A Blessed Life - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. If we acknowledge our sins, 1 John 1-9, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's mercy.

Is this what I deserve? No, but it's what I get. I run into people all the time as Christians in counseling situations that just refuse to forgive.

And it's always the but. But you don't understand how they hurt me. No, I don't. But I know that they didn't sin anywhere close to the magnitude against you that you've sinned against God. And you love receiving mercy.

You just don't want to give it to anyone. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. I'll give you three men from the Bible who are very meek, Moses, Abraham, and David. Now would you say they're weak? These are weak men.

There's nothing weak about any of these men. But they are meek. He said blessed are the meek.

Because the idea, even with my own strength and power, I am under control. And he said and you will inherit, he says, the earth. Then he moves on and he said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

They'll be satisfied. Are there any stronger motivations in a human being's life than hunger and thirst? Hunger and thirst. And I don't mean, hey, I'm already starting to get that tug for lunch.

Okay, I don't mean that. I mean when you haven't eaten for four or five days or you haven't had water for one or two days. What are human beings capable of? Anything. Murder, cannibalism. These are the strongest urges we have as a human being. Hunger and thirst. In fact, if you think of the whole advertising industry, their job is to create hunger and thirst in you. That only their product can satisfy. And that's why you're sitting there in your recliner watching TV and you watch a commercial go by and for some reason out of the blue you said, hey hon, you want to order a pizza?

Like, what happened? Well, no one out pizzas the hut. You see, they just showed you something. You know, I think that's pretty good. That's what advertising does. Advertising, I mean you see the coolest guy in the world, you know, driving a brand new car. And you think, that could be me.

You see, you may get the car but the coolness is probably not. You see, but the whole idea behind it is it creates that hunger and thirst. So he says, happy is the person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness.

Now, what does that exactly mean? Again, hold your place here and go with me to Psalm 63. Psalm 63.

This first verse by David. He's in the wilderness. He's being hunted by Saul. His life has been on the line for months or years.

He's a horrible place. He's on the run. He says, oh God, you are my God. I shall seek you earnestly. My soul thirsts for you.

My flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. What is it David's seeking? God. What's he hungry and thirsty for? God. He's in a dry and weary land.

The circumstances are terrible. He said, I hunger and thirst for you. That's what I do. Go back and look at it in that perspective back to Matthew 5 and he says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They'll be satisfied. You'll be fulfilled. God won't disappoint.

He'll give you what you need. It's an interesting thing. It has a practical application. I see it often that when we go through terrible times, and I think there's so many of them right now happening on a big scale, but even the smaller scale, what are we really hunger and thirst for during circumstances? Whether it be COVID, you know what that's like. I know what we hunger and thirst for. Cure, vaccine.

That's our hunger and thirst. That's what I want. How about God?

I got to tell you probably in the middle of Ida, after about six hours of the wind, I just want it to stop. What should I want? God. Get a terrible prognosis about some medical issue. What do I want?

Cured. I want God. You see, that's the righteousness. I hunger and thirst for righteousness.

I hunger and thirst about my relationship with you. He says, look, if you do that, if that's what you do, he says, you will be satisfied. He then moves on after he says that, and he says, blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Again, today, if I said to you, is it good to be merciful?

This is America, 21st century. Most of you would say, absolutely. Back at this time, the Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans would say, are you kidding?

Are you kidding? Mercy was frowned upon in all three cultures. One Roman philosopher said that mercy is a disease of the soul. You don't show mercy.

Not in that world. You want justice. You don't show people mercy.

You see, I've said this in the past, but it's a good way to understand. Grace is God's unmerited favor. That means you get what you don't deserve. In mercy, God doesn't give you what you do deserve. You see, grace gives you what you don't deserve. Mercy, God doesn't give you what you do deserve. And how many of us love having God show mercy to us?

It's just wonderful, isn't it? Not only did he save me and I was spiritually bankrupt, not only did I bring nothing to the table, but in a lot of ways, I've been pretty disappointing since I've been saved. And God still gives me mercy. Isn't it mercy wonderful? It is, but God said something a little bit different to us here than the others. He said, blessed are the merciful and they'll receive mercy. Jesus says it in other spots of the gospel, too. If you want to continue to be the recipient of God's mercy, you need to show mercy to others because you've received it and really like it. Now, I think what you'll say is, I think I can do that.

I hope, but I wouldn't be sure. See, we are not giving people what they do deserve. Let me use another synonym of mercy, forgiveness. Forgiveness. You remember the stories the rabbis taught in Israel at the time. You forgive someone three times.

That's the ultimate you can do. After that, shame on you. You give them justice. So Peter wanted to impress Jesus and Peter said, how about up to seven times? Peter said, look, I'm over twice as spiritual as a rabbi. And Jesus just shook his head and said, no, 70 times seven.

An infinite number. What? Yes. See, it's not natural.

Paul took it a step further. You and I are to forgive others in exactly the same way God has forgiven you in Christ. Uh oh. How many times has God forgiven you? Beside the once. How many times? How many sins?

Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. How many times has God forgiven you? If we acknowledge our sins, 1 John 1, 9, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That's mercy. Is this what I deserve? No, but it's what I get. I run into people all the time as Christians in counseling situations that just refuse to forgive. They refuse to forgive. I am not forgiving.

And it's always the but. But you don't understand how they hurt me. Wow. No, I don't. But I know that they didn't sin anywhere close to the magnitude against you that you've sinned against God. And you love receiving mercy. You just don't want to give it to anyone.

You see, that's a real test for us. And I'm sure the Pharisees didn't show mercy to anybody. The Pharisees would do anything to you as a letter of the law. It's all about the letter of the law.

That you keep the law. Rome wasn't exactly known as the merciful empire. You threatened Rome, they crucified you. You resisted Rome, they conquered you.

It's mercy was not popular. And Jesus says, look, you're going to receive, you'll receive even more mercy. That's a very important thing that we are to be merciful people. He goes to verse 8 and says, blessed are the pure in heart. They'll see God.

Wow. Pure in heart. What in the world does that mean?

Well, it's kind of the authentic you, the real you. Hold your place, go with me to Matthew 15, verse 18. Matthew 15, verse 18. Jesus once again explaining a parable. You'll see in Matthew 15, 15, Peter said, explain a parable to us. He just loved the disciples. I mean, for three and a half years he teaches them parables. And he says, I do that so they don't understand, so you can. But when you read them in the gospels, they almost never understood. Could you explain that to us? So Jesus goes on.

He says he I love his first line. Are you still lacking understanding? Like, I think that implies you should know better by now, but he doesn't. He said in verse 18, the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witnesses and slanders. These are the things that defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands doesn't defile the man.

Perfect example, see. What do the Pharisees do? I never eat anything without my hands being ceremonially clean. That's how right I am before God.

Jesus is like, that has no bearing at all in life. What do you wash your hands and I have no bearing? Your heart.

You see, it's all about your heart. The Pharisees never got this because they were so religious. He called them whitewashed sepulchers. You were a whitewashed tombstone. You're beautiful on the outside and you're dead man's bones on the inside. There's no reality in you.

You see, he addresses that all the time because they just thought if you do the externals, you're in. He says here, blessed are the pure in heart. The heart is where my will is. The heart is the soulless nature that we all have.

That's what defiles us. And he said you need to be pure in heart. You need to have integrity, authenticity in your heart.

You have to be purely motivated. You have to be honest. You see, one of the things of having a relationship with God is, and this is just a cheap piece of advice, but it works. Always, always be honest.

Never attempt to be deceptive. Why? He's God. He's God. I'm not going to be honest with God. Come on. Now you have two sins to deal with. The one you did and the fact that you're trying to manipulate God.

You can't do this. God says just be pure with me. Be honest.

Be authentic. You see, when I sin, tell him. You see, when I think I'm disappointing, tell him. He already knows. He said that's pure in heart.

He has a sense of integrity about the way I do things. Then he says blessed be the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. What does that mean? If you see two kids, little kids fighting in the toddler room, you break it up, you're a peacemaker.

I don't think so. I don't think that's what he means. I mean, it's certainly our supernatural peace that's possible. Jesus said my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives peace, but I'll give you a supernatural peace. Paul said it's beyond all understanding. That kind of peace that you could have. He also said if it be only up to you, be at peace with all men.

By the way, let me tell you something. Paul was never hardly at peace with men. It wasn't his fault, but it's what he said. Every time Paul went into, they wanted to hurt him. They wanted to stone him. They wanted to kill him.

All that happened. But Paul said if it's up to you, you be at peace. But I don't think that's what it means. A person who is a peacemaker reconciles. You reconcile. One of the most important things for us as believers is this. How do we reconcile sinful people and a holy God?

How does God use us to do that? It's called the gospel. That's the gospel. The gospel is the good news. You see, the gospel is that I can give someone the words of the word of God. And they can be reconciled with a holy God.

They can be born again into God's family and they can have eternal life. When reconciliation means you make peace. A peacemaker is somebody who is able to tell others as a witness what God has done in their lives. I think the gospel is what he has in mind here. The ability to take unholy people and make peace with a holy God.

I believe that's what ends up happening. I think the idea of being a peaceful person is also in it. St. Francis of Assisi had this written prayer that he left. He said, Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, let me sow pardon. Where there is doubt, let me sow faith. Where there is despair, let me sow hope. Where there is darkness, let me sow light. Where there is sadness, let me sow joy. That's a great prayer, a great way to look at it.

That's our job in a sense as a peacemaker. And then it goes to verse 10 and to verse 12 and it's one beatitude here. Blessed, markeos, happy, joyful are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed again, markeos, again are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. You look forward to that. See, that's an interesting thing that Jesus is saying. He keeps telling us we're going to be happy and joyful because of the forgiveness of our sins, eternal life, being in heaven with God.

These are all great things. And oh, by the way, you're going to be persecuted for my sake. He said it in the book of John. He said the world will hate you. Why? Hated me. It hated me. Persecution is part of being a believer.

It's part of it. By the way, you could say, well, people don't persecute me. They might not. Maybe you try to live your life and talk just like them and live just like them so much they don't even know you're a believer.

They won't bother you then. But if you stand for Christ, they're not going to like it. People don't like it.

It's been it's always been that way. You see, if you talk about grace. I want to tell you something. Religious people don't like you. They don't like anything you're saying. Why? Because it's contrary to what they believe.

They don't like this at all. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. Now, does that sound exclusive to you?

By the way, and he also said, and no one comes to the Father but through me. Does that sound exclusive to you? As as exclusive. So how many Americans who are relativists and moralists like to hear that?

Not hardly any. I don't want to hear that. Wait, wait. Are you saying you're the only way? Yes. That's just crazy.

You can't say that. All religions are the same. You see, that's what they want. That's America. In fact, the American will often say, Americans aren't very religious like the Jews were, but they're extremely moralist when it comes to having a relationship with God. Just share your faith with somebody and what will they usually tell you as an American? I think I'll be all right. How do you know? I'm not an evil person. I'm not terrible. I'm not Hitler. You see, I'm not. I'm not a child molester. I'm not a serial killer. I'm a pretty good person and God's going to let me in. And you say you won't get in. There are no pretty good people.

You all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There's no one like it. They won't like it. People don't like that. They never liked Christ who's the son of God.

How could I expect them to like me? They're not going to. Persecution is part of it. Paul wrote to Timothy and said, everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted. That's true. Might be just within a family.

You see, it might be in a neighborhood or a job site, but it could be bigger. There have been times in history where Christians were just martyred. Think of the early church.

That was part of the job description. I've been reading about a year ago, I started reading testimonies of Christians in Iran. Muslims who came to Christ.

Most of them in dreams. But Muslims who came to Christ in Iran. And almost every one of them when they gave their testimony said this, I know I'll be dead in the next two to three years. I know it'll take a short amount of time to find me out. And I know they'll execute me when they find out. But to God be the glory.

They knew it. Jesus said, you'll be blessed. Notice the blessing. He said, blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, say false things because of me. Then he says this, rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Two benefits of this. If people don't like me because of Christ, then I don't mean they don't like me because of me. That's a different thing. But if they don't like you because of your testimony for Jesus Christ, think of these two things that Jesus just says there.

One, you're in good company. Jesus just compared you to Jeremiah and Isaiah. You're just like the prophets. They didn't like the prophets.

They don't like you. See, that's an interesting thought. Wow, that's pretty good company. Secondly, notice what he says. He said, your reward in heaven is great. Now, the question is, what is it?

No idea. But I know the son of God said great. That's good enough for me.

What's God saying? I won't forget that. I don't let that slip by. I'll reward you for that. You see, that's a reward that's reserved for you.

So you can be marqueos. You can be happy. So when you look at these things of what he's really saying, he's saying, look, if you're going to have a relationship with me, this is what I'm saying. You need to see yourself as spiritually bankrupt. You need to mourn for your shortcomings before God. You need to be meek, power under control before God. You need to hunger and thirst for God. You need to give mercy to the undeserving in your life. You need pure motives before God. And you need to help make peace between man and God. And you joyfully suffer under persecution for others, for God. Jesus says that's what a kingdom person is. Now, people hearing it didn't like it.

The Pharisees hated it. And then he's going to start in verse 13 next time and go through all of the activities of religion versus all the activities of a child of God. And he's going to deal with that. And so as we see our lives, Jesus Christ is going to tell us in this, but especially in these Beatitudes, it doesn't matter what happens on the outside. If you think God's going to accept you because you do certain things and you don't do others, he won't. He won't. Jesus said it's an inside job.

You have to change your heart toward God and toward yourself and allow the love of God, the grace of God and the mercy of God to save you. Not partially, totally. He's saying, you know what you get out of it?

Marcheos. Happy now, happy then. It's an inside job. Let's pray. Father, the words of Jesus Christ here were so extraordinarily different for the first people that ever heard it. But in a lot of ways, it's just as different for many of us. We just don't see our relationship with God that way. It's easier for us to put a list of externals together and just simply do them and then know if we did them, we're right with God. But Jesus said, that's not true. Our heart has to be right with God. Our heart has to see God for what he's done and to see ourselves for our tremendous need that we have. That's what our Lord Jesus Christ said.

We should examine our own hearts and say, are these the things that we have in our own lives? Thank you, Father, for these profound and poignant words of Jesus Christ our Lord. In his name I pray.

Amen. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana, 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.