The Beatitudes
Part 2
“Blessed are the Hungry, Thirsty, Merciful, and Pure”
Matthew 5:1-10 “And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’”
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Last time we began the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes. All of the Beatitudes begin with the pronouncement “blessed are…”
The word blessed means “happy, to be envied.” It is not a reference to material wealth, but to spiritual riches such as God’s comfort, the kingdom of heaven, and inheriting the earth—the new earth God will create following the GWTJ.
We also noted that there seems to be a progression in the Beatitudes outlining a person’s spiritual journey. It begins with realizing you’re in spiritual poverty, to mourning over your sin, to experiencing the comfort that comes from salvation. Then moving on toward maturity beginning with the spiritual fruit of meekness.
Now this time we’re going to continue with one of the greatest evidences of true salvation, which is:
I. Hunger and thirst for the things of God
Vs. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
One of the clear signs that someone has been truly born again is an inner desire for the Word, for Bible teaching, to grow in grace, to cultivate a righteous life that pleases the Lord.
Listen to Peter, “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”—1 Pet 2:2-3
David wrote of this hunger and thirst while in the wilderness of Judah fleeing from Saul:
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”—Psalm 42:1,2
And again in Ps 63, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”
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The word ‘desire’ is from a word meaning “to long for, strain after, desire greatly, have affection for, crave.”
So your new nature hungers and thirsts for the things of God, and to do those things pleasing in his sight.
With a new nature comes a whole new appetite, new desires, new longings, new likes and dislikes, a genuine craving to be fed the good things of God and to grow!
Jesus described it as a hungering and thirsting for righteousness—something that never occurs to us when we’re lost.
The promise is “He shall be filled.” God will abundantly supply what you need from the riches of his kingdom.
Jesus told the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks this (well) water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”- John 4:13-14
To another crowd of followers he said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”—John 6:35
The answer to our inner hunger and thirst is Jesus—the water of life and the bread of life!
And he assured us of God’s willingness to feed our hungry souls:
Jesus said, “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.”—Luke 12:32 LB
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Then next, Jesus focuses on another fruit of spiritual growth:
II. Mercy
Vs. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
So here we have the law of sowing and reaping in effect. If we are merciful with others, God will be merciful toward us in the day of trouble—we will obtain mercy.
There are two words in Greek that are translated as mercy or merciful.
Greek—eleemon (el lay eh mon)
It points to the outward manifestation of pity, to be actively compassionate, to be kind or show goodwill towards an individual or the afflicted, combined with a desire to help them.
For instance, in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, a man is robbed and beaten by thieves, and left to die on the side of the road.
Three men encounter him. The first is a priest who quickly steps to the other side of the road to avoid him. The second man, a Levite, also walks to the other side of the road.
The third man just happened to be a Samaritan, a non-Jew, a Gentile. He bandages him up, pours oil on his wounds, loads him onto his donkey, and takes him to a hotel. He also covers the cost of his stay until he is well.
Now Jesus asked, “Which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among thieves?”
He answers his own question—“He who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”
Now notice, the wounded and robbed man didn’t need forgiveness. He hadn’t done anything wrong to anyone. He needed mercy.
So mercy is when you show compassion and offer help to someone in need just because they need help.
One person wrote, “Mercy is not a weak sympathy which feels but never does anything to help. It is not the silent, passive pity which could be genuine but never seems to be able to help in a tangible way. It’s not any of those superficial things. It is genuine compassion with a pure, unselfish motive that reaches out to help somebody in need.”
James wrote about faith and mercy by posing a hypothetical:
“If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing, 16 and you say to him, “Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat hearty,” and then don’t give him clothes or food, what good does that do?”—2:15-16 LB
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Showing mercy is to reflect our Heavenly Father.
Eph. 2:3-4 “We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”
Jesus talked about how God is kind and merciful even to the unlovely and unthankful.
Luke 6:35-36 “For He (God) is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”
The day invariably comes when we, too, will need mercy. It’s nice to know in those times that you have been merciful to others and shall obtain mercy!
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Then next Jesus deals with:
III. Purity of heart
Vs. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Here again, we have a desire within a person to be pure, which is uniquely and only found in a born again soul. Such a desire springs straight from the indwelling Holy Spirit.
We’re going to see in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus is more concerned with our heart than any single thing.
The heart is used metaphorically to signify the inner person.
It is the control center of a man’s mind, emotions and will. It is our invisible, innermost being which shapes our lives, attitudes, convictions, and ultimately, our actions.
Jesus said that what comes out of our mouth proceeds from the heart…”For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man.” (Matthew 15:18–19).
So the heart is utterly crucial to Jesus. What we are in the deep, private recesses of our lives is what he cares about most.
The Bible says, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.”—1 Samuel 16:7
So Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart”—Those whose minds, motives, and principles are pure; who seek not only to have their outer behavior in line with God’s will, but desire to be holy within.
To be pure has two meanings:
One: To make pure by cleansing from dirt, filth, or contamination like metals being refined by fire until they were free from impurities.
Two: It refers to being unmixed, undivided, having no double allegiance.
The basic idea is of integrity, singleness of heart, as opposed to duplicity, or a divided heart.
Jesus quoted Isaiah to the people of his day, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”—Matthew 15:8
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Purity isn’t just being clean; it is to be single-minded and intentionally focused. In this instance, God wants us to be undividedly focused on His kingdom and righteousness.
So—no dirt and no divided allegiance. That’s a pure heart!
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The promise is:
“They shall see God.”
“They shall see God” is in the future indicative tense—meaning that people with a pure heart shall be continuously seeing God at work in their lives.
The pure in heart will experience intimate fellowship with God on a moment-by-moment basis.
The pure in heart will have the inward capacity to learn of, receive revelation about, God. They will increasingly come to know him until the grand day arrives when they enter the portals of glory and see him face to face!