For our scripture reading, I invite you to turn with me to Psalm 37. Psalm 37, as we read that psalm of David, of all the Beatitudes as we consider them, probably the one that is most directly taken from another portion of scripture, is the third Beatitude of our Lord. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. As you will find that theme throughout David's psalm, Psalm 37, we have considered from Matthew 5, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. And now blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. As well, we give our attention to the Word of God recorded in the Old Testament, Psalm 37. Do not fret because of evil men, or be envious of those who do wrong. For like the grass, they will soon wither. Like green plants, they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him, and He will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret when men succeed in their ways when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off. But those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while and the wicked will be no more. Though you look for them, they will not be found. but the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for He knows their day is coming. The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy to slay those whose ways are upright, but their swords will pierce their own hearts and their bows will be broken. Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked. For the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. The days of the blameless are known to the Lord, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster, they will not wither. In days of famine, they will enjoy plenty. But the wicked will perish. The Lord's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields. They will vanish, vanish like smoke. The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously. Those the Lord blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be cut off. If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm. Though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely. Their children will be blessed. Turn from evil and do good. Then you will dwell in the land forever. For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake His faithful ones. They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off. The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever. The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just. The law of His God is in His heart. His feet do not slip. The wicked lie and wait for the righteous, seeking their very lives. But the Lord will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned when brought to trial. Wait for the Lord and keep His way. He will exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you will see it. I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil, but he soon passed away and was no more. Though I looked for him, he could not be found. Consider the blameless. Observe the upright. There is a future for the man of peace. But all sinners will be destroyed. The future of the wicked will be cut off. The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord. He is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them. He delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in Him. A beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus said, Blessed are the meek. Now, with this third beatitude, in a sense, this is where the rubber of kingdom character meets the road of life. This is where it begins to get a bit difficult for you and me. Not that the first two Beatitudes facing the reality of our worthlessness and uselessness before God or our devastation because of sin, not that those aren't difficult, they are difficult. But in a sense, those two kingdom characteristics the child of God can struggle with before God on their knees in the privacy of their own room. But now, in a sense, with this third kingdom characteristic of meekness, Our Lord Jesus Christ brings us out of that privacy and He places us face to face with each other. He places us face to face with those of like nature. Face to face with mankind. Face to face with the world of selfishness. And He calls for kingdom meekness in a selfish world. Or call it a sinful world. Oh, what a dark world. But kingdom meekness in that kind of world. In a sense, he is calling us with this third characteristic. We are called to put the first two kingdom characteristics in practice before others. And again, that's where it gets difficult. At first glance, this terrifies us because of the world's idea, our idea of the definition of what it means to be meek. If you were to ask most people today what meek means, they would probably include something like, well, it means to be weak. It means to be lacking courage or to be cowardly. It's talking about one who is wishy-washy or indecisive. Someone who is timid or is unsure of themselves or is a pushover. Someone who lacks any sort of backbone. One who is powerless. And we must erase those ideas of meek from our minds because that's not what Jesus is talking about, nor is that what his audience would have understood when he said, blessed are the meek. We have examples of those who were meek in Bible history. For example, Moses in Numbers 12, verse 3, we are told there that he was the meekest man of his day. One translation says, the most humble man of his day. Yet he wasn't a coward. We know that. He wasn't a pushover. Think of the golden calf episode. In His righteous anger, He ground up that calf. He poured the dust in the water, made the people drink it, and He called for the deaths of those who were not on the Lord's side. Our Lord Jesus Christ was meek. He called Himself meek, yet He made a whip. He drove the money changers out of the temple on the Sabbath. He was not a coward. He was not a pushover. and others in Bible history whom we know we would say for sure they weren't cowards, but they were meek, like Abraham and Paul and Stephen. And beloved, the New Testament calls for believers to be and to demonstrate this kingdom character of meekness. In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 1, Paul claims, as he's writing to the Corinthian believers, he claims for himself the meekness and the gentleness of Christ. In Galatians 5, beginning at verse 22, we find the list of the fruit of the Spirit, including gentleness, patience, self-control. In 1 Peter 3.15, Peter says to be ready, you remember, to be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks for the hope you have. And he says to do so with gentleness and respect. to titus paul says to be peaceable and considerate and to show true humility toward all men and then one more james 1 verse 19 we read everyone should be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to become angry you see even though those verses they don't all contain the actual word meek yet from those verses, we begin to understand the flavor of true meekness. It has to do with humility and gentleness and being mild and then how that is expressed, how that is demonstrated. Calvin has a beautiful definition of one who is meek. He begins it this way, a meek person is a person of mild and gentle disposition. Another definition speaks of the meek as one with a humble and gentle attitude. And true kingdom meekness then, beloved, is understood in its expression, in its demonstration, as it first of all demonstrates a humble character, a humble character toward God and toward man. but notice too its origin again its origin we might say it's a byproduct a result of those first two beatitudes it is putting those first two beatitudes of being poor in spirit and mourning putting them into action it's a byproduct of the self-emptying of being poor in spirit knowing our true state before God knowing our insufficiency and nothingness and unworthiness and unprofitableness before God, which then leads, as we considered last week, to the truth of our self-humiliation. That lost condition brings mourning to the child of God. A godly sorrow because of the awfulness of sin, especially mine, against God. And we know that these first two Beatitudes are the work of the Holy Spirit in us. They are the work of the Holy Spirit transforming one's heart. That one might see the truth of himself and the truth of the world and the truth of God. And then with that transform, with that change of heart, the Holy Spirit also brings a change of attitude. A change of disposition by which we express that change of heart. So that we can say that meekness, this third beatitude, is also a part of that new life in Jesus Christ by faith. We don't come by that naturally. It is worked in us. It is the opposite of what's natural in us. It is the opposite of pride and selfishness. But not only that, meekness is the opposite of stubbornness and anger and of a spirit of revenge and resentment. Did you hear that? It's the opposite of a spirit of revenge and resentment. Now most, if not all of us, ought to begin to get a little bit uncomfortable as we learn what this meekness is all about. It is a true view of one's self by faith and then that true view expressed in our attitude and our conduct toward God and toward man. First, toward God. This meekness, beloved, is humble submission to God. It is humble submission to His Word and to His hand of discipline and to His direction for you and me, to His design, His will for your life and mine. This meekness before God means to accept God's place and His circumstances for you and me right where we are at. It is not fighting against Him. It is not contending with Him. It is not challenging Him. Instead, it is trusting Him. Trusting that He knows best. Trusting that He makes no mistakes. Leaving everything. Leaving the entirety of our lives, ourselves, our rights in this world. Our cause. Our whole future. Leaving it all in His hands. Believing that in everything, God is working for our good. So that we might have the confidence, as the writer of Proverbs says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight. And this kingdom character of meekness before God as it is expressed before God is described by David in Psalm 37. In verse 3 he says, trust in the Lord. Verse 4, delight yourself in the Lord. Verse 5, commit your way to the Lord. Verse 7, be still before and wait patiently for the Lord. And verse 34, wait for the Lord again, he says. And this demonstration of humble character before God, beloved, then it shows its genuineness, it reveals its genuineness and its reality as it is also demonstrated then toward men. Again, it's kind of easy, isn't it, to in the privacy of our own room, to demonstrate it before God. But it is also to be demonstrated before man, toward man. And this is where it gets a little bit more difficult. And it's demonstrated, I believe, both positively and in a negative sense. Positively, as Paul says in Philippians 2, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. He says, that the mind of Christ might be in you, he says. Look to the interests of others. Looking out for the welfare of others. Practicing the law of love toward our neighbor as we were reminded again in our consideration of the law from Ephesians this morning. Helping them. Encouraging them. But also, Again, there's a bit of a demonstration in the negative sense. Not in the sense that we do negative things toward others. But what I mean by that is that meekness is demonstrated in how we respond, or we should say, don't respond to situations with others and to the sin of others directed against us. In many ways, that's what the psalmist in Psalm 37 is talking about. How we do not respond to the actions of others that are against us. Again, Calvin's definition begins that the meek are persons of mild and gentle disposition. He doesn't stop there. He goes on to say, who are not easily provoked by injury. In other words, who do not easily become angered when they are hurt in some way. And he goes on, who are not ready to take offense. In other words, whose tempers don't flare up at a moment's notice, whose anger doesn't become aroused in an instant. He goes on, but are prepared to endure anything. rather than do the like actions to wicked men. Rather than to return those same wicked actions upon wicked men. Beloved, meekness means trusting in God, living by faith, responding in faith at all times, in all circumstances, but especially if we believe that we are suffering unjustly. And all of us have suffered unjustly in some ways, some in major ways I know of even recently, some in minor ways. Suffering without provocation. But meekness means not being resentful in those times. Now, if you're like me, you're beginning to get a little bit uneasy because I know myself, I know my tendencies way too well and I struggle with meekness. I have a difficult time with this kingdom quality, this kingdom characteristic of meekness. The truth is, beloved, we do suffer attacks. Now, I'm not talking about the attacks we inflict on others. In a sense, we need to put both sets of shoes on, okay? But with this meekness, we're talking about how we as believers respond and therefore, we want to talk about of the fact that we do suffer attacks, sometimes major, sometimes minor, sometimes justly, sometimes unjustly. We do face criticisms about ourselves. Sometimes, boys and girls, we are punished or we are reprimanded for doing something wrong. We face circumstances that are not to our liking, that are not to our pleasure. There are those who try to take advantage of us or try to gain an advantage in life by depriving us or cheating us in some way. Boys and girls, there are those who are mean to us, who try to hurt us, bullies in school or in the neighborhood, those who want to pick on us. Sometimes our own brothers and sisters hit us and are mean to us and maybe take our things without permission and break them. Again, a situation that is not pleasant for you and me. Sometimes the kids in school call us names or spread nasty gossip about us or simply make fun of us at the least little thing. And sometimes we commit a misjudgment. I'll be kind and call it a misjudgment. I'll give you a concrete example. We commit a misjudgment or an unintended mistake on the freeway by pulling in front of somebody, for example. And it's met with a fist shaking or other expressions of anger or when they pass you real fast, you see the anger on their face or their mouth spewing forth all kinds of words. Unbelievers try to push believers to the limit, to the breaking point and see what they can get by with through cheating and harassment and cursing. They want to make life difficult simply whether in the neighborhood or in the workplace. When I was about junior high school, my brother and I would be walking home from school at times from the local Christian school and the public school bus would go by and sometimes the kids would hang out the windows giving gestures, shouting names, cursing, throwing soda cans or other garbage at us just because they knew that we went to the Christian school. My point is that the scenarios are endless of the difficulties and the hardships that you and I face, sometimes justly, sometimes unjustly. And the question of meekness is, how do we respond? And sadly, often because of the natural tendency of the sin that still clings to us that we still fight with on a day-to-day basis, we often respond by wanting to hit back, boys and girls, by actually hitting your brother or sister back. We want to respond with the same unkind words and often do. Or try to come up with something better. We go tell on them, hoping to get them into trouble. We want to get similar revenge and hope that they experience the very same hurt that they have inflicted upon us. We want to give them what we think they deserve, don't we? Have you ever responded, for example, by shouting, it's not fair, I have my rights. Or he or she did it to me first. I don't deserve that. Have you ever threatened one by saying, I'm going to get you back. I'm going to get even with you. Or maybe said, just remember, what goes around comes around. With the full idea that you're going to be the one to make sure it comes around. You see, beloved, that's the world's remedy, to get even, to make others pay. Resentment, revenge. Maybe you've seen the commercials about a law office on TV He says something to the effect, you may be entitled to a large cash settlement if. You see the complete opposite of meekness that God calls for, but instead getting revenge, making someone pay. True meekness, brothers and sisters, calls for humble trust in God, remembering that vengeance belongs to Him. He will repay, but also remembering my like sins. Remember the shoes on the other feet? The other pair of shoes? My like sins of committing the very same violations and even committing against God, my resentment against God, but those sins paid for by Jesus Christ. You see, when I remember my spiritual poverty and what I truly deserve, but what God has given me instead, then I know that I am in no position to hand out what I think others deserve. True meekness is responding not with sin. Remember the second beatitude? The child of God mourns. He hates sin. He doesn't want to participate in it. True meekness responds not returning evil for evil, not taking the law into my own hands, not conniving to get even and to cause others to suffer. But true meekness empowered by the Holy Spirit is responding by doing what is right in the sight of God. Returning good for evil. Praying for the enemy. For the one who has hurt you. Again, David in Psalm 37 points out how this is to be carried out with regard to those who hurt us or who are against us. Verse 1, Do not fret because of evil men or be envious. Verse 7, Do not fret when they carry out their wicked schemes. Verse 8, refrain from anger and turn from wrath. Verse 27, turn away from evil and do good. But it means a little bit more. It also means not only keeping from the act of revenge. Boys and girls, it means not only not hitting back. Not only keeping from that. But it means being free from wanting to. free from the desire for it, free from the hatred and the anger in the heart, being able to bear being provoked without being inflamed by it and giving in to it, even in our desires, even in our thoughts. This does not mean, beloved, that we do not defend ourselves in danger. It does not mean that we leave the front door open and welcome the thief to come in and steal, but it means that when we are faced with these situations of life, it means that we deal with them properly in a God-honoring way according to the means that He has provided. You see, true meekness, again, comes from the Holy Spirit. Only from the Holy Spirit and His powerful work in that changed heart. God, through the Holy Spirit, gives power to fight the natural tendencies to strike back and to get even. Again, we can look to the biblical examples for that. Moses, remember when his brother Aaron and sister Miriam became envious of him. Who are you? Why are you so important? Why are you the only one that God speaks with? Moses didn't get resentful. He didn't say a word back. He trusts in the Lord. He let God take care of it. Abraham with Lot selfishly took all the great pasture ground, the well-watered ground, and left Abraham with the not-so-well-watered ground. Abraham wasn't resentful. He didn't get angry at him. He didn't say it's not fair. He trusted his circumstance, his place, to God. We think of Paul and Stephen. They suffered abuse, terrible, horrible physical abuse, even to the point of death. Stephen, we know, was stoned. And even while he was being stoned, It wasn't hatred on his face. It was the glory of God that was on his face. He didn't hate his abusers. And ultimately, the great example, the example that saves us, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was abused, who was beaten, who was spit on, who was whipped, who was spoken against, and who suffered the hellish agony on the cross, the physical abuse of the cross. Isaiah 53 says, He did not open His mouth. There was not a resentful or angry thought, imagine that, in His heart. He did not treat them or us as we our sins deserve. He demonstrated true strength and power by enduring the injustice of sin all the way to death on the cross. With love in His heart for those for whom He was dying. but in all these examples we see that the one who is meek is the one who is truly courageous, who is the truly powerful one. Boys and girls, it's not the bully who has power. The bully is not the strong one. It doesn't take strength to be a bully, to pick on someone. The bully is the coward. But the powerful one is the one who endures in Christ Jesus without falling into sin. True power from the Holy Spirit, the true power of meekness is able to resist temptation, the temptation to respond with sin. Kingdom meekness in a selfish world, again, first of all, demonstrates a humble character. But now, very quickly and briefly, there's one more point that enjoys an unexpected reward. We spent so much time talking about what it is. We don't need much time for this. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. What a glorious promise. Again, it wouldn't have made sense to the ears that may have been hearing it at that time. An unexpected reward, especially in the eyes of the world. The world lives by the model, the survival of the fittest. You've got to be aggressive. You've got to be courageous. You've got to just go out and take what belongs to you, no matter who you have to push over to get to it. Being wishy-washy, being timid, being weak, according to the wrong definition of meek, even the proper definition of meek, not being resentful, not being revengeful, it's not going to get you anywhere in life. And oftentimes in this life it seems that those who lie and cheat and steal and act unjustly, that they do come out ahead. They gain things of this life. David says as much. Verse 35, I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil. But he goes on to say it's not going to last. They're busy grabbing and taking in this materialistic age, beloved. Some actually do believe whoever dies with the most toys wins. And don't you just want to say, wins what? Because David tells a different story. He says in verse 9, the wicked are going to be cut off. He says in verse 10, they will be no more. In verse 15, He points to their self-destruction. Their own spears are going to spear them. In verse 17, He says their power will be broken. In verse 20, He says they will perish. Indeed, the wicked may have all kinds of things and gain all kinds of things that seem to physically inherit the earth, but you see, the wicked do not possess the things of this life. The things of this life possess them. They are slaves to it. They are never content. They always want more. And one day it will all be stripped from them, but the meek inherit the earth. Because Jesus Christ is victorious. And because the earth and the world is the Lord's. An unexpected reward as a blessing of grace. You see, while the wicked are out there trying to grab and take, Ours is an inheritance given. You don't secure your own inheritance. It's given to you. It's a precious gift. The meek will inherit the earth. And we enjoy the taste of that already. Today, as the meek are blessed, they possess the earth because they take what God spreads before them, whether little or much, whatever their circumstances, whatever their place, They take it and enjoy it in the Lord. While the wicked fight for more and the wicked fail to enjoy what they have, the meek are truly content with God's provision in this life knowing that as David says in v. 16, better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked. Or v. 19, in times of disaster, they will not wither. In days of famine, they will enjoy plenty. Or v. 25, I was young and now I am old, David says, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. The earth is the Lord's and therefore His people will not be forsaken. It's a blessing of grace in Christ Jesus through whom we enjoy the perfect peace that Isaiah speaks of in verse 42. While there is no peace for the wicked, he says in chapter 48. Paul in 2 Corinthians 6 speaks of the believer as having nothing, yet possessing everything in Christ. We enjoy the blessing of God in this life and ultimately we know this points to the day to come. As one day you and I, by the grace of God, will come into the fullness of the inheritance that has been earned by Jesus Christ through His meekness. He had no resentful desire for our punishment. But in love, He took our resentment. He took the hatred of man that those who believe might have everlasting life. He died for our resentment. He died for our hatred. He died for our desire for revenge against God. And in Him, beloved, we have new life. and we are being remade in the image of God. And even today, we have the joy of looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth that the Bible speaks of. We can't begin to fathom it, but we do know the wicked have no part in it. Beloved, meekness is a part of new life in Jesus Christ, in Him alone. And though we still struggle in this life with revenge and resentment and giving in to those sins at times, our comfort is that all of our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus. And therefore, beloved, may our prayer be that the Holy Spirit would continue to cultivate that Spirit in us. That He would deliver us more and more from that Spirit of revenge and resentment. That He would sow in us true meekness. That He would reap from us a deeper trust in God and love for others. And may our meekness, our gentleness, our humility more and more reflect that of Jesus Christ, that we might truly have the mind of Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. And therefore, may our lives of meekness be a bright light and unmistakable arrow pointing to the amazing grace of God. because ours is the blessed promise that we shall live and we shall reign with Him forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray together. Oh Lord God, You have reminded us in a most powerful way that we have a long way to go. But praise God, we don't go that way on our own. We can't even begin to go that way on our own. You are the one who equips and strengthens and empowers. You are the one who brings change in the hearts and lives of those for whom Jesus died. And we desire that change more and more. That indeed we would be a godly people. You have said we are holy and dearly loved. And Father, may we demonstrate that through love of others. through a patience and a selflessness and a desire to return good for evil. And in that way, we pray to be a light shining to a dark world of the grace of God in our lives. Oh, Father, we thank You for Your Word. Though it convicts us, though it challenges us and admonishes us, yet Your Word, by Your Spirit, which nourishes and strengthens us and draws us closer to You, In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.