Paul’s letter to the Romans is an exhilarating presentation of the magnificent doctrines
of the Christian faith. Paul teaches us about the biblical doctrine of sin – its perversion,
power and penalty. But Paul also teaches us about justification, sanctification, and regeneration - and these biblical doctrines are the most incredibly relevant and the most exhilarating message that a dying sinner could ever hope to hear. 

The first seven beatitudes are personal qualities and they define a person's character. This final beatitude - blessed are the persecuted - is something that happens to you. It is included because those who are truly marked by the first seven will be marked by the eighth. 

In some unique way, peacemaking is the mark of God' children. Peacemaking is the family trait and peacemakers share their Father's heart. You will not be able to embrace the call to peacemaking and persecution without the power of Christ in you. 

The rabbis of Jesus' time blessed the acts of people, but Jesus blessed people at the center of where they live. These qualities of the beatitudes are things that flow from our hearts. A pure heart is undefiled and unstained. 

We come to the 5th beatitude, the first of the second table of the Beatitudes. The second table of beautitudes are focused on our relationship with other men. Mercy is a heart of compassion that leads to practical, and often sacrificial, acts of kindness in
response to the needs, flaws, and failures of other sinful people. 

Hunger is a blessing if you think of it. Like a nerve awakens us to injury, hunger awakens us to our need for nourishment and drives us to seek out God-intended satisfaction. Jesus wishes to wake in us a hunger for life!

Tonight, we come to one of the most overlooked and misunderstood of the beatitudes. We don’t tend to pray for meekness. We aren’t familiar with the concept and don’t really have a sense of its significance. What exactly does it mean to be meek? Why does God delight in it so? What is the blessedness that it brings?

We live in a nation committed to the pursuit and pretense of happiness. “Blessed are those who mourn”, is such a counter-cultural thing Jesus says.  Blessed are the desolate, the grieving, the sad. It is thoroughly contrary to our cultural convictions.

We live in a world where every single person is seeking the blessed life according to the path which they believe will lead them there. We live in a culture persuaded that the American Dream is the path to the blessed life. It’s not a bad life. It’s just a wasted one – at least if that’s actually what you are living for.

We will see what this book is truly about, and the essential message for the church. In our text, we see the devastating discrepancy between Jonah’s heart and the heart of God. God cared about Nineveh – Jonah cared about himself. Here we see the fatal sin of Israel, the besetting sin of the modern church, and the marvel of Gods’ grace.