Sometimes we groan and feel like it is hard to go on, but god says, his yoke is easy

““Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5:3-12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

““But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”  Luke‬ ‭6:24-26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We may not be the smartest people in class, we may not be the best. When we are His children, we are counted as blessed. 

1. Poor in spirit --> kingdom of heaven 
   • Key thing is - spirit 
   • Poor = no other way but to depend on god only VS over-confident in human
   • Realising that 
     • We are helpless (there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, to control our tomorrow, to turn a person around, overpowered by the thoughts/inclinations to sin and self-serving) --> if you are cog! you are not hopeless 
   • Why poor in spirit can enjoy kingdom of heaven? 
     • Poor in spirit - Tend not to have strong dreams, motives --> willing to accept whatever backgrounds and circumstances God places before him 
     • Kingdom of heaven is given to the poor, not earned. Grace always comes before requirement. 
   • Ask: do you pray? (Know that only God has the way) 
2. Mourn --> comforted 
   • The reason you mourn? Because of sin, broken r/s with God, cannot understand the perfect will of god 
   • The blessed person has a different reason of mourning 
   • When your brothers and sisters fall away from god, are we sadden by it or celebrate? No matter how weak you are, at the back of your mind, you know coming to church there is hope.
   • Different from accusations (both - you groan, but if you feel caused, it hurts you and makes you strengthless and look down on the HS work in your life)
   • Mourning brings contrite spirit not hurt feeling, away from God 
   • You don't mourn when you are spiritually down, you go through it at times of strengths or spiritually up (if not you will enter into a slippery slope of complacency -> easiest prey of Satan)
3. Meek -> inherit the earth
   • 2 kinds of meekness 
     • 1. Born by nature --> naturally "loved" by the world -> have all favours on them
     • 2. Not born with it, formed by transformation of the gospel --> out of submission to God gradually)
       • Inner gentleness that is drawn out because of the work of Word and HS, god is my only and greatest desire , don't need to fence for self and fight for self 
       • Suffering loss is fine. For the gospel. 
       • When you are not born like that but people see you are transformed by gospel, they can transform people around them too. 
   • What is the test of true meekness?
     • Receive with meekness the implanted word that can save your soul (James 1:21) --> related to how receptive you are to God's words
     • Are you selective in accepting or taking in wholesale?  
     • Humility before His word 
     • We have a lot of thoughts and reaction, has God's word becoming more and more impactful to you, regardless of how you feel, pull your spirit back up? 
   • Can be quite hard, for you have to fight against your impulses, battle against ourselves
4. Hunger and thirst for righteousness --> they shall be satisfied
   • Ps 23:1 god is my shepherd I shall not be in want.
   • "Sponge"
   • HS blesses them, and gives them insights into God's words --> unshakeable perspective, authority (not overpowered by satan, but command angels to fight, easy access to the perfect will)
     • Sees the help and guidance of God easily 
   • Sometimes what you hunger and thirst for --> the freshness gets expired soon! we start to look for new things (eg work..)
     • We are made for eternity (“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬
5. Merciful --> receive mercy 

• Action of you - merciful 
• 1st: to be broken (because of your depravatn) --> indebted towards God's grace, and we will want to be like God, be merciful to others 

• Pure in heart --> see God 
• • Pure (inner spirit - thoughts, motivations) 
  • You can have good actions (this is easy to imitate), but are you pure in spirit..
  • Pure in heart means simple faith (hear and believe, accept without discounting his word, thinking about conditions), keep ourselves in line with god's truth 
  • Sometimes we cannot see God because we are distracted by many things
  • We pray to give God's word the highest trust 
  • How to keep our hearts pure? 
    • Draw near to God --- “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”‭‭James‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬, his grace will work through you
    • 2 Ti 3:22 stick yourself to those who are pure hearted 
    • Purity of your heart will be preserved 
• Peace makers - sons 
• • As we follow through the beatitudes, we will manifest (have actions) actions like father 
  • Jesus Christ - prince of peace
  • HS fruit - peace 
  • When Jesus made peace between sinners and god, we are also called into this reconciliation ministry 
    • Me and god
    • Us and others 
    • God and others 
  • Irony - to be a peacemakers, we are in need to disturb false sense of peace people have, and nobody likes it.
    • When you speak truth in love, and that person is loved by god, the uneasiness and nasty response / disapproval is "temporal", God will intervene and help a sinners make peace with him.
  • God never ask us to compromise god's truth for the sake of peace making (for the sake of wanting to be inclusive)
• Persecuted --> kingdom of heaven 
• • The paradox is - because we are loyal to God, we are persecuted 
  • 2 Ti 3:12.   “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭3:12‬ ‭NIV‬‬
  • People persecute becwuse they want to justify their own choices and ways 
  • Do you face persecution? If not, are you living Christ out enough, if you claim yourself a believer? Sometimes we just stay at comfort zone, seek inclusion
  • Persecution suggests that you bring offence to the world --> you are leading a genuine Christian life 
  • HS will give you the desire to suffer loss just for the sake of kingdom, more time to be in his word and sheep 
  When we live on earth, the beautifies look nice but not experienced. The full enjoyment will only be enjoyed on 2nd coming, but right now, we have the foretaste of the blessings that are to come.

These are not the new laws to replace OT. not a checklist to be saved.

We are saved by grace through faith. 

These describe someone who is blessed, and saved. All these 8 hallmarks can be found ( describe JX himself)

Jesus teaching makes people realize how poor in spirit they are, how sinful they are --> is this your response when you hear these 8 beatitudes?

Be sensitive to all around you who carries this hallmarks