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Today's scripture reading is in Matthew chapter 5 verse 5 through 7. For context

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though I'm gonna go ahead and read from verse 1 of Matthew 5 and then we'll be

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studying Matthew 5 through 7. When he saw the crowds he went up on

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the mountain and after he sat down his disciples came to him. Then he began to

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teach them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit for the kingdom of heaven is

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theirs. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the

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humble for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst

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for righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they

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will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure and heart for they will see God.

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Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are

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those who are persecuted because of righteousness for the kingdom of heaven

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is theirs. You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely

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say all kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice because your

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reward is great in heaven for that is how they persecuted the prophets who

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were before you. This is God's word. So last week we began to explore the

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greatest sermon ever preached and it probably would have looked something a

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little bit like this. A hilltop, people gathered around and Jesus sits and he

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begins to teach. The Sermon on the Mount is the message of Jesus that's recorded

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in Matthew 5 through 7. The chapters Matthew 5 through 7 and last week we saw

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how Jesus began this message with some startling and unworldly upside-down

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words. In fact if you did miss last week make sure that you hop on our website

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sacvillage.org and you find where you can actually listen to last week's

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message or if you're on Apple, podcasts or Spotify you can catch last week's

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message that way. Listen to it in the first installment of the Beatitudes

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because there's a lot of background information we covered in that sermon.

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This one begins with blessed are the poor in spirit for the kingdom of heaven is

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theirs and these words began the section of the Sermon on the Mount that we know

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as the Beatitudes. If you were there you'll recall how we talked about the

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meaning behind blessed. It's a word that's loaded with both baggage and

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packed with meaning. A word we are inclined to take that we are inclined to

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take it to mean that God bestows a specially appointed blessing on those

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who make it their business to do the Beatitudes. That the Beatitudes are a

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sort of new law that we have to be strictly obeyed, something we must do but

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that's not what's in mind when we read the Beatitudes at all or when we see the

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word blessed. Instead what is in mind is the idea of the ideal. It is an

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exclamation or an announcement of what life according to God's design looks

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like. It's no list at all. It's not a list of do's and don'ts but a

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description of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven. It is not what you

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must do in order to become a citizen of the kingdom of God. No it is what the new

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life in Christ produces in the citizens of the kingdom. It is what the kingship

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of Jesus brings to or bestows on the citizens of the kingdom. Think about a

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plant for a moment. I'm sure some of you have tried your hand at gardening. I

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know Lanny has a beautiful garden in his backyard. I'd love to see that that

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garden there but we've all tried probably at some time or another and

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most of us have probably killed a lot of plants right? But think about a plant. Have

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you ever had a plant in a garden or you've seen one and you imagine this

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plant is lush and green, beautiful, beautiful leaves? None of them are brown

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or wilted. The stem and the stalk of the plant looks healthy and strong. We might

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say something like, man that plant that plants flourishing right? That plants

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flourishing. It is probably getting everything it needs according to design

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to look that way. It's getting water, it's getting sun, good soil, maybe some

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plant food. With the proper inputs the life of the plant flourishes. The life of

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the plant flourishes and a flourishing plant looks like the plant we described.

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Green, lush, no wilting, no brown right? Jesus is saying that this is what a

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flourishing person looks like. He is poor in spirit, mournful, humble, peacemaker and

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so on. These are not the inputs, the must-dos. These are the outputs. The input

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is Christ. The input is Christ. The input is the new life in Christ. It is the new

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birth by the Spirit. It is the eminent presence of God in our lives that makes

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us a new kind of human, each one of us. These are marks of a true Christian or

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in other words a disciple of Jesus. A disciple recognizes his or her own

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spiritual bankruptcy. They recognize that they they bring nothing to the table

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except every reason to be rejected. They understand that even their works of

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righteousness, even the good things that they do or their goodness within their

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person is corrupt and they're unable to save themselves. They are completely

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dependent on grace, on unmerited favor, undeserved favor. And Jesus says the

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kingdom of heaven is populated with those kind of people. He then said, blessed

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are those who mourn for they will be comforted. True disciples carry around

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with them a certain mournfulness. First over the ongoing presence of sin and the

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sins, deceit and destructive power in their own lives. They mourn over that. But

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second they mourn because they look around at a world in which sin has

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caused so much pain, so much sorrow, so much suffering and chaos. They see the

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lives of the least among them in society and they are broken over them. They see

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the pain of abuse, injustice and oppression, the demeaning and dehumanizing

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of the defenseless, the exploitation of the vulnerable, the bloodied faces of the

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children who are caught up in wars of greed and hatred. They are crushed by the

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disparities that exist even in the richest country like ours. They are torn

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and weep for the torn relationships, for divorce, for custody battles, for lies and

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slander, for disobedience and fear. They mourn but they mourn with hope that one

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day the good Creator will make everything right, will rectify every

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injustice and will dry every tear and will judge every unrepentant wrongdoer

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and exact vengeance on them. They mourn with hope. The mark of a Christian is one

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who mourns with hope. So that's the background for today's text as we move

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forward to verse 5 and we look at three of these blessed or we called

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the Macorisms in that first sermon. Macorisms, these blessed are for

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they's. We're gonna look at three of them. Blessed are the humble for they will

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inherit the earth. If it is so, as Jesus says, that the humble are blessed then

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what does it mean to be humble? To be humble, which in some versions or

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translations of your Bible might be translated meek or gentle in spirit. It's

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the same word. Martin Lloyd Jones, a preacher, once said or pointed out that

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having a true view of yourself that is expressed in your attitude and your

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conduct toward others is what it means to be humble. Having a true view of

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yourself that is expressed in your attitudes and conduct toward others is

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what it means to be humble. And in this way there is a sort of building that

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we've seen in the Beatitudes from poor in spirit to those who mourn to those

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who are humble. The poor in spirit who recognizes their spiritual bankruptcy

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they're unable to do sufficient good in order to save themselves, right? They

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recognize that they are a created thing like all of us and that as a created

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thing we're accountable to our Creator God. And that they have to give account

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for what they do in this earth. And when they give account for what they do if

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they do it according to their own way they will be found lacking. That's poor

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in spirit. Well that produces in them this mournfulness over sin and sins

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effect first in their own life but in the greater world around them. And having

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a poor in spirit, a poor spirit and a mournfulness over sin leads them to

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express attitudes and conduct toward others that is not superior or

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domineering. It doesn't look down on anyone including those who are most

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caught up in a sinful life. Because the blessed one does not think so highly of

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themselves. If I am the blessed humble one this means others can say the most

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wretched things about me without me needing to mount a defense against them.

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Why? Because God will ultimately give the humble the high place they would not

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seize for themselves. God will ultimately give them the high place that they would

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not seize for themselves. They will inherit the earth. God will supplant the

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wicked and make the humble the king of the hill. If you want a more robust

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understanding of this idea of what it means to be humble in the kingdom of God

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then read all of Psalm 37. All of Psalm 37 but I'll read a little bit from verse

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18 through 20. The Lord watches over the blameless all their days and their

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inheritance will last forever. They will not be disgraced in times of adversity.

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They will be satisfied in days of hunger but the wicked will perish. The Lord's

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enemy like the glory of the pastures will fade away. They will fade away like

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smoke. Why are the humble blessed? Because they know he fights their battles. He

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fights their battles. All is ours in Christ. If you are in Christ all is yours

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in Christ. All of it. One preacher put it this way. Self-renunciation is the way

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to world domination. Self-renunciation is the way to world domination. Do you feel

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it necessary to fight your own battles? Do you feel you have you have to defend

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your honor all the time constantly against other people? Do you feel like

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you need to establish your position or ascend the hill? John Stott once said

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that we much prefer to condemn ourselves rather than allow

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others to condemn us. How many of you guys know that's true? We can be

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self-deprecating. Oh yeah me yeah I struggle I have this I have that but

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whatever you do don't you condemn me. Don't you speak ill of me. Don't you

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come against my honor. I've got an honor to defend. The humble don't see it that

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way. What do we see in the life of Christ himself? When accused did he

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defend himself? Did Jesus defend himself when he was accused? When he was beaten

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and whipped did he say you know what forget it guys I'm gonna I'm gonna take

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off this earthly robe this body and I'm gonna show you who I really am and call

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on the armies of heaven to have you wiped off the face of the earth. Did

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Jesus do that? No. 1st Peter chapter 2 of 21 says for you were called to this. Why

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were you called to this? Why were you called? Because Christ also suffered for

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you leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He did not

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commit sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted he did

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not insult in return. When he suffered he did not threaten but entrusted himself

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to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so

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that having died to sins we might live for righteousness by his wounds you have

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been healed. We could stay a little while longer on this one. Blessed are the humble

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we'll move on for now to verse 6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for

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righteousness for they will be filled. The poor in spirit those who mourn the

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humble and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. To hunger and thirst

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for righteousness is to possess an insatiable appetite for relationship

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with God that is unclouded by disobedience. I'm gonna say that one again.

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To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to possess an insatiable appetite for

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relationship with God that is unclouded by disobedience. This is righteousness that

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is both one of personal moral character that's the obedience part but it's also

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one that lends itself toward right relationship with God. It's ongoing and

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it's unrelenting and not just for yourself. It's not the kind of life lived

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so that you might possess something for yourself but it's also for all of

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humankind a desire a hunger a thirst that all of humankind around us might

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experience that pre-eden or pre-fall Eden where God and humankind walked in

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a shalom a peace. It's a hunger and thirst for that as you look at a world

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around you and say I want that for you not just for me I want that for all of

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you peace with God through Jesus Christ. True righteousness always has a

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social dynamic to it it's not just personal it's outward looking too.

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The reformer Martin Luther said that the command to the disciple to hunger and

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thirst for righteousness is not a command to crawl into a corner or go out

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to a desert and live a hermit life of piety to go work on yourself. The call to

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hunger and thirst for righteousness is instead to run out from those hiding

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places into the world with all your might and all your vigor and to offer

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fully your hands and your feet and your whole body and to wager everything you

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have and can do to see righteousness established on this earth. A disciple is

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one with a hunger and a thirst for righteousness that can never be curbed

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or stopped one that looks for nothing and cares for nothing except the

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accomplishment and maintenance of what is right. If you cannot make the entire

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world seek and obey God at least do all you can. If you cannot make the entire

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world to seek and obey God at least do everything you can in that direction. But

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Jesus said to seek first what? Kingdom and his righteousness and all these

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other concerns will be added taken care of considered by God but you seek first

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his kingdom his righteousness that his righteousness and I reign on this earth.

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Jesus once prayed for his disciples and he prayed that they would be one with

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the Father as Jesus is one with the Father and that with the Father and

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Christ they might be one in him so that the world would know that they are Jesus

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his disciples. Right relationship righteousness be one with God so that

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the world might know you are his disciples. A disciple has this insatiable

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appetite for God for personal righteousness for right relationship with

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God and for social righteousness that all the world would be filled with the

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knowledge of God all of it. So why are they blessed? Why are the hungering and

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the thirsting for righteous? Why are they blessed? Because they will be filled. They

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will see it you will see it they have a promise that this hunger and thirst will

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absolutely positively be satisfied a hundred percent filled. I don't know if

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how many of you guys make your way over to Las Vegas much and do some poker I

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don't but I was waiting to see if anyone's hand shot up you know no

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judgment but you know I've heard over at the poker tables that you can go all in

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right all in all your money everything in and that's a pretty risky move unless

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you got some pretty good cards I imagine right. The one who hungers and thirsts

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for righteousness can go all in for it and it's not risky at all no risk

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whatsoever. You can go all in to hunger and thirst for righteousness and you will

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be filled you will be filled all in. If you trust and believe God there's no

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risk. You can wager everything in your life to go on this mission to fill the

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world with the glory of God and the righteousness of God and it will succeed

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it will succeed finally and and fully will succeed. For blessed are those who

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hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Finally and forever

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it will succeed and you can go all in on that mission which leads us to our final

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one in verse 7. Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. Proverbs

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21 13 says the one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will himself also

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call out and not be answered. The one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor

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will himself also call out and not be answered. Blessed are the merciful for

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they will be shown mercy. The flourishing life in the kingdom of God is one marked

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by the active showing of mercy. Grace we love grace right we sang about the

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amazing grace we love grace we love to sing songs about God's grace and grace

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is always about how God dealt with sin and the guilt of sin the stain of sin

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and the guilt of sin when we say we're saved by grace we are saying that by the

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substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross he substituted for

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us for our sins and he took the penalty that was our due us for our sins he took

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it upon himself and his righteousness was credited to us this is what grace

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looks like grace that is saving our judicial guilt is removed from us by the

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work of Jesus on the cross but mercy mercy is different than grace mercy

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always deals with pain suffering misery and distress mercy is about the effects

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of sin not the fact of sin mercy deals with the pain the misery the distress

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that is caused in our life and in our world by the presence of sin mercy is

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about alleviating pain and suffering and making the effects less severe on the

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one who is hurting the merciful how many of you guys want to be merciful or more

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merciful than you already are how many want to grow in mercy to show more a

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mercy to others to help others deal with the pain and the misery and the

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distress caused by sin in their lives the merciful look for ways to put the

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salve or the balm on the wounds they look for ways to bind up the broken

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hearts they look for ways to put food and drink in the mouth of the one that

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is parched or the stomach that is aching for sustenance the merciful look

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for a tear that they can dry through comfort and love the merciful look to

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sit with the lonely to ask the name of the homeless man or woman you find on

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the streets to hear the story of the young woman seeking out an abortion they

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offer relief from sins effects not pardon for the sins they offer relief

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and therein is a blessing actually because to show mercy does not mean an

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endorsement you can show mercy to anyone it's not an endorsement of their life

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because it's not a pardon for their sin it's to relief relieve relieve the

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suffering that sin is causing on someone it doesn't mean an endorsement of

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behavior it is simply a mark of a disciple to show mercy the good

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Samaritan showed mercy our God shows mercy get this he heals he cures he

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helps and relieves life right how many of you guys have ever felt the comfort

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of the Lord's presence in your life see this is not pardon for sin this is

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comfort this is him showing mercy to you to help you to comfort you through

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the troubles and sins effect on your life it's not grace that's mercy you

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might have a concept of God where all he does and all he cares about is sin and

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guilt that's it but in this in-between time before we experience the perfection

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of the new heavens in the new earth God is also very much so merciful to us as

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we deal with the effects of sin on the image bearers of this earth and not only

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is he merciful with us but he calls each one of you if you are a disciple to be

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merciful and he will do in you what he calls you to do he will create it in you

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someone's going and showing mercy to someone else I guess I wasn't sure if

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they're coming for me if I'm talking too loud or something start running back to

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the church nothing proves more clearly and more definitively that we are

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forgiven and we are made new in Jesus Christ and when we show mercy to the

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most unloved unworthy powerless to repay unlike us person when we show mercy we

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show that we've received mercy and therefore we want to give it the humble

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are merciful the humble are merciful the Beatitudes as we continue our journey

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through these back at the church next week the attitudes they help us to know

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our identity as citizens of the kingdom of heaven here's your identity if you

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are in Christ here's your identity poor in spirit mournful humble hunger and

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thirst for righteousness and merciful and here's your promise here's why you

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are blessed here's why you are flourishing why because the kingdom of

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heaven is yours because you will be comforted because you will inherit the

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earth because you will be filled and you yourself will be shown mercy for the

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mercy you show to others remember that analogy of the plants that I talked

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about before if you are a believer today you say I put my faith and hope in Jesus

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Christ but you don't see this life that we're describing at work within you you

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don't see it at work within you I'm here to tell you in love something's wrong

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something's wrong do not leave this place thinking that you are to accept a

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life devoid of these blessings these are yours in Christ this is the new life

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this is citizenship in the heaven if you don't see it you have work to do with

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the Lord to go to the Lord to ask him if I'm connected to the vine the life of

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the vine flows through me and out of me and if I don't see the life of the vine

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in me Lord what what what's at work I must grow I want we all need to grow we

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all need to grow in our faith in our mercy and our and all of those things as

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the life moves in us but if we don't see it if we're void of it then I want you

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to be worried I want you to be worried because maybe you have been cut off or

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maybe your confession is empty and you never attached in the beginning but

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that's okay because here we are today and the Lord gave you another day to be

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here today and that's okay because if you want to live that blessed life then

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all you need is Christ Christ in you receive him by faith repent of your

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sins turn confess receive the life of Christ and begin to see the life grow up

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within you in increasing measure poverty of spirit mournfulness the blessed the

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blessed characteristics of a citizen of the kingdom of heaven all that can change

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today you need only the new life that is found in Christ alone King Jesus is our

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hope in our salvation people only through repentance and faith can you

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come to him but if you do he will bring you into this life that is truly life and

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you will inherit the kingdom of heaven