You are the light of the world

Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.


A city on a hill. Have you ever seen one? I've seen mansions built on a hilltop and littering the hillside other homes. The mansion most assuredly could not be hidden.


Balestrino, Italy
Craco, Italy
Monteriggioni, Italy
Gangtok, India
Kirkuk, Iraq


These are just a few cities on a hill.


When you place something on a hill top it's in a position of prominence, it is MEANT to be seen. WE are meant to be seen. We are the light of the world. The ONLY way we are the light of the world is if the light in us is of Jesus, He is the light of the world.


Joh 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.


Jesus has been teaching us this whole time that life is found in HIM and only in HIM. In Jesus we are blessed not in ourselves and not in any other. When Jesus tells us we are the light of the world He is talking to the same people He has taught about being blessed. They aren't the elite of the world, these are ordinary people who place their trust wholly in the Lord. We are ONLY blessed in the Lord there is no other way whatsoever to be blessed. We ARE the light of the world when we live in Jesus. Unfortunately there are many pretend lights, many false lights in our world too.


2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.


Jesus wants us to learn that we are the light of the world and because we are the light of the world we have a purpose as that light. We are to SHINE brightly before all men.


Mat 5:15 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.
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.


We are to let our light shine- we are to let our Jesus be seen in us!


Anything good that is in us we cannot lay claim to, Christ in us lives and any good *work* we do is done to glorify God the Father, NOT us!


Satan would have us desire to be given pats on the back for doing good. We grow up learning that we supposedly deserve rewards when we excel at things. We think we deserve recognition for jobs well done. You know what… it is good to be recognized for doing good but ONLY when we shine the light upon our Savior, the Savior in us that enables us to do the least bit of good to the greatest bit of good. All the recognition we can garner is wonderful as long as the true recognition goes to God.


Do people automatically glorify God our Father in heaven?


That's an easy answer isn't it? No, they don't.


You hear an occasionally- 'Thank God.' And sometimes you might hear a huge- 'Thank God!' from sports players or tv contest winners and even then it's good to hear because it's not common.


All glory is to go to God the Father! We are to Glorify our Father in Heaven. Glorifying the Father in heaven must be something we do all the time! Our light which is Jesus in us and visible to others must be such a reality that people KNOW we are Jesus'. Jesus is our light, our life! We must be recognized as belonging to Jesus. These are Jesus' words--


' Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. '


People say we are not to worry about 'good works' because we are saved by grace not works but they have to realize that a NATURAL result of being saved by grace is accepting Jesus into your life and Him becoming the light in you that will shine through in your good works. Is it any wonder why people will make fun of *Jesus freaks*, or make jokes about someone refraining from questionable behavior by calling them *saint* . People try to make us feel bad for being good. People try to make us feel as if we don't fit in quite right or that we are taking on airs, thinking we are better than they are. They want us to do things questionable to prove to them we aren't taking on airs. We have to be so incredibly careful because when we worry at all about fitting in we leave ourselves wide open for evil-spirit attacks. We have to worry about fitting in HEAVEN and NO where else. Our good works must be seen and in being seen glorify the Father in heaven. We have no clue whatsoever how our actions affect other peoples lives. We can't know that someone might see our good works and be led to the Lord, led to glorify the Father in heaven.


Jesus wants us to live for Him. Jesus wants to live in us.


Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.


Jesus would have our lights shine!


By His grace may our light forever shine and shine and shine!


Amen.

Salt of the earth

Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.


Lev 2:13 And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.


Mar 9:50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.


G217
ἅλας
halas
Thayer Definition:
1) salt with which food is seasoned and sacrifices are sprinkled
2) those kinds of saline matter used to fertilise arable land
3) salt is a symbol of lasting concord, because it protects food from putrefaction and preserves it unchanged. Accordingly, in the solemn ratification of compacts, the orientals were, and are to this day, accustomed to partake of salt together
4) wisdom and grace exhibited in speech


Those who are Christ's will speak of Christ, they will live Christ. When we are Christ's we are well salted- we are the SALT of the EARTH. It is Christ in us that makes us the salt of the earth. Without Christ we have NO salt, no savor, we are good for NOTHING but to be cast out and trodden under foot. We must be filled with Christ! Filled with all He has to teach us!


Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:


Christ in us!
Christ our hope of glory!
Christ our all in all!
Christ in our words!


Col 4:6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.


Our speech is to be always with grace- whose grace? Our Savior's! Seasoned with salt- seasoned by our Savior! That which makes us worthy is Christ and we cannot forget this.


Too often we do forget that we are Christ's. Seriously, we do. When we are in the midst of the world and worldly ways we find ourselves conforming to the world, to those around us that rather than stand out we blend in. People will justify it by saying that's just human nature. I wouldn't dispute that at all whatsoever. It is human nature but it's not Christ's nature. If we are living for Christ, if Christ is in us- our hope of glory- would that we would not care a whit about fitting in with the world.


Our Teacher would have us understand--


Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.


We are salt and salt CAN lose its savor.

If I had a quarter teaspoon of salt to a huge pot of soup and then taste the soup will I taste salt? Probably not. Did the salt I put in that soup lose its savor? It did, didn't it? The dilution of that little bit of salt was too much for me to even get a miniscule taste of salt. So what would I have to do? Add more salt until I tasted the flavor as desire- the salt bringing that flavor out. So that little bit of salt didn't disappear completely but by itself it had lost all flavor. That little bit of salt contributed to the additional salt to eventually give me the flavor I wanted for my soup. That doesn't negate that salt can lose its savor, it really can.

If we who are close to Christ - living and breathing Him in our lives- are the salt of the earth than it stands to reason that those who do NOT have Christ in them are salt-free. The flesh nature can control a person and when that happens they are salt-free. When we who are salty with the spiritual nature allow our flesh nature to dilute us we begin to lose our saltiness. Our saltiness can be diluted by the world if we let it.

It needs to be pointed out that without salt in our body we would die. People have died when they've mistakenly diluted their bodies with too much water- they diluted all the salt, potassium, and natural electrolytes in their bodies to the point the heart muscle could no longer contract properly and yes, they died. Salt inside our bodies is necessary. The talk of salt being bad for you is true- TOO MUCH salt in your body isn't good- but having read up on it a bit it's the kind of salt we have today that has been altered drastically from what it was intended. Salt today isn't the salt of Jesus' day. We've chemically stripped natural salt of a lot of it's good minerals and such and turned it into pure sodium. Have you noticed on your grocery store shelves- Sea Salt? Have you noticed on potato chip bags- 'Made with sea salt.' ? The whole point being they are trying to use a HEALTHIER salt rather than the pure sodium they've given us for years.

Salt.

Jesus is vital to our eternal salvation, just as salt is vital to our physical bodies. We need Jesus vitally if we are to live. Satan will attempt to dilute the spiritual salt in us every chance He gets. We retain our salt with all its savor by keeping Christ in our lives first and foremost! We have to be careful of losing our salty savor through the dilutions of Satan. He'll throw more and more worldly, fleshy ways at us - bombarding us day after day with anything and everything He can to distract us from our Savior. We can't let him dilute us! By the grace of God we will not let Him steal us away- take our savor from us- in in the same vein - take our Savior from us.


In the love of our Lord!


Amen!

Persecuted for Christ, rejoice!

Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.


Revile- To reproach; to treat with opprobrious and contemptuous language. (Opprobrious- 1. Reproachful and contemptuous; 2. Blasted with infamy; despised; rendered hateful; as an opprobrious name.)


Persecute- 1. In a general sense, to pursue in a manner to injure, vex or afflict; to harass with unjust punishment or penalties for supposed offenses; to inflict pain from hatred or malignity.
2. Appropriately, to afflict, harass, or destroy for adherence to a particular creed or system of religious principles, or to a mode of worship. Thus Nero persecuted the Christians by crucifying some, burning others, and condemning others to be worried by dogs. See Acts 22.
3. To harass with solicitations or importunity.

Falsely Accused.


God's people are blessed when they are reviled, when they are held in reproach, when they are held in contempt, when they are despised, when they are hated, when they are injured, when they are afflicted, when they are harassed and unjustly punished for no reason, when they are inflicted with pain, when they are falsely accused.


BLESSED! A blessing is received by those who are Christ's and endure all manner of suffering because they are Christ's.


We don't consider ourselves blessed when we are persecuted, do we? Have we been persecuted as Christian's - for being Christians? Can you remember a time you were reviled for being a Christian- truly reviled? Has anyone ever spit in your face for being a Christian? Has anyone ever beat you for being a Christian? Has anyone ever punished you in any way for being a Christian? Seriously? Have you ever had to face another person and have them hate you, revile you, persecute you, falsely speak evil against you for your FAITH?


I've personally had people *not like* the fact I worship God as I do but they didn't really revile me, or hurt me physically. I didn't like it at all when they *acted out*, it was bizarre to me, it felt incomprehensible at the time. A wave of disbelief rushed over me and as the strange miniscule persecution ran its course I was left with the feeling that what just happened was of the devil- not truly of the person who was doing what they were doing. It was just that bizarre of a situation. Even now looking back on that happenstance I'm left with that same feeling of it being totally absurd. Was I allowed a teeny tiny glimpse into persecution for my faith? I believe I was. I have to wonder how people who live day in and day out with that sort of incomprehensible behavior towards them only a hundredfold, no, a thousand-fold worse, feel. It is truly inexplicable to be abused physically, mentally, and emotionally for your faith- it is something so incredibly personal and one of those inalienable rights we here in America are taught to believe in.


How many of us LIVE our faith?


Let's for a moment consider the Amish, the Quakers, the Jewish people - just three examples there. This people as a rule LIVE their faith and by that I mean their every day lives are so entwined with their religion that people find it hard to separate the two. We think of the Amish and the Quaker people and we know how they shun modern living- electricity etc; and are known as God-fearing people having their own beliefs and those beliefs are intricately woven into their lives. The Jewish people cannot escape their religious heritage no matter how modernized they become. We think of Orthodox Jewish as those who live their faith. There are others - many others known for living their faith- Jehovah's Witness', Seventh-day Adventist, and more. What sets all these people apart is the way their beliefs form their way of life. Their faith is revealed in their lives.


It's very easy to say that the majority of the world do NOT live in any sort of real faith. Their lives do NOT reflect their faith. Or rather their EVERY DAY lives do NOT reflect their faith.


If your life reflects the world and not your faith is it any wonder you are not persecuted? Seriously. If our lives are so similar to the lives of those who have no faith what sets us apart from the world? Those who are set apart from the world seem to invite persecution. Those who LIVE their faith, those who are KNOWN for their faith are those who will be persecuted not those who blend so completely in with the world that the world can't tell them apart.


Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.


It HAS to be understood that those being persecuted for Christ are - poor in spirit, mourning, meek, seeking righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers - not those who are mean in spirit, not those who are content to be of this world, not boasters, not the proud, not the unrighteous, not the merciless, not the impure in heart, not the warmongers. Yes, the mean spirited, the discontented, the boaster, the proud, the unrighteous, the merciless, the impure in heart, the warmongers of any faith CAN be persecuted, but only those who are CHRIST'S and are persecuted for Christ's righteousness, for our Savior, will be blessed. If you are mean spirited and fight your persecutors you are not of Christ. Seriously! Jesus is teaching us! Jesus is revealing Himself to us fully and letting us know that if we are truly His will we manifest Him in our lives. If we truly surrender our lives to our Savior- accepting Him completely as our Deliverer giving up our selves then we are His and HE will be reflected in our lives and the lessons He is teaching us will be real, they will be lived in our lives!


That little persecution I experienced which caused me to wonder at how bizarre it was, that gave me bit of dismay, that opened my eyes to see the reality of persecution- was allowed- to teach me a valuable lesson. All praise to God may I not forget and always remember that any persecution large or small should be cause for rejoicing!


Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.


Those persecuted must realize that they have cause to rejoice! Rejoice and be exceeding glad! Why? Because GREAT is their reward in heaven. The prophets of God were persecuted before they were!


May we all learn the lessons Christ has to teach us now and always!


By His most amazing LOVE! By His mercy! By His grace! All in Him!

JESUS CHRIST our LORD and SAVIOR!

Blessed by the name of our LORD!


Amen.

Persecuted for righteousness' sake

Mat 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.


Remember this-- Mat 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.


Those who seek the righteousness of Christ may be persecuted. Jesus knew this! Jesus understood the world we live in with all its injustices, all its horrors. Jesus knew the hearts of people and He knew there was real righteousness and real evil.


How many people have persecuted others in the name of our Lord? How many people have sought vengeance in the name of our Lord? How many commit great evils and do it all in the name of the Lord? So many believe they are being righteous when they destroy what they consider evil and they forget completely that our Savior did not kill people, our Savior did not make the evil people of His day suffer. Our Savior did not hunt down the unrighteous and wipe it off the face of the earth. Our Savior did NOT tell us we were to do any of that and yet people have killed over and over, people have made those who they consider evil suffer untold agonies believing they are only doing God's will.


Jesus does not say-- Blessed are they which get revenge on their enemies. He did not say-- Blessed are they who kill the evil people.


Jesus teaches us that the people who are persecuted will be blessed with the kingdom of heaven!


Persecuted.


'PER'SECUTED, pp. Harassed by troubles or punishments unjustly inflicted, particularly for religious opinions.'


The people who are harassed by troubles or punishment UNJUSTLY inflicted will be blessed with the kingdom of heaven, they will be bless with our Lord and Savior!


Persecution. Sometimes it's not just other people persecuting us, it is the persecution of the unseen world we share our lives with. It is the persecution of *LIFE*, what we consider to be life's- problems. Daily we are swamped with bad news, bad times, bad moments that mingle with good news, good times, good moments. We are persecuted and often is seems that we will succumb to all that persecution, that it is just too much for us to deal with and you know what, it's supposed to be. We have to place our all in all in Christ! We have to stop living for this world! No, I'm not saying to latch on to a death wish, not at all! We have to endure in Christ! We are to live IN Christ, FOR Christ, always! If we suffer we must do so knowing that our end is in CHRIST. Easy for me to say, right? It is easy to say and I pray to my Savior that if I'm called to suffer that I endure in HIM and only in HIM.


Our great Teacher doesn't leave us without the lessons we need to live.


Mat 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.


We can't let this one point go without noting- PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE.


Every one is persecuted but only those who are persecuted for righteousness sake will have the kingdom of heaven.


Righteousness sake is… OUR SAVIOR who is OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS!


It's for our Savior's sakes. Persecuted because we live for our Savior. Make NO mistake whatsoever, Satan will stop at nothing to persecute those who are Christ's. He knows our every weakness, he knows just how far to push us and when to pull back. Does Satan care about us? Do we matter to Him? YES!


Does Jesus care about us? Do we matter to Jesus? YES! Our Savior died for each and every one of us to give us the chance for salvation. If we don't find this hard to believe then why do we find it hard to believe that Satan wants us just as much to be His, to die eternally for him, with him.


The bottom line- if you believe in Jesus you have to believe in Satan. If you believe in Jesus dying for your salvation you have to believe that Satan wants just as desperately to keep you from that salvation.


This is REALITY! Our reality!


By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior may we be persecuted for righteousness sake and for no other reason, may we have the kingdom of heaven, our Savior!


Amen.

The peacemakers

Mat 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
 
 
Blessed.  Who doesn't want to be blessed? We've read now several verses and each one begins with- 'Blessed'.
 
 
We hear people say- 'Oh he was blessed with that hair.' Or 'She is blessed with her mother's eyes.' Or 'Oh they have such talent, they're so blessed!'  We considered someone blessed when they have some  wonderful talent, when something good happens to them or there is something good about them. Being blessed is a good thing, a desired thing.
 
 
Jesus is teaching us that certain people are blessed for various things-
People - Poor in spirit                                                    Blessed with - kingdom of heaven
People - Mourners                                                         Blessed with - comfort
People - Meek                                                                 Blessed with - inheriting the earth
People - Hungry & thirsty for righteousness             Blessed with - being filled
People - Merciful                                                            Blessed with - mercy
People - Pure in heart                                                    Blessed with - seeing God
 
 
And today we are talking about the peacemakers being blessed by being called the children of God.
 
 
Do you think that Jesus was teaching us that here on earth people would suffer, but for all their suffering there would come a time when they would be rewarded for that pain? I think He was. He was giving us a message that it's not always the *seemingly* happy, the *seemingly* content, the *seemingly* rich, the *seemingly* favored who will be blessed.  Those who are considered blessed by earthly standards might not be those truly blessed by God's standards. Some of those who seem the least blessed here and now might be the most truly blessed by God in eternal matters. We have to see our selfishness, our desperate state of neediness. We have to be taught to understand that without the things of God, without the blessings of God, we have NOTHING. Our poor spirits, our mourning, our meekness, our hunger and thirst for righteousness, our mercifulness, our pure in heart all of this gives us an understanding of something OUTSIDE ourselves.
 
 
Jesus would have us learn and we must learn from Him.
 
 
Mat 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
 
 
Peacemaker. One who makes peace, one who promotes peace. Is this possible? We hear a lot about the Mid-East Peace talks.  Palestine and Israel striving for peace, with other countries trying to lend their *peacemakers* to help this process along. Two opposing groups of people each with different agendas and the fight for peace comes with compromises being made. Without compromises peace won't be achieved.  Peace making, peace talks, world peace, goals strived for but inevitably since Adam and Eve sinned there has been trouble in the world- a lack of peace for without that unity with God there can be NO true peace.  Even in seemingly perfectly peaceful places strife arises.  God and God alone has perfect peace.  When we seek HIS perfect peace, when we seek to have peace IN Him we are truly peace makers.  Seeking peace where sin abounds is not the sort of peace that would please God.  God's peace is not man's peace. Too often people who would follow the Savior are told they are causing strife because they won't compromise their beliefs. If they would only stop causing trouble peace would be had. But we do not WANT, or rather we should not strive for worldly peace!  I know I sound nuts, but it's true.  God's peace, the peace we know will only be achieved fully when our Savior comes again is the peace we are to seek. We are to be a peacemaker of God's peace! When we determine to seek God's peace given to us through the Holy Spirit, by the grace of our Lord and Savior we are striving for a peace that the worldly- those of the world whose true father is Satan- cannot comprehend.  They'll try to say that peace is peace, but at what price is the peace of the world over the peace of our Savior? Eternal death is the price people will pay.
 
 
Remember these words of our Savior- I've talked on them several times:
 
Joh 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
 
 
Not as the world gives.
Jesus' peace is not the same peace of the world.
Jesus' peace is found in eternal salvation in His love!
 
 
By His grace may we be blessed as peacemakers- blessed as those who love Him wholly and seek the peace HE has to give, may we be called the children of God.
 
 
In His love!
 
Amen.

Pure in heart by the grace of God!

Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.


Can you picture these words coming from the Savior's lips? Can you picture His eyes scanning the crowd of people about Him as He speaks? Let's suppose for a moment you are there sitting on a rock, your eyes intent upon Jesus and His gaze reaches yours and for a moment your eyes lock and He speaks these words…


"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God."


Your heart skips a beat, you gently suck in your breath and for a moment you refuse to release it as you become lost in that single moment. Jesus spoke to you! Jesus gave you this message and it's a message He wants you to understand fully because He is teaching you. To not comprehend what He's saying would mean His words were meaningless to you, just drivel, just someone flapping their lips while you nod and smile- don't pretend you've never nodded and smiled as someone was speaking. Don't pretend you've never had your mind wander as someone spoke to you. Absolutely do not try to convince yourself that you've never been formulating your own thoughts, replies to what has been said already, and in so doing you've missed more of what another was saying. You have to admit that you've sat in a classroom and only half listened as your teacher spoke. Your ears perked up when the word 'quiz' is mentioned and you groan when you hear the words 'study'. A quiz is on the way and what is that quiz on? The things the teacher has been teaching you. You are supposed to study and lucky for you the teacher has provided a handout that highlights the things you will be quizzed on. Now you have the basics there to refer to, to study and yet you know the teacher explained each of what are now brief summaries in great detail during class. Will there be questions on the test based upon the lecture- things not fully covered in the notes? Most likely, but because you have the handout you can study it and even perhaps look up things in your school text book to fill in gaps you may have missed when your mind wandered.


We know that Jesus did and said so much more than we've been blessed to read.


'Joh 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. '


What does that tell us? That Jesus *lived* the word we read! We have only a fraction of the life of Jesus at our disposal, but that fraction is enough and with the Holy Spirit guiding us we can be led into all the truth we need to be known as our Savior's.


We have these words given to us-


Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.


If we simply read them without studying them we lose so much that our Savior is teaching us.


Some will argue that it's simple, the meaning is very simple and there is really nothing to study and you know what- that's their prerogative. Maybe this isn't a message they need to learn, or a message they need to learn to at this time. The Holy Spirit will guide us all individually and at times collectively, but we can't deny that as individuals we answer to our God for our learning. We each have our own refiner's fire to go through individually forged.


Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.


If you are NOT pure in heart what else can you be?
Filthy in heart.


Mat 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross…
Psa 119:70 Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.


Mat 15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.


Act 8:21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.


Our hearts- our minds- what makes us who we are!


H3820
lêb
labe
A form of H3824; the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything


G2588
kardia
kar-dee'-ah
Prolonged from a primary κάρ kar (Latin cor, “heart”); the heart, that is, (figuratively) the thoughts or feelings (mind)


When our heart is not right in the sight of God it doesn't mean our heart is diseased physically. Our lives are not right with God. We as whole individuals are not right with God. The heart is figurative for our center- the controlling aspect of who we are- not JUST the intellectual part of us but our emotional part as well- the ALL of us. When our hearts are corrupt, when our hearts are filthy, gross, unclean we are not God's.


Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.


Is it any wonder we are blessed to have a pure heart?!


That we would ALL have pure hearts! What a world that would be. But our hearts are corrupt, our hearts are filthy! We are so filled with self, so filled with the world, so grossly fat with our corrupted ways.


So how can our hearts be pure- how can we have our filthy hearts purified?


Mal 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
Mal 3:3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.


Our Savior is like a refiner's fire, a fuller's soap. Seriously. We can be cleaned through Christ and ONLY through Christ. We don't have refining fire, we don't have the fuller's soap. We are NOT the refiner, we are NOT the fuller! We have NO righteousness of our own, we talked about that the other day when we studied this verse: Mat 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.


And just as we have NO righteousness of our own we have no cleanliness that we can claim as ours. We are filthy sin-stained people with filthy sin-stained hearts and ONLY ONE can cleanse us, ONLY ONE has the RIGHT to cleanse us!


Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.


PURIFY unto HIMSELF a peculiar people.


Read that again- PURIFY unto HIMSELF. He purifies us unto HIMSELF. We do not purified ourselves. We can place ourselves where the purifier can cleanse us, but we cannot cleanse ourselves. We can do the will of God in all things by His grace living lives following His commandments, loving God and our fellow man with all that entails. It's not as if we should do nothing but embrace evil, not at all, we must shun evil. As we shun evil we understand that the evil we shun doesn't cleanse us. Our Savior cleanses us, we can't save ourselves.


Jas 4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jas 4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.


We must SUBMIT ourselves to God.


We must resist the devil but ONLY after we've submitted ourselves to God. We must draw NIGH to God so He will draw NIGH to us. We must cleanse our hands, purify our hearts but ONLY after we've submitted ourselves to God, only after we've drawn night to God. We are afflicted, we mourn, we weep, our laughter becomes sadness, our joy turns to heaviness. We have to humble ourselves in the sight of the LORD and HE SHALL LIFT US UP!


Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.


The pure in heart-- will see God. Those who give themselves to God allowing God to work in them, to cleanse them will see God.


Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.


Please GOD, please create in us a clean heart! Purify our hearts! We long to be among those who are blessed, among those who have pure hearts, among those who shall see God!!!


By HIS GRACE! In HIS LOVE!


AMEN!

For they shall obtain mercy

Mat 5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.


Compassion.


Some might say that there is a great lack of compassion in our world and they'd be right. Oh, when there is a *cause* to show compassion for that makes you look good people will generally step up. And we LOVE to believe that we live in a compassionate world where the majority of people are compassionate. Sometimes we get just enough evidence of compassion around us that we start to believe that things aren't so bad in our world, but truly there is a great lack of compassion, a great lack of mercy. I know I sound so cynical and perhaps I am.


Showing mercy, showing undeserved compassion this is truly a good thing. We read about the lack of mercy in our world daily, we hear about it on the news, we see it for ourselves and sometimes, maybe all too often we see it IN ourselves.


Hos 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.


How many would rather *pay* for salvation rather than be merciful? Seriously. There was a time in our history (the history of mankind that is) when the Catholic Church sold Indulgences - rather than take what they perceived their just punishment for their sins they paid to have the punishment taken away. Even today many believe that after confessing a sin- they have to pay for that sin - and after they've paid for that sin they are free and clear. When a person believes they have to PAY for their sins aren't they in essence believing they have a hand in their own salvation? We cannot save ourselves! But many believe they can. They need to be good enough, they need to do something, anything because doing nothing just doesn't seem right, doing NOTHING is admitting that they are POWERLESS and people do NOT want to admit they are powerless, that they want control of their own salvation.


The question up there was- How many would rather *pay* for salvation than be merciful? The answer is - way too many. Another question, how many would rather *work* for salvation than learn of God? The answer- way too many.


Mat 5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.


The merciful will obtain mercy. Not the unmerciful who believe their money can buy mercy, and not the unmerciful who believe they can simply commit their unmerciful acts and then ask for forgiveness- believing they HAVE to be forgiven when in truth it is ONLY by grace we are forgiven- when we have a contrite heart not an arrogant belief. If there isn't genuine repentance there is no forgiveness and yet so many people believe otherwise.


Mercy. Compassion.


We need to be merciful even when mercy is seemingly undeserved in fact that is when we need to show mercy the most. Mercy shouldn't be only allocated to the deserving as many believe. The old I'll be good to you because you've been good to me, rather than I'll be good to you even though you haven't been good to me.


You hear a lot about rendering to another what they render to you- when in truth we need to have compassion upon ALL others no matter what they do to us.


We need to be merciful!


You've heard the saying- "Cry mercy." Haven't you? Someone crying for mercy when it's not warranted. "Throw yourself on the mercy of the court." Meaning ask for undeserved lenience. Meaning plead your case and beg for a lesser punishment than what you deserve. Mercy is just that - not something you can give to a deserving person, but rather something that is undeserved.


Being merciful.


May God help us to be merciful.


Mat 5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.


We all need the mercy of our Lord, we all need mercy because NONE of us deserve His love, His forgiveness.


Please Lord help us be merciful, truly merciful- create in us a CLEAN HEART, renewing a right spirit within us- we know there is nothing good in us, no righteousness of our own but ONLY Your righteousness, only Your love and Your mercy working in us. Help us to trust in You fully! All mercy comes from You and by Your grace may we show mercy.


In Your love!

Amen!