Hi, I'm Glenn Russell.
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Welcome to our program,
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exploring the
wonderful Book of Matthew.
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It's part of the 3ABN series
00:00:28.90\00:00:30.45
entitled "The
Books of the Book."
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I like you to meet our guest,
teacher, Dr. Ranko Stefanovic.
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Ranko, you teach at
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Andrews University
Theological Seminary.
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We're exploring
a fascinating book,
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what draws you to
this Gospel of Matthew?
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You've been mentioning
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how it's one that you've been
teaching this for a few years
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and does it get old,
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does it get to something like
where you feel you know it all,
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are you still
discovering new things?
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Actually, I have been
teaching Gospel of Matthew
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for about 17 years,
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and every time
when I teach that class
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I always something to
learn for my students,
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it's a wonderful book.
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Of course, every Gospel
is beautiful in its own way.
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Every part of
scripture is that way, isn't it?
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Oh yeah. The more we explore,
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the more God keeps
bringing us new treasures.
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It's a wonderful gift.
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Let's begin with prayer,
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as we continue in
our study of scripture.
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Lord, we ask that
You will guide us.
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We need You to teach us.
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We cannot know You except
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that You have chosen
to reveal yourself to us.
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May we treasure
this gift of revelation.
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The Revelation
of Jesus our Savior
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through the pages of scripture.
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In Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. Amen.
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All right, Ranko,
we have been leading up
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to this great passage
we're going to get into today.
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We've seen Jesus began
his ministry with the Baptism,
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taken into the
wilderness and tempted,
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and then He begins
His ministry in Galilee.
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Now we come to
Matthew Chapter 5.
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Tell us a little bit about this.
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It was earlier in our series
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in introducing
the Gospel of Matthew,
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we saw that the emphasis
of the Gospel of Matthew
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is on the two-fold
aspect of Jesus ministry.
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Jesus ministry consisted
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according to the
Gospel of Matthew
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in teaching and preaching
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and healing people, and
helping them in their needs.
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Helping them in a practical way.
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This is how the Gospel
of Matthew is organized.
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We mentioned that Matthew
consist of five major blocks
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and here we are dealing
with the first major block,
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which is known as
"The Sermon on the Mount"
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Chapters 5 to 7.
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Do you remember
that formula saying,
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"When Jesus
finished all these sayings,
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now Jesus goes to
put it into the practice,
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helping people in their needs."
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So Chapters 8 and 9,
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so we are dealing with that
first major block of the book.
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So five major sections.
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These courses are teachings
and the narratives. Yes.
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And we're looking at the
first major teaching section.
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Major teaching of Jesus.
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Actually, it's really describing
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who and what the citizens
of the kingdoms are. All right.
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It would be good for us to
read some of this, wouldn't it?
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Oh, yes.
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Glenn, before we go on. Okay.
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In order to
make the full meaning
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of "The Sermon on the Mount"
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we have something to mention,
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that so many
readers of the Gospels,
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they do not realize
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whenever we talk
about Sermon on the Mount
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is always
Matthew Chapters 5 to 7,
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but not too many
readers of the Bible realize
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that there is also
another similar Sermon
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that is actually
found, let me go over there,
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that is found in the
Gospel of Luke, Chapter 6.
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Okay. Verses 20 to 49.
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Many liberal
scholars, they say, you see,
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we have two similar sermons
but they're quite different.
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Well, there's disagreements.
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Jesus actually
never preached one sermon.
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Matthew collected
some sayings of Jesus,
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who collected
some sayings of Jesus,
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they made it sermons.
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Actually I disagree with that.
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I will suggest to you, you know,
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Jesus was a preacher
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and Glenn, you are a
preacher, I'm a preacher,
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I travel, we travel
throughout the world.
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I make one sermon
and I don't preach
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in new place always new sermon.
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So many times I repeat my sermon
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in several
different, different places.
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Because it applies. It applies.
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However, I change
a little bit of that.
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I adjust that sermon to
the needs of my audience.
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You see if Jesus worked
for three and a half years,
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how much is that? It's
approximately 1,260 days.
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How many sermons
did Jesus preach?
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If He preached
only twice a week.
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Jesus preached
several hundreds sermons.
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Evidently Jesus didn't not
every time preach a new sermon.
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He would take the sermons
He preached before or a speech
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that He made before
and He would repeat it
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but apply it to the
context of His audience.
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So Matthew and Mark they
contain two different sermons.
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Similar content,
how do we know that?
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Matthew has three Chapters.
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Luke has only 29 verses.
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But there is something else,
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if we go to Luke
Chapter 6 verse 17,
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it says that when
Jesus delivered this speech,
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He was in the plain.
It was not on the mount.
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On the level
place. On the level place.
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Okay. And, and, there
is a difference between,
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so you believe
that Jesus preached
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on two different
occasions similar content,
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but we should notice something,
there is also basic difference,
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the question is, why did
Matthew choose this long sermon,
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and Luke, the shorter sermon.
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Glenn, you'll do it
in Chapter 5 of Matthew,
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I'll do Luke 6, just few things.
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Can you read Chapter
5 verse 3 of Matthew?
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Matthew Chapter 5, verse 3,
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
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for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven."
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This is in Matthew,
the same, the attitude,
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let's see how it sounds
in Luke Chapter 6, verse 20,
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"Blessed are you who are
poor for yours is the kingdom."
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What is the basic difference?
Something is missing.
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It's here are those
who are poor in spirit,
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here those who are really poor.
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Yeah. Just one more item.
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Can you read verse 6
of Matthew Chapter 5?
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Okay. "Blessed are those
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who hunger and
thirst for righteousness,
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for they shall be filled."
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What about verse 21 in Luke?
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"Blessed are
you who hunger now."
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What is missing? Righteousness.
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You see when Jesus
preached to the gentiles,
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according to the Gospel of Luke,
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He cared about
the physical needs.
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When He preached
to those Pharisees,
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et cetera, and the Jews,
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He cared about
their spiritual needs.
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That's why we
need both the sermons.
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We need both for
balance, don't we?
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I'll tell the viewers
as we are going through
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"The sermon on the
Mount" you will say, boy,
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my needs are not
spiritual, I am faithful to God,
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I love God so much, but nobody
knows when they come home.
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I don't have money
to pay my electricity,
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my power will be cut off,
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or doctors told
me a few days ago
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that I have few more
weeks to live, et cetera.
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I need something,
there is a Savior,
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God meets with
people where they are.
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When people have
needs, Jesus comes to them
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and addresses their
personal needs that they have.
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All right. So Jesus
preaches in Matthew 5.
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Yes. A Sermon on the Mount.
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Yes. What should
we know about this?
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Actually both in Luke
and Matthew, both sermons,
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they begin with special section,
we call them the beatitudes.
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Why the beatitudes,
because there are eight sayings
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and each sayings
begins with one single word,
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which is in our
English translation blessed.
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Glenn, would you
read those beatitudes?
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And by the way,
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beatitudes is kind of
a made up word, isn't it?
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Actually we will come
to that after reading--
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Sure, Matthew Chapter 5
verse 1. Actually 1 to 12.
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"And seeing the multitudes,
He went up on a mountain,
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and when He had seated,
His disciples came to Him.
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Then He opened His
mouth, and taught them saying,
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Blessed are the poor in spirit,
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for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
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Blessed are the meek,
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for they shall
inherit the earth.
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Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness,
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for they shall be filled.
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Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
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Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God.
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Blessed are the peacemakers,
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for they shall be
called the sons of God.
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Blessed are those
who are persecuted
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for righteousness' sake,
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for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are you
when they revile you
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and persecute you
and say all kinds of evil
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against you
falsely from my sake.
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Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
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for your great is
a reward in heaven,
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for so they
persecuted the prophets
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who were before you."
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Okay. So we see,
we have eight sayings.
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Each one begins with the
word "Blessed" in English.
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And I hope that the
readers will understand
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what I'm trying to say.
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All those who are bilingual,
they know that sometimes
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when you try to
translate something
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from one language to another,
then the words, that they fit.
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So sometimes you
have to use one sentence
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in order to explain that word.
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In Greek, the language in
which the Gospel of Matthew
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was written, actually
contains the word makarios,
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which is translated
as the word "Blessed."
00:10:00.92\00:10:04.24
Another alternative word
00:10:04.25\00:10:05.44
for the word
makarios is "Happy."
00:10:05.45\00:10:09.55
By the way, usually
English speaking people--
00:10:09.56\00:10:14.56
don't know that in English
we have standard English word,
00:10:14.57\00:10:18.76
which is called makarism
00:10:18.77\00:10:20.21
that comes from the
Greek word makarios.
00:10:20.22\00:10:22.63
Makarism simply means happiness.
00:10:22.64\00:10:25.47
But we really have
to understand the word,
00:10:25.48\00:10:27.81
the root of these words.
00:10:27.82\00:10:30.65
Among ancient Greeks,
the word makarios meant
00:10:30.66\00:10:35.81
that the person was spared
00:10:35.82\00:10:39.07
of all hardships of
life and here is the point.
00:10:39.08\00:10:43.77
When a person
have a happy family,
00:10:43.78\00:10:47.08
good bank
account, I mean, money--
00:10:47.09\00:10:49.08
was rich, when everything
went good in his life,
00:10:49.09\00:10:53.81
ancient Greeks would say
you see this person is makarios.
00:10:53.82\00:10:57.31
A good life. Good life,
00:10:57.32\00:11:00.26
this is among ancient Greeks.
00:11:00.27\00:11:03.79
What did we notice here
in "The Sermon on the Mount?"
00:11:03.80\00:11:06.90
Who are those who are makarios?
00:11:06.91\00:11:10.54
You'll forgive me, I'm
using the word makarios,
00:11:10.55\00:11:12.67
in order to get the full sense
00:11:12.68\00:11:15.32
of the meaning of this
word. You are not spared.
00:11:15.33\00:11:18.28
Those who are
hungry and thirsty in,
00:11:18.29\00:11:19.84
Luke, or righteousness,
those who are poor,
00:11:19.85\00:11:23.08
those who are
persecuted, those who are.
00:11:23.09\00:11:26.78
Glenn, now let me
ask you one question.
00:11:26.79\00:11:28.09
I would like to ask the viewers,
00:11:28.10\00:11:29.57
just to start for
a moment to think,
00:11:29.58\00:11:31.80
was Jesus unrealistic?
00:11:31.81\00:11:33.30
Glenn, would you
be honest with me?
00:11:33.31\00:11:36.72
When you don't have
money to pay your bills,
00:11:36.73\00:11:41.61
do you say, "I am blessed?"
00:11:41.62\00:11:44.50
We would call that
kind of person out of touch.
00:11:44.51\00:11:47.70
Actually, they are
attend-- Upside down.
00:11:47.71\00:11:49.29
I've never seen a
student who does not have money
00:11:49.30\00:11:52.37
to pay his
tuition and he must leave.
00:11:52.38\00:11:55.23
I don't think, we rejoice
in our poverty very much.
00:11:55.24\00:11:57.89
And he say--but
you see the Christians
00:11:57.90\00:11:59.94
are so many times
unrealistic, you know,
00:11:59.95\00:12:02.29
you know, I am
blessed because I'm poor.
00:12:02.30\00:12:05.56
Did you hear
anybody to say, you know,
00:12:05.57\00:12:07.23
doctor told me I have
few more weeks to live,
00:12:07.24\00:12:09.79
I'm so much
blessed. So what is that,
00:12:09.80\00:12:13.24
that Jesus tried to say
here with His beatitudes.
00:12:13.25\00:12:17.23
Did Jesus try to
be unrealistic to say,
00:12:17.24\00:12:20.53
those people who are hungry,
00:12:20.54\00:12:22.85
who are thirsty,
people who are poor,
00:12:22.86\00:12:25.89
people who suffer
hardships in this life,
00:12:25.90\00:12:27.90
they are blessed. This is
not what Jesus tried to say.
00:12:27.91\00:12:31.04
Actually if you
really want to translate
00:12:31.05\00:12:33.21
these beatitudes
from original Greek,
00:12:33.22\00:12:36.54
it should be "You are
blessed or you are happy,
00:12:36.55\00:12:40.88
despite the fact
that you are poor,
00:12:40.89\00:12:45.88
that you are hungry,
that you are persecute,"
00:12:45.89\00:12:48.44
that's the
difference. You are not blessed
00:12:48.45\00:12:51.02
because you are
poor, you are blessed
00:12:51.03\00:12:54.19
despite the fact
that you are poor,
00:12:54.20\00:12:55.69
that you are hungry,
that you, that you face
00:12:55.70\00:12:58.46
the difficulties of this
life and it makes difference.
00:12:58.47\00:13:01.14
So you have a joy
despite what happens to you?
00:13:01.15\00:13:04.00
Yes. So what is the
point that Jesus tried to make?
00:13:04.01\00:13:07.82
When we accept Jesus
as our personal savior,
00:13:07.83\00:13:12.09
when we are accepted by God,
00:13:12.10\00:13:15.02
when we become God's children,
00:13:15.03\00:13:17.54
God never promised to us
00:13:17.55\00:13:20.58
that we will be
spared of hardships of life.
00:13:20.59\00:13:23.84
God never told us
that he will take us
00:13:23.85\00:13:26.27
out of the difficulties of life,
00:13:26.28\00:13:29.65
what God promised
to us is, Jesus said,
00:13:29.66\00:13:32.94
in the world you
will have tribulation,
00:13:32.95\00:13:35.37
is that what Jesus
said? That's right.
00:13:35.38\00:13:36.87
What God promised to
us when we have to go
00:13:36.88\00:13:40.01
through the difficulties
and hardships of life,
00:13:40.02\00:13:44.67
God will be with us,
not that He will take us
00:13:44.68\00:13:47.67
out of that, He
will be working with us
00:13:47.68\00:13:50.62
through the
difficulties of life.
00:13:50.63\00:13:51.85
As the Psalm said,
"Even if I had to work
00:13:51.86\00:13:55.02
through the valley
of the shadow of death,
00:13:55.03\00:13:57.46
You will be with me."
00:13:57.47\00:13:59.71
Knowing that God is with me,
00:13:59.72\00:14:03.20
will make me
blessed, give me the assurance
00:14:03.21\00:14:06.62
that I'm not forgotten,
that I'm not forsaken by God,
00:14:06.63\00:14:10.59
that God is with me.
00:14:10.60\00:14:12.93
The external circumstances
00:14:12.94\00:14:14.76
will not define my
relationship with God,
00:14:14.77\00:14:17.34
my relationship with God
00:14:17.35\00:14:19.01
will define the
circumstances in which we are.
00:14:19.02\00:14:22.32
Ranko, you've raised some
questions in my mind. Yes.
00:14:22.33\00:14:24.75
We've got to come back
to right after our break.
00:14:24.76\00:14:27.12
We'll be right back.
00:14:27.13\00:14:28.39