Would you turn back to Psalm
86? Now, tonight, we're going to observe the Lord's table together. And the Lord said, this do. As often as you do it in remembrance
of me, and we're also going to have a get together for the graduating
seniors. And June 23rd through 25th, we're
going to have vacation Bible school and there's a sign up
sheet in the foyer. if you can help out during that
time. Psalm 86, verse 1. I've entitled this message Poor
and Needy. David says, bow down thine ear,
O Lord, Hear me, for I am poor and needy. Only the Spirit of God can cause
a man to say this about himself and really believe it. As a matter
of fact, only a holy man can say this. Look what verse 2 says.
Preserve my soul, for I am holy, O thou My God saved thy servant
that trusteth in thee." Only a man who is holy, made holy
in the new birth, can make this statement from his heart. Now,
anybody can say it. I'm poor and needy. Anybody can
say it, but somebody to really believe it. Only the Spirit of
God can enable them to say from the depths of their heart, I
am poor and I am needy. Now, the word poor does not refer
to material poverty, but a depression of mind, afflicted, brought on
by a sense of sin. It is the same poverty of spirit
that our Lord spoke of in Matthew 5, verse 3, when he said, Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Needy means destitute and having
great needs. Now David was a very wealthy
man, perhaps the wealthiest man on earth when he wrote this song. And he was a mighty king and
a brave warrior, yet he describes himself as poor and needy. Now what does that mean to you?
What does that mean to me? This is man after God's own heart.
This is King David. He describes himself like this,
and he does it over and over throughout the Psalms. I'm poor. And I am needy. And because of his state, he
cries, bow down thine ear, O Lord. Hear me. I'm at the bottom. I am very low and I can't get
to you. You're high. I'm low. I can't
reach your heights for you to hear me. You're going to have
to bow down your ear because I cannot get to you. I'm at the bottom. I'm poor. And I have great needs. Now,
what does it mean to be poor? What does it mean to be spiritually
poor? I remind you, David was writing
as a wealthy man. He didn't refer. He was not referring
to material poverty. He was talking about poverty
of spirit. Now, what does it mean to be spiritually poor? It means in yourself, you know
that you are completely sinful. All the way through. If all it took was a penny's
worth of merit, or a penny's worth of righteousness to save
you, you couldn't come up with the goods. You have nothing if
you're spiritually born. You have no righteousness. You know you can't prevent yourself
from sinning. You can't do it. You are sinning. You believe that about yourself.
You can't come up with anything good. You can't look down upon
anybody. Not really. You're at the bottom. Spiritually poor. You realize
you have no claims on God. He doesn't need you. You need
Him. Oh, you need Him. But He doesn't need you. You
are poor. If you're poor in spirit, you
know you don't have a free will. Your will is chained to sin. And there's nothing you can do
about it. You are poor, you're full of wounds and bruises and
putrefying sores. And you really believe this about
yourself. You really believe you're a sinner and you're powerless
to change your state. You do evil things and the good
things you do are worse than the evil things you do. You really
believe that about yourself. You're seeing poor have no righteousness. Now, I realize some people say
you need to think better about yourself. No, you need to think
worse about yourself. As a matter of fact, this can't
be over-exaggerated. What I am before God. Poor in
spirit. And if you're poor in spirit,
you realize you were born in poverty. You were born in a very
poor family. Adam's ruined race. As a matter
of fact, you come from a dunghill. The Scripture says he raiseth
the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy from a dunghill. A dunghill speaks of low birth.
I'm talking about before God. Low birth, worthlessness, contemptible,
offensive. And you see how you could be
that before a thrice holy God. You're poor. You have nothing
and you have great needs. Poor and needy. Now, this is a cry that comes
from inability. Turn with me for a moment to
Psalm 109. What's inability mean? Well,
what's inability mean? You can't do anything. You really
believe you can't do anything. You're not excusing it. You're
not using that as a justification for bad behavior, but you know
about yourself. You're unable. Look here in Psalm
109, verse 21. But do thou for me, O God, the
Lord, for thy name's sake, because thy mercy is good, deliver thou
me, for I am poor and needy. And my heart is wounded within
me. I'm poor and I'm needy. Therefore,
I need you to do for me because I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't come up with the goods.
Do thou for me. You know if God only helps those
who help themselves, it's over for me. It's plumb over. Do thou for me. Give me Give me grace to believe. Give me grace to repent. Give
me grace to love. Give me grace to look to you.
Do thou for me. I can't do it. So turn to Psalm
25. You know the Psalms, I love the
Psalms. The Psalms are the language of
the believer's heart. You know, the closest you and I will ever
come to truly pray is reading the Psalm. Read it. This describes
the believer's heart. Psalm 25, verse 11. David says,
For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity. Now, what reason did he give
as to why he should pardon it? For his name's sake. Now, hold
your finger there in Psalm 25. We're going to come back in a moment and
turn to Psalm 106. Here's David's confession of
sin. He says, For we have sinned. Psalm 106, verse 6. We have sinned,
right along with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We
have done wickedly. He's not soft-selling his sin,
is he? It's a true confession. Our fathers understood not thy
wonders in Egypt. They were stupid, spiritually
stupid. They remembered not the multitude
of thy mercies. They were ungrateful. But they
provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless,
He saved them. Why? For His namesake. Not because they were sorry.
Not because they asked for it. Not because of anything in them.
He saved them for His namesake. Now here's the reason why God
can save you. For His namesake. Not for your sake. But for His
great namesake. Now turn back to Psalm 25. Remember
that. Verse 11. For thy namesake, O Lord, Pardon
my iniquity, for it's really not that bad. I mean, there were
extenuating circumstances. I was provoked. And I'm just
following my evil nature, and I can't help it. Therefore, I
shouldn't be held responsible. He doesn't say anything like that,
does he? He says, for thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity,
for it's great. Great, greatly evil. And the
only way I can be saved is if you, for your name's sake, pardon
mine iniquity. Look at Psalm 70. He begins this psalm with, Make
haste, O God, to deliver me. Make haste to help me. I'm in a hurry for this. I can't
wait. Look what he says in verse 5. But I am poor and needy. Make haste unto me, O God. Thou
art my help and my deliverer, O Lord. Make no tarrying. If
I can wait on this, I'm not really poor and needy. And not only am I poor, afflicted
by my sin, but I am needy. I need everything in all conditions
at all times. I am needy before God. You know, the Lord said the whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. Doctors are okay. You doctors
in here don't take it personal. Doctors are okay. But I tell
you what, when you're sick, they have a whole different meaning
to you. I can remember being told that I had cancer. I remember
how carefully I listened to the doctor. I wanted to hear everything
he had to say. I needed him. I needed him. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. And you know what's interesting
about this word sick? It's the word is literally they which
are evilly sick. It's not so much the sickness
that you pity, although you pity somebody who's brought you pity
somebody who's brought sickness on themselves by destructive
lifestyle, drug addiction or some kind of transmitted disease.
You feel sorry for those people, but they brought it on themselves,
didn't they? They brought it on themselves. That's what you
think. But when you find out about your sin, you find out
that your sin is an evil sickness. It's brought on by yourself.
It's all your fault. And if anybody needs help, it's
you. You need help more than anybody
else. Nobody needs the grace of God
more than me. I really believe that. I'm poor
and I'm needy. Nobody needs forgiveness more than me because my sin is
all my fault. It's all my fault. So I need
grace. I need mercy. I need forgiveness. I need compassion. I need the
Lord. I need him. I'm poor. I don't have anything,
afflicted by my sin. And it's all my fault. And I
have great needs. Poor and needy. Now, would that describe you?
Poor and needy. It describes the man after God's
own heart. Would it describe you? You know, I understand a little bit
about what Peter meant when he said to the Lord, depart from me, Lord. I am a sinful man. Do you know what else he said?
Lord, save me. Now, one of the great mysteries
of the gospel is that this state I've been describing, poor and
needy, is actually a blessed place to be. It doesn't seem
blessed, does it? But this is what our Lord was
talking about in Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, when he opens up
the Beatitudes. And the Beatitudes are a description
of what a believer is. Not what they should be, not
what they strive to be, but what they are. The Beatitudes. How does he open the Beatitudes?
You remember, the first Beatitude is what? Blessed, oh blessed
of God are the poor in spirit. I'm so thankful he began with
that. What if he said blessed, what if he began with blessed
are the pure in heart? How would you measure up there.
Now, as a matter of fact, that used to give me the most trouble.
Blessed and pure in heart, because I'd look at my heart and think,
where does that leave me? Before I understood what pure
in heart means, what that pure in heart means is that's the
new heart that God gives. The heart given in the new birth,
where David said, created me this clean heart, O God, is the
new heart the Lord gives. That's the pure in heart. But
he begins with a wrong we can get our foot upon. Blessed are
the poor in spirit. As a matter of fact, this poverty
of spirit is the foundation of every other beatitude. Turn with
me to Matthew chapter 5 for a moment. Matthew chapter 5. Verse 1, And seeing the multitudes,
he went up into a mountain, and when he was sent, His disciples
came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Now, if you're poor in spirit,
you're going to mourn over your sin. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. If you're poor in spirit, you're
going to be meek. God's on the throne. You're nothing but a
sinner. You're going to be meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Verse 6, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.
If you're poor in spirit, that means you don't have any righteousness,
but you hunger and thirst for it. You see, this poverty of
spirit is the foundation of all of these beatitudes. Verse 7,
blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. If you're
poor in spirit, you know the mercy of God's your only hope.
And you're going to be merciful toward others. Blessed are the
pure in heart. It takes purity of heart to be
poor in spirit, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. If you're poor
in spirit, you're going to be a preacher of the gospel of peace.
That's what you're going to stand for. Blessed are they which are
persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. If you're poor in spirit, you're going to make
a big issue of Christ's righteousness being the only righteousness
A man can be saved by, and you're going to be persecuted for it.
But you see, this poverty of spirit is the foundation of every
single one of these Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, would you turn with me for
a moment to Luke chapter four, this is when our Lord opens his
public ministry. Luke chapter four. Verse 16. And he came to Nazareth, where
he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah,
and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was
written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
To preach the gospel. To who? To the poor. Now this is who hears the gospel.
The poor. The gospel can only be heard. The gospel can only be understood
by the poor. Nobody else can hear the gospel. It doesn't make any sense to
them. But if you're a poor sinner, one who has nothing, one who
has great needs, you can hear the gospel. You see, in reality,
you can only understand the doctrine of the gospel as poor and needy. Let me give you another word
for poor and needy. Totally depraved. That's another word for poor
and needy. Totally depraved. You have no goodness. You have
no ability. You are what you are. Totally depraved. Now that's
what poor and needy means. Now, for a poor and needy sinner,
divine election is a necessity. I know that if he didn't choose
me first, I wouldn't choose him. I know it. I know for me, election
is necessary for my salvation. I can't be saved without it.
And it's also necessary for me to hear preached. It surely is.
For a poor and needy sinner, effectual atonement is absolutely
necessary. Now, what do I mean by effectual
atonement? When Christ died on the cross, when he said it is
finished, everybody he died for was saved. That's what I mean.
effectual atonement, successful atonement. All the elect, their
salvation was accomplished by what he did. Now, I need this.
If you tell me that Jesus Christ can die and pay for my sins and
I might wind up in hell anyway, you've taken away the only hope
that I have. The only hope that I have is
that he died for me. I can only hear the gospel as
a poor and needy sinner. The grace of the Holy Spirit.
If you're totally depraved, you need irresistible grace. You
don't argue against it. You need it. I need His grace
to reign in me. I need Him to bend down and do
something for me. I need Him to reach way down
for me. You can only hear the gospel
as a poor and a needy sinner. Only the poor and needy will
comply with the terms of the gospel. And what do I mean by
that? In the gospel, Christ gives all
the glory and none goes to you. And if you're a poor, needy sinner,
you realize you don't have anything to be proud about. You really
believe that? If you're poor and needy, And
you have no righteousness at all. It's easy to trust Christ
alone as your righteousness before God, isn't it? When you don't
have any. When you don't have any, it's easy. When it gets
complicated is when you have some. But if you're empty, it's
easy. You know, it's easy when you're
poor and needy. It's easy to take the lowest
seat in the house because that's where you belong. It's not an
act of condescension on your part. That's where you belong.
If you're poor and needy, it's easy to trust or to see others
as better than yourself. The old saying is to see others
as better than yourself. If you're poor and needy, that's
simple because they are. You really believe that? It's
only as poor and needy that I can hear the gospel. Turn with me
to a passage in Romans chapter 5. Moreover, the law entered. That's talking about God's holy
law. That's talking about the Ten
Commandments. That's talking about the thou shalt nots. Thou
shalt not. And it ends up with thou shalt
not covets. And that summarizes all of them.
When I say thou shalt not covet, what happens? You covet. That's where you begin. Thou
shalt not. To restrain sin, to check sin,
to keep it down? No. Moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound, that it might overflow, that
it might cover everything. And that's what God's law does
when you see what it means. The offense abounds, it overflows. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, what happened? Where sin abounded, grace. did much more abound. Now, you find me that place where
sin abounds, where somebody's poor and needy. That's the place
where grace abounds. Now, turn to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9, verse 10. And the apostles, when they returned,
told him all that they had done. And he took them and went aside
privately into a desert place belonging to the city called
Bethsaida. And the people, when they knew, followed him. Now, remember, he took them into
a desert place to get away from the crowd. That's why he did
that. And the people, when they knew,
they followed him. And you know what he did? There's never been a sinner to
come to Him that He didn't receive. Now you can just write that down. If you come to Christ, He will
receive you. He won't turn you away. Well,
what if I'm not one of the elect? You don't need to worry about
that. You really don't. You come to Christ. That's your
responsibility. To come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You come,
He'll receive you. He surely will. Now look, don't
miss this. And the people, when they knew it, they followed Him
and He received them, and He spake unto them of the kingdom
of God. He preached the gospel to them.
And healed them that had need of healing. Who did he heal? Them that had need of healing. Now, everybody who needed healing
was healed. No exception. And if you were
not healed, there would only be one reason why you weren't
healed. You didn't need healed. That's the only reason. He healed
them that had need of healing. Now, if you don't come to Christ,
if I don't come to Christ, let me put me in here. If I don't
come to Christ, there's only one reason. I don't need it. The only thing that prevents
you from believing on Christ and bowing to Christ laying hold
on him is because you don't need him. Everybody, without exception,
who needs him is healed. Do you have need of healing?
He healed them that had need of healing. I'm poor and I am
needy. Now, next question. Does he heal them that have need
of healing? Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Verse
9. For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became
poor, that you, through his poverty, might be rich. Now you know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer says, yep, yep. I know something of the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. But look what he says, that though
he was rich. Who can describe the riches of
the Lord Jesus Christ? Rich in possessions. He owns
everything. It's all his. Rich in love. He has the angels praising his
holy name. Rich in righteousness. He's the
very righteousness of God. Go on and on talking about the
riches of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet the scripture says, for your
sakes, he became poor. He who created the universe. The ancient of days became the
infant of days. He became poor in possessions. He said, regarding himself, the
son of man had nowhere to lay his head. He was like a street
person. He didn't have a house to go. We're all going home to
our fine homes. He didn't have a place to go. He became not
the object of praise, but the object of ridicule. He was a
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And here's the thing
that just when it talks about his poverty, he, the holy son
of God who never sinned, he became poor in righteousness on the
cross. He was made to be sin. Oh, the poverty of Christ. All
the sins of his people became his. He bore the guilt, the shame
through his own self. There are sins in his own body.
on the tree. Oh, what poverty! And you know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He were rich, yet
for your sakes He became poor, that you, through His poverty,
might be rich. Oh, the riches that every believer
has in the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfect righteousness. Perfect
acceptance. That's how a poor and needy sinner
is made rich. Turn to Psalm 40. It's the last
scripture we're going to look at. Psalm 40. David, here he is saying it again. This is one of David's favorite
statements. Psalm 40, verse 17. But I am poor and needy. You know, I'm poor. And I'm needy. That's me. That's
every believer. I'm poor. I'm needy. Yet. Yet. The Lord thinketh upon me."
Well, what's he think? If when he's thinking about me,
when he's thinking about Todd Nybert, what does he think? Now, I'm poor, and I'm needy,
yet the Lord thinketh upon me. We'll look back in verse 5, Psalm
40. Now first let me establish who
is speaking in this psalm. Just like every other psalm,
it's a messianic psalm. I remember one time I read that
there's 22 messianic psalms where the Lord is the first speaker.
No, there's 150 messianic psalms. 150. Now, look in verse 6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire. My ears is thou open, burnt offering
and sin offering is thou not required? Then said I, lo, I
come in the volume of the book which is written of me. I delight
to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart.
Now is there any doubt about who's speaking? This is quoted in Hebrews
chapter 10 as the direct words of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, Christ on the cross was poor and needy, wasn't he? All
that that means. Now, We know that it's the Lord
speaking. Look in verse five. Many, O Lord, my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are
to us. Now, did you catch that us? That's
the Lord speaking, but you know, you know who else is speaking
about every believer. Us, everybody he's united to. Many, O Lord, this is the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking, and when he speaks of the Father's thoughts
towards him, he refers to himself as an usward. He's talking about
me and every single poor and needy sinner. That's who he's
talking about. Many. Are thou wonderful works which
thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward. Now, what
are the Lord's thoughts toward Christ? When the father looks at his
son, what does he think? Oh, he's so pleased. He said,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. He's so pleased
with his son. Oh, he delights in his son. That's
how pleased he is with the escort too, because we're united to
him. Now, I'm poor and needy, no doubt
about that, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. You see, being poor
and needy is better than the world's riches. That doesn't
feel good to be poor and needy. But I tell you what, it feels
good to be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't it? If I'm destitute of righteousness,
that's not a good feeling, but it feels mighty good to have
his righteousness. You see, It is only the poor
and needy that he saves. So Lord, bow down thine ear,
hear me, for I am poor and I am needy. Let's pray.