THE KEY TO HAPPINESS AND LASTING JOY

People, from the cradle to the grave, are in pursuit of happiness. Homes have TVs and games and so on. People crave happiness for themselves and for their children. You hear music from parties going on around you. Man was created to be happy. We are created in the image of a holy happy God. In Psalm 16 we read: In Your presence is fullness of joy and at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore. |||||

As a result of the fall, true happiness was gone. Fear filled the hearts of Adam and Eve and they hid themselves. We read about God's curse in Genesis 3. Since then, humanity has sought to find happiness in every conceivable way and with no success. After all this society is more miserable than they ever were before.

Man be happy for a season. This was the very thing that Moses turned his back to, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.  |||||

Does.this mean that lasting happiness cannot be found. No, it can be found. And here is why this passage—the Beatitudes—is so wonderful. |||||

THEY DEFY HUMAN LOGIC. Everything about the Beatitudes goes against man's understanding of happiness. Happy are those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst, those who are poor in heart, those who are persecuted . . . Does all this not defy logic? All this is utterly foolish to the man of the world. |||||

THEY DEFINE THE SOURCE AND ROOT OF TRUE LASTING HAPPINESS

These Beatitudes are spiritual and to do with our relationship with our holy happy God. This is where we find our perpetual happiness—in God. Not by pinning our hopes in temporal things. All that we have in this life is temporary and fleeting. It is one of the most joyful things to sit with some someone, who is dying who after a life of walking close to the Lord eagerly looks forward to going home to the Saviour. |||||

THEY DECLARE THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

Vs3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is someone who does not have a very high opinion of themselves, who has come to realise that before God we are sinners. This is where we start with God, as Spurgeon said—and to know that we are spiritually bankrupt. And we are happy because we see beyond ourselves and see Christ to whom we flee. |||||

Vs4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The outcome of understanding our spiritual bankruptcy is a deep grief over our fallen state. And so we mourn over our sin and that we have offended a holy God. |||||

Vs5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. When someone understands that God is holy, they become meek. When they see how their own righteousness is as filthy rags, they have come to their senses, and then they see the cross. No one comes to the cross in a proud and arrogant manner.  |||||

Vs6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. All that we have seen in the previous Beatitudes fill us with a ravenous appetite for God's righteousness.  [Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole / I want Thee forever to live in my soul. And as Bunyan would say—to be rid of the heavy burden that rolled away at the cross.] So what do they do. They ask the Lord to strip them of their sin and give them Jesus' righteousness. This appetite cannot be satisfied this side of eternity. Do you hunger and thirst after righteousnes. Do you long for greater holiness and do you constantly live in repentance. |||||

Vs7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. How do such people  live? The mercy that they have received produces in them a merciful heart, a kind heart, a concerned heart. |||||

Vs8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. What happens  to those who are truly children of God? They become a new creation. God takes away the heart of stone and puts a heart of flesh, and gives them the indwelling Spirit. They get a heart transplant. |||||

Vs9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Those who walk in communion with God are peaceable people. We live in world where people argue and are filled with venom. But for us as far as it depends on us, we must live in peace with all men. |||||

Vs10-12 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. How can someone be happy when they are being reviled and being persecuted for their faith. This is the miracle of the new birth. In Foxe's Book of Martys, we read of how many were persecuted. It contains many awful accounts of persecution, but one also reads of the hope of the Christians. |||||

Here we have the key to real happiness and lasting joy. It is not even found even in the earthly blessings God gives us. It only belongs in God. If God were to strip us of everything we have—family, wealth, property, and friends, will we know that we will not be stripped of lasting happiness and joy, which is securely in Christ? In Him lies the key to lasting happiness and joy.