The Sermon On The Mount : The Beatitudes

Matthew 5:1-11

1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.

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2 And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,

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

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

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5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth.

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

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

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

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

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

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11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

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12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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Vs. 1

I learned through a Biblical commentary authored by Dr. Copeland, that in those days Rabbis before they began to teach would sit down first.

Their disciples would gather around and their Rabbi would begin to teach them.

This was Jesus way of showing His place and authority in the lives of His disciples and our lives. If we consider ourselves His disciple, or we desire to be one.

( Count the cost before you decide you want to be His disciple. Luke 14:25-33 )

Vs. 2

Jeremiah 9:23-24

All throughout the Old Testament we see again and again the LORD speaking. God from the beginning has been vocal in the lives of mankind.

Especially His children, those He loves.

Think about it: in the ancient times He spoke to the people through prophets, priest, & obedient kings.

Now He speaks to us through His Son. Which is the Holy Word!

Thousand upon millions of words from He who created the Universe by the Word & all that is in it, including us.

He did not leave us ignorant then…

He has not left us ignorant now!

( This shows why it is so important to share what we know. To horde such knowledge is not good. Oh LORD forgive us in Jesus name. Let us be courageous and obedient! )

Vs. 3

This means your complete understanding and desperation for Jesus. His mercy, His goodness, His correction, His discipline.

Your complete desire to be dependent upon Him in all things.

Basically not arrogant,

self-righteous, self-centered,

selfish. Not independent, with an attitude of I don’t need anyone.

Jesus who is God, lived on earth with an active attitude of obedience to God the Father. So how much more I as a worthless creature, until I was saved, and given worth by and through Jesus. Should be dependent and desperate for Him?

We should be living a lifestyle of obedience to God our Father, through Jesus His Son.

Vs. 4

This verse is super deep. I kinda suggest you guys do your own study if you want the depth of the type of mourning here used, & the relationship to the beatitude before it.

To keep it simple this is mostly referring towards the mourning over ones spiritual brokenness because of sin & its effects on our lives.

God told Israel through the prophets of old He would remove their sin & the consequences. The pain, the humiliation because of sin in the eyes of the nations. He would remove it from their sight. The humiliation unto themselves. They would remember their “mourning” no more.

Just like us who are in Christ now. Yes we are saved. Yes we are delivered. But we have what I like to call echoes of the past. Which sometimes are hard pressed to ignore and do we greatly mourn over that fact. Oh do we cry out! ABBA Father have mercy on us have compassion on us oh LORD!

I have cried over echoes of my past haunting me in the last week and half more then I’ve cried probably in the last year and a half.

But the day is coming when this mortal frame will put on immortality! The former things will be forgotten! We are comforted now yes.

However when Jesus returns we will be comforted to the full!

Hallelujah!!!

Please Lord Jesus we bid you to come quickly.

Vs. 5

Throughout the Psalms we see God’s gentleness towards all His creation, especially His children. We also see His commands towards us to live kindly, mercifully, and in truth.

Our God who created all things is kind, compassionate, merciful, gentle, and good. ( This is by no means a complete picture of His character ).

If our God who could ( but would not, because it is completely out of character for Him ) wipe out the universe on a whim. Carries attributes as these completely by His own character. So we as His children must learn to be kind, gentle, and merciful towards one another.

Let us not be quick to anger, but quick to be patient like our Father yes?

Vs. 6

It gets hard in this world.

The Babylonian system that has followed mankind since its organizational inception. Where all are pressured and pressed to conform.

The enemy, and his kingdom of darkness always prodding, always poking. Looking for weaknesses in the armor, we should be wearing at all times.

Lastly our flesh. The most diabolical of all our enemies. No one other than God knows us better than our flesh.

Often times the devil need not bother us, just leave us to our own devices. For some of us our flesh is running systematically on auto.

The answer to these three great enemies: is to hunger and thirst for righteousness. It Is to seek, always the Lord’s face through all of our circumstances.

Especially when things are well & good!

That’s the most important time to hunger and thirst for the word of God. His ways, His character, a relationship with Him. It is in the good times, we are being prepared for the time of trouble.

Do not expect to confidently stand firm in the day of trouble, if in the day of peace, and tranquility you played around the whole time. God is good, kind, and compassionate. However God is not a joke, a genie, or our concierge.

In fact it is quite the opposite. We are to do His bidding. Serve His Purpose. Understand that none of God’s teachings are suggestions or wishes. All are commands we are expected to obey as His precious possessions.

So we hunger for Him.

We thirst for Him.

We search for Him when He hides Himself in a higher or deeper understanding of His word, as He bids us to come find Him and grow.

Vs. 7

Ahh, what a complete turn on the head this Beatitude must of been. Everyone’s understanding in the world up to this point, couldn’t have been further from the expectations Jesus had for His creation.

The world has always lived eye for and eye, and yes this was a command in the law of Moses. However this was more in line with justice and judicial systems. Not personal vendettas.

When one sees a needy person, an elder needing obvious help, a widow struggling with their children.

These are just some examples of mercy. When someone truly wrongs you & they beg you for mercy as you have it in your legal right to destroy them, or set them back crucially in life. You opt to ask for leniency. This is mercy.

WHAT DO WE ASK FROM ABBA DAILY?

MERCY!

OH LORD GOD HAVE MERCY!

Who of us can escape from the wrath of God without His mercy?

His love, tender kindness, gentleness, mercy.

Without His character there is no sacrifice. Just judgment / wrath, what we deserve.

But God had mercy on us, by giving the world Jesus. The ultimate expression of MERCY!

Dr. Constable explains that Jesus doesn’t give examples of mercy because a child of God does not look for ways to practice mercy. They have & are becoming naturally merciful, because they are His ( God ),

and like any child we aim to look like our Father.

Vs. 8

You would think this would mean being a good person. Or innocent in character. However if you look back to the Old Testament what was the single biggest reason God was provoked to anger?

Was it not idolatry, the worshiping of idols? I heard a pastor given an interview where He said God is unwilling to share space with anyone or other thing in our hearts.

The heart of His children is to be utterly, completely, His domain.

We are to be pure in our allegiance, ideology, ( which should be the doctrine of the cross ) and surrender.

Matthew 15:15-20

Jesus explains the heart of man. How out of the heart of man spills all kinds of evil that defiles & dishonors man.

Think about that…

In Jesus eyes sin dishonors us.

We were truly made in His image & were not created to carry the burden of sin.

A pure heart rests comfortably in their Lord’s hands.

“Jesus help us where the issues of life are chocking our singleminded allegiance towards you in our hearts”.

Vs. 9

I was only gonna explain the peacemaker & all that entails. However, while looking up the definition for peacemaker. I came across an interesting definition in The 1894 Noah Webster dictionary.

Peacebreaker

One that violates or disturbs public peace.

I grew up in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods during the mid 90’s – 2000 in America.

It is fully documented what happened in Philadelphia on Lex street in the year of 2000.

The peace was often broken throughout the day especially in the summer at night between 1:00am & 4:00am with gunshots.

It sometimes could sound like Beirut in those days. Hundreds of shots during a singular shootout between competing factions over territory that was bringing in millions.

Now in that same neighborhood all of those people are dead, in prison serving lengthy sentences, or paralyzed. A small, very small few have made it to their adult lives where they live in regret & fear over the sins of their youth.

( I pray if anyone reading this has been by the grace of God allowed to survive those times. You would repent of the peace you have broken and live in forgiveness and not under wrath. )

…Right where were we? In the same neighborhood today those fellows are gone. But now you have their grandchildren, they don’t wanna die. They’re a little smarter than their elders. However in one way they are still carrying the torch.

Anytime between 10pm & 4am you can hear fireworks. I’m not talking little pap paps or even m80’s from my day. I’m talking full on professional fireworks that would light up a small county celebration.

Utter peacebreakers.

I think one of the ways we can look at what Jesus meant as peacemakers. Is to live a lifestyle of peace. Not argumentative, always needing to be right, restless.

A busybody, always in others business. A gossip, spreading harm, causing dissension between brothers.

An instigator.

This is so antithesis of what God’s children are to be, I pray if you consider yourself His and are practicing these things you are a babe in Christ.

If you have considered yourself a child of God and have been practicing these kinds of things for years.

Please examine yourself. Our Character is so important to God He has a whole work dedicated to it.

The sanctification process.

So let us live a lifestyle of peace. Let us also cooperate with the Holy Spirit through the process of sanctification.

Vs. 10

You as I in the beginning may confused verse 10 & 11 as being the same.

They are similar, however the subject for the persecution is very different.

Righteousness: here Jesus is speaking of one who is persecuted, ridiculed, and or shunned to say the least for obeying and living under God’s divine law.

For example I remember when American television started to shame characters especially men if they were still virgins.

To bed many women meant you were a man. You were strong, handsome & successful.

To be a virgin meant you were weak, unpopular, unwanted, unworthy.

It worked like a charm. Teenage pregnancies shot through the roof in the 80’s & 90’s along with abortions.

I remember often someone very close to me being a virgin, was teased relentlessly by the other girls. Yet she has stood firm on God’s divine law of purity.

There are examples upon, examples of people standing up for righteousness and being mocked, ignored, scoffed, beaten, loss of career, loss of family…

Loss of life!

Jesus says here, the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. It is their reward for standing up for God’s moral order and not conforming to this world…

Even unto death.

Thank you Lord, because it is only by your grace, we are able to keep your beautiful divine law.

Let us do as Jesus did. He always stood up for what was right.

He is never arrogant.

Jesus mourned over our sinful condition, hence His sacrifice.

Jesus is gentle

Isaiah 42:3

3 “A broken reed He will not break [off]

And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish [He will not harm those who are weak and suffering];

He will faithfully bring forth justice.

Jesus says continuously, “ I have not come to do my will, but the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Jesus mercy is “wovenly” stitched throughout His character. God has said often through the OT that He is rich in mercy.

Jesus is Holy, Holy, Holy. His heart of purity is beyond reproach.

Jesus is literally the Prince of Peace.

Jesus came to His people to free them from the bondage of sin, the flesh, and the kingdom of darkness.

Mankind murdered Him for it.

Vs. 11

I have read that this verse is technically not part of the beatitudes. That is a study in depth I can not begin to do here.

The main point regardless, Jesus is linking the persecution of His children for doing the right thing and standing on His testimony is irrefutable.

Many Christian’s, prophets, and priests of ancient times were murdered for standing up for God’s holy divine truth.

Many more for being God’s precious possession, and mouth piece of the Holy Spirit.

So if the time ever comes where this country & our sections of the world will no longer tolerate our existence, or message. I pray in Jesus name we stand in that evil day, having done all we Stand!

God bless you

Jesus loves you

I love you

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I am not sure what has been going on with this website. But no matter what I do my paragraphs will not leave space between each other.

No matter how much space I place between them. If you saw how many lines of space I’ve been placing between my paragraphs and still not much difference at all. You’d be shocked.

So I am experimenting with ways to give you spacing.

I apologize for any discomfort, and I thank you for reading anyway.

The Sermon On The Mount : The Beatitudes

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