A New Walk On An Old Path - The Sermon On The Mount

by Don Hatfield

filled. I just sat there in my silence unable to speak. After about three or four minutes James said, “I know that you are hungry and thirsty my young believer and so I will tell you what righteousness is. Righteousness is what we ought to be. It is when our lives are filled with integrity, virtue, purity of life, correctness of thinking, feeling and acting.” I turned to James with tears in my eyes and said, “Now I know why we must be hungry and thirsty for these things cannot be had without seeking the one who has them.” James nodded and said, “The Holy Spirit has revealed this to you. Stay hungry and thirsty and you will be filled.”

  I smiled and said, “I am ravished for both drink and food. Will you nourished me some more with the bread and drink from Heaven as you heard it on that day?” James laughed and said of course and then spoke, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.” James looked at me and said, “Isaac the word mercy means to help one who is afflicted. To reach out to one who is seeking aid. When Jesus came looking for you did you realize that you needed His mercy? Did you realize that you were afflicted by sin and needed someone greater than yourself to come to your aid?” I again remembered that day when I had prayed for God to have mercy on my miserable afflicted sin sick soul. I thought about how His mercy to me has been new every day since then. I said to James, “I think that to be merciful we must look for those who are afflicted. But I also think that we must be careful because if we just help them without pointing them to the Savior then we have only put a band aid on their eternal misery.” James said, “You are right Isaac for to help someone without pointing them to the Savior can actually lead them to depend more and more on man and become more and more hardened to the Holy Spirits advances. If we do that we are not showing them mercy at all. We are only clearing a path to Hell for them. A path that leads to no mercy for it leads away from the merciful one.”

  We were both quiet for a few minutes. I thought how often we think that we are helping God when we are only hindering Him. I prayed that the Lord would let me be merciful but at the same time let me pray for His guidance as I show mercy to others. May the mercy I show always point them to Him who is the merciful one? The one who can save them from the fires of Hell by His mercy. James then spoke very quietly and said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Isaac, we shall see Him in all His glory. What a day that will be but to do so we must also become pure as He was pure. We must be free from corrupt desire we must be purified by His cleansing fire as He was pure from the stain of sin. Isaac, we shall be pure because He will prune us with His shears of holiness. We will be cleansed by His pruning. Our hearts will be cleansed from its evil passions, its corrupt desires. Our affections will be purified, our thoughts made conformable to His. Our purpose, endeavors, and plans brought into conformity to His will and character. Yes, then Isaac, then we shall behold Him there on His throne. We shall bow down to the one who came down from His heavenly home so that we might be pure again in His sight. Isaac, does your heart not melt within you at the thought of it.” As the tears began to run down my cheeks I look to the heavens and said,” Oh, Jesus you will have to make me pure for I will never be pure enough to enter your glorified presence.” James said, “He will and He has for with Him all things are possible.” Just then the sun went behind a cloud and this caught James and my attention. James said, “Look like the sun is covered by the cloud as He was covered by our sin.” Then the sun began to come out from behind the cloud in all of its blazing glory. Though it was very warm chills went up and down my arm. Then the sun began to take away those chills as I felt its purifying heat on me. Glory to God I shouted. I shall be pure and I shall behold Him. James and I both raised our arms to the Son and gave thanksgiving to the one who would outshine the sun.

  “Tell me more of that day, James. Let me hear more of what my Savior said to the people.” James told me that the next thing that Jesus said was,” Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” I stopped him and said, “I hear that Jesus said believing in Him would not bring peace but would cause even families to fight against one another. How then can we be peacemakers and cause dissension at the same time?” James responded, “I know that it sounds contradictory but it is not. Let me explain. Jesus was a peacemaker He came to bring peace between God and man. He knew that would not happen with everyone for the wicked would hate the peace that He offered for they would have to give up their sin. Isaac, you would think that if we tried to be peacemakers that mankind would love us but that is not so. For the god of this world hates the God of our world. However just as Jesus came to bring peace we should also strive to keep peace not only with those outside the church but also with those inside the church. If we try to keep this peace between all without comprising our belief’s then we shall be called Gods children.” I said to James, “I understand but it sounds as if our peacemaking is going to bring problems just as it did to Jesus.” James said, “That is why Jesus then said what He said next. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. It will bring problems Isaac but that is no reason not to proclaim the Gospel of peace. When men trouble, harass and mistreat you then you are blessed because men without knowing it are conferring upon you dignity. You are actually partaking of the Kingdom of Heaven.” I looked at James and said, “Do I have to be happy about it. I think I will find it very difficult to like it when men are treating me badly. When they are pursuing me so that they can be hostile to me.” James said, “You are right for none of us can feel blessed when these things happen to us unless the Holy Spirit can do a supernatural work in our souls.”

  I sat there in the silence of the moment and prayed and confessed to my Father. I knew that within me there was no power to be what Jesus said I should be. I prayed that Jesus would open my eyes to His power so that I might see the blessedness that James was talking about. James began to laugh as he sat next to me. He looked at my puzzled and perplexed face and began to laugh even harder. Then he got me to laughing because he was laughing. Through his laughter he then said, “It gets worse.” I said, “Oh no!” He then began to laugh even harder and rolled over on his side because he was laughing so hard. He again through his laughter said, “It gets worse but it gets better at the same time.” I said, “How can that be?” After a while we both settled down and he began to explain with Jesus’s next statement. James then spoke these words, “I will tell you the worse things first. This is what Jesus said next, blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Isaac, Jesus stood on that hill and told us we were blessed when men would criticize and denounce us because of Him. Blessed also are you when they mistreat and run after you to do so for His sake. Blessed are you when men lie about you and make up deliberate lies about you because of Jesus.” James said that does not sound like much to be happy or blessed about does it Isaac? I said, “It sure doesn’t but you said it would get worse and then better. What is the better, James?” James smiled and said, “The better and the blessed is in what Jesus said next. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven. Isaac, every rebuke, every insult, or slap is recorded by Jesus in Heaven. There is nothing that is not noted by God in which His Son is honored. God Himself will bestow the rewards on us. The time we spend here is so short when compared with the time of eternity. We may rejoice that our God does not forget us. Isaac, Jesus then went on to say for so they persecuted the prophets which were before you. We are held in the same honor with the great prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. Now can you say and Amen.” I not only said and Amen but finished it with a glory to God. To think that God would so honor a small saint such as I and to be held in the same esteemed as His prophets if I would only yield to Him. Once more I said Glory to God.

  James then said, “Isaac, do you see that you are blessed? Do you see that He is the only one who can bring you to the place where these blessings are true in you?” I responded, “I a
m so glad that I stopped here today and met you James. I do not think that I really had any idea of what our Father is asking us to be like. He wants us to be like Jesus and the only way we can be is to let Him have full reign in our lives. I want to do that so that when I meet Him in heaven He will say well done Isaac. James, was that all He said on that day to all the people.” James smiled and said, “No Isaac we have only just begun.” Tell me more was my response. James said, “Okay, I will tell you what He said we as His followers should be like. I have told you how to be blessed and now I will tell you what He said we should resemble. Jesus’s next statement on that day was this. Ye are the salt of the earth but if the salt has lost its savor wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. Do you know anything about salt Isaac?” It just so happened that I did for my uncle had been a butcher. I told James that yes I knew a little about it. He then said tell me what you