Review Night 6.17.21

1 | Who You Are/Who Jesus Is

Key phrases that summarize who you are: “Blessed...children of God" Secure/Joyful/at rest in Christ & God’s eternal plans; unruffled by other people or circumstances that are subject to change. Matthew 5:17-48 — Christian Facing the Law of God & Its Demands

2 | What You Do/What Jesus Did

Key phrase that summarizes what you do as a child of God, what you do as a Christ-like individual: “Do and teach [the commandments]”Live a life truly pleasing to God—from the inside out. Matthew 6:1-34 — Christian Living in the Presence of God

3 | The Way You Do It/The Way Jesus Did It

Key phrase that shows the way you live as a child of God, the way you live like Christ: "unto thy Father...which seeth in secret" for Him, under Him, toward Him Matthew 7:1-29 — Christian Living Always Under the Judgment of God/in the Fear of God

4 | Why You Do It/Why Jesus Did It

Key phrase that shows why you live like Christ: “that ye be not judged”“because…narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life”that your life may be “built upon a rock” and ready for testingBecause your loving Father wants to reward you and He holds you accountable; your works will be judged. Ok, so now that you have the big-picture outline, let’s finally begin studying the Beatitudes. Now, what is a “Beatitude”? (8 of these, depending on how you count)

Beatitude: a state of supreme happiness, utmost bliss

This is the happiness which is possessed by those who have adopted Jesus’ way of thinking. God wants you to be truly happy, but Satan has been deceiving people since the Garden of Eden into believing that God doesn’t know how to make us happy. If you want true happiness, you have to believe God and reject the devil’s lies. You must adopt the Beatitudes as your identity; you must adopt Jesus’ way of thinking as your own…you will never be happy until you do. Let’s explore this idea of aligning our thinking with Jesus’. What exactly does that mean?

Why Should We Take This Sermon Seriously?

Three Warnings:

1. We will not fulfill our purpose as salt & light. (Matthew 5:13)

2. We will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:19)

3. We will ruin our lives on earth (Matt 7:26-27)

The Beatitudes: The Sermon’s Foundation

Who you are determines what you do.

Romans 6:11 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

We must “reckon”—think it to be true:

We are children of God.

We have the Holy Spirit living inside us to fulfill the life of Christ in us.

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).

Romans 8:2-4 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. “

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

This word poor means beggarly.

Being poor in spirit is having a small view of self based on a big view of God.

Job 42:1-6 — EXAMPLE OF JOB

Blessed Are They That Mourn...

Job 42:6 “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

James 4:8-10 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

Blessed Are the Meek

What is Meekness?

Meekness is...

“Humility in action”

“Humility expressed in relationships.”

“What shows up on the outside when someone is humble on the inside.”

Meekness Defined in Psalm 37

Meekness = the opposite of “fretting” (anxiety/worry caused by anger burning in your heart; feeling like you have to take matters into your own hands)

Meekness = waiting on the Lord (trusting in Him, leaving things in His hands)

Trusting in Him, concerning yourself only with pleasing Him, leaving the evildoing of others’ to His care; trusting that He will reward you and make all things right in His time.

Teachable: Psalm 25:4-5, 9

Meekness in Relationships...

1. Meekness Before God

Based on the first two Beatitudes.If we’re poor in spirit and mourning over our sin, it’s only naturaly that we will be looking to God—trusting in Him because we know we can’t trust ourselves--and humbly doing whatever He tells us to do. When you see God for Who He is, and yourself for who you really are, it only makes sense to TRUST HIM and to have a TEACHABLE attitude toward Him.If you know how big God is and how small you are, you’re not going to have any trouble LEAVING THINGS IN HIS HANDS. If you believe God’s promises, it will be worth it to CHOOSE MEEKNESS.

2. Meekness Toward Others

LOOK AT PSALM 38:1-15HERE, WE SEE THE FIRST 3 BEATITUDES ALTOGETHER.David saw himself for who he really was in the sight of God. And he mourned over it. Then, it seemed that everyone was against him. But after getting the proper view of God and himself, how did he respond to the way people were mistreating him? SEE VERSES 13-15. This is meekness!

When you’ve seen yourself in the sight of God, begged for His mercy and received it, trusted that He will bring all things to justice but at the same time you’re trusting that He will be gracious to you....you come to the place that...

You realize that NO ONE CAN HURT YOU.

No one can do anything to you or I that is worse than what we ultimately deserve.

You realize that no one can say anything about you that is too bad.

3. Meekness from the Heart

LOOK AT VERSE 37 of Psalm 37. Who’s the Perfect man?

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Philippians 2:3-8 “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Jesus was meek before His Father:John 5:19 “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”Luke 2:51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

Jesus was meek toward others. (I Peter 2:18-25)

What is this righteousness for which we’re supposed to hunger and thirst?

Righteousness (three statements that you should write down):

Doing what is right. (How do we define what is “right”?)

Pleasing God. (What does that look like?)

Living like Jesus.

Matthew 3:15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

John 8:28-29 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

1. Getting Desperate

2. Doing something about the problem

3. It’s an all-consuming desire

Not like the Pharisees, Sadducees, or common people

“I will arise and go to my Father” (Prodigal Son: Luke 15:11-32)

Practical Assignments

Use the Model Prayer every day this week. Our lack of prayer is one of the greatest evidences of our pride.

Listen to/read Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

Start an Anger/Meekness Journal.