[0:00] What I'm going to read for us is found in Matthew's Gospel. This is near the end of Matthew's Gospel, starting in chapter 26.! And the abuse and the torture that Jesus went through.
[0:35] And I want you to understand that Jesus went through this for us. Now, it's a longer section because I'm reading from a handful of locations and we'll have the verses up on the screen. But I would ask that if you can, would you stand with me to honor the reading of God's Word?
[0:52] This is during his trial with the religious leaders. The question is, what is your decision? They answered, he deserves death. Then they spat in his face and beat him.
[1:05] Others slapped him and said, Prophesy to us, Messiah, who was it that hit you? Then he released Barabbas to them. This is now in Matthew chapter 27, starting in verse 26.
[1:16] He released Barabbas to them and after having Jesus flogged, handed him over to be crucified. Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the governor's residence and gathered the whole company around him.
[1:28] They stripped him and dressed him in a scarlet robe. They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt down before him and mocked him.
[1:42] Hail, King of the Jews! Then they spat on him, took the staff, and kept hitting him on the head. After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.
[1:57] After crucifying him, they divided his clothes by casting lots. Then they sat down and were guarding him there.
[2:09] Above his head, they put up this charge against him in writing, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then two criminals were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.
[2:22] But those who passed by were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.
[2:34] If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. In the same way, the chief priest with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, He saved others, but he cannot save himself.
[2:46] He is the King of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now, if he takes pleasure in him. For he said, I am the Son of God.
[2:58] In the same way, even the criminals who were crucified with him taunted him. From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over the whole land.
[3:10] About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which is, My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? When some of those standing there heard this, they said, He's calling for Elijah.
[3:25] Immediately, one of them ran and got a sponge and filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and offered him a drink. But the rest said, Let's see if Elijah comes to save him. But Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit.
[3:39] When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who himself had become a disciple of Jesus. He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus' body.
[3:51] Then Pilate ordered that it be released. So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in clean, fine linen, and placed it in his new tomb, which he had cut into the rock.
[4:03] He left after rolling a stone against the entrance of the tomb. This is the word of the Lord. Let me pray for us, and we'll continue in worship with our choir leading us in just a moment.
[4:17] Lord Jesus, thank you for who you are. Thank you for your love for us. Thank you for your love displayed on the cross. Lord, you went to the cross and faced a sinner's death.
[4:29] You faced a death that you did not deserve. You faced a death that we deserve. And you did that for us. You did that because you love us so greatly. You did that because you're merciful. You're gracious.
[4:41] You're humble. God, that you would subject yourself to the torture that we just read. How great your love is. Lord, I pray that as we study tonight your truth, I pray that you would transform our hearts.
[4:56] I pray that you would walk with us. I pray, oh God, that we would have a new appreciation for the sufferings of you, Lord Jesus, as we leave this place tonight. I pray that you would bless this night of worship.
[5:09] And it's in Jesus' holy and precious name that I pray these things. Amen. Let me pray for us again. And then we'll get into the word tonight.
[5:20] Let's pray together. Our Lord and Savior, dear Jesus, we come to you right now in humility. We come to your presence eager to learn from you. Lord, we thank you for your sacrificial death.
[5:33] Lord, we thank you that 2,000 years ago, you went to the cross. You suffered and died for us. Thank you that we get to come together now and remember in thankfulness your sacrifice.
[5:56] Lord, I pray that you would bless us as we study your word, be near to us, and meet with us in this place. In Jesus' name we pray.
[6:07] Amen. Amen. So we've already read through the end of Matthew and talked about the death of Christ. And as you can see on the screen here, we are still going to continue our study through the Beatitudes this evening as we reflect on the death of our Lord.
[6:26] And you might be wondering, well, what do the Beatitudes have to do with the death of Jesus? And that's a fair question, because I'll grant you, that the Beatitudes themselves have nothing to do with the day that Jesus died.
[6:44] It wasn't like he was tried because he said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Okay? It has nothing to do with it. But what I hope that you'll come to recognize, as we study tonight, is that the only way we can obey the teaching of Jesus is because Jesus died for our sins.
[7:06] Jesus gave us instructions. He gave us commands. He gave us a guide to life. He taught. And the only way that his teaching is brought to life in us is if we have come to know Jesus Christ personally.
[7:21] And so, for us to be able to come to know Jesus Christ personally, we have to admit that he would have had to die and raise again. And thankfully, we know again that Sunday is coming.
[7:35] We know that Jesus didn't stay dead. We know that the death of Jesus isn't the end. But I want you to see tonight the power in the death of Jesus, especially as it pertains to the teachings of Jesus. Let me ask you a question.
[7:46] Do you believe that Jesus is interested in how you live your life? Every aspect of your life. Do you think Jesus is interested in how you live your life?
[7:59] Do you think Jesus is concerned with who you spend your time with? Do you think that Jesus is concerned with what you think about, what you say, where you work, how you raise your family?
[8:13] Do you think that Jesus is interested in every aspect of your life? The obvious answer to those questions is yes. But let me ask you a follow-up question. How do you know that your life matters to Jesus?
[8:23] How do you know that your life matters? So much so that he would care about the way that you think and the way that you talk and the way that you live. How do you know that your life matters so much to him? Well, the answer is he died to save your life.
[8:38] Jesus Christ went to the cross and suffered and died so that you could have life. His death is applied to you personally.
[8:52] So how do you know that Jesus cares about your life? Well, because he died for you. He went to the cross for you. See, we can look at the teachings of Jesus and we can deduce, okay, he very clearly has some set of ideals that he wants us to live by, right?
[9:09] We can look at the teachings of Jesus and we can say, yeah, okay, Jesus wants us to not murder and he wants us to not be angry and hateful. Jesus doesn't want us to commit adultery.
[9:19] He doesn't want us to lust. Okay, we know that we have those ideals. But the only way that those ideals become personal is if the death of Christ is applied to you personally. So the death of Christ very much matters when we're looking at the teachings of Jesus.
[9:36] So I was studying this passage this week with the cross in mind. And tonight I'm going to ask you to study this passage with me. We're in Matthew chapter 5. We're going to be looking at verses 6 through 8. Study this passage with me with the cross of Christ on your mind.
[9:52] Think about the suffering of Christ. And I want to help you think about the suffering of Christ a little bit, okay? So I'm going to, I've already read for you. I've already read the biblical events that took place, the suffering of Jesus.
[10:06] But I want to give you another perspective to consider tonight. And this is going to be a little bit gruesome. So you've been warned. It's a little bit gruesome. I'm going to give you the medical perspective on the death of Christ.
[10:21] The medical perspective on the death of Christ. So if you're familiar with Lee Strobel, his book, The Case for Christ, 1998, like super, super famous book. Really, really well written.
[10:32] He was an investigative reporter. And he was an atheist. And he decided, I'm going to look into this whole Jesus thing. And I'm going to do it like I'm writing a story about Jesus.
[10:44] And so he investigated the claims about Christianity. And he walked away becoming a Christian. It's pretty awesome. But anyways, in his book, The Case for Christ, what he did was he went and interviewed various experts on various topics.
[10:58] Okay? Because he had questions about Jesus. So he talked to historians. He talked to theologians. And he also talked to a medical doctor. Actually talked to a couple.
[11:09] This medical doctor, Dr. Alexander Metherill, he was approached by Lee Strobel and asked if Jesus really did die on the cross.
[11:21] So here's the deal. There was this theory that was popularized in the Quran, actually, by Muhammad. It's called the swoon theory.
[11:31] The theory is that Jesus didn't actually die on the cross, that he went into a coma. And then after a few days in a coma, he woke back up. And his disciples said that he was raised from the dead.
[11:44] So that's the theory. So this doctor, Dr. Metherill, explains the medical side of the flogging of Jesus and the crucifixion of Jesus in graphic detail to really make it clear that there's a 0% chance that Jesus survived the crucifixion.
[12:05] Okay? The swoon theory, it doesn't make any sense. But let me explain to you the suffering of Jesus. Okay? I want you to just pay attention. I want you to experience this with me as we go through this a little bit.
[12:17] Okay? So there's a few things that he points out. First of all, the pain that Jesus endured did not start with the beatings that he took. Okay? The pain that Jesus experienced started the night before he was arrested when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying.
[12:33] You remember in Luke's Gospel, Luke says that his sweat became like drops of blood. Do you remember that? Okay. Well, that's a real medical condition. It's called, if you're a doctor in the room and I get this wrong or any of these medical terms wrong, talk to me later, okay?
[12:47] Don't interrupt me. Hematidrosis. Okay? Hematidrosis. It's a condition that is triggered by extreme psychological stress.
[13:00] Okay? And what happens is your capillaries open up and blood actually comes out. It's not a ton of blood, but like blood mixed with sweat. Okay? It's a real thing that happens under intense psychological stress. Now, here's the thing.
[13:11] Not only was Jesus under intense psychological stress, but that happening actually softens the skin and it makes it more sensitive so that the flogging that was going to happen the next day was even more severe for him.
[13:23] He felt it a little bit stronger. His nerves were already weakened. Okay? So then he goes on to talk about the agony at the hands of the Romans. Okay? So Dr. Methrol says that Roman floggings were brutally savage, often exceeding the Jewish limit of 39 lashes.
[13:38] It just depended on the mood of the soldier giving the lashes. Okay? Now, these soldiers used a whip of braided leather thongs embedded with metal balls and sharp pieces of bone.
[13:53] The balls created deep contusions that burst open with repeated hits. The bones cut and tore the flesh. The blows rained from the shoulders to the buttocks and to the legs.
[14:06] And as the beating continued, lacerations ripped open into the underlying skeletal muscles, producing quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh.
[14:16] Is anybody grossed out yet? Yesubius, he was a third century historian, he wrote that victims' veins were laid bare with muscles and sinews and even bowels exposed.
[14:32] Many died from flogging alone. And at the very least, victims suffered tremendous pain and were plunged into hypovolemic shock, which is shock from massive blood loss.
[14:43] And Dr. Methrol, he explained Jesus was very clearly in hypovolemic shock and he explains why, but here's some of the effects of this hypovolemic shock. Your heart begins to race to pump what little blood remains.
[14:58] Your blood pressure drops and your kidneys shut down to conserve fluid. And you would experience intense thirst. So you remember one of the things that Jesus said from the cross was, I'm thirsty.
[15:09] You remember that? So Jesus was clearly in hypovolemic shock here. You also see it when Jesus passed out on the way and they had to bring in Simon to carry the cross for Jesus the rest of the way. Okay, so that was just getting him to the cross.
[15:22] Can you imagine someone getting up three days later after that and convincing his disciples that he rose from the dead and that he was okay? Because here's the thing, it didn't stop there, okay? So now let's talk about the cross.
[15:34] Crucifixion was so horrific that, did you know that, I didn't know this, okay? Crucifixion, the Roman crucifixion actually gave us a new word. Crucifixion, it's the word excruciating.
[15:45] Did you know that? The word excruciating means out of the cross. Literally, it means out of the cross. So excruciating pain was a word developed to describe the type of pain experienced on a Roman cross.
[15:59] Okay, so on the cross, Jesus was laid out on a horizontal board and the spikes were driven through his wrists, okay? When the spikes were driven through his wrists, it severed the median nerve in his wrist.
[16:14] Dr. Metherill explains what that's like and it gave me chills, so I'm going to explain it to you also, okay? He said that that would be like, you know, your funny bone? That's on your elbow, it's called your ulnar nerve.
[16:26] That would be like if someone took your ulnar nerve and crushed it with a set of pliers. That was the pain that Jesus felt when they nailed into his wrists. And then, it didn't stop there, remember?
[16:38] Because he was laid out on the tall board and the nail was driven through his feet. So his nerves were crushed in his feet also. So he had this almost like electric shock level pain in his arms and in his legs.
[16:51] Then, it goes even further, when Jesus was stood up, when the cross was stood up, his body would, the body of someone on a cross, would drop about six inches, dislocating both shoulders.
[17:02] Not only that, the lungs were stuck in the inhale position. So if you wanted to exhale, you had to, you guessed it, push up on your feet that were nailed through, pull yourself up with your wrists that were nailed through, and scrape your lacerated back up and down the rough, rugged, wooden board, over and over and over and over.
[17:25] So, the actual cause of death from crucifixion was a slow suffocation. Eventually, you grew tired of pushing yourself up, and you suffocated and would die.
[17:37] But it wasn't just that. Jesus had a certain death, and it's described in the Gospel of John. They were surprised that he died so early. And so the Roman soldier took the spear and ran it through Jesus' side.
[17:50] And you remember, John describes blood and water coming out. That actually is another medical phenomenon that we know of now that they wouldn't have known of then.
[18:01] But it was one of the pericardial sacs around the heart was burst, and water, or a clear liquid, and blood would come out together. There's a real thing that proved that Jesus died from suffocation or asphyxiation.
[18:13] Okay, so Jesus died on the cross. And now you're asking yourself, why are you telling me all these bloody details? Well, for two reasons. One, I want you to see that Jesus Christ truly died.
[18:27] This was a human body. Jesus had a human body, and it was broken. It was crushed. Jesus Christ did really die.
[18:39] The second reason is because I want you to see, when we think about the actual suffering that Jesus endured, I want you to just realize what Christ went through for us, because if he willingly suffered all of that, how can we treat his words, his commands, his guide to life, how can we treat it as anything other than absolutely supreme in our life?
[19:10] I think too often we trivialize the crucifixion, right? It's a necklace. It's a bracelet. It's a t-shirt. It's a tattoo. And it's not the place where our Savior literally was crushed because of our sin.
[19:28] Our sin. Jesus went to the cross because I've lied. Jesus went to the cross because I've stolen from my parents when I was a kid. Jesus went to the cross because we have sinned.
[19:40] It was us who put him there. And he did that. He did that so that we can understand not only the depth of his love, but also the amazing grace that God has bestowed on us who believe in Jesus.
[20:01] Jesus died so that we could be saved from our sins. Jesus, the death of Christ is necessary for us. Without the death of Christ, then we can't obey the Beatitudes.
[20:14] We can't live out the life that he has called us to. We absolutely cannot. So I want you to see as we look at the Beatitudes again tonight, in light of the death of Christ, how his teaching is so vitally important.
[20:34] So on Sunday, we talked about the first three Beatitudes, which are blessed are the poor in spirit for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. The poor in spirit are those who have recognized their impoverished spiritual state before God.
[20:46] And they know that they are in total dependence on him for salvation because they bring nothing to the table. Someone who is poor in spirit recognizes that they cannot save themselves. We talked about blessed are those who mourn because they'll be comforted.
[20:58] And this mourning, the word mourning, it carries the idea of someone who mourns the fact that they have sinned against a holy God. They recognize that we have sin.
[21:12] How can we not mourn our sin, by the way, in light of the suffering of Jesus? How can we not mourn our sin? But someone who's mourned their sin will be comforted, comforted with salvation. And then also blessed are the humble for they will inherit the earth.
[21:25] So humility or meekness or gentleness, this is the quality of someone who rightly estimates their own importance compared to God and others, and then lives with the concern of others in mind above themselves.
[21:39] These are the first three we talked about on Sunday, and we talked about the blessings with them. I also want you to remember that on Sunday, I mentioned to you how the Beatitudes are a progressive list, and they build on one another, because we'll see that again tonight as we look at these next three.
[21:54] But let's take a minute here and just examine these next three Beatitudes found in verses 6 through 8. Each of these Beatitudes, by the way, could have an entire sermon by themselves. Don't believe me?
[22:05] Look up Matthew Road Baptist Church. I'll give you a great link to a series on this. Or Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote a book on the Sermon on the Mount, and he has sermons, oh actually it was his sermons that he collected into a book.
[22:18] All of the Beatitudes were one sermon or two. Absolutely outstanding work. We're not doing that. We're going to spend the rest of the night looking at these three though, okay? So it says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
[22:34] Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. And blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. So as we look at these three Beatitudes, again, I want us to consider this with the cross in mind.
[22:48] Because I want you to encounter the Lord through his word. In these three simple statements, Jesus makes it clear that citizens of his kingdom will be people who hunger and thirst for righteousness, people who are generous in mercy, and people who are marked by purity.
[23:05] So we're going to look at how we'll be hungry and thirsty for righteousness first, here in verse 6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
[23:16] Look, I want you to wrestle with the challenge that Jesus lays before us here. Wrestle with the challenge that Jesus lays before us. Jesus describes the heart of kingdom citizens. And to understand that, we have to look at this word righteousness.
[23:28] What does he mean by righteousness? In context of the Sermon on the Mount, what the word righteousness means here is the goodness of God, the right, the morally good things of God, the things that God wants us to do.
[23:45] Okay? So honesty, like righteousness, the things that you would look at God and say, God is true, he is kind, he is loving, right?
[23:55] Righteous living. These are the things that God has for us. But there's something really interesting in the word here in English, or it's not really captured in English, but in the Greek. The construction is, it's a form that basically, it means that Jesus is saying, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for all of righteousness.
[24:15] Okay? Not just some righteousness. So it would be like in English if we said, I am hungry, instead of saying, I'm hungry and I want a piece of bread, or I'm hungry and I want a sip of water, it would be like saying, I'm hungry and I want the whole loaf of bread.
[24:28] Or I'm hungry and I want the entire jug of water. Okay? It's the idea that this word righteousness has with it. And it's helpful for us to understand this, because it shows us the kind of desire that Jesus wants his followers to have, that he expects of his followers.
[24:46] So true followers of Jesus aren't satisfied with partial righteousness. True followers of Jesus are hunting for righteousness, like a starved man would hunt for food.
[24:58] Okay? Too often, we settle for partial righteousness in our lives. Would anybody agree with that? We settle for, like, I'm good at most of the things, but not all of the things.
[25:09] Right? Like, I used to do X, Y, and Z, but I gave up Z. And that's pretty good. You know? Now I only still struggle with X and Y. I don't really struggle with Z anymore.
[25:20] You know what I mean? Like, I'm good with only some righteousness. I'm good with only somewhat applying God's word to my life. And then we'll use our humanity as an excuse for the unrighteous living that we still want to stay in.
[25:37] You know what I'm saying? Anybody know what I mean on this? You guys are quiet tonight. You can shake your head. That's okay. It's not loud to shake your head. Like, we don't want to lead a completely unholy life or anything like that, but we're comfortable maintaining a little bit of sin.
[25:54] You know what I mean? Like, oh, pastor, I know I should give that up, but you should have seen me five years ago. You know what I mean? Well, no, that's not what Jesus calls us to. He doesn't call us to some righteousness. He calls us to a life of complete righteousness, a pursuit of complete righteousness.
[26:09] And he uses great imagery here, this idea of hunger and thirst. Look, we don't understand hunger and thirst the way that first century Jew would have understood hunger and thirst. They didn't eat three square meals a day, or four, or five, however many meals a day we eat.
[26:24] They didn't have snack food just laying around. You know what I'm saying? And that's not how they thought about food. They understood what it meant to be hungry.
[26:35] They understood what it meant to be thirsty and not know if they were going to have clean water to drink. All right, so Jesus uses this really clear imagery because, like, think about it. Okay, so if you were starving, where would you look for food?
[26:49] My guess is everywhere. Like, if you were starved to the point of death, you would look everywhere for food, right? What about if you were thirsty? Let's say you're in the desert, okay?
[27:00] And you are thirsty to the point of death, how far would you go for water? Again, I would guess as far as it took, right?
[27:11] I mean, you wouldn't give up. But when it comes to our walk with Christ, when it comes to righteous living, when it comes to living the life that God calls us to, too often we settle for, I'll have a snack here.
[27:25] Hey, I'll have a sip over here. I'm not really going to, like, have a full meal. I'm not that hungry, right? Like, too often we settle for partial righteousness.
[27:37] But the true followers of Jesus, kingdom citizens, will hunger and thirst for righteousness. Look, if you are looking for the righteousness of God, then look no further than right here, God's holy word, right?
[27:50] If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, then you would be driven to study God's word. You'd be driven to fellowship with believers. You'd be driven to ask questions, to grow in your faith. This is what it looks like to hunger and thirst for God's righteousness.
[28:05] Okay? And so, the question that we have to think about, the question we have to consider is, if that is true of me. So, when we're looking at the Beatitudes, remember, we have to look at these as if they're a mirror, right?
[28:18] As if they're a mirror. Because as we study God's word, he will expose every part of your life that is not righteous, right? As you study God's word, he'll make it very clear to you where righteousness is absent.
[28:32] Now, the question that we have to consider as we look at the Beatitudes is, do I hunger and thirst for righteousness? Do I desire to know God and his word? Do I desire to live out his word?
[28:42] In every aspect. Not just where it's easy. Not just where it's socially acceptable. Not just where it's comfortable. Do I desire righteousness? Genuine righteousness. That's the question that we have to consider.
[28:56] The psalmist in Psalm 42 describes what is expected of kingdom citizens very well. Psalm 42, 1 and 2. It says, As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God.
[29:08] I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God? The psalmist hungered and thirsted for the Lord. Do we?
[29:21] That's the question. Do we? And I want you to think about that again in light of the cross. Jesus died so that righteousness is available to you. Jesus died so that you could hunger and thirst for righteousness and be filled.
[29:36] Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Anything less than a pursuit of God's righteousness does not do justice to the death of Christ. The second beatitude that we're looking at tonight is be generous in mercy.
[29:51] Blessed are the merciful because they will be shown mercy. So look, the second beatitude is equally revealing. It's equally searching. Because here's the question right off the bat.
[30:02] Are you a merciful person? Are you a merciful person? I'm not always a merciful person. I'll admit it.
[30:13] What does mercy mean? Let me describe, let me define the terms a little bit. Okay, sometimes the words mercy and grace get used kind of interchangeably. Like as if they're the same word. But they're not.
[30:24] Okay, grace, grace means unmerited or unearned favor. It's when someone gives you something that you did nothing to deserve. Okay, so if I were to give you $20 tonight out of my wallet, then you did nothing to earn it, then that would be a grace, that would be a gift of grace.
[30:42] I'm not going to do that. Mostly because I don't have cash. Okay, that's not true. I've got like $3 cash. If anybody wants it, come see me. Mercy, however, has to do with not getting something that you do deserve.
[31:00] So if someone were to see you and have compassion on you and not give you something that you deserve. So like a police officer pulls you over and you were speeding, but the police officer sees your tears, I don't know, and they hear your story and the police officer has mercy on you and doesn't give you a ticket.
[31:19] Or they don't. I don't know. That's between you and the police officer. But that's what mercy is. It's when you don't get something that you do deserve because someone has moved to compassion. God provides us with both mercy and grace.
[31:30] God gives us salvation. God gives us eternal life. God gives us life in Him. And we have done nothing to deserve that. God also preserves us from His wrath.
[31:40] He preserves us from judgment. He preserves us from hell. God gives us both mercy and grace. But the true follower of Jesus will be merciful. The true follower of Jesus will be merciful.
[31:51] John Stott, he explains it. He's a theologian. He explains it really well. He said, for to be meek, we talked about meek last on Sunday, for to be meek is to acknowledge to others that we are sinners.
[32:03] All right? If I'm humble, I can admit to you that I am a sinful man. Okay? But to be merciful is to have compassion on others for they are sinners too.
[32:16] How often do we have compassion and mercy when someone wrongs us? How quickly do we think the worst of someone? How quickly do we jump to judgments like they're overlooking me?
[32:28] They intentionally left me out. They were trying to harm me. They don't like me. Instead of, hey, maybe it was just a simple accident. You know what I mean? Maybe I got lost in the shuffle, whatever.
[32:40] How often do we think the worst of people instead of showing mercy? Jesus expects that His followers will show mercy. How much? All of it.
[32:51] How often? All the time. That's how much Jesus expects us to be merciful and compassionate. Jesus would explain the heart of mercy that His followers should have in a parable later in His ministry in Matthew chapter 18.
[33:05] Matthew chapter 18, the parable of the unforgiving servant. Are you familiar with this? You remember Peter asked Jesus, hey, how many times should I forgive my brother? Seven times?
[33:15] And Jesus is like, 70 times? Seven, actually. You should always forgive. Every time someone offends you, you should be quick to forgive them. That's what Jesus says. And He goes on to tell the story about the unforgiving servant.
[33:27] So the unforgiving servant, the master had loaned out money to his servants, okay? And then He called in His servants for repayment. One of His servants, he had loaned out, let's say, $10 billion.
[33:41] Jesus makes a huge number because the point is, it's like an impossible figure. It's like so much money, okay? So $10 billion worth of debt this servant has under his master.
[33:53] So the master calls in and he says, hey, pay up. And he's like, I don't have it. I'm a little bit short today, you know? And so the master says, okay, well, you're gonna go to prison with your family until you can repay it.
[34:04] But then the servant goes, like falls on the ground and he's so broken and he's like, please forgive me, please. I'm sorry. And so the master has compassion on him and forgives the entire debt. Doesn't just forgive this lack of payment right here, but forgives the entire debt.
[34:18] The loan is forgiven, okay? That same servant went out, found another servant who owed him like, I don't know, 100 bucks, okay? Remember, his debt to the master was like 10 billion and his friend's debt to him was like $100.
[34:32] When his friend couldn't repay, he had him thrown in prison. And when the master heard about this, boy, oh boy, was he unhappy. He called the servant in. And this is what happened, okay?
[34:45] Let's see here. At this, where is my verse? I lost my page here. Oh, here he is. Then after he had summoned him, his master said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
[34:59] Shouldn't you have also had mercy on your fellow servant as I had on you? And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed.
[35:10] So also my heavenly father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart. Look, Jesus cares about the way we treat people. Jesus has an interest in how merciful his followers are, how compassionate his followers are.
[35:24] We should be merciful because Jesus is merciful. We should be compassionate because Jesus is compassionate. And look, I know what time it is. I'm going to be quick on this last one. We have one more beatitude to look at.
[35:35] Is everybody still with me? Give me a thumbs up if you're still here. Okay, I got a few people asleep. That's okay. That's fine. It's late. You work today, right? That's fine. I'll yell in a second, wake you up.
[35:46] Okay. The third thing that we see in the beatitudes tonight is that kingdom citizens will be marked by purity. So verse 8, it says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
[36:00] Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Look, this final beatitude has to do with our heart. Specifically, it has to do with our sincerity or what motivates us. And it might be the most challenging beatitude that we've faced yet.
[36:13] Because if we're honest, we don't always have pure motives. We're not always sincere in what we do. Right? If we're honest, sometimes we do things for selfish reasons.
[36:27] Sometimes we do things to further ourself. Sometimes we do things because it's better for our family and not for others, or whatever it may be. Sometimes we don't do things with the purest of motives.
[36:39] It's challenging. And it asks us the question, what motivates your faith? Think about it like this. Why do you come to church on Sundays? Do you come to church on Sundays because you love the Lord and you want to study the Word and gather together with the saints and grow in His Word, fellowship with believers?
[36:56] Or do you come to church on Sundays because you're scared of your social life if you stopped going to the Baptist church on Sundays? Or are you scared that if you don't come to church every Sunday, you'll go to hell?
[37:07] Why do you come to church? Is it like a what's-in-it-for-me type mentality? Or is it because you're seeking the face of Jesus? It's challenging. Being pure in heart is challenging.
[37:22] Purity is hard. It's not an easy life. And yet, Jesus calls His followers to be pure in heart. And again, look, the Beatitudes build off of one another.
[37:36] And I want you to see that this one, maybe more than the others, requires that everything else before it has been checked off the list. If you want to be pure in heart, then you have to recognize your sin before God and your total dependence on Him.
[37:52] The only way that we'll be pure and sincere in our faith and in practice is if we truly recognize how we bring nothing to the table and we depend on Jesus alone for salvation.
[38:03] If we have the right view of sin and we mourn our sin, we don't look back on past sin and celebrate it. If we mourn and grieve our sin because it's offended God and His glory, if we're humble people, if we pursue righteousness every day or every hour, if we are people who are merciful to others, then we could be those who are described as pure in heart.
[38:27] And again, this is what Jesus desires for us, that we would be pure in heart, that we wouldn't look on other people in any other way than through the eyes and through the love that Christ has for them, and that we would be pure in our motivation, that we would be pure in our sincerity.
[38:44] But I want you to understand, after looking at these three, that there is nothing that we can do on our own. Like we can't live this life perfectly, the way that Jesus intends for us to live on our own, in our own strength.
[38:59] And look, this week as I was studying this, God revealed some things to me about me, and I didn't enjoy that very much. You ever do that? It's like you're reading the Bible and you stub your toe every time you read the next line.
[39:11] Like God is just exposing sin in my heart. And I'm confessing to you that as I'm reading these words, and I'm thinking about the cross of Jesus, the way that I so often don't look to him for the strength, I don't look to him for the motivation, I don't look to him for wisdom, I look, this is, I'm ashamed to say this, I look to me.
[39:34] Like too often I look into Joseph for answers. Instead of seeking the face of the Lord, and resting in his wisdom, instead of seeking God and resting in his mercy, instead of seeking God and finding my motivation, my strength to live the Christian life, and to be disciplined, and to accomplish the things that I want to accomplish, all those different things.
[39:56] Instead of looking to God, I look to myself. And it's like I treat my own life as a self-help book sometimes. You know what I mean? And it's like, that's not all the time. It's just the fact is, I am imperfect.
[40:09] Too often I fail to realize that I can't do it on my own. See, I realize that as, I'm confessing this as a person who believes in Jesus Christ. That I recognize my inability.
[40:23] And that's why I put my faith in Jesus, to save me. But the thing that I can't understand is, why so often, if I know that I'm not able to do anything on my own of worth, why do I still look to me for answers?
[40:37] Look, I don't know if I'm speaking for anybody else in the room, or if this is just me, but I think about these beatitudes in light of the cross of Christ, and I realize, I don't have to do that. And I know that's simple.
[40:47] But I don't have to do it on my own. I don't have to live the Christian life on my own. I don't have to hunger and thirst for righteousness, and try to regiment out Bible studies, so that I can make sure that I hit it every single day, in my own strength.
[40:59] I can go to Jesus, and I can pray, Lord, give me a hunger and a thirst for your word. I can go to Jesus and say, Lord, make your mercy so real to me, that I would be merciful to others. That I would be compassionate towards others.
[41:11] Lord, make your purity so beautiful to me, that my life would be marked by purity. That my heart would be pure. Psalm 24, 3 and 4, it says, Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
[41:23] Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not appealed to what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully. Look, the only way that we'll stand in the presence of God, the only way that we'll see God, is if we are transformed by the person, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, and because of his death on the cross, now, and of course because of his resurrection, but we'll get there on Sunday, we have the freedom from sin, the freedom from ourselves, so that we can live this life.
[41:56] The question is, are we? Like, are we living the life that God has called us to? Or have we settled in patterns and habits that aren't righteous, or that aren't merciful? So now, I just want to, look, I know that was kind of random at the end there.
[42:13] This has been, this has been something that just, God has revealed to me this week, so I'm, you know, I'm just working through it, okay? But I want you to understand the importance of looking to the cross. Because in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, the Bible says that Jesus became sin.
[42:28] Jesus on the cross, Jesus became sin. He took our sin on himself. He became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So if you have put your faith in Jesus, if you have given your life to Jesus, if he has saved you from your sin, then you can pursue righteousness, and be filled, right?
[42:47] You can hunger and thirst for righteousness, and because Jesus died, you can be filled. You can be merciful, and you will be shown mercy. You can be pure in heart, and the beautiful promise here is that you will see God.
[43:02] Like, what a beautiful hope that is. All of that is possible because Jesus Christ died on the cross. He took our sins on himself, and he made salvation available to us.
[43:16] So the blessings that are promised in these Beatitudes are secured through the death of Jesus. But we have to put our trust in him. We have to repent of our sin.
[43:26] We have to live the life that he has called us to. We're going to have a song tonight. Reagan's going to sing a song for us as we close, and it's not going to be like a full-on invitation time, but what I'm going to do is just, I'm going to invite you to think about these Beatitudes.
[43:43] Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful, and blessed are the pure in heart. And just examine your heart and ask God to examine your heart and reveal to you areas of your life that you have not given over to him.
[43:56] Areas of your life where righteousness is not present. Areas of your life where you need to practice mercy. People in your life that you need to practice compassion and mercy with.
[44:10] And what in your life is impure? What motives are impure? What thoughts are impure? What passions are impure? Remember, and give those things up and follow Jesus and him alone.
[44:21] And don't do it in your own strength, but look to the cross of Christ because it was there that he died for your sin. It was there that he won the victory. Let me pray for us, and Reagan will sing, and you just spend a moment just reflecting on the word of God.
[44:35] Lord Jesus, we love you. Thank you that we get to come together and remember your atoning death. Lord, I pray that you would bless this beautiful group of people who are here tonight with your comfort, with your presence, and also, Lord, that you would search us and that you would expose what in our lives, what in our hearts is not of you.
[44:57] And God, let us live faithful lives for your glory and your kingdom so that one day we can experience these precious, precious blessings that you promise to those who know you.
[45:08] I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.