Welcome To the School Of Kings
For all who see www.soshelp.com this Jesus message is for you in order that you may hear Him say to you, "You’re SomeOne Special," in His eyes. It is all about the Word "One" and that's you. (John17: 21) This 3 word phrase Mark is going Global and you being chosen by God (Deuteronomy 7:6) are invited to come along.
The School Of Kings message has an audience as large as the world’s population. One of a kind.
If God says, "You’re SomeOne Special"® He cannot lie. It’s all about the word "One." Remember, "we cannot receive that which we do not believe we need." Let Your Spirit Soar!
Welcome To the School Of Kings
Complements of Dr. C. S. Lovett
The CURRICULUM of the school of kings is THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, which will make you distinctively different.
Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
That’s what you’re going to run into in the sermon. And if we let it stand as it reads, or as it strikes your spirit when you see those words, then I ask, “Can you do that? Can you be that? Can your whole life measure up to such a perfect standard?”
No way. No one other than Jesus attained the perfect standard. Even the apostle Paul insisted he hadn’t arrived, though he was determined to TRY. God, being God, cannot set LESS than a perfect standard, so what do we do? Are we condemned to failure before we start? If that’s what it takes to graduate from the school of kings, who can make it?
Relax; it’s not as bad as it sounds. God knows we cannot measure up to a PERFECT STANDARD. Even though we can never attain to the perfection set forth in God’s standard—WE CAN TRY. And here’s the secret:
With God: Trying Is Winning!
Why make the curriculum of the school of kings something beyond us? The answer is simple. God must have some standard by which to measure us. If He didn’t use His own CHARACTER as the standard of measurement, whose would He use? Since there is no other for Him to use, He’s going to measure us by HIMSELF; and why not? The reason we’re on this earth is to become like Him
Romans 8:29 "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
So if there is going to be a standard of GODLIKENESS, what better than God’s own Character ?
So that’s what we find in the Sermon on the Mount—the perfect standard. That’s why it is the curriculum of the school of kings. This is what God asks us to strive for, even though He knows we’ll never make it as long as we’re in these bodies. At the same time it gives Him a perfect device for measuring our efforts and progress.
The harder we try to be like Him, the more He’s pleased with us. When we’re willing to turn our backs on the world to do this, He is gaining for Himself the kind of people with whom He wants to spend eternity.
OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME
Now that you know about the school of kings and why it is needed, you have come upon the opportunity of a lifetime. I’m pretty sure you didn’t know thousands of HIGH POSTS are waiting to be filled and that you have a clear field when it comes to securing one for yourself. It’s easily within your power to win one of the highest jobs in heaven—FOREVER!
If you think you’d like a SUPER JOB with Jesus, then get serious about the school of kings. Be ready to sacrifice worldly pleasures and comforts, or even suffer scorn for Christ and I guarantee you, there is no way to miss.
There are FIVE THINGS that should be in your mind before you read the Sermon.
1. The 8 Beatitudes are the FOUNDATION for the rest of the sermon. They set forth the CHARACTER it takes to please God. The rest of the SERMON shows how a person WITH THAT CHARACTER acts in specific situations.
2. The Sermon on the Mount is for today, regardless what anyone tells you.
3. The sermon is addressed to your NEW NATURE only. Godly living is a spiritual matter—something your FLESH (old nature) despises. The conflict between your OLD NATURE (flesh) and your NEW NATURE (spirit) is what makes living the Sermon on the Mount an uphill fight.
4. Don’t try to handle individual passages of the SERMON until you have a grasp of the whole picture. Once you know what the Lord is really after, it is easy to interpret His words in particular verses. Trying to deal with specific passages without the grasp could lead you into error.
5. When you begin to LIVE the sermon, changes will occur in you that will make you DIFFERENT FROM those around you. But that difference is glorious. It is proof you’re successfully climbing the Beatitude-ladder. It assures your graduation from the SCHOOL OF KINGS.
So go for it. Anyone can make it: man, woman, talented, untalented, it makes no difference. For once again, to win with God, all you have to do is TRY. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime!
MATTHEW 5:1-3
THE 8 BEAUTITUDES
COURSE FOR THE SCHOOL OF KINGS
(Character of the God-pleaser)
Matthew 5:1-3 "And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
BLESSED. The wind carried Jesus’ first word to their ears and what a sweet sounding word – “BLESSED.” That’s what the crowd had come for—a blessing. This word has to do with HAPPINESS, but a different kind of happiness from that which the world seeks. The world you see has its kind of happiness and God has His. People think they’re happy when their outward CIRCUMSTANCES are the way they like them, when they can do what they want. But that kind of happiness is based on the UPS & DOWNS of life. It comes and goes. Jesus is referring to TRUE HAPPINESS, permanent happiness, which is NOT BASED ON EXTERNALS, but flows from one’s CHARACTER. It is INTERNAL, the by-product of what ONE IS, not what he has. Things can go wrong outside, but this person is happy, because things are OK inside. This happiness, says Jesus, belongs to the one who realizes his poverty in spirit.
POOR IN SPIRIT. Observe the two words, “IN SPIRIT.” They take us at once from the world of money into the realm of spiritual values. Jesus is NOT speaking of financial poverty here, but poverty of personal righteousness. Sinners by nature all deserve hell because of their sins
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
When one compares his own holiness to God’s holiness, he finds he is morally bankrupt. The person who RECOGNIZED THIS, says Jesus, is blessed. Why? It brings him before God in a spirit of brokenness, in deep humility. There is no pride in him, no self-reliance. This makes it possible for God to do for him what he can’t do for himself—MAKE HIM AS RIGHTEOUS AS GOD
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
That’s why he’s happy. INSIDE, he knows he’s accepted by God, a blessedness all the money in the world can’t buy. This then, is the beginning point, not only for salvation, but for the school of kings. The Christian must begin his spiritual life with this kind of humility and maintain it throughout his earthly life…all the way up the ladder.
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. There are two families, you see. The family of the devil and the family of God. The devil is the ruler of this present world
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
God rules the unseen world of the spirit (kingdom of heaven). The instant we’re saved, our souls are immediately TRANSFERRED from Satan’s family into God’s family
Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Our bodies (flesh) continue to live in Satan’s world, while our souls are citizens of heaven
Philippians 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
This makes for the fierce struggle of the Christian life. We have one foot on earth, and one foot in heaven, so to speak. When we receive Christ, a SECOND BIRTH occurs, a SPIRITUAL ONE. This new birth is what puts us in God’s family. For the moment the kingdom of heaven is UNSEEN and will remain so until the last one to be saved has been plucked from the human stream. Then Jesus will return to take over the kingdoms of the world, establishing the kingdom of heaven on earth
Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Our place in that kingdom will be determined by how well we do in the school of kings.
Matthew 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
MOURN. Since we live in the flesh, retaining our old natures after we’re saved, we CONTINUE TO SIN. That old nature gives Satan access to our thoughts and feelings. He is able to insert terrible things in our minds—and we let him. This is why bad things often escape our lips and show up in our lives. That’s not surprising say Emerson, since “the thought is father to the deed.” For here is where we sin. Recognizing this (poor in spirit) is one thing, how WE FEEL ABOUT IT is another. Do we MOURN our ugliness of spirit, or do we ignore it? Do we say, “The blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin,” and then forget it? This is what the second rung of the ladder is all about. A blessedness awaits those who MOURN their poverty of spirit. For it is one thing to RECOGNIZE your foulness of spirit, quite another to CRY over it.
COMFORTED. Was the apostle Paul immune to lust and greed and jealousy, as well as unkind, unclean thoughts? He had an old nature too. The apostle cries out, “What a wretched man I am!”
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
That’s his mourning over his servitude to sin. He’s pouring out his heart, yet in the same instant a wonderful thing happens --HE’S COMFORTED! “Thanks be to God,” he says, “through Jesus Christ our Lord!” When we mourn our foulness, we empty ourselves. We pour out our hearts. Then God, beholding our self-emptying, fills us with Himself! Our feelings travel from deep mourning to the highest joy. We are comforted as God fills us with Himself!
Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
MEEK. First, meekness is not weakness. Some picture the meek person as wishy-washy, a namby-pamby Harvey Milquetoast. Jesus is described as MEEK AND GENTLE. Yet He was surely a rugged man. Carpenters in those days had to be. But what is meek? Meekness is POWER UNDER CONTROL. With a whisper from the cross, Jesus could have consumed His enemies with fire. BUT HE RESTRAINED HIMSELF. Submitting to God’s will, HE TOOK THE ABUSE. That’s meekness.
INHERIT. Christians can afford to be MEEK. So what if they don’t get everything in this life—they’re going to GET IT ALL anyway. The meek ones will inherit the earth says Jesus. Why contend or defend anything when the entire world will be yours one day? “Inherit” points to that future day when Jesus returns to take over the kingdoms of this world
Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
We’ll be with Him as “joint-heirs”
Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
But how? Ah, by holding down HIGH RANKING JOBS in His administration. The meeker we are, the higher our rank. That’s why we’re climbing this ladder. So it’s worth it to sit on your feelings and watch what you do when someone puts you down or abuses you. It’s vital not to react or get angry at anything, but be content to let God handle everything.
MATTHEW 5:6,7
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
HUNGER/THIRST. The Declaration of Independence lists among our inalienable rights, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” People pursue happiness or blessedness for all they’re worth. They HUNGER for it, they THIRST for it. But it always escapes them. Nothing satisfies for long. Why? According to Jesus, happiness is not something you seek DIRECTLY. It comes as the BY-PRODUCT of seeking something else—Righteousness. Believers are to hunger for it. Righteousness is to the soul what food and water are to the body. A believer is to crave it like one dying of thirst craves water. Only the Christian who is DESPERATE for righteousness will be filled with it.
RIGHTEOUSNESS. The Lord is called, “Jesus Christ the Righteous” (1 John 2:1). The righteousness we’re to hunger for is the likeness of the Lord, i.e., to be like Him. In copying Jesus, we should ache to have in our lives only those things that please God, hating everything in us that doesn’t. We should BURN with the desire to please God
John 8:29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
We should HUNGER to see holiness and unselfishness blossom in our lives, along with a THIRST to give.
FILLED. Jesus says those with such a hunger will be FILLED. When? When we’re with Jesus. All of us will be filled. In heaven we’re going to EAT righteousness, SLEEP righteousness, and even BREATHE IT. Righteousness is the ENVIRONMENT of heaven, the only thing on the menu. We should crave it now, because we’re going to BE FILLED with it then.
Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
MERCIFUL. With the 5th beatitude, other people now figure in our development. The first 4 beatitudes had to do with the way we SEE OURSLEVES before God. But what is mercy? It is PITY IN ACTION. It is seeing another in a desperate situation and wanting to BRING RELIEF, doing something to ease the pain. Mercy is ASPIRIN for a wretched situation. Jesus is saying that any Christian who has climbed the LADDER this far will have mercy showing up in his character. If the new nature is growing at all, mercy has to show up in the life of that Christian.
OBTAIN MERCY. Christians HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED MERCY. God took pity on us and “according to His mercy He saved us”
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
God’s children are expected to SHOW mercy. Why? Because of the HUGE DEBT OF SIN God has forgiven them
Matthew 18:35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
In canceling the GUILT of all our sin, God has wiped out far more than anyone could possible owe us. Since He helped us in our wretchedness, we ought to show mercy to others in their wretchedness.
MATTHEW 5:8,9
Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
HEART. What is the heart? It’s not the muscle pumping blood through your body. The heart is where a person LIVES. No one lives in his arms or legs, BUT IN HIS MIND. Jesus, therefore is talking about purity of one’s thought life. When you consider that powerful OLD NATURE is totally impure, you can see how difficult it is to have a pure mind. It’s a FIGHT to keep evil out of one’s thoughts. But if there’s no fight, the mind remains evil continually. The more a person fights, the stronger the HEART (new nature) becomes. God sees to it that our days are filled with situations that give us plenty of opportunities to choose which heart we’ll display. God wants PEOPLE to see our GROWING HEARTS, for that advertises the difference His Spirit makes in us. The pure hearted Christian does not lie, cheat, steal, exaggerate, nor grasp for the things of this world, knowing it’s all going to be his one day. Later in the sermon we’ll see that the pure-hearted Christian is SALT to the world
Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
SEE GOD. Everyone is going to SEE GOD, either as SAVIOR or as JUDGE, so when Jesus says “SEE GOD,” He obviously has more in mind that catching sight of God as He really is. Something special must be in store for the PURE IN HEART. The believer, who has developed an INTIMATE FRIENDSHIP with the Lord through spending time with Him in the “SECRET PLACE” has allowed the Lord’s presence to become the BIGGEST THING in his life.
Psalms 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Such a Christian is EAGER to meet the Lord face to face. When they meet, he’ll rush into Jesus’ arms and they’ll hug each other like two old friends getting together in the sky!
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God
PEACEMAKERS. Peace has to do with RECONCILING two opposing parties. When a peacemaker steps in with a righteous solution and both parties are happy with that solution and embrace each other, THAT IS REAL PEACE. Peace is not a truce. Real peace comes when the warring parties have a change of heart and “kiss and make up.” Only the NEW NATURE can do this, for only it has a heart for peace. The OLD NATURE would rather see a quarrel. A peacemaker is a Christian who HAS GROWN to the place where he HATES quarreling and feels COMPELLED to step in and do what he can to reconcile hostile parties. That is why this beatitude is so high on the LADDER. Until one has climbed this far, he does not have a peacemaker’s heart. When a Christian on the 7th rung sees trouble brewing, everything in him says, “I must see what I can do to end this conflict and prevent further strife.”
CHILDREN OF GOD. What’s the peacemaker’s reward? He gets called a name—CHILD OF GOD. When people see you doing what the GOD OF PEACE does, they conclude—LIKE SON/DAUGHTER. You’re recognized as being His. Sometimes acting like God is not always easy. There can be a price to pay. On the other hand, it THRILLS GOD to see you doing what He does—just to please Him. While others may not always appreciate your efforts, God smiles and says, “That’s my child!”
MATTHEW 5:10
Matthew 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
PERSECUTED. We’ve come to the top of the ladder, a good place to remind ourselves that believers live by a DIFFERENT SET OF RULES totally opposite from the ways of the world. And if we live by those rules, we are GOING TO BE DIFFERENT, A DIFFERENCE THAT is certain to bring persecution. The more we live by the RULES OF THE KINGDOM (The Sermon on the Mount), the more we become like Jesus. And the more we become like Him, the more the world will hate us. He made that plain enough,
John 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
Because of His personal righteousness, the Lord had a CONDEMNING EFFECT on the self-righteousness ones around Him. The Pharisees especially hated Him, because He made all their “good works” look bad when compared with His.
RIGHTEOUSNESS. It’s easy to be confused about suffering for righteousness’ sake. When life is terribly hard, some feel that is persecution. But the ONLY TIME persecution is blessed is when people hate you BECAUSE OF JESUS. The Lord confirms this in verse 11, where He substitutes the words, “BECAUSE OF ME.” That’s the righteousness He’s talking about. Therefore to suffer for righteousness’ sake means to be persecuted because you are SO LIKE CHRIST that you condemn evil in those around you and they hate you for it.
KINGDOM. The believer KNOWS his place in heaven is secure. Beyond that, all the treasure he has laid up, as well as his future job with Jesus, are assured.
Matthew 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
He may lose everything on earth, but nothing can touch what God has sealed for him in heaven. That’s why a Christian can rejoice when he’s persecuted for righteousness’ sake. He’s so much like His Lord; God is thrilled with Him and GUARANTEES him the best of heaven. Those suffering persecution BECAUSE OF JESUS belong to a select group. Not only have they climbed to the top of the ladder, but, they are certain to be among the RICH AND FAMOUS of eternity.