1. With Eternity‟s Values
in View
Part 3
by Samuel E. Ward
The Beatitudes
Matthew 5:3-12
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2. Matthew 5:1-12 (NIV2011) 1 Now when
Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a
mountainside and sat down. His disciples
came to him, 2 and he began to teach
them.
He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they
will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the
meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, for they will be
filled.
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3. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will
be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they will be
called children of God. 10 Blessed are
those who are persecuted because of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
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4. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult
you, persecute you and falsely say all
kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is
your reward in heaven, for in the same
way they persecuted the prophets who
were before you.
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5. Introduction
Those who witnessed the mighty works of
Jesus and heard His teaching must have held
within them the hope that He was indeed
the promised Messiah. We know they were
certainly living in the anticipation of that
hope. Many candidates had appeared during
the Maccabean period only to be crushed by
the foreign power s that kept Israel
subjugated. Even John the Baptist was
viewed as a possible deliverer. Now there
was Jesus. He possessed power, teaching,
and authority that came from heaven itself.
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6. The condition of possessing the
kingdom of heaven was repentance—the
message of both John and Jesus.
Repentance came as a result of
recognizing one‟s spiritual poverty—to be
“poor in spirit.” This characteristic is the
hallmark of a true citizen of the kingdom
of heaven.
Paul understood well what it meant to
be spiritually impoverished.
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7. Philippians 3:4b-8a (NIV2011) 4b If
someone else thinks they have reasons to
put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people
of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for
righteousness based on the law, faultless. 7
But whatever were gains to me I now
consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8a What
is more, I consider everything a loss because
of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all
things.
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8. He also knew the blessing of accepting
the righteousness of Christ as a covering
for his own lack of righteousness. He
could not could not satisfy God‟s demand
for absolute holiness on his own merit.
Philippians 3: 8b-9 (NIV2011) 8b
I consider them [all confidence in the
flesh] garbage, that I may gain Christ 9
and be found in him, not having a
righteousness of my own that comes from
the law, but that which is through faith in
Christ—the righteousness that comes from
God on the basis of faith.
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9. Confronted with the fact of our
spiritual poverty due to our sin, this
moves us to a felt spiritual brokenness.
We should mourn for our own sin and all
the grief it brings to others, as well. Hear
the words recorded by James as the
proper response to sin when it comes to
light.
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10. James 4:7-10 (NIV2011) 7 Submit
yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you. 8 Come near
to God and he will come near to you.
Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify
your hearts, you double-minded. 9
Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your
laughter to mourning and your joy to
gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the
Lord, and he will lift you up.
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11. Having examined the first blessing of
the Beatitudes,
I. Blessed Are Those Who Are Poor in
Spirit, Mat 5:3
we address the second.
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12. II. Blessed Are Those Who Mourn,
Mat 5:4
A. It Is God‟s Desire to Comfort Those
Who Mourn over Their Sin
1. This comfort was a hope for the
nation of Israel.
Isaiah 12:1 (NIV2011) In that day you
will say: “I will praise you, LORD.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away and you
have comforted me.
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13. Isaiah 40:1-2 (NIV2011) 1 Comfort,
comfort my people, says your God. 2
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and
proclaim to her that her hard service has
been completed, that her sin has been
paid for, that she has received from the
LORD‟s hand double for all her sins.
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14. 2. This comfort was to be offered by
the Messiah.
Isaiah 61:1-2 (NIV2011) 1 The Spirit of
the Sovereign LORD is on me, because
the LORD has anointed me to proclaim
good news to the poor. He has sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim freedom for the captives and
release from darkness for the
prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of
the LORD‟s favor and the day of
vengeance of our God, to comfort all
who mourn.
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15. 3. This comfort will one day be fully
realized for all the broken-hearted.
Revelation 21:3-4 (NIV2011) 3 And I
heard a loud voice from the throne
saying, “Look! God‟s dwelling place is
now among the people, and he will
dwell with them. They will be his
people, and God himself will be with
them and be their God. 4 „He will
wipe every tear from their eyes. There
will be no more death‟ or mourning or
crying or pain, for the old order of
things has passed away.”
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16. B. It Is God‟s Desire to Cleanse Those Who
Fall into Sin.
1. This side of heaven, we will always
be doing battle against sin. There
is no such thing as sinless
perfection while we walk this
earth.
1 John 1:8 (NIV2011) If we claim to be
without sin, we deceive ourselves and
the truth is not in us.
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17. 2. This side of heaven, we will always
have a pathway back to forgiveness
and cleansing.
1 John 1:9 (NIV2011) If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness.
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18. C. It Is God‟s Desire that We Use Our
Bodies as Instruments of Righteousness
Rather than Sin.
Romans 6:13 (NIV2011) Do not offer any
part of yourself to sin as an instrument of
wickedness, but rather offer yourselves
to God as those who have been brought
from death to life; and offer every part of
yourself to him as an instrument of
righteousness.
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19. D. It Is God‟s Desire that We Learn the
Value of Godly Sorrow Over Sin So that
We May Receive His Salvation and
Comfort.
2 Corinthians 7:9-10 (NIV2011) 9 yet now
I am happy, not because you were made
sorry, but because your sorrow led you to
repentance. For you became sorrowful as
God intended and so were not harmed in
any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings
repentance that leads to salvation and
leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow
brings death.
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20. Conclusion
There is no One more sympathetic to
the sorrow brought upon us by our sin. No
one is more compassionate than He when
we bring Him our broken and contrite
hearts. No one is more ready to forgive us
our every sin. And certainly, there is no
One more qualified to bear our sins for us
so that we can be delivered from our sin
and experience eternal fellowship with
God. How do I know? God told me through
the prophet Isaiah.
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21. Isaiah 53:4-6 (NIV2011) 4 Surely he took
up our pain and bore our suffering, yet
we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he
was pierced for our transgressions, he
was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was on
him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each
of us has turned to our own way; and the
LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us
all.
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