111 lines
13 KiB
HTML
111 lines
13 KiB
HTML
|
|
<html>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>Blue Letter Bible - Chuck Smith Sermon Notes</title>
|
|
<script src="../../../../js/basepath.js"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/nav.js"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainHeader.js"></script>
|
|
<script>
|
|
Passage = 'Matthew 5:6f ';
|
|
SermonID = 1912;
|
|
</script>
|
|
<script src="./js/Comms/CS_SN.js"></script>
|
|
<div class="SSN_title">"THE WAY TO HAPPINESS"</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_rnum">I. THE UNIVERSAL DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">A. A reminder that the word blessed literally means happy, or Oh how happy. As in <a onClick="return mV('Psa',1,1);">Psalm 1</a> "Blessed is the man." Many times the same Hebrew word eh sher is translated happy in the Old Testament, such as in <a onClick="return mV('Psa',144,15);">Psalm 144:15</a> "Happy is that people whose God is the Lord." The Hebrew word bless is baruch which is praise or bless. baruch ha shem</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. Happiness is something that everyone is pursuing.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. Our Bill of Rights were established to grant everyone the right for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. In our world today we see the mad pursuit of happiness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">4. Happiness seems to be so elusive. It is like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level4">a. The other day as I was driving on the freeway I saw a beautiful rainbow and it seemed that the end of the rainbow was at South Coast Plaza.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level4">b. I thought to myself, how appropriate.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">B. I see here a very fundamental error.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. The whole problem lies in the pursuit of happiness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level4">a. Why do we call it the pursuit of happiness?</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level4">b. Because mankind always seems to be pursuing it, not ever finding it.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. Jesus did not say, Blessed is the man that pursues happiness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. The fundamental error is that happiness is never found by direct pursuit.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">4. Happiness is found in righteousness. It is the by-product of righteousness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">C. Think of how wonderful it would be if everyone in the world hungered and thirsted after righteousness, instead of happiness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. What a happy world this would be.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. There would be no more killings.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. No more crime.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level4">a. We could abolish our police departments.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level4">b. There would be no need for our judicial system.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. No more broken homes.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">4. What a happy world this would be.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_rnum">II. THE LOGICAL ORDER IN THE SEQUENCE OF THE BEATITUDES.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">A. I see myself in the light of God's righteousness and realize how hopelessly and horribly sinful I am.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">B. I mourn over my sinful state. I grieve over how I have grieved the heart of God.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">C. I deplore my sinful state. Like Job once I saw himself in the light of God's holiness declared,</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_verse"><a onClick="return mV('Job',42,5 );">JOB 42:5</a> I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_verse"><a onClick="return mV('Job',42,6 );">JOB 42:6</a> Wherefore I abhor [myself], and repent in dust and ashes.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. We see our problems are with self, self interest, self concern, self seeking. This is what leads to all of the striving and miseries.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. This is the primary cause for all of the unhappiness in the world.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">D. When this happens it leads us to hunger and thirst for the divine ideal, to live righteously and be right with God.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_rnum">III. WHAT IS MEANT BY RIGHTEOUSNESS?</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">A. We are not to hunger and thirst for happiness, yet that is what the world and much of the church are doing today.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. This is what is behind the pleasure mania in the world today. What a classic example this past week-end in what they call Super bowl mania. Think of how many Atlanta fans who were so happy at the end of the Falcons first possession when they scored the first field goal. All acting like a bunch of birds. But within minutes were so sad and by the end of the game, totally dejected.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. Look at the rioting that took place in Denver by those who thought they had found happiness. The maddened frenzy thinking their time had arrived.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. All those elated fans had to go back to the reality of life routine of the daily grind on Monday morning and many feeling miserable because of their hangovers.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">4. In the church there are those who are seeking happiness through experiences, and they travel from one meeting to another seeking for some special experience that will bring them happiness. They hear that the Spirit is moving here, or there, and they seek to find out where the glory is coming out. They feel if they can only be touched by the Spirit they will be happy.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">5. True happiness is found in righteousness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">6. If I were a doctor and as a patient you came to me complaining of severe headaches and feelings of constant pressure in your head. You feel like your eyes are being pushed out of their sockets and your vision is becoming blurred. If I would give you pain killers and sought to fit you with glasses, I would be a quack. I would order an M.R.I. to seek to discover what is creating this pain and pressure.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">7. The unhappiness in the world is a symptom. People are seeking to alleviate the symptom in various experiences that offers them temporary relief. They feel good while their condition worsens.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">8. Man has a deep need for true happiness, and the world is offering cures for the symptoms but they are not getting to the actual cause of the real problem. And in treating the symptoms they are actually destroying the patient. The ultimate result is not happiness but more misery.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">B. Righteousness is justification but more. I feel that it is also sanctification.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. The desire is not just for the forgiveness of sin, but to be free from sin.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. I desire to have full and unhampered fellowship with God. I know that sin separates me from God, and apart from God there is emptiness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. I hunger and thirst to be right with God.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">4. I see the filth of the world around me, and like Lot, my righteous soul is vexed by what I see and hear in this world.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">5. I long for purity.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">6. I thirst for a world where God rules in righteousness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">7. As I hold these beautiful little babies before the Lord to dedicate their lives to His purposes, my heart goes out to them when I think of all of the filthy influences they will be bombarded with even before they get to school, because the T.V. has become the major babysitter in most homes. Even in the cartoons they will see horrible violence, and overtones of sexual seduction.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">C. The person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness wants to be free from the very desire for sin.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. One of the great problems is that though I hate the consequences of sin, yet there is often a desire for sin.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. Jesus said, that men would not come to the light because they loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. Sin has a great attraction.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">4. Sin makes all kinds of promises of happiness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level4">a. Look at Satan in the garden, the things that he was promising to Eve. "It will make you as gods."</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level4">b. Look at the pain, misery, suffering, and devastation that has resulted from their sin.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level4">c. Satan makes you all kinds of offers of happiness, but the final consequence is bitterness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level4">d. Like the little book that John took out of the angel's hand in <a onClick="return mV('Rev',10,10);">Rev 10:10</a> in his mouth it was sweet as honey, but as soon as he had eaten it, it was bitter in his belly.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">D. The man who hungers and thirsts for righteousness wants to be like Jesus.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. Follow in His steps.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. Live a life of holiness and purity.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. He wants to live in fellowship with the Father even as Jesus did, to be able to say, "I do always those things that please the Father."</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_rnum">IV. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">A. Hunger and thirst are two of our basic body drives. They are exceeded only by our air drive.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. It is very rare for a person to be truly hungry today.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. If you have every attempted to go on a fast for a few days you realize how strong the hunger drive can get.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. All of us are more familiar with the thirst drive, and have probably experienced it more often than the hunger drive.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">4. For my body to survive, I must have water and food. God has designed these drives so that my life might be sustained. If we did not have these drives we could forget to eat, or drink and would die of malnutrition or dehydration.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">B. So David wrote, "As the deer panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after Thee O God. My soul panteth for the living God."</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. This spiritual hunger and thirst is designed by God to sustain our spiritual life.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. The tragedy is that so many are trying to satisfy that drive with things that can never satisfy.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. I can remember when I was a kid and trying to satisfy my thirst by drinking a coke. While it was going down, it seemed to satisfy, but in a moment, I was thirstier that ever.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">4. So with the substitutes that the world has to offer today. For the moment, they may bring satisfaction, but the end result is a greater thirst than ever.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_rnum">V. THE PROMISE, "THEY SHALL BE FILLED."</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">A. Filled with what? Righteousness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. You cannot fill yourself.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. This was the problem with the Pharisee's, they were trying to be righteous in their own power by doing the right works.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. Jesus spoke of the Pharisee who sought to approach God clothed in his own righteousness.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_verse"><a onClick="return mV('Luk',18,11);">LUK 18:11</a> The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">4. He evidently did not give heed to the words if Isaiah. But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level2">B. Paul was trying by the law to be righteous. He declared, "Concerning the righteousness which is by the law, I was blameless." But those things that were gain to me I counted loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ."</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">1. In Romans he recognized that his finest efforts came short, of God's righteous standards, and he cried out, "Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?"</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">2. He then answers his own question, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">3. That is the gospel, He has done for me, what I could not possibly do with all of my best efforts. He has made me righteous. He gives me the power of His Spirit to make me righteous.</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">4. The result? "Oh how happy." deliver me from this body of death."</div>
|
|
<div class="SSN_level3">5. He answered his own question.</div>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<div class="return">
|
|
<a href='#top'>Return to Top</a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<div class="return">
|
|
<a href='./Comm/chuck_smith/sn/Mat/matthew.html#top'>Return to Sermon Notes for Matthew</a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<script src="./js/MainFooter.js"></script>
|