Gospel of John [16:33]. Why the believer has tribulation in the world [part 12 - peacemakers]. Mat 5:3-12; Php 4:7; Heb 13:10.

Title: Gospel of John [16:33]. Why the believer has tribulation in the world [part 12 - peacemakers]. MAT 5:3-12; Php 4:7; HEB 13:10.

 

Announcements/opening prayer: 

 

 

MAT 5:8

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

 

The pure in heart shall see God's person through His functioning in their own lives. The best way to see God is by being conformed to the Lord's image.

 

1JO 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

 

1JO 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.

 

1JO 3:3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

 

ROM 8:29

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;

 

HEB 12:14

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

 

1JO 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

 

1JO 3:5 And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.

 

1JO 3:6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins [practices sin] has seen Him or knows Him.

 

1JO 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;

 

1JO 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

 

1JO 3:9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him [divine nature]; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

 

3Jo 11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

 

PSA 17:15

As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness;

I will be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake.

 

All believers will see Him in eternity.

 

REV 22:3-4

And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.

 

MAT 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

 

Of all the beatitudes, this one is the most difficult to find in the OT. It may be that peacemaking could only come to fruition through the person of Christ.

 

God presented Himself as One who made peace with men, but also as One who punished iniquity.

 

EXO 34:5 And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord.

 

EXO 34:6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;

 

EXO 34:7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

 

PRO 12:20

Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,

But counselors of peace have joy.

 

It was not until Christ "made peace by the blood of the cross" that God could manifest Himself as the God of peace.

 

He brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the Blood of the everlasting covenant.

 

HEB 13:20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,

 

HEB 13:21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

2CO 5:19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

 

"Be at peace" is the word of reconciliation. Through the gospel, the believer is offering the ultimate peace.

 

Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

Those who receive peace become diffusers of peace. God is thus seen reflected in them; and by the family likeness these peacemakers are recognized as the children of God.

 

MAT 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

 

Verses 10-12 can be taken together to make the eighth beatitude. If we enhance this passage with numerology we could say that the first 7, the number of divine perfection and completion, make up the character of the true worshipper of God. The eighth is passive, or what comes upon the true worshipper of God, which is persecution of righteousness.

 

MAT 5:10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

This is grounded in the OT and continues in the NT. The world has been and always will be in opposition to the plan of God.