “a child rejoices in what he has, a youth rejoices in what he does, but an adult rejoices in what he is.” Now, whether that’s always true or not, I want to say that the more mature you are as a Christian, the more you will rejoice—not in what you have or what you do, but in what you are through the Lord Jesus Christ. And, that’s what these Beatitudes talk about.
Where are you in your spiritual growth?
Are you still a child rejoicing in what you have?
Are you a young person rejoicing in your works and what you can do?
Or are you mature, rejoicing in what you are in Christ Jesus?
This is what the beatitudes are about. Growing to the point of Blessedness.
“Blessed” has more of a connotation of being approved by God and therefore means “having everything that you need.” to meet that requirement.
Having everything that you need spiritually: that is being blessed.
Poverty of spirit inherit the Kingdom of Heaven
Poverty of spirit inherit the Kingdom of Heaven
is the conscious acknowledgement of un-worth before God. It is the deepest form of repentance.
Inherits the Kingdom of Heaven = have submitted to the kingdom’s obligations, namely the total reign of God, and therefore, they enjoy its privileges.
Mourners will be Comforted
Mourners will be Comforted
Mourning is the deepest word for sorrow. It’s the word for the grief that you feel at the graveside of a loved one. It’s a strong word, a word for lament. Mourn is used in 2 different senses.
Mourning over Personal Sin.
Mourning over Populations Sins.
Comforted - com-, meaning “with,”
- fort means “strength”
= “with strength.”
Think of the word fortress, fortification or fortify. God supplies the strength to overcome sin when we repent and mourn.
Meek Inherit the Earth
Meek Inherit the Earth
Meekness means “yielded.” It literally has the idea of strength under control.
We start with a Condition that leads to Contrition which leads to Control.
Control leads to Craving.
Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness Filled
Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness Filled
Righteousness means, “Blessed is the person who hungers and thirsts to be conformed to the will of God, for he shall be filled.”
When we crave Jesus Christ (not wanting Jesus but NEEDING Jesus) we will be conformed to Jesus Christ, we will begin to act and attract like Jesus Christ.
Which brings us to the next Beatitude.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Merciful Receive Mercy
Merciful Receive Mercy
What is mercy? What is this quality of mercy? Mercy is compassion in action. That’s what
Mercy is—not softness, not sentiment, but COMPASSION in action.
SOFTNESS = not able to hurt a fly.
SENTIMENT = being moved to tears when someone is hurt or hurting.
Lamentations 3:22 (KJV 1900)
22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
God links Mercy with Compassion.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
God’s mercy is new every day. When you wake up, you should be aware that God gave you life in spite of what you have done or not done.
Let’s go back to Ephesians.
Ephesians 2:4 (KJV 1900)
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
How does God see wealth? Not in silver and gold, but mercy.
Being merciful is being conformed to the image of God.
We look and act like God.
Remember,
Ephesians 5:1 (KJV 1900)
1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
Follower literally means imitator.
Craving God conforms us to God.
10 Mercy and truth are met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Notice the connection: Mercy and truth.
This connection is found multiple times in the Word of God.
All real mercy is rooted in truth.
Now, what I mean by that is to show mercy is not to minimize sin. Mercy is not sentiment. When you show mercy, you withhold judgment. And, when you withhold judgment, that means that judgment is really needed, really expected.
Mercy is the withholding of judgment.
God doesn’t deal with us on the basis of fairness. God deals with us on the basis of mercy. We don’t deserve anything.
God is just and merciful. The justice of God says that sin must be punished. That is truth. Once you see that truth, then you cry out for mercy—then you cry out for mercy.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
We are not forgiven because we show mercy. It means we show mercy because we are forgiven. And, the more mercy we show, the more mercy we get. It’s just a cycle. And, you show mercy because you have received mercy.
James 2:13 (KJV 1900)
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; With an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
When you’re upright, then you show mercy. And, when you show mercy, you get more mercy. The more mercy we show, the more mercy we get. But, we can’t get it until, first of all, we have come the route of being poor in spirit, repenting of our sin, yielding to God, receiving Jesus Christ, God’s righteousness—and when we receive that mercy, we show it.
Pure in Heart See God
Pure in Heart See God
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Now, what does this word pure mean?
It’s the word from we get our English word catharsis, which means “a purifying,” whether it be physical or emotional, a catharsis.
And, the word does not have to do so much with cleanliness, although that is inferred. It has to do more with “unity” or “singleness of heart or mind.”
It literally means, “Blessed is that which is unmixed.” For example, grain that would have chaff in it would not be pure. Or, metal that would have alloy in it would not be pure. Or, milk that had been diluted would not be pure. Or, an army that would have people who would defect—defectors in it—would not be pure. And so, when he says, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” (Matthew 5:8) what he is talking about is, “Blessed are those who have integrity, that do not have divided hearts, that do not have double hearts.”
Pure literally means “singleness of heart.”
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
You cannot be double-minded—you cannot have an impure heart—and see God. You want to worship God? You must do it, my dear friend, without duplicity and without hypocrisy.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
You can’t hold the world with one hand and Jesus Christ with the other.
James 4:8 (KJV 1900)
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Literally, in the Greek, it is “you two-souled, double-souled people”—“you have spiritual schizophrenia, you double-minded.” You’ve got to have a single mind if you’re going to serve the Lord.
The word pure is understood as “integrity.”
It means “single-mindedness.” It’s not a spiritual schizophrenic.
David was a man after God’s own heart. He was a man of singleness of heart, a man of integrity.
But wait, wasn’t he a sinner.
David may have had a sinful heart, but he always had a single heart. You see, David was not a hypocrite. And, when David sinned, it broke David’s heart as well as it broke God’s heart. And, David never offered an alibi. David offered a confession.
Let me give you a few verses.
Psalm 7:8 (KJV 1900)
8 The Lord shall judge the people: Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, And according to mine integrity that is in me.
Psalm 25:21 (KJV 1900)
21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; For I wait on thee.
Psalm 26:1 (KJV 1900)
1 Judge me, O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the Lord; therefore I shall not slide.
Psalm 26:11 (KJV 1900)
11 But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: Redeem me, and be merciful unto me.
Acts 13:22 (KJV 1900)
22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.
After his big sin of adultery he confessed his sin.
Psalm 51:4 (KJV 1900)
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, And done this evil in thy sight: That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, And be clear when thou judgest.
David knew what it was to be right, and David knew what it was to be wrong. Yes, he wasn’t sinless. My dear friend, he was single. He was not a hypocrite.
Are you single-minded, not double-souled, do you love God with all of their heart. Now, that’s purity, integrity.
Where are we to have purity or integrity?
Heart
The heart is talking about the seat of our emotions. It’s talking about the inner person.
“Your heart” speaks of total commitment.
Proverbs 4:23 (KJV 1900)
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.
You will never have purity or integrity in your body, actions, or anything else as far as that is concerned if you don’t have it in your heart.
Jeremiah 17:9–10 (KJV 1900)
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Your heart is Deceitful!
Your heart is Deceitful!
Deceitful = misleading, untrustworthy. Your heart will lie to you.
26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: But whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
Why can’t you trust your heart? because
Jeremiah 17:9–10 (KJV 1900)
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Your heart is Desperately Wicked!
Your heart is Desperately Wicked!
Your heart is diseased and sick.
20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
Everything that you see wrong in the world today has originated in the heart of men. These things come out of the heart.
Jeremiah 17:9–10 (KJV 1900)
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Because your heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, only God can diagnose your heart.
Your heart Diagnosed!
Your heart Diagnosed!
God Exams our heart!
God Exams our heart!
“I, God, searches the heart”
God Exposes our heart!
God Exposes our heart!
“I God, try’s the reins”
The reins are the control center.
God allows circumstances to come into your life, and God sees how you react to those circumstances.
If your actions don’t prove what you are, your reactions prove what you are.
Listen, when God comes to judge, you know what He’s going to look at? Not primarily what you did but primarily what you are.
God Evaluates our heart!
God Evaluates our heart!
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
We see what happens on the outside, but God Evaluates the heart.
Only
God Establishes a new heart!
God Establishes a new heart!
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
Listen, here is the promise.
Matthew 5:8 (KJV 1900)
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
They’re blind to their sin, blind to the danger; but they’re blind to God. They want to see God. People want to see God. I mean, they’ve done everything trying to see God.
When your heart is pure, you will see God.
God will be real and will be revealed everywhere you look.
Jesus, in this same sermon on the mount said,
34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
The moment when my eye gets single because my body gets full of light. You see God—you see God.
Listen,
First of all, you see yourself as a bankrupt sinner: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” (Matthew 5:3)
Secondly, you are broken over that: “Blessed are they that mourn.” (Matthew 5:4)
Thirdly, my dear friend, you yield yourself to Him: “Blessed are the meek.” (Matthew 5:5) You say, “Here, God, I want your will.”
God puts a hunger in you. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.” (Matthew 5:6) That’s Jesus. You have a hunger and a thirst for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then, by mercy, He gives you mercy: “Blessed are the merciful.” (Matthew 5:7) That’s what you need today—that you might have mercy.
Then, my dear friend, there’s a pure heart. It’s a work of God. It is the work of God. Oh, Doctor Jesus will give you a brand-new heart!
Our world needs people who are merciful like God.
Our world needs people who see God.
We need to show the world that God is real.