Rev. A. Hocking
THE SECRET OF VICTORIOUS LIVING – Part 3
Read Matthew 5: 1-8 Compare Luke 6: 17-49
The Multitudes came to hear Him. Some commentators think that it is quite possible that Jesus preached this on other occasions – for example such as Luke records, and this would account for the slight differences between Matthew and Luke’s accounts. However, did you ever know anyone to give exactly the same account of a sermon? Matthew and Luke could have heard the same sermon that Jesus preached, and their accounts tally so much that they do in fact confirm the validity of their reports.
His disciples came to hear Him. I suppose we could separate the crowd into three groups: His disciples, in other words, those who were his close followers. Then there would be the crowd. Those who followed, wanting to be part of what’s going on, but not really committed. Lastly, there would be those on the edge of the crowd who were curious, but didn’t want to get involved.
Of course this is a good illustration of the Church. There are always these three groupings in any Church. I remember going to one church to pastor. On a Sunday night there would be over 100 in the services. On Sunday morning there would be perhaps 50 or 60. At the prayer meeting and Bible study, we would have maybe 15 or 20. These latter were those who were committed to the Church. They wanted to see things happen and the Church to grow. The ‘crowd’ would come on Sunday morning. They liked to ‘break bread’ and be part of the bigger picture, but not to be really committed. Then on Sunday night there were a lot of ‘hangers on’. Some came because they thought it was a nice lively service, better than the church down the road. Others because it was – well, the thing to do. As I began to preach salvation and invite people to come forward to commit their lives to Jesus, many of these ‘hangers on’ left, complaining that I ‘expected too much of them’.
Those who were sitting near Jesus were His disciples – literally learners. He is the great teacher. We are all learners – or should be. As we walk with Him, He will lead us into the truth. He told His disciples that He was going away, but would leave them the Holy Spirit who would guide them into all truth. As we read His Word, His Spirit will open it to us and reveal hidden depths. However, we need to be careful where we go for guidance and teaching. I have had people come to me with some bizarre ideas that they claim ‘God has shown me’. Usually I’m afraid, these people seem to be ‘unteachable’ and when you point out the error of their so called revelation, they take offence and go off to start their own church, or join some other bunch of deluded folk.
In 2 Tim 3;7 & 4;3 Paul warns Timothy of those who will look for teachers to ‘tickle their fancy..’ I have met many of these! Someone once said, “beware of the teacher who tells you what you want to hear. Listen to the one who doesn’t!” Good advice indeed. I become more certain that we are living in ‘the last days’ the more I hear some of the weird and wonderful ‘doctrines’ that are being preached these days. I recall on one occasion one of my church members who had been listening to a certain teacher, coming to me and telling me that the way to cast demons out was to anoint the person with communion wine! When I pointed out that this was hardly scriptural, she claimed it was a ‘new revelation’. There seem to be many such around these days – beware! Be like the Bereans who we are told checked everything they were taught against the Word of God.
This ‘Sermon on the Mount’ is intensely practical. Jesus was the Master preacher. It is full of local illustrations that His listeners would be familiar with. He talked of salt, light, sheep, buildings, rain, even specks of dust!
So here is a word of advice for preachers – make your preaching relevant to your audience. I remember when I was producing programmes for missionary radio stations such as FEBA and Transworld Radio, being told to be careful what illustrations we used. For example, one speaker had quoted the Scripture “you will be as white as wool”. They pointed out that in one country they were broadcasting to, the folk had never seen white wool – all their sheep were black! Jesus kept his illustrations simple.
We start where you’d least expect us to.
“BLESSED ARE The Poor in Spirit”; Luke just says ‘Poor’.
When Jesus started out on His ministry, he quoted from Isa 61;1 ”The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; (NKJ) . Later on, when John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He really was the Messiah, Jesus told them to go and tell John (Matt 11:5) “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. (NKJ)
It seems the poor always had a special place in Jesus’ heart. Someone has noted that the poor are more likely to get saved than the rich. Jesus confirmed this in Lu 18;24; “And when Jesus saw that He became very sorrowful. He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! (NKJ)
I am using Matthew’s version in this instance; “Poor in spirit”. In other words, humility. God hates the proud! (Isa 57;15 For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (NKJ) I believe this is because pride was one of the major causes of satan’s downfall. He lifted himself up, saying he was going to be god, and because of this was thrown out of Heaven. His temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was based on Pride. He told them God was holding something back, and that they could be like God if they ate the forbidden fruit.
All through the Bible we find God looking for and using the ‘humble’, the ‘nobodies’.
We think of Moses, who when told he was to deliver Israel out of Pharoah’s hands was conscious of his inadequacy. I can imagine the conversation as Moses had a stammer; “Who, mmmmme? I cccccan’t gggo and sssstand before FFFFFFaroah”. But as I have found in my own life, God doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
Remember Gideon? What a wonderful picture. There he is, threshing wheat in a winepress for fear of the Mideanites. Now a winepress was basically a big room where they could squash the grapes. There were no windows or ventilation as such. If you have ever seen wheat being threshed you will know that there is a lot of dust and stuff flying all over the place. The idea being that you knock the stuffing out of the wheat and the wind blows the chaff away. In the winepress there is no wind. He must have been almost choking to death in there. The angel tells him he is a mighty man of valour! “Who me? There must be some mistake. I belong to the lowest tribe and the lowest family in the tribe”. But no, God had chosen him.
One last illustration; David. The shepherd boy. Even his father didn’t rate him and had to be prompted by Samuel – haven’t you got another son? “er, well, there’s David, but you don’t want him!” David was anointed king of Israel and promptly went back to looking after the sheep!
Jesus often told stories against the proud, for example telling his listeners, “when you go to a feast – sit at the bottom table”. Paul, in one of my favourite passages of Scripture puts it wonderfully; (I Cor 1;26-29) For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.
So what about these ‘Poor in Spirit’? Well, Jesus said, “theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”. Why? Because the unteachable, the proud, the one who refuses to come under authority will always have problems – and be a problem! Even Jesus was ‘humble’ and didn’t vaunt Himself, although He had every right to do so: John 14;10 ”The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. (NKJ) Think how much time He spent in prayer, and realise His poverty of Spirit and reliance upon God – THINK ABOUT IT! Everything He did and said was a direct command from His Father. If we are going to live a ‘Real’ Christian life, we need to follow His example and follow His commands.
The ‘Sermon on the Mount’ is all about KINGDOM LIVING. It is time to stop playing at it. We are at war. And right now we are involved in the final chapter of that war.
We shall see that what Jesus is talking about is the serious business of Xtn living. We may have magnificent doctrines but if we don’t pay our debts…
We can have Incredible conceptions of Deity , but if we refuse to forgive our enemies…. We may be Orthodox to the hilt but if we don’t feed the hungry or clothe the naked….. we haven’t even begun to live the Christian life!
Jesus talked a lot about the Kingdom of God. He often said, “its like….” Here, He starts off by saying if you’re not poor in spirit, you’ll never see it, but if you are – it’s yours now. “Theirs IS the Kingdom of Heaven”. Heaven is not something we look forward to in the dim and distant (we hope!) future. It is something we can start enjoying now. And as we go through this wonderful ‘Sermon on the Mount’ hopefully we will begin to experience something of Heaven here and now.
Jesus goes on to say something that has puzzled people for centuries.
BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN for they shall be comforted.
I am worried by some preachers who seem to indicate that all you have to do is ‘come to Jesus’ and everything will be wonderful. We do not often hear repentance preached these days. Yet repentance is vital to salvation. Paul wrote: (2 Cor. 7;10) For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. (NKJ) This is why the world does not understand these ‘Beatitudes’. “If you are mourning”, they say, “how can you be blessed?” We have all heard of people who are so sad over something that has happened in their lives that they become a recluse or even commit suicide. As Paul said, “The sorrow of the world produces death”. But ‘godly sorrow’ is something quite different.
The real Christian mourns that he still sins. There has to be sadness over our sin before we can really enjoy our salvation. There has to be a continuing sadness over our failure to be what we know we should and could be in Christ. As Paul put it (Romans 7:24) O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (NKJ) He was only too conscious that in spite of his achievements and the way God had used him, he was still falling short of his target to be like Christ. The picture he uses comes from the Romans’ way of stopping prisoners of war escaping. They would bind a dead body to them so that they had to carry the dead body around with them. Paul pictures himself still bound to his old life with its sin and bad habits that thwarts his efforts to live a Christ-like life. I’m sure most of us will agree that we too find our old lives still popping up and hindering us in our new life in Christ. But thank God, as Paul remarks – through Jesus we have the victory over our old lives.
If you treat sin lightly, your salvation will be lightweight too. I wonder how often we say things like, It’s only a little white lie”.. or “it’s only 2p change”..
If you say ONLY…. then you haven’t really comprehended the depth of mourning over sin. Just recently a friend of mine confessed to being convicted over reusing postage stamps that hadn’t been franked. Of course you are going to say “well, doesn’t everyone?” That isn’t the point. It suddenly dawned on him that in fact he was stealing from the Post Office. God’s Word says, “Don’t steal” and whether it is 2p change, unfranked stamps or the odd pen taken home from the office, it still comes down to stealing!
Naturally, normal people hate being dirty. After a stint in the garden, for example, we want to come in and wash. Coming home from a dirty job, the first thought is to get in the shower. To the Christian, sin is dirt. We need to keep clean. Sure, as John wrote; 1 John 1;7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin, (NKJ) but how much better not to get ‘dirty’ in the first place? Blessed are they that mourn over their sin. Why? Because they will be comforted.
What does that mean? We are comforted; encouraged, drawn near… As we realise what sin is, and how it took Christ to the cross, we mourn that we should be the reason why He died there. But we will be comforted as Christ brings pardon and peace in the knowledge that our sin is pardoned, and we have peace with God. In the words of Rom 8;1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Sorrow for sin comes before the joy of salvation. A wrong concept of sin, and no sorrow for it, will bring a shallow concept of joy in Salvation. Conviction must come before Conversion. I am reminded of the stories of past revivals when hardened sinners came forward and wept their way to salvation. Drunkards, wife beaters, cruel men were moved on by the Holy Ghost and broke down as the enormity of their sin dawned upon them and they were gloriously converted. Jesus said of the woman who came and anointed his feet with oil “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
“Blessed are they that mourn, for they will be comforted.” If you find that you are really upset by the things that are wrong in your life, then start to rejoice! You are in the right place. Forgiveness is there for the asking. The comfort of knowing that your sins are forgiven brings a peace that nothing can compare with. To mourn over sin, means there is hope, and eventually ‘comfort’ and joy.
Our next Beatitude is possibly one that has been the most misunderstood by the world.
BLESSED ARE THE MEEK for they shall inherit the earth.
The world usually associates Meekness with being weak. How wrong can you be? Moses was meek, so the Bible tells us, but he was also strong!
The word is variously translated ‘meek’, ‘humble’, and ‘gentle’. One commentator suggests that the old fashioned word ‘gentleman’ sums it up. Those who don’t think too much of themselves, respect others, and are not overbearing. The meek person is not easily moved by little insults: not easily ruffled. But it is not just a natural meekness; there is a spiritual quality about it. It is the opposite of pride, and again we think of satan who was lifted up with pride and thought he would make a take over bid from God.
SHALL INHERIT EARTH (or perhaps more literally, LAND). This was a Jewish phrase which meant to receive all God has for you… all the blessings of the Kingdom. It came originally from God’s promise to Abraham to give him the land of Canaan and gradually evolved to mean all God’s blessings.
So again, it follows on from the Poor in Spirit – the one who is sorry for his sin, to now the one who doesn’t lift himself up. Rather like the man in the parable Jesus told who went into the Temple and not even able to lift his eyes towards Heaven, cried “God be merciful to me a sinner”. Jesus said this man went home justified. He really sums up the first two beatitudes. He was penitent and humble, rather than the other man who had rather a high opinion of himself.
The third Beatitude follows naturally after the first two.
BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HUNGER & THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS… THEY WILL BE FILLED.
To Hunger and Thirst means to really want something. So here Jesus says we are to really want to be righteous. Commentator J.N. Darby wrote; “To be hungry is not enough, I must be really starving to know what is in His heart towards me….. When the prodigal son was hungry, he fed on the husks, when he was starving, he turned to his father.”
Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness. Not blessedness. Not happiness for its own sake, not blessed experiences. But to really want to be righteous, just as Christ was. There was a hymn we used to sing; ‘Oh to be like Thee, blessed redeemer.’ Yes, we receive Christ’s righteousness imputed to us when we are saved, but it is not just a matter of imputed righteousness, but a real desire to be right ourselves, to do what is Right. There was another song; ‘As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after You’. The man or woman who has truly found Christ as saviour yearns to be like Him. They want to be in a place where sin no longer trips them up. They rejoice that they stand before Him cleansed and holy in His sight, but long to be free of the temptations that daily beset them.
Paul wrote to the Roman church, (Rom 14;17) “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”. (NKJ). This illustrates the big difference between the world and the church. The world’s attitude is as Paul quoted; – 1Cor 15;31, “If the dead are not raised, ”Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” The world’s attitude is that there is no reckoning to come, so let’s just enjoy life. The World is unrighteous, we live in unrighteous days. Cheating, fraud, theft, murder are commonplace. We truly are living in the last days, when, as Paul wrote to Timothy, (2 Tim 3;1-5) “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power”.
The difference between the world and the real church, those who are truly born again will become more and more evident as time goes by. The real Christian is yearning, longing to be more like Christ. He recognises that the time is short and that soon he will be standing before the saviour he loves, and he wants to be like Him. The Church is likened to a bride, and just as the bride decks herself out to be as beautiful as she can for her husband, so the Christian longs to be pure and holy so that he can stand before his Saviour and hear Him say, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord”.
Barnabas Ministries UK 
