The message this morning, I've
titled it, Blessed of God. Blessed of God Part 1. And I
say Part 1 because I'm not sure how far we'll get into these
verses this morning, but it's from the text that Michael just
read to us, Matthew 5. And one reason I'm not sure how
far we'll get, I want to begin by discussing some things that
are commonly true of all of these verses. All of these verses,
as we heard Michael read over and over again, that begin with
blessed are. By the way, I've always read
the Beatitudes, as they're called here, as Michael did, blessed
are, and then other times I say blessed. So you're going to hear
me, I'll go back and forth all throughout this message today.
So I'm not sure which is proper, but when I say blessed or I say
blessed, I mean the same thing. If you were here last week, You'll
recall that in our introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, we
established that its central theme is the gospel of the kingdom
and the nature of the kingdom of heaven itself. And that's
what we'll start looking at here as we begin our verse by verse
study in Matthew 5. And keep in mind that as we reviewed
that it's not a kingdom with geographical borders, but rather
it speaks of a dominion or a reign. a spiritual kingdom inhabited
by spiritual children. It's a kingdom, we learned, that
most do not enter. That's a fact that Christ sets
forth very clearly, even in this Sermon on the Mount, in these
three chapters. We studied how Christ is speaking of the same
gospel, the gospel of the kingdom, being the same as that that is
set forth in the epistles. We saw how the scriptures say
that a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.
That is the scepter, that staff borne by a sovereign king or
whatever, that symbolized his authority or the basis of his
rule. Well, that means that righteousness itself, perfect satisfaction
to God's law and justice, that that is the authority. are the
rule, are the basis upon which this kingdom is established,
upon which this kingdom is entered into, and through which grace
itself, God's way of salvation, grace, through which grace reigns,
as it says on the front of our bulletin in Romans 5.21, grace
reigning through righteousness unto eternal life. Now, last
week's introductory message to the Sermon on the Mount, I believe,
sets the stage for the proper understanding that we need today
as we begin this verse-by-verse study. So, we'll take a look
at the opening passage here, the Sermon on the Mount. These
are verses that are often referred to as the Beatitudes, the first
12 verses of Christ's sermon. I know when I was growing up
in Sunday school, I was required to memorize verses, I believe
it was just verses 3 through 12, And I was taught to remember
that these were called Beatitudes because they set forth the attitude
that we ought to be. And that's exactly the connotation
that's put on these verses by many, if not most, who call themselves
Christian. As they perceive these words
of Christ, see, as things we ought to aspire to or strive
to be in order to be blessed by God. And today I want to declare
to you that nothing could be further from the truth, because
nothing, nothing that proceeds from our own efforts can procure,
sustain, or even influence God so as to acquire the blessed
standing, as we're going to come to understand it this morning,
that's spoken of here in these verses. You see, if it were possible,
then salvation itself, salvation, that's what we're going to see
in just a moment. That's what this blessing is about. It's
about an eternal blessing. Salvation itself then would not
be by grace, but it'd be by works. It'd be of debt. God, a holy
God, would owe you the sinner, the ungodly sinner. He would
owe you salvation then based upon something that proceeds
from his sinful flesh, finding you to be poor in spirit or among
those that mourn. And then thereby, this idea that
he would opt to bless you based on that, well, that's what the
Bible calls works. That's a salvation condition
on the sinner, something that proceeds from him. And sadly,
that's the broad way that this very sermon talks about in Matthew
6, the broad way that leads to destruction. It's not God's way. It's not the narrow way that's
spoken of that so few go in there at. It's not God's way of how
he saves or blesses. Sinners eternally speaking so
God sets forth clearly in his word see Ephesians 2 8 9 a passage
you're all familiar with for by grace Are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves? It's a gift of God not of works
lest any man should boast So by that we see that these characteristics
of those that Christ Proclaims to be blessed the poor in spirit
they that mourn and so on They're not things we strive to do in
order to receive the blessing or the reward. Just to support
that, consider what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 14, verses one
through three. We read, the fool have said in
his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There is none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven. upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God." Here's what he
found. They are all gone aside. They
are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. You see, that's what God found
when He looked down from heaven. Now, we know God's omniscient.
He knows all things. But He's communicating to us
here in this psalm that that's what fallen humanity is all about.
As God looks down, this is what he sees. He found nothing good,
and that describes all humanity born of Adam. And we learn here
in Matthew that from that abominable group, that's the word he used,
are some here who Christ calls blessed. Remember, Jesus told
Zacchaeus in Luke 19.10, he said, the Son of Man has come to seek
and save that which was lost, not that which he found some
merit in. Christ also said in Luke 5, 31, 32, that the whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. He said, I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So the point is this, as Christ
seeks out his sheep, does he find in them these characteristics
that Michael read, which some might erroneously say constitute
or contribute to their righteousness? He finds them to be poor in spirit,
or mournful, or meek, or peacemakers, and so on. And in finding those
qualities present, God thereby opts to bless them. Well, no,
he seeks those, he said, who are sick, calling not the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. See, that alone tells us something.
The Bible says that all must repent or perish. He calls them
to repentance. That means a total change of
mind. So they could not have already had the characteristics
of those that he's calling blessed. He didn't find them already poor
in spirit. No, they completely changed their
mind, see. They changed their mind with
regards to who God is and how God saves them. With regard to
the message of this sermon, the gospel of the kingdom. God justifies
the ungodly. the Scriptures tell us. So I
say all that because this is so important that we get this
groundwork right, that the persons that are described in these verses
as blessed, they are the redeemed ones. They are given to Christ
by God the Father. They're the ones made blessed
in the righteousness of the Son. And they're the ones who are
regenerated and set apart in spiritual birth and life. And
in that, they have an entirely new frame of reference by the
power of the Holy Spirit so that they now manifest to various
degrees each of these characteristics or these qualities as fruits
of the Holy Spirit purchased for them by the blood and righteousness
of Christ. And to misunderstand that is
to miss, I think, all that's intended in these verses that
we'll be looking at. You see, consistent with the
entire theme of the sermon is the gospel of the kingdom whose
scepter, or basis of rule and authority, is not that which
he finds in us that any of us can muster up, but the scepter
of his kingdom is the scepter of righteousness. Now, beatitude
is a statement of blessing, favor, approval, and grace. The dictionary
applies to it the concept of utmost bliss. And in the context
of the verses here, the word blessed means to be supremely
favored. That is, it means to be favored
by God. And to be favored by God is to receive the utmost
favor. So I don't have a particular
problem with these verses being called Beatitudes in that sense.
You see, this word blessed means to be highly and eternally favored
by God. We see then he's speaking of
an eternal blessing when he uses the word blessed. Verse 3, if
you look at it, it makes it clear from the get-go as Christ expresses
that those who are poor in spirit are blessed for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. So we see that in the context
here, Christ is describing those who possess eternal life, who
will inhabit heaven itself, citizens of the kingdom. In these verses,
Christ then gives a description of the people who make up the
kingdom of heaven. So as the scripture set forth,
I want you to see that not only these are these the blessed ones,
first of all, God's sheep, the very elect of God chosen before
the foundation of the world who were given to Christ. But secondly,
they were those for whom Christ then walked on this earth. He
lived, he obeyed, he died, he rose again as their substitute
and their representative to justify them before God. But thirdly,
I want you to see that the blessed ones spoken of here in Matthew
5, they are also the ones to whom in each successive generation
God the Holy Spirit has already given spiritual life to, with
all of its faculties, with eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts
and minds to understand, to use the scriptural language, so that
they behold, as 2 Corinthians 4, 6 tells us, the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. That is, in his person and work.
There are those who have been brought to see something they
didn't see before. How something about God that
was unlike anything they knew about God before. Something they
only see in the person and work of Christ. His redemptive glory.
How he could be both a just God and a Savior in the face of Jesus
Christ. Meaning, based on the finished
work of Christ in establishing righteousness. These blessed
ones are those who are brought then by the indwelling presence
and the continual indwelling presence and power of the Holy
Spirit to continually look to Christ and to Him alone for all
their blessedness. See, they will persevere in that. Yes, those that Christ is speaking
of here in Matthew 5, they are some kind of blessed. They are
eternally blessed. That means now and forevermore
favored by God. are blessed, and I hope we can
enter into that this morning, all based upon the person and
work of Christ. As Romans 8, 31 and 32 says,
what shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who
can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Now, I know I've belabored that
point enough, and I won't repeat that as we go through each of
the verses one by one, but it is important to understand this,
I think. Each one of these verses, remember, begin the same way,
blessed are. So if we're to understand them
correctly, it's critical that we accurately grasp that the
blessed are those who have been redeemed by the blood-bought
satisfaction of God's law and justice. Now, some interpret,
in fact, some Bible translations actually replace the word blessed
with the word happy, and some interpret it that way. But I
think it's obvious to those of us who've heard the gospel that
from the context that to be eternally blessed in Christ, it goes way
beyond just some pleasant emotional state, because that's the connotation
we normally put on the word happy, an emotion of sorts. And I think
that's why some then would substitute, they think a more appropriate
substitute for the word blessed would be the word justified.
That is, justified are. For to be justified, see, is
to be eternally blessed, is it not? Is to be found not guilty
before God's holy law, pardoned, cleansed, reconciled unto God. It's to have all that's needed
for the whole inheritance of grace. And that's some kind of
blessing. It's an unmatched blessing. But
in this context of this passage, we have descriptions given here
of those who were most certainly justified now at the cross of
Calvary. As Romans 5-9 said, they were
justified by his blood. But these descriptions not only
apply to those to whom God has been reconciled, but who also
as a direct result and fruit of that justification. The one
that took place at the cross of Calvary some 2,000 years ago,
they're those in each successive generation who are born again,
regenerated by the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. And
these now being reconciled unto God in their own minds, they
walk in this world with an entirely different frame of reference.
By faith, God's gift, seeing peace made between them, a sinner,
and the holiest of all, the thrice holy God that Isaiah speaks of.
As a result of having been blessed by God at the cross of Calvary,
they're given spiritual life and all the faculties that accompany
that, that miraculous new birth. So they demonstrate to some degree
The various qualities or characteristics that Christ mentions in these
verses. These blessed ones are those
who are brought to know Christ and trust in him alone, based
upon his obedience unto death, his righteousness, a satisfaction
to the holy demands of God's law, both in its precept, that
is, as the last verse of Matthew 5 tells us, in fulfillment of
that which was commanded, be ye therefore perfect. Perfect
obedience. and in satisfaction of the law's
penal demands. In other words, when Christ said
He came and we reviewed this last week to fulfill the law,
He had to fulfill it in terms of the justice that needed to
be extracted where transgression was found. In other words, the
sufficient payment for sin had to be made, and that sufficient
payment was no less than the precious, infinitely valuable
blood of the God-man Jesus Christ. And these blessed ones now that
we're going to read about, they've discovered that all of this was
made theirs by imputation. Each and every one of their sins,
their past sins, their present sins, and those they've yet to
even commit, they were laid upon Christ, charged to his account
in the very perfect satisfaction that he made to God's law and
justice, his righteousness, freely imputed are charged to the sinner's
account. So, 2 Corinthians 5.21, Christ
who knew no sin, he was made sin for us who knew no sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ who knew
no sin, see he had to remain spotless. It says he offered
himself without spot. So he had to suffer sinlessly
in order to meet the demands of a holy God. He died for sins
that were laid upon him but that he had no part in producing,
that did not contaminate the unblemished, perfect sacrifice
necessary to redeem his sheep before the bar of justice of
a holy God. It required a perfect, unblemished
sacrifice. So, in turn, all those whose
sins that he bore, they possess, through imputation, a righteousness
that perfectly satisfies our Holy Father, but not one they
had any part in producing, not one that emanated from them,
but rather one that still resides in the Lamb of God, who the Scriptures
tell us is seated at the right hand of the Father in a place
of preeminence. God being satisfied, seated,
work was finished. He sat down. It was complete.
And it says he's there even now making intercession for his sheep.
What an advocate. But this righteousness, though
it resides in the Lamb of God, even now, this satisfaction to
God's justice by imputation is truly no less than our own. His sheep possess that very righteousness. It is the righteousness in which
they stand before God, holy and accepted As the scriptures say,
in the beloved. Now, last week I made reference
to Romans 4, verses 6 through 8, and I just want to look at
that again real quickly. It says, even as David also describeth
the blessedness. We're talking about blessed are.
Well, David described the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed
righteousness without works, saying, blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven. and whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. That word blessed
used there in Romans 4 is the exact same Greek word that Christ
uses here in Matthew 5. So we see, taking all of the
scripture as a whole, that the blessed ones here that are spoken
of in Romans 4, they're the same ones that Christ is speaking
of here in Romans 5. They have the blessedness of
those unto whom righteousness is imputed without works. Now
that's the ground and the basis of the ultimate blessing upon
those being described here. It's an eternal blessing and
it's a wonderful blessing. So in the context of Matthew
5, we know then that the blessed speaks of those who inherit the
kingdom of heaven. Now, I've given quite a bit in
the way of introduction of these verses, and some might ask, how
do you derive all of that from these specific verses in Matthew? And the answer is, I don't. See,
as 2 Peter 1.20 tells us, no scripture is of any private interpretation. And we will go astray if we try
to do that. If we try to read something in
there, it's not consistent with the whole book. This book's got
one author. God wrote this book. It was penned
by men of God. It says, as they were moved by
the Holy Spirit. But all scripture is inspired
by God, according to 2 Timothy 3. So, therefore, it's incumbent
upon us to learn How this takes place, how are men blessed? That's the gospel, see, of how
God saves sinners eternally and how through His Son, He merits
for them all the blessings, all the blessings now and all the
blessings hereafter, heaven itself. Mark 16 tells us, as you all
know, the great commission given there Christ told his disciples,
go out to all the world, preach the gospel. And he said, they
that believe the gospel and are baptized shall be saved. They
that believe not are damned. Well, you see, he's telling us,
they that believe the gospel, they're the blessed of God. Okay. And those that believe not, they're
damned. They're the cursed of God. And that tells you something
about this word, blessed. It's the opposite of being cursed. So if we properly understand
the verses, it has to be understood in the context of God's gospel,
how he saves sinners. And I'm talking about sinners
who Ephesians 1 tells us are blessed with all spiritual blessings
and heavenly places in Christ, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace." Do you see that? There really is a sense here
where one who is poor, poor in spirit, truly are rich. So how do we gain confidence
that we're... I'm giving you a lot of this,
how we gain confidence that we're interpreting these scriptures
correctly, because frankly, in looking at these verses and different
commentators, there are a lot of different views about what
these verses mean out there. And so I'm going to share with
you how the conviction that I'm using, and you can hold me to
that same test. You see, first of all, I think
we have to see it's consistent with all the scripture that sets
forth this gospel, the one that's believed unto salvation, OK? The one that's distinguished
from the many counterfeits that the Bible warns us about. So
the point is, if we're wrong on the gospel, the good news
of how He saves sinners, As all are initially, remember, this
thing of repentance, he called all sinners to repentance. We
just heard, it's like Paul said in Philippians 3, what they thought
was gain, they now count loss. So we're all wrong on that initially. Well, to be wrong on the gospel
is to interpret all scriptures then under a false premise. Because
see, that's what this book is about. It's God's gospel. It's
all about how he saves sinners. And it takes spiritual life to
see anything different. Now, in the first 12 verses of
Matthew five, you'll notice Christ repeats nine times his pronouncement
that that the ones he's speaking of here are indeed those who
are blessed. And I want you to consider the
pattern. This is this is some beautiful language, I think.
It's critical that we first understand that Christ is not describing
here nine different types of people. Some who are poor in
spirit and some who mourn and so forth. That's not the point
and he's not describing nine different types of people who
receive nine different blessings. Some who inherit the kingdom
of heaven and some that shall be comforted and so forth. No,
he's setting forth nine characteristics or qualities, each of which applies,
in some measure, to some degree, to each and every one who was
justified at the cross of Calvary and is brought to spiritual life
so as to experience, in some measure, that which is being
described here. Their blessing, as we've already
shown, isn't attributed at all to their efforts or to any achievement
or accomplishment of theirs in producing those things. Look,
these characteristics are not moral virtues, but rather they're
Christian graces. They're fruit of the Spirit.
That's important. They are not moral virtues. If they were,
salvation is not by grace, but by works. Christ is describing,
see, and look, I say that because meekness, as commonly known in
this world, for example, might be a virtue. It might be a virtue
found in any man of any religion, okay? But we need to understand
it in the context here, that can't be what's meant by it.
We've got to understand the sense that's meant here. Christ is
describing that which is found to be true of those who are the
blessed of God because they have been blessed, because as objects
of his eternal love, they were. They were. Keep in mind, he hasn't
gone to the cross yet when he's delivering this sermon. They
are or they would be justified at the cross of Calvary by the
very one that's preaching this sermon to them. And as a result
of that justification, they were given spiritual life, a radically
different frame of reference manifested by these descriptions. And so having been born again,
they think different. They now have a God-given regard
for his glory as seen in the person and work of Christ. They've
been brought to understand and value the good news that pertains
to that. The gospel message, the gospel
of the kingdom that's set forth here in the sermon of how God
saves sinners, and they're given a love for that truth. And as
such, their perspective on God and how he saves sinners is turned
completely upside down. It was said by the Jews when
Paul and Silas went to Thessalonica in Acts 17 with their message,
the gospel concerning Christ, person, and word. It was said
of the Jews that that message turned their world upside down.
And I believe we see in these verses that one who is so blessed
of God has indeed had his or her world turned upside down
as well. You see, they've changed gods. Having the God that was the God
of their imagination, see, he was altogether unlike the one
they discovered when God shined the light in their hearts, as
we read in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, to give them the knowledge of
the glory of God in Christ. They've repented of all that
which they naturally, naturally, I'm getting tongue tied this
morning, naturally would suppose would attain their blessedness.
Now, we know that different people think different things attain
their blessedness, but they all have one thing in common. That
is, it's something that's produced by them, in them, or through
them. That's the religion of works. They've repented of that, and
instead they've been brought to see their need for pure, unadulterated
mercy, to look to Christ and Him alone. Mercy, propitiation,
appeasement of God's wrath by way of satisfaction to His holy
law and justice. And we see a little bit of this
upside-down world, I believe, by observing the seeming paradoxes
that are set forth here in these verses. I mentioned this briefly
last week. To be poor, in some sense, must
be equated to being eternally rich. Theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. To mourn is to be comforted. To meek is to have it all, the
full inheritance. To hunger and thirst is to actually
be filled. To be merciful is really obtaining
mercy. To be persecuted is to have it
made. As Michael read, to have others
in those last verses, to have others persecute you and rail
at you and lie about you is cause for rejoicing. So, as you can
see, these need some explanation. If someone declared some of this
stuff without any further explanation, without seeing its consistency
with the gospel as we find in the rest of the scriptures, That
somehow they say, well, being poor in this world means you're
actually rich, and I exaggerate to make the point. You question,
though, their sanity. Some kind of interpretation needs
to take place here in the context of this and in light of the rest
of the Scriptures, which collectively and clearly tell us the basis
for His blessing upon sinners. So with that in mind, if we correctly
understand it, These qualities that are set forth, they're exclusively
found to be true of those who are blessed of God, who are citizens
of the kingdom. You see, we can be confident
that we understand it correctly. What these characteristics mean,
those who are of those who are blessed by God, if we see how
they uniquely. exclusively describe those that
Christ calls blessed. Christ doesn't say blessed are
some of those who are poor in spirit, or blessed are some of
those who mourn. You get the point. He says, blessed
are the poor in spirit. And I believe that this means
that everyone who is blessed of God is poor in spirit, if
we understand it correctly. And I believe it means that everyone
who is poor in spirit, in the sense meant here, is blessed
of God. So if we understand that correctly,
what it means in the context here to be poor in spirit, then
I think we'll come to an understanding such that we see it must be applied
and it can only be applied to those who have been redeemed
by Christ and given life to look to him alone. And that's been
kind of the standard by which I've tried to approach these
verses, as I've seen so many different interpretations to
consider. We'll try to use that as a test,
and you hold me to that. In other words, what we'll look
for is to see if in the overall message of the Bible we find
that, yeah, that has to be true of all who the rest of Scripture's
described to us are those who are the redeemed ones, who have
come to know Him in regeneration and conversion. And also, we'll
look to say, could that description that we're, the definition we're
applying to that thing, could it be found in those that we
know from Scripture are among the cursed of God? And I think
that's a good way to go about this. I hope we're able to achieve
that as we go through these verses, because that's been impressed
upon me as the proper way to interpret them. And if we do
that, if we capture that correctly, I think that God's sheep who
have already been granted spiritual life will rejoice in seeing how
they're numbered with those who are blessed of the certain assurance
of their blessed standing in Christ. I know I enjoy that and
I pray you will too. And I also pray for any who might
hear this message, but as I hear these descriptions of those who
are blessed, They don't find them to be applicable to themselves. I pray that God, the Holy Spirit,
will do a work that even through this study, He'll make His Word
effectual and He'll draw them unto Christ to look to Him and
Him alone and see the sure certainty of eternal bliss that's found
here. Now, look, if you use the first of the Beatitudes as an
example, this is what I think we should all individually ask
ourselves as we go through this. Am I among the poor in spirit
in the sense in which this is understood to be true and only
true of those eternally blessed of God? In that sense, am I likewise
poor in spirit? And then I think the same question
should be asked by each of us as we go through each of these
other verses. Am I among those that mourn in
that sense, in that same sense? Am I among the meek in that same
sense that it can only be found true of those who are the blessed
of God? Now, keep in mind the pattern
we see here in each verse, we see this, we see three things
in each one of these verses. First, Christ says, blessed.
blessed to the utmost are those he's about to describe, and then
two, he describes a quality or a characteristic uniquely found
to some degree in each of those who are so blessed. And then
he closes each verse thirdly by confirming their standing
in Christ as one of blessedness by describing some aspect of
the ultimate and wonderful blessing, Inheritance of the reward that
awaits those who Romans 8, 28, those who love the Lord, who
are the called according to his purpose is the first part of
that versus the ones for whom all things work together for
good, for their ultimate good. So they're blessed of God. So
finally, with the time we have left here, let's look, start
looking at some of these verses specifically. Look with me again,
starting in verse 1. It reads, And seeing the multitudes,
he went up into a mountain. And when he was said, his disciples
came unto him, and he opened his mouth, and he taught them,
saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Now, as I pointed out last week,
Christ is preaching, I believe, to a multitude here. In verse
1, it says his disciples came unto him. And because of that,
some think he's only preaching to the 12 disciples. I want you
to see that the word disciple here is not necessarily a reference
to only the twelve. It's not even restricted to committed
believers. It can just apply to one who's
merely following and learning at the time. And if you recall
last week, we went back into chapter four, and if you read
the verses that lead up to five where you see the multitudes
following him and so forth, and these were the ones he was preaching
the gospel of the kingdom to, consistent with what we see him
preaching in the Sermon on the Mount, then that's why I do believe
that he was preaching to the entire multitude. But now we
learn here from verse three that as he starts the sermon, he's
saying, if you're blessed to God, So much so now that it can
be said of you that you possess even now the kingdom of heaven.
Then you are among those who are poor in spirit. So what does
that mean? Well, clearly, as one commentator
put it, it doesn't mean being poor in the pocket or with respect
to worldly goods. In Revelations, I think it's
chapter 13. We read of the curse of the mark
of the beast, and it says it's upon both the rich and the poor. referring to their worldly riches.
And here in Matthew, it's clear, it reads, blessed are the poor
in spirit. And we know that to be poor in
spirit also has to mean more than just being spiritually poor. And that's a common interpretation
of this verse. But doesn't the Bible teach that
all are found in that condition, spiritually bankrupt, in abject
spiritual poverty? with nothing to offer in order
to obtain God's blessing. Listen to Romans 3, and this
is parallel to the passage I just read in Psalms. In verse 10 in
Romans 3, it says, as it is written, there is how many? None righteous,
no, not one. There is how many? None that
understand it. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good. No, not one. In verse 20, further
down, it says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall
no flesh be justified in his sight for by the laws, the knowledge
of sin. Verse 23, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Well, if that's the case,
then for every son and daughter of Adam, whoever lived or will
live on this earth. They're born spiritually poor.
Then we know that can't be the sense of this, you see, because
these are blessed of God. Knowing that multitudes are not
blessed of God, but as the Bible says, as Christ says, even in
this Sermon on the Mount, they're going down the broad way that
leads to destruction and many be that go there. They're at
that's the popular way, not God's way. So therefore, it can't mean
the universal spiritual poverty of all. So keep in mind, if we
understand it correctly, then whoever's poor in spirit, they're
blessed of God. And whoever's blessed of God,
they're poor in spirit. So who are they? Well, they're
those who have been brought by the life-giving power of God,
the Holy Spirit, to know it. It's that simple. To know of
their spiritual poverty. Now, when I say know it, I mean
they know it. They're convinced of it. They've
been every thread of any degree of merit that may have remained
in them has been removed by God's working in them. They know they
have nothing to pay, nothing that will merit or earn them
anything before God. They've been convinced, see,
of sin by the Holy Spirit. And that includes the sin that
would deceive us all, what the Bible calls the deceivableness
of unrighteousness, of thinking that anything other than His
righteousness imputed the merit of His obedience unto death thinking
anything other than that being charged to the center would satisfy
a holy God, or gain, or listen, even contribute or appropriate
that which constitutes our acceptance by Him. You see, the poor in
spirit are those who see their abject poverty. They need mercy.
And here's the good news, all who truly need mercy, they find
it. Propitiation, unmerited favor
based on satisfaction being made. They heed the call of Isaiah
in Isaiah 55, 1, when he writes, Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that is willing to receive
it? No. He that hath no money, come ye. That's poor in spirit. He has
no money. Come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come
buy wine and milk without money and without price. See, they
need mercy. And theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. That's the religion of grace
which reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. And these
are the blessed. They've been blessed to have
seen that. And they'll never let it go.
Because the Holy Spirit, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit will
ensure There's perseverance in it. Christ said, no man will
pluck them out of my hand. And today, if you have spiritual
life, you remain poor in spirit. Remember, even in glory, our
song is going to be worthy as the lamb that was slain. We won't
find worthiness here. Our worthiness is in our substitute
and representative. There's a parallel record of
these verses in Luke chapter 6. And there in verse 24, it
reads, But woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received
your consolation. You see, to find anything of
merit within ourselves that we think commends us to God or has
any, any causal effect on our being favored by God. Listen,
even our faith, if we think we're blessed by God because we believe. That is, we find something within
us that would distinguish us from others who aren't blessed,
then that's really to be proud. See, that's to be proud and that's
rich in spirit. That's not poor in spirit before
God. As I just read in Luke, that's what that means. And those
that are rich in spirit, they have already received their reward,
their consolation, They've gotten the consolation prize. It's like
those that we'll read if we get this far in chapter six of this
sermon, I believe it's chapter six, where Christ says of the
hypocrites who were giving their alms to be seen of men, it says
they have their reward. So to persist to clinging to
the idea that any part of your standing before God is derived
from something produced by you or any, listen, to any degree
at all, even if you think your faith merely appropriates it. Okay? In other words, if you
believe that God did it all in Christ and that I've got to have
that righteousness, But the reason he chose me is he looked down
through time and saw that I would be a little more compliant. I
was just open-minded. When the gospel was brought my
way, I was going to be willing to receive it. I just wasn't
quite as obstinate. That's merit. And where that's
found, if that's the case, you see, you're in the same position
as those who are termed to be rich in Luke. They have their
reward. That means that right now it's
as good as it ever gets for you. You have your consolation prize,
see. The comfort, perhaps it's the
comfort that you derive from this false sense of security,
this presumption of being blessed of God, or it might be like the
alms givers, the the hypocrites there who were their reward was
being praised by men. But whatever that reward is,
you have it now, if that's the case, if there's anything of
merit. with regards to your standing
before God that you believe proceeds from you, that anything that
comes from you has a causal effect, then the only reward you can
expect is the one you have now. And that's the way it will be
as long as you persist therein, as long as you remain so blinded. But the poor in spirit, they
have been given eyes to see their spiritual poverty. Theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. God shows us how utterly, completely
destitute we are in terms of anything of worth in His kingdom
other than that which is freely given to us by another. And in
doing so, look what's, you know, here He shows us how destitute
we are and that's a blessing. He unveils for us the sure certainty
of blessings that only the perfect righteousness wrought out by
our substitute could gain for us. 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 says,
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through
his poverty might be rich. Those who are poor, poor in spirit,
they are rich. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Assume for a moment you saved up all your money to go on a
dream vacation, and just stick with me here for the example.
Assume your dream vacation was a cruise, but you couldn't afford
very much. All you could afford maybe was
a little rat hole room down on one of the lower decks of a four-day
cruise ship. And then some multi-billionaire
or rich uncle dies or something. He comes along and says, hey,
put away your money. I want to give you a gift. I
know that's your dream vacation and there's no strings attached
to it. I'm not going to just give you,
let you move up to the upper deck, you know, to a little more,
a nicer room, a state room or whatever. Now I want you to take
my luxury yacht. It's the most luxurious yacht
in the world and all it's staffed to wait on you hand and foot
every beck and call. and take it on a three-month
worldwide cruise and all expenses paid. Well, if that were the
case, I've got enough worldliness left in me, I can tell you, I
wouldn't say, nah, I just think I'll stick with what I can afford.
I tell you all that, kind of an absurd example, I know, but
to show you what an upside-down world this realm of righteousness
is all about, this kingdom of God, The Scriptures, see, tell
us here we are naturally clinging to what we can afford, what we
can merit. That's what natural man does.
And the Scriptures tell us that all we can afford is eternal
destruction. As sinners, that's what we can
earn is death. Romans 6, 23, for the wages,
what we earn of sin, what we are, is death. But the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Think of that.
Through Him. Now, that's got to be some kind
of reward. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven
itself. You see, the most luxurious yacht
in the world, or anything else that this world has to offer
for that matter, they're not worthy. to be compared, okay? To that, think of the price.
You think, you think, wow, man, wouldn't that be something. That
person just won the lottery up in Lee County and got about $7
million plus, I think. And you think, wow, wouldn't
that be wonderful. It doesn't compare. You see, $7 million,
we're talking about something that costs something of infinite
value. The valuable blood of the God-man
mediator, what he purchased. And that ought to thrill us when
we think about what that reward must be like. I mean, that's
some kind of deal. How dare we approach God with
any complimentary offering of our own as if that could add
something to the price that was paid, that that has any merit.
other than his obedient life and precious blood, what it could
merit. Now that's a reward, I believe,
that is truly beyond our wildest dreams. And blessed, see, are
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.