We have come to the conclusion of our series on the study of the beatitudes alongside the fruits of the Spirit – 9 blessed are’s alongside 9 fruits.  9 ways God approves of us, alongside 9 ways to show the effects of that approval.  9 inner attitudes alongside 9 outer actions.  9 requirements to get in to show 9 ways you belong.  9 transformations complimented by 9 transfusions.

    BEATITUDE                                                    FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

1. Poverty of spirit                                                        - Self-controlled
2. Broken/mourning over sin                                         - Joyful
3. Meekness/humility                                                    - Gentleness
4. Hungering after righteousness                                 - Faithful
5. Merciful                                                                    - Kindness
6. Purity of heart                                                           - Goodness
7. Peacemakers                                                             - Peaceful
8. Persecuted for doing what’s righteous                      - Patient
9. Hated, hunted, and humiliated for the name of Jesus       - Loving

After today, you will have had to sit through almost 8-1/2 hours from 11 sermons, comprised of 55,000 words, making up 131 pages of typed notes, containing over 500 Scripture verses and consuming well over 150 hours in planning, probing, preparation, and prayer. 

God’s Word is always proclaimed, or prophesied, to an audience. It always comes down to who is listening and what they do with what they hear.  All the prophets of old proclaimed God’s Word to a rebellious, stiff-necked, idolatrous people. Thousands of years and numerous generations speaking to in essence, a brick wall.  People giving lip-service to God, but whose hearts were never transformed and were instead easily led astray.  I’m not saying you’re a brick wall, or where your heart is at spiritually, just that there is a very distinctive pattern in God’s Word we need to pay very careful attention to, as it has gone through this cycle since the beginning of time!

A BRIEF STROLL THROUGH HISTORY

God created a perfect sinless creation, communicating directly with Adam and Eve, yet they were easily led astray and did not listen to the ultimate Prophet and Proclaimer of truth.  They thought they knew better and disregarded His message – displaying their pride and arrogance and small view of God.  Elevation of self and minimization of God which starts the long roller coaster ride of time.

Cain thought he knew better than what God commanded, became bitter and angry and murdered 1/3 of all humanity because of it! (Only Adam, Eve, and Abel were alive at that time besides Cain as far as we know).

By Genesis chapter 6 all of creation was so evil that it was time to destroy it and start over – no one was listening to the truth and only doing what their inner desires demanded of them.  Noah preached righteousness for a long period of time, approximately 100 years, yet no one listened and only Noah, his wife, and his 3 sons along with their 3 wives entered the ark.  Imagine going to the church of Noah, where he was proclaiming righteousness and truth for 100 years with basically no effect, except for his immediate family being saved.  Noah’s son Ham would be the father of the nation of Canaan, a wicked, pagan, idolatrous nation that Israel would drive out of the promised land – a nation involved in child sacrifice, false gods, and every immorality known to man.  All the pagan nations described in the Old Testament would come from the lines of Noah’s 3 sons.

After the flood the people would not listen, (I know…shocker!!), and in a self-righteous daze they were building a tower to heaven, as if they could ascend to God’s realm and be like Him, disregarding His command to spread out and fill the earth.  God had to confuse their language to get them to do what they were supposed to be doing.  They had a very clear command, yet refused to listen and thought they knew better, substituting their own will in place of God’s.

After the tower of Babel God would choose Abram from Ur to start a great nation from his lineage.  Abram would become Abraham, yet fail in various ways, even though he is counted as a man of great faith and the father of a great nation – and this “great” nation would fail miserably countless times.  Abraham would question God at times, throw his wife under the bus on more than one occasion for fear of his own life, almost causing other men to commit adultery with his own wife.  He also had a child with another woman because he didn’t believe God’s promise would be fulfilled through Sarai (Sarah).

Abraham’s son Isaac would follow in his footsteps and throw his wife under the bus as well for fear of his life.  He played favorites with his kids, Jacob and Esau, and sought only to bless Esau because he liked the food he made for him (their god is their belly!), even though God had prophesied that the older would serve the younger.  On his deathbed Isaac refused to bless Esau when he was tricked out of his blessing.  From Jacob and Esau would be the birth of 2 nations, one the Israelites, and the other the Edomites.  Isaac thought he knew better at times and refused to listen to the counsel of the Lord, and his entire family suffered for it.

Jacob, whose name means supplanter or usurper, was deceitful and was deceived himself.  He tricked his father and brother to get the blessing and the birthright, and was himself tricked into marrying the wrong woman, had numerous wives (4) and 12 sons with those wives who would become the 12 tribes of Israel.  Jacob would wrestle with God and have his name changed to Israel.  Each generation seemed to be a little less faithful and have more prevalent sins than the last one.  The twelve sons had plenty of issues, not the least of which was planning to murder one of the twelve, but settling for selling him into slavery.  And then going home and lying to their own father about him being killed by a wild animal! 

Moses was raised up to lead God’s people to freedom from Egypt, proclaim God’s Words to them, often after receiving special revelation on Mount Sanai, and they would listen at times and rebel at times, forever whining and complaining.  Moses would fail at times as well.  This history would be told on the Exodus journey from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan through the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  Prophetic words spoken, a tabernacle constructed, yet sin and disobedience would abound.  Eventually Moses would die along with that rebellious generation in the wilderness before the next generation would be led in by Joshua.  The people wouldn’t listen, and Moses wouldn’t listen at times!  Even having Aaron make them a golden calf to worship because Moses was taking to long up on the mountain!   Two of Aaron’s sons, of the Levitical priesthood, thought they could worship however they wanted and were killed because of their arrogance and disobedience!

Joshua would lead the people into the promised land, but they would disobey and not completely conquer and take over the land which would lead to disastrous consequences in the book of Judges.  Joshua prophesied to the people what to do from God, but the people half-heartedly listened and half-heartedly obeyed as well, which is the same as disobedience, leading to judgment.

After Joshua’s death the people of Israel would enter into a vicious cycle of idolatry and sin, judgment from God, a time of suffering leading to repentance, salvation by God raising someone up to deliver them, a short time of prosperity and obedience, all leading back to idolatry and sin again.  Various judges were raised up to free the people from various troubles, mostly because of their failure to completely conquer the land they were supposed to overtake and inhabit.  Most of the judges also seemed to have some serious short-comings, going from bad to worse, and it was as if no one was really listening to God because everyone was just doing whatever they thought was right in their own eyes. 

Eventually the people would whine and cry loud enough to get a king during the time of Samuel.  Samuel was raised as the last judge and a prophet; he would become more of a counselor to Saul and the anointer of David as the true king Israel wanted and needed.  While the kingdom was united under the first 3 kings of Israel - Saul, David, and Solomon, it was not going in a great direction.  Saul had some victories and a good start but went downhill fast.  He was in constant torment near the end and desperately seeking to kill David.  David had a good reign for most of his time as king but had some serious flaws in stealing a man’s wife, having her husband killed, and hiding from his own son who wanted to kill him and take the crown.  On his deathbed he told Solomon to obey God, but also to kill all their enemies by giving him a “hitlist”.  Solomon also started out good, asking for wisdom to rule God’s people, but because of his seemingly endless number of wives who led him astray that would lead to his downfall as well.

After Solomon the kingdom would be divided into 2 parts, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.  Each kingdom would know 20 different kings, the majority of which were bad kings leading to idolatry and judgment.  The northern kingdom would have all 20 kings be bad kings, doing things as bad if not even worse than the Canaanites who they conquered to take over that land, and eventually the nation of Assyria would be allowed to rise up and conquer that kingdom and lead them into exile, taking over their land in 722 B.C.

The southern kingdom would have 12 out of 20 kings be bad and last a little longer before the Babylonians would rise up and conquer that kingdom, leading them into exile and taking over their land in 586 B.C.

All the while God raised up numerous prophets to speak to these kings in both kingdoms, of which most were ignored.  Some would listen and be blessed for obeying what the prophets were proclaiming that God wanted them to know, and even those would fail at some point. The prophet Jeremiah sums up the times from the exodus through the times of the judges and kings, as he was a prophet to Judah and lived beyond the time they went into the Babylonian exile in 586 B.C.: 

Jeremiah 7:22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Jeremiah 7:23 But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

Jeremiah 7:24 But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

Jeremiah 7:25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day.

Jeremiah 7:26 Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

Jeremiah 7:27 “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.

The same thing is said through the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, and others – a theme that is repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over…

Solomon had wisdom, even though he neglected to use it all the time, but nevertheless wrote this in:

Ecclesiastes 1:9      What has been is what will be,

                     and what has been done is what will be done,

                     and there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:10    Is there a thing of which it is said,

                     “See, this is new”?

                    It has been already

                     in the ages before us.

Ecclesiastes 1:11    There is no remembrance of former things,

                     nor will there be any remembrance

                      of later things yet to be

                     among those who come after.

Israel never learned their lesson in the Old Testament historical account.  Truth was proclaimed to them, yet they refused to listen and went after idols, sin, and trivial things like fish to water.  Fast forward after the exile and the prophets to the time of Jesus now.  He is THE prophet, priest, and king (the 3 leaders that people would look to, one who leads them in wisdom, spiritually, and power) – and one they would not listen to but instead kill, something Isaiah would prophesy about back in the time of the kings and before the exiles:

Isaiah 53:3   He was despised and rejected by men,

                     a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

                     and as one from whom men hide their faces

                     he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Isaiah 53:4   Surely he has borne our griefs

                     and carried our sorrows;

                    yet we esteemed him stricken,

                     smitten by God, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:5   But he was pierced for our transgressions;

                     he was crushed for our iniquities;

                    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

                     and with his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:6   All we like sheep have gone astray;

                     we have turned—every one—to his own way;

                      and the LORD has laid on him

                     the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:7   He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

                     yet he opened not his mouth;

                    like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

                     and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

                     so he opened not his mouth.

Isaiah 53:8   By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

                     and as for his generation, who considered

                    that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

                     stricken for the transgression of my people?

Surely you would think that people would listen to God in the flesh!  I mean, those other prophets were mere men, but here was the Son of God made flesh, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, the long-awaited Messiah! Jesus confirms what the history of the entire earth before His incarnation taught, and for what the future would hold as well, as history just repeats itself time and time again:

Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Most wouldn’t listen to Jesus and were happy to have Him killed.  Just like the prophets of old He received the same hollow welcome – indifferent, callous hearts that would refuse to listen and be transformed.  If you don’t like the truth, you will do almost anything to avoid it, even going to the extreme of having someone killed to keep them quiet!

Jesus’ disciples were mocked and ignored by most, persecuted, and killed.  Following the pattern of their master they received the same fate.

And so, the drums of time continue to beat and march on – repeating the same story time and time again.  God raises up people, most ignore them, persecute them, sometimes martyr them, and think they are fine going their own way.  Kind of like we all have our fingers in our ears and go “la, la, la, la, la”, or “talk to the hand”, so we don’t have to listen to anyone we don’t want to, just like Scripture tells us we will do:

2Timothy 4:3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

2Timothy 4:4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Jesus gave a master sermon on the mount in Matthew chapters 5-7.  He starts where any good sermon should start and that is what the audience needs to hear the most.  The rest of the sermon becomes meaningless and void if the first part is not understood, allowed to have its transformative power, and put into application.  It would be like trying to convince a dead person of all the things they should be doing without first bringing them to life.  Well, we are born spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, and only God can give us the heart transplant we need to make us alive, much like the prophet Ezekiel proclaims in regard to disobedient Israel:

I Will Put My Spirit Within You

 

Ezekiel 36:22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

Ezekiel 36:23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

Ezekiel 36:24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.

Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Ezekiel 36:28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Ezekiel 36:29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.

Ezekiel 36:30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

Ezekiel 36:31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.

Jesus alludes to this same idea in John chapter 3 when He is speaking with Nicodemus who snuck out to see Him:

John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”

John 3:10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?

This is where it all starts!  If you don’t have this, you have nothing!  Jesus calls Nicodemus the “teacher of Israel” and yet Nicodemus doesn’t understand the most basic foundation that all the rest of the teachings are built upon.  Without it, it is nothing but sinking sand or a house of cards.  Jesus knows where Nicodemus is at spiritually which is why He starts the conversation with him this way…Nicodemus makes a statement about how God must be with Jesus because of all the miraculous things He does, and Jesus responds by telling him that he must be born again because he is dead! 

Imagine you are a teacher, and someone comes up to you and says, “you are amazing, and you must have the power of God in you because of all the incredible things you are doing”.  Your first response would probably be to say awe shucks, thank you, and then you would probably brag about all your abilities and recite a long list of accomplishments. Not Jesus…He’s like “Hey Nicodemus, you’re dead and you will never see the kingdom of God”.  He understood where His audience was at and went straight for the throat!

His audience was similar to Nicodemus in the sermon on the mount, which is why He started off with the beatitudes which is the litmus test for spiritual birth.  Surrounded by a bunch of spiritually dead people He gave them instructions for what God approves of and that starts with a new heart, a transformed life – because how they were otherwise God did not approve of and there was no reward or use for them!

All of history seems to be this long struggle of fighting for what we want, how we can get it, when we can have it, who we can get it from, who is in our way, where we will be when we get it, and the question of why we want it is seldom given much thought.  

God, on the other hand, created us, along with giving us everything else we need, to survive and thrive.  Besides just our basic survival and needs, He wants a relationship with us, and gives us the guidance we need to have the best life possible, if only we would listen.  We were built for relationship, and the ultimate of that is our relationship with our creator.  Marriage is a picture of that, as well as the family unit.  God is the Father and husband in those pictures, and we are the children and wives respectively who submit to that authority that is there for our benefit.

Unfortunately, we’re like stubborn rebellious little brats who refuse to do what our parents tell us because we think we know better!  We are like wives who refuse to come under the protection of our loving husband and instead seek to take away his authority and do instead whatever we want.  Every generation is the same, from Cain and Abel to ourselves in 2023.  Over 6,000 years and we still haven’t learned anything from the mistakes of every previous generation!  Thinking we know better and that it will never happen to us.

Wherever you think you are at on your spiritual journey, hit the pause button…

Whatever knowledge you think you possess,

However many good works you think you have done,

Whoever you think you know, take a step back and pull out the mirror of God’s Word.

Unless the beatitudes describe who you are in Christ you are dead.

If you are dead, then you do not know the love of God and cannot therefore give that love to others, making your efforts of no value – without love you are nothing.

The fruits of the spirit are an inward truth you possess that has an outward trajectory.  Without the beatitudes there is no fruit of the spirit.  Without the beatitudes, the outward trajectory of any of those fruits is rotten at its core.

1. Do you recognize what it means to be poor in spirit?  Can you see the awesome power and majesty of God and recognize how far you fall short of that standard of perfection?  When you look in the mirror what do you see staring back at you?  Is it a picture of humility or pride?  Brokenness or arrogance? What you see in this step determines the rest of the dominoes that need to fall in place.
2. Do you mourn over your sin?  Meaning, do you recognize the holy standard of perfection and see where you fall on the list of obedience?  Regardless of who you might offend do you recognize it is ultimately against God that you are sinning?
3. Are you humble and meek?  Do you seek the wisdom and pride you can get from your own way of life, or are you willing to submit to God’s plan for your life?  Look in the mirror and ask, “who’s driving this crazy train called my life?”  Is God behind the wheel or locked in the trunk?
4. Do you have an insatiable appetite now for what God wants in your life?  Are you seeking righteousness, and not that of your own, but of God’s?  Can anyone else tell that what you are so diligently seeking after, or are you still stuck in the rut of seeking after your own pleasures?
5. Are you merciful to other people?  Do you have any tolerance or patience or kindness to offer them, or is it just an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?  I’m gonna get my pound of flesh!  Do you have any compassion and what are you willing to do for anybody else?  Or is it all just about you?
6. Just how pure is your life?  What do you put before your eyes and ears?  Do you find the very things that God finds offensive to be offensive?  Or is it a sliding scale?  Do you make allowances for sin because you are more afraid of offending other people than God?
7. Is your life characterized by peace?  Are you forgiving and not out to make war with everyone you come across?  Are you willing to let things go or do you hold on to things and let them fester and build bitterness and resentment?
8. Are you ever challenged or willing to challenge others for standing up for the right thing?  Or do you want to just fit in and not make any waves and just go with whatever will put you under the radar?
9. And finally, what do you do with the name of Jesus?  Proclaim it, or are you ashamed of it?  Hide it under a rug and use it when no one else is looking?  Or unashamedly have it available for all to see, regardless of the consequences that follow?

Unless you start with step 1 you are spiritually dead.  You can’t skip the line and just find some fruit to try and bear in your own strength and willpower.  Every person in every generation thinks the same things:

• This is what makes the most sense to me.
• I’m basically a good person, at least better than some others.
• If there is a heaven, I think I’m good enough to get in.
• No one else can tell me what to do.

There is no decision that is more important than that which gives birth to new spiritual life.  Not what you eat or drink, where you live, what you drive, who you marry, how much money you make, what your retirement plan is, what your hobbies are…it all comes down to one simple question that affects everything else, both now and in eternity:

In God’s eyes who am I, and in my eyes who is God? (repeat)

That starts the journey that is full of blessings and hope that never ends.

Don’t let history repeat itself in your life – learn from all the mistakes that have been made and recorded for us to learn from.  Today is the day of your salvation and transformation.

Let’s pray…