About this sermon
The Beatitudes begin with the poor in spirit, the first rung of the ladder, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. To be poor in spirit is to see one’s true spiritual state, empty-handed before God, the opposite of the self-reliance the world prizes. Those who come to God like the tax collector, crying for mercy, receive the blessing of his kingdom now and in the glory of Christ’s return.
Sermon transcript
and turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5. With us last week, we were beginning the Sermon on the Mount series, and today we’re beginning with the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. And this is the week that we recognize the passion of Christ, this week when we pay attention to what He went through. And we’ll see as we come to this first of the Beatitudes, blessed are the poor in spirit, it’s the right place to start this week for us as we focus on who we are, what our situation is, where we stand before God in the beginning of our walk with Him. So we’re going to look at this particular passage and we’re going to again be focusing on the first beatitude. But we’re going to read verses 1 through 12.
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain. And when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs 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.”
And we’ll end our reading there. Let’s pray as we come to God’s Word. Our Lord and our God, we thank you that you speak these truths to us. May our hearts be open to you. May you challenge us. May you encourage us. May you comfort us. May you call us to a higher way. And Lord, may all that is said here be to your glory and truth. We pray this in Jesus’ name.
So, coming to the Beatitudes, I want us to be thinking of them as a ladder. something that gets us moving forward, gets us moving up. A ladder, of course, everybody knows what a ladder is. It has several steps on it. And I want us to see that that sense of steps is the description of the progression of my life in Christ as I walk in Him. And as we go on this ladder, we want to see that certain steps seem to work together. They seem to come one after the other. You have to go one step at a time.
And this is true of ladders. Any good ladder, you need to realize the first step needs to be somewhere down near the ground. If the first step is like at 10 feet, that’s not a very useful ladder. It doesn’t help us in our situation. We can’t climb that ladder. And that’s the case with the ladder of the Beatitudes.
It doesn’t start at some high-level qualities of Christian character, but it starts at the bottom, the most basic characteristics of any Christian. And from that basic level, everything else rises out. So, these Beatitudes are what we need to understand when we have a sense of the Law that is before us. There is that idea, the Old Testament, everything that is there is the Law of God as presented in summary form in the Ten Commandments.
And so we look at that and we come to that and we say, so where do we go from there? How do we understand when we see how unable we are to keep those laws, to do that, how we have fallen and we have nothing in ourselves, how do we move forward? And so we need to understand that the law, in that sense, condemns us. The law is only for that purpose, to show us what we’re to do, show us how we fall short, and show us how we don’t make it, in that sense.
And so we come to this time of the Beatitudes, we come here precisely with the status of fallenness and then we see how the progression of the Beatitudes brings us up to that ladder and brings us up that ladder. And so you remember last time we talked about the Beatitudes as the What am I to be? What is my attitude to be? Well, that’s what we want to look at here.
And the first one is, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So let’s first of all talk about what poor in spirit is not. poor in spirit is not being poor, financially, physically poor, having few worldly possessions. That’s not what is being talked about here as poor. It’s also not the fact that you might be sickly or frail, that you have a personality or a physical sense that is not very strong. It’s not able to withstand the hardships of life. That’s not what poor in spirit is. It’s not just merely being sad or depressed. And it’s not having a poor spirit.
You know, some of us are poor losers. I don’t know if anybody wants to admit to that. I tend to be a poor loser and that’s not the picture here that I just get angry or I have things happen or that selfishness that I don’t get my way. I’m just a poor being in that way.
That’s not what poor in spirit is here. It’s not that I have just a small bit of the Holy Spirit. It’s not that I’m just, you know, just low in my Holy Spirit within me. And this person who is poor in spirit is not just a person who is newly in Christ or who has just a few works as a new Christian or early in this process. This is not what we want to understand under poor in spirit.
Turn with me to Luke chapter 18. We’re going to see some more here about what it means to be poor in spirit. Luke chapter 18. We have here a contrast of someone who is poor in spirit and someone who is not. Luke chapter 18, we’re going to look at verse 9, beginning at verse 9.
And again, this is Jesus talking. He has told this parable to some. who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. And it’s interesting to hear, we don’t always talk about that first part. This is what the parable and who it’s for. And that’s a good reminder for us about what it is not to be poor in spirit.
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed, thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
That’s the picture of the poor in spirit. This tax collector is the one who realizes his true spiritual state. That Pharisee does not. He’s about himself and his righteousness. And so that’s one of the first things we want to see when we are poor in spirit is that we realize our true spiritual state.
We realize our guilt due to the sin in our lives. The total corruption of our whole natures. Our being dead in our sin like that tax collector, that publican who couldn’t even lift his eyes up and just calls out for mercy. We also see, when we are poor in spiracy, a tendency in our lives to do evil. Our habits, our appetites, the things that we’re inclined to do are evil. Charles prayed this in his prayer, that what we do is evil. We have this heart that is evil.
We come from the line of Adam. And as Romans 5 would talk about, the sins of Adam are our sins. They’re imputed to us. That original sin nature is our nature. And it’s who we are. And we need to understand that whatever we do, whatever we do is always going to be tainted with sin because of who we are as original sinners with Adam’s nature.
And so we need to realize that that is our tendency to do what is evil. Then we need to realize our complete inability and helplessness to do anything about that condition. Not only is that who we are, but there’s nothing that I can do to change that in myself.
And then with that in mind, then I need to realize that without faith in Christ and the grace that He provides, I’m lost. It is only through faith in Christ alone that saves. There’s nothing that I can do. There’s nothing that I can add to my situation to make me acceptable. And so, realize this.
If you have faith in Christ, and you’re a true believer trusting in Him alone for your salvation, well, you can be no more justified than you are right now. There’s nothing about you. you can do nothing to add to your righteousness that God gives you in Christ.
Remember the thief on the cross? We’ll be hearing that this coming weekend as we hear about Christ’s crucifixion. That thief on the cross who was said, today you will be with me in paradise. That baby still in the womb who is the elect of God who dies, neither of them are less justified than you and I. just because they came to that place in a different time. So we need to realize that without faith in Christ, we are lost, we are dead, we have nothing, and it doesn’t matter where we are in the process, we’re no more or less justified in where we are. Then, the poor in spirit will realize that God is the one who chooses them to faith.
I don’t choose for myself. I don’t do this on my own. It is only by the power of God’s Holy Spirit and the sovereign grace of God that I, through Christ, can even have faith. It is that gift of God. It’s nothing that I have purchased, nothing that I can do. It is the gift of God through faith.
And then, as I’m this poor in spirit, I realize this deep and abiding sense of this absolute need of a Savior. Because, again as Charles prayed, because we are utterly wicked, utterly helpless, utterly condemned when we are without Christ. We are vile and we have no hope of salvation in ourselves apart from the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
This is where I am. This is my sense of who I am when I am not in Christ. Do you really see this in yourself? Do you really see how filthy, how loathsome and hopeless your situation is? unless you know Christ, unless Christ has been applied to you in your life. You need to hear this today. If you are outside of Christ, you don’t know this being poor in spirit. You are blind and deaf to these things.
You’re like a corpse to the saving love of Jesus Christ. If you have not turned to him and if you haven’t repent, turn to Christ, trust in Him alone for your salvation, and then you will have eyes to see and ears to hear, and He will make what is dead alive. That stony heart becomes alive, and you are in Him. But when we are in Him, we still need to realize that we have nothing in us to make us acceptable to Him.
So what else do we understand in being poor in spirit? Well, when I am poor in spirit, I’m going to have a willingness to set aside self. I need to move from my independent life and my independent approach to dependence on Christ. I need to trust Him for wisdom, for righteousness and sanctification. I need to hold on to nothing in my life. as if it was mine alone. I need to be poor in my rights and in my possessions and belongings. I need to realize that I have nothing in myself and everything is of Christ and through Christ. And then if I’m going to practice, I’m going to be part of this poor in spirit, I need to practice humility in my relationship to others.
Matthew 23, 12 says, for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Holiness begins with lowliness. begins with lowliness. Listen to Philippians chapter 2. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. And then this. Verse three, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself. I need to have that humble attitude. Holiness begins with lowliness. Each of you, verse four, should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. So there’s questions we need to ask ourselves.
What do you have? What do you have that you have not received from somewhere outside of yourself? Where did you get whatever it is that you have? How did you come by it? How long is what you have going to last? Is it such a very big thing in the scope of all eternity, what you have and the things that you are in that? Is it not all of God? Is it not by God? Is it not sustained by God? And is it not for God? Nothing of your own is yours, it’s all His.
And so I need to understand that until I empty myself of me, it’s very difficult to be filled with Christ, with God. Before we’ve seen our own righteousness as filthy rags, when we understand and see ourselves as that poor in spirit and removed it, It’s hard to put on the righteous clothes of Christ when we still keep our own filthy rags on as the two don’t fit together well at all.
Until we see the true poverty of our hearts and our situation apart from Christ, it’s hard to perceive the wealth and the greatness of what He offers us. So often we have proud, blind eyes. And we need to be given that sight, we need that change of heart, we need a humbling by the Holy Spirit to truly be poor in spirit. Now this blessing comes to those who have admitted that they are absent of praiseworthy qualities. When we understand that we are sadly deficient in our life, that we will see grace in a way that we can’t see it without.
Those who need to be pure, those who need mercy, those who cry out, who are not worthy to be called sons of God, will see these things in a way that the person who doesn’t understand that will never get. And that’s who we are. God wants those who are in want. God wants those who need to be filled, who have deficit, who have laxity, and who understand and admit, I’m not all I can be, all I should be. And so the question is, if you move from that state of natural worldly success to the meager, lowly world of spiritual poverty, it is God’s desire that this is your first step in the Beatitudes.
The truth is, This is man’s state. I am deeply impoverished in spirit. Whether I realize it or not, whether you realize it or not, whether the world out there realizes it or not, this is man’s state. It is man’s fallen condition, fallen in sin, bound in sin, all in need of God’s mercy. We all owe 10,000 talents, and we have no means of repaying our debt. We are destitute in our shame and our sin and we are guilty.
Now you know the people you’re up shoulders with out there in the world do not recognize this condition. They don’t see themselves in this way. They do not want to know this truth. If you try to tell the world around you that this is where they are, they just will plug their ears. They don’t want to hear it.
And if we’re honest, if I’m honest, I can hardly bring my own self to admit my own guilt, my own failings, my own shame that I have in my life. Do you have that same sense? I know other people who are worse, but I’m pretty okay. And yet, what happens?
We need to see ourselves as poor in spirit Those who are poor in spirit and know this truth only know it because it’s been revealed by the Spirit of God. We cannot come to this knowledge rationally, through thinking, through our own heads. It comes because the Spirit of God changes us and we see these things. To know our spiritual poverty is the gift of God, granted to those who are His elect, to those whom He has chosen. He created us and made us to do this, to bring this knowledge to us when we are His children. We can’t get this on our own. We need Him to bring us alive. We need Him to do this for us. And so we need to see that our imaginary goodness, the way we think of ourselves, is really hard to give up.
It’s hard for me to not think pretty highly of myself, because I could be like that Pharisee and point out all the ways that I’m different from other people who are worse than me, or the people at my work, and what they do, and the lives they lead, and I could feel pretty good about myself.
But that’s not real. It’s harder to conquer my imaginary goodness, in some ways, than the actual sin. It’s harder for me to conquer my imaginary goodness, my high view of myself, than the actual sin that I’m doing. It’s not our weaknesses that make this difficult.
It’s my self-perceived strength. It’s my sense that I’m okay. This is what makes it difficult to see ourselves as we really are. And so I would say it is a sign of grace to us. that we actually know we need grace. The world around us doesn’t see this. The poor in spirit at least have this truth to hold on to, more than any of those out there who live in their imaginary goodness. We who are poor in spirit can at least know, I’m not that person. I don’t have that goodness. I am different.
And yet, even in the midst of knowing our sin, knowing this, we need to beware the feeling of merit about feeling bad about our sin. Because sometimes we fall into that trap. Yeah, and you’ll know those people who will go on and on about how evil they are and how bad they are and what they’ve done. And it almost sounds like they’re proud of it. So that somehow our acknowledgement of despair and unbelief is somehow to merit to us. Somehow that makes us better.
Rather, one must not commend the despair and humility any more than the sin that led to it. We need to be careful. All boasting must be cut off. Repentance is not something of which I am to boast. And yet we can easily fall into that trap and say, look at how repentant I am. It’s incredible. Compared to you, my, I am much more aware of who I am and my sinfulness.
The one who is not boasting, who doesn’t bring this before the house, is truly poor in spirit. So that is the nature of being poor in spirit. So what is it about being poor in spirit? What are we supposed to be? How are we described? Well, we know the word blessed, right? Blessed is this person who’s poor in spirit. And we’ve also used the word happy. Happiness is tied to being poor in spirit. So why is it that this poor in spirit person is blessed, is happy? Well, the verse tells us some things, and we’re going to think through this a little more. Well, what’s the main primary reason that this person is happy?
It’s because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They have the kingdom, the elements of the kingdom of heaven in them. It’s their possession. Luke 12, verse 32 says, Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. We have the kingdom now. This is where we are.
And so I need to realize that. I can be happy in that. It’s a blessing to me, as poor in spirit, to know my hopeless condition. Do you hear what I’m saying? That’s a blessing to me. To tear us away from our self-dependence, our self-righteousness, our imaginary goodness. That’s a good thing.
It’s good for me to remove this sense that within myself I can somehow merit God’s God’s satisfaction and His approval. This is the first great difficulty for fallen men to overcome. This prideful and false idea that I can make it on my own. I can somehow do enough. What a blessing if we have been able to set that aside.
If we know our hopeless condition. If we understand our true nature before God. The more we know of our sin, the more we fail, and the more we realize our hopelessness and despair in ourselves. This is something that we begin to understand when we are poor in spirit.
And so we are more likely and able to see it for what it is, renounce it, put off the old righteousness, my personal wisdom, my self-dependence, and put on Christ. Put on His righteousness. This is a blessing that comes to me when I really see these things for what they are.
And it is only the truly poor in spirit who will value what Christ gives. If I’m not poor in spirit, if my righteousness is doing enough, I don’t have any need of Christ’s righteousness. I don’t need that. It doesn’t provide me anything. It’s only as I truly understand my poorness of spirit. the value and the richness of Christ’s righteousness comes to front and center in my life and seeing Him for what He is. So I get the kingdom. I understand my hopeless condition. Third, Christ is applied to me. This is the blessing. Christ stands at the door. He says, I want to come in. He comes He takes that heart of stone and makes it alive. We’ve been trying to get things in order on our own and realize when we’re poor in spirit, I can’t do it. I’ve tried. I can’t do it. There’s nothing I can do.
And so Christ comes and applies His righteousness. His Spirit comes and takes us and makes us His. That’s the blessing that we have. And so again, we see the blessing here of not having to be independent. not having to depend on our self-righteousness. We can trust in what is assured to redeem. You can be confident that if you are in Christ and He is your Savior, that Christ’s work will accomplish it.
We heard that, Philippians 1.6, He who began a good work in you will complete it. You can be assured of this, and it’s not your work.
I think If you talk to people who are unbelievers and you can get them to really look in their hearts and you’d say, what are you trusting in? And how often do you hear, sometimes from those who call themselves believers, well, I hope. I hope I’ve done enough. I hope it’s going to get me in. I think I’ve done more good than bad. You know that sense of no hope, that sense of no sureness of what is there. But for us, we have the blessing that I’m not trusting in anything I’m doing. I’m trusting what Christ has done.
Christ is all I need for my salvation in life. And what a blessing. to not have to try to work day in and day out, week in and week out, year in and year out, to somehow please God enough that we could get into heaven. We are free from the bondage of sin, of our own hearts and our own deceitfulness. We are free in Christ.
He is my strong tower. He is where I flee. He is where I stand protected. And that’s why some of these psalms that we’ve been singing speak of that, how God is our protector. The evil is put down. We are kept by Him. And so that is what we understand where we are.
And then with no self-interest, when I’m not looking out for myself, then comes the blessing of not having to labor for self-glory. How often do we have a heart that says, I’m going to do what it takes for people to notice me? At my work, that’s what they want you to do. They want you to do stuff, point it out, and show how good you are, and that’s how you would advance.
But when I am poor in spirit, when I’m trusting in Christ, when this is who I am, I don’t do this at work. I don’t need to do this at church. I don’t need to do this in my relationships. I no longer need to worry about building up my reputation. I don’t need to worry about fulfilling all my desires. I don’t need to worry about contending for my rights and what’s coming to me.
Because I am all bound up in Jesus Christ. He’s enough. And that’s what I need to realize. The one who is brought low, the one who is poor in spirit, the one who is humble, has no need to fear failure or falling. There’s nowhere to fall. You’re in Christ. And that’s where we stand. And lastly, what’s the happiness? What’s the blessing?
There’s more to come. There’s more to come. To the poor in spirit belong all the security which the gospel kingdom can offer, where in this world, the already not yet, but there is still more to come. We have not experienced the fullness of the kingdom. We are going to see that kingdom of heaven when it comes, reserved for the future. The second advent of Christ is coming in glory.
The poor in spirit inherit everything. It becomes ours, we inherit this kingdom. So if you are blessed, who mourn. If you are blessed who hunger and thirst after righteousness, if you are blessed who are persecuted, how much more will that blessing be when you are united forever with Jesus Christ for all eternity?
Revelation 3.21, To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne.
That’s what we’re celebrating this week of Jesus Christ. He has come, He has done it, and we are going to sit with Him in glory. What an incredible blessing and happiness we have ahead of us. So, Christian, our culture glorifies a Christianity that’s always high, always up. A lot of situations where worship is going on. It’s all about feelings of warmth and joy and ecstasy and excitement in that setting.
But I want us to remember being poor in spirit has a different sense. If we only ride a high when we come to God’s house and we live the rest of the time without that, we don’t have the realism of our true sense of being poor in spirit. When I’m in that setting, when I’m sometimes in that place of worship, it’s all about me and how I’m feeling.
It’s self-centered. It’s self-seeking. But when I’m poor in spirit, I’m not focusing in on me. I’m focusing on Christ. He wants us to be clay, acting like clay in His hands. He is the potter. We’re not telling Him how my life is supposed to be and where it should be going. what I should be experiencing and what I should have, but we do what the Potter tells us.
In this state of weakness and low spirituality, when we are totally given over to Christ, when we are dead and buried with Him, the Spirit of God is ready for us to receive a blessing and give us that blessing when we come to Him in that way. That’s why we began with Matthew 11, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. So this position of spiritual poverty is the only safe and secure state for you to be in. When you see yourself as you are, clearly before Christ, when you renounce yourself and you seek after Christ only, then you can say with that tax collector, that publican, God have mercy on me, a sinner.
And ours will be the kingdom of heaven. Let’s pray. Our Lord and our God, we are pretty full of ourselves. I know I feel pretty good about myself most of the time, and I’m sure others do too. Instead of looking out for your ways, understanding who each our poverty. We too easily ignore the grace that you offer us and your mercy and we don’t seek it and we don’t really live that poor in spirit attitude. We’re not humble.
Lord, as we are more like that Pharisee in our hearts and our lives and our dealings and relationships, Lord, forgive us, help us to see that sin and to run from us, run from that. And Lord, as we are that publican, that tax collector who truly sees himself for what he is, who can’t even raise his eyes, he understands his condition, his poverty, and his spirits. And may we truly have that sense of trusting in you, that we would take that step on this first step of the beatitude. lives that we would cry out for mercy that we would see ourselves as we truly are and then see the blessings that we have the happiness that we have of being in Christ again I would pray if there’s those who are not on this ladder who don’t know what this is like I pray that your spirit would be merciful and gracious that they would see themselves as you see them that they would cry out with the publican Lord have mercy on me a sinner those of us who have it, may we remember these truths, may we relish them, may we focus on them, may we live our life before you and before the world around us as those who are truly poor in spirit, that we might know your blessings. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. So let’s respond by taking our hymnals, turning to Psalm 145, selection B. Psalm 145, selection B. Please stand and remain standing for prayer.
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