“contrition Is Different Than Confession” Matt.5.4 Series

The Beatitudes 2015 Summer Sermon Series

“Contrition is Different than Confession” Matt.5.4 (3 of 9)

June 21, 2015 CFBC Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker

A Jesus’ Kingdom is organized differently that worldly kingdoms; In His Kingdom wealth, power & authority are not important.

1 People in Heaven’s Kingdom seek different blessings, benefits and have different attitudes.

a The beatitudes are the attitudes that Christians are to posses, seek to have & show in their lives.

aa Upon casual reading the Beatitudes, the gateway to the Sermon on the Mount, seem paradoxical.

bb To be blessed you must poor in spirit, to be comforted you have to mourn, to be satisfied you must be hungry & thirsty, etc.,

b When we first look at the Beatitudes they seem to take the wind out of sails, stagger like we’ve been hit by a professional boxer.

aa So we consider them to be unobtainable, out-our-reach, lofty set of ideals to strive for . . . but not to be considered seriously.

bb In turn, we’ve compromised the seriousness, urgency, Jesus’ command to live out the beatitudes.

cc Poor in Spirit, Mourn, gentle, hunger & thirst for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted, insulted. . . have became optional because they’re too arduous, laborious to achieve daily.

c Jesus has not called us to be successful, flourish; He has called us to be obedient.

2 Last week we learned that Jesus demands us to know how “poor, wretched, weak, incapable, destitute, beggar-like, crippled” our inner-man truly is. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

a Being poor in spirit has nothing to do with money, possessions, good behavior, self-righteousness or right living.

aa We’re quadriplegic beggars totally unable to do anything for our own souls.

bb Our souls have been infected with original sin, a terminal disease that cannot be treated with money or going to church. . .it is only treated when we come to Christ as poor beggars, fully aware that we bring Him nothing in exchange for the cure.

cc We have nothing He needs, wants: nothing to bargain heaven with. . . we’re nothing, in fact, worst than most! Chief sinners, everyone else in this room is better than I am.

b Humility, was the word we used, and if you think your humble . . . your not.

B To enter the Kingdom you don’t run, you crawl into the Kingdom, fully aware that your spirit is poor.

1 You have been convinced of the fact that your soul/inner man is worthless, broken, . . .poor. (It’s called conviction.)

a Conviction is not the end of entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

b “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matt. 5.4

aa Being poor in spirit allows us to agree (confess) with God concerning the depravity/poorness/helplessness of our own souls.

bb Mourning means to grieve the loss/death of a friend, inner grief.

2 We mourn over the loss of our righteousness, innocense, self-respect.

a It’s not the sorrow of bereavement, but the sorrow of repentance.

b It’s one thing to acknowledge you’re nothing/nobody —it’s another thing to grieve/mourn over it.

aa Confession is one thing, contrition is another.

bb The Christian life isn’t all laughs & joy.

c Too many people walk an aisle, sign the card, get baptized in water, baptized in the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit and now I’ve got to have this smile on my face all the time. (Wrong)

aa The truth is that we still sin, still are just as helpless.

bb There are such things as Christian tears and most of us shed far too few of them.

3 Salvation comes by repentance, by mourning.

a If you’ve been “saved” and never have had a bankrupt spirit, mourning of your spirit . . . you’re still lost because the only way in, get comfort is to mourn/repent.

aa The NT never talks about walking an aisle, signing a card as proof your saved.

bb It always asks for proof/evidence of repentance.

b Repentance (mourning) isn’t self-pity, it’s being different since Jesus came to live in your heart.

C In our world that pushes pleasure, success, happiness, is there anything more contrasting than a spirit of mourning?

1 Jesus wants us to feel bad about our sin, the consequences of sin, corruption of sin on the world/our souls, devastation & disgrace as a result of sin.

a We are so “poor in spirit” that we see the root cause of our poverty, the root of our problem and we hate it!

b We grieve over it. . . the “it” is sin.

2 I’m saved, born again, washed in the blood, justified, I’m done, right? Wrong.

a Rom. 7, Paul talks about the problem he had with sin