Month: February 2018

8. Mercy

 Matthew 5:7

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Obtaining mercy is a promised blessing for the merciful. Jesus gives this promise so that His disciples would not withhold mercy for any reason; one cannot give away mercy and lose it for it will always return in abundance. Mercy is not a limited commodity in that there is only so much to go around: the more we give mercy the more it expands and grows. Mercy multiplies.

Some people are afraid that if they show too much mercy the guilty person will think he got away with it and so will do it again. These people are afraid that mercy will become license; the sinner will take advantage of mercy and not attempt to change. They are afraid that the merciful are the weak and the meek, the poor and the lowly, but Jesus gives assurance that it is just those kinds of people who will obtain much mercy for themselves. It is always harder to believe that mercy actually has more power to change behavior than judgment and punishment. This promise is given precisely because it is hard to believe; it is a truth to be believed contrary to human reason and assumption. Trust the power of mercy and unconditional love to change lives: the Gospel works.

We are beggars; it is true. We are also donors; that is also true. We beg for mercy; we receive mercy; we extend mercy; we beg…receive…extend in a growing circle until a wonderful life is built on the mercy of God obtained and given away. Without mercy life would stop, but with mercy life expands and grows and covers all.

7. Filled

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

 Luke 6:21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled.

Jesus promises that the hungry will be filled. When Mary sang about the conception of the Messiah in Luke 2:53, “He has filled the hungry with good things,” she was exulting in the coming of Messiah who would fulfill this kind of promise. Jesus was born to provide a filling to the hungry.

Matthew explains further this hunger as a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Being hungry and thirsty is not a condition for the promise of filling; it is the position of every sinful human and so the promise is for all people since all of us are empty of righteousness. Any person who knows his sinfulness begins to realize that he is in need of righteousness and desires it strongly.

The promise is that because of Christ God will fill the unrighteous with the very righteousness of God. This filling comes as a grace gift from God’s mercy. Jesus announces the fulfillment of the promise of righteousness has now arrived with His coming into the world: “You folks are blessed now; I am here.”

Any time that we recognize a need, a hole, a lack, or just something missing it is a hunger for something that is not there that is supposed to be. We don’t always understand that lack as righteousness. But it is true: it is righteousness that is missing whenever we notice that life is not all that I think it ought to be. If something, anything, is wrong it is because of sin; if things are right it is because of the forgiveness of sin and the resultant righteousness of God. The promise: Life is Good! Life is Full!

6. Inherit the Earth

 Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

 The meek are those who are humble enough to admit their weakness and need; they acknowledge their sin and need for forgiveness; they are not going to assert themselves over others but submit to God and let Him be God. In short, the meek believe God, and they look to Him in every time of trouble and need. They are willing to lose their lives for the sake of the Gospel and so save it for eternal life. The promise is unconditional and it is meant for all people: but the proud and self-righteous cannot empty themselves to receive the filling of the promise.

The earth has been taken over by Sin and Satan and Death and the earth itself has become subject to bondage because of human sin. All Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; it hopes that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage. And it will be redeemed along with the redemption of the bodies of the believers. But like us, it must first go through a death and a resurrection and become a new thing. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees it: the heavens and the earth that now is will melt away with a fervent heat and be replaced with a new heaven and a new earth. This restored, renewed, recreated earth is the earth that the meek shall inherit. The new heaven and new earth becomes ours by inheritance and we get to rule it, live in it, and enjoy it forever under God in His glorious, loving eternal presence.

This eternal inheritance is reserved for us and the guarantee of it is the indwelling Holy Spirit. The good news is that the earth we inherit will not be this corrupted and decaying earth but the new and eternal earth.

5. Comfort

 Matthew 5:4

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

 All people will mourn at some time during life; death is a loss of something or someone, and a loss produces mourning; everyone can mourn the loss of life. That loss is like a hole in the heart that needs to be filled. It is comfort that fills the emptiness left by the loss. Mourners will be comforted = the emptiness will be filled. The promise is that God Himself will fill the holes caused by losses.

The promise is that the more we lose from this world the more the losses will be replaced with the substance of the next world; spiritual truths will become more solidly entrenched and real and true. This is comfort. Hope replaces memory: the hope of seeing a loved one again eventually grows stronger and overwhelms the mourning as time passes. Comfort is in the words of the Gospel. Comfort does actually come through the clichés of comforting words of life.

This comfort is real and powerful. It is substantive and it really works. It is a “blessed” thing. The comfort is more powerful, more helpful, more useful, more substantive, and deeper than the mourning. The comfort of the Gospel is why and how mourners are blessed. The promise is that this comfort will sustain and strengthen. The clichés of the Gospel are really comforting and they bless: “Jesus loves you; God is good; there is a resurrection and a reunion; all things work together for good; let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God.”

4. Kingdom of Heaven

 Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Luke 6:20 Blessed be ye poor; for yours is the kingdom of God.

 “Heaven” is another word for God, a replacement word to avoid speaking the Divine Name: thus, kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven are the same thing. The kingdom of God is a broad concept covering all of life here in time and hereafter in eternity. The kingdom of God is the rule, or reign, of God in the hearts and lives of men and women who believe and submit to Jesus Christ as God and Lord and Eternal Savior.

The coming of the Rule of God presupposes the redemption, rescue, salvation and deliverance from the Dominance and Cruel Tyranny of Sin, Death and Devil. Jesus announces the Kingdom has come: Freedom and Light replaces slavery and darkness: “You are hereby transferred from death to life. Your God is in charge. I’m taking over now; your life is in my hands.” Then Jesus goes about the rest of His Ministry until the job is finished at the cross and the tomb.

Here the Pronouncement is proclaimed to the poor in spirit: the Kingdom belongs to you! Eternal Life and unimagined riches are yours! The promise is for the poor: the poor are defined as the poor in spirit. Every single human being is included in the category of “poor in spirit.” We are sinners; sin causes poverty of spirit, indeed, even emptiness of spirit; we are morally bankrupt, steeped in corruption and utter depravity, existing in spiritual squalor. The soul reeks and stinks; it is rotten and filthy. How far we have fallen! And how high we have risen!

This is not a conditional promise but an unconditional guarantee. The only thing for us to do is to recognize our spiritual poverty and admit it: “He’s talking to me! The kingdom belongs to me! I have immeasurable spiritual wealth!” The poverty metaphor pictures a beggar being transferred from living in cardboard and scavenging in garbage cans to living in palatial luxury with the King—except that the difference is even much greater than we can imagine. We can’t see our own spiritual poverty with its squalor and slavery; and we cannot see the spiritual riches and luxurious life of splendor and glory. Therefore, it is necessary to hear the Word of the Gospel in order to believe it. Believe the Gospel.

3. Fishers of men

 Matthew 4:19

Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Mark 1:17

Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

 This promise is given to the first disciples, but the principle and the promise also applies to all of us who are called by the Gospel to believe and follow Jesus. It is a conditional promise as the promise is fulfilled as the effect of the condition: if you follow Jesus, then He will make you a fisher of people.

Most of us, and I imagine Peter as well, did not naturally have the dream and desire to become a fisher of men; it is probably a vocation I never even thought about before meeting and following Jesus. We did not say when hearing the promise: “Oh yeah, I always wanted that.” But once we begin following Jesus the desire to fish grows increasingly stronger within our hearts; and over time the ability to be effective at this job increases. Every disciple of Christ begins to sense a need to serve others in place of himself, and by so doing show the love of God to them. The Christian also begins to sense a desire to see family members, friends and neighbors saved by coming to the knowledge of the Truth; then he prays for them and their salvation, and in time God brings the Gospel to their hearts and they are “fished.”

God does not save people by dropping out of the sky, but His method is to use His people to pray and love and invite others to hear the Gospel and believe and be saved. God uses every child of God in some way to serve others and fish them into the kingdom.

This is really a wonderful promise that gives our lives a deep and an eternal sense of purpose, value and meaning. We will never know in this life how many lives God has touched through our “fishing” or even how He has done it; but in eternity we will know and see what Jesus has done with us and how He has used us for the good of others. Because we do not see the positive effects of our own life and witness we must believe that it is so: Jesus promised it and so it will be. These kinds of promises are given so that we can see what can’t be seen and take heart and courage to know that our life is meaningful to God and other people.

The Lord does the work and the fishing; we just follow. Following Jesus involves listening to Him, hearing the Word and praying and attending church services and doing the Christian things. The promise is: “Your life matters; I am using it to make a difference.”

2. Kingdom of Heaven

 Matthew 4:17

Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand

 Mark 1:15

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel.

 Jesus promises the kingdom of God: it is at hand. We receive it, or enter it, or have it with us when we repent and believe the gospel. “At hand” means near or close by, nearby both in time and in space. Jesus the Christ was nearby both in time, right now, and in space, right here; you can see Him and hear Him here and now; so Jesus says to the disciples who were going to follow Him. He was physically there. For us who did not live on earth at that time and place, “at hand” means the same thing: right here and right now, where we are and when we live.

Jesus is the Kingdom of God; the Kingdom of God is the rule or lordship of God over our lives in our hearts where we live. For each of us it begins when we enter by repentance and faith and it never ends since it is eternal life. Jesus is saying: “OK, I am God and I am here now; I am taking over. You can relax and enjoy my present rule in you hearts and lives. I got this!” Jesus lives with us and we live with Him; we are by faith living in the spiritual kingdom of God. We are reminded of this truth by daily repentance and faith in the Gospel. Hint: hear the Gospel daily!

The spiritual kingdom of God dwells in us (and God rules our life), at the same time that the earthly kingdom of the World lives in us (and Satan tries to rule our life). Both kingdoms are always present: the presence of God and the presence of Enemies; the Flesh and the Spirit; the old man and the new man. This causes a struggle and a battle all of our life long. When we die and go to be with the Lord the one kingdom is gone forever and the other one goes on and lives forever. Good rules, Evil loses; Jesus wins, Enemies are defeated; Holiness lives, Sin is gone. Paradise is regained and Love is All.

This Kingdom of God promise is First and Foremost; it is the Most Basic and Primary giver and energizer of our life and faith. Believing it makes all the difference to our living and wellbeing. We enter and enjoy the Kingdom by doing what Jesus says: “Repent and believe the Gospel.”

1. Live by every word

 Matthew 4:4 It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

 Luke 4:4 It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone.

Jesus quotes Moses, who speaks for God. The Lord promises that people will live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Living by bread = physical, earthly life in the body. Living by God’s Word = spiritual, heavenly life in the soul. In answer to the temptation Jesus wasn’t saying bread was not important for life, but that bread (all food) alone was not everything; bread supports life but does not define life and produce real living or a full life.

Physical life, without a spiritual life beside it, is really nothing; it is living without God and that is like the walking dead. Physical life alone also ends or dies; it ends in the dark abyss of eternal death, without God. Physical life connected to spiritual life is living and it is living eternally, without death and without end. Life can only be considered life if it is eternal; living can only be considered truly living if it does not come to an end. This kind of life comes from the words of God: “He who believes in Me has eternal life, and will never die.”

Spiritual life energizes physical life, and the source of that life is the Word of God, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life,” says Jesus [John 6:63]. Real and abundant life comes to us by the hearing of the word of the Gospel. There are actually degrees of being alive: really living and enjoying life versus surviving and barely coping. Listening to the gospel every day increases life and living.

The promises of Jesus: Read the Red.

Pastors and Counselors have advised new believers to “read the red.” This means begin an exploration of the Bible by studying the words of Jesus in the Four Gospels, usually rendered in red print in many Bibles. This is a good place to continue our discovery and appropriation of the promises of God. We have finished a study of the promises of God in the Psalms; there we found 264 promises.

Now we will explore the words of Jesus and discover how many promises Jesus Himself gave us and what kind of promises these are. As throughout Scripture, God’s Promises can be divided into two kinds: conditional and unconditional. Gospel promises have no “ifs;” the Gospel is grace, entirely free, given with no conditions or strings attached. When any restrictions or conditions are placed on the pure Gospel message it is no longer the Gospel.

This unconditional Gospel promise needs some explanation. Jesus says, “He who believes in Him has eternal life.” This sounds like “believe” is the condition: If you believe, then you have eternal life. But “believe” is not a condition; there is no grammatical indication that an “if” condition is involved. The faith does not cause the life; eternal life is not a consequence of believing. The believing is simply the acceptance or receiving of the free and full gift. Faith does not make life happen; it recognizes that it has happened. The “believing in Him” is itself a gift, worked in us by the Holy Spirit through the very hearing of the Gospel Promise. The gift of eternal life is given to all humans for free and forever. Those who believe actually have it.

The word “believe” connected to a promise is not given as a command but as a statement of fact. A conditional promise implying an “if” is usually given as a command, for example, “Ask, and it will be given it you.” God will give if you ask; the giving is a consequence and result of asking. Answers to prayer are conditionally granted to the one who prays. So: “Pray, then…”

All promises in the Word of God are to be believed and applied, like the 264 promises of the Psalms, but there is a feeling that the very words of Jesus (in red) carry more authority, though it really doesn’t. These blogs for the next few months will go through the “red” words of Jesus and lift out the promises of Jesus in His own recorded words. We will not immediately study the promises from other NT writers, like Paul or Luke. So what does Jesus promise? Much, as we will see.

264. Beautify with Salvation

 Psalm 149:4

For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people:

He will beautify the meek with salvation.

 Another promise for the meek is that the Lord will beautify them with salvation. Not only does the Lord lift up the meek (those who trust God) He also blesses them with salvation; and, they shall inherit the earth. Because the Lord takes pleasure in His people He gave His Son that they might live, and then He makes them beautiful.

Jesus Christ took the ugliness of my sinful thoughts, words, and deeds and turned me into a beautiful person with His salvation: this beauty is the beauty of holiness. Inward beauty is thousands of times more beautiful than outward beauty. The inner man, this is where we look for holiness and the wondrous beauty of God’s life. Without making judgments it is possible once in a while to see the difference between a Christian and an unbeliever. It might be a smile, it might be in the eyes, it might be in the tone of voice, or it might be spoken outright in words, but it is more beautiful than a sneer, a smirk, a frown, a harsh tone and a mean look.

The inner beauty that shines forth looks like God; God promises Himself. Peter writes [I Peter 3:3-4]: “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is God’s sight is very precious.” This does not mean you try to adorn yourself inside because you cannot; God beautifies you and does it all by grace through faith. You can’t beautify yourself. Get into the Word and prayer and look Jesus in the face and listen to His Gospel of grace: He beautifies with salvation. Beauty products generate a multi-billion dollar business, but the better inner beauty that comes from faith in Christ is free.