Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor standeth in the way of sinners,
Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers:
But his delight is in the law of the Lord;
And on His law doth he meditate day and night.And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water,
That bringeth forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also doth not wither;
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.The wicked are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous;
But the way of the wicked shall perish.
And seeing the multitudes, He went up into the mountain:
And when He had sat down, His disciples came unto Him:
And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying,Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.
Dear Lord, our hearts are full. We are most grateful to Thee, Thou who art the Son of God, and yet Thou didst empty Thyself and take upon Thee the form of a slave, the fashion of a man. And Thou, being found in fashion as a man, wast obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And it is all for our sake.
Thou who didst empty Thyself art now exalted on high, at the right hand of the Father, waiting for all Thy enemies to be made Thy footstool. Thou art worthy.
Lord, as we continue in that worshipping spirit, we look to Thee to speak to our hearts. Bless us, that we may bless Thee. We commit this time into Thy hands.
Deliver us from self-consciousness, Lord, that we may be conscious only of Thy presence. Speak, Lord; Thy servant heareth. In Thy precious name, amen.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
The apostle Paul, when he began this letter, his heart was so full that he began with, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We know that our God is the God of blessing. He loves to bless because He is love. But when we are blessed, do we bless Him because of the blessing with which He has blessed us?
When we are blessed, do we merely take His blessings as ours and enjoy them? If we do, the result is that our old man grows fat, and we will soon forget Him and rebel against Him. This was proven in the history of the children of Israel, and we are no different from them.
If, when we are blessed, we simply take the blessing to ourselves and let it end with us, dear brothers and sisters, the end result will be curse and not blessing.
When God blesses us, it is that we may bless Him with the blessing with which He has blessed us. It should not just end in ourselves. If we receive His blessings and give the blessing back to Him, blessing Him for His blessing, then these blessings will become real blessings in our lives.
Everything comes from God, and everything returns to God. Here is the beginning, and here is the end. So when we are blessed, remember: it is for Him. It is that we may have something with which to bless Him.
Now, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” When He blesses us, He blesses us as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We cannot imagine how God is the God of our Lord Jesus. We cannot imagine how the Father is the Father of our Lord Jesus. And yet, thank God, His Father is our Father, and His God is our God. Today, it is in that relationship that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
He has blessed us because He has blessed His Son. He has put every blessing with which He can bless in His beloved Son. Through His beloved Son, He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
That is a real blessing. The blessing that will last forever is not physical; it is not material, because physical things are temporal. They soon pass away. Spiritual blessing is eternal.
God, in Christ Jesus, has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that we can think of. Why? Because all the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in Christ bodily.
Outside of Christ, God has no blessing with which to bless. Every blessing is in Christ, and in Christ He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
We do not need to go outside of Christ trying to find blessing. Dear brothers and sisters, as a matter of fact, a blessing that is not in Christ—or even, to say it more strongly, a blessing that is not Christ Himself—is not a blessing at all.
Sometimes we feel that we are blessed. The world thinks that if we have this or have that, then we are blessed. But if what we consider a blessing is not in Christ, is not out of Christ, is not Christ Himself, remember: it is not a blessing; it is a curse.
I think experience tells us that. Anything that is not of Christ, anything that is not Christ Himself, eventually will prove that it is not a blessing. The real blessing is that God blesses us with Christ.
When we are blessed with Christ, and when every spiritual blessing is simply a facet of Christ, an expression of Christ, then that blessing is everlasting, and it is a real blessing.
God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. We have mentioned already that there is a heavenly realm, and it is in that heavenly realm that we are blessed with every spiritual blessing. It is in Christ Jesus.
I do not know how to share my heart. I do not have the words for it. The only word I can say is, “What is blessing?” Blessing—the blessing that comes from God—is just Christ. That is it.
If we can only see this, we will be delivered from all kinds of problems and troubles. We will be delivered from all illusions and misconceptions. Just remember that the blessing with which God has blessed us is not only in Christ, but actually is Christ.
When a blessing becomes a Person, you receive the right blessing. If a blessing is just a thing, you may lose it; it may change its nature. But if the blessing is Christ, a Person whom you come to receive, know, and experience—He is living—then that blessing is everlasting. This is what God wants to bless us with.
Now this morning, we would like to go a step further: from blessing to the blessed; from gift to the Giver. In other words, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, and now, in turn, we will become the blessed of the Lord.
You remember in the Old Testament, when Abraham rescued his nephew Lot and defeated the four kings, Melchizedek, the priest of God Most High, met him. In Genesis 14, we are told:
Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth.
Abraham is the blessed one. He was blessed by God. Why? Because when the God of glory appeared to him in Ur of the Chaldees and called him to leave his native country, his kindred, and his own family, and go to where God called him, he obeyed by faith. Because of this, he was blessed.
Even in the promised land, he lived there as a stranger and a sojourner. It was this obedience of faith that made him the blessed one.
When he was blessed by God with Isaac, he offered Isaac to God—the sacrifice of faith. Because of his obedience of faith, his work of faith, and his sacrifice of faith, Abraham became the blessed one of God. Not only was he blessed by God, but he became a blessing.
In the New Testament, think of Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus. In Luke 1, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her, he said:
Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee:
Blessed art thou among women.
We call Mary the blessed one. Why? Because when God called her and wanted to use her, in spite of the fact that she would be misunderstood, rejected, and perhaps even stoned to death, yet she said:
Behold, the handmaid of the Lord;
Be it unto me according to thy word.
The abandonment of love made her the blessed one. So, dear brothers and sisters, what we want to hear this morning is this: How can we be the blessed of the Lord? Who are the blessed? In what position will we be the blessed ones of the Lord?
We would like to use two portions of Scripture, one in the Old Testament and the other in the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, we would like to use Psalm 1. Brothers and sisters, we all know that the Psalms are a collection of the experiences of those who knew the Lord.
They passed through all kinds of circumstances: sometimes prosperity, sometimes adversity; sometimes joy, sometimes sorrow; sometimes abundant life, sometimes the shadow of death. The psalmists passed through every kind of experience that people can experience in this world.
As they went through these experiences, they discovered God Himself. They found that God was their blessing, and out of their experiences they wrote these psalms. The Psalms are not a book of doctrine, but a book of experience. Out of experience, they learned spiritual blessing, the true blessing of the Lord.
Of course, Psalm 1 is the introduction to the 150 Psalms. It is the preface, and there you find that it begins with, “Blessed.” Who are the blessed?
Whenever I read this psalm, I remember a true story.
In China, we had a fellow worker whose name was Philip Wan. The older ones among us may still remember him. When he was young, he was sent by his father to Russia to study. He graduated in Russia, and in his youth he even participated in the Russian Revolution.
When he returned to China—he was from Manchuria—he arrived at a railway station and saw a coolie helping people with their luggage. He noticed that the man had been a merchant in Russia, and he knew him. So he asked, “What happened to you?”
The man said that, in Russia, he had become an opium smoker and had lost everything. Philip Wan himself had also been an opium smoker. He told us that in Russia they encouraged the Chinese to smoke opium.
When he saw that man, he immediately felt that he had to quit smoking opium. Instead of going home, he went to a hotel and shut himself in for three days and three nights. He told us that he was rolling on the floor whenever the desire for opium came, but he determined that he would rather die than smoke opium. In three days, he quit opium.
He went home. He came from a very rich family, but he had nothing to do. His brother had opened a gold store, and when the Japanese took their land and built an airport, he simply stayed with his brother.
But he was very anti-Christian. He did not really know what Christianity was, but he was anti-Christian—just like Saul of Tarsus. In that city there was only one church.
Do you know what he did? He employed a group of children to go into that church. When the congregation stood to sing, the children threw sand into their mouths. When they stood to pray, the children moved the chairs away. He did that until the church was closed.
He told us that he went from house to house preaching against Christianity. He did not know what Christianity really was, but because of his education in Russia, he opposed it.
One day he was in his brother’s store with nothing to do. It was raining, so he tried to find something to read. Strangely, he found a book under the table. He took it, opened it, and began to read.
It was a hymnbook. I do not know how that hymnbook came into the house. He opened it and read:
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor standeth in the way of sinners,
Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers.
When he read this, he said, “That makes sense.” He could not sleep that night.
The next morning he rose and went to the church building. Of course, it was closed, but he pushed the door and it opened. He went straight to the pulpit and saw a large book on the table. He opened it, and it was Psalm 1.
He said, “Well, that comes from this book.” So he took that book and brought it home. The first time he stole, he stole a Bible.
He started to read it, and it began to touch his heart.
But he became the leader of the second revolution in Manchuria. In order to promote the revolution, there were certain things he had to do. He said, “I need a place where I can propagate, make propaganda.” He decided that the best place was the YMCA, so he used the YMCA as an outlet for propaganda.
But he said that a revolution needed money. How could one get money? He decided that the best way was to open a cigarette factory. So he opened a cigarette factory and began to produce cigarettes.
All the foreign cigarette companies tried to resist him. The stores that sold cigarettes received products from the foreign companies on credit, but they resisted buying his cigarettes. He was very clever.
He employed a number of people to sit in rickshaws and visit all the stores that sold cigarettes. When they came down from the rickshaw, they would say, “We want cigarettes,” and take out a package, saying, “We want this cigarette. That is the best.”
The stores tried to sell them other brands, but they would say, “No, no, no. All these others are no use. If you do not have it, we will not have it.” They went around the city, and the stores concluded that this cigarette was in great demand.
So the stores began to order. He said, “My cigarette is the best. You have to pay cash.” They all paid cash, and after they had paid, he dismissed all those people. The stores were left with all these cigarettes, and nobody wanted them.
So they began to push the cigarettes for him. They advertised them, promoted them, and the factory became very successful. He had all the money he needed for the revolution.
Of course, as the leader of the second revolution, the Japanese wanted to catch and arrest him, and the warlords wanted to arrest him. So he fled for his life. He told me many stories of how he escaped arrest. I will give you just one.
He had the names of all the revolutionaries in his home. He thought, “If they get hold of that, many people will be arrested and killed.” He could not go home, so he disguised himself.
At night, he went back to his home. In Manchuria it is very cold, so he covered himself until only his two eyes could be seen. He saw that the door was closed and the house was dark. He pushed the door, and it opened. Immediately, he was caught. People had been waiting for him.
When he was caught, he said, “Sorry. I am just a tailor. This family ordered a lot of clothes. I made them, but they did not give me the money.” He showed them the accounts.
While he was showing them the accounts, he said, “Sorry, I have to go to the toilet.” He went to the toilet, where all the papers were hidden, and flushed them away. That was this brother.
When he was fleeing for his life, one morning, while he was in a strange city, the Spirit of God convicted him. All his sins came back to him. He was in the sitting room, kneeling there and praying, and his tears wet the carpet.
While he was praying, he said, the Word of God came to him one passage after another, comforting him and assuring him. He was wonderfully saved.
It all began with Psalm 1.
Later, he closed his factory and went to Shanghai to study the Bible. While studying at the Bible Institute, he was so anxious to serve the Lord. He rented a place in old Shanghai, employed a preacher to preach for him first, and during the weekdays he came to help. That was our brother.
He brought much money to Shanghai and put it in the bank. But the Lord dealt with him very severely: the bank went bankrupt, and he contracted tuberculosis.
Wonderfully, the Lord raised him up and used him mightily in China. Dear brothers and sisters, it all came from this psalm. Every time I read Psalm 1, I cannot forget that.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor standeth in the way of sinners,
Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers.
Who is the blessed man? According to the Old Testament, the blessed man is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.
In Old Testament times, you find that the emphasis is more upon outward conduct. Under the law, outward behavior and outward conduct matter most. Here, then, is the man who is blessed of God: he is a man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.
The whole world lies under the wicked one. So far as God is concerned, everyone in the world is wicked. Among the wicked there may be some who are less wicked and some who are more wicked, but all human beings are wicked because we all lie under the wicked one.
The wicked ones usually have counsel. They like suggestions, plans, and projects. All these are wicked because they lead us away from God. Walk not in the counsel of the wicked.
Stand not in the way of sinners. Everybody in this world is a sinner—less sinful or more sinful—but sinners have a way, and we are all walking in that way.
If you read Ephesians 2, you find that we were all dead in sins and transgressions. We all followed the world and its fashion, not knowing that actually we were under the evil spirit. We were children of wrath. There is a way which seems right, but it ends in destruction.
The blessed one will not walk in the way of sinners, and will not sit in the seat of scoffers. There is a progression: the wicked, the sinner, and the scoffer. Not only do they rebel against God; they begin to ridicule God and become scoffers.
You walk, you stand, and you sit. Those who are blessed of the Lord, in their daily life and conduct, do not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of scoffers. That is the negative side.
In verse 2, you have the positive side. The positive is actually the reason why they do not walk, stand, and sit.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord;
And on His law doth he meditate day and night.
A man who is blessed of the Lord is a person who delights in the law of God—the Word of God—and meditates upon it day and night.
Dear brothers and sisters, the Word of God cleanses us. If we love the Word of God and meditate upon it, that will keep us from walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of scoffers.
Even today, if we delight in the Word of God and meditate day and night, it will preserve us. The thing that is greatly missing today is meditation on the Word of God.
Modern life is rushing—just rush, rush, rush. We do not have time really to think, rethink, meditate, and consider. Because of this, our life is very shallow. We need to meditate on the Word of God so that our spiritual life may grow deep. This will keep us from wickedness, sin, and scoffing.
Such a man is like a tree planted by streams of water. In other words, he is connected with the source of life. Because he is connected with the source of life, he will not fail to produce fruit.
Fruit means something that comes from within. It is the riches of the life within expressed in fruit. Those who truly love the Word of God and meditate on it will have fruit—the fruit of the Spirit.
They will also have leaves, and their leaves will not fade. Leaves simply refer to outward conduct. Outwardly, there will be good behavior that glorifies God, and their undertakings will be prospered by God.
In the Old Testament, we know that blessing is mainly earthly, though some who had faith went further into spiritual blessing. These, then, are the blessed ones in Old Testament times.
By contrast, what happens to the wicked? “The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” Chaff has no life in it. It cannot be eaten. When the wind blows, it is blown away and disappears.
That is the life of the wicked. The life of the blessed is like a tree: there are roots. But the life of the wicked is like chaff: no roots, just emptiness. It is blown away.
Because God is the Judge, eventually the wicked will be judged. They will not stand in the assembly of the righteous, because God knows our way.
Sometimes in this world, the wicked seem to prosper while the righteous seem to suffer. This question has been asked throughout the centuries.
If you read Psalm 73, you find this righteous man asking, “Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer?” Sometimes it may appear that way. But he said, “Until I went into the sanctuary; then understood I their end.”
God is the Judge. The prosperity of the wicked is only for a time, but the righteous will inherit eternally. This is what we find in the Old Testament. The blessed one is more concerned with outward behavior.
But thank God, today, in Christ Jesus, we are redeemed. We become the heavenly and spiritual people of God. Who are the blessed in the New Testament? Let us refer to Matthew 5.
Our brother already mentioned Matthew 5 last night. Here you find that our Lord Jesus went up into the mountain. Great crowds came to Him, so He left the crowd and climbed the mountain. His disciples came to Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them.
The Sermon on the Mount begins with “Blessed.” Who are the truly blessed?
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
If you turn to Luke 6 and read from verse 20, you find a little variation. Our Lord lifted up His eyes upon His disciples and said:
Blessed are ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy: for behold, your reward is great in heaven.
Then in verse 24:
But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
Woe unto you, ye that are full now! for ye shall hunger.
Woe unto you, ye that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
Woe unto you, when all men speak well of you! for in the same manner did their fathers to the false prophets.
There is a slight difference between these two passages. In Matthew, our Lord spoke to His disciples, telling them who are the blessed. It is instruction. But in Luke, our Lord lifted up His eyes and looked at His disciples. In other words, these disciples had been taught, and being taught, the Lord said, “Blessed are ye poor.”
In Luke it is more simple. He does not say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Of course, in reality, it is so; but He says, “Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
The Lord does not refer to His disciples as physically or materially poor. Even though these disciples were not rich in every sense, James and John, for example, were fishermen whose father had hired servants and boats. They were not truly poor in that natural sense.
When the Lord looked at His disciples and said, “Blessed are ye poor,” the poverty did not refer to physical, material, or natural poverty. It referred to the fact that, because they had become the disciples of the Lord, they had become poor.
You remember 2 Corinthians 8: our Lord, being rich, yet became poor for our sake. In Philippians 2, we find that He was equal with God, and that was not something to be grasped, because He is God. He is the Son of God; the Son and the Father are one.
Yet He emptied Himself. You cannot think of anyone richer than our Lord. Who can be richer than God? The whole world belongs to Him. Everything is His. Our Lord is the richest in the whole universe; He has the universe. But He emptied Himself and became poor for our sake, that we might be enriched in Him.
So, brothers and sisters, who are the disciples, the learners, and the followers of our Lord Jesus? When our Lord Jesus called His disciples, He said, “Come after Me.” What did they do? They left everything and followed Him. That made them poor.
It is voluntary poverty. For the sake of the Lord, they left everything behind and followed Him. The Lord said, “Blessed are ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.”
Dear brothers and sisters, when we become disciples of our Lord Jesus, what do we mean by disciples? Disciples simply means learners. You learn from your master.
Who is the Master? Our brother mentioned last night that when you look at the Sermon on the Mount, at the Beatitudes, they are actually a description of the character of our Lord Jesus.
That is what He is. He is the most blessed One. Why? Because He is poor in spirit. He is the One who mourns. He is meek. He is the One who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. He is merciful. He is pure in heart. He is the peacemaker. He is persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
In other words, the Beatitudes are a description of the character of our Lord Jesus when He was on earth. He is the Master, the Teacher, and He is calling us to be His disciples.
Today, we tend to divide believers and disciples. We think that we can be believers without being disciples. But in the early days there was no separation. If you believed in Him, then you followed Him. If you received Him as your Savior, then you surrendered to Him as your Master and Lord.
I think many brothers and sisters know the story of Watchman Nee when he was saved. He knew the doctrines of the gospel, and when he went to hear Mr. Rees, he said that on the first night, as he listened, he knew it was all true. The gospel was true; Jesus Christ was true; His salvation was real. He knew that he should believe, but he did not believe that night.
After a number of nights, he struggled. The problem was that he knew if he received Jesus as his Savior, he must surrender to Jesus as his Lord. He could not do that. As a young man, he had his own plans, and from the human standpoint, he would be successful. It was hard for him to give them up.
He struggled and struggled until one day, while he was praying, he saw the blackness of his sin and the redness of the blood of the Lord.
He was moved by the love of Christ, and he capitulated. He believed in Jesus as his Savior, and at the same time, he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Master.
Dear brothers and sisters, when we receive Jesus as our Savior, do we surrender our lives to Him as our Lord and Master? This is discipleship. Do we give ourselves away, leave everything, and follow Him?
In other words, we become poor voluntarily. We leave everything behind and just follow Him. He is our riches, our wealth, and our home.
Blessed are ye poor.
When you come to Matthew, you find that it explains what this poverty means:
Blessed are the poor in spirit:
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Before we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are very rich in ourselves. We think highly of ourselves. We think that we are capable, that we have many abilities and talents, and that we can do this or that. We even think we can save ourselves, and we try.
But thank God, He brings us to a point where we find that we can do nothing. We cannot save ourselves. Our righteousness is all as filthy rags. It will not meet the demand of the righteous God. We are reduced to poverty—spiritual poverty—and then we receive the Lord as our Savior.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” It does not mean that we have a poor spirit. Some people have a poor spirit, but that is different from being poor in spirit. If you have a poor spirit, there is no blessing in that.
But if you are poor in spirit, you are reduced to poverty—reduced to nothing. You begin to have that humility, that spirit of humility, that self-effacement.
How can you be reduced to nothing? Naturally, we all think highly of ourselves. We think we are somebody, that we are something, and that we have something.
But, brothers and sisters, when we see the glory of God, when we see the face of the Lord Jesus, when we see His riches, and when we see His beauty, that turns our beauty into corruption.
You remember the story of Daniel. Daniel was such a young man. When he was in his teens, he was taken as a hostage to a foreign country and given the best opportunity. Yet he kept himself pure for the Lord. He would not defile himself with the king’s food and wine.
God blessed him with wisdom, understanding, and discernment. Yet in his old age, when he saw the beauty and glory of the Lord, he said, “My beauty is turned into corruption.”
Dear brothers and sisters, if we see the Lord and follow Him—now, you cannot see Him if you do not follow Him—then it will bring us into spiritual poverty. He will reduce us to being poor in spirit.
The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of the Lamb. It is a spirit of humility. May that Spirit characterize our spirit. That is the way to blessing.
Why are we not blessed as we should be? So far as God is concerned, He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. But why do we not receive the blessing as we should? It is because we are too full. We are too rich in ourselves.
We are just like the church that says, “I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing. I have everything. I have knowledge, I have understanding, I have everything.” That kind of spirit blocks the way to blessing.
So, dear brothers and sisters, if we want to be the blessed of the Lord, where should we be? We must be in a low place—not physically, but spiritually—poor in spirit.
We acknowledge and confess that we are nothing and have nothing. But, as a matter of fact, the more you know that you are nothing, the more you have something. It is the poor in spirit who are spiritually rich, because they will be filled.
If we empty ourselves, He will fill us. Theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
We do not need to wait until the future to enter the kingdom of the heavens. Do you know that today, among God’s people, many do not even know that there is a kingdom? They think only of today and eternity, this age and eternity. They do not know that there is an age to come: the kingdom.
But, brothers and sisters, those who are poor in spirit are blessed. Why? Because even today they are already in the kingdom of the heavens. That is the very atmosphere of the kingdom of the heavens.
In the kingdom of the heavens, there is no quarrel over who is greatest. In the kingdom of the heavens, he who is smallest is greatest.
You may live even today in the kingdom of the heavens. Only those who live in the kingdom of heaven today will be qualified to reign with Christ in the kingdom to come.
The blessed of the Lord in New Testament times begins with the spirit of humility. May the Lord keep us in that spirit.
As we look into church history, whether it concerns a group or an individual, we find that the reason those blessed of the Lord decline is that they lack the spirit of humility.
When you look at church history, it seems as if the blessing of the Lord cannot be maintained for more than thirty years. After thirty years, the same cycle repeats again and again.
Dear brothers and sisters, is that the will of God? Certainly not. The reason that, after twenty or thirty years of blessing, there is decline is always that people become full in themselves. They become proud of the blessing of God.
You have the blessing, but you lose the Blesser. You lose sight of Christ. You see only the blessing with which He has blessed you. You separate the blessings from the Blesser, and that is decline.
But it should not be so. If only by the grace of God we are kept in a humble spirit, then we will find that we are the blessed. The blessing will continue, and even today we will be living in the kingdom of the heavens.
The second Beatitude says:
Blessed are they that mourn:
For they shall be comforted.
Our brother has already given us a very exhaustive explanation of this verse. I will only mention this: Why are those who mourn blessed? Because they grieve according to God.
If you grieve according to the world, there is no blessing there. But if you grieve according to God, then it will lead to repentance unto salvation. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
The third Beatitude says:
Blessed are the meek:
For they shall inherit the earth.
Who are the meek? You remember that our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 11:29:
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me;
For I am meek and lowly in heart:
And ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Our Lord Jesus is the meek One. If we take His yoke upon us, we have to be yoked with Christ. We cannot learn meekness if we are not yoked with Him.
He is on one side of the yoke. He is the meek One, and we are on the other side of the yoke—the naughty, haughty ones. When we are pulling the plow, we find that He, the meek One, is stronger than the haughty one. He will pull us in His direction, and by that we begin to learn meekness.
If you are not yoked with Christ, you will never learn meekness, because naturally we are haughty. We have to be yoked with Christ. That is discipleship, and we learn from Christ. Then there will be meekness in us.
You know Moses. The Bible says that he was the meekest of all men. Certainly that is not our usual impression of him. The artists who draw Moses give him such masculine, forceful features.
But in Numbers 12, the Bible says that Moses was the meekest of all people. Certainly he was not weak. What is meekness?
Meekness is being soft and tender toward the will of God. Whatever is the will of God, he will do it.
When Moses was commanded to build the tabernacle and was given the pattern on the mount, even to the minutest detail, though he had been trained in Egypt and was a great architect, he did not deviate one bit. He followed the directions. He was meek toward the will of God. That is meekness.
Brothers and sisters, are we meek? It does not mean that we are weak. We think of weakness as being like jelly, with no backbone and no principles. No. Meek is not weak.
Meek simply means that before God and before His will, you are so meek that you will do everything He orders you to do. That is meekness.
If you are meek, the world will say that you will get nothing. But God will give you the land.
The fourth Beatitude says:
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness:
For they shall be filled.
Are we hungry and thirsty for righteousness? Of course, the righteousness here is not merely Christ as our righteousness, period. We have no righteousness of our own.
We are like the prodigal son. When we came back, we were in rags. But when the Father met us, He took off our rags and put upon us the best robe. The best robe is Christ—Christ our righteousness.
God made Christ our righteousness. We are all clothed with Christ, and because we are clothed with Christ, we can stand before God without shame, accepted in the Beloved.
But, brothers and sisters, the righteousness here is different. It is the righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
The scribes and Pharisees had a kind of righteousness, but it was only an outward appearance—a good appearance. How pious they seemed to be! They kept the letter of the law even to the minutest degree. But inside, they were like tombs filled with dead bones.
Our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Unless our righteousness exceeds theirs, we cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens.
What is that righteousness?
Seek ye first His kingdom, and His righteousness;
And all these things shall be added unto you.
The righteousness here is the righteous acts of the saints. In Revelation 19, the wife of the Lamb was given fine linen, bright and pure, which is the righteous acts of the saints. That is the wedding garment.
In Psalm 45, we are told that the queen has within her a garment of wrought gold. Yes, this is Christ, our righteousness. But over this golden garment is a raiment of embroidery, and that is the wedding garment.
The raiment of embroidery means that the Holy Spirit weaves the character of Christ, stitch by stitch, into our very being. Christ begins to appear in our life. His character begins to become our character.
It is the righteous acts of the saints, but it is Christ. Brothers and sisters, we need to hunger and thirst after this righteousness. If we do, we will be filled. Thank God for that.
Blessed are the merciful:
For they shall obtain mercy.
God does not want sacrifice; He wants mercy. He knows our heart. Men judge by appearance, but God judges by the heart. He wants us to be merciful.
Our Lord is the merciful One, and He wants us to be merciful. We who have received mercy should show mercy. You remember the parable of the servant who owed his master so much and was forgiven, yet would not forgive his fellow servant who owed him a little.
The Lord said, “Because you are not merciful, you will not receive mercy.” May the Lord help us.
Blessed are the pure in heart:
For they shall see God.
The pure in heart means not merely a clean heart, but a pure heart—not a double heart, not a heart and a heart, but an undivided heart toward the Lord.
If our heart is undivided toward the Lord, we see God. The reason we do not see God in our daily life is because our heart is divided. But if it is united, one—if we love the Lord our God with all our heart—then we will see God in our daily life.
Blessed are the peacemakers:
For they shall be called sons of God.
Our brother already mentioned this morning that our Lord is the Peacemaker. Because He is, when we take up His character, we also become peacemakers. God has given us the ministry of reconciliation, begging the world to be reconciled to God in Christ Jesus.
Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
Dear brothers and sisters, we do not belong to this world. We are not of this world, as Christ is not of this world. Therefore, the world will not understand us. They will not only misunderstand us; they will even persecute us.
But if we are persecuted for His name’s sake, rejoice, for great is your reward in the kingdom of heaven.
Who are the blessed? How can we be in a position of being blessed? Remember the Beatitudes. If we truly learn of Him and take up His character in us, then, brothers and sisters, there is no limit to the blessing of God.
May the Lord help us.
Dear Lord, Thou art the blessed One, and Thou wantest us to be joined to Thee, that we may be blessed.
Lord, we do pray that we may learn of Thee, that Thy character may become our character. Lord, all this is for Thee. We want to bless Thee with what Thou hast blessed us with.
In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.