Blessed
Now Jesus was going around preaching and teaching, and healing the sick and maimed. The Bible says that when He saw that the people followed after Him, He went into a mountain and sat down. Now when Jesus sat down, there was always something good coming. Jesus is sitting now on the right hand of God, and something good is coming.
So Jesus sits down to talk to the disciples, and He tells them Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Now the natural man can’t understand this. You ever see a poor man? He isn’t picky about what he gets. When he gets something, he is thankful and full of life. Everything to him is joyous.
When I was in Panama many years ago we were riding through a village; and the people were lined up along the dirt street with their hands outstretched, hoping that we would through them anything. Seeing them so needy, broke my heart and brought tears to my eyes. I wonder how it makes God feel when He sees the poor, not physically but spiritually.
The rich are very different. They have plenty; they don’t need handouts. They wouldn’t be caught dead wearing second hand clothes. They aren’t thankful for what they have, or what someone wants to give them. Others are beneath them in the status quo. I know Christians that are like that. They know it all. When the preacher preaches, they sit there with their spiritual shoves, tossing it over their backs. They have no need to learn what God wants, because they know it all.
Until we become spiritually poor we will not desire, or appreciate the things of God. That is why I can witness to two people and one will thumb his nose to God and the other will gladly receive Gods free offer.
Now next He says something that seems kind of odd. Matthew 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Now when I think of mourning I don’t think of being blessed. But God said it, I didn’t.
What does it mean to mourn? Webster says it means to express grief or sorrow; to grieve; to be sorrowful
Whenever we hate our sin as much as we hate the sins of others, then we will mourn. When sin breaks our hearts as it does God’s heart it will cause us to weep over our sin. What did Jesus do in Jerusalem? It tells us in John 11:35 Jesus wept. Why did He weep? Was it because His friend was dead? No. Was it in sorrow because of the grief that the others felt? No. Let’s read the account of it. John 11:33-37 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus saw even at death, the sinful thoughts of man were all selfish, and worst yet they justified their feelings. And so do we by the way. We justify everything we say, think, or do. And just like their sin made Jesus weep, our sin makes Jesus weep today. And when we get to the point where we weep over our sin, God says then will we be comforted. Then we will say oh wretched man that I am, and it will cause us to say as Saul did on the road to Damascus, “Lord, what will you have me to do?” Paul understood about this type of mourning. That is why he said in 1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Why Paul are you, one who wrote much of the New Testament, chiefest of sinners? Because my sin broke the heart of God. And when it breaks our hearts, like it broke God’s heart, then we will do our best to make it right with God. Then He will begin to bless us. Then will we get excited when it tells us in 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Does sin, break the heart of God? So I wonder, when we have unconfessed sin in our lives, if God is broken hearted because of us, all the time. How much does God cry over you? How much do you cry over you? Some of us need to pray for God to break our hearts about our sin.
Also when He tells us in Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
If your sin doesn’t bother you, then it doesn’t mean anything to you to find out that the sins you confessed; God has forgotten about. But when it begins to break your heart like it breaks the heart of God, it will make you jump for joy. You may not be broken hearted now, but when you stand before God, you will. Then will we understand what God said, “Blessed are they that morn, for they shall be comforted.
So Jesus sits down to talk to the disciples, and He tells them Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Now the natural man can’t understand this. You ever see a poor man? He isn’t picky about what he gets. When he gets something, he is thankful and full of life. Everything to him is joyous.
When I was in Panama many years ago we were riding through a village; and the people were lined up along the dirt street with their hands outstretched, hoping that we would through them anything. Seeing them so needy, broke my heart and brought tears to my eyes. I wonder how it makes God feel when He sees the poor, not physically but spiritually.
The rich are very different. They have plenty; they don’t need handouts. They wouldn’t be caught dead wearing second hand clothes. They aren’t thankful for what they have, or what someone wants to give them. Others are beneath them in the status quo. I know Christians that are like that. They know it all. When the preacher preaches, they sit there with their spiritual shoves, tossing it over their backs. They have no need to learn what God wants, because they know it all.
Until we become spiritually poor we will not desire, or appreciate the things of God. That is why I can witness to two people and one will thumb his nose to God and the other will gladly receive Gods free offer.
Now next He says something that seems kind of odd. Matthew 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Now when I think of mourning I don’t think of being blessed. But God said it, I didn’t.
What does it mean to mourn? Webster says it means to express grief or sorrow; to grieve; to be sorrowful
Whenever we hate our sin as much as we hate the sins of others, then we will mourn. When sin breaks our hearts as it does God’s heart it will cause us to weep over our sin. What did Jesus do in Jerusalem? It tells us in John 11:35 Jesus wept. Why did He weep? Was it because His friend was dead? No. Was it in sorrow because of the grief that the others felt? No. Let’s read the account of it. John 11:33-37 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus saw even at death, the sinful thoughts of man were all selfish, and worst yet they justified their feelings. And so do we by the way. We justify everything we say, think, or do. And just like their sin made Jesus weep, our sin makes Jesus weep today. And when we get to the point where we weep over our sin, God says then will we be comforted. Then we will say oh wretched man that I am, and it will cause us to say as Saul did on the road to Damascus, “Lord, what will you have me to do?” Paul understood about this type of mourning. That is why he said in 1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Why Paul are you, one who wrote much of the New Testament, chiefest of sinners? Because my sin broke the heart of God. And when it breaks our hearts, like it broke God’s heart, then we will do our best to make it right with God. Then He will begin to bless us. Then will we get excited when it tells us in 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Does sin, break the heart of God? So I wonder, when we have unconfessed sin in our lives, if God is broken hearted because of us, all the time. How much does God cry over you? How much do you cry over you? Some of us need to pray for God to break our hearts about our sin.
Also when He tells us in Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
If your sin doesn’t bother you, then it doesn’t mean anything to you to find out that the sins you confessed; God has forgotten about. But when it begins to break your heart like it breaks the heart of God, it will make you jump for joy. You may not be broken hearted now, but when you stand before God, you will. Then will we understand what God said, “Blessed are they that morn, for they shall be comforted.