(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're here in Matthew chapter 5, and we've taken quite a long break from the book of Matthew. I didn't want to start the Sermon on the Mount and not complete it before we went to the U.S. And obviously we've had a lot of special events, so we're kind of back in it now. And Matthew 5 is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. And like all sections of Scripture, people try to put errors or contradictions, so-called, into the text that are obviously not there because the Word of God is perfect. And oftentimes what they'll do is turn you to Luke chapter 6, and they'll say, well, Matthew 5 through 7 and Luke 6 have a contradiction. And here's the thing. These sermons in the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon, and the sermon preached in Luke 6 are very similar. So people think that they're absolutely identical, but you're going to notice they're preached in a different location. So in my opinion what's taking place is you've got the same sermon material, but it's preached a little bit different in different places. I would assume that Matthew 5 through 7 is a longer sermon than the one in Luke 6 because there's more mentioned in the Bible. Now you have to realize, when Jesus preached the sermon, I don't believe these were His exact words. I believe He expounded upon the statements that He's making. So the actual Sermon on the Sermon on the Mount was not a 10-minute sermon where He just read and it's done, but it's probably very long. And in Luke 6, it's verses 20 through 49, it's known as the Sermon on the Plain. And this is the Sermon on the Mount. These are different locations. So there are a lot of similarities, but you're going to see differences because they're preached at different locations. For example, I preach the same sermons here as I do in Pampanga on Saturdays, but they're never exactly identical. And last week when I preached on the olive tree in Pampanga, I was preaching two sermons so the sermon was shorter. And then the sermon here was a very long sermon because I had a lot more time. And so of course there's going to be some differences even though it's the same content. And so we're here in Matthew 5, and notice what it says here in verse number 1. The name of the sermon is The Purpose of the Beatitudes, and the first 12 verses are known as the blessings or the beatitudes. So what is the purpose of the beatitudes? Verse 1, And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain, and when He was said, His disciples came on to Him. Now this is interesting because multitudes follow Jesus and some are saved and some are not saved. And you would think if there's thousands of people He would just preach on salvation. But is that what Jesus does? No it's not. See the modern day churches, their method is bring lost people into church and then preach to large crowds of lost people. But yet you don't see Jesus doing this. He has multitudes coming to Him and then He goes up into a mountain and He gets set or prepared which probably takes a long time, like hey an hour from now we're going to start service and then He preaches to those that actually want to listen. And here today I am not preaching on salvation just like Jesus was not primarily preaching on salvation in the Sermon on the Mount. He touches on it but He's preaching on a lot of different things. You say why? I'm preaching to save people here today. Not unsaved. I'm not preaching to a bunch of Catholics or a bunch of INC or undutting to honor or whatever. I'm preaching to save people so guess what? I'm trying to edify the brethren. And here's what you learn when you go preaching the Gospel and you learn from lost people coming to church hearing the message of salvation. When I first started preaching I had the natural mindset if I could just get my unsaved friends to come they're going to get saved. So I got a lot of unsaved people to come listen to me preach and I would always preach on salvation back in West Virginia when I first started preaching and guess what? They never ever got saved. I mean I would literally have like 10 people come to listen to me. I'd preach an hour on salvation and I'd have a friend that was you know I remember this Mormon friend he's like man that was a great sermon but he still believed in Mormonism. I'm like well what part of that sermon was great to you? But what you find out is the best way to get people saved is to preach one on one to people. Preach in small groups. We go to parks maybe you preach to two people maybe you preach to three people but if you get too big of a number doesn't it usually get almost impossible? And look obviously if you get opportunities to preach to large crowds at funerals, weddings, schools, prisons absolutely take it. It's exciting, it's great but it is not the best way to get people saved. And if it was then in Matthew 5 you know what you would see? Jesus preaching to a bunch of lost people. The reality is all of us that are soul winners you are involved in the most exciting part the front lines of battle. Don't think well I'm just kind of a secondary person that invites people to church and then Pastor Stuckey is the one who gets to preach the gospel to thousands. So actually when you go soul winning when you went soul winning yesterday or on Monday for the soul winning marathon or last Sunday when we had 90 soul winners you are involved in the front lines of battle. The best and most effective way to get people saved and you know we get a lot of people saved as a church but it's not because of me or one person or a few people it's because we're involved in the work. We are a church that almost everybody's involved in the front lines of battle of soul winning that's what our church is about. And that's what you see in Matthew 5 where there's multitudes and he goes up into a mountain okay and it says when he was set so I would say a long time period goes by before he actually preaches to them. Verse number 2 and he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He is going to go through a list of things that he says are blessings and when you look at most of these things it doesn't really seem like a blessing. Right he says a lot of things that seem like they're negative and yet they're actually positive. And he starts with blessed are the poor in spirit now it's not referring to your finances like how much money you have in your wallet but you wouldn't think poor is a good thing okay and go to Revelation chapter 3. Revelation 3. Revelation chapter 3 and being poor in spirit is this idea that you know what you need God in your life you need the preaching of God's word that without God we don't really have anything and when people are arrogant and they think they know everything they can't be taught they can't learn. Step one is really realizing man I need God's word in my life I need to learn God's word I'm not an expert I don't know anything and here's the thing when you're poor in spirit you know what you can then learn the word of God when you realize you're nothing without God then you can actually learn and be taught but if you have this attitude I know everything what can God really teach you if you try to just figure out things on your own. Now let me show you this passage in Revelation 3 that we can use as a cross reference and it's a very famous passage of scripture and I want to spend some time explaining this but notice what it says in verse 14 and either the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write these things saith the amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God. Now in Revelation 2 and 3 we have a list of churches these are not church ages as some people teach these are not time periods you'll hear people say we live in the Laodicean church age where everybody's apathetic and nobody wants to serve God well I'm sorry but at our church almost everybody goes soul winning so I'm not seeing that I'm amazed at how much you know just making so much money these days as a result of our church. And hey I love that restaurant it's a good restaurant it's good food but I'm just saying it's like we have people that are zealous for the things of God we don't have a church where it's hard to get people to go soul winning or hard to get people to read the Bible. No people are zealous to serve God at a church and so in Revelation 3 this is a specific church okay and it says in verse number 15 I know that works that thou art neither cold nor hot I would that work cold or hot so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth. What is the Bible saying here? Well first off here is the example the example is in drinking a beverage spew or spit out of my mouth is what he's saying okay and he gives the example of cold or hot now why does he say cold or hot well because of the fact a lot of beverages taste very good cold Coca Cola you probably want cold ice tea you want cold right lemonade you want cold a lot of drinks taste good very cold right or even like at coffee places there's the cold frappuccino option right but then a lot of drinks taste good hot hot coffee hot tea but look when you go to a coffee shop and you ask for a drink they're gonna ask you cold or hot they don't ask you lukewarm you know why because nobody likes lukewarm coffee you're gonna spew it out of your mouth you get a cold drink and then all of a sudden you let it sit for an hour all of a sudden it's not good anymore it doesn't even matter how much sugar's in it or if you get a hot coffee it tastes good and then you let it sit for too long and then you drink it you're like kadiri it's gross right nobody likes the lukewarm option let me ask you a question in this example is cold a good thing or a bad thing it's a good thing right because the way this is often preached is cold is like really bad and hot is like great on fire for God dead as a doordale doing nothing never coming to church never in the Bible and lukewarm is like the eutychus half in and half out that's not the example given in the Bible the lukewarm Christian is 100% out okay because cold is good it's not bad because think about this logically would it really make sense to say instead of coming to church every other week I wish you just never came to church at all instead of reading the Bible every other day I wish you just never read the Bible actually I would rather you come to church every other week then you never come to church I'd rather you read the Bible every other day then you never read now here's the thing though I hope you read the Bible every day I hope you come to church every week I hope results for so many every week but what I'm saying is the lukewarm in this example it's not half in or half out it's actually all the way out and if you have a different opinion that's fine but the next verse I believe confirms what I'm saying because notice what it says in Revelation 3 verse 17 because they'll say us I am rich and increase with I mean he says rich and poor he doesn't have the in-between option you're in between rich and poor no no no he's saying you're all the way at this end okay but it mentions poor here and I'm fine if you have a different opinion that's fine what I'm saying is the example given here is someone who thinks they know everything they think they have everything they think they have it all put together and he's like you're blind you think you can see but you're not walking in the light of God you're walking in blindness and darkness and you don't even realize it you think that you're rich and have everything and you're actually poor you have nothing that's what he's saying and here's the thing step one to really being taught and growing is realizing I'm not that special I don't know everything and realize you know what I'm not you know rich and increased with goods and everything like no actually I'm poor in spirit I actually need God in my life I actually don't know that much and look regardless of how long you have been saved or how many people you have gotten saved none of us are anywhere near being 100% right with God all of us are really just hey I don't know that much I'm just trying to learn a little bit more each and every passing week and I say that as a preacher I can honestly say when I read a lot of books in the Bible I'm just like I don't know all of Ezekiel or Isaiah or Zachariah and even books that are just the Gospels are a lot of verses I'm like I'm not quite sure what God's trying to say so look none of us have it all fully put together go back to Matthew 5 Matthew 5 Matthew chapter 5 and look I get the idea of the half and half sermons you know the half in half out sermons those are important the examples like eudicus in the Bible where he's literally half in the window and half out and the idea is you'll fall all the way out I'm just saying that's not the example that's being given my opinion in Revelation chapter 3 but it says here in verse number 4 blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted once again that doesn't seem like a good thing who wants to be sad today who wants to cry who wants to mourn right he's going through a list of things that don't really seem like good things but he's saying it's actually a blessed thing to mourn because that means you're gonna be comforted go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 and you know when you think of modern day Christianity or Christendom or whatever you would like to call it you know the idea in the modern day is really kind of this CCF and victory style of Christianity this non-denom kind of Pentecostal sort of Christianity Christian rock and stuff like that and you know what the average person from that sort of background that's been in church for decades if they start coming to our church they're gonna be shocked by the preaching everybody this is completely different than what I thought Christianity was I mean even people in this room that were Baptist before a lot of you would say the same thing like this is just completely different than what I what I expected and what you're seeing here in Matthew 5 is he goes through a lot of things that you would not think are good things in your natural flesh and he's saying these are actually good things it's actually good to mourn it's actually good to be poor in spirit he's gonna talk about being persecuted he says that's a good thing in our modern day Christendom well if you're persecuted you must not be right with God isn't that what people say well I know you can't be of God because you know your Google rating is like below two or something like that because a lot of people criticize your church a lot of people got offended by your preaching and of course Jesus never offended anyone and if you wonder how much are people reading the Bible in 2023 but it says in 7 Corinthians chapter 1 let me turn there myself I added this to my notes second Corinthians chapter 1 and in verse number 4 it says actually go to verse 3 second 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3 blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforted us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God and the Bible says that when we go through trials God is the God of consolation and comfort he can comfort us he can help us through our trials and we can use that in our life to comfort other people that go through something similar okay now let me help you out with something if somebody is coming to you about something in their life and you don't have experience with it at all don't pretend like you do it's like yeah I know what you're going through it's like well if you don't know what you're going through don't say that you do okay for example if somebody's single and they're not married they don't have kids and there's like a tragedy for that family someone who hasn't gone through that they cannot fully relate but this is what you can do I'm really sorry I'm praying for you let me know if there's anything I can do to help that is always a good statement and that's the statement I often make to people because I don't always relate to what people are going through sometimes I do and when I do relate I can say I've been through something similar this is what helped me this is what I learned and just you know I'm praying for you and let me know if there's anything I can do for you right because if you've gone through a trial and God has comforted you you can use that in your life to help somebody who goes through something similar but if you have not gone through something similar it's like you know you can't relate you can just say I'm praying for you let me know if there's anything I can do to help go back to Matthew chapter 5 Matthew 5 Matthew 5 you think of job in the Bible I have not gone through anything like job right I mean he went through more trials than anyone you could think of job would have been able to come for basically anybody who's gone through stuff I mean everything bad you could think of pretty much happened to job and he could help people through similar things and so here's the thing if you go through trials or problems in your life I'm not saying it's fun at the time I'm not saying you want to mourn but here's the thing in the end you might realize I can actually use this to try to be a blessing to other people that are going through trials themselves okay verse number five blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth now a lot of times people ask the difference what ask what is the difference between meek and humble because you're going to see these words are very similar in the Bible from my study being humble is an individual thing and meekness is about how you interact with other people so if you are humble then you're going to come across meek when you interact with others in our modern day the word humble is used for all of this but the English language is getting dumbed down I mean all languages are over time and there was a distinction when the Bible was written and the idea of meekness is interacting with other people but if you're a humble person then you're going to be meek in your interaction with others if you're arrogant you're not going to be meek go to numbers chapter 12 numbers 12 let's look at somebody who really went through a lot of trials and we'll see his meekness here Moses and what the Bible said was blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth think of your inheritance now let's say for example you are one of four brothers sisters in your family let's say you're one of four brothers you might naturally think that when the inheritance gets passed down it's 25 percent 25 percent 25 percent 25 percent because that's a very common technique that parents would use to give out the money just an equal amount because the Bible says blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth we're talking about the inheritance that you get but is that the way that God operates are we all gonna get an equal reward from God no we're not because we have the judgment seat of Christ God doesn't look at this say well I've got a hundred children you know so they each get one percent like a hundred members at Verity Baptist Church let's give each one percent that it doesn't work that way the way it works is you get rewarded for the work that you do and so in this example you know if you had and just think of the prodigal son you have two sons you have one that's a hard worker and one that's lazy well the way God operates the lazy one who's living a sinful life he's not getting rewards in heaven now that's not the way that most people act with their children but I'm just saying that's the way that God acts we're basically based on the work you do that is what you're going to inherit so here's what I'm saying that the more humble and meek that you are the more rewards that you're gonna get doesn't the Bible say that if you humble yourself he's gonna lift you up I mean that's many times in the Word of God and look the more arrogant you are the more God will bring you down the more humble you are the more God's gonna lift you up I preach a sermon before called the way up is down and a lot of things in the Bible it seems like counterintuitive the opposite of what you think but isn't that true the way up in life is actually down by humbling yourself whereas the way down is up you think of Nebuchadnezzar look at this great kingdom that I have built and then he acts like an animal which is basically the worst curse that could come upon a person now a modern day I mean a lot of people don't realize that but acting like an animal is not exactly a blessing okay but notice what it says in numbers 12 verse 1 and Miriam and Aaron spoke spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married for he had married an Ethiopian woman now I don't think this is restating his his first wife Zippor I don't think that that's what it's referring to because of the fact he married her a long time before it would be kind of odd for his brother and sister years later to criticize here's the reason why I believe they're criticizing she's an Ethiopian woman and Ethiopia is very close to what area geographically and in the Bible times you'll see Ethiopia mixed with Egypt and they came out of Egypt now it would be like for example if somebody married like an Arabic woman and so why are you marrying this Muslim it's like just because they're they're from an Arab country doesn't make them a Muslim right oh you married somebody from India why are you marrying a Hindu it's like she's not a Hindu right you married someone from an area where there's a false you marry someone from Russia what are you with the docks now it's like she's not Orthodox what are you talking about right and then criticize this woman but it's like is it her fault where she was born or where she grew up because there's people like Rahab and Ruth and the Bible that change where they live and so their criticism is is completely out of bounds they're wrong because it doesn't say that she's an ungodly woman it's just she's an Ethiopian woman right then says this in verse 2 and they said hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses hath he not spoken also by us and the Lord heard it now look this ought to tell you I'm not preaching about you know respect for the man of God in church but you know what if you struggle with this just read Numbers chapter 12 because we're saying that these people say well you know God's also spoken to us and then God shuts that down really quick doesn't he because the way that God operates is there's one person in charge in the local church and that's me whether you like it or not that's just the way it is it doesn't mean that you're not being used by God it doesn't mean that that you know you can't do great things for God it's just called you're in a different position that's just the way it works and area and here's the thing that's funny about this Aaron thinks he would be such a great leader have you read the book of Exodus Aaron I mean do you remember the golden calf story did you forget about that you kind of had your shot at leadership and all of a sudden all manner of sandwich I don't leave the Bible I think the Bible is being discreet I think drunkenness and fornication are being mixed in there worshipping a golden calf which is really the big primary animal they worshipped in Egypt it's like you had your chance to lead and you did a horrible job you made King Saul look like the greatest leader ever right and so they had their chance and then he failed and now he's criticizing Moses right here's what I'm trying to tell you you know what being the leader is probably not as easy as you think it's not I don't claim to do a perfect job I don't claim that I never make mistakes but I would say this that for someone who's not the leader to think I would do a better job than my boss at work that's kind of a foolish idea when you've never actually had the responsibility it's not actually as easy as you think and they're criticizing and notice what it says in verse 3 now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which are upon the face of the earth now a lot of times people see the word meek and they think weak but being meek does not mean that you're weak what we're seeing in this context is basically Moses doesn't really fight his own battles he leaves it in the Lord's hands he's just saying I'll forgive them for being rude to me I'll forgive them for what they said and God steps in and fights that battle for him that's called being meek that's called being humble you go out soul winning and somebody wants to argue with you at the door and then you just in a kind way walk away and don't argue with them that is an incredibly difficult thing to do but you know what that shows it does not show weakness it actually shows strength it actually shows meekness and see Moses was a man that was very meek said Moses was meek above all the men which are upon the face of the earth and the Lord speaks suddenly unto Moses and unto Aaron and unto Miriam come out ye three onto the tabernacle the congregation and they three came out well here's what I would say the Bible speaks about the great rewards that Moses is going to get because of steaming the reproaches of Christ greater than the riches and treasures in Egypt he was meeker than anybody and guess what he's going to get more rewards than anybody because the way up is down that's what the Bible teaches go back to Matthew 5 Matthew 5 Matthew chapter 5 Matthew chapter 5 and the Bible says Matthew 5 and look honestly we're going to be in the Sermon on the Mount for a long time because there's a lot of topics I could probably preach a whole sermon on each of these verses I'm not going to do that because we'll be in the Sermon on the Mount for you know the next several months but I don't want to be on this for the next you know like two years because it's a very unique sermon because usually a sermon you pick like one topic and expound upon it and what Jesus does is he preaches on like everything in one sermon right so it's kind of unique so there's a lot to preach on but verse 6 bless her they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled and once again hungering and thirsting is not something you would think is a good thing but the Bible says hungering thirsting after righteousness after the Word of God after doing what's right then that's actually a good thing and you're going to be filled go to job 23 job 23 now the Bible mentions people that are reprobates or children of the devil that are bad people and it uses this phrase whose God is their belly now this is a statement that we can relate to because everybody has desires to eat certain foods or to drink certain things and every single person in this world has that battle because you know we and I don't think it's a sin to eat junk foods so don't misunderstand me but at the same time we want to try to live a healthy life but there's always that battle that cookies there those chips are there that coca-cola is there sometimes I know so many people say well if you really believe you're gonna do the works and I'll use this example well I mean do you believe drinking coca-cola is unhealthy yes do you ever drink coke yes I thought you believed it was unhealthy so what why are you drinking it your works don't really match up with what you believe right because just because you believe something doesn't mean that you're gonna do the work and here's the thing we can relate to whose God is their belly because we have desires and what I shouldn't eat more food but I really want it and it's difficult right well the reprobate they're 100% their God is their belly because every fleshly desire they just go after that's what they live for as God's people you know we don't believe in asceticism like in the Indian faiths that they teach or you harm your body something like that but what we do believe is you deny the flesh you deny sinful desires you deny things that are wrong and I don't think this is only relating to food I don't think that's even the primary application is God is their belly but we can relate because we have desires and we got to deny our flesh we got to deny what we want and do what's right and that's hard it's very difficult and every single person fights that battle every day because we have not yet been 100% delivered from the bondage of corruption we have not gotten the glorified body yet and the Bible speaks about hungering and thirsting after righteousness after God's Word after what's right you wake up in the morning I can't wait to eat breakfast I can't wait to drink water but actually the Bible saying what you should have the mindset is man it's a new day I have the opportunity to read God's Word I have the opportunity to spend time with God and notice what it says in job 23 verse 12 job 23 verse 12 neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips I've esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food food is necessary if we don't eat we die if we don't drink we die if we don't eat it's gonna take a little while to die but we're gonna get very weak very quickly we'll start getting headaches and have all kinds of health problems right physical food is necessary otherwise you're gonna physically die and get very very weak right spiritual food is necessary can you lose your salvation absolutely not because it's eternal life that you get but you're basically gonna be at the point of death like I can barely make it and what you're gonna find is you get angry very quickly in life every small problem you get really upset about you're in a bad mood all the time you're not patient you're losing your temper you're being worldly and all these things you say why because you have not gotten your spiritual food that's the reason why and by the way you know in a modern-day world if you want to become rich the secret is write a weight loss book right there's like a million weight loss strategies I have invented the best diet in the world and if I wanted to I could get rich on this diet I'm telling you this diet full proof I guarantee you almost everybody in the world will lose a lot of weight you say what is it it's called you don't eat any food until you first eat your spiritual food basically until you've read the Bible you don't eat your breakfast you don't eat your lunch you don't need your dinner you know what you'd see in this world it's like man it's amazing so many people are losing weight across the world you know we don't know what is this new fad this this new diet right and you know I'm being humorous but I'm being serious that honestly even amongst the Christian world most people don't read the Bibles but you never miss your physical food who comes to the end of the day I forgot to eat today I don't know what happened and then the next day goes by I forgot to eat again I just didn't have time to eat my life is oh so busy yeah maybe what you ought to do is set aside 30 minutes in the morning and instead of just making sure that you're sitting down at your table and you've got everything organized just grab something on the go just grab a banana and a cup just grab a couple slices of bread or whatever and eat it on the way because it's more important that you read your Bible that's more important look I hope you got breakfast today your physical food but you know what would have been more important and better for you is if you set aside time to read the Bible and just said I'll just eat whatever I can just eat the panda solid church right because your spiritual food is more necessary than your physical food and if you don't get your spiritual nutrition you are not going to do anything for God in this life it's a fact well I'm just relying on on you pastor stocky to feed me spiritually I mean I'm not around you on on Monday through Saturday how am I going to feed you spiritually Monday through Saturday are you just gonna listen to sermons for eight hours a day you know what would be better is actually just getting a Bible reading plan and just reading the Bible every day and look I have the old-fashioned technique my Bible reading chart is right by my sons on the wall and you know I just mark it on a daily basis you say why because it helps me be disciplined and it's what I would recommend for everybody just get a Bible reading chart that just tells you read this and look I'm not really preaching that much on Bible reading but let me just say in January you know what I want you to do read the New Testament cover to cover and we're gonna have that challenge and I hope that most people in this room are able to do that or at least strive to read as much as you can in January go to Matthew 5 Matthew chapter 5 Matthew chapter 5 Matthew 5 verse 7 blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy look if we want God to be merciful with us in our lives the Bible says we need to be merciful with other people in fact I'm gonna preach and then the second sermon about forgiveness and it's gonna tie in very closely with that but the reality is if we want God to come light on us and be merciful and forgiving to us I mean forgive us our debtors as we forgive forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors here's the idea well if I don't forgive others good luck I'm getting God to forgive me in my life if you want God to be merciful to you you better be merciful to other people that have done you wrong also in your life right go in your Bible to actually verse 8 Matthew 5 verse 8 blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God now when they say see God we're not talking about being saved we understand believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you're saved it's that simple but as we talked about Moses Moses was a man who literally you know got to see God and he was a friend of God and here's the thing about this if you want to be close to God and see God and know God you better be pure in heart you better get the sins out of your life go to James 4 let me show this to you James chapter 4 James 4 people have this idea well you know what I can do everything I used to do watch all the same movies listen to all the same music hang out with all the same friends at the bar or whatever and yet I'm gonna draw close to God it doesn't work that way I get it that's the non-denominational method and they feel like they're close to God because of that CCM music they listen to the Jeremy camp casting crowns their third day right whoever's popular today of the Christian music that doesn't make you close to God you say what's the secret be close to God being pure in heart getting the sins out of your life that's what it says in James 4 verse 7 submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you draw nigh or drawn near to God and he will draw nigh to you there's a promise that if you draw close to God God is gonna draw close to you but how does that happen cleanse your hands these sinners and purify your hearts he double-minded so being pure and hard is attached to cleansing your hands of sins getting the sin out of your life so if you want to drop close to God you know what you have to do quit sitting start obeying the commandments and look obviously we all sin every single day but quit having this mindset I can just do whatever I want and I'll just come to church on Sunday look we're not a Catholic Church we don't have confession where you magically get right you just I'll commit all these sins and just go to confession you look if that's your mindset good luck getting forgiveness from God in your life the the correct method would be I strive to do right I try to do right and when I do fall then I beg God for mercy and try to get right but not just willingly and brazenly committing sins be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever man so if that shall he also reap the Bible says and I hope you have a goal in 2024 to drop closer to God I hope that you're closer to God in 2024 than you were in 2023 in fact I hope your entire life regardless of what the rate is that you're drawing closer to God I hope that you're drawing closer to God so God is showing you more problems you need to fix in your life that's what I hope and then you must make the decision to cleanse your hands purify your heart get right with God now go to James 3 James 3 and the Bible spoke about being pure in heart and notice this in James 3 verse 17 but the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy here the Bible speaks about being pure and it says first pure notice the order first purer then peaceable if you're to ask the average person what is this world missing in 2023 what do we need more than anything world peace world peace isn't that what people would say world peace I mean why are those countries always fighting wars together obviously I think peace would be a good thing but here's the thing you know what the problem is we need world purity need people to get right with God and what the amazing thing would be if people go right with God around the world problems would just disappear around the world less wars less violence less thefts I mean everything would be so much better it's not a problem we need world peace no we need world purity and when it starts with purity you know what's gonna result we're gonna have peace that's what's gonna take place I mean when's gonna be the most peaceful time when Jesus is ruling and reigning for the millennial reign and it's his rules and his laws and people are forced to be pure or they're gonna be punished and you know it's gonna take place it's gonna be a great time of peace the Bible talks about turning your swords into into pruning hooks or I'm misquoting this basically turn your weapons into like gardening tools is the basic example and and here's the thing though in our modern day I would not suggest that you need weapons in 2023 because it's a violent and sinful world but there is coming a day where it's not gonna be like that because purity comes before peace go to Matthew 5 Matthew 5 Matthew chapter 5 remember Matthew 5 verse 8 said blessed are the pure in heart then notice what it says in Matthew 5 verse 9 blessed are the peacemakers what comes first purity or peace purity holiness righteousness godliness purity it always comes before peace and people have this mindset man we need peace peace in the Middle East we need purity in the Middle East you know what the problem is in the Middle East you got two wicked religions both incredibly wicked you got the religion that blasphemes Jesus Christ and you got the other religion filled full of pedophilia in all those countries and if you look it up it's a fact two wicked religions with no purity what's the result you'll never have peace in that part of the world you look over in India you got primarily two wicked religions you got Hindu and Muslim and guess what there will never be peace in India why because they're both wicked religions filled full of sin it's amazing India is supposed to be the most spiritual place on the planet and yet it's like number one in levels of wickedness and just about everything I mean on on it I mean just not even just like killing newborn infants it's like number one in the world it's like in child trafficking it's right there near the top it's known as the rape capital of the world but it's so spiritual now you know what the problem is there's no purity the religions wicked and that's the result purity comes before peace and we will not have world peace if there's no purity so you know what that means we're never gonna have world peace now obviously as much as as possible as much as life in you you know try to live peaceably with everybody try to get along with your Catholic relatives that are unsaved but do not sacrifice your purity in order to do that somebody invites you to some you know I don't know feast of the Immaculate Conception ceremony and Catholic Church or whatever is going on on Friday look you can be respectful and nice but but don't sacrifice your purity or righteousness and say yeah you know I think that's great too I just am doing no it's not great it's wicked now I'm not saying be rude but don't sacrifice your purity or you go soul winning and then somebody disagrees with you about the gospel and then they say at the end well you know it's okay because we basically believe the same thing anyway no we don't I remember I was going so any one time I was talking to a Muslim and at the beginning he was trying to say that like well you know we believe mostly the same thing I was just like let's be honest you think I'm going to hell because of what I believe I think you're going to hell because of what you believe and I'm here to see if you're willing to listen to what the Bible says I was like let's just be honest it's like I don't hate you you know I'm this is what I believe and I know you believe I'm going to hell right let's quit pretending we're all friends when we're not right purity comes before peace but you know another application of being a peacemaker is what because honestly as much as I'm saying purity it's like our church are the biggest peacemakers in all of the Philippines you say what do you mean because we preach the gospel of peace we're out here preaching the gospel of peace all the time it's like well the world needs peace hey you know what I'm doing my parts we're knocking the doors we're going to parks we're trying to install you know peace in like every single park in every single area we can go spreading the message of the gospel of peace but as amazing as it is the message of a free salvation where there's no works required a lot sometimes it results in people getting mad at us and it's like I'm not trying to fight and yet you get saved and you try to give the gospel to your unsaved family right and you think I remember thinking this when I first got saved man if people heard this everybody would believe and be saved I just thought people hadn't heard and then I just figured as you're because I heard the message this is great the gift of God it's a man and then you start telling people about the gift of God so how dare you say that what and even though it's the gospel of peace a lot of people get mad at that message because they want to trust because they're not humble right they want to trust in their own righteousness Bible says here in verse number 10 blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven bless are you and men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets worked were before you now the key to this blessing is that the reason why you're persecuted is because you're living a godly life and doing what's right look if everybody you know work hates you I mean you get in fights with everybody at Jollibee you get mad at the cashier for something small you're fighting with everybody in your life it's not for righteousness sake because other people can have the wrong order given to them and just accept it and not make a big deal about it either just eat what you're given or just be polite and be kind to the person because they made an honest mistake if you're getting in a fight with everybody in your life you're not being persecuted for righteousness sake there's a lot of religions or groups of people that have been persecuted throughout history and they'll claim we're just being persecuted I mean the Jews I've been kicked out of so many countries not for righteousness sake my friend or in the early days of the United States the Mormons were kicked out of state after state after state it's a lot because they did the exact same things that the Jews were getting kicked out of for countries not for righteousness sake right and so here's the thing if you're going through persecution in your life because you're an obnoxious jerk start reading the Bible as you develop some grace but if you're being persecuted because you're trying to serve God and and here's the truth a lot of people at this church you probably have family members and friends that criticize me in this church right they think I'm too extreme they think I'm hateful they think I'm a bad guy whatever I mean listen up preacher he's told me why don't you go to that other Baptist Church right it's just reality and you said well you know I believe this is the best church I'm just trying to serve God and then you get persecuted you know just realize you're gonna get rewards for that when you're being persecuted for righteousness sake and don't consider it a curse upon your life be like the people that got arrested in the Bible and yet they're counting it worthy to being beaten suffering shame for the cause of Christ and here's the thing when you are right with God and you're legitimately persecuted for righteousness sake but you're right with God and you're going soul winning and reading the Bible isn't it true that there's a sense of happiness there like you really realize you know what not that you want to be persecuted but you realize I'm doing what's right God's blessing my life I'm right with God and you realize that you're not doing anything wrong you're actually in a good mood and it's hard to believe like how is that possible but yet it's true and I haven't been persecuted to the level obviously people in the Bible have or but but everybody go to second Timothy 3 actually real quickly second Timothy chapter 3 because everybody that's serving God will get some level of persecution you say that's not true with me and I grew up Catholic and since I got saved everybody my family's so happy that I no longer drink they're so happy I don't go to Catholic Church me everybody's thrilled with me yeah you've never told them that you're no longer Catholic right because I promise you like everybody else in the family is Catholic why do you have to be the rebel why can't you be like everybody else in our family right I mean that's I mean hey all of our family are Bible Baptist why do you have to go to Verity Baptist any Baptist Church under the Sun except Verity Baptist I mean that's reality many of you have probably heard things like that and let's see where did I have eternal second Timothy chapter 3 second Timothy 3 notice what it says in verse 10 but that was fully known my doctrine manner of life purpose faith on suffering charity patience persecutions afflictions which came on to me at Antioch at Iconium at Listra what persecutions I endured but I don't know the Lord delivered me you see Paul did not hide who he was this is what I believe this is what I stand for this is good this is wicked this is right this is wrong he would not have been the preacher where you're not sure what he believes about repentance if you ever called pastors before because you're thinking about visiting a church and you ask them you know what do you believe about repentance and salvation and then they'll give an answer that's like in between so you don't know right I mean the Bible says repent and believe okay what do you mean by that and then it's hard to get the answer out of them oftentimes they're just not very clear about it just make it clear look everybody at our church knows what I believe about salvation I've made it clear that if you believe in repentance of it's a work salvation if you believe in Calvinism you're not saved you believe you can lose your salvation you're not saved I don't make it well you know maybe you know no no I just make it clear and Paul made it clear what he believed he said you know my manner of life you know my doctrine you know what I believe and then it says in verse number 12 then all that will of God be in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution now we're not going to suffer persecution to the level that people do in Muslim countries that are saved but whether it's Antioch, Iconium, Lystra or the Philippines you're going to suffer some persecution it's a fact anyway I learned it pretty early here when the most famous Baptist in the Philippines you know threatened me at a funeral that he was conducting I was like man right I mean I'd only been preaching for a week and a half and he got very offended at me directly quoting what he believed about salvation in the second Sunday that I was here got very offended I mean people that were here at the beginning you know that story I mean I saw the video I mean it was on Facebook you know live I saw it and it's just like you know what I'm saying is if you boldly preach the Word of God they're gonna be people that are gonna get mad about us and they're gonna fight you that's just reality now you do have to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves and some battles I learned very quickly are not worth fighting because you're not gonna win them if you don't have that power in position but here's what I'm saying you're gonna be persecuted so when you get persecuted don't just give up and I wish I could tell you you could just you know take the magic pill where you can live for God and never have any problems that's not reality and it's better to warn people prosecution will come that way they're not shocked when it does because you will be persecuted if you're serving God but should we be surprised when Jesus was killed John the Baptist was beheaded there's all kinds of martyrs throughout the Bible all throughout the Old Testament all the prophets of God are getting arrested they're getting killed I mean if you're serving God you will have persecution unless you're just trying to silently serve God and not let anybody know right go to Psalm 73 Psalm 73 Psalm chapter 73 now you see these blessings and remember there's a large crowd and then he sets himself at the top of the mountain and then his disciples come on to him which you know what's the disciples there's gonna be something that are not saved for sure there I'm sure there's a lot that walked away they didn't want to wait around so he got sad or go up to the top of the mountain it wasn't worth the effort but a lot of people came up to listen probably a lot of unsaved in there a group of saved and unsaved and here's the thing he preaches these first 12 verses and it doesn't really seem like a Joel Osteen sermon bless are you when you're persecuted I mean that doesn't really seem like something that Joel Osteen or at CCF or a big non-denom church is gonna preach so it's not what people would necessarily want to hear I mean Jesus had crowds listening to him but he wasn't trying to be popular right and we can develop the attitude in life there's all these blessings but I go through life serving God and I have all these problems it doesn't feel like a blessing you feel like giving up you feel like quitting and let me help you out if you feel that way now let me help you out if you're kind of new at this Christian thing it really serving got everybody feels that way sometimes everybody well pastor have you ever felt like quitting of course I mean look you have Moses and Elijah that like I'm done I don't want to do this anymore everybody's gonna feel I mean Paul said I've despaired even in life he didn't want to do it anymore everybody is going to feel like quitting sometimes that's the way it is and I hope right now you're not going through it down but you're gonna go through downs in the Christian life and when you go through it down that is gonna actually prove how close to God you actually are when you're going through great things in life you get a promotion at work somebody buys you a really nice gift for Christmas everybody's happy with you're not having any problems of course you're in a good mood but what about when it's the opposite and everything's going bad in your life you start coming to this church and then you get fired from work it's like man I started coming to this church it and I got fired I mean is God mad at me it's like you're gonna go through problems in your life but that's actually gonna reveal how close you are to God but I realize everyone's gonna feel like quitting and in the the third book of Psalms which is chapter 73 in the third section of Psalms the first chapter for this man notice what he talks about is a very famous Psalm Psalm 73 verse 3 if I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked now notice past tense I was when he's writing this he doesn't envy the foolish but he was envious for there are no bands in their death but their strength is firm they're not in trouble as other men neither they plague like other men and what he's basically saying in the Psalm is I'm going through more problems with the wicked godless people in this world it seems like they're being blessed and they're wicked what's the point of serving God then we've all felt that way sometimes now go down to verse number 16 when I thought to know this it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God then understood either end he went into the house of God he heard the preaching he fellowship with God's people and then he talks about man how foolish I was for having this mindset in this attitude pastor why do you preach the way you do because I realize some people come into church and they feel broken their lives are not going the way they expect they feel down that they're serving God and yet they're having problems and they're having trouble getting through it and then you come to the house of God and you hear the preaching and you realize how foolish was I for that thought right go to Matthew chapter 5 will close up Matthew 5 Matthew 5 so what's the purpose of the Beatitudes well the next four verses really tie into the first 12 verses because the first 12 verses he goes through all these blessings that don't really seem like blessings but yet they are then he says this in verse 13 ye are the soul of the earth but at the sort of lost to savor where it shall be salted it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men the Bible speaks about us being the soul of the earth there's a couple things about salt one thing about salt is salt preserves food we preserve this earth this earth will be destroyed when God's people are at a point where they're just filled full of wickedness and God's like I'm done I mean in the days of Noah that even the believers are living wicked lives I mean who was the person who was meant to preserve Sodom and Gomorrah well lot was over there how was that living not very well what took place well I mean he did not preserve Sodom and Gomorrah we are the salt of the earth but this other idea is also taught here we're basically salt adds flavor to food you know just recently my wife was running errands and so my son's F was hungry and he loves pasta so I cook pasta and I put some butter on it we didn't have any cheese and I didn't know where the salt was and I was I was I was hoping he would not notice I got here he goes that and then of course he eats it he's like there's no taste and then I was like all right I got to find the salt of this I found the salt and I did what every dad does I put on too much salt right but here's the thing if there's no salt on something this doesn't taste any good but but here's the thing let's say salt does not add any flavor to something well what's the point of adding salt to the the pasta and butter it's not going to do anything if there's no flavor and unfortunately with Christians most Christians they're not doing what they're meant to do we are meant to be the light bearers of Christianity but unfortunately Christians are just very lackadaisical they're not zealous in serving God in 2023 in general as I said at our church I believe that's an exception but you and your personal life forget about what our church is doing what about you in your life have you lost your Savior verse number 14 you're the light of the world a city that is set on an hill cannot be hit neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house I mean imagine it's a night church service and the power goes out so we bring out candles and then all of a sudden we bring out the candle and then we put a basket over it so that the light doesn't show why would we do that the purpose of the candle is to provide light and the Bible saying that if the candles not providing light then there's no point of turning the candle on then it says in verse 16 let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven here's what I'm trying to tell you you cannot prove your I mean obviously we don't get saved by good works and we do not prove our salvation by good works but what you can prove is is how much you love God by your good works you have relatives that are unsaved and when you're going through great things in life of course you're in a good mood but the way you impact your unsaved family or even your Baptist family that doesn't get our church or doesn't like our church it's not gonna be when you go through great things in life it's when you go through problems in life and you handle it very maturely and in a godly way and they look at you and say man you handle that a whole lot better than I would and they see a difference in you they're not gonna see a difference in you if things are going well and you're in a good mood but what about when your life is a mess you've got all kinds of problems you get fired from work and you're not complaining about it you're not in a bad mood about it and they see you after a couple weeks is that weren't you depressed that's when you can actually let your lights to shine before men that's when they can actually see the difference look no nobody wants to have tragedies in their life and I would not wish that upon anybody but if you go through a tragedy and you handle it in a godly way people will notice they'll be like man you know you're you're you're you're in a good mood even though you've got all these problems but here's the thing if we would put our focus on the things of God rather than things in our personal life we wouldn't allow our emotions to run our life so much as we actually do I don't want to go through storms and problems in my life but but I realize they're coming and I also realize it's easy to preach this when you're not going through storms I'm not going through any storms in my life right now but they're coming and when you go through storms and problems that's when you can actually let your lights to shine before men that they see the difference because I hope you still have a goal to get your your family that's maybe you know other types of Baptist maybe they're mixed up on repentance maybe they're not but maybe they don't understand this church I hope you still have a goal to get your Catholic family to visit church and here's what I'm saying you can actually impact them when you go through difficult times and instead of looking it as a curse you could look at it as a blessing and that could actually impact people I'm not saying it's easy I'm not saying I always handle things perfectly I'm just saying that's when you can actually show how close you are to God and here's the thing you don't really prove how close to God you are when things are going well and you have a good attitude it's when you go through difficult times and you handle things well that's actually good gonna show what's on the inside of you and even with myself I mean we everybody feels like they're close to God but you never really know let us get back to reading the Bible getting rid of the worldliness setting aside distractions because look if you put your focus on God first in your life and instead of eating your physical food make sure you you consume your spiritual food first there's gonna be a major difference in your life and people will see the difference in your life let's close the word of prayer dear Heavenly Father thank you for allowing us be here today and just getting to see this great section in the Sermon on the Mount and I ask you to help all of us including myself to help apply the Beatitudes to our lives and and help us to realize that when we go through tough times that you know if we can handle things in a good way it's gonna have an impact on other people God ask you to help all of us continue to grow at our church God we pray this in Jesus name amen