The Gospel of Luke #26

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:04.639 And now our God and Father again we do come to your word. This 2 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:08.439 is your holy inspired word. God. This is not the words of man. 3 00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:12.960 These are the words that you have seen fit to give to the Church 4 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:16.839 of God, for our help, for our sustenance, Lord, for our 5 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:21.960 guidance in our life, for our edification, for our comfort, Lord, 6 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:27.559 for our exhortation. You have given us this word in your holy and divine 7 00:00:27.559 --> 00:00:31.399 wisdom. You have said, these are things my people need to know. 8 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:36.799 And so God, we come to your word, recognizing first of all that 9 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:41.079 it is your word in a way that is unlike anything else we can do 10 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:45.840 or give. This is your holy inspired word, and God, it is 11 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:51.079 a great gift to us. It is something that helps us extremely Lord in 12 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:54.359 our life, and we thank you for it. And there was much for 13 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:57.600 us to glean from it, to learn from it. And as we come 14 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:02.840 to what may be somewhat familiar passage Versus to us this morning, I pray, 15 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:06.280 yet, Lord, that you would now glean new things out of this 16 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:10.680 Lord, out of these old texts that perhaps we have read many many times. 17 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:14.439 But yet Lord, you are able to make all things new, and 18 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:18.760 we pray you would make your word new to us this morning and speak to 19 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:23.040 us in a new way, and Lord maybe in some old ways as well 20 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:26.439 that we need to be reminded of once again. But Holy Spirit, it 21 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:33.920 is your guidance. It is your illumination that we seek today. You who 22 00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:38.239 inspired these words. Now I pray you would illuminate them to your people, 23 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:42.719 for we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Yeah, if you want 24 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:47.400 to follow along, if you can turn in your bibles to the sixth chapter 25 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:52.560 of Luke. I'm going to begin with verse seventeen, and I will be 26 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:57.159 reading through verse twenty six. So I remind you as I read these that 27 00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:01.319 this is God's holy Word. And he came down with them and stood on 28 00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:06.239 a level place with the great crowd of his disciples, and the great multitude 29 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:10.240 of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Tire and Sidon, 30 00:02:12.039 --> 00:02:15.759 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and 31 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:19.479 those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured, and all the crowds sought 32 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:23.400 to touch him, for power came out from him and healed him all. 33 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:27.639 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said, Blessed are you 34 00:02:27.719 --> 00:02:31.520 who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you 35 00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:37.240 who are hungry, now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you 36 00:02:37.319 --> 00:02:40.240 who weep, now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you. And 37 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:45.199 people hate you. And when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your 38 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:49.360 name as evil on account of the Son of Man, rejoice in that day 39 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:52.919 and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in heaven, 40 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:57.520 for so their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you who are 41 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:00.439 rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full 42 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:04.719 now, for you should be hungry. Woe to you who laughed, now, 43 00:03:04.759 --> 00:03:08.599 for you show mourn and weep. Woe to you when all people speak 44 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:14.680 well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. Amen. 45 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:23.159 Thus in the reading of God's word, please be seated. So we 46 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:27.159 moved forward in the Gospel of Luke. This morning. I've been preaching with 47 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:31.400 you through the Gospel of Luke. I have one more message on this gospel, 48 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:35.280 which will be next week. Last week, we looked at Versus twelve 49 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:39.520 through sixteen, which talked about the calling of the twelve apostles out of the 50 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:45.599 greater group of the disciples that were following Jesus. We noted last week how 51 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:50.719 Jesus spent the entire night in prayer before he did this, and the choice 52 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:53.919 was revealed to him by his father of those that he should choose to be 53 00:03:53.960 --> 00:04:00.560 called apostles. And so today we have a very famous servant, a sermon 54 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:05.039 that will go from uh this verse here all the way through the end of 55 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:10.000 the chapter. And since I have one more week, I should easily be 56 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:13.560 able to never mind. Uh No, but we're going to give it a 57 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:15.319 try. We'll we'll see if we can go a little ways anyway this morning 58 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:19.759 and then go a little bit further next week. But let's start with the 59 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:25.360 kind of the introduction to this passage, which is Versus seventeen to nineteen. 60 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:29.399 And we're gonna have a very similar discourse here to one that we know very 61 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:33.920 well that is found in Matthew chapter five to verse seven, or chapter seven, 62 00:04:34.279 --> 00:04:39.399 which we refer to as this sermon on the Mount. And uh it 63 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:44.000 is referred to as a sermon on the mount because it was given on a 64 00:04:44.279 --> 00:04:46.959 on amount. So now you've learned something this morning. If nothing else. 65 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:53.720 And here we are told that in verse seventeen, and Jesus comes down from 66 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:58.439 the mountain where he had been praying and where he had appointed the apostles, 67 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:02.199 and the e s V Says that he stood on a level place. So 68 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:06.040 some people call this the Sermon on the plane. Some people call this the 69 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:12.920 Sermon on the level. But others argue for the fact here that the sermon 70 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:15.680 that is found in Matthew five called the Sermon on the mount and a sermon 71 00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:18.839 that is found here in Luke that is called the Sermon on the Level, 72 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:24.879 are indeed the exact same discourse. Let's speak a little more of that in 73 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:29.279 just a little bit. But we have a great crowd of his disciples again 74 00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:33.480 in verse seventeen. Last week, remember Jesus called a crowd of his disciples, 75 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:39.759 and out of those disciples he appointed twelve that he called apostles. And 76 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:45.480 here again we have the same group surrounding Jesus, a great crowd of disciples 77 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:49.519 that are there. Also a great multitude of people are there as well. 78 00:05:49.959 --> 00:05:56.079 These people come from Judea, Jerusalem, and even the sea coast of Tire 79 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:00.800 and Sidon. And this tells us now that the follow ween of our our 80 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:05.639 Lord is becoming greater that people from further out are now being aware of his 81 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:10.639 ministry and what he does, and so they are coming together. We see 82 00:06:10.680 --> 00:06:15.839 the beginning of the fulfillment of some four among those who know me, I 83 00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:20.920 mentioned Rahab and Babylon. Behold Felicia entire, that's the one mentioned with cush. 84 00:06:21.079 --> 00:06:25.279 This one was born there there, they say. So we see now 85 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:28.519 some of those that are coming from these far reaches, that are coming to 86 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:31.839 be born are the king into the Kingdom of God. And so we see 87 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:38.079 this happening. And these people are coming to hear, and of course also 88 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:42.920 to receive from the Lord, which might be maybe selfishly they're more important reason 89 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:47.000 for coming, but they're going to hear perhaps the most famous sermon that has 90 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:51.319 ever been preached. So they're gonna be happy they didn't choose that day to 91 00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:57.519 miss church because they can always say I was there the day the Lord delivered 92 00:06:57.560 --> 00:07:01.120 that message. And so of course verse eighteen informed us to not just coming 93 00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:04.879 to hear, but they're also coming because they have need. They have diseases, 94 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:10.560 they have unclean spirits, and so our Lord is going to of course 95 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:14.759 heal many of those that come, if not all. And then in verse 96 00:07:14.839 --> 00:07:19.199 nineteen we see that all those who have illnesses or uh, whatever they might 97 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:24.079 have, they are seeking to touch the Lord. And we are told that 98 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:29.360 power came out of him and touched them all. It's a very similar phrase 99 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:31.519 in the account of the woman with the issue of blood in Mark chapter five, 100 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:36.120 verse thirty, where remember she came because she'd been to many doctors and 101 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:40.480 grown worse, and she said, if I can but touch his garment, 102 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:44.399 I will be made whole. And she does touch him, and she is 103 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:50.319 made well. And then it says Jesus perceiving in himself, that power had 104 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:56.240 gone out from him. That's similar phrase to hear again, power has coming 105 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:01.319 out from him, so that many people are being healed well. Let me 106 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:05.360 return to the question I broached earlier. Is this sermon in Luke chapter seven 107 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:11.759 the same sermon that we have in Matthew chapter five through seven. Now there's 108 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:16.160 certainly many similarities between the accounts, there's no question about that. Luke's account, 109 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:20.839 however, is quite a bit shorter than the account of Matthews, only 110 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:26.040 being part of one chapter, where Matthews is pretty much all of three chapters. 111 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:30.399 But as far as similarities, both of the sermons begin with beatitudes at 112 00:08:30.439 --> 00:08:33.480 the beginning, uh, and both of them end with the parable of the 113 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:37.480 two builders, one who builds on the sand and one who builds on the 114 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:43.039 rocks. So they're similar in that part. But again Matthew says this sermon 115 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:48.720 happened after Jesus went up on the mountain, where Luke specifically mentions it happens 116 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:52.840 after Jesus came down from the mountain to the level. Some would say, 117 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:56.360 well, that can be reconciled. It could be that Jesus was coming down 118 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:01.559 from the mount but he didn't go all the way to so some ascended up, 119 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:05.960 and so he met on a level plateau somewhere between the top some of 120 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:11.279 the mountain uh and the bottom as well. Um, that's possible. It's 121 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:16.080 certainly true. The two accounts are not identical completely. Philip Riickan mentions in 122 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:22.600 his commentary that the basic problem and saying these two are the same sermons is 123 00:09:22.679 --> 00:09:28.440 the content. Uh. There are so many differences in content. But has 124 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:35.480 Hendrickson notes in his commentary, he says that this proves to us that the 125 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:37.799 apostles were not mere copyist. In other words, you know, if we 126 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:43.320 read the exact same sermon in Luke that we read in Matthew, we'd say, 127 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:46.000 well, Luke just copied Matthew. But here we see that obviously he 128 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:52.320 doesn't just copy Matthew. It's also mentioned by some that Matthew tended to write 129 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:56.159 his Gospel to the Jews, and so of course he begins his gospel with 130 00:09:56.200 --> 00:10:01.799 the genealogy that traces back to the two people. The Jews would be interested 131 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:05.799 to know about Abraham and David. Christ has ancestry there, and of course 132 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:11.440 they would say that Luke kept out much of the Jewish content of the Sermon 133 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:15.679 on the Mountain. That's why it is different. It is certainly possible that 134 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:20.480 Jesus also could have repeated a sermon that he gave on a different occasion. 135 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:24.480 I have been known uh to repeat a sermon that I have preached to a 136 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:28.279 different audience when I go to a different audience. And I think Our Lord's 137 00:10:28.279 --> 00:10:33.320 sermon would be much more of greater worth to be repeated than one that I 138 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:37.759 have preached. Calvin said, those who think that Christ's sermon, which is 139 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:43.039 here related, is different from the sermon contained in the sixth chapter of Luke's 140 00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:46.799 gospel he's writing on Matthew. There rest their opinion on a very light and 141 00:10:46.919 --> 00:10:52.159 frivolous argument. So Calvin obviously believed it was the same sermon. Well, 142 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:54.159 I'm not going to solve it for you this morning, but I just thought 143 00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:56.480 i'd give you the different opinions. But now we're gonna look as we begin 144 00:10:56.600 --> 00:11:01.039 the actual sermon in versus twenty through twenty three. This is the important part. 145 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:07.159 And so in verse twenty, Jesus begins by lifting up his eyes to 146 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:11.919 his or on his disciples. And I mentioned earlier in verse seventeen there was 147 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:16.399 a great crowd of disciples. And I mentioned also that last week that Jesus 148 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:20.720 had called the great card of the disciples to him to the mount, and 149 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:24.960 out of that great crowd, he chose twelve specifically, And we talked about 150 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:28.279 that number twelve and how important that was, which we also saw in Acts 151 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:35.320 chapter one. And so the question is, when Jesus is giving this sermon, 152 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:41.279 is he particularly directing it at the apostles, or is he particularly directing 153 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:46.440 it on the greater crowd of disciples, or is he directing the sermon to 154 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:52.559 the multitudes. Now is a pastor and a preacher of God's word. I 155 00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:58.559 try very hard not to target individual people in my messages, even though I 156 00:11:58.600 --> 00:12:03.240 can say at times it is very very tempting. UM. I don't know 157 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:07.159 Pastor Chua ever has that same temptation. But UM, I try to be 158 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:13.480 very careful to not have certain people in mind when they come upon a particular 159 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:18.200 text, although they do come to mind. But the problem is when you 160 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:20.240 do that and you have somebody in mind. This is what I found out 161 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:26.120 earlier in my ministry. When you have someone you're trying to target and you're 162 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:28.519 kind of preaching at them without them knowing that, you find out at the 163 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:33.600 end of the message that that particular point didn't register with them at all. 164 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:37.200 But then some dear saint of God who has no problem in that area that 165 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:41.799 you can discern, comes up and tells you how she was so affected by 166 00:12:41.879 --> 00:12:46.320 that particular message. So it just seems better to just try to tailor the 167 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:52.559 message so hopefully you can make application to everyone. But by saying to that 168 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:58.039 crowd, are saying to the disciples, blessed are the poor. There is 169 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.480 a special way it could be taken the disciples, because they have now been 170 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:09.679 called as apostles left everything to follow him, so they indeed would be perhaps 171 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:13.919 the primary recipients of this particular sermon, But of course it goes out to 172 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:18.759 everyone, and so in verse twenty we have the first of Luke's four be 173 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:24.480 attitudes. Matthew all actually gives us nine, although brother copas that we have 174 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:30.159 been praying for the past here Um actually says they're ten. But I tried 175 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:33.120 to get ten out of Matthew. I couldn't do it, so I don't 176 00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:35.679 I guess I won't be able to ask him, but I would like to 177 00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:41.200 know where he gets ten. But all four of Luke's do have a corresponding 178 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:46.240 one that is found in Matthew. But Luke's four be attitudes are followed by 179 00:13:46.360 --> 00:13:50.759 four woes, which Matthew does not give to us, And then the first 180 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:56.399 two um be attitudes. We do see a difference from how they're found in 181 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:01.399 Matthew. In Matthew, well, let me say this. In Luke he 182 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:07.720 stops at the physical characteristic. He says, blessed are the poor? Blessed? 183 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:11.639 Are you that hunger? Now? He stops there, But in Matthew 184 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:16.879 he goes on to add a spiritual characteristic, so you might be familiar with 185 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:24.320 the Matthew beattitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit, and also matthews Uh 186 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:31.519 be attitude about hungry. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. 187 00:14:31.559 --> 00:14:35.399 And so we have this difference, and Michael Wilcox says, and he's be 188 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:43.240 attitudes. Jesus teaches us to prize what the world caused calls pitiable, and 189 00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:50.000 suspect what the world thinks desirable. And so if we combine the first four 190 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:54.039 beatitudes, we find a blessing found upon the poor, the hungry, the 191 00:14:54.120 --> 00:15:01.360 weeping, and those who are hated by man. Now the problem is, 192 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:07.679 if we take just those four physical characteristics without adding anything to them, we 193 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:13.559 could say that Jesus is pronouncing a blessing about anyone in those conditions, whether 194 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:16.639 they are believers or not. Because you may not know this. There's poor 195 00:15:16.759 --> 00:15:22.840 unbelievers, there are hungry unbelievers, uh, there are mourning unbelievers, all 196 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:28.559 all of these things. And uh J. C Ryle says, we must 197 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:33.440 take good heed that we do not misunderstand our Lord's meaning when we read these 198 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:37.080 expressions. We must not for a moment suppose the mere fact of being poor 199 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:43.840 and hungry and sorrowful and hated by man will entitle anyone to lay claim to 200 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:48.559 an interest in Christ blessing. The poverty here spoken of is a poverty accompanied 201 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:54.440 by grace. The want is a want entirely entailed by faithful adherence to Jesus. 202 00:15:54.919 --> 00:16:02.000 The afflictions are the afflictions of the Gospel. The persecutan is persecution for 203 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:06.320 the son of Man's sake. Jesus does clarify that in the last one, 204 00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:10.360 where he says it is they received this hated by men, and that on 205 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:15.559 account of the son of Man. But I don't think we want to completely 206 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:22.000 disregard the physical characteristics either. It's a little difficult here, but we need 207 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:26.519 to walk a line. Calvin says on the first beatitude, Luke gives nothing 208 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:30.720 more than a simple metaphor. But as the poverty of many is accursed and 209 00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:37.200 unhappy, Matthew expressed more clearly the intention of Christ. Well, let me 210 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:40.720 start with that first beatitude. Blessed are they? Or blessed are you? 211 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:45.720 Who are poor? Is Jesus seeking to foster class warfare? Warfare? Here 212 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:55.000 is he seeking to exclude the non poor from being blessed Proverbs thirty indicates it's 213 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:59.879 actually better neither to be rich or poor. The writer says in versus, 214 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:03.240 haven't through nine two things I ask of you? Denied them not to me 215 00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:07.359 before I die? Remove far from me falsehood. In line, give me 216 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:14.160 neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me. 217 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:18.079 Lest I be full and deny you and say who is the Lord? 218 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:22.079 Or less I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. 219 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:29.119 There, the writer combines, looking forward to the two first beatitudes that Jesus 220 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:32.799 gives here and says, I don't want to be hungry or full, and 221 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:37.519 I don't want to be rich or poor, because both have their particular danger. 222 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:41.240 So that if we just say Jesus is only speaking to the physically poor, 223 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:45.960 now we have kind of a contradiction between the beatitudes and the writer of 224 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:51.400 the Proverbs, and we don't want to do that at all. Ambrose, 225 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:55.920 Saint Ambrose said, poverty is neutral, and I think that's a pretty good 226 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:00.720 summation. Jesus will tell a parable later on that you're very familiar with, 227 00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:04.599 and Luke sixteen about a certain rich man and a poor man named Lazarus and 228 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:08.519 in the parable, you might remember the rich man goes to Hades, but 229 00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:14.839 the poor man goes to Abraham's bosom. But I don't think it's proper from 230 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:18.680 that particular parable to say all rich people are going to Hades and all poor 231 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:23.920 people are going to go to Heaven. Augustine noted, he said, poor 232 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:30.200 Lazarus is taken into the bosom of rich Abraham. And that's an interesting way 233 00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:33.599 to look at it. But I think the point of the parable is more 234 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:37.720 how the rich man treated Lazarus, how he dealt with his riches, more 235 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:41.799 than the fact that he was rich. There are many blessed rich people in 236 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:45.839 the Bible, just to name a few. Abraham, as I just mentioned, 237 00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:49.039 job was a rich man, David Solomon, because not all of his 238 00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:53.359 life was David rich, but Solomon, Joseph of Arimathea, and the Gospels 239 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:57.480 and so. But those who are rich, according to the scriptures, need 240 00:18:57.559 --> 00:19:02.319 to be careful. And this you know probably most of us here today, 241 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:04.599 I don't know all your financial condition. Probably most of us would say, 242 00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:07.880 well, we're not rich. But then again, if we compare ourselves to 243 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:12.279 many of the people in the world, we are pretty much rich and we 244 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:15.839 could understand that. So Luke Jesus says, later in Luke verse twelve, 245 00:19:15.880 --> 00:19:21.880 verse fifteen, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for 246 00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:26.599 one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Later in Luke 247 00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:30.319 eight, Jesus says, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye 248 00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:33.880 of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. 249 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:37.359 I do believe, by the way in that scripture he's talking about a literal 250 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:41.599 rich man and a literal eye of a needle, not a gate in the 251 00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:45.599 temple wall. That's that's my own thinking there. But above all, we 252 00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:49.000 need to be those people, whatever our financial condition. We do need to 253 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:53.720 be those who are poor in spirit, who do not think of ourselves more 254 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:57.039 highly than we ought to think. There's a lot of scriptures in the Bible. 255 00:19:57.079 --> 00:19:59.920 I'm not going to read them to you. You know, many of 256 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:06.440 them that exhort us into humility. In verse twenty one, Luke has Jesus 257 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:11.680 blessing those who are hungry. Now again Matthew says hunger and thirst for righteousness. 258 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:18.720 But again those who are hungry again, not saying that Jesus is just 259 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:22.039 addressing it to the physically hungry. But those who are, the Bible says 260 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:27.279 in Revelation seven sixteen, they shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. 261 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:33.920 The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. And so I 262 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:38.480 think again, yes, there is an application to those who are physically hungry, 263 00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:42.240 but I think it's more towards a spiritual hunger and thirst. And I'll 264 00:20:42.279 --> 00:20:47.599 come back to that in the application. The second part of verse twenty one 265 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:52.359 refers to those who weep now and the promises that they will laugh in Matthews, 266 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:56.240 he says, those who mourn, and they will be comforted. So 267 00:20:56.599 --> 00:21:00.960 in Luke they're gonna laugh in Matthew, they're going and to be comfort But 268 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.200 again here it seems to me that we must be looking more at the spiritual, 269 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:08.440 because certainly every human being who has ever lived in any length of time 270 00:21:08.519 --> 00:21:14.440 upon this earth has at some point or another mourned about something. But we 271 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:18.279 cannot say from the scripture that every single one of those people who have mourned 272 00:21:18.440 --> 00:21:22.920 will be comforted. But if those of us who are believers, we do 273 00:21:23.079 --> 00:21:27.079 read in Revelation twenty one, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, 274 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:32.279 and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor 275 00:21:32.359 --> 00:21:37.680 crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And 276 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:41.519 those people are described in verse three of that chapter of those whose God, 277 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:48.920 who God is their God. And so when I say this morning that we 278 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:52.400 can be those who are mourning, I'm not saying that therefore as Christians we 279 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:56.920 ought to always be glum and downcast. Maybe you, like I have known 280 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:02.119 some people like that in your life, who always seems uh to be down. 281 00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:04.440 They never seemed to be happy. You you've never seen this. And 282 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:08.759 I remember in one of my first churches, I had an intern that was 283 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:14.240 working with me, and she was she said, um, not not an 284 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:18.720 OPC intern, obviously, but she she said about a particular woman who was 285 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:22.839 kind of a pain to me. And she said, I've never seen her 286 00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:26.279 smile. And I thought, that's true, I never have, uh. 287 00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:29.559 And so the Bibles and tam we should be like that. The old the 288 00:22:29.559 --> 00:22:33.160 old evangelist Gypsy Smith, not a Presbyterian as far as I know, but 289 00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:36.319 but he said a lot of Christians go around with faces so long they could 290 00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:38.319 eat open me. A lot of a gas pipe uh. So, we 291 00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:42.559 don't want to be those kind of people. Um. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote 292 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:47.519 an interesting thing in his diary one one Sunday. Uh he wrote, he 293 00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:52.839 wrote this, Um, he said, I've been to church today and am 294 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:57.319 not depressed. I don't know if he always got depressed after being in church, 295 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:02.680 but that's what he wrote in his diary. Um. So Proverbs seventeen 296 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:06.119 twenty two. We know, perhaps the scripture of joyful or Mary Heart, 297 00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:10.160 the King James says, is good medicine, but a crushed spirit drives up 298 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:12.920 the bones. There's debate. I don't know that it's ever gonna be answered 299 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:17.480 until we get to heaven. That there's debate about whether Jesus ever laughed. 300 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:21.799 People have debated that. They say, you know, the Bible tells us 301 00:23:21.799 --> 00:23:25.640 that Jesus wept, but they never tell us that Jesus laughed. But then 302 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.839 that is an argument from silence. That's just to say, you know that, 303 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:33.079 therefore Jesus never coughed or sneezed or went to the bathroom, because the 304 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:36.799 Bible doesn't say that. I don't know that we can argue that way. 305 00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:40.480 So I don't know in my own mind I think he did, but I 306 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:44.880 won't. I'm not gonna have a theolological argument with you after the service about 307 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:48.680 that. So the last beatitude in our text verse twenty two, blessed are 308 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:52.160 you, and people hate you and they exclude you and revile you and spurn 309 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:55.839 your name is evil and account of this on a man. And again here 310 00:23:55.880 --> 00:24:00.319 we're not saying this is the attitude is for anyone who's ever been hated or 311 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:03.680 people don't like to be around you, or all of those things that they 312 00:24:03.720 --> 00:24:10.279 exclude you, and uh and so uh it's for those even as Christians. 313 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:14.279 I'd say, people can hate you and not hate you for being a Christian. 314 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:17.960 If you understand what my meaning there, that people may hate you, 315 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:21.799 but not as being a Christian. And to illustrate that, let me let 316 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:26.960 me bear my soul to you for a little bit here this morning. I 317 00:24:26.039 --> 00:24:33.920 have to confess to you. I hate I hate, I absolutely hate calling 318 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:41.079 call centers. I despise it. But if you listen to me on some 319 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:45.599 of those calls, you would quickly pick up that I hate calling call centers. 320 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:51.680 Recently, I have been dealing with the company that messed up in order 321 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:53.759 I made for shoes that I wanted to have here in Tucson, so I 322 00:24:53.839 --> 00:25:00.319 put my shipping address as Tucson, but they instead decided to send it to 323 00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:04.480 my shipping address UM, which is some kind of glitch I guess between some 324 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:08.359 sites and PayPal and if you pay by PayPal to call anyway, that was 325 00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:14.599 that was what happened. So I UM, I tried calling their call center 326 00:25:14.759 --> 00:25:18.720 twice and after waiting fifteen minutes to call, just disconnected. So I did 327 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:22.799 it again and the same thing happened. So then I went online and I 328 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:26.519 sent them an email saying I'm trying to get ahold of you, but I 329 00:25:26.519 --> 00:25:30.599 haven't been able to, so please I need these to be shipped to my 330 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:34.400 address here in Arizona. And uh, I didn't hear anything from them, 331 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:38.200 and then finally I found out, hey, we've delivered your order. And 332 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:41.960 then I got a response back about well we already delivered it and all of 333 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:47.319 this and trying to resolve this, I had made two or three calls and 334 00:25:47.319 --> 00:25:49.440 it was not like my last call or it's just really I know, this 335 00:25:49.559 --> 00:25:52.839 is hard to believe. It's such a gentle soul as I, but I 336 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:56.440 was really frustrated, really frustrated, and I was talking to someone and I 337 00:25:56.440 --> 00:26:00.160 don't know, it wouldn't have mattered. I don't think who I talked to, 338 00:26:00.599 --> 00:26:06.200 but I was upset at that time, and um my upset spilled over 339 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:11.400 very clearly to the gentleman that I was talking to. And when I ended 340 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:17.319 the call, I realized that that representative probably didn't like me very much, 341 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:19.279 and it had nothing to do with the fact I was a Christian. It 342 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:23.079 had everything to do the fact that I was a jerk. And I realized 343 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:29.680 that, and so I ended up because of my conscience, writing an email 344 00:26:29.720 --> 00:26:33.960 back to the say to the call center saying please, to this call center 345 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:37.319 representative, please extend my apologies. I was frustrated. I treated him in 346 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:42.319 a way that I shouldn't have, and so I'm sorry. And uh so 347 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:48.039 again, we need to be careful and people might not like us for other 348 00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:52.079 reasons and they might have nothing to do with our faith. And we oh, 349 00:26:52.200 --> 00:26:56.279 people hate me, I'm going to get a big reward. Well maybe 350 00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:00.680 not, so think about that. But this prophecy does contain, I mean, 351 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:06.720 the beattitude does contain the prophecy, and the prophecy is that indeed the 352 00:27:06.759 --> 00:27:10.759 people of God are going to be persecuted and they are going to suffer. 353 00:27:10.839 --> 00:27:15.599 Dietrich Bonhoffer, who had every right to write the two different rights there on 354 00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:19.000 this particular subject, said, suffering, then is the badge of true discipleship. 355 00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:25.319 The disciple is not above his master. Following Christ means suffering, because 356 00:27:25.319 --> 00:27:29.400 we have to suffer. That is why Luther reckons suffering among the marks of 357 00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:33.240 the true Church, and one of the memoranda drawn up in preparation for the 358 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:38.559 Augsford Confession similarly defines the church as the community of those who are persecuted and 359 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:44.759 martyred for the Gospel's sake. Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ, and 360 00:27:44.920 --> 00:27:48.200 is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer. 361 00:27:48.599 --> 00:27:53.799 In fact, it is a joy in a token of his grace. Kelvin 362 00:27:53.839 --> 00:27:59.160 said, we cannot be Christ's soldiers on any other condition than to have the 363 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:03.960 greater part of the world rising in hostility against us and pursuing us even to 364 00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:08.640 death. Now I'm not sure if this is just a pastor Kufus thing or 365 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:14.279 other people can join with me, but oftentimes in my prayers and in my 366 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:18.480 daily thinking, I'm saying, Lord, why am I not more persecuted for 367 00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:22.839 my faith? I wonder that you could call me a masochist if you'd like 368 00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:26.640 to, But I do oftentimes wonder this, and I'm not trying to ignudge 369 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:30.319 you into behavior that would just have this to happen. But I do think 370 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:34.000 if we really lived out our Christian faith they it ought to be lived out, 371 00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:38.599 that we would face more persecution. I can tell you there was a 372 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:42.720 time in my life, and some of you perhaps can identify with this as 373 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:48.160 well, and excuse me from my Pentecost to lingle here, but there was 374 00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:55.200 a time I was more on fire for Jesus than I am now, and 375 00:28:55.359 --> 00:28:59.880 I received a lot more persecution in those days. And I could tell you 376 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:03.240 some of those things, but I don't need to glorify that. But I 377 00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:08.920 can tell you a lot of more people nowadays like me than used to like 378 00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:14.000 me. You can just think about that, okay, Well, let me 379 00:29:14.039 --> 00:29:18.559 deal with the last three verses. The four woes that correspond to these be 380 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:22.400 attitudes as well. Do we have the blessings and the curses? Amount evil 381 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:26.160 and mount Garrison here in the sense, and the word woe means more like 382 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:32.720 alas or or a lamentation, not not a condemnation that Jesus giving, but 383 00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:37.799 saying, woe to you, alas to you, how terrible to you when 384 00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:41.319 people speak well of you? For example in verse twenty six, and again 385 00:29:41.359 --> 00:29:45.359 I'd say why do people speak well of you? And Jesus compares this to 386 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:49.759 the false prophets. J c Ryle said, to be universally popular is a 387 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:55.680 most unsatisfactory symptom, and one of which a minister of Christ should always be 388 00:29:55.759 --> 00:30:00.319 afraid. It may well make him doubt whether he's faithfully doing his duty and 389 00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:03.920 honestly declaring all the counsel of God. Well, I don't have a lot 390 00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:07.160 of time to talk about those woes, so I'm going to skip forward, 391 00:30:07.480 --> 00:30:11.720 so that confinishist message today. Let me make a couple of quick applications and 392 00:30:11.799 --> 00:30:15.480 have a couple longer ones. The quick application is as as we look at 393 00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:18.839 the blessings and the woes that Jesus gives. I think it is a good 394 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:22.960 application to us as preachers. We can't all be all blessing and we can't 395 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:26.759 be all woe. We can't just give our people the blessings all the time, 396 00:30:27.079 --> 00:30:30.720 which I've been to churches where that is exactly what happens. But neither 397 00:30:30.759 --> 00:30:34.039 can we be those that always give the woes that I've been to churches like 398 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:38.119 that. We need to be able to give law and gospel as pastors, 399 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:42.480 and we need If we neglect either one of those or either the blessing of 400 00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:48.240 the woes, we're not going to preach the full consul of God. Secondly, 401 00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:51.960 about rich and poor, I just want to mention, which I may 402 00:30:51.960 --> 00:30:56.400 have mentioned before, but recognized, that riches do have an inherent danger those 403 00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:00.279 of you that are in the parable study. No we talked about is the 404 00:31:00.440 --> 00:31:07.680 deceitfulness what Jesus calls in Matthew the deceitfulness of riches, which means that every 405 00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:11.759 time we touch money, we have the possibility of being deceived in some way, 406 00:31:12.119 --> 00:31:15.519 and we need to be careful how we use money and what we do 407 00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:22.119 with that. And again, riches are deceitful because they can even mask our 408 00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:26.640 desire for them or how much of a hold they have on our life. 409 00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:30.559 We think sometimes it doesn't affect us, but sometimes we are deceived, and 410 00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:34.720 indeed it does have an effect on our life. But I want to make 411 00:31:34.759 --> 00:31:41.599 a couple like I said longer applications One is what is it that you and 412 00:31:41.640 --> 00:31:47.599 I hunger for? And again it's a convicting thing to me to wonder how 413 00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:52.960 much I actually hunger and thirst after righteousness when I read the words of the 414 00:31:53.000 --> 00:32:00.440 Psalmist and Song forty two has a dear pants for flowing streams. So pants 415 00:32:00.519 --> 00:32:04.920 my soul for you, Oh God, my soul thirst for God, for 416 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:08.960 the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Or so 417 00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:15.480 I'm sixty one? Oh God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek 418 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:20.519 you, my soul thirst for you, My flesh faints for you in a 419 00:32:20.680 --> 00:32:24.920 dry and weary land when there is no water. And let me say to 420 00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:30.000 you, just from personal life, my own personal life, it's very possible 421 00:32:30.039 --> 00:32:36.079 for our spiritual hunger and thirst to diminish over time. There can be a 422 00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:42.359 cumulative effect of sin. There can be an accumulative effect of our interaction with 423 00:32:42.440 --> 00:32:45.559 the world that can cause this to happen. I'm not trying to put anybody 424 00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:51.480 under condemnation. I just examined my own heart. I'm just telling you what 425 00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:58.480 I feel. Two of the commentaries that I consulted both mentioned a parable that 426 00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:02.359 was told by sore and care reguard, which is very, very applicable to 427 00:33:02.519 --> 00:33:07.119 this particular beatitude, and so I thought I would share it with you this 428 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:10.920 morning as well. And maybe you've heard this. A wild duck was flying 429 00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:15.400 northward with his mates across Europe one spring. En route, he landed in 430 00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:20.440 a barnyard in Denmark, where he quickly made friends with the resident tame ducks. 431 00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:24.640 This is a kind of a fictional story. The wild duck, enjoying 432 00:33:24.720 --> 00:33:28.960 corn and fresh water, decided to stay for an hour, than for a 433 00:33:29.039 --> 00:33:32.240 day, and for a week, and finally for a month. At the 434 00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:37.000 end of that time, he contemplated joining his friends in the vast Northland, 435 00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:39.759 but he'd begun to enjoy the safety of the barnyard and the company of the 436 00:33:39.799 --> 00:33:45.559 tame ducks, so he stayed for the summer. One autumn day, when 437 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:50.640 his wild mates were returning overhead, he heard their quacking. It stirred him 438 00:33:50.680 --> 00:33:53.440 with delight, and he enthusiastically flapped his wings and rose into the air to 439 00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:59.200 join them. Much to his dismay, he could rise no higher than the 440 00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:01.880 eaves of the bar, and as he waddled back to the safety of the 441 00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:06.759 barn yard, he muttered to himself, I'm satisfied here. I have plenty 442 00:34:06.759 --> 00:34:09.880 of food and the area is good. Why should I leave? So he 443 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:15.039 spent the winter on the farm. Next spring, when the wild ducks flew 444 00:34:15.079 --> 00:34:19.039 overhead again, he felt a strange stirring in his breast, but he did 445 00:34:19.079 --> 00:34:22.519 not even try to fly to meet them. When they returned in the fall, 446 00:34:23.079 --> 00:34:28.440 they again invited him to rejoin them, but this time the duck did 447 00:34:28.440 --> 00:34:32.039 not so much as noticed them. He simply kept on eating the corn. 448 00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:37.320 And I think sometimes in my own life, I'm just eating the corn. 449 00:34:38.360 --> 00:34:43.000 And I realized how true that can be. And let me ask you a 450 00:34:43.079 --> 00:34:46.880 second question. I realized these are searching questions this morning. What is it 451 00:34:46.920 --> 00:34:52.280 that you weep for? What is it that you mourned for? There are 452 00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:58.920 many things we weep for that the ungodly people weep for as well. And 453 00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:02.360 we lay our beloved into the ground, we weep for them, so to 454 00:35:02.440 --> 00:35:07.880 the young godly. When we hear of somebody's sad condition, or some terrible 455 00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:13.559 tragedy has happened somewhere in the world, we weep, But so do the 456 00:35:13.639 --> 00:35:16.760 ungodly. When we watch a story or a movie with a sad, er 457 00:35:16.840 --> 00:35:22.679 happy, ending we may weep. I mentioned to some of you that one 458 00:35:22.679 --> 00:35:27.280 of my favorite movies is the Australian movie called The Castle, and I think 459 00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:30.159 I've seen it five or more times, and I've cried at the end of 460 00:35:30.360 --> 00:35:34.199 every time, at the end of the movie. Does that make me spiritual? 461 00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:38.320 Does that make me someone that Jesus is speaking of? Here? But 462 00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:43.440 do I weep about the things of God? What about the condition of the 463 00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:46.519 ungodly in this world? For those who are lost in perishing? Do I 464 00:35:46.559 --> 00:35:52.559 weep for them? Some he who goes out weeping, bearing seed and sewing, 465 00:35:53.239 --> 00:35:58.519 I shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. 466 00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:02.800 I mentioned earlier the spiritual fire. I can honestly say I don't weep 467 00:36:02.840 --> 00:36:07.559 for souls as much as I once did. What about the condition of the 468 00:36:07.639 --> 00:36:13.360 church today? Do we weep for that? Jeremiah, a voice on the 469 00:36:13.400 --> 00:36:16.920 Bear heights, has heard the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons. Because they 470 00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:22.360 perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord their God. So six my 471 00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:29.880 eyes shed streams of tears because people do not keep your law as a ten. 472 00:36:30.039 --> 00:36:32.039 Six and Ezra withdrew from before the house of God, and went into 473 00:36:32.039 --> 00:36:37.920 the chamber of Johohanna, the son of Elisha, where he spent the night, 474 00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:42.599 neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness 475 00:36:42.679 --> 00:36:46.000 of the ex house Philippians three eighteen. Paul says, for many of whom 476 00:36:46.039 --> 00:36:51.119 I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears walk his 477 00:36:51.400 --> 00:36:57.119 enemies of the cross of Christ. And I asked myself when I read these 478 00:36:57.119 --> 00:37:00.320 scriptures, how often do you mourn for them? How often do you weep 479 00:37:00.360 --> 00:37:05.280 for them? And again, I'm not trying to condemn you or put anybody 480 00:37:05.360 --> 00:37:09.760 under some condemnation, But it's questions that we can ask ourselves as we hear 481 00:37:09.800 --> 00:37:16.840 our Lord's blessing put upon these conditions. In one last application, concerns blessed 482 00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:22.960 are the poor, John McArthur writes the rich in view here are those who 483 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:27.559 imagine themselves to be rich in the spiritual realm, who think that their righteous 484 00:37:27.599 --> 00:37:32.159 deeds are sufficient to obtain salvation. Now, I don't think I entirely agree 485 00:37:32.280 --> 00:37:36.960 with John MacArthur there. I don't think that's entirely what Jesus is talking about 486 00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:40.960 here. However, I do think he makes a very good point in coming 487 00:37:40.960 --> 00:37:45.400 to Christ. We have to come as our songs that we saying. We're 488 00:37:45.400 --> 00:37:49.480 saying one at the beginning will sing one of the end of sinners, poor 489 00:37:49.480 --> 00:37:52.960 and needy, poor and wretched, that we come to the Lord not with 490 00:37:53.119 --> 00:38:00.920 anything of ourselves. We are beggars who have nothing to offer. We have 491 00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:06.159 nothing, we contribute nothing. Our salvation is only through Christ and only through 492 00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:08.519 His death, and has nothing to do with anything I do or don't do. 493 00:38:08.559 --> 00:38:12.039 It. Even as I'm talking about some of those things this morning, 494 00:38:12.239 --> 00:38:16.480 my salvation in Christ has nothing to do with those things. It is totally 495 00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:23.519 of God's free mercy. I want to tell you a little story. I've 496 00:38:23.559 --> 00:38:25.760 told him many places. I don't think i've told it here, but if 497 00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:30.280 I have, please forgive. I'm old, I forget, But this this 498 00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:35.000 is the story, and it talks about a man who goes to heaven is 499 00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:37.840 met by Peter at the gate. This is also an apocryphal story, in 500 00:38:37.880 --> 00:38:39.559 case you're wondering, it's not not a true one as far as I know. 501 00:38:40.719 --> 00:38:45.920 And anyway, Peter says to the man as he comes, we're glad 502 00:38:45.960 --> 00:38:50.880 to have you here, and we like to admit you into Heaven. But 503 00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:53.920 you know in order to get in you need a thousand points. And the 504 00:38:53.960 --> 00:38:59.199 man said, well, thousands, thousand points. How to get points? 505 00:38:59.199 --> 00:39:01.119 And Peter said, what, Just go through your life with us and tell 506 00:39:01.199 --> 00:39:05.840 us the things you've done, and we'll let him up. I said, 507 00:39:05.880 --> 00:39:07.480 well, okay, he says, well, I'll tell you this. So 508 00:39:07.639 --> 00:39:10.360 I was. I was a deacon in my church. This isn't Andrew Bill, 509 00:39:10.679 --> 00:39:14.880 But I was a deacon in my church, and I served the church 510 00:39:14.920 --> 00:39:17.119 for over forty years, and I served them faithfully. I was even the 511 00:39:17.159 --> 00:39:22.239 treasurer for a while, and I did this all time. And I think 512 00:39:22.239 --> 00:39:23.800 my church said I did it faithfully and honorably, and I did what I 513 00:39:23.840 --> 00:39:28.400 was supposed to do, and I did that for forty years. Peter goes, 514 00:39:28.960 --> 00:39:36.000 great, five points. Oh okay, well, he says, let 515 00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:37.840 me let me think about that. He said, Well, i'll tell you, 516 00:39:37.840 --> 00:39:44.119 he said, I in my church, I taught junior high boys Sunday 517 00:39:44.119 --> 00:39:50.199 school. And I taught it for many, many years again, maybe as 518 00:39:50.199 --> 00:39:53.159 many as forty years. Again that I taught these boys Sunday after Sunday, 519 00:39:53.159 --> 00:39:57.719 missing only one or two Sundays a year. And I faithfully talked to those 520 00:39:57.719 --> 00:40:00.239 boys and so some of them grew up to be men of God, and 521 00:40:00.639 --> 00:40:05.079 and and nobody in my church wanted to teach that class. And I did 522 00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:10.440 it faithfully, and Peter goes fantastic, that's another five points. He goes, 523 00:40:10.440 --> 00:40:15.599 well, um, he said, I I always visited my neighbors. 524 00:40:15.800 --> 00:40:19.760 I went door to dorthwalk up my town. I handed out tracks to every 525 00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:22.920 place in my town. And my neighbors from my neighbors were sick. I 526 00:40:22.960 --> 00:40:24.519 always made meals for them, and I took the meals over to them, 527 00:40:24.679 --> 00:40:29.880 and they offered to pray with them. And I did this at different places 528 00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:34.440 and different times as I moved around the town, and and I was always 529 00:40:34.440 --> 00:40:39.239 saifeful. And Peter's great. Five more points, and the guy started thinking, 530 00:40:39.239 --> 00:40:45.400 he goes man five, he says, well, he said fifteen points. 531 00:40:45.480 --> 00:40:47.039 He says, he says, at this rate, I'm never gonna get 532 00:40:47.079 --> 00:40:50.880 into heaven. But by the grace of God, Peter said, that's nine 533 00:40:51.639 --> 00:40:55.400 five points. Come on in. Well, the point is, I think, 534 00:40:55.400 --> 00:40:59.760 obvious, we're not gonna get into heaven because of what we've done. 535 00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:02.679 We're not gonna make it there. We're gonnaly make it because of what Christ 536 00:41:02.719 --> 00:41:07.079 has done. And we can rejoice in that. And if you never have 537 00:41:08.119 --> 00:41:13.360 come to the cross, make Christ your lord. He's not asking for anything. 538 00:41:13.880 --> 00:41:16.039 As the song said this morning, if you wait until you're better, 539 00:41:16.239 --> 00:41:21.679 you're never going to come. And that is so true. It says as 540 00:41:21.719 --> 00:41:25.719 well. The only fitness he requires is to feel your need of him. 541 00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:30.559 That's it. Just to be able to say I need you, Lord Jesus, 542 00:41:31.760 --> 00:41:37.280 and he will come to that prayer to you that are hungry, and 543 00:41:37.320 --> 00:41:40.239 he will feel you can we pray, Our Lord, We do thank you 544 00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:45.280 for your word this morning. We thank you for the way it comforts us, 545 00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:50.679 but it also stirs us up, and it also perhaps helps us to 546 00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:57.199 look at our own lives as to how much we fit the characteristics. So 547 00:41:57.320 --> 00:42:01.639 Lord is believers that are here I are, You would indeed stir us and 548 00:42:01.719 --> 00:42:07.440 help us, Lord to examine our own lives and Lord to know where perhaps 549 00:42:07.440 --> 00:42:13.840 there are deficiencies that you would have us address. We want to be those 550 00:42:14.039 --> 00:42:16.840 who are blessed because of our hunger, who are blessed because we mourn, 551 00:42:17.639 --> 00:42:22.440 who are blessed because we're persecuted, not for wrong reasons, but persecuted on 552 00:42:22.480 --> 00:42:27.239 account of the son of Man. And Lord as well, I ask if 553 00:42:27.239 --> 00:42:30.920 there are those who have never truly committed their lives to you, and Lord, 554 00:42:30.960 --> 00:42:37.679 they've never come by your grace and by your calling and by your sovereign 555 00:42:37.760 --> 00:42:42.199 election, that even so, in this message and serving this morning, they 556 00:42:42.239 --> 00:42:45.440 may be drawn to you. And that would be the greatest thing that could 557 00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:51.199 happen. But Lord, I ask you to help us all to realize who 558 00:42:51.199 --> 00:42:55.159 we are and to be thankful for the marvelous grace of our loving Lord, 559 00:42:55.920 --> 00:43:00.920 grace that exceeds our sin and despair. Here we thank you, Luke, 560 00:43:01.360 --> 00:43:05.880 for these things we prayed in Christ's name. Amen.