The Beatitudes; Introduction

"And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: (2.) And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying," Matthew 5:1 – 2

As we take the next few weeks to look at the Beatitudes let us remember who it was that delivered this sermon, it was Jesus Christ. As people look at the Beatitudes it sort of looking at the Ten Commandments “I will pick and choose which ones I will obey and which ones I will turn my head the other way on” but beloved it simply should not be that way; just as the Ten Commandments are God’s Holy Law so is the Beatitudes of Jesus Christ. This was the very first sermon ever delivered in the very first church. If you will read the entire twelfth chapter of 1st Corinthians you will find the order of the first church and all churches that followed. We find in 1 Corinthians 12:28 it states "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers…” Now to find this church read Matthew chapters 3 – 4 first you will find John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness and baptizing those whom had been saved. Now one may ask who was John baptizing if the church had not began yet but I say it had; John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ preparing the way for Christ Jesus in preparing the assembling of the first church in Jerusalem. The first church was organized by God in calling John the Baptist to preach and baptize, however the first church was assembled on the mountain top. Next we see John the Baptist baptize Jesus Christ, then we see Jesus tempted of Satan, then we see Jesus began to build the church as He walks through the towns and villages calling out people to follow Him. First, the Apostles, secondly teachers, and then followers. God setting those in the church as it had pleased Him. As all those who had been gathered by Jesus and baptized by John went to the mountain and then to the top of the mountain sit by as the first church service began with Jesus Christ delivering the first sermon and His sermon topic was “The Beatitudes” as we know them (not that this was actually His message title). This would have to be known as the greatest sermon ever delivered because it was the sermon of the Son of God. Now Jesus preached many sermons while He was on earth but this one had special meaning because by this time the church had officially been assembled and the first sermon delivered and what a sermon it was “Blessed are”. Blessed are you whom God has elected to be saved, blessed are you that are church members, blessed are you who are knowledgeable, blessed are you who are followers of Gods holy word and etc, etc, etc. The word “blessed” means – fortunate but it also means happy – we sometimes make the meaning happy and bypassing the fortunate part but while we are happy in spirit if we follow the beatitudes we are also fortunate that we have the ability to follow them. Fortunate that we are saved and are Gods children.

As we take a closer look at the “Beatitudes” for the next several weeks let us remember they are for us and our benefit. These are Gods law just as the Ten Commandments are and are to be followed the same. Please heed them and place them as part of your life and you will be happy and blessed in your life. The Ten Commandments shows us our sins but the Beatitudes shows us how to be happy in Jesus Christ. "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven...” Matthew 5:12

Rejoicing In Heaven

“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” Luke 15:7

What love God hath for His elect. He loved them so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for their sins. He loved them so much that He allowed the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to be sufficient payment for their sins. Oh what a most wonderful God we indeed do have! And our Saviour, let us not forget just how wonderful, loving, and caring He is also, that He allowed Himself to be crucified for our justification. Without this most gracious act we would still be lost in sin. Oh we still sin but all of our sins are paid in full by the glorious blood of our Saviour. We are still in the flesh and as long as we are we must continually ask God for forgiveness, but how wonderful it is that God is just and He will on a continual basis forgive our transgressions.

Please let us notice that Jesus does the searching, and Jesus does the rescuing, and it is also Jesus who does the delivering, beloved it has nothing to do with man or the person being rescued it is all the work of Jesus Christ. He is the Sheppard of the flock and He is the single person who cares for the flock. This is why there is rejoicing in heaven, because salvation is the work of God. Any time God does anything it is a miracle, and causing a sinner to go against their very own nature and to turn from serving Satan and sin it is a miracle. Therefore heaven breaks out into rejoicing.

I thank God that many years ago Jesus Christ came looking for me and that He found me and saved my soul from eternal destruction. He brought me back to the fold that His Father had elected before the foundation of the world and now I am back to where I belong. This is also something you that are part of that ninety-nine need to continually rejoice over, that you to have been found. Jesus will continually search for that lost sheep until He returns and He will continually find them, put them on His loving shoulders, and tote them back to the fold until the one hundred have been returned, and then He will return to rapture them out of this world, what a wonderful future we have.

See you over yonder!

2 Corinthians 5:6 - 8 "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (7.) (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (8.) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

As we have seen two wonderful Christians pass this week and we take much comfort in knowing that they are now with the Lord. Sister Janet Pugh was a most wonderful Christian that walked in her Lord footstep and followed her husband into the mission field first in Canada and then to Romania and her reward will be great in Gods kingdom. Sometimes we forget that beside a faithful Missionary or Pastor or Minister is his faithful wife, living the same life and helping in the same glorious work.

Brother Vigil Hoskins was a very faithful servant to the Lord that dedicated his life to the service of the Lord and the Lords church. When one member of the Lords local body goes home he is missed and we will miss both of these wonderful Christians.

The Lord says to be home in these bodies that we are absent from the Lord and that is so true. Then the Lord goes on to say that since we walk by faith and not by sight we should rather be absent from these houses called bodies and present with the Lord. While we all miss those that have gone on before us let us never forget they had the same goal that we all have and that is to be at home with the Lord. We sometimes sorrow greatly for those that have gone home but we should not, because if we are all walking by faith then as their desire came to fulfillment ours will also. They have what we all pray soon to have that is the faith we have that someday, soon, we too will see and walk with Jesus Christ our Saviour; who died to give us life. Beloved it is all by faith because what we cannot see in these bodies one day we will actually see it and it is all going to be a glorious sight for our spiritual eye to behold. The Psalmist wrote "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." Psalms 17:15 Yes indeed we will be satisfied with what we see when we awake from death from these earthly houses and awake to see Jesus sitting on the right hand of God. The Psalmist said “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness…” I also will behold His face in righteousness and so will so many that have gone on before us and so also shall our two beloved departed. This is the question; will you? Will you “… behold thy face in righteousness…”, because there are only two ways to see Jesus Christ in righteousness or at the Great White Throne; where will your viewing be.

As for these two beloved saints of God; they have already viewed His loving face in righteousness. They no longer walk by faith but by sight and beloved someday we will also no longer walk by faith. We will be as they and see His blessed face and we like them will also be happy with what we see. So while we this week say goodbye to these two beloved saints let us not forget that someday soon; real soon we will join them once again except this time with our beloved Saviour and this time for eternity; always happy with what we see.

With this being said; we say for now goodbye and soon we will see you over yonder! But for now we will be just as Paul was; hung between here in these houses or being in our spiritual houses. "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:" Philippians 1:23

Where God; There Is Freedom.

“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

It was July 4th 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed which gave those who had given their blood a glorious victory. It is because of their victory and the signing of this glorious document that allows us to have the freedom in America that we enjoy today. We sometime get so tied up in this world that we forget those who died so we could share in the freedom that we so much enjoy today. Thousands upon thousands went toe to toe with the British troop in order to deliver to us Americans our freedom from the King of England and the great persecution suffer at the hand of the Catholics and the Church of England. It is this time of year that we all should celebrate our freedom as Americans. It must have been such a wonderful feeling and glorious victory as those 56 men signed this great document. However it was the blood of the thousands upon thousands that gave their blood before this was made possible. We sometimes forget that freedom comes from the blood of those fighting the good fight to give others freedom. Today we have thousands who have given their lives to free others around the world, so if you see a soldier of our military just say thank you!

We celebrate the freedom to attend church services because of blood given by so many millions through history. It is believed that as many as fifty million Baptist and other Christians died at the hands of Catholicism and those of Reformation to continue the faith we share today. One day God will pay them back for their transgression and Catholicism shall fall for her sins. Revelation 18:20 - 21 "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. (21.) And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." One day there will be a great celebration in Heaven and it will be for the fall of the New Testament Babylon; Catholicism.

We as Christians have much to celebrate today because our Declaration of Independence was signed before the creation of the world between the Father and the Son when God The Father gave His elect to the Son with the promise that the Son would shed His blood as the Son of man for our sins and He did some two thousand years ago. Again we see blood being shed for freedom but this blood frees us from the bondage to sin and gives us liberty in Christ. Our text says “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Well if you are saved then He dwells in your heart and where He is there is freedom. So while we enjoy the freedom to live in the greatest Nation on this earth, let us enjoy everyday the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. It is because of His blood that we can enjoy freedom to sup with the Father. Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Today celebrate salvation and the freedom you have in Christ Jesus, the one single man Who died to give millions life eternal. Acts 17:28 "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (29.) Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device."