0:00 So, first of all, I want to thank all of you who are praying for me because I wanted to do full justice to this study cuz it's so important. I believe it is the most important sermon Jesus ever preached 0:19 and the very first sermon that's mentioned in the Gospels in the New Testament. So, just to revise briefly what we looked at last. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Those who count themselves insignificant 0:38 and as zeros. So, I just want to I mentioned something in connection with that and that is this is the You know, when it says the kingdom of heaven, we saw the kingdom of heaven is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 0:55 And this is we can say the master key. I think I mentioned that last time. That will open every door in the kingdom of heaven. To be really poor in spirit, to consider oneself as a zero. So, I want to show you a few slides 1:12 just to illustrate it. I hear a whole lot of zeros. This is poverty in spirit. Those who are you know, famous in something or the other, who are beautiful or clever or famous or who have excelled in sport, so 1:31 whatever you excel in, studies or whatever it is, everybody's a zero. Who excelled in preaching, perhaps. Everybody's a zero. And if we recognize that, that is what it means to be poor in spirit. And now, see how the value changes. The 1:46 next slide you see is if you put Jesus in front, Jesus is a one. And see what happens then. The zeros become In a moment, it becomes 1 billion. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Okay, we go to the next slide. 2:05 Now, even if there's only one person, all the others don't want to join with the Lord. One person and the Lord is with him, he is more valuable than all these other people put put together. That's we see what do you you see a 2:19 church where one person is poor in spirit, he'll be the most valuable person. All the others have got knowledge and everything else, worthless. Okay, now, supposing one more person gets added to this 10, it doesn't become 2:31 11. It becomes 100. That's the value of being poor in spirit. 10 + 1 is 100, not 11. Okay, now, see what happens if all of them join together. One becomes a billion. 2:49 And this is how a church should be. If every single person in this church is willing and uh continues to be a zero, not only when he comes to the church but all his life, in his home, everywhere, before God and does not That means he does not 3:08 glory in his ability, in whatever ability he has, in his wealth or his education or his abilities or his job or anything, he can be an effective member to build this church in the way it should be built. Thank you. They say that a 3:27 a picture is worth a thousand words. And you probably got a little understanding of that right now. So, to be poor in spirit is um I mentioned this one thing that a 3:47 I want to repeat that. A branch is absolutely poor in spirit. Recognizes I can produce nothing if I do not remain in the tree all the time. Just because I was in the tree for many 4:06 years. Some of us have been believers for many years, but you can be cut off. That means you don't depend on the Lord today as you did all these past years, you become fruitless again. So, it's not that I produce fruit for so many years, 4:20 I got so much Bible knowledge, I'll be spiritual all my life. Impossible. The branch, even if it's produced fruit for 50 years, if there's a slight disconnection from the tree, it stops producing fruit. It has to be continuous. So, poverty of 4:36 spirit is not something that I get once and I'm going to have forever. Think of the branch. A branch can break off from the tree, even if it's produced fruit for 50 years. Please remember that. Okay. Uh we go on to the next 4:51 thing that is Blessed are those who mourn. Now, these are all values which the world doesn't value. In the world, it says blessed are those who laugh and are happy and make others laugh and joke, etc., but I never see Jesus cracking a joke 5:08 throughout the Gospels. I believe he had a sense of humor because when he speaks about a a beam in your eye and a speck in another's eye or straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel, there is a certain amount of humor there, so I don't 5:22 believe Jesus was without humor. But he was not a joker. There's a lot of difference between being a joker and having a sense of humor. I believe we should all have a sense of humor, particularly if you're married, your 5:33 home life will be miserable if you don't have a sense of humor. But if you uh don't be a joker because then you ruin your home again. So, everything, you know, you can take to an excess. So, but blessed are those who mourn. 5:46 That's a value which the world doesn't care for. The The world says blessed are those who laugh. So, what does it mean mourn? And the word mourn is First of all, I got to mourn for my sins. I believe there's a tremendous results 6:00 can come if when we confess our sin and we uh mourn not artificially. It's not because oh, I heard in the church I must mourn, so I start producing tears. No. If we are gripped by the tremendous evil that our sins have done 6:20 and how much our sins are a act of rebellion against God and how pride is something God hates like anything, and we see the pride in us, it will automatically make us weep. A weeping that you produce by yourself because you heard a message on it is 6:39 worth zero. But a weeping that comes because you see Jesus, I know I have wept numerous times in my life and I still do, but it's always when I compare myself with Jesus. And it's automatic. It's not I don't have to struggle to 6:56 produce it. I see the holiness of Jesus and I see where I am. And I see the love of Jesus and I I see how little I have and how little I have responded to his love for me, that's automatically makes me mourn. So, if you want to mourn, 7:12 if you want to be poor in spirit, look at Jesus. In fact, all these qualities will come if you look at Jesus. And you look at Jesus on the cross and mourning will come automatically. When you see the terrible thing sin is, even a sinful 7:25 thought, one angry word will make you mourn. One sinful thought will make you mourn when you look at the cross and look at what Jesus the price Jesus had to pay in order to deliver us from that. That is why we mourn. Lord, 7:43 that's how you were and I'm not like that. So, if I see that the areas where the more I look at Christ, the more I'll mourn that I'm not like him and I'm supposed to be like him, calling to be like him. And also, it's uh I'm weeping not for myself but 8:01 also, you know, you like you go from grade one to grade two to grade three. Paul was a man who wept for others. Jesus wept when he looked at Jerusalem. So, that is one step higher where I've I've finished mourning with my own sins. 8:21 I mean, that continues, but to feel sad when I see other people sinning, that's a very high level. Most of us don't ever think of mourning for when I sin see other people sinning, but if you're going to if the Lord is to 8:35 lead you to be a spiritual leader, you'll have to come to the place where you, like Paul, and you not only mourn for your own sins but you feel sad that somebody who is under your charge behaves like this. And that's how 8:52 Paul says he wept over people. And I remember years ago when the Lord called me through Isaiah 49, I want to show you something there which the Lord showed me then. This is the passage through which the Lord called me to serve him 9:09 60 years ago. And in Isaiah uh 49, it says here that to be a leader of God's people, Isaiah 49:10, it has really challenged me through all these years. The middle of Isaiah 49, verse 10, 9:27 it says he who has compassion on them will lead them. And that's what the Lord spoke to me. You cannot lead anybody if you don't have compassion on them. They may be stupid, they may be foolish, they may deliberately do things, they 9:44 may accidentally do things, or they may never learn despite your warning them so many times. If you have compassion, you can lead your children in the right direction. If you have compassion, you can be a spiritual leader. So, it's not just a 9:59 question of knowing the Bible and getting up and being able to preach. A lot of people have got this wrong idea. I get it's I wish I could get up there and sit in the pulpit and preach. And I'll tell you this, I've seen this 10:10 through the years. All the people who have got a lust to get up here and preach, they fall away from the church. It's happened in this church. Those who had a lust to get up here and preach will fall away. There are people whom God calls to 10:24 sit here and preach, and there are people who got a lust to get there. They'll all fall away, and I guarantee any of you who have a lust to be a leader and a preacher, I tell you today itself, you will fall away. Do you want to be a leader of God's 10:38 people? I believe God needs many leaders in this church. Begin with compassion. He who has compassion on them. Begin with mourning for your own sin. And then you can move on from there. You know, like a father. Think of a father. 10:55 When a father sees his son going astray. If he's a good father, a loving father. He's not angry. He secretly weeps before God. Lord, my my son is like this. Or my daughter's like this. Look what my daughter's doing. 11:13 That's a good father. And spiritually, a leader is to be a father. A man who does not have a father's heart towards God's people is totally unfit to be a leader. I always have spoken to I've spoken to elders we have I work with 300 elders in many parts of 11:30 the world. And what I tell them is, brother, you got to be a father. You got to have compassion. Not just have an ability to get up and preach. A lot of people think if I have a little ability to preach, I can be a a leader, an elder. Totally wrong. 11:44 He who has compassion on them will lead them. That's God's word. See what Jesus said in uh Yeah, I don't have time to show you that. That It's Luke 19. Maybe you can look at it. Luke 19. And verse 12:04 This is what made Jesus a leader. Luke 19. We know that he uh chased people out of the temple with a whip. But then uh before he It's Luke 19 and verse 45. Jesus entered the temple 12:23 and began to drive out those who were selling, saying, "Don't make my father's house uh robbers' den." Verse 46. But what many people don't Many people see that how strict Jesus was. Because if they were making money. 12:40 A a godly leader will always be against those who are trying to get money out of others in the church. I've been against it for 50 years in in India, and I'm against it here. Those who are asking other people, "Give me money for this. Give me money for 12:56 that. Give me money for the even for registries." I'm 100% against it because it is asking people for money. And this is what these people were doing. They were asking people for money, and Jesus took a whip and chased them out. And many people don't 13:10 understand why I'm so strict on that matter. Well, many people didn't understand Jesus when he took a whip either. So, I I'm not surprised if people don't understand me. But the point I want you to notice here is before he did that, what did he do? Go 13:23 to verse 41. That's where you got to begin. The whipping of Jesus began with weeping. He wept, and then he whipped. Verse 41. When he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and he wept over a city. 13:41 He said, "Oh, if only you had known the things which make for peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes. Cuz I know how how God is going to judge you. Your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and surround you, 13:54 and they'll level you to the ground your children, and they'll not leave one stone upon another." Then he took the whip. Close. Remember this balance. He wept before he whipped. Blessed are those who mourn. For they shall be comforted, or they 14:13 shall be strengthened. The word comfort, c o m f o r t. Think of that last part. F o r t is a fort. So, comfort is not just you know showing compassion to somebody who's gone through some sorrow. It's more than that. In the scriptures, it speaks about 14:32 a strengthening. And Paul speaks about it in 2 Corinthians in chapter 1. 2 Corinthians 1, he Blessed are those who mourn, they shall be comforted. Hear how. 2 Corinthians 1:3 14:52 and 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. Blessed are those who mourn. For they shall be comforted. Here it is. The God of all comfort. And instead of comfort there, you read 15:09 strengthens. The God who strengthens me. Think of f o r t comfort. It's like a fort around me. Who strengthens me in my affliction. Why? Or comforts me in my affliction. So that I can comfort others who are in 15:27 affliction with the same strength and comfort with which I am strengthened and comforted by God. So, the Christian life is one. Let me put it in a nutshell. One that delivers us from the selfish, self-centered life of Adam. 15:44 To a life where we think of glorifying God and blessing other people. So, if I'm thinking of being comforted only myself, you haven't understood Christianity. He comforts me. Why does God comfort me in verse 4? Blessed are those who mourn, they shall 15:59 be comforted. But it doesn't stop there. He comforts us so that we can comfort other people when we see they are being afflicted. So, many of us when we're going through a trial, we say, "Oh God, please help me, strengthen me." And God strengthens 16:15 you and answers your prayer. You know why? So that you can look around and say, "Whom can I now pass on this strength to?" It's something like God gives you an abundance and then say, "Who can I share Who can I share this with?" So, God has 16:27 given me an abundance of comfort. Now, whom can I share this with? That's how I feel, you know. That's how any true preacher should feel, and that's exactly how I feel as a preacher of God's word that God has revealed so much to me in 16:39 his word. What shall I do with it? Store it up myself? It's like a wealth God has given me. It's given me so that I can pass it on to others. And dear brothers, even if you are not a preacher like me, if God has done one single thing for 16:54 you, think of somebody you can share it with. Even a simple thing like Jesus died for your sins. You know that much? There are many people around you who don't know it. Your relatives, etc. So, God strengthens us, gives us 17:12 something so that we can give to somebody else. So, a person who receives from God and doesn't give out is going to be like a stagnant pool. I feel in the in the land of Israel, there are two pools of water. One is the Sea of Galilee in the north. 17:31 And the other is the Dead Sea at the bottom. And the River Jordan flows between them. And I feel these two seas in Israel are two parables. The The Sea of Galilee gives out the water that it gets, and it's always fresh. 17:46 The Dead Sea at the bottom receives all the water and just stagnates and stagnates and stagnates. You can't drink it. It's just full of salt. So, that's what happens, you know. If you receive and receive and receive, and 17:57 there's a great danger of many people sitting in the church. We receive and receive and receive Sunday after Sunday after Sunday so much, and you never give it out to anybody whatever you receive from the Lord. You don't even drop a 18:08 line to somebody you know. You don't even make a phone call to somebody you know to share something about you heard. You will stagnate like the Dead Sea. Let the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea be perpetual reminders to you of receiving 18:22 and not giving out, or receiving and giving out. So, blessed are those who mourn, they shall be comforted, they shall be strengthened, they shall be strengthened in order that they might strengthen other people. So, one more verse 18:39 in 2 Corinthians in chapter 12. I told you that Paul was a person who had a was a real father. And I mentioned just now how a father will mourn if he sees that his children are not doing well in their 18:57 school, or always fighting with their siblings. So, Paul was like that. He says here, he was a real spiritual father, and the Corinthians were a church where there was a lot of problems. Very selfish people who were just 19:12 thinking of themselves. And Paul as a spiritual father, he looks at them and says in 2 Corinthians 12:20, "I am afraid that perhaps when I come, I may find you to be not what I wish. And you will find me to be not what you 19:25 wish." He's got a sense of humor. "And because I I'll find there strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, and disturbance among you. Then I'm afraid that when I come there, first of all, God will humble me. 19:43 He'll humble me." See, that's how you feel humbled when your children are not growing up properly. Don't you feel humbled when you see your children wayward? That's exactly how Paul felt towards the Corinthian church. I I was here for 1 19:55 and 1/2 years with these people and these people have turned out to be like this. I preached so many sermons to them and they still haven't turned out properly. And he's grieved. A true spiritual leader will be grieved. He 20:06 won't be angry. And I may mourn. There again it is. Paul, blessed are those who mourn. I may mourn over those who have sinned and not repented of their impurity, immorality, sensuality which they practiced. A true spiritual leader, if he's a 20:25 spiritual father, when he sees sin in his congregation, he won't just preach against it and say, "Okay, goodbye. Leave as you like." No. That is a stranger. A spiritual father will mourn. Just like an earthly father will mourn. 20:45 The sad thing is, dear brothers and sisters, there are not many fathers in the church today. A pastor, he works there because he he found that that church will give him the highest salary, just like CEOs look for the company that will give them the highest 21:02 salary. Pastors go around looking which church will give them the highest salary. And once they've got the salary there, then they look for another church which will give them a still higher salary. They're not fathers. That's the tragedy. 21:14 That's why we've been against that system in all our CFC churches all these years. We we praise the Lord that God has raised up in our church many spiritual fathers who are concerned for the spiritual growth of their children. And 21:27 I believe God's given you some real spiritual fathers here who are concerned for you and who don't want anything from you, but do want you to grow. So, blessed are those who mourn because it says God will comfort them. Okay, we don't want to spend forever in 21:42 the Sermon on the Mount. So, we want to move on to the next thing in Matthew chapter 5. We go on to the third right attitude, which is in verse 4. Blessed are the gentle or the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. So, I already spoke a little bit about 21:59 it that it's not just humility, it's more than that. It's uh a humble attitude towards people. It's a merciful attitude um towards people. I will come to that in a moment. Let me read that again what I 22:17 said to you and repeat it so that you get it clearly. It's a meek is a mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit towards God and a one in which we accept God's dealings 22:37 with us, whether they are good or we think they're good. Everything is good for us. And without disputing, without resisting. And in the Old Testament, the those who relied on God to help them and to give them justice against injustice done to 22:53 them. So, the meek are those that attitudes towards evil people means knowing God is permitting, like Jesus, God is permitting these people to treat me like this. And he's using them to purify me. That is the attitude Jesus had when 23:09 people treated him badly and he did not retaliate. He did not want revenge. And a meek person is not one who wants to revenge. He sees God has permitted this to be done to me. Blessed are the meek and the gentle. And the interesting thing is, if you 23:29 turn to Matthew chapter 11, Jesus said, "Learn from me." 23:46 Verse 29, "For I am meek or gentle and humble in heart." So, in everything, you know, if you want to understand these qualities, all of these qualities are found in Christ. I showed you about mourning. Jesus mourned. Even the very first thing of poor in 24:04 spirit, Jesus was the one who was saying, "Father, I only want to do what you want me to do." It's almost like a person who was ignorant that he lived on earth. Every one of these qualities was found in Jesus. Those who 24:16 were poor in spirit, Jesus was poor in spirit throughout his life. And those who mourned, Jesus mourned. And Jesus is meek. He says in verse 29, "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart." And here's here's the 24:31 blessedness of which we'll come back to what we read in Matthew 5, but here Jesus says, "If you are meek, I'll tell you how you can find out whether you're meek. Every one of you, just evaluate yourself right now. You can find out whether you're meek, 24:48 gentle and humble by one test. Do you have constant rest in your soul? If you find unrest, unrest, unrest, something or the other disturbing you, something happened in the home, it disturbs you. You get to upset with your 25:05 wife, you get upset with your husband, upset with your boss, you are not meek. You are not You don't have this quality. Don't get discouraged. You go to God and say, "Lord, I want to be honest. I'm not meek because I don't have because you said if 25:19 you're meek, you will find rest for your souls." That's the proof. And the Lord says here, uh blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. It's the opposite of the values in the world. All of God's values, everything 25:41 mentioned in this Matthew chapter 5 is the opposite of what worldly people have. So, let's come back to Matthew chapter 5 in verse 5. Blessed are the meek or the gentle, they shall inherit the earth. Now, the reason he puts it is like that 25:57 is because everybody on this earth uh worldly person is always trying to inherit more and more of this world, either money or property or pos- position on this earth to become a big shot here or a big shot there, to 26:15 get a higher job, to inherit something on this earth, money or property or position or something. And they are fighting for it. And the Lord says that's not the way for you. Humble yourself. Submit. And I will give you the whole 26:33 earth. I'll give you whatever you need on this earth. And I believe, my dear brothers and sisters, let me say this in conclusion, that when you come to the end of your life, and if people could look at every detail of your life which is the hidden from 26:51 them, if they could evaluate your life, they should see in your life how God prospered you I I mean spiritually prospered you even though you never sought for anything on this earth. You should be a living demonstration of 27:06 the of the truth of this word. Those who are meek and submit inherit everything on this earth. I can certainly say that my wife and I have experienced a tremendous amount of good from God 27:26 in not fighting for our rights, but giving up, giving up, giving up our rights in different different situations. And I don't think I everybody knows all about it, but it has been like that in our life. We have found that God has provided 27:40 everything we needed for ourselves and our family and our children by refusing to fight for our rights, by yielding and saying, "Lord, you take away something, we will not complain. And we will not fight with somebody who 27:53 comes to fight with us. If he wants to take it away, take it away." And you should have a testimony like that so that one day when you come to the end of your life, it could should be proved in your life that you didn't grab. 28:05 A meek person doesn't grab. He inherits it from God. He His palm is open and God puts it into his palm. The world is full of people who are grabbing, grabbing, grabbing. Those are not the meek. And I'm sorry to say many Christians are 28:20 like that. They're grabbing for this, grabbing for that. Ask yourself cuz you only know whether in secret you have a desire to grab. I want to get that. I want to get that. I'll tell you, you want to inherit something, be meek. That's what the Lord taught us. 28:34 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, please help us to not just understand these things, but to experience them in our life. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
