Blessed are the poor in spirit. The Beatitudes are the Lord's
description of what a believer is. These are not human dispositions. They're not found in the natural
man. This poverty of spirit, this meekness, this mourning,
this hungering and thirsting after righteousness. It's not
found in the natural man. I said last week, I didn't know
what beatitudes meant, so I found out this week. It's just Latin
for happy. That's what the word means, the
beatitudes. The first beatitude could be
considered the most important because all the other beatitudes
flow from this beatitude. But the one who so embodies the
beatitudes is the Lord Jesus Christ. How poor he became. He's the only one who truly mourned
over sin, as sin ought to be mourned over. How meek he was
before his father. How he hungered and thirsted
after righteousness from the cross when he was made sin. His name is mercy. No one but him could truly be
described as pure in heart. He's the true peacemaker. He
made peace by the blood of his cross. No one was ever persecuted
for righteousness sake like him. His righteousness. He embodies
the Beatitudes so beautifully. Now notice the Lord doesn't say
you will be blessed if you can attain to this state of spiritual
poverty. But if you're spiritually poor,
it's because you've been greatly blessed of God, highly favored
of God. And I think this is something
for us to give some thought to. What do you think of when you
think of poor? You don't think of what you have. You think of
what you don't have. That goes with poverty of spirit. Not so much what you have, but
what you are consciously aware that you do not have. Poverty of spirit. I have nothing, nothing right
now, present tense, that I have done or can do that could possibly
recommend me to God. I have nothing. Poverty of spirit. And I know why I'm poor of spirit. That question is easy to answer.
Sin. The only reason someone truly
has poverty of spirit, and every believer has poverty of spirit,
I can be sure that I don't have any of these the way I'd like
to have them. I've got them if I'm a believer, because I've
been born again, born in the spirit. But I'm far too proud. My mourning is having to mourn
that I don't mourn any more than I do. My meekness, on and on. We don't feel like
we have been what we should be, but we
all have. these beatitudes, this poverty
of spirit, and I know why I'm to be poor in spirit is because
of my sin. I'm a sinner by nature, by birth. I was born that way,
by choice. I'm not forced to be this way
by practice. I am a sinner and there's nothing
that I have done or can do that a thrice holy God could accept. What I need saved from is my
sins. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Now this describes everyone that
the Lord has saved and blessed. They're poor in spirit. This is a supernatural thing.
This is not a natural disposition that you could find in a natural
man that's humble and lowly. This is a supernatural thing.
This thing of poverty of spirit. Now, before the Lord saved me,
I didn't have poverty of spirit. But when God saved me, I found
out something about poverty of spirit. You see, all who believe
the gospel, all who have been regenerated by the Spirit of
God are spiritually poor. Every one of us. It is impossible
to hear the gospel unless I'm spiritually poor. It's impossible
to believe the gospel unless I'm spiritually poor. It's impossible
to receive the gospel unless I'm spiritually poor. I can't
hear the gospel as good news. as joyous unless I am spiritually
poor and have nothing. It's only the one who's been
given a new heart and a new spirit that have this most excellent
blessing from God, poverty of spirit. Are you, am I spiritually
poor? This isn't the way the world
would consider blessed, is it? Blessed or poor? Doesn't seem
blessed to me, yet it's what the Redeemer calls blessed. And this is the first blessedness
he speaks of. Blessed! Oh, how favored by God
you are if you are poor in spirit. You see, it's only the poor in
spirit who mourn over sin. It's only the poor in spirit
who are meek before God. I can't wait to get into what
is meekness, but it has something to do with believing God's on
the throne and everything he does is right. Therefore, you
can't murmur against it. You can't complain. It's right. If you're poor in spirit, You'll
sure enough hunger and thirst after righteousness because you
are painfully aware that you don't have any of your own and
it must come from outside of you. If you're poor in spirit,
you know you need mercy. You know your sin is all your
fault. You can't blame somebody else. You can't blame your circumstances.
You can't blame your birth. It's your fault. And what you
need is mercy. And by the grace of God, you're
going to have a merciful attitude toward those who need mercy,
having experienced the mercy of God. It's only the pure in heart that
are poor in spirit. You see, it takes a holy nature.
It takes a new nature, the gift of God's grace to recognize the
fact that you have nothing. You will not have this poverty
of spirit unless you have this pure heart given in the new birth. This poverty of spirit recognizes
that Christ is the maker of peace and he is our peace. And the
only peace we have is what he accomplished and we want to be
peace spreaders, peace preachers. We want to live at peace with
all men. We want to be people of peace.
And it's only the poor in spirit that are persecuted for righteousness
sake. And here's why they're persecuted. They maintain that
human righteousness is nothing more than filthy rags. And the
only righteousness there is is the righteousness and merit of
Jesus Christ. They, and they only, or those
who will be persecuted for righteousness sake. What is poverty of spirit? Now listen to this. You can be materially wealthy
and be poor in spirit. And you can be materially poor
and be poor in spirit just as well. You can be extroverted
and have poverty of spirit, or you can be an introvert and have
poverty of spirit. You can be a self-confident person
and have poverty of spirit, or you can be extremely timid person,
lacking any self-confidence, and have poverty of spirit. You
can be a secure person, comfortable in your own skin, and have poverty
of spirit. And you can be a very insecure
person and still have poverty of spirit. The reason I said
all of this is poverty of spirit is not a personality trait. It's the grace of God. It's the
favor of God. If you have this poverty of spirit,
it's because God gave it to you as a blessing of His grace. Poverty of spirit is the favor
of God. It's to have nothing and be completely
dependent upon Christ for everything. That's what poverty of spirit
is. You see, Because the poor in
spirit have nothing, Christ really is all to them. It's not just
a slogan. It's not just words. If I have
nothing else, Christ really is all I have. That's what it is to be spiritually
poor. Jesus Christ is all you have. And it's only those who have
something, I don't care what it is, who fail to see that Christ
is all. The only way you can truly see
that Christ is all is if you are nothing. And you have nothing
to recommend you to God right now. Not the way you used to
be before you're saved. I'm talking about right now. You better never, I better never
graduate from being poor in spirit. It's only as I'm poor in spirit
that I will see Christ as all. Now, blessed are the poor in
spirit. Let me tell you something that
the poor in spirit all have in common. They all have great needs. You can't be poor and not be
needy. Those two things go together. David, the man after God's own
heart, the sweet psalmist of Israel, 10 times described himself
thusly, I'm poor and I'm needy. I do not have anything of myself
and I have great needs. You know, we use the phrase,
beggars can't be choosers. There's a lot to that in there.
Think about that spiritually. Beggars can't be choosers. There's a lot of implications
to that. Beggars are utterly dependent upon the charity of
God. I need the Bible to be the inspired
word of God. This is more than believing it
is. I need it to be because I have to have written down from God
Himself what is true because I don't trust myself, I don't
trust any man. I need to have an inspired revelation from God
Almighty. I need the Bible to be the Word
of God. There's nothing else I can trust.
And I need God to be who He says He is in His Word. If He's not
who He says He is in His word, I can't be saved. I need all
of His attributes to save me. God is love. The Bible says that. I need Him to be that way. Behold,
I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. I need that. I need God to be
sovereign. I need him to will my salvation
as an act of his own free and sovereign will. I need... Sovereign grace is more than
something I believe. It's something I need. I need
God to be all powerful. Because if he doesn't save me
in a way of omnipotence, I know I won't be saved. I need God
to be independent. If he's got to have something
from me that I must do before he can do something for me, I'm
toast. I need him to be independent. I need Him to be omniscient. I need Him to be all-wise so
that He can make a way to be just and yet justify somebody
like me. I need Him to be righteous. I
need His grace to be righteous grace that honors His righteousness. There is no attribute of God
that I do not need for my salvation. You know, when I'm talking about
God as He is, It's not trying to give some kind of lecture
in theology. This is what I need. I need him
to be who he is in every single one of his attributes. You know,
not only do I believe the Bible teaches election, God elected
the people before time began, I need it to be that way. If
it's not that way, I won't be saved. I believe the Bible teaches the
effectual atonement of Christ for the elected. Everybody he
died for must be saved. I'm sure the Bible teaches that,
but not only that, I need it to be so. If it's not so, I won't
be saved. If he can pay for somebody's
sins and they wind up in hell anyway, I'll go to hell. I need
His effectual redemption. I need His irresistible, invincible
grace. I won't be saved without it.
I need to be preserved in Christ Jesus. I need to be kept by the
power of God through faith and to salvation. This is more than
just need. Those folks who are poor,
in spirit need God to be who He is. And they need salvation
to be as God describes it in His Word. Being poor, I need
faith to be a gift. I can't come up with it. I need
repentance to be the gift of God. I need love to be the gift
of God. I need the new birth to be something
he freely gives me. Need. Being poor uncomplicates things. Real simple. Being poor uncomplicates
things. Charles Spurgeon, told a story
about a man named Jack the Huckster. I've tried to tell this story
before. I'm going to try to tell it again. Jack the Huckster was
a dishonest man, one you could not trust. And one day he heard
a poor woman singing what he called a ditty. And I looked
it up and it means a simple, unaffected song. And here's the
words to this song he heard this woman sing. I'm a poor sinner
and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all." And
that man liked that song and he went around singing it. He
didn't believe it, didn't understand it, but he liked the way it sounded.
And he went around singing, I'm a poor sinner and nothing at
all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. And one day, the Lord
made that real to him. I don't know how it happened.
It had something to do with the preaching of the word, I'm sure.
But all of a sudden, he found out he really was a poor sinner
and nothing at all. And his hope was that Jesus Christ
was his all in all. And he wanted to be baptized.
And he wanted to join a church. So he came to the powers that
be, I suppose you would say, and said, I want to be baptized
and I want to join the church here. And they said, well, what's
your experience? I'm a poor sinner. Nothing at
all. Jesus Christ is my all in all. Well, have you been born again?
Have you been converted? Well, I'm not real sure about
that, but I'm sure about this. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. Well, do you ever
have doubts? Tell us about your experience.
Do you ever have doubts? Well, I never doubt that I'm a poor
sinner and nothing at all. And Jesus Christ is my all in
all. Well, what about assurance? Well, I'm not sure about that,
but I'm sure of this, that Jesus Christ is my all in all. I'm
a poor sinner, nothing at all. Jesus Christ is my all in all. Well, don't you ever have times
that you're down? Well, I said I'm a poor sinner
and nothing at all. Don't say I didn't get any downer
than that. Well, don't you ever have times of joy in your experience? Jesus Christ is mine all in all.
I don't see how it gets better than that. Do you see how this uncomplicates
things? I'm a poor sinner. Right now,
I find such joy in this. This is not depressing. I find
joy in this. Not excusing my sin or But I
know this, I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all. And Jesus
Christ is my all in all. What joy there is in having nothing
and being completely 100% dependent upon Jesus Christ for everything. There's joy in that. If you believe
that, you rejoice in that. What complicates things is if
you're looking for something else, or if you think you possess
something else. If you have anything else, Christ
is not all to you. Now, this is so contrary to pride. Pride. God hates pride. Pride
of race, pride of face, pride of place, most especially pride
of grace. Why? How absurd. Yet men have it, but if I'm poor
in spirit, there is no room for pride. Now it's only the poor
in spirit, look what it says about The poor in spirit, verse
three. Blessed are the poor in spirit
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It belongs to them. They're not renting it out. It
belongs to them. Only the poor in spirit. Theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. The vastness of the kingdom of
heaven. It belongs to them. Now somebody
says, how in the world can that be? Well, turn with me to second
Corinthians chapter eight. Verse nine. For you know. And I can say that to every believer. You know this. You know. Well so and so doesn't, you do
if you're a believer. Well I don't know this. I do,
you know. You know the grace. the amazing grace and favor of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That though he was rich, if we try to compare him to some
kind of human riches, it is ridiculous. He is infinitely, we don't talk
about him of having billions or trillions or No, He's God. Everything belongs to Him. He
has creative power. If He wants more, He'd make it.
Oh, the infinite riches of Jesus Christ. Oh, He was rich indeed. Acceptance with the Father. He
was rich in love. How His Father loved Him. He's
rich in perfections. The perfection of His nature.
Rich in righteousness. Rich in praise. The seraphims
and cherubims were falling at His feet. Rich beyond description. Though He was rich, yet for your
sakes, You who are poor. That's what
he's talking about. Are you poor? Do you have anything to recommend
you to God? You say no? He's talking about you. For your
sakes. He became poor. And I don't know how to describe
the poverty of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he became poor in
righteousness when he was made sin, forsaken by his father. He became poor in praise. He
became the butt of jokes. Think about this. He said with
regard to himself from the cross, I am a worm. That's the Son of God speaking.
We might say to try to sound humble, not him. I am a worm
and not even fit to be called a man. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he
became poor. on the cross, he lost everything.
Why? That you, through his poverty, might be rich. All talking about riches, you
have the kingdom of heaven as yours. That is how somebody that
is poor in spirit, Well, I sure hope I'm that. I hope you're
that. We're not saved if we're not.
This is the first beatitude, the beatitude from which all
the others flow from. If I'm poor in spirit, I've been
highly favored by God, and here's why I have the kingdom of heaven. Because he who was rich became
poor for my sake. the poverty of Christ on the
cross, being forsaken by his father, losing everything, that
you, through his poverty, might be rich. Accepted in the beloved. Joint heirs. with Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture. First
John 417, because of his poverty, this can now be said, as he is,
so are we in this world. How is he? Perfectly beautiful
to his father. Righteous, holy, beyond anything I can describe,
as He is, so are we, right now, in this world. Now, this is only for the poor
in spirit. It's only the poor in spirit,
those who have nothing of their own, that Christ is all in all. Now, if you're not poor, Christ
is not all to you. But if you're poor, Christ is
all to you. Can you sing from your heart
with the Lord hearing the melody that's going on in your heart?
I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my
all in all. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Lord, how we stand amazed that your son, who was rich, became poor. That we, through his poverty,
might be rich. how we thank you for him. And Lord, give us the grace to
be poor in spirit. And give us the grace to rejoice
that Jesus Christ is our all in all. In Christ's name we pray,
amen.