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[0:00] Matthew chapter 5, and we'll read again in verse 1.

[0:21] And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came up to him. And he opened his mouth, and he taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

[0:54] And so this evening I'd like us to resume our study of the Sermon on the Mount, because a couple of weeks ago we began our study on this well-known passage of scripture in chapters 5 to 7 of Matthew's Gospel. And it's a passage which we often refer to as the Sermon on the Mount, and I suppose you could call it the greatest sermon that Jesus ever preached.

[1:20] But as we have said before, the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount was to teach those who have entered into the kingdom of heaven. It was to teach them how to live as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Because in chapter 4, Jesus has already said that the way to enter into the kingdom of heaven is by repentance, where Jesus said in Matthew 4 at verse 17, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And so what the message of the kingdom of heaven is saying is that, and what Jesus is in this Sermon on the Mount is telling us, is that those who have repented, those who have a renewed heart and a renewed mind, the result of that renewal should cause us to have a renewed lifestyle. Because the subject of the Sermon on the Mount is that all those who are part of the kingdom of heaven, they need character. They need character. They need to live distinctly and think about how they live and how they conduct themselves as those who are under the authority of King Jesus, as those who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. And so the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to distinguish between those who are part of the kingdom of heaven and those who are not. It's to separate the true believer from the false believer. It's to present the characteristics of a Christian against the characteristics of a Pharisee. It's to draw a distinction between the world and the Christian.

[2:58] And as we've said before, if the Sermon on the Mount were to be given a theme, it would be the theme, Christ-centred living for Christ-centred lives. Christ-centred living for Christ-centred lives.

[3:13] And so when we began our study of this challenging sermon, we noted that Jesus opened his mouth with what we've often termed as the Beatitudes. And the Beatitudes are this list of blessings which are bestowed upon those who are part of the kingdom of heaven. They are blessings. And as we said before, the word blessed literally means to kneel in the sense of kneeling before a king in submission, in which you're showing reverence and paying homage to the king. Because the image which the word blessed, that's repeated again and again in these first few verses, it seems to portray the image of a king standing from his throne, standing before one of his servants, and his servant is kneeling before the king to receive something from the gracious hand of the king. And what the servant of the king receives from the hand of the king is something that they don't deserve. Nevertheless, the king is graciously giving it to them, giving to them what they don't deserve. And when we understand this word blessed in the context of the kingdom of heaven, it makes sense because as we enter the kingdom of heaven through repentance, we receive many blessings that we don't deserve. And we receive them from the king of the kingdom of heaven, who is Jesus Christ. And we don't deserve any blessings from the king, but he graciously gives them to us. And what Jesus wants us to understand is that these beatitudes, these blessings from the king, for those who are part of the kingdom of heaven, they're graciously given.

[5:02] But they're given on the condition of obedience to the king. Because when we look at the beatitudes, the promise of blessing is determined by the condition of obedience. The king promises to bless us for our character and conduct as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. And so at the very outset of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses these beatitudes to draw our attention to the marks of Christian character and conduct.

[5:38] And what we can see is that there are nine beatitudes, nine marks which are initially given regarding Christian character and conduct. And so the last time we met, we said that we would separate these nine marks into three groups of three. And the last time we looked at the first group of three beatitudes. And we said that the first mark of Christian character and conduct is modesty, because Jesus says, blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. And then we said that the second mark of Christian character and conduct is mourning is mourning. He says, blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.

[6:36] But it's not only mourning because of loss, but mourning over the state of our heart. The Sermon on the Mount is all about the heart and the need to have a renewed heart and a renewed mind, which will result in a renewed lifestyle.

[6:52] And Jesus urges us to mourn over our sin and the state of our heart. And then the third mark of Christian character and conduct, which we looked at was, was meekness, where Jesus says in verse five, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

[7:10] Now what we said is that meekness is not to be confused with weakness. Instead we're to see meekness as the need to be brought under control. Where we're to be submissive to the authority of our king.

[7:24] We're to be humble and teachable. We are to have a teachable spirit and be willing to be taught and shaped by what the word of God says. And so in the first group of three beatitudes, we have been challenged to possess modesty, mourning, and meekness.

[7:44] But in the second group of these three beatitudes, which we're looking at this evening, we're challenged to have a desire to have more, to have mercy, and to have morality.

[7:58] To have more, mercy, and morality. More, mercy, and morality. So we look firstly at the desire to have more.

[8:12] In verse six, Jesus says, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, or they shall be satisfied. And what we see with this beatitude is that the fourth mark of Christian character and conduct is the earnest desire for more.

[8:32] It's the desire to have more and more in order to be satisfied. And as you know, Jesus, he's making a direct contrast with the world and the worldly desire for personal, pursuing personal ends.

[8:49] Jesus is contrasting the desire for, to get gain and increase in the wealth of the world or status in society or pleasure in your life. And he's contrasting it with what alone belongs to God.

[9:05] The desire for more and more righteousness. And what we must see is that Jesus isn't talking about any physical desire but a spiritual desire to be more Christ-like, to be more Christ-centered, to be more Christ-focused as those who belong to the kingdom of heaven.

[9:26] For he says, those who belong to the kingdom of heaven are to hunger and thirst, not for the world to satisfy the flesh. No, no, no. He says, your desire for more and more should be a hunger and thirst after righteousness.

[9:43] And what is interesting is that Jesus uses the common metaphor of hungering and thirsting. because we all know what it is to feel hungry and we all know what it is to feel thirsty.

[9:55] And we also, we all know how to satisfy our hunger and our thirst. But when we hear this phrase, hunger and thirst, Jesus is presenting to us something that is important for our growth as a Christian and our spiritual survival.

[10:13] We're to hunger and thirst after righteousness. We're to have a desire for more and more righteousness. And Jesus is telling us plainly that the only way that we're ever going to grow as a member in the kingdom of heaven is to hunger and thirst after righteousness.

[10:31] The only way that we're ever going to survive as a Christian and not be sucked back into the world is to have a firm desire for more and more righteousness.

[10:43] But what is the righteousness that we are to be seeking? What is the righteousness that we are to have a hunger and a thirst for? It's not our own righteousness because Isaiah tells us that our righteousness while it is filthy rags.

[10:59] But the righteousness which we are to seek is the righteousness of God. We're to hunger and thirst and I believe we're to hunger and thirst after Jesus Christ the righteous.

[11:13] And what we're being told here is to is to fill ourselves more and more with Jesus. We're to fill ourselves with him and be more like him. And is that not what Jesus said throughout his whole ministry?

[11:28] Where you read in John's gospel he comes and he says whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him they'll never thirst.

[11:40] But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life. And again in John's gospel Jesus declared to all those who listened intently to his teaching Jesus said I am the bread of life.

[11:57] He that comes to me shall never hunger and he that believes in me shall never thirst. And then he says for if any man thirsts his Jesus let him come unto me and drink.

[12:12] And that's the call that is upon our lives which Jesus is putting to us. That that's who we are meant to be and that's what we are meant to be as those who are part of the kingdom of heaven.

[12:27] We are blessed and we are filled and satisfied not because we achieve a righteousness by our own merit but we are blessed and we are filled because we hunger and thirst after righteousness.

[12:41] For the mark of Christian character and conduct is the earnest desire for more and more of Jesus. It's the desire to see none other save Jesus only.

[12:56] It's the desire as those the Greeks said it's the desire to have that repeatedly saying sir we would see Jesus.

[13:07] for it's all about Jesus. It's all about hungering and thirsting after Jesus. It's all about wanting more and more and more. More of his love.

[13:18] More of his word. More of his compassion. More of his forgiveness. More of his peace. More of his comfort. More of his health. More of his assurance. More of his faithfulness.

[13:29] More of his grace. More of Calvary. What was it not the hymn writer who said to us more about Jesus would I know. More of his grace to others show.

[13:41] More of his saving fullness see. More of his love who died for me. More and more and more. Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness.

[13:58] For they shall be filled. for they shall be filled. And I remember being told a few years ago that there were three important things that we needed to survive.

[14:14] Three important things that we needed to survive. Three necessities that we needed in order to live. We need food. We need water. And we need oxygen.

[14:27] And without them we will not survive. We will die. And I say that the average person can survive three weeks without food. Three days without water.

[14:40] Three minutes without oxygen. Three weeks without food. Three days without water. Three minutes without oxygen. And you know I was thinking that that's exactly what Jesus is talking about.

[14:53] For our spiritual survival and our growth as a Christian is dependent upon what we fill ourselves with. And I was thinking that there are three areas in our life that we need in order to fill our lives more and more with Jesus.

[15:10] In order to survive and to grow as a Christian. And they would be very simply fellowship, reading the Bible and prayer. And without them we will not grow and we will not be satisfied.

[15:24] And in a sense just like food, water and oxygen we could probably survive three weeks without fellowship. Three days without Bible reading and only three minutes without prayer.

[15:39] For as a Christian we need fellowship. We need to be in the means of grace. We need to be in the prayer meeting. We need to make every endeavour to be in the house of God with the people of God.

[15:52] And my friend if you can be here, be here. Please don't stay away. Don't make poor excuses because gathering in the fellowship of God's people it's for our own good.

[16:07] It's for our own benefit. It's for our own growth. And by staying away you're the poorer of it. You are withholding food for your hunger and thirst for your soul and you're denying yourself of more and more of Jesus.

[16:26] And that's the same with reading the Bible. We can survive three days without water. But my friend can you go three days without reading your Bible? Can you go three days without reading the Bible?

[16:41] Without withering and drifting? Because we should view our Bible as Jesus says our daily bread. It's our meat and drink for the soul.

[16:52] We ought to attend to our soul on a daily basis. We need to feed the soul, not with the husks of this world, but more and more of Jesus. More of Jesus, more of his word, because it's there for us.

[17:08] It's in our own language and it's in every format that we can think of. It's on our computers, on our phones, on our iPads. We have access to more of the word of God than ever before, but still it's our responsibility to fill ourselves with it.

[17:29] That's what the apostle Peter said. Desire the sincere milk of the word. Why, Peter? Why? That you may grow thereby. That's what we're singing about in Psalm 42.

[17:42] Like as the heart, like the deer, for water brooks and thirst of pant and bray, so pants my longing soul, O God, that come to thee I may.

[17:55] The desire, the hunger and thirst was to know more and more about Jesus. And then there is prayer. We can survive three minutes without oxygen, but how long will we survive without prayer?

[18:13] How long can a Christian go on without communion with God? Because prayer is often described as the breath of the Christian.

[18:25] We're to pray continually, we're to bring everything to the Lord in prayer, we're told to go to the throne of grace, we're told to cast all our cares upon the Lord because he cares for us.

[18:39] And so the question we need to ask ourselves tonight in light of this beatitude is are we still hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Do we still desire to know more and more about Jesus?

[18:54] Or have we been sucked back into the world and the flesh? Because Jesus wants to know where are your desires? Where are our desires?

[19:07] sinners? And it was in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, the well known preacher, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, he claimed that this beatitude was the test of true Christianity.

[19:23] He said, I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or to herself in this whole matter of the Christian profession than a verse like this.

[19:36] And Lloyd-Jones went on to say, if this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements of the whole of scripture, you can be quite certain that you are a Christian.

[19:48] But he says, if it is not, then you had better examine the foundations again. And in other words, Lloyd-Jones was saying, if Jesus is not the most precious person in your life, then there is a reason why.

[20:10] And it needs to be addressed. It needs to be addressed. More. More. That's the first thing. The fourth mark of Christian character and conduct is the earnest desire for more and more of Jesus.

[20:27] But then we see that the fourth mark of Christian character and conduct is mercy. Mercy. He says in verse seven, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

[20:41] And in the Roman world, which was a world which was prevalent in the day in which Jesus lived and ministered, mercy was not an admired characteristic.

[20:54] For the Romans, they admired and appreciated justice and courage and strength and self-control and wisdom, but not mercy.

[21:06] Mercy was often viewed as a disease of the soul. And it was something to be ashamed of and embarrassed about if you had ever shown someone mercy or someone had shown you mercy.

[21:19] And that's why slaves were often ill-treated and life was viewed as cheap and an enemy always would be an enemy. And the best kind of enemy was a dead enemy.

[21:34] But when Jesus began to preach, he taught what it was to be merciful. And he practiced mercy and he commanded all his followers to show mercy.

[21:48] And instead of mercy being a disease for the soul, mercy was to become the very health of Christian character and conduct. But what we need to understand is that the word mercy, it's very very closely related to the word grace.

[22:06] And both mercy and grace are an outworking of love. Mercy and grace are a consequence of love. Because, well we know that God's mercy and God's grace, they grow out of God's love.

[22:24] Sinners are saved simply because God loves them. Sinners, we are saved because God has shown mercy and he has acted graciously towards us.

[22:36] It is love in action. And there's a distinction between grace, grace and mercy. And the easy way to remember the difference between grace and mercy is that God in his grace gives me what I do not deserve.

[22:54] and God in his mercy does not give me what I do deserve. I'll say that again. God in his grace gives me what I do not deserve.

[23:08] And God in his mercy does not give me what I do deserve. God in his grace gives me what I do not deserve. For grace it's an unmerited gift.

[23:21] And God in his mercy does not give me what I do deserve. As Jeremiah tells us it's because of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.

[23:34] And so both mercy and grace they are an outworking of love. They are an expression of love. It's love in action. And it was the Apostle Paul he tied all three of these words together in the work of salvation when he spoke about the wonder of it.

[23:54] Because he said in that well known passage in Ephesians 2 But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sins he quickened us together with Christ by grace are you saved.

[24:16] And what Paul was saying was that our salvation is all because of God's love. But it was expressed to us by showing mercy and receiving the freeness of his grace.

[24:28] It's love in action. And we all know that Calvary was the greatest expression of God's love in action. But it's interesting that Paul went on when you read through Ephesians.

[24:41] Paul went on into chapter 5 at the very beginning in verses 1 and 2. After considering the marvel of our salvation and all that God had done in and through Jesus Christ, Paul went on to say, therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

[25:09] And that, I believe, is what Jesus is highlighting to us here in this beatitude. that those in the kingdom of heaven are blessed because they are imitators of God.

[25:21] Because mercy is an attribute of God. It's a characteristic of God, a characteristic of Christ, and that it's a characteristic that we are to possess.

[25:34] The characteristic of love in action. And that's what Jesus is saying to us, that our character and conduct is to be that of an imitation of God.

[25:46] For we're to look at what God has done in Jesus Christ. We're to look at the cross. We're to consider the love of God shown towards sinners in the death of Jesus Christ.

[25:59] We're to stand in a sense with Isaac Watts and survey the wondrous cross upon which the Prince of Glory damned. And see that this wondrous cross which displayed love so amazing, love so divine, love.

[26:14] But it's now a love which demands my soul, my life, my all. And that's what Jesus is saying to us. That because we have been shown mercy, we ought to do the same and show mercy to others.

[26:32] Love has been displayed to us, therefore we ought to love one another. Is that not what Jesus said? By this all people will know that you are my disciples.

[26:44] Why? Because you have love one to another. And what Jesus is telling us is that in order to be blessed, we must first show mercy to others.

[26:56] And when Jesus said this, he was not only confronting an attitude which was prevalent in the Roman world, but he's also addressing an attitude which is prevalent in our society today.

[27:07] Jesus is addressing the attitude of wanting to get one over on someone else in the workplace. Or the desire to climb the employment ladder higher and higher at the expense of everyone else.

[27:22] He's addressing the backbiting and the gossip and the hatred and the squabbling and the badmouthing and the backstabbing that often goes on. And Jesus is addressing us all and he's asking, how is the mercy which you have received from God, how has it been worked out in your life?

[27:43] And it's a probing question. How is the mercy which you have received from God, how has it been worked out in your life? For as we said, in the Roman world, mercy was often viewed as a disease of the soul.

[28:02] But in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus says that the absence of mercy is a disease of the soul. Because mercy is love reaching out to help those who are helpless.

[28:15] And showing mercy is pointing those in the right direction in terms of their salvation. And Jesus is asking, where is our love in action? And who are we imitating?

[28:30] Are we acting more like the world? What are we acting like? Christ? Who are we imitating in our character and conduct? Who are we imitating?

[28:42] And I'm sure that we're all familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10. But the parable of the Good Samaritan arose out of a question which Jesus was asked.

[28:55] Because you remember that Jesus was asked by a witch man, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And the conclusion of the matter was what the law said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, and your neighbour as yourself.

[29:13] And the follow-up question from the witch man was, well, who's my neighbour? And Jesus then told the parable saying that there was this man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell upon robbers and they stripped him and beat him and left him half dead.

[29:28] And then Jesus said that there was a priest and a Levite who passed by this man on the other side of the road. But when the Samaritan came, Jesus tells us that the Samaritan had compassion on him, he had mercy on him, on this injured man.

[29:47] And then having told this parable, Jesus turned to the rich man and he said to him, well, which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among robbers? And the rich man said, the one who showed him mercy.

[30:02] The one who showed him mercy. The parable of the good Samaritan was love in action. And that's what Jesus is presenting to us.

[30:15] We need to present love in action. And when we consider it, the teaching of this beatitude is pretty straightforward.

[30:25] God. He says, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. But it's much harder to look at. Jesus is telling us that we are to show mercy because we've received mercy.

[30:40] But if we do not show mercy towards others, Jesus is saying that we are in fact revealing that we don't fully understand the mercy that God has shown towards us.

[30:55] we are revealing that we don't fully understand what God has done in Jesus Christ. So we're to be imitators of God. The fifth mark of Christian character and conduct is mercy.

[31:11] We've seen more mercy and lastly we see morality. Morality. The sixth mark of Christian character and conduct is morality.

[31:23] He says, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. And in this beatitude Jesus cuts to the heart of our problem. The age old problem of the heart.

[31:38] Because our heart is impure, it's immoral, we act in a lawless manner, we are conceived as David says in guiltiness and sin.

[31:49] The biblical diagnosis of the human heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. And the heart of the problem has always been and always will be the problem of the heart.

[32:03] But in the ancient world, the heart was more than just an organ. Because the heart affected and it expressed every fibre of our being.

[32:15] In the ancient world, the heart involved the mind, the will, the soul, the emotions and the conscience. It involved the entire person.

[32:26] The heart was in a sense the epicentre of the person. And if there is a problem or an impurity or an immorality with the heart, it would affect the mind, the will, the soul, the emotions and the conscience.

[32:40] It would affect the entire person. That's why the greatest commandment in Deuteronomy 6 stated that we are to love the Lord with all our heart, our mind, our soul, our strength.

[32:54] Covered every base in order that we know what we're meant to do. Because the commandment, it's covering every area and every expression of the heart.

[33:05] It's covering the mind, the will, the soul, the emotions and the conscience. And here Jesus is saying to us, we are blessed when we possess a pure heart.

[33:17] but we know that our heart is by default a crooked and a perverse heart. And our heart is anything but pure, it's anything but clean, it's filthy and it's defiled by our sin.

[33:32] But the blessing of being part of the kingdom of heaven is that those who have repented, they possess a renewed heart and a renewed mind. And the result of that renewal is a renewed lifestyle.

[33:45] And what Jesus is challenging us with in this statement is watch your heart. Watch your heart. Because your heart can twist and bend and distort the truth.

[34:02] And again Jesus is speaking in the contrast to the world. Because the world, it lives in an immoral manner. They live without a care towards the law of God.

[34:14] And they suppress the truth. They twist the truth to suit their own ends. They bend the truth. And this immorality, it arises from turning their eyes away from God and his word.

[34:28] And the result is not only the suppression of the truth, but the mind, the will, the soul, the emotions, and the conscience. They're all suppressed by turning away from God and his word.

[34:45] That's why there's so much deceit and lies and falseness in our society. And in our generation, there's no absolute truth. Everything is relative.

[34:57] Where your truth is your truth, my truth, well, it's my truth. And everyone is allowed their own opinion and no one is wrong, everyone is right. No one is allowed to speak against someone else if that's what they believe.

[35:12] But the problem is that there is no absolute truth. There's no standard of purity by which we can gauge ourselves as to where we are. Purity is whatever you want to make it.

[35:26] And that's what happens to a heart that's turned away from God and his word. And you know, that's what Jesus warned us about. He said, out of the heart, out of the mind, the will, the soul, the emotions and the conscience come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

[35:53] These, says Jesus, these are what defile a person. That's what makes the heart impure and immoral. But you remember in Psalm 51 that in his impurity and in his actions of immorality, of murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft and false witness, you remember in Psalm 51 that David repented and pleaded with the Lord to purify his impure and immoral heart.

[36:26] Where he said, create a pure heart in me, O God. And David pleaded with the Lord for cleansing because he knew that the blessing of God belonged to those who have their sins pardoned and their hearts cleansed.

[36:42] That's what David said in Psalm 32, which is intricately related to Psalm 51. In Psalm 32 David said, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered.

[36:58] And so, my friend, how can we possess a pure heart? How can God create within us a clean heart? Well, the same way he did in David's heart.

[37:12] We must confess our sin. The way to a pure heart is by confessing our sin. Because when we come to the first letter in John's gospel, I'm pulling you all over the Bible here, but when we come to John's letter, we're given one of the greatest promises when we confess our sin.

[37:32] But before John explains the promise, you can read it when you go home, John states, he says, if we say that we have no sin, if we say we are not immoral, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

[37:48] If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar and his wrath is not in us. But John gives us the promise that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us, to continue to cleanse us, continually cleanse us, that's what the word means, from all unrighteousness.

[38:13] The condition is that we confess our sin and the consequence is that Jesus will make our heart pure and he will continually cleanse us from all sin.

[38:23] but what we must see in this beatitude where he says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. What we must see is that this promise of blessing and the promise of seeing God it's a future promise.

[38:39] It's not a promise for the present but a promise for the future. That the pure in heart will one day see God in the person of Jesus Christ.

[38:49] They will see the king in his kingdom. He says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall, they will see God. And this is interesting because John in his letter, he also goes on to say in chapter 3 that because we have our sins cleansed and our hearts purified and we have become the children of God.

[39:16] John says that when he shall appear, when the king shall appear in his glory, he says we shall be likely, for we shall see him even as he is.

[39:30] And it's a wonderful thought. And we often finish our statement there. But it's then that John goes on to say in verse 3, everyone that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure.

[39:49] It's a challenge. The Sermon on the Mount is a challenge. But we ought to count it a privilege to be part of the kingdom of heaven at all.

[40:04] And in these Beatitudes, these promises were confronted with the marks of Christian character and conduct. We've considered the first six of them. Modesty, mourning, meekness, moab, mercy, and morality.

[40:19] And like I said before, these are not easy characteristics to adopt. It doesn't happen overnight. But in the sermon, Jesus wants us to grasp these things in order that we will see the importance of his teaching and the need for Christ-centered living, for Christ-centered lives.

[40:40] And so God willing, we'll continue to look at this next week. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. O Lord, gracious God, we give thanks to thee.

[40:52] We thank and praise thee that thou art the God who fills us, who fills the hungry soul. And help us, Lord, be quiet to be like the psalmist who said that we surely shall be satisfied by thine abundant grace and with the fatness of thy house in of thy holy place.

[41:10] O Lord, that thou wouldest be pleased to bless us. Give to us a hunger and thirst of the righteousness. Help us, Lord, to be merciful, to be more Christ-like in our walk with thee.

[41:22] And help us, O Lord, to be pure in heart, to confess our sin, knowing that thou art faithful and just, to forgive us our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[41:34] Bless us then, we pray. Take us to our homes in safety, and help us to apply everything we hear. for thine own glory and for the furtherance of thy kingdom. We ask it in Jesus' name, and for his sake.

[41:46] Amen. I shall conclude by singing Psalm 119. Psalm 119, it's in the Sin Psalms version on page 157.

[42:02] I think these words sum up the Sermon on the Mount.

[42:17] Psalm 119, from verse 9 down to the verse Mark 16. How can the young keep their life pure by doing what your word demands? I seek you with my heart and soul.

[42:29] Let me not stray from your commands. Your word I've hidden in my heart to keep me from offending you. Praise be to you, O Lord my God. Teach me your statutes from and through.

[42:41] Down to the verse Mark 16 of Psalm 119. How can the young keep their life pure by doing what your word demands? To God's praise. Amen.

[42:52] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[43:03] Amen. Amen.

[43:32] Amen. And true.

[44:05] It's a proceeding from your mouth. I gladly with my lips have told.

[44:22] I love to follow your commands. Thus others love to count their goals.

[44:40] I meditate upon your ways. Adore you, three steps I repent.

[44:58] I take delight in your decrees. Your word I never will need.

[45:14] Amen. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore.

[45:24]  Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.