I'm sure we're all aware that
these verses are pretty well known, and they are a wonderful
introduction really to what we term the Sermon on the Mount,
which is recorded in Matthew 5, 6 and 7. But as we read this, read that seeing the multitudes
he went up into a mountain and when he was said his disciples
came unto him so it would seem that he preached to the multitudes
and also more especially to his disciples and quite clearly it
was intentional that the word should have an effect and he
opened his mouth and taught them And then it's very interesting
to see how his words were perhaps the opposite to what people would
think. They might expect some great
statement about those who are blessed, but in actual fact he
starts off with just these statements. And this evening we're not going
to go through them, just I thought the first two, I'll speak of
one a little tonight, And the first one, therefore, is in verse
three, and it tells us, blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, natural man would not think
that was true. He would think that blessed are
those who are rich in their spirit, who enjoy much fellowship and
much prosperity. And yet you see the Lord starts
very low. And surely that's good for the
Church of God. And surely it's good for us even
tonight to realise that the Lord addresses such who feel themselves
indeed to be poor in spirit. And I dare say that's a common
view by the grace of God that we enter into as we look in our
hearts, we look to our spirits, And we see how poor we are. Really, how little we know of
the things of God. And yet we have the whole Word
of God. And we do read it, and we're
thankful we do read it. But nonetheless, it still leads
us, leaves us really, in this situation which very often we
find ourselves poor in spirit. That means that we look into
our hearts, And we see there the poverty which exists. And the effect of that really
produces prayer in the true believer. Prayer to this end, that we seek
that we may be blessed abundantly with God's grace and God's favour. And that he may indeed reveal
himself unto us as it is not unto the world. So in which case
we won't be poor in spirit, but we shall be truly blessed. And so what a mercy that the
Lord addresses the multitudes and his disciples in this way
to set them really in a right condition to receive the word
of God, not to bolster up their pride, not to encourage them
in any revelations they may have had but to direct them in this
place and to tell them that they are blessed who are poor in spirit
and then he goes on to tell us what the result will be what
the blessing will be to such who are found in this situation
and he tells us for theirs is the kingdom of heaven well we
couldn't wish for a greater blessing, could we? To know that the kingdom
of heaven is ours in a spiritual way while we are on the earth,
and then by the grace of God to be eternally with Christ. What a wonderful favour that
is. So if the Lord brings us perhaps
to a low position as we view ourselves, to think that the
prospect before us is bright and glorious. And therefore,
we can thank God for the glorious Gospel. We can thank God for
what He's done. We can thank God for what He
said. And earnestly pray that He will
be gracious to us. And so, blessed are the poor
in spirit. It's good then that we come before
God we're honest before God and we don't pretend to be what we're
not. It's a humbling position to realise
that we don't possess great spiritual favours and we have to come pleading
for his mercy, pleading for his grace, pleading for his blessing. Blessed are the poor in spirit
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's reason to rejoice,
isn't it? That's why at the end, this 12th
verse, the Lord says, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great
is your reward in heaven. And as we think of that, we should
rejoice and we should be exceeding glad. that if we are poor in
spirit we're blessed and we're favoured to know that to us belongs
the kingdom of heaven not through our own merits but through what
the glorious Saviour has done on our behalf in dying upon the
cross at Calvary shedding his most precious blood to take away
all our sins and to realise therefore that although we are indeed poor
in spirit, we have that great and glorious work of our Saviour
set before us to encourage us and to strengthen us. And then
the Lord goes on to say, blessed are they that mourn. Natural
man would not think that was very appropriate. He wouldn't
think mourning is a good thing. And yet we're told it's better
to go to the house of mourning but then to the house of feasting.
And again, the reason is that we are then reminded of our latter
end. We're reminded of the shortness
of our life. We're reminded that one day soon,
each one of us shall be called to stand before that judgment
seat of Christ. And what a blessing then to have
that comfort and that assurance that the Lord has dealt with
our souls. The Lord indeed has called us
by his grace. The Lord has gone before us to
strengthen us. And therefore, as we may mourn
over our sins, which is good and right and proper to do so,
And often we have to, don't we? Because we find, just like the
Apostle Paul tells us when he wrote to the Romans in the seventh
chapter, he says, for I know, and God's people know, that in
me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. We know that our
flesh is sinful. Yes, and what a good thing it
is. to realise that we have a kind and gracious God who leads us
in this path to show to us that we are sinners and we can't therefore
boast about all the great things we do. We have to come and mourn. And what does that mean? That
prayer recorded by the publican is very suitable. God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. Well, the good news was, the
Lord said, I tell you, that man went down to his house justified,
rather than the other. And that's not justified because
of what we've done, but we're justified because of what the
great and glorious Saviour has done for us. And He stood in
our place, He bore, the punishment instead. And so perhaps we can
appreciate why the Lord spoke in this way. Blessed are they
that mourn. for they shall be comforted. That's wonderful, isn't it? As
you and I realise what sinners we are, guilty, not deserving
any favour, to think that the glorious Saviour, the Son of
God, laid down His life so that we might receive life. That glorious
gift of eternal life. And surely that is a comfort
to the true Church of God. What it means is we look out
of ourself. We don't see any good in ourselves.
We look out and see all the goodness which is to be found in the Saviour
and to rejoice that by His grace we are complete in Him. Nothing lacking. Isn't that wonderful?
Unworthy sinners. All that we need. is found in
our substitute, our great and glorious Saviour, who so willingly
died to redeem our souls. Well, what a blessing then. We
can understand perhaps why the Lord spoke then in this way. We might think two negative statements
to begin with. In actual fact, they're both
very positive. And so tonight, may we be thankful
for them. Bless God, blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed
are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Well may
we be thankful we have such words recorded for our strengthening
and blessing. We'll leave