This sermon is auto-transcribed and may contain inaccuracies.
The Beautiful Bride of Christ
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
Christ’s Vision for His Church
And here we have further the lines in the painting of the beautiful face of the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. And a beautiful face it is, beautified with his salvation. And the lines drawn by the one who’s not ever made any mistake in that beautiful artistry of this description of his people. And would it be not good for us to learn what they look like from his language and his speech. Who knows them, who knows them within and without. And who says about his people, thou art all fair, my love, and there is no spot in thee. And who says to them, O daughter, hearken and regard, and do thine ear incline. Likewise, forget thy father’s house and people that are thine. Then, if the king desires, shall be thy beauty vehemently. And that is indeed what Christ is saying here to his church, that he desires to see her beauty. He desires to see her comeliness. Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tersa, comely as Jerusalem, fair as the moon, clear as the sun. This is Christ’s view of his bride, his church, his lovely, beautified, saved people. He found her polluted and defiled in her blood, cast out into the open field to the loathing of her person. And he passed by and he cast his mantle over her, and her time was a time of love. And he raised her up from that condition of a lost, ruined deformity and ugliness that sin had corrupted her in. And he did indeed beautify her with salvation.
The Robe of Righteousness and the Beauty of Holiness
And she has a robe of righteousness, a garment of salvation, which is that in which she appears before God. As Lachlan Mackenzie has it in his beautiful little picture of the happy man, the blessed man, that he has a robe in which to appear before in court, in the courts, which is the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Why does he call it that, the robe in which he appears in court? And that, we believe, is what he had in mind. It would seem it would be in all her worship, in all the worship of the people of God, in all their approaches to God, in all things pertaining to God, in everything that they engage in, in religious observance and duty and worship, and the ordinances of his house. This is indeed the only ground of their acceptance, not their own righteousness. Nothing about them, not even that which is wrought in them, is the ground of their acceptance with God. Not even their faith, and their hope, and their love, and their beautiful garments of holiness is the ground of their acceptance with God, and the favor of God towards them, but the robe of Christ’s righteousness. And they desire to see that, they desire to appear in that, and they’re blessed in that, and they’re satisfied with that, they’re glad of that, but they have a beauty of holiness also. And they are, as we were singing in the psalm, they are the king’s daughter, all glorious, all glorious, with embroideries of gold her garments wrought have been, and she shall be brought unto the king in robes with needle wrought, her fellow virgins following shall unto thee be brought.
Internal and External Adornment
And so, with these descriptions of the Church of God are really in drawing our attention to the needlework of that garment of holiness, that beautiful holiness, which he is going to work, and is at work in them, sanctifying them through his truth, his word is truth, that’s his prayer, that’s his desire to see them all glorious within. Father, I will that they also, thou hast given me, be with me where I am, and nothing that defileth will enter in, therefore they must be beautified in this way also, with the salvation within and without, in heart and life and speech and behavior, and that is their blessedness, that he has given them the word of God for that end. He has described them, yes, to encourage them and comfort them, he’s instructed them in his word as to what they ought to be and what they will be, though they are not yet what they shall be. He is telling them that when they shall see him as he is, they shall be like him, and they shall be conformed to the image of the Son, and the bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom’s face. It is not that this is going to make them proud and haughty, like with stretched forth necks, as that ugly self-promotion and vain glory is described for us in the prophecy of Isaiah, but it’s meekness, lowliness, shame-facedness, the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price, great price, great beauty in his eyes.
Well, here are three elements, we might call them, parts. We might view it in the light of the picture we might think of Christ’s painting, the beautiful, holy face of his church, his bride, and here it is. It’s all one. We’re not to disconnect these parts. We’re not to think that, oh, well, this man is poor in spirit, this man is mourning, this man is meek, this child of God is hungering and thirsting after righteousness, this one is merciful. No, no. It’s the entire picture. The entire picture. They’re all, as it were, contained, they all have something of this, some degree of it, some measure of it, and they are all being adorned with the same beauty. They’re all being made beautiful within and without. They’re all being fitted and prepared and molded and mastered by the glorious bridegroom himself, fitting them, preparing them as a bride, adorning his bride, adorning her, making her beautiful, that he might present her to himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and before him in love. And so here are three of the graces of the Holy Spirit which shine forth in the life of the people of God, a restoring of the divine image, conformity to it, a blessedness indeed beyond and above and far excelling, what this world thinks and knows and understands of anything that’s beautiful. Here is a holy beauty, the beauty of holiness. Here is spiritual beauty.
Spiritual Beauty vs. Civil Virtues
The world knoweth us not. They are not off the world. Yes, there’s a civil kind of mercy. There’s a civil kind of honesty. There’s a civil kind of peaceableness. There’s a civil kind of all these things that may deceive the hearts of the simple and men abuse the Word of God and use these very descriptions of saints of God and say, well, that’s what I am. That’s what they are. Look at them going about. Ah, here is something different. Here is something beyond distinguishing, discriminating, setting them apart. And it is the spiritually minded and those who have the Spirit of Christ that discern spiritual things. The natural man sees it not, their foolishness to him, but he that is spiritual judges all things. And we are to seek that in understanding what and who and how the people of God have this beautiful holiness. And we are to seek it. And we are to seek it in connection with the duties of his worship. That is what the Lord desires when he comes to sit at the table with his guests, that they would have a garment on them worthy of that table. Something of the conformity to his Word and will, a worthiness. It’s not that they earn it. That’s not the meaning of the worthiness of sitting at the Lord’s supper. It’s they cannot earn it. If that was the measure of their sitting, their right to sit, they would be never sitting at the Lord’s table ever. But there is an appropriateness, a suitableness, there is a fittingness between the life and the conduct, the behavior, the way, the walk, the conversation, the motives, the principles, the habits, the adorning graces which ought to be in the children and church and bride of Christ in connection with, yes, their relation to him and to one another. It’s that that he’s calling forth to be examined. That’s what he would have us to examine ourselves on. Whether we be in the faith, yes, but whether we have the marks and evidences of faith in our lives, the fruits, and fruits particularly in connection with our relationship to one another, and that’s what these are here.
The Progression of the Beatitudes
To some extent, as we mentioned before, when we were looking at the other Beatitudes, there’s a progression. It’s from the inward man, the spiritual change that has taken place within who are the poor in spirit, who are mourning for sin, a new principle of holy religious devotion to God and appearing before him in that posture of humble faith and trust and confidence and repentance and new obedience and meekness and gentleness, Godward first. But it’s it’s drawing out, as it were, the image, the picture to the outward man as well, and that’s the beauty of Christ’s church within and without. Blessed, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
Fourfold Consideration of the Beauty of Holiness
Well, there are four things we would like to consider in connection with these three graces. We might think of them together, though they may be treated separately, but for our purpose today to think of them together and, as it were, woven into one another in a beautiful tapestry, artistry, a painting of great beauty indeed.
I. The Pattern of This Beauty: Christ Himself
But to firstly consider what we might identify as the pattern of this beauty of holiness. On what pattern is it conformed? To what pattern is it conformed? And if it is, of course, the beauty of his holiness. It’s Christ himself that we’re to see here. That’s what a Christian is, somebody who’s like Christ. That’s what the Bride of Christ is. She is made like him. She is the Bride of Christ. She is fair as the moon. The moon has all its light from the sun. No light in itself, but all its light reflecting the sun. He is glorified in them. As it were, his light shines through and in them. So he is the pattern of their beauty. That firstly.
One thing I of the Lord desired and will seek to obtain, and that all days of my life I may within God’s house remain, that I the beauty of the Lord behold me and admire. And it’s Christ in His people that is to be seen. That’s what faith desires to see, it’s what love sees, it’s what hope sees, it’s what the graces of the Holy Spirit are given to them to see. That we might see Jesus, we might see His glory, and see His blessedness, see Him as the author and the finisher of the faith of His people and the life of His people. Blessed, all blessing comes from Him. He is the blessing one. He is the blessed God, the blessed Savior, the blessed Redeemer. Everything that He is doing to His people is their blessing, all blessing, no curse, no wrath, no just judgment, no anger towards them, but love, grace, mercy, and blessing. Blessing I will bless thee, and the less is blessed of the better, as we mentioned before. And so it is Christ’s great work to bless His people and to bless them in Him. Men shall be blessed in Him. His name forever shall endure, last like the sun it shall. And He shall be glorified in His saints. He shall be admired in all them that believe in that day. And so learn, friend, learn, child of God, to see the beauty of Christ in one another, to see Christ’s image when you look at one another, to seek the picture and view of the pattern of Christ. He is, as it were, the original from which this copy is taken. He’s drawing a picture of His people in their likeness to Himself.
Mercifulness in Christ
Well, is He not merciful? The Lord, our God, is merciful and He is gracious, long-suffering and slow to wrath, in mercy plenteous. That’s His very name. That’s the one in whom compassions flow. He is merciful towards the ruined and the miserable and the sorrowful. That is the great end for which He came into this world. It is in mercy and in compassion. And that is what we are to see and to read in His heart. We are to observe and see it in all that is written concerning Him. The mercy of God unfolded, the mercy of God revealed, the mercy and compassion and love of God our Saviour toward men appears in this glorious person coming, in the glorious work which He was performing, in every step He took, in every action, in every word, in every gesture, in every thought. These are the thoughts I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil. That’s the mercy that’s in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, He went about doing good. We can read the story of His life. There’s not one part of it, but it’s saturated with this mercy, compassion, tenderness, sympathy, loving-kindness, full of compassion. Oh, how beautiful, how beautiful a holiness, how beautiful a glory, how illustrious the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ we have, that I the beauty of the Lord. Did you ever see that? Did you ever notice it? Was it attractive to you? Did it win your heart? Did it draw you? Did it say, oh, this is a beautiful, a beautiful man, a beautiful person? And ah, we won’t, we won’t, we’re only touching about the surface of the glorious ocean of wonders that is in this glorious person, God and man. The God-man mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, holy and harmless and undefiled and separate from sinners. God in our nature, Emmanuel, God with us. This is the name wherewith He shall be called. That glorious beauty and all the beauty of God in that beautiful mercy towards the children of men, the glorious excellence, the perfection of beauty, shining gloriously in the face of Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath revealed Him. The Lord, our God, is merciful. And all that is to be seen. Yes, we are to look into it. We are to desire to see it. We’re to examine it, search the scriptures. They testify of me. They tell you who I am. They tell you all about me. And this is what you’re to look for. The very pattern on which the beauty of the holiness of His people is to be conformed to it. And that beauty of merciful, mercifulness is, of course, to be seen in the light of the misery of this fallen, ruined world into which He came. The man of sorrows He was, acquainted with grief. But what did He do in that world of sin and sorrow and enmity and hatred, and all the contradiction of sinners against Himself, which He was called to endure? How did He live in that world of enemies and enmity? Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, touched with the feeling of His people’s infirmities, in all points tempted as they were, and as they are, yet without sin. That’s the kind of mercy that He evinced and evidenced and made known in His dealings with His people, yes, and with sinners and with His enemies, too. That’s what He says at the end. Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. He who is the Son of the Father, He who is like His Father, He who has the Father’s mind and the Father’s love and the Father’s holy beauty, the face of Jesus Christ is the revelation of the Father to the children of men. And if you are going to be like the Father which is in heaven, who makes His Son to shine on the evil and on the good, I who sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust, oh, you are to be like this glorious, beautiful One who is merciful, who is gracious, who is loving even of His enemies. That’s the picture. If ye love them that love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same? If ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect. That’s the pattern, a perfection. And we might go on further and say that this is the heart that beats before the throne of God still, the human heart of compassion and mercy. In that holy humanity glorified at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens, we have such an high priest who is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, who can have and does have and will have compassion upon the ignorant and on them who are out of the way, in that He Himself was compassed with these infirmities. He has taken that whole, whole experience, we might say, if we can speak of it, if we can understand anything of it, He has taken the whole of it with Him to glory, such that in a way beyond our conception, He is touched with the feeling of His people’s infirmities. Touched now, full of compassion still. That’s the mercy of the pattern, the mercifulness of the pattern. And it’s a wondrous beauty. It’s a glory which is excelling. It’s something to be admired and seen. Something to be admired and sought after in the word and worship of God.
Purity of Heart in Christ
But there’s this too, blessed are the pure in heart. We’ve touched on that something already. It’s from that that His mercy flows, a heart that is pure, whose hands are clean, whose heart is pure, and unto vanity who hath not lifted up his soul. Whether we consider it in relation to the defiling corruptions that are in this world, here is one who is untouched by them, pure and undefiled, most holy, a most holy beauty within. The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me, which of you convinceth me of sin? And so there’s purity of heart. Whether we think of it in terms of the inward man as distinct from the outward, the Jews had an outward religion, they gloried in it. They cleaned the outside of the cup and of the platter, but inwardly they were full of ravening and wickedness. But ah, here is the pattern of holiness to which the holy law of God is calling his people, a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. And ah, are you looking for one? Are you looking for one who is the model on which to form this glorious beauty, on which is formed and fashioned this perfection of holiness in human life and in human obedience? And in the course of obedience of any person in this world, where are you to look? You’re not to find it in the angels, you’re not to find it among men, you’re not to find it in the saints of God, you’re not to see the pattern in any holy person. They are only to be followed as they follow Christ. And so this is the beauty of holiness, the purity of heart. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the pure in heart whose hands are clean. He is the man that ascends into the hill of God. He is the man who has fellowship with heaven. He is the one who continues all night in prayer to God. He is the one who shined gloriously on the Mount of Transfiguration. And the veil of holy humanity, as it were, was drawn aside to see something of the glorious purity of divinity, luster and shining forth, exceeding the brightness of the sun. His face white and glistening, the beauty of this heart, the beauty of this person, the beauty of this humanity, yes, and the beauty of this divinity, God and man. Thou lovest right and hatest ill. That’s Christ’s honor and glory and dignity and beauty and dignity and beauty described for us in the psalm we were singing. Thou lovest right and hatest ill. For God, thy God, most high above thy fellows, hath with the oil of joy anointed thee. On him was poured out the spirit without measure, with all the gifts, with all the graces, with which he was to adorn his people. And he has the oil of that joy above his fellows, for his fellows. All the joy and the holy joy, all the purity, all the glorious lovely beauty of Christ, that they are to see and admire and seek to know and understand and get light upon, is so that he will influence and beautify them with that salvation, that grace, that holiness. He is the channel through which grace flows and beauty flows to his people, and he is the oil of joy. Oh, who can enter into joy without the danger, surely, as we find so often among the children of men, the corruption of the flesh entering in and spoiling that beauty and robbing them of that lovely exercise of holy joy. He is the oil of joy above his fellows. His holiness in heaven, the holiness of heaven is in his heart. Blessed are the pure in heart who see God, who have communion with God. That’s what Christ has.
Peacemaking in Christ
And then there’s this, blessed are the peacemakers. That’s a glory that belongs to Christ too, pre-eminently. That is indeed his name, the Prince of Peace. Unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given. You take that to be his humanity and his divinity also. A child born, a son given, the God-man mediator, Emmanuel God with us. Well, what is his name? His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. He is the peacemaker, peace between God and men, the one mediator between God and men. That’s the great purpose for which he came into the world, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward men. That’s Christ’s name. That’s the Son of God who came into this world to seek and to save the lost, to reconcile sinners to God, to pay a ransom price, to bring near those who were banished, to restore peace. O Lord, thy judgments give the King his son thy righteousness. With right he shall thy people judge thy poor with uprightness. The lofty mountains shall bring forth unto the people peace. Likewise the little hills the same shall do by righteousness. The people’s poor ones he shall judge, the needy’s children save. That’s Christ’s glory. It’s his beauty. It’s a lovely description of him, of the increase of his government and peace. There shall be no end. The government of his house, the government of his kingdom, it’s a kingdom of peace. It’s a kingdom that has a design to bring not only peace between sinners and God, but peace between men. He is our peace who has made both one, who has broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, that he might reconcile both in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you that were far off, and to them that were nigh, that through him we both may have access by one spirit unto the Father. Oh, that’s the glorious work that he’s engaging in, as the glorious messenger of peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. This glorious son of God is preaching peace whenever the gospel is preached. Ephesus, think of it, he came and preached peace to you, Paul said, to the Ephesians. Ephesians, children here you know where Ephesus is, and Jesus Christ of Nazareth was never in his humanity in this world in Ephesus, was he? Never, and yet Paul says he went and preached peace to you in Ephesus. He went, think of it, that’s what he’s doing when he sends forth his ambassadors, he’s the prince of peace, and he’s proclaiming peace in the earth, he’s proclaiming the gospel of peace, he’s declaring the way of peace, and he’s reconciling sinners to God by that gospel of peace, so that both Jew and Gentile in all their wars and hatred and malice and envy and hatefulness, hating one another, after the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appear, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but of his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through our Lord Jesus Christ, accompanying his gospel to bring the conditions of peace, glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill toward men. This is the pattern, this is the Christianity that is in the world, this is Christ, beauty, in his glorious beauty, walking in the midst of his church, in the person that he is, in the office that he carries, in the work that he performed, in the beauty of his holiness, in all that is true about him, he is that glorious pattern for his people. Something in Christ is to influence and affect and effect the great change that takes place in their souls, Godward, Christward, and toward one another. Every single feature of the character of believers, everything about them is to be traced to Christ, everything that they are, everything that they ought to be, everything that they will be, is flowing from him, and his glorious beauty, and his excellencies, his person, his work, his office, his grace, his covenant, his love. He is our peace, who hath made both one.
II. The Spring and Source of This Beauty: Received Grace
And then secondly, something of the spring or the source from which this beauty of holiness comes. And it is, we might think of it this way, that where we read, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. As we’ve observed in regard to the other Beatitudes, they already have the blessedness. They already have something of this what is promised to them. Those who are mourning already have comfort in the pardon of their sins. And the more they see of that, the more they mourn. The more they experience of the inheritance that they have in Christ, the more meek they are. The more they know that theirs is the kingdom of heaven, the more poor in spirit they are. The more filled they are with the righteousness of Christ, the more they hunger for it. And so the more they hunger for it. And so too here then.
Mercy from Obtained Mercy
So blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. That is secondly the spring from which this grace flows, they have obtained mercy, they have obtained mercy of God, as Paul said, who was an enemy to the people of God in his heart, he was injurious, he was a blasphemer, but he said, I obtained mercy. My ignorance, my unbelief, made me an enemy to Christ and his people, to persecute them, to hate them, but oh, the transformation, the change, the new affection, where did it come from, Paul? How do you explain it? How can you account for it? What is it that wrought that in your soul, Paul? What made the difference? What changed you? And that’s what he says, I obtained mercy. The grace of our God was exceeding above exceeding abundant, with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. That’s where I got faith from, the mercy of God toward me. That’s where I got love from, the mercy of God toward my soul. He blessed me with that mercy. He was merciful unto me, God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are ye saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show forth the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto this, unto good works. It’s his mercy, God’s mercies I will ever sing. That’s the spring from which the grace of mercifulness flows and comes and arises and begins and begins to work in the souls and in the lives of God’s people. It’s a different thing, civil peace, civil mercy. Natural dispositions, natural affections, natural compassionate tenderness of a mother to a child, of those who see the miserable going out to help them. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s the restraining grace of God indeed. It’s what the word of God describes as God’s favor and mercy in that outward way towards the children of men, that they’re not devils, that they’re not destroying one another. It’s a great restraining grace placed, restraining power upon corrupt, the wicked, corrupt, deceitful, envious, brutish heart of man. And oh, when it’s lost and when the influence of Christ and his grace and truth are lost upon society, that’s what it turns, blood touches blood. Men lose even the semblance of mercy. But here is, here is a mercy which springs from the taste of God’s mercy towards those who are most unworthy and miserable. Forgive as ye have been forgiven. It’s the same picture. We have it later in chapter six. If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will forgive you. It’s not that they earn forgiveness by showing forgiveness, no, but they will manifest this forgiveness who have been forgiven. Those who have loved, been loved much will show their love much. Those who have great reason to admire and know and experience and have experienced great mercy will show great mercy. You see a man who’s not merciful, he’s seen very little of God’s mercy. You see a man who’s got the spirit of enmity and no forgiveness towards those who have offended him, it’s because he sees so very little of his own being forgiven. He’s stunted in his understanding of free grace and forgiveness. You see an unmerciful man, be sure of it, he’s little esteeming mercy towards himself. It’s the great principle of Christianity that they love as they are loved. That they show mercy with cheerfulness because they have obtained mercy. That’s the spring of the graces. It’s the adorning beauty of Christ formed in them. It’s likeness to Christ that flows from him. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. To whom much is given, more shall be given. He that hath shall have abundantly. That’s the picture we have here.
Purity from Seeing God
And so too in this, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. They shall see God. It’s because they’ve seen God that they’re pure in heart. The promise, yes, they shall see more. They shall see his face. They shall see him in righteousness. They shall have that privilege, access. They shall have free communion. They shall have fellowship with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ, who are walking in the light as he is in the light. They have fellowship with him and they see his face in the face of Christ. They shall see God. But, ah, it’s the influence of their having seen God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself that brings them into this, that purifies their hearts. You remember that’s what was said about the Gentiles in Acts, purifying their hearts by faith. The effect of faith’s view of Christ is to purify the heart. It’s transforming. It’s transformed, but they’re transformed by the renewing of their mind to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Be not conformed to this world in heart or in life, but be transformed. Where does the transformation, the transformation come from? How is it effected? What is the spring of this transforming beauty in the purity of heart that belongs to the people of God in reality and truth, the sincerity, the honesty, the integrity, the Christ-likeness. Where does it come from? Well, the apostle describes it in this way. We then, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord. It is as though they look into the glass, they look into the mirror of the word of God and they see the glory of God. They see the glory of They see the glory of Christ there and it has a transforming effect so that they are transformed by it. That’s what the spirit of God does and where the spirit of God is working in the heart of any person, that is what it will do. It will transform them into a likeness, more and more dying unto sin, living unto righteousness. That’s what they are called to and that’s what he will do. All you’re saying today, I can’t see it. I can’t feel it. I don’t see this effect. I don’t feel this change. I feel I bemoan myself. Look not upon me because I am black. The sun hath looked upon me. My mother’s children were angry with me. My known vineyard have I not kept. But ah, what does the bridegroom say? Thou art beautiful. He has transformed the heart. He’s changed the will. He’s ordered the affections. He’s enlightened the mind. He’s purified the heart by faith and the Holy Spirit has begun a beautiful, glorious, purifying, sanctifying work of holiness within and it’s going to be perfected until the day of Jesus Christ. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. It’s not a natural impulse. It’s not comes, the holiness does not come from nature. It does not come from looking at the world around us and meditating on the birds and the flowers. It doesn’t come from the resources of man’s wisdom, philosophy. It doesn’t come from any creature. It comes from the Holy Spirit, born of God, born not of the flesh or the will of man but of God. Conformity to that image is the great work of the Holy Spirit within.
Peacemaking from Being Children of God
And so to this, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. The spring and source of this grace, this likeness to Christ, this conformity to the pattern, this putting on the Lord Jesus Christ in this matter of peacemaking, this making no provision for the flesh in connection with the wars and the commotions and the tumults and the envy and the hatefulness and the disagreeableness that is found among men and the pride and the haughty scorning and the despising of others. This blessed peacemaking, this sweet temperament of the children of God, it’s an attribute of the family and it comes from family love. It comes from the bonds of family love. It’s that sweet temperament of the children as brethren that the new nature has given them. By this shall all men know that you’re my disciples if you love one another. There is the image of Christ, of love towards the brethren. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. We are called the children of God. It’s not just a name. It’s not just a dignity, a title. It’s not just a profession. It’s not just something that people like to think about themselves. It’s a character. It’s childlikeness. It’s Christlikeness. They who love him that begat love him also that is begotten of him. They love the children of God because they love God and if they say that they love God and hate their brother, they’re a liar. It’s a lie. It’s a barefaced lie. Brotherly love, let brotherly love continue. That’s the great exhortation. Blessed are the peacemakers. This is the new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Don’t call them the children of God if they’re not peacemakers. If they don’t desire this unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, if they don’t endeavor to keep that unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, if they’re not pursuing after peace, think on these things, these beautiful, beautiful graces that adorn the church of God. They are adopted into a family. They’re one of the children and they shall love us brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil but contrary wise blessing.
III. The Exercise of This Beauty: Living Out Holiness
And then thirdly, we might consider something of the exercise of this beauty of holiness. The exercise of this beautiful holiness. And especially in relation to our duty on a coming Sabbath day, sitting down at the Lord’s table. We are called to this exercise of these graces and all the graces. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. There’s an exercise to which they are called in relation to the graces that Christ has given to them to be adorned with, to have. It’s not just a picture. It’s a reality. It’s a living beauty. It’s a holy beauty. From the womb of the morning, He has the Jew of his youth, a willing people in a day of power come to Him. They follow Him. They’re like Him. They desire to be like Him. They have communion with Him. They enter into the fellowship, and they have union and communion with Him in His gifts and graces. And so they become more and more and more and more like Him, sanctified by His truth. They cannot see it. They’re not looking at themselves. They’re seeing Him, but they’re called to this exercise, and particularly we might consider in view of the Lord’s Supper.
Adornment at the Lord’s Table
Well, we’ve come to the exercise of it too then in connection with the Lord’s Supper particularly. We can see surely that it’s in every facet, every aspect, every area, every part, every duty of life in the church and people of God. They are to live, they’re to live us like this. They’re to live towards others, towards their brethren, towards Christ, towards his people, towards his church, towards their enemies. It’s all there. It’s in the Bible for us. We can search it. We can look for it. It’s in this precious sermon throughout from beginning to end this beautiful picture of the bride adorned for her husband but oh how much it ought to be especially apparent and seen and beautified in the in the queen standing in the gold of Ophir when she’s among the honourable women, the king’s daughters, at the king’s table. When the king sitteth at his table, her spikenard is to send forth the smell. The smell of what? The smell of his name. Thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore the virgins love thee. The name of Christ, what he has given her when he has given her the word of God, when he has manifested his father’s name to her so that she would not be like the world, that she would live up to her name, that she would become more like him, that she would have the ointment of holy graces as it were perfuming the house of his worship of Aeolus, Myrrh and Cassia, smell thy garments had and therefore out of the ivory palaces they made thee glad. They, the church, made him glad when his ointments, when his garments smelled of Aeolus, Myrrh and Cassia. It affected, it influenced, it called him to exercise their graces. When the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. So at the table of the Lord, Christ and his bride sit. He brings them into a banqueting house, his banner over them is love. He stays them with flagons, he comforts them with apples, he manifests his love to them in another way than he does to the world and there to have this, these graces, these blessed, blessednesses, these beatitudes adorning them, there to be pouring forth something of this spikenard. Their house is to be filled with the order of this ointment, of love, yes, of mercy, of peace, of purity, no rancor, no division, no hatefulness, no enmity, no envy, no vainglory, no provoking one another, envying one another. Put away malice and guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil speakings. It’s all to be put away. It’s to be reconciled first to their brother before they come and offer their gift. Don’t try and come and offer your gift at the altar. If you know that your brother has ought against you, go first and be reconciled to him, then come and offer thy gift. Agree with an adversary. And oh, without guile, and oh, without guile, without hypocrisies, without envies, without evil speakings, blessed are the pure in heart. They shall see God. They shall see his face. They shall see the glorious beauty of the bridegroom. When they walk in the light, as he is in the light, they will have fellowship with him. And oh, they’ll have something of this, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleansing them from all sin. They’re sitting at the family table. There’s to be no disputes there. Christ’s presence, who is the Lord of the table, is to order and is to be the source of all order in his church, in his house, in his family. He is the peacemaker, so they are to be the peacemakers, and they shall be called the children of God.
IV. The Blessedness of This Beauty: Present and Future Glory
And so lastly, fourthly, the blessedness of this beauty of holiness. Oh, greatly blessed they are. Blessed here, but blessed hereafter. Oh, it’s but a little of the beauty that they see here and will be seen here. They’re seeing more of it in one another than they see in themselves. Christ is seeing it all. He’s seeing what He’s going to do, and He that has begun the good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, and they shall be brought with gladness great and mirth on every side. Oh, the blessedness, the blessedness of this beauty, this pattern, stamped, this image, this holy beauty of Christ found in them, seen in them, here. The world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not, but nevertheless the day is coming, the hour is on the wing, when the world shall know, when the world shall know that the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father, when they see those who are beautified with salvation, one with the Father and one with the Son. Father, I will that they would be with me, where I am, to behold my glory, that the world may know that Thou hast loved me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved me. That they may be one, that the world may know, that the world may see it. That’s Christ’s great purpose. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
How beautiful, how excellent, how glorious heaven shall be. That’s where their eye is to be. That’s where their heart is to be. Their affections are to be there. Behold the daughter of the King. All glorious is within. And with embroideries of gold her garments wrought have been. She shall be brought unto the King in robes with needle wrought. Her fellow virgins following shall unto thee be brought. They shall be brought with gladness great and mirth on every side. This is what they’re going to be like. The Beatitudes will be fully expressed in every one of them. This is what they’re going to be like. Blessed with all these beautified adornments. Instead of those thy fathers dear, thy children thou mayest take. And in all places of the earth them noble princes make. Thy name remembered I will make. Through ages all to be. The people therefore evermore shall praises give to thee. May the Lord bless his word. Let us pray.
Speaker: Rev David Campbell
Congregation Santa Fe
Text: Matthew 5:7
Date: 7 June 2025
Series: Texas Communion June 2025