Matthew 5 Pt 4

Poll 1: Do you believe that the term “righteousness” is viewed negatively in our current culture? A. yes, B. sometimes, C. no, D. depends on what sub-group in culture, E. no opinion

Poll 2: Are desiring to be righteous before other people in this world? A. yes, B. sometimes, C. no, D. yes, but I use a different word than righteous- more like let His light shine through me and my thoughts, actions, behavior, attitude

Poll 3: Trivia question: studies based on the work of Gunter Wyszecki suggest the human eye can distinguish as many as… A. 500,000 colors, B. 1 million colors, C. 10 million colors, D. 50 million colors

Poll 4: Did you know: Charles Darwin wrote in The Origin of Species “to suppose the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjust the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree”

The book of Matthew explains how Jesus came… what Jesus did… what Jesus said… and what Jesus accomplished in His death and resurrection

When you understand Who Jesus is… what He did… and how He completely forgives You… and how He has stood the gap and paid the price for all of your sins

That knowledge should radically change everything about you

In Matthew… we see three groups of people:

A first group who deny Jesus

A second group who follow Jesus… but eventually they walk away from Him

A third group who are His disciples… and they are going to follow Jesus, learn from Him, and eventually lose their earthly lives for Jesus…

Every one of them will be persecuted…

Every single person who chooses to follow Jesus must be willing to suffer persecution…

If you make a decision to follow Christ you must be willing to suffer persecution… persecution up to the point of death

[pause]

Casually following Jesus… is very common today in America

Many people just want to add Jesus in… as a part of their life… but are not willing to actually follow Him

where serving God comes with conditions… where so many will say “well- I’ll serve Jesus as long as I don’t have to… fill in the blank”

Jesus calls for more…

Jesus calls for us to unconditionally follow Him

Jesus does not want you to be casual about Him…

All throughout the Bible… God is clear… He has never been pleased with mediocre… casual… worship

He is the King the King of Kings… and the Lord of Lords…

 [pause]

There must be no boundaries… no limits… no conditions on our service and obedience to Him…

It is a prayer of…

“Lord Jesus I will follow You wherever You lead me,

I will give You whatever You ask of me.

I will abandon all I have… and all that I am… it is all Yours Jesus… because You are King… and You are worthy of nothing less”

[pause]

This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ

Play Tony Evans 0:04-1:14

we are going to be in the beatitudes for a couple of weeks… and we will be in the Sermon on the Mount for a few more weeks

This is the greatest sermon ever given… by the greatest preacher who ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ…

so we're going to be taking our time over the next several weeks to go through this

the beatitudes lays the foundation for the rest of His sermon and

Jesus begins with eight points of blessings

He begins each one blessed are.. blessed are… blessed are….

And these are to encourage us… because the rest of the sermon is very challenging and convicting

So Jesus begins by giving us eight blessings…

Jesus gives us this sermon to explain to us… and to challenge us… about what it looks like to follow Him….

That we need to be motivated by the heart… rather than by the law

In first century… the religious leaders took great pride in keeping the law… but that only produced self-righteousness

Jesus comes along with a different aspect… Jesus explains… “if you know Me… and have relationship with Me… you’ll be more motivated to obey Me because of the love relationship”

so it becomes a heart obedience rather than a legalistic obedience

and that's much more real when you have a heart motivation… rather than a legal motivation

so He's going to explain through this sermon if you want to follow Me… here's the standard

if you really want to have a relationship with Me and be a disciple of mine

you're going to have to understand this is what is required

this is the standard for being a follower of Mine… motivated by the heart… not by the law

so that's why Jesus taught this sermon to His disciples

this sermon is intended for people who want to be a devoted follower of Jesus Christ

and this is really revolutionary stuff… what Jesus speaks here is counter-cultural

it's not going to be stuff that you hear in the world… this is counter culture

it's counter-intuitive and so we need to be able to approach it from that standpoint…. that it will be uncomfortable at times to hear what Jesus has to say..

then we have a response to that…

we can either choose to obey… and listen… and have a heart relationship that wants to honor God… motivated by love

or we can decide… “I don't like all this stuff”… this is too tough to live up to

but Jesus would not call us to live up to these things… unless it was possible

it may seem impossible to you… but nothing is impossible for God… and you have the Holy Spirit living within you

[pause]

with the beatitudes… we have these eight statements that Jesus makes

so Jesus tells us at the beginning of the sermon “here are eight character traits that my followers need to need to understand… and to live out”

“this is what I want you to do”

these are eight character traits that identify true followers of Jesus Christ

they are not multiple choice…

you can’t pick a couple… and leave the others out

this is a package deal

[pause]

and these are progressive in intensity

Play Steve Lawson 12:15-17:15

Matthew 5 verse 2 through 12 are the beatitudes…

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

That’s a pretty awesome text [pause]

We’ve been talking about how the beatitudes are kind of like a staircase

each one of the Beatitudes speaks of our progressive coming to Christ

you'll remember that the first stair is poverty of spirit 

blessed are the poor in spirit or blessed are the destitute of themselves

? what do you got to do to come to Jesus?

you got to recognize that you've got nothing

when you come to Jesus… by faith… you have to recognize the depth of your depravity… you've got to understand how far your sin goes and

you got to understand how hopeless you are to change it

that's poverty of spirit and

that's why Jesus said this is the very first step

when you're gonna come to Christ… you can't skip step 1

you have to go to step 1

you have to experience step 1

if somebody doesn't believe themselves to be a sinner… we got nothing more to say in terms of knowing Jesus Christ

they've got to start there

and I think most people know they are sinners… even if they aren’t measuring by the 10 commandments…

some of you guys at McLean know Lee- who has such a big impact on so many people…

Lee has said you could give everyone a device… and the device would keep track of moral decisions…

And it could be the moral decisions based on what the person said was right or wrong- so it wouldn’t even have to line up with the Bible…

Just what each person would say is right or wrong…

And if everyone had one… at the end of their lives all the devices were collected… everyone would go to hell just based on their own moral compass

That no one can even keep their own standard…

Well I agree with Lee… and I think this is part of our God given conscience- that God has implanted into every human being

That every single human would know they fall short- regardless of whether or not they have even heard of Jesus or the Bible- God has built into every human the knowledge that they have made moral mistakes…

You talk with people when you’re out… and you ask them meaningful questions…

And you ask them- ? do you think you have lived a good life?

? do you have any regrets?

? do you think you have made any moral mistakes… have you sinned?

You will see a split… two groups of people…

Some people start talking about how they've made so many mistakes in their lives

they're just very aware of their sin

they've had a revelation of sin and

that's huge…

because… there are people in this world who have not had a revelation of their own personal sin… the second group…

they go around saying things like “I'm okay.. I’m no worse than the next guy

that type of person… you got to peel back the layers

because deep down- they do know they have sinned… but if they refuse to bring it to the surface of their mind… their thoughts…

if they just say “no- im not a sinner- im pretty ok”

it’s a huge problem because Jesus came to save sinners

Jesus even said I have not come to call the righteous… I've come to call sinners

I've not come to call those who think they've got everything dialed in

I've come to call those who have made a mess of things and

So you got to do the first step

so then you come to the second step… which is blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted and

we see that the second step on the Beatitudes is once that you've had that revelation of your own personal sin

then there is a sorrow over sin

this is Godly sorrow… that leads to repentance…

there has to be sorrow

we should be sorrowful over our sin… we should mourn 

blessed are they who mourn

there needs to be a time of mourning

[pause]

when somebody dies… we expect the family to go through a period of mourning… it's normal… it's natural… it's healthy

because they're mourning over some someone who's been lost

[pause]

when we mourn over our sin… we're mourning over something that's been lost

lost opportunities

lost days… lost hours

lost relationships… lost families 

[pause]

My friend Bill Brum at McLean… he actually logged in to our study a few times… but being 81- and waking up early Wednesday morning…

It really is a long day to stay on a zoom call until 9 PM

But Bill often tells me… when he is talking about how we should be compassionate on others… who may be suffering from different consequences of sin

Bill says… “but for the grace of God… it would have been me”

[pause]

I really agree with Bill…

I think about how one or two bad moments can change your entire life…

[pause]

? have you ever stopped to think about what your life would be if it wasn't for Jesus?

[pause]

I can just tell you- I’m 99 percent certain if not for God I would be divorced

I was praying this morning- “Lord- you tell me to love my wife like Christ love the church

This is impossible for me- I can’t do it- I need your help”

I’m 99 percent certain… make it 100 percent certain… if not for Jesus Christ in my life… I would be divorced

And maybe married and divorced again if not for the Holy Spirit leading me daily…

I can’t even think about the impact it would have on my kids

They wouldn’t be at Immanuel

You know, as much as I can think things are a mess…

when I think about…

? what if Christ hadn’t saved me?

? what if I didn’t have the Holy Spirit leading me daily?

It would be a complete disaster

 [pause]

You want to talk about a terrible dad… a terrible ex-husband

but for the grace of God- that would have been me

[pause]

And one thing that is really cool-

some people have actually experienced those things… and had their children estranged from them

and had wives that refuse to ever talk to them again… and

later in life come to Christ and 

I have a few friends like this- and it is just beautiful to see how thankful they are…

and it's normal and natural that they are so thankful… because they really do know what a train-wreck of a life they were living before Christ

[pause]

Ok… then we come to the next step

Jesus said blessed are the meek…

we talked about this last week… and we talked about that meekness is seeing yourself as you really are

you've dealt with the issue of sin

you've mourned over that sin and

now you step up to that next step and

you have a whole different perspective on who you are… and even who other people are… you see them differently

you see other people either as sinners… or as saved by grace [pause]

you no longer see yourself too high… or too low

remember we talked about that last week… that an inflated opinion of yourself… and a low opinion of yourself…

they both have the same root

which is too much thought about self… it’s just your too focused on you

but when you're meek…

you don't think of yourself too low

you don't think of yourself too high and

you start waiting on the Lord for His purpose and His will 

you stop manipulating time and circumstances and people… because there's a new meekness that has settled into your heart and

we talked about Jacob in that…

and the last note- if you missed the call and you missed the Friday email-

I would encourage you to go back and read the Friday email that explains the Greek word meek… and how that word described a first century war-horse

The point being… meekness does not equal weakness…

[pause]

Ok… then we come to this fourth step of the Beatitudes…

which is longing for righteousness…

Jesus says… Matthew chapter 5 verse 6… 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

the definition of righteous… out of the New American Standard exhaustive concordance 

righteous means correct and therefore by implication means innocent… and it comes from a root word that means right

okay… now when we talk about being right or being righteous

there are two kinds of righteousness that we refer to

the two kinds of righteousness that are kind of given to us in the Bible

our righteousness before God… and righteousness before man

okay… so you've got these two understandings of what it means to be correct… innocent… and right before God…

and correct… innocent… and right before man… and

righteous is something we are because of our actions

now I know the wheels are probably turning right now in your mind- because you’re probably thinking ahead to some other passages in the Bible and

we're gonna talk about these

but just for right now… righteous is something we are because of our actions

now let's start with righteousness before man

if I'm honest with people…

if I'm upright in all situations with people

if I'm sincere and I tell you the truth and 

I deal with you in that sort of a way…

you could say that I am a righteous man…

and I could say the same thing about you

if you're honest… upright in your dealings… and all that…

we could say we are righteous… because righteousness is what we are because of our actions

[pause]

now to be righteous before God… is a whole other situation altogether 

the reason is because our actions 

we find out in the Bible… we aren't good enough

even though righteousness is defined by your actions 

we find out in the Bible that our actions don't pass the test

and so we can’t be righteous before God on our own…

Isaiah chapter 64 verse 6…

6 We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. 

it says all are righteous acts…

all of our best possible actions

the very best things we think we could possible do

? how does God see those things?

like filthy rags

that’s how God sees your actions and

not just your actions… your best actions

the best ones you can possibly do are still just filthy rags to God and 

the Jews knew that righteousness was what you were by your actions

and they new that they've been given the law… which governed their actions and

so they decided “well… okay then… to be righteous before God requires good actions… or keeping the law”

well… to be righteous before man requires good actions or keeping the law

so they assumed they could do that right

but Paul says that was never the case

Paul comes along and says in Romans chapter 3 verse 20 by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight

Ok… Paul is saying no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by works… by actions

[pause]

even though actions are how you are determined righteous

in the Bible… when it comes to God… it can't be done

but we find out in the Bible that the righteousness before God comes another way

Paul goes on in Romans 3… verse 21 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law

This is apart from actions

The verse goes on… although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—

the law and the prophets testify to this righteousness 

Paul says in verse 22…

22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

That’s a good phrase to circle in your Bible… for all who believe.

that last portion… for all who believe….

So… ? how does righteousness before God come to a believer?

by faith…

by faith to all who believe

[pause]

that's how we are righteous 

[pause]

so we have these two kinds of righteousness

and what it means to have righteousness with God and

we call it positional righteousness

positional righteousness means that my position with God is righteous

it's  correct… it's innocent

I am innocent… you are innocent before God… righteous before God positionally

And that is because of our faith in Jesus Christ

what that means is that God has literally given you righteousness

God has given you the righteousness of Jesus by faith

because you believe that what Jesus did on the Cross was for you

alright… but that's not the only kind of righteousness remember

there was also righteousness between man and 

it's what we call personal or practical righteousness

Play RC Sproul 0:00-3:34

Poll 2 Do you believe most Christians feel comfortable talking about righteousness with non-believers? A. yes, B. depends on the person and environment and spiritual warfare around, C. possibly, D. no, E. none of the above

So personal or practical righteousness

I use the word personal righteousness… because that's interactions between humans…

It’s man to man… woman to woman… woman to man… man to woman

if we walk in that level of integrity… and honesty… and honor… and truthfulness and so forth

then there is a personal righteousness between us

so you've got positional righteousness… and

personal or practical righteousness

[pause]

now here's the point…

when Jesus said to us in this beatitude… blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness

He didn't differentiate between these two

He didn't say who and thirst for positional righteousness or for personal righteousness

Jesus just said righteousness 

He's just encompassing the whole idea of being correct

blessed are those who hunger for those things

and this is something that we see in believers… we see this in our Christian friends

once they have again recognized their sin

once they've sorrowed over that which has been lost once

they have gained that true self image… which is meekness from a Biblical standpoint

there becomes this drive… this hunger… this longing… to live a right life

to be in correct standing with God and

to live a right life among people here on earth

it’s interesting that when we talk about loving and

the Bible says that all of the law is summed up

love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength and

love your neighbor as yourself.’

it talks about that relationship vertically with God and

that relationship horizontally… being true… being correct… being right…

being right in both directions

so you need to see here… the depth of what Jesus wants us to desire related to this righteousness

verse 6 blessed are those who hunger and thirst

hunger… being hungry… being thirsty

these are two of the most basic human biological needs…

but honestly… in our society… we don't really understand these

we don’t understand hunger and thirst the way the people did who were listening to Jesus speak these words

unless you are fasting…

on a normal day… at the very first sign of hunger you probably go grab some food

at the very first sensation of thirst… you probably grab a drink

if we're driving… we’ll just stop at the closest McDonalds… Chick-fil-A… or 7/11 to grab something to eat or drink

it's just the very moment we have an urge even related to hunger

“oh I'm kind of hungry” and boom

we just take care of it

if we're thirsty… we just take care of it

that's not the way people have always lived

during biblical times people actually worked a day's wages so they could eat

Proverbs chapter 16 verse 26…

26 A worker's appetite works for him;

his mouth urges him on.

the laborer… the worker… he is motivated to work because he's hungry

he wants to satisfy his appetite

that seems like such a strange idea to us

because even though we do buy groceries with the money that we earn

we don't really think of it as working to eat

we don't talk about saving our money so we can eat  ….

we talk about saving our money for a new car or

saving our money for a vacation or

we talk about working to pay our mortgage or something like that

but people in first century… they didn't do those things

they worked to eat 

they worked so they could eat and

as Solomon wrote in Proverbs

his hunger literally drives him to the end of the workday…

so that he can eat all

there's probably very few people in our country who understand hunger… where it’s hunger bordering on starvation

that these people might experience

it is to those people that Jesus said blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for righteousness

for being right

for being correct

for being in right relationship with Me… and with your fellow man 

blessed are you when you hunger for that

not just desire it… kind of

but you hunger and thirst for it 

to get this into our minds… it might be a longing…

how you long for something…

you get the idea of a worker keeps going… longing to eat at the end of the day

because we don’t really understand hunger like they did back then

but we do understand longing for something

? what are some of the things you longed for? [pause]

? what are some of the things that you want so badly… that you can taste them? [pause]

just wanting something so desperately and [pause]

so Jesus is talking to us about what that means and

applying it to a desire for righteousness

it’s important to notice the promise that he lays out here for us

the promise here is that they would be satisfied… they would be filled

pretty simple…

“ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Hunger and thirst for righteousness… for they shall be satisfied 

this greek word literally means saturated

imagine something that absorbs water… a giant spounge… that you left out on the lawn last night and

it rained on it and

it just soaked up the water to the point where it became saturated

you could pick it up… and wring it out… and have all this water

that's the that's the Greek word that is being used here

blessed are they who hunger and thirst to be right with God… and right with man

to be correct 

to be innocent

for they will be saturated with the very thing that they desire

[pause]

Jesus is saying blessed is the person who longs for total righteousness

total meaning positional… AND… total practical or personal…

they long for it like a starving man longs for food and

a man dying of thirst longs for water…

that person will be truly satisfied

[pause]

so we've talked about how we get that positional righteousness with God

Paul said it comes by faith

you want to be right with God… and that’s a longing in people's hearts

to have a right relationship with God [pause]

so what do a lot of people do…

they start applying practical righteousness

they start trying to be good people and

they'll say “well… I want to know God… but I'm not sure I really do

but I've been trying to live a good life”

that’s going about it all wrong [pause]

that kind of righteousness… that kind of right relationship doesn't come by your actions

Paul said no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight… by their actions… by their works… or by observing the law [pause]

so you can't do that [pause]

we can’t be a good person in order to have a right relationship with God

you can't do it

it comes by faith

faith in what Jesus he did for you on the cross [pause]

He died for your sins [pause]

? do you believe that Jesus died for your sins ?

if your answer is yes [pause]

then by believing that… you are now positionally righteous before the Father

He looks at you and says “you My child… are righteous”

I emphasize that

because I know that you look at yourself…

and if you’re like me… you're not impressed and

and it can be easy to assume that God feels the same way

you've looked at you 

and you're not that impressed and

you assume that God isn't impressed either [pause]

but man… [pause]

your standing with God has nothing to do with your actions [pause]

it has to do with your faith  [pause]

so you put your faith in Jesus… and you are positionally righteous before the Father

I have to say it to myself sometimes… to remind myself  

It’s true… it’s in the Bible

God sees you as righteous in His eyes and

then just think about that for a while [pause]

I would encourage you after our zoom tonight…

To take a little time just think about that [pause]

just to meditate on that truth that God sees you as righteous through Jesus

literally through the blood of Jesus Christ you are a righteous person 

[pause]

It makes you think differently about scriptures that are written in James

about how the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

[pause]

Because of Christ- you are righteous…

And James chapter 5 says the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

[pause]

Ok… ? what about personal righteousness?

? how's that come ?

that's how we treat each other

that’s how I treat you… and how you treat me

well that comes through the power of the Holy Spirit

once we know Christ

once we have accepted Jesus as our Savior

we invite Him to come and live in our hearts and

when He does… He takes up residence there

He begins to affect the way we live and

suddenly we don't treat people the way we used to

because we’re already thinking differently about people

because we've entered into meekness

we've already come to that step of meekness

so we see ourselves differently  

we see people differently

now we begin to treat them differently

we begin to respond out of compassion

we begin to express greater love and concern about people

we begin to take hold of Bible references that tell us to treat others like we'd like to be treated

to forgive others the way we've been forgiven

to be merciful the way we have received mercy

to extend grace the way we have been given grace

to be honest with people because we want them to be honest with us 

and on and on and on and

it begins to affect the way we live [pause]

it begins to affect the way we love  [pause]

it begins to see other people first [pause]

it begins to affect our positional righteousness  [pause]

now that doesn't mean at times we won’t go back to the old sinful nature

sometimes we will do something really stupid or say something really  hurtful

but we go to God

and we repent… and we immediately receive forgiveness for that [pause]

so that we can move on [pause]

our righteousness vertically has been established through the blood of Jesus [pause]

our righteousness horizontally is being established through the power of the Holy Spirit [pause]

so either way… vertical or horizontal

? you see it right?

Either way it all comes down to God 

but that doesn't surprise us… that it's all Him  [pause]

that my righteousness vertically is all Him [pause]

that my righteousness horizontally is all Him [pause]

we’re not surprised by that because we’ve already been on the first step

blessed are the destitute of themselves and

we stood on that first step for a period of time and

we said “yeah.. this is me… a sinner… lost… a depraved corrupted person”

so now when we step onto steps two or three or four

we take with us the rest of the steps… this is a package deal

you take that sorrow and mourning over sin with you and

you take the step of meekness with you

that all goes with you on to the fourth step of righteousness…

both positionally and practically

blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for that rightness between God and man…

for you will be saturated with it

that is the promise of God

pretty cool ? right?

I want to end in Psalm 107… I was reading this in my personal reading this week…

And Psalm 107 is a Psalm that gives thanks to God’s enduring steadfast love

There are 4 groups of people, 4 sections to this Psalm and this first section is about those people who have wandered away…

And so this whole- hunger and thirst for righteousness…

That doesn’t mean you’re prefect and “so so so Godly”

It just means you are now changed… and you are pursuing God and the direction of your life is now different

Describing this group who have wandered… Psalm 107 verse 4…

4 Some wandered in desert wastes,

finding no way to a city to dwell in;

5 hungry and thirsty,

their soul fainted within them.

6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them by a straight way

till they reached a city to dwell in.

8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

9 For he satisfies the longing soul,

and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

And God fills us with the best thing ever… His Holy Spirit

I’ll end by repeating that promise from the Lord to you

9 For he satisfies the longing soul,

and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

Any comments… questions… thoughts…

If nothing go through John 6 in physical Bible