0:00 Let's turn to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5. We've been looking at the sermon on the mount. Before we look at the actual sermon 0:25 itself, let's look at the those few verses at the beginning. It's when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain and sat down. You know, the Old Testament prophets 0:43 always stood up when they preached. You never read of an Old Testament prophet sitting down. Jesus was the first person to come and sit down and speak. And throughout the gospels you see all the time he's sitting down and speaking. Uh 1:00 only once you see in the temple when he was preaching to the crowds he stood up but most of the time he was sitting with his disciples. What is the difference? The thing is the prophet gets up to proclaim something. Jesus sat like the 1:14 head of a family you know like a dinner table. The father sits with all his children. That is the atmosphere Jesus wanted to have with his disciples when he spoke to them. So when you read these passages where Jesus is speaking to his 1:32 disciples, imagine that you're sitting at a dinner table and Jesus is the head of the family sitting there and he's talking to you. That's the way we must read these passages. Then it'll come to us as a personal word from our heavenly 1:50 father through the lord Jesus. And as we saw last time, he spoke to his disciples. John the Baptist had come saying the kingdom of heaven is coming. And that's the very first thing he speaks there in verse three. The kingdom 2:04 of heaven has come. Until then, they heard that the kingdom of heaven is coming. That's what John the Baptist said. And with Jesus, it had come. It finally came in fullness only on the day of Pentecost. But he was preparing the people for the day of 2:22 Pentecost by saying if you want to possess that kingdom which John the Baptist has been preaching about, not everybody's going to get into it. And many of Christians think of going to heaven when they die. But I want to tell 2:37 you the kingdom of heaven begins here on the earth. is the place where Jesus is king and you can have Jesus as king in your life and you can have Jesus as king in your home then the kingdom of heaven has already begun as far as far as I'm concerned I'm 2:55 already in the kingdom of heaven and I believe that's where we should live all the time but notice here what did John the Baptist say if you want to enter that kingdom repent that's what he told the whole nation of Israel 3:10 and that's what the word that we must first hear the preparation for this sermon on the mount is John the Baptist who said repent for the kingdom of heaven is coming and that's the very first thing that Jesus speaks in verse 3:25 three the kingdom of heaven and that is different from what all the prophets preached in the old testament the prophets in the old testament preached about a kingdom of earth that means you read what god told Israel I'll bless you with prosperity. I'll 3:44 bless you with healing. All your enemies will be defeated. You'll have plenty of money and you'll have houses and lands and all that. And wherever you see believers who are looking for these things, possible some of you are looking 4:01 for earthly blessings in coming to the Lord. You you have to be honest and say, "Lord, I'm I'm looking for a kingdom on this earth. No wonder my spiritual life is so shallow. No wonder I'm not making progress in my Christian life. Because 4:18 my main way of thinking is the Old Testament way. God will bless you. He'll defeat all your enemies. He will bless you with prosperity and he'll bless you with good health and he'll bless your children and do all those things. 4:34 The only thing Christians don't want from the Old Testament is we don't want too many children. It's it's you know it's a it's a understanding of whatever is good for me not much different from the average person in the world. Repent means turn 4:48 around from that way of thinking. From which way of thinking? From all that was promised in the Old Testament. But the reason I emphasize that is because my observation is that most Christians are not seeking the kingdom of heaven. 5:06 They are seeking a kingdom on this earth of earthly blessing and prosperity for themselves and their family. And when they get some earthly blessing or prosperity, they say, "God has blessed me." Think of the things where you have in 5:19 the past also said, "God has blessed my family." What is it that you think of? Is it because your children have become wholehearted disciples or because you got some money in your home or a better house to live in? What is the primary 5:31 thing that comes to our mind? And you find that how far even our way of thinking even though we become Christians. I'm not saying that God doesn't give us good house and pro I mean a job and bless our children with health and all that that is all there 5:43 but we have to see those things as seek the kingdom of God first and these other things get added on. Those are not the things we're seeking. They get added on. So are you looking for those things which are added on as primary or you 5:58 seeking the kingdom of heaven first? That's why that word of John the Baptist saying repent. Repent means turn 180°. In the military, we had a command which said about turn where you turned 180° and looked in exactly the opposite 6:14 direction to which you were. And that's to me the best example of uh the meaning of repent about turn from where you were facing all this time and turn around to look at the kingdom of heaven. So there has to be a turning around if you want 6:28 to see the kingdom of heaven. Otherwise, we'll never attain to it. And the other thing I want to mention is this gospel of what I call the gospel of the kingdom. Jesus spoke about it in Matthew 24. If you turn for a moment and 6:45 that has relevance for our time in which we are living, 2025, we are living in this age. And Jesus spoke about this time where he says in Matthew 24 and he's speaking about the last days. You know the question is when are when 7:08 is your tell us Lord verse three what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age. That's what they're asking. What's the sign of the end of this age? And 2,000 years have gone by and Jesus said one mark of the end of the age will 7:23 be verse 14. This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world and then the end will come. The gospel of the world will be preached. Not everybody will get converted to this gospel but it'll be preached in the whole world as 7:43 a testimony to all the nations. That means there is a gospel called the gospel of the kingdom. Now there is a gospel called in Acts 20 the gospel of the grace of God forgiveness of sins. We need to distinguish between that 7:59 which is sort of the gate into God's kingdom and the gospel of the kingdom itself. You know Jesus spoke about a gate and a way that leads to life. It's not just a gate. So gospel of the kingdom is not forgiveness of sins. What 8:14 is the gospel of the kingdom? that for many years I did not understand. I thought kingdom of God is heaven. No, it's here on earth and is described in Romans 14. You never forget this verse. Whenever you read about the word the kingdom of God in the New 8:32 Testament, always remember Romans 14:17. I say that because I took many years to discover it even though it was there in the Bible. Plain words. Romans 14:17. What is the kingdom of God? The Holy Spirit says Romans 14:17 a definition. 8:51 The kingdom of God is not heaven. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. That means it's not earthly blessing at all. The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy. And not just righteousness, peace and joy, but 9:11 righteousness that comes through the Holy Spirit. and joy that comes through the hol peace that comes through the Holy Spirit and joy that comes through the Holy Spirit. If you are not seeking for righteousness that comes through the Holy Spirit and 9:26 peace that comes from the Holy Spirit and joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, you are not seeking the kingdom of God. and this gospel of the kingdom. That means in the last days that are going to be preachers in the last days around the world who 9:44 will be preaching righteousness, who will be preaching about holiness through the power, it says here, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Not just holiness, but holiness through the power of the Holy Spirit. We'll be preaching 9:57 about peace. Peace means peace in your heart, freedom from anxiety, and peace with all people through the power of the Holy Spirit. And who will be preaching a life where we rejoice always through the power of the Holy Spirit? That is the 10:11 kingdom of God. And you ask yourself, if you've heard other preachers, how many preachers have you heard preaching that? Very few. I'll tell you honestly, very few. In my all the years I was in the other denominations for 16 years, I 10:27 never heard one preacher tell me how to come to a life of righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit. That means how to overcome sin and how to come to a life where I'm free from anxiety, which is peace in the Holy Spirit. And how to 10:41 come to a life where I rejoice 24 hours a day through the Holy Spirit. I never heard it. I had to find it for myself in God's word. But I thank God I found it. so that I could share it with others. And my dear brothers, you don't have to 10:55 be a preacher. If you have experienced that yourself, you can be one of those people proclaiming this gospel of the kingdom and not just the gospel of the forgiveness of sins everywhere. You add to the number of preachers who are doing 11:12 it, they're very very few. And we pray that a number of people in NCCF here will increase that number in the days to come of people who will share with others. You may not have to be you don't have to be a preacher up in the pulpit. 11:24 But when you meet a believer whom you know who is born again, ask him if he's heard the gospel of the kingdom. Even if you're not called to witness to unbelievers, you know some believers. Why not ask them whether they've heard 11:37 the gospel of the kingdom and explain to them what the gospel of the kingdom is which is going to be proclaimed. Jesus said in the last days, what did you read? Read that again in Ma Matthew 24. The gospel of the kingdom will be 11:51 proclaimed in the whole world and then the end will come. I say, Lord, I want you to come back soon, but I want to hasten that by proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. Anyway, I have been gripped by it. That's why I don't preach 12:06 anything else. There are enough people preaching about Christ died on the cross, your sins can be forgiven. But how many people are preaching the gospel of the kingdom? Why don't you live that and add to that number? That'll preach the gospel of the 12:20 kingdom. It'll make a tremendous difference. That was the whole purpose of the day of Pentecost was this. Forgiveness of sins is just cleaning the empty cup. God wants to fill that with the gospel of the kingdom. 12:38 [clears throat] So in the last verse of the sermon on the mount, Matthew 7:29, it says in Matthew 7, you know, it says how everybody was, they were amazed at his teaching and as one having authority. Matthew 7:29. And 12:58 I like it's paraphrased in the Living Bible as it was obvious that Jesus had lived what he was preaching. That's a message paraphrase of Matthew 7:29. It was obvious at the end of the sermon on the mount that he had lived 13:17 every word that he was preaching. That's a great testimony to have that when you share the gospel. You may not preach from a pulpit, but when you share the gospel one-on-one to somebody, it should be obvious to him that it's not 13:30 something that's coming out of a head, but it is obvious that you are living what you're preaching because you're passionate about it. A lot of Christians, you know, they preach the gospel in a sort of way as if they're apologizing. I'm not apologizing 13:47 for the gospel I preach. I'm passionate about it because I hope you're living what you share with others. It is obvious that he had lived what he was preaching. And that's a very good thought to have when we begin to study the sermon on the mount that the 14:03 primary way we share this with others is by living it out in our life first and then speaking what has gripped us in our heart. And it's like, you know, it's like somebody said the gospel is one beggar telling another beggar where he 14:17 can find bread. Or one leper telling another leper how he can be cleansed. Or in today's language, someone who got cancer, saying, "I had cancer worse than you, brother, but here's a place I went and I got a treatment and I'm completely 14:33 cured." That is the real gospel. Something that has delivered me from the cancer of sin. So with so much as an introduction let's go on to we looked at it this last time that the sermon on the mount can be summed up with as nine 14:48 right attitudes and then nine wrong attitudes. The rest the nine right attitudes are here from verse three onwards till verse 12. So we look at those slowly we don't want to rush into it. So first of all I want to 15:05 um go this word blessed. So let me read to you the word blessed from the um message not message from the amplified Bible. The amplified Bible I use it regularly is a Bible that 15:22 explains each word of the Greek language or the Hebrew the Old Testament the expanded meaning of it. And these are the translations of the word blessed because that comes so many times in these three verse 3 to 11. Blessed blessed blessed 15:40 blessed blessed. So the amplified says to blessed means spiritually prosperous, spiritually happy and spiritually to be admired and forgiven, refreshed by God's grace 15:59 inwardly peaceful. These are all the meanings of blessed. Spiritually secure, spiritually worthy of respect, joyful, nourished by God's goodness, perfectly content, spiritually sheltered by God's promises, 16:17 anticipating God's presence, spiritually mature and spiritually calm with a life joy in God's favor, comforted by inner peace and God's love, morally courageous and spiritually alive with life, joy in 16:37 God's goodness. These are the definitions of blessed in uh the amplified Bible. It's a very good Bible. I find it very useful because it expands the meaning of different words going back to the original language. 16:55 So, so much for the what it stands for. And let's think about it. One of the things it says is here is the person you should envy. You know the word people envy somebody who's rich or somebody who's famous or somebody who's a great 17:08 athlete or somebody who's a famous in some other way. And here the Lord is saying who should you really envy? A true Christian is not envying these film stars and athletes and uh people who are famous for all that thing. If 17:25 you really want to envy somebody, envy someone in a good way because you want to imitate him is the one who is poor in spirit. That is the person to be envied. So we need to ask ourselves, do we have the right values? We called ourselves 17:43 believers for so long. Who are you envying? Who are you teaching your children to envy? Envy in the right way. That means I want to be like that. You know in the world they want to be like some great athlete or some great basketball player or some 18:01 Olympic champion. And in the world they want to be like some millionaire or some businessman or something like that. As a believer, who are you really wanting to be like? Envy in the right type of way. Not and in the a lot of women envy 18:19 someone who's very pretty and they look try all types of means to make themselves look pretty you know using all types of methods and things they do to their face to try and make themselves pretty and attractive. If you're a 18:35 married woman let me tell you you need to be pretty and attractive only to your husband. Full stop. Period. You should not try to be attractive to somebody else. If your husband thinks you're attractive, that's enough. Let 18:52 the whole world think you're ugly. It's good. So, we should the people we should be envying are the one who was poor in spirit. That's the very first thing that Jesus said. And we [clears throat] can compare, you know, when we Jesus used 19:09 human examples like salt of the earth and light of the world. So to understand poor in spirit let's see what a man a poor in poor in the worldly sense poor in a human way a poor beggar for example he's poor in an earthly way he he has to beg for his 19:28 survival so the spiritually poor person the one who's poor in spirit it's just like that beggar asks for money I go to god and ask for wisdom and in India we The example of beggars who come to our 19:46 gate. Houses have got gates and they come to knock at the gate and they wait till you give them some money and you give them something. They'll be back tomorrow. They say, "Sir, can you give me some?" And you say, "Hey, I gave you something 20:01 yesterday." Sir, that was just for enough for yesterday's food. I finished and I'm back again. I'll come again tomorrow. That's how these beggars come in India. day after day after day and I've learned something from them. And 20:17 what I've learned is what the book of Proverbs tells me to learn in Proverbs chapter 8. This is poor in spirit. I'm trying to learn poor in spirit from poor in earthly terms a beggar. How is the man who's poor in spirit? I 20:34 go to God's gate every day. Like that beggar comes to my gate asking for money and he's run out of money. One what I gave him in one day is finished. He's got to come back. He doesn't have enough for two days. That's how I got to come back to God every day. 20:50 That is a poor in spirit. So turn with me to Proverbs chapter 8. This is the Old Testament equivalent of what Jesus said. Here is the man poor in spirit. Proverbs 8:34. Blessed 21:07 are the poor in spirit. How what is that? Proverbs 84. The man who listens to me like the beggar watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts. That's exactly how the beggars come to the gates in 21:24 India and to the door and they plead please help me because it's a matter of survival for them. If they don't get something they they'll die. They don't have food. They are desperate. That is how I must go to the Lord if I'm 21:42 poor in spirit, seeking not for money, but for wisdom. Blessed is the man who listens to me. The Jehovah of Proverbs 8 is about wisdom. Who seeks for wisdom, watching daily. What about what I gave you yesterday? The beggar says, "Sir, that 22:00 was finished yesterday. I need something for today." to seek God for wisdom like that. That is why I say before you get out of bed early in the morning while you're still in bed, begin by talking to the Lord. Even if it's only 5 minutes. 22:16 The beggar doesn't stay more than 5 minutes at the gate, but he'll wait there. He'll stay one hour if you don't give him something. Lord, I want you to give me wisdom for today. [snorts] I'm not asking for the whole week or the whole year. Just for 22:29 today, give me wisdom. I'm needy. I need spiritual wisdom. Watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts because he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. So that is 22:48 being poor in spirit and uh you know we can say when it says the blessed are the poor in spirit for there's the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a massive mansion with many many rooms full of God's riches, the riches of his 23:07 wisdom. And poor in spirit is the master key that opens every door. You know there's a thing called a master key sometimes in some buildings which can open every door. The same key opens every door. There's a master key that opens every door in the 23:24 kingdom of heaven. It's called being poor in spirit. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It means to be po aware of our need. That beggar who comes to the gate, he's aware of his physical need. There's something in his body crying out for 23:41 food and he needs money for food. So there's a a cry in him that drives him to go house to house begging for money. And that's been a great example for me because I've seen so many beggars in my life in India and they're not ashamed to 23:57 beg. They'll beg on the street. They'll beg on the house to house. And I say, "Lord, I don't want to be ashamed to come to you and say, I don't have wisdom. I don't have it. What you gave me yesterday was enough for yesterday. I 24:11 want it today." Blessed is the man who watches daily at my gates. That is poor in spirit. So and it says the whole kingdom of heaven is there. You got the master key to open every single door in the kingdom. Why is it we remain spiritually poor? 24:29 Why is it we are struggling as if we are not eating enough spiritually? Why is it we're not becoming stronger? A person who's eating regularly will be healthy and strong cuz we are not waiting daily at the gates. 24:47 So the other picture we can have is u like Jesus spoke about the branch in the vine. You can picture branch is another picture of poor in spirit. A branch can produce zero fruit. You've often heard me say that 25:07 it's impossible for a branch to produce fruit no matter how much it tries. But when the branch is in the tree in in uh in Israel Jesus spoke about the vine because that was very common but look at a very common tree in India would say a 25:26 mango tree or here you'd say an apple whatever tree you're familiar with it's if that branch is in the tree it is without any effort it produces apples that branch does not have to struggle the Christian life is not meant to be a 25:43 struggle. Hebrews chapter 4 speaks of it as a life of rest. The land of Canaan, if you read Hebrews chapter 3 and chapter 4, when you get some time, read Hebrews 3 and chapter 4, chapter 3 and chapter 4, the land of Canaan is called 26:03 a life of rest. That is the land into which God wanted to bring the Israelites and which he wanted to bring us. The wilderness was not a life of rest. It was constant struggle and fight and all types of problems. Egypt was not a place. There 26:18 were three places in the Old Testament. The Egypt, the wilderness and Canaan. Egyptian is unconverted. Then they get converted, put the blood on the door of the land, there's a blood of Christ. Come through the Red Sea. Picture of 26:29 baptism. And then come out and the Holy Spirit leads them. But they want it in the wilderness. This is the picture of most believers. They're born again. Blood of Christ has cleansed them. They taken water baptism. They received the 26:39 Holy Spirit. And then they're wandering in the wilderness forever and ever uncertain um not victorious. That means they have not entered into the land. They've not come to a life of rest. And the reason is because they're not poor in spirit. So the poor 26:58 in spirit enter like the branch in the tree without any effort. The sap flows from the tree into the branch. So poor in spirit for as far as the branch is concerned is the branch saying I can do nothing. 27:17 Not just saying it as as a theory that we have learned in some church to say oh I got to say yes I've learned I've learned. Well the proof of that will be that you'll be cast upon the lord all the time. You'll be all the time in a 27:31 even though you don't actually pray, you'll have a spirit of prayer which is a spirit of dependence on the lord. That means as soon as some problem arises, the first thing you go thing is go to the lord. I believe that should be how it our life 27:44 should be. Somebody's sick at home, the first thing I should do is I got to go to the lord. Before I go to the doctor, by all means go to the doctor. But before I go to the doctor, I go to the lord because I see my ultimate solution 27:55 for everything in life is in Jesus Christ my Lord. and my heavenly father. I want to ask you my brothers and sisters, let us develop that poverty of spirit that like the branch that says I can do 28:14 nothing. But if I'm in the tree, there'll be no limit to the number of apples that will come through me. And you see that other branch full of apples? What did it do? It just remained in the tree helplessly. That is 28:32 the secret of the Christian life. Poverty of spirit. I am poor spiritually. I cannot produce anything. And I'll tell you another thing which you've also heard me say. The branch that has the maximum fruit 28:51 is the one that bends hangs down low. The humblest believers are those who produce the maximum fruit. The proud believers are the branches that are so erect. Why do they stand erect? Because there's no fruit in their life. The more 29:08 fruit that comes, the branch hangs down more and more and more. More fruit, it still hangs down more. This is the mark of spiritual growth. The more fruit there is in your life, the more humble you will be. It's the less fruit you 29:21 have in your life. You're proud and arrogant and you want to show that you're better than others. There are lot of values that you've got all wrong and crooked and can be straightened up if you come to the sermon on the mount and ask the 29:36 Lord to show us the right way. Okay, that's something for you to meditate on for one week. I pray that you'll get something out of it. And I want to think about it more myself. I don't believe I ever come to the end of learning poverty or 29:53 spirit. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, please help us to absorb some of the things we heard this morning, this afternoon, and pray it'll come to our hearts and produce fruit. 30:12 We ask in Jesus name. Amen.
