#1365 Luke 6 Part 3 Beatitudes

 

20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. Luke 6: 20-23 ESV

Luke 6: 20-23

More from Matthew 5

And He lifted up His eyes on His disciples - Now there is a multitude here besides the disciples, but the wording gives a lot of context to the message. He looks at His disciples, to where it applies. Those that don't follow Him, hear, but don't do, won't get this, won't want this.

…26But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe. 27 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.… John 10: 26-28

23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ 24Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.… Matthew 7: 23-25

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God - In Matthew's gospel it refers to them as poor in spirit. The wealthiest man on the planet is often the most bankrupt spiritually. The one who realizes that he is poor in spirit knows that he must look outside of himself, that the answer is not within the halls of his own internal resources. He has been granted the mercy to see that he is impoverished, dying for lack of knowledge, in need of salvation. Many a Christian may suffer and have the goods of this life taken away from them, but there's is the Kingdom of Heaven.

…16So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.… Revelation 3: 16-18

Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied - We don't naturally have a taste for the things of God. In Matthew 5 it speaks of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, and this is a gift as well, the desire, the hunger that drives us toward the cross. If we remain content in our possessions, in ourselves, in our sins, then we die in them, attached to them, forever opposed by God. 

…13Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen. 1For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God. 2My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?… Psalm 42: 1-2

13Make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. 14Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.… Hebrews 12: 13-15

…3For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay. 4Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright— but the righteous will live by faith— 5and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own.… Habakkuk 2: 3-5

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh - We are not sure how many times Christ gave this similar sermon, but this appears to be the same as Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount, and it Matthew's account it uses the word, mourn. I think having both accounts gives us a deeper perspective. Blessed are those who have been brought to see their spiritually bankrupted state, who know there is no righteousness in them and are now hungry for it. In light of all of this, in the search for righteousness, they come to find a Holy God, and it brings them to tears. Blessed are they that cry over their sins, who hate any sin, but find none so despicable as their own. This person will weep bitterly, begging for it to be taken away. "You have not because you ask not", think about that now; it's not talking about a house or a car.

…7So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.” 9For he and his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,… Luke 5: 7-9

…74At that he began to curse and swear to them, “I do not know the man!” And immediately a rooster crowed. 75Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. Matthew 26: 74-75

Blessed are you when people hate you - You just lost 3/4 of the crowd. Can you give up the praise of men, can you stand for truth when it's not popular?

Spurn your name as evil - What about when they call good evil and evil good? Will you stand by the truth then when you are now referred to as evil for holding to logic, reason, called offensive for stating what is plainly obvious, for saying the Emperor has no clothes on? I have watched this generation buckle under the weight of "likes" on Facebook, give up sound reason and the reality of what can plainly be seen in order to fit in with the wokeness flavor of the week. When someone points out the obvious truth it's like they committed the most heinous of crimes, yet those that are committing actually heinous crimes aren't getting nearly so much attention. 

…20For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. 22You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.… Matthew 10: 20-22

On account of the Son of Man - Here again is a great qualifier. You are not blessed merely because someone hates you. Plenty of people fit that description; I had a lot of people hate me before I came to follow Christ. These are blessed who are hated because they belong to Christ, because they call the same things He calls sin, sin, and they won't change to conform to society, but instead are everyday being conformed to His image. 

…4So I will choose their punishment and I will bring terror upon them, because I called and no one answered, I spoke and no one listened. But they did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight.” 5You who tremble at His word, hear the word of the LORD: “Your brothers who hate you and exclude you because of My name have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified that we may see your joy!’ But they will be put to shame.” 6Hear the uproar from the city; listen to the voice from the temple! It is the voice of the LORD, repaying His enemies what they deserve!… Isaiah 66: 4-6

For so their fathers did to the prophets - What is your expectation? It has been this way for some time. The religious attack the born again. Those that hate the absolute authority of the Creator hate to hear that we love Him. The prophets were not received warmly by their own, and the people always asked them for a different message then the one handed down to them. This created a very large rift, a niche that false prophets, fake messiahs and phony teachers have been filling for centuries. Isaiah was sawn in half, John the Baptist was beheaded, and the greatest One, God the Son, was nailed to a cross. Open your eyes, there is a huge rift here, on which side will you stand?

…9These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction. 10They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions. 11Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”… Isaiah 30: 9-11