Kingdom Living (Part 4) Sermon on the Mount
This week we continue our series on Kingdom Living. Previously we have learned that Kingdom living isn’t reserved for after life here on this earth. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand just as Jesus declared. If you have made the decision to follow Christ, making Him LORD of your life, then He wants you to serve Him as LORD while you are here on the earth. We have learned that doing that means ministering to a world, sharing the good news of The Gospel of Jesus Christ. In order to do that we must first surrender to The LORD, allowing Him to fill us with His Holy Spirit to get us ready so that we can share His love with others. This is Kingdom Living. I pray you are all blessed as you read this lesson and GOD’S Word.
Handout: Kingdom Living
Matthew 5:1-12 “And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He was set, 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 which do 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 the Children of GOD. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is The Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall 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 which were before you.
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
In Previous Lessons in this series, Kingdom Living, we have learned that:
In our previous lessons we covered the first few points of the lesson Jesus taught in Matthew 5.
Blessed are those who know they need The LORD and turn to HIM.
We learned and understand that the mourning and grief are not blessing, The actual blessing is the comfort that only GOD can give in our times of despair.
Now we come to the next point in the lesson JESUS taught His disciples on the mountain.
Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the Meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
What is meekness? It’s gentleness of spirit and surrender to GOD.
Beth Moore says this about the meek. Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice. Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify His elect, and that He will deliver His elect in His time (Isa 41:17, Luke 18:1-8). Gentleness or meekness is the opposite of self-assertiveness and self-interest. It stems from trust in God's goodness and control over the situation. The gentle person is not occupied with self at all. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of the human will (Gal 5:23).
Let’s go to Luke chapter 18.
Luke 18:1-8 1And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
3And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
6And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall HE find faith on the earth?
Being meek is surrendering to GOD and understanding that we do not have to “get back” at others when they do us wrong, it means praying for them and trusting GOD to take care of those matters. When we take things into our own hands, we sin. Exodus 15 tells us that The LORD is a warrior…The LORD is HIS name. His mighty arm will swing, and if we are puffed up tall in pride…guess who it is going to hit first? That’s right! Us! However, if we are bowed down, humble before GOD…HE will take out the enemy for our good and HIS glory! Indeed blessed are the meek!
Psalm 5:11 “ 11But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.”
Galatians 5:22-23 “22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
I. What ever you are going through…it comes down to
A. trusting GOD to work it out for your good.
B. Trusting that GOD WILL ALWAYS DO THE RIGHT THING!
I jotted this note to self and I suggest you all do the same because it will save you a lot of heart break.
NOTE TO SELF: Let GOD handle it…you will only make a bigger mess!
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
We can ALWAYS trust GOD to avenge us…HE IS The FAITHFUL ONE!
The next point, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Are you hungering and thirsting after righteousness? How do we begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness?
1. First by recognizing our need for Jesus Christ.
Remember right after you accepted The LORD into your heart…that gratitude you felt, that love? You felt that because you realized how lost and how deep in your sin you were and that HE reached down in love and mercy and pulled you up out of that dirty, rotten pit of sin and set your feet on solid rock. However, sadly sometimes after one is saved for sometimes, forgetfulness creeps in and we forget just what a terrible pit we were saved from and we go on foolishly thinking that we have things under control, when we are so desperately in need of HIM every second of every day!
Have we forgotten how much we need HIM? Remember when our hearts cried out because we knew we were hopeless and helpless? Just because we feel in control, doesn’t mean we are.
Revelation 2:4-5 “4Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Have we lost our zeal and our fire for The LORD? Have we lost our passion for HIM because we forgot how much we need HIM? It should be our worst night mare than we lose our fervor for The LORD. We should fear our fire for The LORD being diminished. We should pray that daily HE would ignite HIS passion in us, to fuel that fire.
Sometimes Crisis comes sometimes to remind us of that! (We all get a new hunger and thirst for righteousness when trouble comes!)
Psalm 5:12 “ 12For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.”
With Righteousness comes blessing…That is Kingdom Living!
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked : who can know it?”
We have to understand that we are dust and that our hearts will stray so easily because it is weak and wicked and of this fleshly nature. That is why we must walk in the spirit so that we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
Galatians 5:16-21 “This I say then, Walk in The Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the thins that ye would. But if ye be led of The Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such thins shall not inherit the Kingdom of GOD.
Galatians 5:33-35 “But the fruit of The Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance against such there is no law, And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in The Spirit, let us also walk in The Spirit!”
Revelation 3:2 “Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before GOD. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be filled.
III. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy
The Word of GOD tells us that Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:13)
Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:”
Matthew 7:2 “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
Some Truths about Mercy:
A. Mercy does not mean that we do not speak truth
B. Mercy never requires us to act as if we are blind
C. Mercy is speaking the truth in the LOVE of Christ knowing eyes wide open, exactly what is going on.
We choose to have the heart of Christ toward the person, and their estate we choose to see them under the offense we have taken, into the hurt that causes people to hurt you. Know this and understand that hurting people, hurt people.
Merciful does not mean gullible or naïve. Mercy is compassion to the reality! It is a form of meekness.
As human beings sometimes we can feel as if we are running out of mercies toward someone who has wronged us over and over again. When we feel as if we are running out of mercy and compassion with someone…it’s good to go back to:
Lamentations 3:21-24 “21This I recall to my mind therefore have I hope. 22It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions (or mercies) fail not. 23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him.”
GOD’S mercies are new every morning. Human mercy runs out quickly…we must run on the LOVE of Christ…not our own.
Living to GOD which is LOVE and not to avenge ourselves…That’s Kingdom Living!
The number one Key to Kingdom Living is this:
Mark 12:28-34 “28And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
32And the scribe said unto Him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33And to love HIM with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
34And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, He said unto him, Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask Him any question.”
If we could get our hearts bowed down, on our faces before GOD and humbly and sincerely asking HIM to help us get our lives and hearts and minds in line with these two commandments…we would not have to worry about staying right with GOD and Kingdom Living! If we were to love The LORD our GOD with all our hearts, with all of our souls, and with all our minds and strength…everything else would fall into place. Oh that I would love HIM as HE deserves to be loved…That is Kingdom Living! Living in HIS presence…in the present!
Dear Righteous Heavenly Father…
I bow down on my face yet again before You, asking You to help us to live according to Your Kingdom. Help us to understand that it is about now, that You are LORD of LORDS now! Father I ask that you help the ones calling out to You right now for help. You see every heart and You know what each one is going through and just want we need. I’m thanking You for Your many blessings and I’m asking You to send Your power in a mighty way to those seeking You with their hearts. I’m asking You by Your precious blood to make the enemy flee so that Your light and Your joy and Your glory can shine down. Thank You for loving us so much and for everything You do for me. I love You and I praise You because You alone are so worthy. In Jesus name…Amen.
~*cindygirl*~
June 3, 2018