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CRUCIAL ASPECTS OF MATTHEW 5 THROUGH 7

(Thursday—Second Morning Session)

Message Two

The Blessedness of Those Who Mourn,

of Those Who Are Meek,

and of Those Who Are the Peacemakers, Called the Sons of God

[Matt. 5:4-5, 9] 🔗 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.

I. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted"—Matt. 5:4:

[Matt. 5:4] 🔗 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

A. To mourn is to feel or show deep sorrow or regret:

1. The entire situation of the world is negative toward God's economy.

2. God's glory is insulted, Christ is rejected, the Holy Spirit is frustrated, the church

is desolate, self is corrupt, and the whole world is evil.

3. Satan, sin, self, darkness, and worldliness predominate among all people on the

earth.

4. God wants us to mourn over such a situation.

B. A saint who is poor in spirit and seeks God will mourn because the surroundings, the

present generation, and the people in the world do not want God, resist God, and rebel

against God:

1. The Lord promised that those who mourn on behalf of God will be comforted.

2. Our grieving heart is comforted by gaining God and by coming under His rule;

however, our comfort will be greater and richer in the coming kingdom and in eternity future.

C. A believer who lives in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens often mourns:

1. A saint does not mourn over the tribulations that he suffers but over not gaining

God.

2. The object of such mourning is God and His dominion.

3. Such mourning is noble and holy.

4. Those who mourn will be comforted by God.

D. If we are poor in spirit, surely we will mourn:

1. We will feel sad and sorrowful for the poor situation among God's people and even

for our own condition.

2. The situation among God's people today is really worthy of mourning.

3. For the kingdom life we also need to mourn.

4. We need to mourn concerning ourselves, our society, and today's Christianity.

5. When we look at Christ, we are happy and rejoicing, but when we look at ourselves

and others around us, we have to mourn.

II. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth"—v. 5:

A. To be meek means not to resist the world's opposition but to suffer it willingly.

B. If we are poor in spirit and mourn for the pitiful situation of others, spontaneously we

will be meek:

1. Toward all people we must be meek.

2. To have the virtue of meekness means that we do not invade others or fight with

them:

a. Instead, we are willing to give in.

b. The meek give in, do not fight, and do not invade others' territory.

C. While we are being meek toward other people, we must fight against the power of

darkness—Eph. 6:12:

[Eph. 6:12] 🔗 12 For our wrestling is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies.

1. The enemy is not other people.

2. It is Satan and his angels, the evil powers in the air—2:2.

D. If we are meek, willing to suffer the world's opposition in this age, we will inherit the

earth in the coming age—Heb. 2:5-8; Luke 19:17, 19; Matt. 11:28-30; Num. 12:3.

[Heb. 2:5-8] 🔗 5 For it was not to angels that He subjected the coming inhabited earth, concerning which we speak. 6 But one has solemnly testified somewhere, saying, "What is man, that You bring him to mind? Or the son of man, that You care for him? 7 You have made Him a little inferior to the angels; You have crowned Him with glory and honor and have set Him over the works of Your hands; 8 You have subjected all things under His feet." For in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing unsubject to Him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to Him,

[Matt. 11:28-30] 🔗 28 Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

[Num. 12:3] 🔗 3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than anyone else who was on the face of the earth.

E. The Lord Jesus said of Himself, "I am meek…in heart"—Matt. 11:29:

[Matt. 11:29] 🔗 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

1. In facing opposition, the Lord Jesus was always meek.

2. Paul in 2 Corinthians speaks of the meekness of Christ—10:1:

a. Meekness is a virtue of the humanity of Christ by the divine life.

b. Christ's meekness is not a simple matter, for it is in His humanity and by the

divine life.

c. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He lived a human life by the divine life.

d. Through this mingling of divinity and humanity the virtue of meekness was

manifested.

3. Christ's meekness is seen in the way He entered Jerusalem as described in Matthew 21:1-11:

a. He was "meek and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, a foal of a beast of

burden"—v. 5.

b. This signifies the meek and lowly state in which the Lord was willing to present Himself.

c. Christ the heavenly King did not come with haughty splendor but with gentle,

humble meekness.

d. The Lord Jesus came not to fight but to be a meek King.

F. Those who are meek will inherit the earth—5:5:

1. If we live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens and partake in the kingdom,

we will inherit the kingdom of God—1 Cor. 6:9a, 10b; Gal. 5:21b; Eph. 5:5b.

[1 Cor. 6:9a, 10b] 🔗 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be led astray; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor homosexuals 10 Nor thieves nor the covetous, not drunkards, not revilers, not the rapacious will inherit the kingdom of God.

[Gal. 5:21b] 🔗 21 Envyings, bouts of drunkenness, carousings, and things like these, of which I tell you beforehand, even as I have said before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

[Eph. 5:5b] 🔗 5 For this you realize, knowing that every fornicator or unclean person or greedy person (who is an idolater) has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

2. Inheriting the kingdom of God is different from entering into the kingdom of God

through regeneration:

a. Having entered into the kingdom by being regenerated, we now need to grow

and develop in the divine life.

b. As a result of this growth and development, we will inherit the kingdom of God.

c. We cannot inherit the kingdom of God unless we grow to maturity in the proper

development in the divine life.

III. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God"—Matt.

5:9:

A. Satan, the rebellious one, is the instigator of all rebellion.

B. For the kingdom of the heavens, under its heavenly ruling, we must be those who

make peace among men—Heb. 12:14:

[Heb. 12:14] 🔗 14 Pursue peace with all men and sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord;

1. Our Father is the God of peace (Rom. 15:33; 16:20), having a peaceful life with a

[Rom. 15:33] 🔗 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

peaceful nature.

2. As those born of Him, if we would be peacemakers, we must walk in His divine life

and according to His divine nature.

3. In this way we will express His life and nature and be called the sons of God.

C. The blessed peacemakers will be called the sons of God—Matt. 5:9:

[Matt. 5:9] 🔗 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.

1. The believers are children of God, and then they gradually grow up to become sons

of God.

2. In His salvation God makes sinners into sons.

3. The central thought of the book of Romans is that in His salvation God is making

sinners His sons with His life and nature so that they may become constituents

of the Body of Christ for His expression:

a. Romans 8, in particular, emphasizes sonship:

(1) Verse 14 says, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of

God."

(2) This indicates that we may know that we are sons of God by the fact that

we are led by the Spirit.

(3) The leading of the Spirit marks us out as being sons of God in the growth

of life.

b. Verse 19 continues, "The anxious watching of the creation eagerly awaits the

revelation of the sons of God"; this verse speaks of the manifestation, or the

appearing, of the sons of God.

4. Galatians 3:26 says, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus":

a. Faith in Christ brings us into Christ and makes us one with Christ, in whom

is the sonship.

b. We must be identified with Christ through faith so that in Him we may be sons