The Way To Growth In Christlikeness - Part 4

Our subject from the beginning of this study is growth in Christlikeness. If you want to know what Christlikeness is, or at least a part of what Christlikeness is, you just have to read Matthew 5, 6, and 7 carefully and ask God to show you the nature of Jesus there. And if you want to know how much you have grown in Christlikeness, measure yourself by what you see here. Now, I said that there were nine right attitudes, which are called the attitudes by some in Matthew 5, 3 to 12. And then in the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, nine wrong attitudes. So we got to make sure that we have the right attitudes, and we are completely free from the wrong attitudes. And we looked at a number of these right attitudes, being poor in spirit, verse 3, Matthew 5, verse 3, mourning for our sins. And as you graduate from there, mourning for the sins of others. And then being meek or gentle in verse 5, and hungering and thirsting for righteousness, which we saw was being perfected in love. And being merciful to all because we have received so much mercy ourselves. Those who are not merciful to others or unforgiving, act as if God has forgiven them nothing. And the pure in heart who see God. In other words, their heart is so full of only God. There's no place there for money or love for anything outside of God. Even their wives and family members, they love through Christ, not outside of Christ. A person who puts his wife above Christ is never going to love his wife the way he should. But pure in heart means there's no place in my heart for anyone other than God. And to love God with all your heart is the commandment. And if you love God with all your heart, then where's their place for other loves? Zero. And then all other loves come through our love for God. And then you'll be able to love people even if they are evil to you. Even if your wife is like a witch, you'll still love her till the end if you love God with all your heart. The problem is not with others. It's because we don't love God with all our heart that we find it so difficult to love some people. Look at the number of stories there are even among Christians of people who cannot love their mother-in-law. The reason they do not love God with all their heart. If you remember that, because if you love God with all your heart, you will see God everywhere in every circumstance. In that trial which you're facing or that bad way somebody treats you, you see God there. It says, blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. And if you see someone other than the God, if you see the devil there, there are even people who say, oh, so-and-so behaves like the devil towards me. Well, you're not pure in heart. If you are pure in heart, you'll see God even in that evil circumstance that someone is putting you in or the way somebody is treating you. Jesus could see the father's hand when Judas came to kiss him. And where Peter saw a traitor, Jesus saw the father's cup coming through a traitor, but it was the father who gave him that cup. It's because he loved God. It's a wonderful way to live on the earth. Right attitude to be pure in heart. And now we go on to number seven. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Now, there's a difference between being a child of God and a son of God. It's like a baby and a grown-up adult. John 1:12 says, as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God. So you only got to receive Christ with openness and repentance and faith, and you become a child of God. But many who are children of God never move further from there to become sons of God. And in that connection, I want to show you something here in Galatians 4, which says, verse one, Galatians 4:1, as long as the heir to a kingdom, and that's what we are, is only a child, he's no different from a slave. You know, in the old covenant, they could not call God father. They were slaves, servants of God. Even the greatest, John the Baptist, was a servant of God. He was not a child of God. But it says here, if you are still a child, you're no better than a slave. But God's will is that we might become sons. It says here that in verse five of Galatians 4, that we might become sons. So God's, in the new covenant, were to be sons. The old covenant, they were slaves. But if you remain a child, it says here in Galatians 4:1, you're no better than a slave. And that means if you remain as a child spiritually, you're really living under the old covenant. It's the son, it's the one who comes into the new covenant, who has become a son. And here's one of the characteristics of sons, the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are out to make peace with a strife and quarreling. They shall be called the sons of God. See, it is God's will that we must have peace in our heart, peace with God, and peace with other people. So first of all, we come to peace with God because of the guilt of our sin, Romans 5. You cannot be a peacemaker until you first come to peace with God in your heart. Any type of peace you have with others, in the world also people say we are good friends with somebody, and I'm at peace with him. But it's superficial. Something that happens and the greatest of friends can ultimately become enemies. But that's why we got to begin, not by making friends with people, but by being at peace with God. The vertical must always come first. And it says in Romans 5, one that being justified by faith, we have peace with God. This is the foundation for being a peacemaker. If you're not absolutely sure that you have been declared righteous, justified means the word just is righteous. And so justified is as if I've been righteous all my life from day one. From the time I've been, I was born till today, I have been a righteous man. That's what it means to be justified. I've not actually been righteous. I've been unrighteous in numerous ways, but the blood of Christ has so cleansed me that it says in Romans 5, and verse one, we are justified by faith. And verse nine, justified by his blood. The blood of Christ is not only blotted out my past sin, which itself is a wonderful thing, remove the record of it, but also made me as it were righteous from the beginning. It's not that Christ has put his righteousness over me. That's what I used to think for many years. I'm now clothed with the righteousness of Christ. I come before God, not with my unrighteousness, but clothed with the righteousness of Christ. No, it's more than that. It says in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30, that Christ himself is my righteousness. It is not the righteousness of Christ that Christ is out there and righteous. He's given me his righteousness. No, that itself would have been a great thing, but it says in 1 Corinthians 1, 30, Christ has become righteousness for me. And I ask God to help you to understand that, that there is, I'm so connected to Christ. It's almost unbelievable that when I stand before God, if you have a good conscience, there's no difference between Christ and me standing before God. Now that sounds blasphemous, but I believe it's true because the Bible says he is my head. Can a head go and stand somewhere with the body somewhere else? No. But if you're not living in submission to the head, then of course you're out there. You're not really acting as part of the body. But if I submit to the best of my knowledge to Christ as my head, he is my righteousness. He himself. And I have peace with God. That's the first step. And then from there, secondly, I have peace in my heart. And that is to always live with a good conscience. Whenever I plan to do something, peace in my heart is the guideline by which I know whether it's right or not. Romans eight, verse six, the mind set on the Holy Spirit is life and peace. We have to make so many decisions in our life and we don't hear voices from heaven saying, go here or go there. But peace in our heart is a voice that speaks to us. We've often looked at Isaiah chapter 30, where we read that wonderful promise. Isaiah chapter 30, it says here, please turn with me to Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 20. In the middle of verse 20, it says, your eyes will see your teacher. It's an Old Testament prophecy saying that I will be able to see Jesus in my heart. Yeah, you will see Christ in your heart. Isaiah 30, 20. And here's that's referring to Jesus. And then verse 21 is referring to the Holy Spirit. The use of your heart, we hear a word saying, this is the way, walk in it. When you miss the turning to the left or the right, you know, you're walking along a certain way and you take a wrong turning at a fork in the road. You should have taken the right turn, right fork. You took the left one, a voice will say, no, no, no, not that way. Come back, go this way. Or if you take the wrong turning at another point, no, come back, go this way. That is the voice of the Holy Spirit in our conscience saying, don't do that, go this way. You know, it's an amazing thing to experience this. Think of the different areas where we had to find God's will. Whom should I marry? What job should I take? Should I move here or there? Little things like, should I buy this house or not? So many decisions in life. Shall I go on a vacation? If you're really walking with God, you'll see his will in the smallest little things. And the way you know God's will is peace in your heart. Romans 8, 6, the mind set on the Holy Spirit is life and peace. So first peace with God, because I've been declared righteous. All my past sins are blotted out and then peace in my heart, a clear conscience that enables me to know in every step, which is the right decision to take. Very, very important. If I don't keep a good conscience, I will not hear that voice. That's how people become deaf. And then we go on to living at peace with others. So we can't go into that peace if we don't have these two aspects of peace. And then we come to Colossians and chapter 3, Colossians 3, where we read like this, Colossians 3, we are to be at peace with one another at all times, bearing with one another. And it speaks here in verse 15, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. It's a reference again to Romans 8, 6. The peace in my heart is a referee that blows the whistle when I'm wrong, but here it's related to being in one body. In other words, in my relationship with my fellow believers, I must always be at peace. If something disturbs me, if something's not right with you and that brother, you've got something against him or there's something unsettled and you can say, well, let him first come to me. That's not the spirit of Christ. Spirit of Christ is, if you've got, your brother's got something against you, go and settle it with him, settle it with him. That is seeking the way of peace. Beyond that, to be at peace with all men, that is God's will. In Hebrews and chapter 12, we read these words, pursue holiness that everybody understands. Hebrews 12 and verse 14, pursue peace with all men and holiness or sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. Now that's quite a strong word, peacemakers. If I don't seek to be at peace with all human beings that I know from my side, according to that verse, I'm not going to see the Lord. It's not just holiness I've got to pursue. Romans 12, 14, I've got to pursue holiness that everybody understands. But it also says pursue peace, not just with believers. We saw that in Colossians already, you know, let peace be the referee to which you're called in one body. That's referring to the believers. But Hebrews 12, 14 is referring to all men. Blessed are the peacemakers, those who are determined in their life, never to have a strife with anybody in the whole wide world, never to have a grudge against anyone in the whole wide world. I want to ask you, dear brothers and sisters, think for a moment. Do you have a grudge in your heart at this time against anyone in the whole wide world? Somebody who's harmed you, you feel something ages ago, somebody who was unrighteous to you, or someone who hurt your children in some way, or some boss in some office, or some teacher in your school who was not good to your children, and you've got something in your heart. That can break your fellowship with God. That can make you a child instead of being a son. Blessed are the peacemakers. But then the comes to us, well, I want to be at peace, but what do I do if the other person wants to quarrel with me? Ah, there's a word of liberation for us here, a liberating word. In Romans 12, it says in verse 18, blessed are the peacemakers, Romans 12, 18, if possible. Do you know that this is the only command in the whole Bible which begins with if possible? You never find a command which says, if possible, don't get angry. If possible, don't lust after women. If possible, don't seek the honor of men. If possible, be righteous with money. You take any commandment. It is never prefaced by the words if possible, because all those other commandments depend entirely on you. If possible, love everybody. No. No if possible, just love everyone. But when it comes to living at peace, be at peace with all men, the Holy Spirit is realistic. He knows that you cannot be at peace with many people in the world because they don't want to be at peace with you. It's not your fault. Therefore, it is prefaced by if possible, so far as it depends on you. That's a liberating word. So a lot of people don't want to be at peace with me, especially if you're a radical preacher of God's word, a servant of God who's going to stand up for the truth of God's word. A lot of Christians will be against you. A lot of people were not at peace with Jesus Christ. They were so mad with him, they wanted to kill him. They did kill him. We follow in his footsteps. If possible, be at peace with all men. And so how shall I fulfill these two commandments? Pursue peace with all men. If somebody has got a quarrel with me, you know how I pursue peace with him? By not visiting him. If I visit his house, there'll be another quarrel. I want to pursue peace so I avoid meeting him. I avoid seeing him because he's a quarrelsome type of person. If he's a member of my local church, then of course, I will try my best to sort it out with him. But if he's still not interested, I'll go to the elders, like it says in Matthew 18, go to the elders and tell them and see if they can sort it out. That's all. Your responsibility is over. And if he still doesn't want to set it right, the Lord says he'll treat him like a heathen because you're interested in peace, but he's not. So your responsibility is over. So if possible, as much as it lies in you, be at peace with all men. Now, is it something we have to wait to do? No, we must do it all the time, immediately. And who is your nearest neighbor? It's not the brother or sister in your church. No, that's a little distant neighbor. It's a second circle. Your nearest neighbor, if you're married, is your husband or your wife. And you must be at peace with your husband or wife all the time. It says in Ephesians chapter four, it's a wonderful word. I believe it's a very helpful word for married couples. Ephesians four, it says here in verse 26, don't let the sun go down on your anger. Ephesians 4, 26. Newly married couples can have strain and problem in their relationships in the early days. And even people are married for many years. But when the sun goes down in the olden days, when the sun went down, that's when they went to sleep. So I paraphrase that is never go to bed angry. Never be at peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. Now the question comes, if there's a strain between a husband and a wife, who should take the first step? And I've often spoken about this. The answer is very simple. Should the husband take the first step or the wife take the first step? In heathen cultures, in non-Christian cultures, the answer I know from India, non-Christians, the answer is always the wife must humble herself because the man is the king of the house. He never makes a mistake. It's always the wife. So she has to humble herself and restore the relationship. She's the one who must ask forgiveness. But what about as a Christian, who has to take the first step in restoration of a relationship between husband and wife so they can go to bed without any anger and perfectly good relationship with each other? Well, the answer is in the strain that came in the relationship between God and man, who took the first step? Not man. God took the first step in sending Christ to restore that relationship. Why did he do that? Because he was more spiritual. That's a simple answer. So in a husband and wife relationship, there is a strain. Who should take the first step? The one who is more spiritual. And usually, among believer husband and wife, both of them think they are more spiritual than the other one. Each one thinks I'm more spiritual. Oh, then you should be running into each other's arms. Problem solved. Never go to bed angry. Never go to bed with a problem unresolved. If the solution has not yet come, OK, keep it on the shelf. But go to bed with peace. You don't have to resolve every problem in the world in a single day, but you can go to bed at peace. We must pursue peace. I believe many people have not progressed spiritually because they don't take this seriously. What does it mean, for example, when it says, seek first the kingdom of God? For years and years, I used to think that meant going out and being a missionary, or going out and doing evangelism, or going out and doing some work. No. The kingdom of God, we are told in Romans 14 and 17, Romans 14 and verse 17, the kingdom of God, which I am to seek first, is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. There's a definition of the kingdom of God there, and you can't beat it. It's not missionary work. It's not going out and doing evangelism. It is seeking. Seeking the kingdom of God first means I seek for the righteousness of God, the peace of God, and the joy of the Lord first, and peace is an important part of that. Now, they could not do this in the Old Testament. They could not seek for that inner righteousness in the Old Testament. Peace was not possible, and joy was not possible. But now, we are to seek the kingdom of God first, peace in the Holy Spirit. So, if you're a spiritual person, you will seek for peace in every situation, then you are blessed, and you'll be called a son of God, not just a child of God. So, I pray that all of us who are still children, how do you know you're still a child? You're not at peace with somebody. You're in constant strife with your spouse, with your husband or wife. You go to bed many times with unresolved conflict with your husband or wife. You're a child. I'm not saying you're not born again. I'm saying even after so many years, you're not matured. You're a child. You're a baby. You're one year old spiritually, and God wants you to be a 30-year-old spiritually. But you can rectify that. Seek the kingdom of God. Pursue peace. And say, Lord, you know what it costs to pursue peace? You've got to just die to yourself. That's right. So, let's pursue that, and we shall graduate from being children of God to sons of God, because when you're a son of God, you've got authority. And I'll tell you something. There are two verses I want to show you. In 1 Thessalonians 5, in verse 23, it says, May the God of peace sanctify your entire being, make you holy in your spirit, soul, and body. Now, it could have said there in 1 Thessalonians 5, make God do that. Why does it say they let the God of peace do that? Because the God of peace is the one who rules in your heart in peace. And if you allow peace to reign in your heart, the God of peace rules there. He will make you completely holy. You can't do it yourself. It says, May God sanctify you entirely. There's no such thing as entire sanctification, which we doing something ourselves. You cannot sanctify yourself, but God can sanctify you entirely. And peace is an important factor in that. I've got to keep peace in my heart towards God and towards all men. God will do his part of sanctifying me. I really tell you from my experience, that's true. Many people do not become holier year after year. So many people are still defeated by the same old sins. They gossip, they backbite, they get angry, and they're trying to be holy. You can never be holy. Ask God to sanctify you, but you pursue peace. And the other verse I want to show you, what the God of peace does, two verses, Romans 16 and verse 20. The God of peace, again, will crush Satan under your feet. Why is Satan not crushed under the feet of many believers? Well, they don't have peace in their heart. The God of peace does not rule in their heart. Again, you find that expression. Not God will crush Satan under your feet, but the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. I want to be sanctified holy. It's only the God of peace who can do it. I want to crush Satan under my feet all the time. I want to keep him under my feet all the time. The God of peace will do it. That's why I want to pursue peace with all men. Blessed are the peacemakers. They will move up from being children of God to sons of God. That's right attitude number seven. Then we go on in Matthew chapter five to the eighth right attitude, which is verse 10. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is not being persecuted because you're a Christian. That comes in the next right attitude in verse 11. This is being persecuted because you want to be righteous. And we are told in second Timothy and chapter three, that second Timothy and chapter three and verse 12, all, A-L-L, every single person who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It's a law. It's like the law of gravity. You drop something, it will fall to the ground. It's a law. If you go anywhere in the world, you drop something, gravity pulls it down. It will fall to the ground. Here's another law. You want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, you will be persecuted. It's a law. And if you have never faced persecution for righteousness sake in your life or your work, ah, you need to probably ask yourself whether you're compromising in certain areas. It's almost impossible to be absolutely righteous without suffering in some way in one's workplace. Maybe you lose a promotion. Maybe they won't give you an increment. They give you a bad report and you don't get the position you want to do, want to get. You don't get admission to a college because you're righteous. You speak the truth. You don't get a visa because you don't tell a lie to get the visa. You miss out on a very important thing you want to get because you're righteous. It's a form. You lose something which you wanted badly. And the other fellow who has no conscience, who also claims to be a believer, he just writes and signs something wrong and gets in. Are you jealous of him? Don't be. When you see what's going to happen to him in the long run, finally in eternity, he may be lost eternally, but even on earth, he's going to be a loser. Jesus said, blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. You may lose the kingdom of earth, but the kingdom of heaven belongs to you. If you stand up for what is right, forget about Christ now, you're standing up for what is right. In your place of work, when you're asked to sign a false statement, you say, I'm sorry, sir, I'm a Christian. I cannot do that. I remember in the years when I was in the Navy, I had to do that a number of times. I had certain responsibilities and people who were much more senior than me, I had only two stripes on my shoulder. And the person who had four stripes on his shoulder would do something unrighteous. A lot of in the military, there's a lot of opportunity to use government equipment and material for oneself without paying for it. And sometimes a junior officer who has to sign off that. And when I came to that position, I would not sign off on that. I say, sir, here's the bill, you've got to pay for this. And I get hauled up before the commanding officer. Didn't the previous officer tell you what to do? Yes, sir, but I'm a Christian. I can't do it. That actually happened to me once, and I got transferred within half an hour, because they wanted somebody there who would sign the false statement. I praise the Lord. That's just one example. There were other instances where I got pulled up and taken. I was taken before the commanding officer a number of times, because I would not do what's wrong. When somebody was cheating, I would, I had to mark as a duty officer that's wrong. So dear brothers, do I regret that today? Not at all. So what I decided when I joined the Navy, I was not born again. My ambition was to go to the top. But once I was filled with the Holy Spirit, and I wanted to live for the Lord, I discovered I will never go to the top. Because it's impossible in an unrighteous situation. It's impossible in almost any place, if you're going to be totally righteous. So I mean, by the grace of God, in some places, you don't have to be, but in many places, unrighteousness is required. And I only want to say this, my dear brothers and sisters, you will never lose anything by being righteous. Blessed are those who are righteous. And if you are persecuted for it, praise the Lord. Well, if you're not persecuted in some situation where the boss is also righteous, praise the Lord. That's a good thing. I've come across a few cases like that, where, when a believer working in an office said to his boss, Sir, I'm a Christian, and I can't do that. The boss was so happy with him. Because he knew that this man will never turn against me, like some of the others in the office. So sometimes it works for good. But we stand for righteousness. And we never, never compromise. It's very, very important. It says here, all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, some form or the other. You may even face it from your own family members, because you stand for what is right. You stand for the truth. We know of numerous people who have stood for the truth and been persecuted for that. And the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. It's almost comparing the kingdom of heaven with the kingdom of earth. And when you stand for righteousness, you're losing something of earth, maybe a promotion, maybe some money that you can make unrighteously. And you stand for the truth when everybody else is making that money. And God says, don't worry, you lose something of the earth, I'll give you the kingdom of heaven. Then we move on to the ninth one, which is also about persecution. But this time, it is not persecution for righteousness. It's persecution because you stand up for Jesus Christ. Because you say, I'm a Christian. Matthew chapter 9, right attitude, Matthew 9, Matthew 5, sorry, verse 11. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Not because you're righteous now, that's verse 10, but because of me, you're blessed. And when we think of the early Christians, they all expected persecution. It was the religious Jews who had the Bible. The Bible in those days was the Old Testament. So much so that when Paul wrote to the Christians, or spoke to the Christians, you read this verse in Acts 14. He says, verse 22, it's an amazing word. Acts 14, 22. He went to different churches where he had planted churches and he told those believers, he strengthened them and encouraged them. Now, how do you strengthen and encourage believers? Today, we think we strengthen and encourage believers saying, oh, God accepted you. You're a child of God and God will do so many things for you. But see how he strengthened and encouraged the disciples in Acts 14, 22. He strengthened the disciples and encouraged them saying, to enter the kingdom of God, you have to go through many tribulations. That doesn't sound like encouragement. That's how the apostles encouraged believers in those days. Today, people try to encourage saying you'll be prosperous. You'll get money from God and all these foolish, the lies that people preach today. They're not following in the footsteps of the apostles. Through much persecution and tribulation, you enter the kingdom of God because they are clearly what Jesus taught. And we know that the early Christians suffered persecution like anything. And that's why I believe it's good for us to encourage our children to read about the martyrs and christen them. We don't know much. We don't meet many martyrs nowadays. People who have suffered in prison for years or there are still some in China and some countries where people are persecuted for righteousness sake. But in the early days of Christendom in the first two, 300 years, almost every Christian was like that. They had to run for their lives. They had to hide in caves because they never knew who would persecute them. And very often, like in the case of Jesus, the persecution comes from family members and from others who call themselves Christians. In those days, those who called themselves Jews. Turn to Matthew chapter 10. You read here in Matthew chapter 10. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 10. It says here that a disciple is not above his master. It says in verse 24. And verse 34, don't think I came to bring peace on the earth. I came to bring a sword. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace, but it says here he came to bring a sword. And the sword is, I came to set a man, verse 35, Matthew 10, 35, against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be those of his own household. So Jesus said, it's going to be like that in Matthew 5, when people say all types of evil against you, Matthew 5, 11. One part of persecution is not physical persecution, but people tell false stories about you. Have you experienced that? Now, I'm not talking about for righteousness sake, that'd be finished in verse 10. This is because you stand up for Jesus Christ. You stand up for Christ in your office and, or in the midst of your unconverted relatives, and they will spread false stories about you. They'll take you to court perhaps like they took me, but we remain in peace and we remain in love. What is, what should we do? It says in verse 12, rejoice and be glad because your reward in heaven is great because that is how they persecuted the prophets in the old Testament. Every true prophet from the beginning till the end was persecuted in some way or the other. They made so many allegations against Moses, his own relatives, all the way down to John the Baptist who lost his head. Those who stood for the Lord were persecuted and it will be like that till the end of time. And the persecution will come from religious people. It's not from non-religious people. It's not the Greeks and the Romans who wanted to kill Jesus Christ. It was the Jews who knew the Bible, the people who knew the Bible the most, the other people who persecuted Jesus Christ. And if you look through the history of Christendom, you'll find the really godly people throughout the ages, in 2000 years, from the persecution from the world stopped, generally speaking, after 300 AD. And after that, you read persecution for Christians came from Christians of other groups. There were people persecuted for taking water baptism. There were people persecuted for preaching that salvation is by faith and not by submission to the church or the Pope or any such thing. They were persecuted. So that's how it was with the prophets. Who persecuted the prophets? Not the Ammonites and the Moabites. They're fellow Jews. You read in the Old Testament, who was the one who dumped Jeremiah into a pit? It was his fellow Jews, not some heathen nation. So when you face something like that from fellow Christians, from your own family members, it says here, rejoice. And the way it's expressed in Luke chapter six is even more exciting the way it's, Jesus said it. Luke six is the other place of this sermon on the Mount is mentioned. It says in Luke six, 22, blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you, means they put you away and insult you and scorn your name as evil. They treat you like a criminal and they call you a criminal. Your reward is for the sake of the man. Because you say, I stand up for Christ. Maybe there's something you see in the gospel. You stand up for that. You stand up against this prosperity gospel, which is completely false. Well, you're going to be persecuted. And in that day, it says, verse 23, jump for joy. This is the one place in scripture where we are told to jump up in delight for joy, because your reward is great because that's how they treated the false prophets. Rejoice. Rejoice means be full of joy in your heart. See, one of the wonderful things in the Christian life is that we can rejoice in all circumstances, whatever may happen in the world around us. However, we are treated by others. Rejoice in the Lord always, 24 seven. And here it says, even when you're persecuted, either for righteousness sake, or because you're devoted to Christ. And you see that persecution, as I said, may not necessarily come from non-Christians. Supposing you're standing up, it could come from believers. As I told you in past centuries, a believer who stood for baptism would be persecuted by another believer who believed in child baptism. It happened. It doesn't happen so much nowadays. Persecution, because you stand up for something in God's word, they'll call you a devil. There are people today who say, speaking in tongues is from the devil. Well, a lot of it is, I'm sure. And a lot of it, 95% of it is fake. People just babbling something in their tongue. But there is a 5% of the genuine gift of the Holy Spirit. Sure. So we've got to be careful. But if somebody, you've got a genuine gift, perhaps, and somebody says that to the devil, what do you do? You just leap for joy. Because you know that that gift has drawn you closer to the Lord and giving you a wonderful intimate relationship with God. So you're not bothered what other people say. You don't go fighting with them. You don't try to defend yourself. Okay. You want to call me the devil? That's fine. I'm going to love you. So we have to leap for joy. There's absolutely no circumstance that we can ever face in our life where we lose our joy. I've come to see that there is no circumstance in life where we should lose our joy. That's the meaning of rejoice in the Lord always. We are not to rejoice in our circumstances. No, it doesn't say that anywhere. We rejoice in the Lord who never changes. We rejoice in the heavenly Father whose care for us is constant and all the time. So we've looked through these nine right attitudes. Let me revise them once again. Number one, poor in spirit, always in need, waiting before God for his word every day. Mourning for our sin, number two, gentle and meek, no possessive attitude towards property or any such thing. And number four, hungering and thirsting for a holy life. And number five, being merciful to everyone, no matter what they've done or said against me. And number six, always pursuing peace with all men. Sorry, pure in heart, seeing God everywhere because my heart is full of God. And number seven, pursuing peace with all men. And verse 10, standing up for righteousness and being willing to be persecuted. And number nine, persecuted for standing up for Christ. So these are the nine right attitudes. And you remember what I said right at the beginning, that is how, verse 13 and 14, we become the salt that has not lost its savor and like the light that keeps shining. See, Jesus used these two illustrations of salt and light immediately after speaking about these nine right attitudes and before speaking about the nine wrong attitudes. So this is how we are to be the salt. Everybody talks about that a Christian is to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. But what is the difference between salt and light? Salt is invisible in the food. You can't see the salt in the food that you're eating. It's mixed up inside. It's hidden. But you know, as soon as you put one spoon in your mouth, you know whether it's there or not. Light is visible. Salt is invisible. Light is visible. That speaks of two aspects of our Christian life, our inner life, which is invisible, and our outer life, which must be visible. Inner life speaks about salt. There must be a taste of Christ or an aroma of Christ, like the taste of salt in my life, even if I don't open my mouth, even if I don't say anything, my very bearing, the way I conduct myself, the way I behave in society, the way I don't push myself forward anywhere, but willing to step back. In little things like this, an aroma of Christ, salt, an inner life, an inner purity, and far deeper than other people can see, purity in thoughts, purity in attitudes towards others, that's salt. And that gives a taste to my life. And light is something which people can see. Matthew 5, 16, let your light shine before men so that they can see your good works and not glorify you, but glorify your Father in heaven. So to be the salt and the light, we have to take these nine attitudes seriously. Nine right attitudes. Lord, I want to take these seriously, and I want to encourage you, dear brothers, to take these and meditate on them. We've covered all nine of them the last few weeks. This is what it means to grow into the likeness of Christ. And Jesus goes on to say, all the Old Testament, when it says in verse 17, I did not come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have not come to abolish the Old Testament books of the Bible. The law and the prophets is a reference to the 39 books of the Old Testament. I've not come to abolish them. Is the old covenant which was made on Sinai with Moses abolished? Yes. That was abolished on the day of Pentecost. Moses went up to Sinai and brought the law. Jesus went up to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit, replacing that old covenant, but not replacing the 39 books of the Bible. No, he says, I haven't come to abolish the 39 books of the Bible. The first 39, the Old Testament, I've come to fulfill them. So in grace, in this age of grace and the new covenant, we are fulfilling what was in the heart of God that we see even in the Old Testament, but which became more clear when Jesus came. And he said, don't think that anything written there is going to pass away. Everything's going to be fulfilled more fully. And you'll see that in the remaining parts of Matthew chapter five, where he takes these Old Testament commandments and explains them. I said, this is what it really means. They didn't understand that in the Old Testament. So to be the salt and the light right in the middle of this, between the right attitudes and the wrong attitudes, he talks about our being salt and light. But if we understand this and meditate on it, I believe that we'll understand what it means to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, we pray that these truths will sing into our hearts. It's so easy to understand them in our heads, Lord, and so easy to get nice thoughts, but we know we cannot live this life without the power of the Holy Spirit. Without that kingdom of God, the righteousness, peace and joy the Holy Spirit alone can give. We know we cannot be poor in spirit without the Holy Spirit's help. We cannot moan for our sin or be gentle or hunger and thirst for righteousness without the Holy Spirit prompting us. We cannot be merciful or pure in heart or peacemakers or have the boldness to stand up for righteousness or for your name without the power and enabling of the Holy Spirit. So Lord, we earnestly seek that we shall remain filled with the Holy Spirit at all times. And those who have never been baptized in the Holy Spirit, I pray that you will give them a tremendous hunger as you see this impossible standard, to see that it can be fulfilled as we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Lord, do that and help us to live a life full of the Spirit all the time. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.