Sermon

The Beatitudes (Part 3) | Frank Brancato

Church of Christ - Bakersfield, Ca

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  1. It's great to be here with all of you.

  2. Today, we have a wonderful crowd as has been mentioned.

  3. It is Mother's Day, we're very thankful for recognizing mothers

  4. and we recognize them everyday there, that special in our life.

  5. I'm honored to be your speaker and I hope that what we have to

  6. consider for a little while this morning would be encouraging to

  7. you and edifying to you in some way.

  8. This morning, we're continuing our series on the great Sermon

  9. on the Mount. And as I've said, many times, it

  10. was the greatest sermon ever preached.

  11. We talked about the reasons why I believe it was the greatest

  12. sermon ever. Preached will not go into that

  13. this morning, but in particular, the part of The Sermon on the

  14. Mount, that we're going to continue to study, is the

  15. Beatitudes in the Beatitudes cover, the first 12 verses of

  16. The Gospel, according to Matthew chapter 5, And today, our sermon

    Matthew 5 chapter mention

  17. is to be attitudes part 3. Let's just noticed very briefly

  18. what we've noticed in the first two parts.

  19. I'm going to very brief about this in review but they all flow

  20. together so we have to bring them up.

  21. This is what Jesus said when he began this great sermon.

  22. He first said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the

  23. Kingdom of Heaven. If you want to go to heaven, you

  24. have to be poor in spirit. And we talked about what it

  25. means to be poor in spirit being poor in spirit.

  26. Literally means I am destitute of spirit.

  27. I am nothing without God from a spiritual perspective.

  28. I'm nothing without Jesus. I need Jesus.

  29. In my life, I have a sin problem.

  30. I don't know what in the world's wrong with that has a wonderful

  31. thing. What you're saying is you're not

  32. saying that I am some weakling somewhere.

  33. You're saying this, I have no strength except it comes from

  34. God, that is the source of my strength, and from a spiritual

  35. perspective, I am spiritually destitute without God.

  36. I need the Savior got a sin problem that leads us to number

  37. two, Then Jesus said, blessed are they that mourn mourn over

  38. what mourn over those since the personal infractions that we

  39. have against God? And I got to say something about

  40. guilt, I know we live in a society of people today that

  41. don't want us to be guilty about anything.

  42. But guilt is good. Perpetual guilt is bad.

  43. God does not want us to live in a state of Perpetual guilt.

  44. He gave us a plan. Notice how it works, I'm poor in

  45. spirit. I got a sin problem, I got to do

  46. something about it. There's a plan.

  47. I obey the gospel I'm baptized for the remission of my sins.

  48. I Rise to walk in newness of life.

  49. I'm forgiven and therefore I am comforted, that's great stuff

  50. but there's more What about after we obey the gospel?

  51. You know what you're going to do?

  52. You're going to mess up. You're going to send in your

  53. life. Everybody since 1st, John 1 and

  54. verse 9, if you confess your sins, he's faithful.

  55. And just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse, you of all

  56. unrighteousness, even the contamination of that sin will

  57. be removed, great stuff. I'm forgiven again when with

  58. Godly sorrow and repentance. I asked for forgiveness, I'm

  59. comforted because I'm forgiven, but then there's number three.

  60. What about the things that we habitually struggle with

  61. everyday? A lot of our struggles are the

  62. same things that we fall back to because those are our

  63. weaknesses. What about that?

  64. There's a plan for that too. Love this James 5:16 confess

    James 5:16

  65. your faults, one to another and pray one for another that you

  66. may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of

  67. a righteous man avails much healed forgiving comforted and

  68. one more The context of the passage is sin, personally,

  69. fractions against God morning. Over those sins.

  70. But what about the things that we mourn over in life?

  71. What about the Christian morning over the injustices in the

  72. world? What about all the bad stuff?

  73. That's just really not fair. What about that?

  74. The child of God is also comforted?

  75. Why? Because we know that God is

  76. ultimately in control. Wonderful, stuff!

  77. Are you seeing the picture? Now, we have the proper

  78. relationship with God, and now it gives us a third thing that

  79. we have to have. It is the mental disposition

  80. that every child of God, must have to go to heaven.

  81. And that is the spirit of meekness.

  82. Meekness you remember is not weakness.

  83. It is the epitome, it is the ultimate strength.

  84. Jesus says, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden

  85. and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn of me

  86. for, I am what I am meek and lowly at heart and you shall

  87. find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my

  88. burden is light. Having a state of meekness, by

  89. the way, is the idea of being unassuming.

  90. It is a making a choice to put yourself aside but the And

  91. others first in your life. And I got to say this too, it's

  92. not weakness, its strength, it gives you the perseverance and

  93. staying power and courage to make it to the end.

  94. That's all part of meekness. Now, Jesus says, you got to rid

  95. yourself of all your self-righteousness as our

  96. brother prayed in our prayer. I am nothing without God.

  97. I got a gigantic void in my life.

  98. God blesses those that fill that void with his righteousness and

  99. in order to fill that void with his righteousness you have to

  100. hunger and thirst after it. And Jesus says As if you do

  101. that, you will be filled, wonderful stuff.

  102. And that's through the word of God.

  103. Remember we talked about that word filled, interesting, word.

  104. It's a word that actually is a word that's used to describe the

  105. fattening of animals in the stall.

  106. You got the word of God, you need nothing else.

  107. That's how you find out about God's righteousness and you feel

  108. it yourself with the word of God, okay?

  109. That's the first four Beatitudes that covers through verse 6 of

  110. Matthew, Chapter 5 and now we come to verse 7.

    Matthew 5 chapter mention

  111. All these are building on one another.

  112. All these are intermingling with one another and this is what

  113. Jesus says in Matthew 5 and verse 7.

  114. Here, it is. Blessed are The merciful.

  115. I got to tell you something. Do not underestimate the

  116. importance of having Mercy to other people.

  117. Do not become unmerciful to others in your life.

  118. Do not think that you kind of get it in nobody else does, or

  119. maybe if somebody else is a little weaker than you are or

  120. struggling or babe in Christ, and you're wondering why they

  121. just don't get it, be very careful.

  122. Have mercy. Have mercy.

  123. I'm going to make a couple bold statements here, both statement.

  124. Number one. If you're going to be a citizen

  125. in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, you must not should you must

  126. show Mercy to others. Bold statement, number two, if

  127. you can't show Mercy to other people, you are not poor in

  128. spirit. And Jesus says, if you want to

  129. go to heaven, you got to be poor in spirit.

  130. If you're not, merciful, you're not pouring Spirit me, show you

  131. what I mean. One scholar said it like this,

  132. those who in poverty of spirit recognize their need of mercy

  133. and are led to show Mercy to other people as well.

  134. Citizenship in the kingdom comes with God's mercy, through his

  135. son. Jesus Christ, notice how it all

  136. works. It begins at Ephesians chapter 2

    Ephesians 2 chapter mention

  137. beginning in verse 4. But God who is rich in Mercy

  138. because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we

  139. were dead in trespasses made us alive together, with Christ by

  140. Grace, you have been saved. This is what God has done for

  141. us. Now, please get this.

  142. Mercy, love, kindness, forgiveness.

  143. And Grace all go together. They're all linked together.

  144. That's what God has done for us through.

  145. Jesus Christ's Mercy. Love kindness forgiveness and

  146. Grace all, go hand-in-hand. So, because of that and because

  147. of our appreciation for that, there is a law of reciprocation.

  148. We have to be the same way to other people.

  149. Notice what Jesus said in Matthew 6.

  150. Beginning, in verse 14, for, if you forgive men, their

  151. trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you, but if

  152. you do not forgive men, their trespasses, neither will your

  153. father, forgive your trespasses. So When we receive these

  154. blessings from God, don't you think it ought to kind of give a

  155. little memory jogger? What's been done for us and

  156. appreciate that so much, that we're willing to extend that to

  157. somebody else too. I'm going to say some more about

  158. forgiveness in just a minute. But let me just say this first,

  159. you know, the amazing thing is when Jesus was speaking about

  160. Mercy, he is speaking to people that lived in a Roman world and

  161. the people that lived in a Roman World.

  162. New very, very little about Mercy.

  163. In fact, the Roman world was characterized by Conquest

  164. domination and human and Justice Mercy, was viewed.

  165. As a sign of weakness. It was viewed as a sign of

  166. unmanned leanest. One, Roman philosopher said

  167. this, Mercy is the disease of the Soul.

  168. I can't even imagine living in such a Time.

  169. One scholar. Said it, like this, though.

  170. If you don't understand the concept of Mercy, understand

  171. this to despise Mercy is to glorify brutality.

  172. It's the flip side of that. Now remember what Jesus did in

  173. Luke chapter 23. It starts back in the Garden of

    Luke 23 chapter mention

  174. Gethsemane. He says, my soul is exceeding

  175. sorrowful even unto death. He prays to his father, three

  176. times. If it be possible, let this cup

  177. pass from me. But not my will, but thy will be

  178. done. Finally, they determine resolve

  179. if there's no other way except I drink it.

  180. Your will be done. We know the story.

  181. He's beaten and scourged a horrible mock trial.

  182. He's taking a got this brow, he's nailed to the cross.

  183. You remember what Jesus said? He could have felt anything and

  184. said anything but this is what Jesus did.

  185. He said, father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.

  186. You know what? Jesus did when he was on the

  187. cross. Because of Mercy.

  188. He forgave them. Now I got to tell you something,

  189. folks, my whole life, I've heard people say two things my whole

  190. life. I'm not going to forgive until

  191. they beg my forgiveness. I've heard that Number two, I'm

  192. not allowed to forgive until they repent.

  193. Do you know that none of those things are in the Bible?

  194. Book chapter verse, let me have it and it in there.

  195. What's in there is God doesn't forgive without repentance,

  196. we're not talking about God, weird about you.

  197. Did you know that you could forgive someone of anything?

  198. You want to forgive them up for any reason you want to do it, it

  199. is never ever wrong to forgive. And by the way, there's a

  200. wonderful blessing or a positive benefit.

  201. In forgiving someone that has wronged you, even though they

  202. have not asked what you're saying is.

  203. I'm not going to be negatively influenced by what you've done

  204. to me anymore. I'm going to let it go.

  205. And people that say, I'm not going to let him off the hook

  206. that easy. No, you're not letting them off

  207. the hook, you're letting you off the hook.

  208. Let It Go. What a better way to live in it.

  209. What about Steven? They're stoning Stephen to

  210. death. He looks up into the heavens in

  211. the Bible, says the heavens were opened.

  212. And he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God.

  213. And Stephen said Lord lay not this sin to their charge.

  214. Now they still had to answer to God.

  215. Don't misunderstand me. What I'm saying is Steven,

  216. forgave why? He was merciful.

  217. He showed Mercy. All right, I'm gonna get very

  218. specific and very practical. I love specific, I love

  219. practical. Why would you do it?

  220. What is the Practical benefit of doing this?

  221. Jesus says, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain

  222. Mercy. All right.

  223. Those who show Mercy or promised a measure in return And that's

  224. witnessed by the way, into weighs practically speaking,

  225. those who show Mercy are probably going to get it from

  226. other people at least within measure.

  227. And I got to say, if your merciful, you may be the most

  228. merciful person in the world, it doesn't mean everybody's going

  229. to treat you that way. It doesn't mean that, but you

  230. are going to see the Promise there.

  231. There is a promise that you're going to, at least receive a

  232. measure of it. You know what I'm talking about.

  233. If you're an unmerciful person, by the way, nobody showing you

  234. Mercy. This is the way life is, but if

  235. you extend Mercy, Two other people.

  236. You will at least receive a measure in return in a practical

  237. sense. Here's the greatest blessing of,

  238. although when it comes from God, you're not going to receive it

  239. within measure. You going to get it without

  240. measure? And that's the most important

  241. part. If you show Mercy to others,

  242. you'll get Mercy from God in James chapter 2 verse 13.

    James 2:13

  243. Look at this for judgment is without Mercy to the one who has

  244. shown, no mercy. And then it says Mercy triumphs

  245. over judgment. What does that mean?

  246. The word triumph in the new King, James is the word rejoices

  247. in the Old King James, and it means this, it means to Glory

  248. against to exalt over or boast oneself to the injury of

  249. according to mr. Thayer the me.

  250. Meaning of this verse is very similar to First.

    1 John 4 chapter mention

  251. John chapter 4 and verse 18 said perfect love cast out fear of

  252. the judgment. folks, when a Christian is live Faithfully,

  253. And has showed Mercy. He has nothing to fear in the

  254. Judgment two things, though, live faithfully and shown mercy.

  255. And by the way, we say live Faithfully, it's everything

  256. encapsulated in that we don't have time to go into all that.

  257. Live faithfully and show Mercy. You have nothing to fear in the

  258. Judgment, it's only when a Christian has lived unfaithfully

  259. or has been unmerciful that he must fear.

  260. Robertson said this Mercy triumphs or boast against the

  261. threat of judgment because it leaves the Judgment with nothing

  262. to condemn. All right.

  263. As it is with everything else in our Christian Life, Mercy must

  264. demonstrate itself in action. It must it's not just an

  265. attitude of the heart. It's an extension of the hand,

  266. James 1:27, a very familiar passage pure and undefiled

    James 1:27

  267. religion before God and the father is this to visit the

  268. orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself

  269. unspotted, from the world. So, what's the point?

  270. The point is this, we have to be merciful, right?

  271. We just said that, we get it. But God doesn't need our Mercy.

  272. We do. Other people do.

  273. So if we want Mercy from God, we have to extend that Mercy to

  274. other people. How do you do that with your

  275. attitude? And your actions and I'm going

  276. to make a point about attitude. Please.

  277. You may say, I don't do bad things to people and that may be

  278. true. You may be the most wonderful

  279. person that never does bad things to people.

  280. I'm talking to all of us now because we can all fall short.

  281. We can all fall into that Trap, please, listen to me.

  282. Let's all of us, me too. Watch our attitudes.

  283. And don't ever have the attitude.

  284. It could never happen to me. be careful as the Bible says, take

  285. heed, lest you also be tempted Because when we think it could

  286. never happen to us, and we have that mentality, guess what?

  287. We just messed up. We just send don't have that

  288. condescending attitude. That is an unmerciful.

  289. Attitude Mercy is always demonstrated an action by

  290. attitudes and actions as well. And God deals with us is in the

  291. same way and that's why we got to be.

  292. So careful. So Jesus says, blessed are the

  293. merciful for they shall obtain mercy and then he says this in

  294. verse 8, he said Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see

  295. God? This is so important

  296. Christianity. Please get this has to be more

  297. than an external display of piety.

  298. It has to include inner substance.

  299. We've talked about the heart many times.

  300. I'm going to a little bit of a different, maybe a little

  301. different spin today, may be a little different things that

  302. maybe I'm not spoke about. We're going to talk about

  303. actually how this is to because I think everybody wants a pure

  304. heart, right? We all want that, let's talk to

  305. her. Yeah, I want that for you talk

  306. about how you get it. How do you get a pure heart?

  307. How do you know if you have one and how do you get it?

  308. Well, first of all, Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart.

  309. For they shall see God, it has to be intercept status.

  310. It has to debt, has to manifest itself from what's on the

  311. inside. After instructing, his followers

  312. to be merciful. He now addresses the proper

  313. motivation behind the act. So having a pure heart, is the

  314. motivation behind the ACT. The Pharisees and the scribes

  315. were notorious for outward. Signs of piety.

  316. Outward shows of piety, look at me, their motives were wrong. if

  317. your motive is wrong and it comes from a wrong place and if

  318. it comes from being patted on the back or getting the

  319. recognition of men, Jesus says, in another passage you have your

  320. reward meaning you're not getting anything from God,

  321. whatever pat on the back man, gave you, that's all you're

  322. going to get when the motive is wrong, in Matthew chapter 23, I

    Matthew 23 chapter mention

  323. don't have time to go into that, we study this in the past but

  324. very briefly, The scribes and Pharisees were all about going

  325. about keeping the Traditions. Keeping the law for the wrong

  326. reason to be seen of men. and Jesus says, on the outside, what

  327. you are, you are like whitewashed sepulchres briefly

  328. now briefly briefly, After the spring rains you remember they

  329. would come with the lime powder. They'd mix it with water and

  330. they would paint the grapes in Jerusalem before the Passover.

  331. Why they didn't want to be ceremonially unclean for

  332. touching a grave before the Passover.

  333. So people would come in I read historians said they would come

  334. into Jerusalem and all of these beautiful Graves would dot the

  335. countryside and on the outside they be beautiful and glistening

  336. and shining in the sun right? We know that what did Jesus say?

  337. Oh but inside your Dead Man's Bones.

  338. You know why? Didn't have Pure Heart.

  339. It wasn't the right motive. You're just whitewashed

  340. sepulchers. And that's what happens when

  341. your desires to be seen of men. Jesus rebukes such in purity of

  342. heart and ironically, by looking for men's, praise the Pharisees,

  343. missing God, one scholar said it like this.

  344. There's is the fragile reward of Earthly recognition and not the

  345. Eternal reward. Of God's abiding, presence.

  346. I got a taste of this congregation is filled with

  347. people that do a lot of wonderful things for other

  348. people acts of service. And that is wonderful.

  349. And I know for a fact because I know you, you don't do it to get

  350. the praise, the glory, or the Pats on the back.

  351. I know that of you. So now, I'm going to make this

  352. next Point, show you the scripture.

  353. I'm not talking to you. I think my people here, my my

  354. brothers and sisters in Christ. Here are not guilty of this.

  355. But this is what Jesus threw out there and we need to be careful.

  356. This is what happens when you do things to be seen of men is what

  357. Jesus says. So when you're going to do great

  358. things, great do it. But in Matthew 6, beginning in

  359. verse 1, take heed that you do not do your charitable Deeds

  360. before men to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward

  361. from your father in Heaven. Therefore when you do a

  362. charitable deed do not stand, do not sound a trumpet.

  363. Before you as the Hypocrites, do in the synagogues and in the

  364. streets that they may have Glory from men, are sure that I say to

  365. you, they have their a reward. Okay.

  366. The blasting of the trumpet, you remember this, there was those

  367. 13 trumpet shape coffers that come to the conference in the

  368. treasury. They rich people put the money

  369. in, right? They would bring a trumpet ear

  370. and blast the trumpet, look what I'm doing.

  371. The Lord was so practical. Don't Blow Your Horn when you're

  372. doing you giving, don't sound the trumpet to be seen of men,

  373. just do the deed. That's pure in heart for the

  374. right motive, for the right reason.

  375. Okay. Jesus says, those that are truly

  376. pure in heart, this is wonderful.

  377. If you want to see God, you got to be pure in heart.

  378. Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

  379. Now you're the picture here is of a subject Desiring the

  380. office, or the extremely desired, the audience with this

  381. King and spiritually. Speaking Fowler said this those

  382. who come into God's presence are not necessarily those who

  383. meticulously perform, but those who are personally pure.

  384. Now, I got to tell you this. If you are personally pure, it

  385. will manifest itself in performance.

  386. I'm not saying we need to not perform for the Lord.

  387. I'm not saying we that the outwards Stuff doesn't matter.

  388. I didn't say that. What I'm saying is those who

  389. come into God's presence and have a relationship with God.

  390. And those that are going to see God, one time someday are not

  391. those. That necessarily just check the

  392. boxes and meticulously perform one thing after another guy, got

  393. it. I'm in.

  394. It's those that are pure inside. Those that are changed inside.

  395. Where Christ is formed in them. Let's notice what James says

  396. about this in James 4. And 8.

  397. How do you have a pure heart? I want to have one, don't you?

  398. How do you have it? James 4:8 draw near to God and

    James 4:8

  399. He will draw near to you. That's number one, but we're

  400. going to get to what that actually means in just a moment.

  401. So I'm going to tell you what it does.

  402. Not mean. Drawing Near to God is not just

  403. somebody that says I love God and talks about God and says

  404. words of Praise about God, but lives their life, any way they

  405. want to live but they feel as though they have a relationship

  406. with God. So they're just speaking about

  407. God and they feel like I'm drawing near to him because of

  408. that. That's not what it means to draw

  409. near to God. But here's the thing.

  410. If I want God to be near me, I have to draw near to him.

  411. How do I do that? To have a pure heart.

  412. I have to draw near to God the word drawn near is this.

  413. It conveys the thought of entering into communion with God

  414. as acceptable worshippers if I want to have a relationship with

  415. God and I want to draw near to God.

  416. So he draws near to me. I have to be an acceptable

  417. worshipper of his. That's number one. and, you

  418. know, in the church, We are a kingdom of priests.

  419. That's what we are. You know, that means practically

  420. speaking. That means every Christian has

  421. not only the ability but the responsibility of bringing

  422. spiritual sacrifices before God, and that's through our life.

  423. That's through our life that's through worship.

  424. Every Christian is a priest. According to 1st Peter, 2, and

  425. verse 5. So as we approach God In

  426. Worship, it's going to Aid Us in overcoming the world number one,

  427. but number two, it's going to help us with a pure heart.

  428. If somebody says, well, I'm struggling with my Pure Heart.

  429. Well, maybe it's because they're not Drawing Near to God.

  430. How do you draw near to God as an acceptable worshipper of him?

  431. But there's more. Then he says this.

  432. You got to cleanse your hands. The word cleanse means to free

  433. from the defilement of sin and false to purify from wickedness,

  434. according to Thayer. Now let's get practical.

  435. You know what this means, folks. This just means this if I really

  436. want to draw near to God and I want to have a pure heart, I

  437. want all that stuff, I got to remove the simple stuff in my

  438. life and any time, the word hands is used and that's the

  439. reason it's used here. By the way, hands is a figure of

  440. Deeds. So if I'm doing Deeds that are

  441. sinful, I need to stop doing those deeds and that's called

  442. cleansing. My hands.

  443. You know, at some point in time, forgiveness is about is endless.

  444. If we repent every time and ask God to forgive us, that is true.

  445. But at some time, at some point, we need to make the determined

  446. resolve. I'm not going to do that

  447. anymore. That's called cleansing your

  448. hands, removing the sinful deed in your life.

  449. Take it away. Stop doing it.

  450. You've heard me say this before? My dad got sick and tired of me

  451. doing the same stuff over and over by me.

  452. He says, why don't you be sorry before you do it?

  453. Ouch. He was right.

  454. Be sorry before you do it. Cleanse your hands.

  455. Remove the evil Deeds. That's number two.

  456. That's what's required. Now, the idea here, by the way,

  457. the illusion goes back to the practice of the priests in

  458. approaching God, in Exodus chapter 30, washing their hands

    Exodus 30 chapter mention

  459. carefully in the Tabernacle, but the cleansing from dirt was a

  460. ritual foreshadowing of figurative cleansing that

  461. Christians must do to approach God and that is get the sins out

  462. of our life. Hands are symbolic of Deeds.

  463. Okay, then us. What else do we got to do?

  464. Then you got to purify your heart.

  465. Under the Old Law, they were concerned about ceremonially

  466. being ceremonially clean around the time of the Passover, as

  467. we've already noticed. But here we're not talking about

  468. being ceremonially clean. We're talking about being

  469. morally clean from sin purifying, our hearts.

  470. That's the inner man. So how does it all work?

  471. I want to have a pure heart, I want to see God, that's what

  472. Jesus said. Here's how you do, it cleanse

  473. your hands and your Deeds, change your life, remove the

  474. evil deeds and the sinful things in your life.

  475. Remove those things purify, your hearts, your inner life and

  476. approach. God, acceptably and acceptable

  477. worship and you will have a pure heart. but then, in James 4, and

  478. 8, this last phrase here and I think sometimes this is a

  479. struggle. You double-minded.

  480. The double minded individual. Is the person who is constantly

  481. bouncing back and forth. Between right and wrong.

  482. If you're struggling in your life and I don't know if that's

  483. you or not. I have no idea. but if you're

  484. struggling with life, And you're struggling with your spiritual

  485. life. And you're bouncing back between

  486. right and wrong all the time. The problem is James says,

  487. that's double-minded. The Bible talks about having

  488. your mind, or your eye, be single in James 1 and verse 8.

  489. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

  490. What is unstable in all his ways means the word, unstable refers

  491. to an individual, who is unsteady uncertain or fickle.

  492. It brings to mind a drunken man, staggering or weaving.

  493. So, I'm just saying this folks, that kind of Lifestyle will not

  494. work, you're destined for failure.

  495. But there's an easy fix draw near to God, He will draw near

  496. to. You cleanse your hands, you

  497. sinners. Cleanse your hands and purify

  498. your hearts, you double-minded. That's what James says, and the

  499. beauty of it is is Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart

  500. because guess what You're going to get to serve.

  501. You're going to get to see God. Remember Jesus says you can't

  502. serve two masters, okay? Got to have a pure heart.

  503. Then Jesus says this finally our final verse in verse 9 Then he

  504. says, this blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be

  505. called the sons of God. The Lord here is describing the

  506. rudimentary disposition of his subjects.

  507. Jesus Christ. Is the Prince of Peace.

  508. And do you know what he wants from us?

  509. He wants us to be people of peace to.

  510. I got to say something very positive about this congregation

  511. again. And I am thankful, and I don't

  512. think we pray about this enough thanking God enough.

  513. This congregation is at peace and that is wonderful.

  514. I know places that are not at peace.

  515. I've known places that really struggle over covid.

  516. Splits happened terrible things. They were not at peace.

  517. I know what it did here for us. Manhattan bound us together.

  518. It strengthened our faith. It strengthened our bonds.

  519. If a congregation is not at peace, you cannot grow.

  520. And congregations that are a turmoil.

  521. All the time are not growing. Its destructive.

  522. So I'm very thankful this congregation is at peace and we

  523. need to thank God for that and pray that it always will be that

  524. So what does Jesus want? Jesus wants us to be proactive

  525. in mending broken relationships. Broken relationships that are in

  526. our life, you know, Jesus does not say, blessed are the peace

  527. lovers. He says blessed are the peace

  528. makers. You may love peace.

  529. You may enjoy its benefits. But never involve yourself in

  530. the process. Okay.

  531. How can you be a peacemaker and I'm going to touch on this first

  532. one at the very end. I'm going to make a little

  533. clarification point at the end, but I'm going to give the two

  534. basic statements of this of how you become a peacemaker.

  535. Number one, You must actively seek to restore.

  536. Broken relationships between your fellow, man.

  537. I'm going to clarify that later. But that's a fact.

  538. If you want to be at peace, you have to mend broken

  539. relationships. If there's stuff going on

  540. between you and somebody else fix it, Be at peace.

  541. That's number one. Another way we could be a

  542. peacemaker and we must be a peacemaker.

  543. Is this number two? We must seek to bring our

  544. neighbor to at peace with God through obedience to the gospel.

  545. So Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He wants us to be like his

  546. subjects. He wants us to be like, God in

  547. that regard. How do we do that?

  548. Be at peace among each other. And bring people by the power of

  549. the Gospel, so that they could be at peace with God.

  550. Let me give you two versus acts 10 and verse 36, the word, which

  551. God said to the children of Israel preaching, peace through

  552. Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all another

  553. passage, Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 15 and having shod your

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  554. feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

  555. So in every relationship, we have to seek peace.

  556. Husband and wife. Relationships in the church.

  557. And relationships with people outside of the church.

  558. Got to do our best. To be at peace.

  559. Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers God loves peace, and

  560. He blesses, those who make it. In fact, James says the

  561. following about peace and James 3 and 18.

  562. Now, the fruit of righteousness is sown in Peace by those who

  563. make peace in addition. Paul said this in first

    1 Thessalonians 5 chapter mention

  564. Thessalonians, chapter 5 and verse 13.

  565. And to esteem them. Very highly in love for their

  566. work sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

  567. Jesus says this. The benefit of being a

  568. peacemaker. You're going to be called the

  569. sons of God. The word Sons.

  570. There also is used there as an emphasis to describe a

  571. relationship with your father. You may be a father.

  572. You may be a son, in general? We all are if you're a male.

  573. Or you have been a father or son.

  574. But that's what we are continually because that's the

  575. relationship that we have. That is the picture here.

  576. We're going to be the sons of God.

  577. We're gonna have a relationship with God.

  578. We're emulating our father just as God makes peace through his

  579. son. His children must live in peace

  580. with their fellow man. Now I got to say this, remember

  581. when I said I'm going to clarify the point that I made about

  582. mending broken relationships with other people because I'm

  583. going to tell you something, you may try and it may not work.

  584. And there's nothing you can do about it.

  585. So, Romans 12 and 18, if it is possible as much as depends on,

  586. you live peaceably among all men.

  587. So ask yourself this. Am I doing my part?

  588. And having peace, mending broken relationships.

  589. In all the relationships that I have in my life.

  590. Am I just doing my best to do that?

  591. Because you know what? And if you've done that don't

  592. you see, it's kind of like, forgiveness, your ridding

  593. yourself of all the negative stuff.

  594. You're not going to be negatively influenced by that

  595. anymore. You're going to feel better and

  596. live better do better. Everything's better.

  597. Let it go. Okay, in conclusion.

  598. What did Jesus say when put them up really quickly?

  599. Again, I'll be very, very brief. Blessed are the poor in spirit

  600. for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  601. I'm destitute without God, I'm destitute without Jesus, I gotta

  602. send problem. Then what I'm going to mourn

  603. over those sins, I'm going to be comforting because I'm going to

  604. do something about it. I'm going to be forgiven when

  605. I'm washed in the blood of Jesus at baptism.

  606. I'm going to be comforted. Furthermore I'm going to be

  607. comforted when I repented those things and ask God to forgive

  608. me, I'm going to be forgiven. I'm going to be comforted moving

  609. forward, wonderful stuff. It's going to understand and

  610. give me the idea of being the spirit of meekness.

  611. And Jesus says, I'll inherit the earth and that means I'm going

  612. to inherit my allotted portion of Heaven, aren't you?

  613. Kind of get the point but when I go to heaven, I gotta be poor in

  614. spirit. If I don't be forgiven, I got a

  615. moreover, my skin. I want to inherit the earth.

  616. Meaning I want to go to heaven. One day, I got to be meek.

  617. Okay. What else I got to?

  618. Fill the void that I have deep inside of me with God's

  619. righteousness. That's through the word of God.

  620. I got a hunger and thirst after it.

  621. Then what I'm going to understand that God has been

  622. merciful to me. So I'm going to be merciful to

  623. others, and I'm going to obtain that Mercy in measure from other

  624. people, and without measure from God, It all stems from being

  625. pure in heart. And if I'm pure at heart, guess

  626. what? Here's that theme again I get to

  627. see God one day. And then it's going to cause me

  628. to be a peacemaker. And I'm going to be called a son

  629. of God. Or the sons of God.

  630. Because I'm emulating my Father in heaven.

  631. I'm through this morning. Thank you so much for your kind

  632. listening and I hope these things were helpful and

  633. encouraging to you in some way, we never close a time when we

  634. teach them the word of God without extending an invitation,

  635. and we'll do that. Now, here's the invitation.

  636. If a person wants to become a child of God, the steps are very

  637. simple and Romans 10:17, we need to hear the word of God.

    Romans 10:17

  638. The Bible says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by

  639. the word of God. But then there's more there's a

  640. choice to be made in Hebrews 11 and verse 6.

  641. We have to believe with all your heart without faith.

  642. It's impossible to please him for.

  643. He who comes to God, must believe that he is, and that he

  644. is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

  645. And then this, we must repent of our Sins acts 17 and 30.

  646. Truly these times of ignorance, God, overlooked.

  647. But now commands all men everywhere to repent.

  648. All that means is this I'm changing today, right here, I'm

  649. changing and it's going to lead to a change of my life.

  650. And the best part is, it's going to change my relationship with

  651. the Lord great stuff. If you're willing to do that,

  652. you're willing to do this. Say the greatest words you will

  653. ever. Say in all of your life acts

    Acts 8:37

  654. 8:37 to confess, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, then Philip

  655. said, if you believe with all your heart, you may.

  656. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the

  657. son of God. Upon taking those steps.

  658. You're now a fit candidate to go down to the point of Salvation

  659. and that's it. Baptism to have your sins washed

  660. away. Mark 16:16, he who believes and

    Mark 16:16

  661. is baptized, will be saved. But he, who does not believe

  662. will be condemned. If you've never taken those

  663. steps of obedience, and you've never become a child of God,

  664. we'd love to assist you in that today.

  665. If you will, we'd love to do that for you and with you maybe

  666. a half, maybe you've straight away.

  667. Maybe there are things in your life that you need to correct,

  668. maybe haven't been living like you should Good, great thing.

  669. Second law. Pardon just repent of those sins

  670. confess them and we'll pray with you and for you, and God will

  671. forgive and restore. We thank you for listening to

  672. our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15 plans.

  673. Road in Bakersfield, if you would like any additional

  674. information or you would like to receive a free Bible

  675. correspondence, course by mail. Please email us at info at her

  676. Church of Christ Bakersfield Calm our service times are on

  677. Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.

  678. please, make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our

  679. honored guest