Discerning the Truth

The key word in the Beatitudes is “Blessed” and is used to describe the kind of happiness that can come only from God. Together, they reveal a portrait of what God expects us to be in Christ, dealing with inward attitudes that manifest Christ outwardly. Instead of asking God to bless us, we need to give serious consideration of these nine principles with the goal of asking God to make us “blessable.” The poor in spirit in verse 3 reveals that we are totally bankrupt spiritually and totally dependent on God. In verse 4, those that mourn see themselves and everyone around them as sinners in need of cleansing. Isaiah is a good example noted in Isaiah 6. It was not until he saw the Lord that he could see himself for what he was. It is God’s will that we see ourselves from His perspective instead of our own.

In the light of the return of Jesus Christ, believers should live in a holy and godly manner. They are to possess a devotion to Jesus Christ that promotes righteousness and opposes evil.

What is it that makes you happy? Quite often, what we think makes us happy and what God says will make us happy are two different things. It is not unusual for backslidden Christians to participate in lifestyles that ultimately places their spiritual life in jeopardy. Yet they justify their behavior thinking that what they are pursuing is what will bring them satisfaction. God’s Word declares, "Happy is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1,2). In Matthew 5, Jesus reveals nine different marks of happiness in the Beatitudes. These will make up the majority of our lesson material for the next few weeks starting today in Matthew 5:3.

How should we respond when we are the victim of other people's sin? In this text, Jesus gives a process to protect those who have been sinned against (vs 18-20). When that process fails to restore the relationship, Jesus then instructs us how we can find freedom from bitterness as we forgive others from our hearts.

As you exercise self-control, practice self-denial, you must possess the steadfastness necessary to maintain your self-control through the trials and temptations of every day life.

There are four distinguishing characteristics of a soldier of the cross.

The more you know God the more it changes your life.

To the foundation of saving faith, virtue and knowledge, Peter add the need to exercise self-control. Without self-control, all of our good intentions spiritually will fail. Self-control grows in the soil of self-denial.

While saving faith is the beginning of our walk with Jesus Christ, it does not stop there. Peter provides a list of things that are essential to add to our saving faith if we are to grow in godliness. The first of these additions is virtue. Exactly what is Peter talking about and how to we supplement our faith with virtue?

The Sermon on the Mount was Christ’s inauguration sermon for His apostles. It contains a very important message dealing with righteousness, emphasizing internal attitudes instead of the Law which emphasizes outward behavior. Today’s lesson is the introduction to our study of this sermon and we ought to study it for it clearly reveals the need of the new birth in order to live it. Secondly, Jesus Christ sacrificed his life on our behalf in order that we might both understand it and live it. The third reason we ought to study it is because of the blessing promised to those who make it applicable in their lives, revealed in the oft repeated words “Blessed are…”