Latest / CCC West Covina / Blessed are the Poor

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Blessed are the Poor · CCC West Covina

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  Father, we thank you, Lord, for this opportunity you've given us
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  to spend some time in the word of the Lord.
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  We thank you, Father, for your faithfulness to us.
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  We thank you, Lord, that you allow us to gather together in
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  the middle of the week to be refreshed and to refocus our
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  hearts and minds on things above.
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  Tonight, Lord, as we open your word, we pray that you'd open
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  our hearts and minds and our souls to be able to see the
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  beauty of the Lord. Thank you Father, for this
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  opportunity. We are grateful and we pray that
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  Lord, the things we learned tonight would take us from this
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  place and you and move us to be used by You for the glory of
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  your great Kingdom in Jesus name, Amen.
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  If you have your Bible, turn with me to the first recorded
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  sermon by our Lord in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 5,
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  the very first recorded sermon by our Lord.
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  It's the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest
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  preacher, whoever lived. And it's interesting that the
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  sermon is outside and not inside.
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  It's on the northern slopes of the Sea of Galilee where our
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  Lord would preach this sermon rather than inside of a
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  synagogue. Also note that this sermon is
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  given sitting down and not standing up.
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  Also, you will note that this sermon is given in great
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  simplicity, but the same time incredible authority as opposed
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  to the formality of most Jewish traditions.
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  And the way the Lord our Lord opens up the sermon is rather
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  unique for the very first word he says is blessed.
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  In fact, he says it 9 different times.
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  In other words, our Lord begins the sermon by talking about how
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  it is people in His Kingdom can be truly blessed.
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  The word is macarios, which is a word that deals with inner joy,
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  inner contentment. It's a word that that is not
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  obstructed by anything outward. In other words, there is no
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  circumstance or situation that disrupts the joy that's on the
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  inside because it's a unique and and special joy given to God's
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  people as a gift. So he begins with gladness, He
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  begins with joyfulness, He begins with happiness, He begins
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  with blessedness. And this would get everybody's
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  attention because everybody who is there on that day is
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  associated with or know someone or has seen the miracles that
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  our Lord has taken, has, has, has done over the last several,
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  several days. Because in chapter 4, it tells
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  us that there were many people that were paralytics and
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  epileptic, and those who were blind and those who were lame,
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  those who were diseased, and all of them were healed.
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  And so in their minds they they were happy, in their minds they
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  were blessed, in their minds they had experienced great joy
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  and their family and friends were, were joyful for them
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  because their condition had changed drastically.
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  And so our Lord is going to teach them what true blessing
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  really is, what true happiness really is, what gladness is
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  really all about. He's going to teach them about
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  His Kingdom. After all, he's the king, and
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  when the king comes, he presents the Kingdom.
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  And Romans 1417 says that the Kingdom of heaven is not eating
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  and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy
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  Spirit. That's the Kingdom of heaven.
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  And so he's going to begin by telling them about blessing, how
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  their lives can be truly blessed.
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  Now if you go back to chapter 4 and you read verse #23 it says
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  that Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their
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  synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom.
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  So this is the message that Jesus is teaching.
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  It's all about the good news centered on the Kingdom of God.
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  As you recall when the Angel said to the shepherds in Luke 2,
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  do not be afraid, for I bring you good news.
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  I bring you good tidings, I bring you the gospel, good news
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  that brings great joy. For unto you this day in the
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  city of David has been born. To save you is Christ the Lord.
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  So I'm bringing to you good news.
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  And that good news is going to produce great joy.
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  Why? Because the king has come.
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  The king has been born. So now the king is preaching
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  about his Kingdom. He's preaching the gospel of the
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  Kingdom. He's preaching the good news
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  about the Kingdom. And the good news about the
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  Kingdom is that which brings great joy.
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  So he begins his sermon by saying blessed.
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  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of
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  heaven. He's going to teach them what it
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  means to enter the Kingdom of heaven and how to grow up in the
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  Kingdom of heaven. He's going to teach them about
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  what the Kingdom of heaven is all about and how you live as a
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  child of the king. That's what Matthews 5-6 and
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  seven is all about. But the Lord also knows Psalm
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  144 verse #15 Why? Because he's the author of the
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  Scriptures, and so he knows Psalm 144 verse #15 which reads
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  this way. Blessed are the people whose God
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  is Lord. So he knows that the Jews for
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  all practical purposes, would also know Psalm 144 verse #15
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  that blessing comes to those who recognize that the God of Israel
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  is the Lord of their life. In other words, happiness and
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  joy, gladness and blessedness only comes to those who
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  recognize that Jesus is God, who is their Lord.
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  That's why the Angel said, we bring you good news of great
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  joy. Why?
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  Because the Messiah who is the Savior is the Lord, and he has
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  arrived. So now Jesus comes, He's
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  preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and now we get a
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  glimpse of what it is he's been saying all along, and how it is
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  he says it and why he says it. It is quite unique that our Lord
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  comes, and the very first recorded sermon that he gives is
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  1 all about blessing. What about joy?
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  What about happiness? If you really want to be happy,
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  it has nothing to do with your external circumstances.
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  But see, we don't think that way.
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  We think that when I get something new or I I'm better
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  physically that that everything is going to be great and I can
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  be happy and joyous. But Jesus knows that that's not
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  where joy really lies. Joy comes because you are
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  blessed because God is your Lord.
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  So he preaches the gospel of the Kingdom.
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  And so we get an opportunity to examine all that Jesus says in
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  these three chapters. And it begins by saying blessed
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  are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
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  You see, the, the, the sermon that Jesus gives is very
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  pointed. It's very, it's very perplexing.
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  In fact, it's paradoxical because it goes against
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  everything we believe about blessing.
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  It goes against everything we understand about true happiness.
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  We have a different idea about what brings US joy than what
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  Jesus does. But Jesus is the author of joy
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  because he embodies the good news that brings great joy.
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  I love what JB Phillips says. Well he says this is the way we
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  think about life as opposed to the way Jesus talks to us about
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  life. We say happy are the pushers for
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  they get on in the world. Happy are the hard boiled, for
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  they never let life hurt them. Happy are they who complain, for
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  they get their own way in the end.
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  Happy are the blase, for they never worry over their sins.
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  Happy are the slave drivers, for they get results.
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  Happy are the knowledgeable men of the world, for they know
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  their way around. And happy are the troublemakers,
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  for they make people take notice of them.
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  In all reality, that's the way we think.
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  That's the way the world thinks. Be it Jesus comes along and says
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  something totally contrary to what even the Jewish people
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  believed, because He wants people to understand His Kingdom
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  and He wants people to enter His Kingdom.
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  After all, He's the king. He presents to them the Kingdom.
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  So tonight I'm going to cover with you 4 points.
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  They're on your notes. If you have your notes with you,
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  it's basically very simple. We're going to define for you
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  the condition of poor in spirit. We're going to describe to you
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  the consequences of poor in spirit, detail for you the
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  characteristics of those who are poor in spirit, and then
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  determine the course for those who seek to be poor in spirit.
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  OK, so Matthew 5 verse #4 we covered verses one and two.
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  Last week we introduced the sermon to you.
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  This week we cover verse number #3 Blessed are the poor in
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  spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
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  What does that mean? Well, first of all, to know what
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  it means, you must know what it doesn't mean.
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  He's not talking about financial poverty.
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  He's not talking about material poverty, economic poverty.
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  He's not talking about that. If that was the case, if you had
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  no money, you'd be the most joyous people around.
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  But you know that's not the case.
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  And if you did have money and you wanted to be happy, you
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  would give it away. But if you gave it away to
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  somebody, you'd rob them of true joy because they would no longer
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  be impoverished. They would have your money.
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  So he's not talking about material poverty.
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  He's talking about being poor in spirit.
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  Now there's a word for normal poverty in the Greek it's Panace
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  and it And it deals with those who, who barely make a living
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  that they, they get paid, they, they get enough money to put
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  food on the table and then they're out of money.
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  They have no stockpile. They have no savings account.
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  They have no IRA, they have no retirement fund because they
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  can't afford that. They just live from paycheck to
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  paycheck, from paycheck to paycheck, just enough to put
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  food on their table. But that's not the word that
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  Jesus uses. He uses a completely different
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  word. And the word he uses is tokos.
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  It's from the verb toso, which means to to beg it.
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  It means in, in classical Greek, these words.
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  It means to cower like a beggar for someone who crouches about
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  wretchedly begging, covering their faiths because they are so
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  ashamed to be seen. That's the word that Jesus uses.
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  Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the beggarly,
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  blessed are those who have no resources there there there's no
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  most people that are poor can can scrape the bottom of the
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  barrel to just get enough to survive.
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  But those who are tocos there, there is no bottom of the barrel
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  to scrape. There's nothing there.
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  They are unable to make it. And so the Lord is using a word
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  that says that you're so poor, you are bigger poor.
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  For instance, Luke 16 uses this word to describe Lazarus.
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  He was a beggar. He had nothing.
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  He had no skill. He had no talent.
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  He had no opportunity. He had nothing.
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  He was completely and totally barren.
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  He experienced true poverty. So the question comes, why?
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  Why does Jesus begin here? Why does he start out this way?
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  It's because this is absolutely foundational to everything that
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  Jesus says. It's pivotal to understand
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  exactly what Jesus is trying to communicate.
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  You need to understand this. He is speaking to a Jewish
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  audience, a Jewish audience by their own right, who believed
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  they were very self confident. They were very self assured.
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  Why? Because they really believed in
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  their ceremonial system. They believed in their
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  religiosity. They believed that they, as the
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  people of God, had certain rights and responsibilities.
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  They were the circumcised, they were different than the people
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  of the world, they saw themselves as better than
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  everyone else. And Jesus comes along and begins
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  by talking about blessing and gladness and happiness, but it
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  only comes to those who are truly poor in their spirit, in
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  their inner man, Not poor in their body, but poor in their
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  spirit. In fact, the Bible says this in
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  the book of Isaiah chapter 66 verse #2 You know these verses.
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  To this man would I look to him who is broken and of a contrite
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  heart, and who trembles at my word.
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  God says, I look at the man who was crushed in spirit, I look at
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  the man who was broken on the inside.
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  That's the man I look to. How about this Psalm 3418?
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  The Lord is near unto those who are of a broken heart, and saves
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  those who are of a contrite spirit.
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  How about Psalm 51 verse #17 King David said The sacrifices
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  of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.
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  O God, thou will not despise. And then Isaiah 5715.
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  Thus saith the high and lofty one, who inhabits eternity,
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  whose name is holy. I would dwell in the high and
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  the holy place with him also, who is of a contrite and humble
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  spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the
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  heart of the contrite ones. So here comes the king, and he
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  begins at the very outside by saying, blessed.
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  And you can imagine what people were thinking.
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  Psalm 14415 Blessed are those whose God is the Lord.
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  He says blessed, and then he says blessed are those who are
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  poor in spirit. Blessed are the destitute,
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  blessed are the unworthy, blessed are those who have
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  nothing to claim for themselves. Blessed are those who are
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  absolutely beggarly in spirit, have nothing to account for.
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  Why? Because God hates pride.
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  There are 6 things the Lord hates.
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  Seven, our abomination to him, the very first one is a proud
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  look. Proverbs 16, Five, the Lord says
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  cursed are those who are prideful.
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  The Lord is concerned. He's concerned that the people
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  in the stand, he's, he's beginning to pave the way for
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  what he's going to say in Matthew Chapter 7, when he says
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  these words, He says enter through the narrow gate.
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  For the gate is wide and the way is broad.
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  That leads to destruction. And there are many who enter
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  through it. For the gate is small and the
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  way is narrow. That leads to life and there are
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  few find it. That's his invitation at the
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  end, but he's working his way there.
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  He's beginning to set the tone for the narrow way.
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  He's beginning to help them say that the gate is very narrow,
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  the way is very small, that leads to the Kingdom of God and
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  very few people will ever find it.
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  Why? Because they're so arrogant,
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  they're so prideful. They would they believe that
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  they can earn their way to heaven, that there's something
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  that they can do that's good enough to get them into glory.
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  And the Lord begins by saying, Nope, that's not the way it is.
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  There is nothing you can do to get you into the Kingdom of
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  heaven. Everything about the Kingdom of
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  heaven is a gift. It's a gift by the grace of
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  Almighty God. If you got your Bible, turn with
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  me over to Luke. Luke chapter 16.
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  Excuse me, Luke chapter 18 and as you're turning there, I I
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  want you to remember the what Jesus said in the synagogue of
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  Nazareth in Luke chapter 4. Remember what he said he was
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  quoting from Isaiah 61 when he said these words.
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  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he ignored me to
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  preach the gospel to who the poor?
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  What those who had no money is that who you're preaching to no
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  preach the gospel to the poor. Luke 620 says blessed are the
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  poor, but but Matthew 53 defines it for us, those who are poor in
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  spirit. He goes on to say this in Luke
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  chapter 4. He says he has sent me to
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  proclaim release to the captives.
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  Well who who has them captive? Satan does.
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  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives in
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  recovery of sight to the blind. Well who's blind?
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  All the unbelievers are blinded. Who they blinded by Satan
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  himself. Second Corinthians 44 to set
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  free all those who are oppressed.
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  So our Lord quotes from Isaiah 61.
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  This is where the sermon must begin.
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  This is how he must preach the gospel of the Kingdom, because
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  he's the Messiah, the Spirit of the Lord.
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  Is it upon him? He came to preach the gospel to
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  those who are poor in spirit, to those who are unworthy, to those
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  who recognize they had nothing to give to God, to those who
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  recognize that they were absolutely destitute and they
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  have to cry out for mercy. Remember in Luke chapter 18
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  verse #9 it says, and he also told this parable to some people
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  who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.
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  Who's that? That's most people.
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  They trust in themselves that they are righteous.
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  In this case, that happens to be a Pharisee, one of the religious
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  elites in Israel. And remember, Jesus would say
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  these words. Unless your righteousness
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  exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll never enter
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  the Kingdom of heaven. You see, the Lord is narrowing
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  the way into glory. He's given the gate a very small
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  entryway. Why?
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  Because very few people will ever find it.
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  Because very many people what nothing to do with it.
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  And so he gives this parable about those who trust in
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  themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with
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  contempt. And that was the Pharisees. 2
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  men went up to the temple to pray. 1A Pharisee and the other
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  a tax collector. Now remember the tax collectors
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  were the most despised, despicable people in Israel.
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  Why? Because they sided with Rome,
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  they had purchased their, their, they've become part and parcel
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  to all that Rome was doing to, to gather taxes from the nation
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  of Israel and Israel, the Jews, they hated tax gatherers.
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  So you had this Pharisee who's among the religious elite who
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  claims to be righteous in his own eyes.
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  And then you have this tax collector knows what it says
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  next. The Pharisee stood and was
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  praying thus to himself. Do you know how most people pray
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  only to themselves? They don't really pray to God.
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  They don't know God. The Pharisees praying to
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  himself. The Pharisee said prayers, but
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  the tax gatherer prayed. Big difference between saying
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  prayers and praying. And so he says, God, I thank you
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  that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust adulterers or
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  even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week.
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  I pay ties of all that I get. But the tax collector standing
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  some distance away was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to
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  heaven, but was beating his breast saying, God be merciful
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  to me, the Sinner. I tell you, this man went to his
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  house justified rather than the other.
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  For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who
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  humbles himself will be exalted. That that's a classic
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  illustration of those who who in their pride saw themselves as
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  very self-righteous that they really got.
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  God was really, really great to have them on their side.
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  God was blessed to have the Pharisees a part of what they
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  believed His Kingdom was. But the tax collector, no, he
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  was broken in spirit. He wouldn't even had lift his
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  eyes to heaven, for he was completely and totally ashamed
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  of his condition. So what's he do?
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  He cries out for mercy. He pleads for God to be merciful
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  to him, and the Lord says, Which one do you think was justified?
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  The Pharisee who prayed to himself, the Pharisee who who
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  believed that he was righteous and good enough in his own eyes,
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  or the man who recognized he had nothing and therefore had
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  nothing to offer to the Lord? The first principle of the
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  sermon is this. You can't do anything to enter
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  the Kingdom of heaven. You can't make it on your own.
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  It requires total dependency. It requires you to recognize
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  your complete inadequacy. You have nothing to offer God,
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  nothing that will merit his favor.
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  You have nothing but a broken and contrite spirit.
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  Why? Because you're a Sinner and your
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  sin has separated you from your God.
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  Remember, the Lord is offering His Kingdom.
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  He's offering to the multitude how they can get into the
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  Kingdom. And this is foundational to all
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  of Christ's teaching. It's pivotal to understand this
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  because most people would just say, hey, you know, you, you
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  want to, you want to go to heaven, just say a prayer.
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  Just believe in Jesus. That's all you got to do.
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  But Jesus never said that. See, Jesus presented the truth
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  of the gospel and so many people today think they're on the way
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  to heaven because they walked an aisle, they signed a card, they
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  they said a prayer or somebody guaranteed then that Oh yeah,
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  because you, you believe in Jesus, you're on your way to
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  heaven. But they never recognized their
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  unworthiness. They never saw themselves as
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  separated from God in a sinful condition and begged for mercy
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  because they had nothing to offer God.
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  That's the condition #2 what are the consequences?
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  Well, blessed are the poor and spirit, for, for there's the
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  Kingdom of heaven. What are the consequences?
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  Well, immediately you are truly blessed and ultimately you will
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  be totally blessed. But immediately you are truly
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  blessed because he says, blessed are those the blessing comes to,
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  those who enter the Kingdom on my terms, those who come to me
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  my way. True blessing comes in fact, it
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  says over in the book of Ephesians.
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  These words, Ephesians one verse #3 blessed be the God and Father
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  of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual
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  blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
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  In other words, you are blessed with all the heavenly blessings
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  because you're in Christ. Think about it.
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  Your righteousness you have, because He is righteous, His
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  power becomes your power. His position becomes your
• 29:36
  position. God is love.
• 29:39
  Romans 55 says the love of God has shed it.
• 29:41
  Broaden your hearts. God is peace in Christ as my
• 29:46
  peace I give unto you. God himself is joy.
• 29:51
  He says, I've spoken to these things unto you, that your joy
• 29:55
  may be made full. God is strong and therefore we
• 30:02
  are able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can
• 30:06
  ever ask or think by the power of God that works within us.
• 30:11
  In other words, we, we are, we are blessed immediately.
• 30:14
  Why? Because the Kingdom of heaven is
• 30:16
  righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
• 30:19
  So the joy automatically comes the moment you recognize that
• 30:23
  you have nothing to offer God, that there is absolutely no way
• 30:27
  you can earn favor with God. You can merit your way into
• 30:30
  glory. You can't give Him anything
• 30:33
  because he's all sufficient. He needs nothing from you except
• 30:37
  a broken and contrite spirit that's totally depended upon
• 30:42
  someone else to bring them into the Kingdom.
• 30:48
  And that's exactly what Christ does.
• 30:53
  So immediately you're truly blessed, but ultimately you'll
• 30:56
  be fully and eternally blessed over and the book of Ephesians
• 31:02
  again, chapter 2 verse #5 look what it says.
• 31:06
  It says these words, even when we were dead in our
• 31:10
  transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace,
• 31:14
  who had been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us
• 31:18
  with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the
• 31:23
  ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace
• 31:29
  and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
• 31:34
  So in the ages to come, what the Lord's going to do is complete
• 31:39
  the salvation that you have when you give your life to Christ
• 31:43
  with a totally glorified body, and you will be in the presence
• 31:47
  of Almighty God. Think about it.
• 31:49
  We when we enter the Kingdom, the Bible says that we are a
• 31:52
  Kingdom of priests. We, we the priesthood of the
• 31:57
  believer is part of the joy and part of the the gladness and
• 32:01
  part of the happiness that's ours because we are a truly
• 32:04
  blessed people because of what God has done.
• 32:07
  We are blessed because we escape the eternal fires of hell.
• 32:13
  We are blessed because Christ dwells in US.
• 32:16
  We are blessed because all that Christ is and has, we have.
• 32:21
  We are heirs with God, joint heirs with Christ, and Christ
• 32:26
  inherits the entire earth and so do we.
• 32:29
  Why? Because we are children of the
• 32:31
  King. Whatever the king has, his
• 32:34
  children have, and therefore we experience the true blessing of
• 32:40
  God. Point #3 What are the
• 32:45
  characteristics of those who are poor in spirit 1 is this.
• 32:51
  They focus on God and forget themselves.
• 32:58
  Those who are poor in spirit focus on God and they forget
• 33:05
  themselves. Why?
• 33:09
  Because they recognize that their life is nothing without
• 33:15
  Christ. So they completely focused on
• 33:19
  the Lord at the rite of Hebrews fix your eyes on Jesus, the
• 33:22
  author and finisher of our faith, like Paul would say in
• 33:25
  Colossians chapter 3, set your affection on things above.
• 33:29
  Set your mind heavenward. You're focused on the Lord.
• 33:34
  You see when when when you are poor in spirit because you're
• 33:39
  you're a you're a beggar. The only thing you want to look
• 33:43
  to is, is the one who saves you. So that's your focus.
• 33:49
  And you focus on the Lord so much so that you truly forget
• 33:57
  yourself. You get lost in the wonder of
• 33:59
  Christ. You get lost in the beauty of
• 34:03
  Christ. See that?
• 34:05
  That's why that's why people don't want to give their life to
• 34:08
  Christ because they want to focus on themselves.
• 34:12
  They they love themselves so much, but to give themselves
• 34:16
  away and to focus on the Christ and to forget about themselves
• 34:22
  that that's a characteristic of those who are are poor in
• 34:26
  spirit. What are you on the Baptist say
• 34:29
  he must increase and I must decrease.
• 34:33
  I am not even worthy to untie his sandals.
• 34:42
  He must increase, I must decrease.
• 34:47
  But in our vernacular it's different.
• 34:50
  We have to increase, we have to be seen.
• 34:55
  But those who are poor in spirit, no, they focus on God
• 35:02
  and forget themselves. Number 2, they forfeit their
• 35:08
  agenda in order to fulfill God's agenda.
• 35:14
  They forfeit their agenda in order to fulfill God's agenda.
• 35:24
  We all have an agenda. We all have plans, and rightly
• 35:29
  so. You should make plans.
• 35:30
  There's nothing wrong with that. You should be organized.
• 35:33
  You should be disciplined, but but but the the true essence of
• 35:38
  those who are are poor in spirit is that they they don't override
• 35:45
  God's agenda with theirs. They forfeit and they're willing
• 35:50
  to forgo their agenda to do what God wants for them to do.
• 35:59
  Thomas Watson, who's written a book on the Beatitudes, one of
• 36:01
  those great Puritan reformers, said this.
• 36:05
  He said a castle has long been besieged and is ready to be
• 36:09
  taken, will deliver up on any terms to save their lives.
• 36:16
  He whose heart has been a Garrison for the devil, and has
• 36:20
  held out long in opposition against Christ, when once God
• 36:26
  has brought into poverty of spirit, he sees himself damned
• 36:30
  without Christ. Let God propound what articles
• 36:35
  He will, and he will readily subscribe to them.
• 36:40
  Lord, what will thou have me to do?
• 36:45
  In other words, when you realize who the king is, the only
• 36:51
  question is, or the only answer to the Lord is, is yes.
• 36:55
  To every question, to every command that God gives, the
• 36:59
  answer is yes, because my agenda is irrelevant.
• 37:03
  I'm a child of the King. I want to fulfill the King's
• 37:07
  agenda. My agenda takes a back seat to
• 37:11
  God's agenda #3 those who are poor in spirit find good in
• 37:23
  others and not false in others. Think of the of the Pharisee.
• 37:34
  I thank you that I am not like the adulterer, I'm not like the
• 37:38
  swindler. I thank you that I am so much
• 37:41
  better than they are. That's what his prayer was all
• 37:45
  about as he prayed to himself. But the one who is poor in
• 37:53
  spirit, as the Bible says in Philippians 23, he esteems
• 37:59
  others better than himself. Those who are poor in spirit
• 38:07
  always find themselves looking up to everyone else and never
• 38:14
  looking down on anyone. That's those who are poor in
• 38:20
  spirit. And #4 another characteristic of
• 38:24
  those who are poor in spirit, they they fear God alone and
• 38:29
  fall down before him in humble Thanksgiving.
• 38:35
  That they fear God alone and fall down before him in humble
• 38:41
  Thanksgiving. That they want to give thanks to
• 38:45
  God. Thanks being to God for his
• 38:47
  indescribable gift. Beggars are extremely thankful
• 38:53
  because they have nothing, and when they get something, when
• 38:56
  they, when they get the grace, when they, when they receive the
• 39:00
  mercy, they are nothing but thankful to God for what He has
• 39:03
  done for them. They can't help but be overjoyed
• 39:06
  with praise and Thanksgiving because they live in the fear of
• 39:11
  God all day long. There is No Fear of God before
• 39:15
  the eye of the unbeliever. Romans 3 tells us that only the
• 39:18
  believer truly fears the one true and living God.
• 39:23
  That's why the psalmist said, blessed are the people whose God
• 39:29
  is their Lord. So what is the course?
• 39:37
  What's the course of action? Let me give you several
• 39:41
  principles that will help you #1 you need to see clearly your own
• 39:56
  condition. You just see clearly what the
• 40:02
  Lord is saying. You didn't see clearly your own
• 40:09
  depravity. There's been a misunderstanding
• 40:13
  in the evangelicalism as to what depravity is.
• 40:17
  People think that depravity is you being as bad as you possibly
• 40:21
  can be as a Sinner. That's not what depravity is.
• 40:26
  Depravity simply is defined by the inability to do anything.
• 40:35
  That's depravity. Because you're a Sinner and
• 40:39
  you're separated from God, you are unable to do anything.
• 40:46
  You're dead. Your mind is dead.
• 40:49
  Your will is dead. Your heart is dead, your life is
• 40:53
  dead, you're dead and your trespasses and sin.
• 40:57
  So a person who is depraved is unable to do anything but
• 41:03
  respond to the call of God in his life.
• 41:06
  And the only way he responds to the call of God in his life is
• 41:09
  because God draws him. God calls him, God compels him
• 41:13
  to come and you need to see clearly what, what, what poverty
• 41:19
  of spirit really is. That's the condition of of the
• 41:22
  lost soul. That's why Christ begins here.
• 41:27
  He has to begin here. He came to preach the gospel to
• 41:30
  those who are poor in spirit, to those who are have been blinded
• 41:34
  by Satan, to those who are are captive by Satan, to those who
• 41:38
  are pressed under the bondage of sin.
• 41:41
  He's going to preach to them that they might be set free and
• 41:46
  believe the truth of the gospel. You need to be able to see
• 41:51
  clearly your condition. Depravity is simply defined as
• 41:59
  nobody qualifies. Nobody qualifies for heaven,
• 42:06
  Nobody. That's depravity.
• 42:10
  And once you begin to recognize that, once you see clearly your
• 42:14
  condition #2 then you surrender fully to the Lord.
• 42:23
  You surrender fully to the Lord. Remember what Jesus said in Luke
• 42:28
  9 says the exact same thing says here, except different words.
• 42:35
  If any man come after me, let deny himself, take up his cross
• 42:41
  and follow me if you want to, If you want to come after me, you,
• 42:46
  you've got to recognize that you have to surrender fully to me.
• 42:51
  You got to deny yourself you. You got to say no to your
• 42:55
  aspirations and no to your dreams and and no to all your
• 42:59
  desires and hopes. Say no to all that.
• 43:02
  Deny yourself and follow me that that's Kingdom living, that's
• 43:08
  Kingdom entry. That's the person who recognizes
• 43:13
  that he has nothing to offer God.
• 43:16
  And when you recognize that, it's easy to deny yourself
• 43:19
  because you have nothing to offer the Lord.
• 43:22
  And so you come after him because you, you have
• 43:25
  surrendered fully to him. Once you see clearly you have
• 43:32
  nothing to offer, you beg for mercy, and you surrender fully
• 43:38
  to Him. And like the the tax collector
• 43:43
  in Luke 18, O Lord, be merciful unto me, a Sinner.
• 43:49
  I don't deserve mercy, I don't deserve grace.
• 43:53
  I don't deserve the gift of salvation.
• 43:55
  I deserve nothing. I deserve hell.
• 43:58
  That's what I deserve. But because of God's grace and
• 44:01
  God's mercy, I am granted heaven, and that's the one who
• 44:06
  was poor in spirit. So you, you see to see clearly
• 44:12
  your condition so that you can surrender fully to the Lord.
• 44:20
  After you surrender fully, you submit daily.
• 44:27
  If any man came after me LED deny himself, die himself and
• 44:32
  take up his cross daily and follow me after you surrendered
• 44:39
  fully, you submit daily. You submit immediately, You
• 44:46
  submit continually. Why?
• 44:49
  Because you're a child of the king.
• 44:52
  He's the king. So whatever the king commands,
• 44:56
  you do your servants in his Kingdom.
• 45:00
  So you follow the king like those in Revelation 14 to
• 45:06
  144,000 Jewish evangelists who have been marked by God in
• 45:12
  Revelation 7. And then when you come to
• 45:16
  Revelation 14, they're standing on Mount Zion at the end of the
• 45:19
  tribulation. All 144,000 of them.
• 45:23
  Not one of them was lost throughout the seven-year
• 45:26
  tribulation. Why?
• 45:27
  Because they follow the Lamb wherever He went, they submitted
• 45:33
  continually to the Lamb, They submitted daily to the Lamb,
• 45:37
  They took up the cross daily and followed Him.
• 45:41
  That's what it means to understand the course of action
• 45:45
  to those who are poor in spirit. They see clearly their
• 45:51
  condition, they surrender fully to their King, and they submit
• 45:59
  daily to His commands. Remember Philippians 3 verse #3
• 46:07
  the definition of a Christian. We are the marked ones.
• 46:11
  We worship God in spirit, we glory only in Christ Jesus and
• 46:17
  we put no confidence in the flesh that that's the person who
• 46:24
  recognizes poverty of spirit. There is no confidence.
• 46:29
  There's no self assurance. There's no self-confidence in
• 46:33
  themselves. That's why Christ said without
• 46:34
  me ye can do nothing. John 15 verse #5 You can't.
• 46:40
  You can't get saved without Christ.
• 46:42
  You can't walk and live the Christian life without Christ.
• 46:46
  You can't live as a child of the King without Christ.
• 46:50
  Without me you can do nothing. You must walk in the Spirit, you
• 46:54
  must submit daily because you've surrendered fully, simply,
• 46:59
  because you've seen clearly what He has said, and then #4 seek
• 47:09
  earnestly the Kingdom of God. Matthew 633.
• 47:15
  We'll get to this in a few few months when Christ said, Seek ye
• 47:21
  first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
• 47:27
  things shall be added unto you, but you must seek first his
• 47:32
  Kingdom. There's this seeking.
• 47:38
  It's it's, it's basically what he says later on in the Sermon
• 47:42
  on the Mount when he says keep asking, keep seeking, keep
• 47:46
  knocking. Why?
• 47:48
  Because beggars are always asking.
• 47:50
  Beggars are always seeking, That's what beggars do.
• 47:55
  And so there's an earnestness behind my seeking after God,
• 47:59
  wanting to be like my God. It's constant.
• 48:02
  It's over and over again because I am beggarly poor and I need my
• 48:08
  God. So I seek earnestly His Kingdom,
• 48:14
  because he's the king of that Kingdom #5 You study fervently
• 48:25
  the Scriptures. Why?
• 48:28
  Because you want to get to know the King.
• 48:31
  You want to get to know Him more and more because the more you
• 48:36
  see His Holiness, the more you sense your unworthiness and your
• 48:43
  sinfulness. And so you want to seek Him, You
• 48:47
  want to search the scriptures, You want to know more and more
• 48:50
  about Him. And so you study fervently the
• 48:52
  scriptures. Listen, if you are a beggar, if
• 48:56
  you are poor in spirit, you can't help but go to the only
• 49:01
  place that feeds you. It's the bread of life.
• 49:07
  And Christ says man shall not live by bread alone, but by
• 49:10
  every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
• 49:15
  And beggars want to be fed. They will go wherever food is
• 49:20
  given. They will be wherever food is
• 49:24
  dished out. And they know it comes only from
• 49:28
  the Scriptures. So they will study it fervently
• 49:31
  because they want to be fed on the bread of life that sustains
• 49:36
  them from day-to-day. Number six, if you're counting,
• 49:46
  if you're not counting, it's still number six.
• 49:49
  And that is this. Serve faithfully.
• 49:55
  Those who are in the Kingdom serve the King.
• 50:01
  That's what they do. They can't help but serve them.
• 50:05
  I mean, think about it, when you get to eternal glory, the Bible
• 50:09
  says that we will serve him day and night.
• 50:12
  Doing what? I have no idea, but he's the
• 50:15
  king. And it's, it's, it's a joy to
• 50:18
  serve the king. And so you serve faithfully and
• 50:22
  in the service of the king. You need no recognition from
• 50:29
  anyone else because you're serving the king.
• 50:34
  That's so important. Those who, who are poor in
• 50:37
  spirit, they, they, they, they want to serve the king because
• 50:40
  of what the king has done, and they don't care whether or not
• 50:45
  anyone else notices or not. They serve faithfully the king
• 50:50
  because they love him. So.
• 50:55
  Here's another one #7 You will sing joyously.
• 51:05
  You will sing joyously. Listen to Psalm 149.
• 51:12
  Let the godly ones exulting glory, let them sing for joy on
• 51:19
  their beds, let the high praise of God be in their mouth.
• 51:28
  And then over in Psalm 132 verse #16 her godly ones will sing
• 51:36
  aloud for joy. You see when when you receive
• 51:43
  mercy and grace amidst all your unworthiness and knowing that
• 51:51
  you do not deserve anything, you break out in song and you sing
• 51:57
  what the Bible calls the new song.
• 52:00
  The new song simply is the song of the redeemed soul made new.
• 52:07
  That's the new song is and you sing for the glory and honor of
• 52:12
  the King. But let me give you another one.
• 52:15
  As I was thinking today, I'm going to give you another one,
• 52:18
  and that's this. Stand courageously, stand
• 52:26
  courageously. This is so good.
• 52:29
  What? You're a child of the King,
• 52:32
  right? You, you, you, you have the
• 52:35
  robes of righteousness, the garments of God that clothe you.
• 52:41
  You're equipped with the with the armor of God in Ephesians
• 52:44
  chapter chapter 6, right? You're a priest in the Kingdom
• 52:50
  of God. Why would you not stand
• 52:54
  courageously against all those outside the Kingdom?
• 53:00
  You're a child of the king. You stand for something great.
• 53:07
  You stand for the King, you stand for the Lord and his
• 53:11
  glory. You stand courageously.
• 53:16
  And one more Speak boldly, speak boldly.
• 53:26
  Speak boldly about the good news that brings great joy.
• 53:32
  Speak truthfully about the good news that brings great joy.
• 53:36
  Don't water down the gospel. Remember the rich, rich ruler
• 53:42
  who came to Christ when he said, good teacher, what must I do to
• 53:49
  inherit the Kingdom of God? Christ could say, hey, say this
• 53:54
  prayer and you're in. He never did that.
• 54:00
  Raise your hand, you're in. No, never said that.
• 54:08
  He told him keep the commandments.
• 54:12
  Keep the commandments. Why?
• 54:13
  Because you see, if you can keep the commandments, you can get
• 54:15
  in. You can, but nobody can.
• 54:20
  Nobody will be justified by the deeds of the law.
• 54:22
  Romans 319 But the standard is perfection, right?
• 54:26
  Matthew 548 Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.
• 54:31
  So keep them all without reservation, without sinning,
• 54:34
  ever. Keep the commands.
• 54:39
  What are the commands? You says on your father and
• 54:41
  mother, don't commit adultery, don't lie, don't cheat, don't do
• 54:46
  that. I I've done all that.
• 54:49
  See, he was self-righteous. And that's why Jesus goes on to
• 54:53
  say, you have heard that it was said, you're not to commit
• 54:57
  adultery. And they would all say Amen,
• 55:00
  Amen. And he says, But I say unto you,
• 55:04
  But I say unto you, What do you mean?
• 55:06
  But but I see into you. If you look after a woman and
• 55:11
  lust for her in your heart, you've already committed
• 55:14
  adultery in your heart. See, he, he breaks down the law
• 55:20
  to its most intimate details. You've heard that I've said
• 55:25
  don't murder. Of course not.
• 55:28
  I'm not going to murder anybody that'll get me into heaven.
• 55:33
  But if you hate your brother, you've committed murder in your
• 55:37
  heart. See that no one can keep the law
• 55:42
  perfectly, but that's the standard.
• 55:45
  Christ embodied the law. He fulfilled the law, right?
• 55:49
  Because he, but he was a perfect God.
• 55:50
  He, he could keep the perfect standard.
• 55:54
  And so you have to you have to realize that that when you when
• 55:57
  you, when you look at the rich young ruler, Christ says to him,
• 56:02
  when, after he says, I've done all that Christ says, so all you
• 56:06
  had give to the poor and follow me.
• 56:11
  But he couldn't do that. Why?
• 56:13
  Because his riches were as God. He was an idolater in his heart
• 56:20
  and he went away. And the Bible says the Mark's
• 56:23
  Gospel that Christ felt sadness for him.
• 56:27
  Think about that. Our Lord was saddened over the
• 56:32
  fact that somebody had another God other than him, because
• 56:39
  there is no other God, there's only one.
• 56:42
  But in his own mind he was an idolater.
• 56:46
  But Christ didn't make it easy for him to get to heaven, made
• 56:51
  it very difficult for him to get there.
• 56:54
  Not because He doesn't want people in heaven, but He wants
• 56:58
  them to understand that entry into My Kingdom.
• 57:03
  It's only available to those who recognize they have nothing to
• 57:06
  offer me. They have nothing to give.
• 57:11
  You are complete spiritually destitute.
• 57:18
  You are begging poor. You have nothing.
• 57:24
  But when you come to that place, you are truly the blessed
• 57:28
  person. Why?
• 57:30
  Because yours is the Kingdom of Heaven.
• 57:33
  This is how you get in. This is how you grow up in the
• 57:36
  Kingdom. And these are things that Christ
• 57:39
  has said all throughout his ministry.
• 57:41
  As we go through the the Beatitudes, we'll show you how
• 57:44
  Christ has has said these things in different ways all throughout
• 57:48
  his ministry because this is the gospel of the Kingdom.
• 57:55
  So when the psalmist said blessed are the people whose God
• 58:03
  is the Lord, the only question left for you is this is the Lord
• 58:12
  Jesus Christ your King, Because if he is, you are truly blessed.
• 58:22
  Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord for
• 58:24
  tonight, the opportunity you give us to look into your word.
• 58:28
  Truly, Lord, you are a great God.
• 58:31
  Truly Lord, you have allowed us to be able to understand the
• 58:34
  truth of the gospel and that there's so much that you say in
• 58:38
  this, this very short sermon that that is so impactful for
• 58:44
  every one of us. Our prayer, Father, is that we
• 58:47
  would take the heart what Your Word truly says, and we would
• 58:54
  not just seem joyously, but we'd speak boldly and stand
• 58:59
  courageously on the truth of Your Word.
• 59:04
  And that Lord, we would truly see clearly our condition that
• 59:08
  we might surrender fully to You, submitting daily to the commands
• 59:15
  of our God, searching diligently the Word of the Lord, knowing
• 59:21
  that as beggars we need to be fed, and it only comes from the
• 59:27
  bread of life. For that we are thankful.
• 59:31
  In Jesus name, Amen.