SERMON ON THE MOUNT

MATTHEW 5.3

As we saw last week, ultimate, lasting blessedness or happiness cannot be found in physical, material things. The tree of blessedness does not grow in an earthly paradise. All earthly things are transitory. Though they were created by God to bless us and are tokens of His goodness, they were never created by God  to satisfy the deepest longings of our souls. This is essentially what The Lord Jesus told the woman at the well, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. John 4.13, 14

King Solomon wrote, Eccl 5:10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

• One of the old Puritans wrote, the thirsty soul is unquenchable until it bathes in the river of life. Goods cannot soothe a troubled heart or a wounded spirit. Judas sold his salvation for money, and the Pharisees bought their damnation with it. To seek our happiness in externals is to seek the living among the dead.
• Anything that set your life upon except God and His gospel will most certainly disappoint you, and in the end destroy you. Tim Keller

Let me read to you Matthew 5.3 from the Amplified Version of the Bible:

Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous--with life-joy and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

• As we mentioned last week, to be poor in spirit is the exact antithesis of the spirit of this world. The world has its motivational seminars that seek to instill into people the worldly philosophy of self-confidence, self-assurance, believe in yourself, express yourself, you are numero uno. Such words are not to be found in Holy Scripture.
• D. Martin Lloyd Jones writes: “You will never find a greater antithesis to the worldly spirit and outlook than that which you find in this verse. What emphasis the world places on its belief in self-reliance, self-confidence and self-expression. Look at its literature. If you want to get on in this world, it says, believe in yourself. That idea in controlling the whole of life outside of the Christian message.”
• Beloved, we need to avoid the fatal error of being captivated by worldly, secular philosophies and realize once and for all that we are citizens of a spiritual realm that is unlike everything and anything that belongs to this present evil age (Gal 1.4).
• In his hymn, Jesus Lover on my soul, John Wesley wrote the words, “Just and holy is Thy Name, I am all unrighteousness; vile and full of sin I am, Thou art full of grace and truth.” Amen and Amen!
• Ultimately, why are the poor in spirit blessed? For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The Lord Jesus sets this promise of eternal blessedness at the forefront of our minds. The fullness of our blessedness beloved lies in the heavenly rest that we have in Christ Jesus and the gospel that bears His Name.

The first beatitude is really a description of how we enter into the kingdom of God. In fact, all of the beatitudes are characteristics of an individual that has been born again. Jesus is not randomly stringing words together here. This beatitude is placed first in the divine order beloved, because all the other characteristics flow out of this initial beatitude.

• As we unpack these beatitudes, we will see that they are the characteristics that exist in a cross-centered, gospel believing, Christ exalting, Spirit filled, God satisfying life!

Poor in spirit indicates that before there is a filling, there must be an emptying. There is no one in the kingdom of heaven who is not poor in spirit, and that is because conviction of sin always precedes conversion. The Spirit of God convicts before we are converted.

Poor in spirit, (sometimes translated as poverty in spirit) is not to be understood as financial poverty, nor is it to be understood as a depressive condition.

• A person can give away all of their possessions and in the process become dirt poor, and still not be poor in spirit. There is no saving virtue in taking a “vow of poverty.” A financially poor man is no closer to the kingdom of heaven than a rich man in human terms.
• Likewise, a person can have a very poor image of themselves, to the point of being morbid and self-depreciating, head hanging down singing nothing but the blues about everybody and everything and still not be poor in spirit.

Being poor in spirit is the result of our being brought face to face with The Living God. The person who is poor in spirit is an individual who sees himself or herself in the presence and perfections of an all-holy, all sovereign God of the Universe. And if anybody here this morning feels anything less than poor in spirit in the presence of an all holy, all majestic, Almighty God, he or she has yet to come to know Him.

A person who is poor in spirit is ever so conscious of their debt of sin. They know that in and of themselves, they have no case to plead before God. They know that their only hope of forgiveness of sin is through faith in the finished work of The Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and belief that He rose again from the dead (1 Cor 15.1-4).

No one can be a Christian apart from being poor in spirit, because being poor in spirit is the basis of repentance and belief in Christ. Instead of being self sufficient and thinking that we are basically good in the sight of God, we agree with the record of Scripture that we are rebels and enemies against the goodness and government of God.

We are born dead in trespasses and sins, guilty before God both inside and out. We all fall short of the glory of God.

Listen to The Holy Spirits words regarding the results of the C-Scan of every human being in this room this morning. Warning, but no apology….it is not pretty!

• Rom 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.19 ¶ Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
• Contrary to popular thinking, these passages are not only a description of the Adolph Hitler’s or Osama Ben Ladens in the world. They are a description of Ray Viola and every single descendant of Adam. They describe how every single person, apart from the imputed righteousness of The Lord Jesus Christ, stands before a holy God, with the person speaking to you being the chiefest of sinners.
• Every single person born of a woman is born with a condition that is worse that AIDS, worse than cancer. In fact we are born with a condition that is far worse than every disease put together. Those diseases may kill our physical body, but the condition that we are born with will destroy our eternal soul. What is this condition? We are born SIN positive. Sin in the world is the cause of all disease, war, sorrow, trouble, divorce, murder, difficulties and problems in the world.
• According to the epistle to the Romans 3 and 5, all of humanity is lost, ungodly and enemies of God who deserve His wrath. The prophet Isaiah wrote, Isaiah 64.6, we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
• We are debtors in the court of God with no hope whatsoever apart from pleading for mercy and grace. Ps 40:17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
• Religion is not the solution my friends. Jesus contrasted the self righteous religious person with the person that is poor in spirit this way.
• Lu 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

• A high opinion of our own goodness in comparison with that of others, and a disposition to exalt ourselves, are exceedingly offensive to God; while a deep conviction of our own unworthiness, hearty contrition for sin, and humble supplication for mercy, are his delight. Family Bible Notes
• This Pharisee, like so many people today was a legalist. Legalism is seeking to achieve forgiveness from God and acceptance by God through obedience to God. Legalism is nothing more than self-worship beloved. Without saying it, legalism claims that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross was either unnecessary or insufficient.
• Religion or a self-righteous person says to God, Your plan of salvation does not work. What Jesus did on the cross in not enough to redeem me and pay for my sin, thus, I must_______fill in the blanks.
• The gospel of the grace of God nails a fatal blow to 3 things beloved…write them down.
• (1) Legalism, which means basing our relationship with God on our own performance.
• (2) Condemnation, which means being more focused on our sin than on God’s grace.
• (3) Subjectivism, which means basing our view of God on our changing feelings and emotions.

Dear visitors and precious KF family, at the risk of sounding like a skipping CD player, let me repeat emphatically that the only cure for our sinful condition is not humanism or religion, but the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You see beloved, we first need to see and hear the bad news and understand the depth of our desperate condition before we can see the glorious good news and appreciate the beauty of the grace and mercy of God towards us. Beloved, our Creator owes none of us anything. Not one red cent…He does not owe any of us one more breath, but in His divine love and mercy, He gives to us through Christ, unmerited, unconditional grace and favor!

·      CHS- “The first link between my soul and Christ is not my goodness, but my badness, not my merit but my misery, not my riches but my need. “

• David, when convicted about his adultery with Bathsheba declared, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Psalm 51.1
• Isaiah expresses poverty in spirit by making the statement, Woe is me…..Paul expresses poverty in spirit by making the statement, Oh wretched man that I am…..Peter expresses poverty in spirit by making the statement to Jesus, depart from me, for I am a sinful man.
• These are all expressions of people who are poor in spirit and in light of that fact, they are placing all of their trust in the grace and mercy and love of God through Jesus Christ to save them and preserve them. For no one can come unto The Father but through Him.
• My friend, The Spirit and the bride invite you to come to Jesus this morning….they invite you to take of the water of life freely.  For those of you who are curious, but not converted, religious but not regenerated…hear the Master Himself speak to your heart, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel (Mark 1.15). Turn from your sin and turn to Him with all of your heart dear ones. Whosoever shall call upon the Name of The Lord shall be saved.
• If you are saved and have never made a public proclamation of that, you need to sign up for our water baptism service in 3 weeks….info in the office, sign up sheet in the parlor.  

CALL THE SERVERS AND PRAISE TEAM UP

Beloved the bread and the cup are reminders of the free grace that has fallen upon us in and through The Lord Jesus Christ. Grace leaves me out of the equation of my salvation, for we are saved and heaven bound upon the basis of Christ’s sacrifice and the Holy Spirit breathing His life into our souls.

It has been said that the wisdom of God planned the gospel in eternity past. His power and providence brought it to this to this earth in the person of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. But His love is what motivated The Fathers hearts and reached down to save you and I in the present.

Mankind has yet to see the extent of God’s power, but we have seen the extent of His love for us on Mount Calvary.

• The Father laid upon Christ the iniquity of us all. My sin was placed upon Him, not in Him. Isa 53.10,11
• The Father has made us the righteousness of God in Jesus. 2 Cor 5.21
• The elements remind us that all that we are and all that we desire are in Jesus….He is our hope, our joy, our peace, our grace, our comfort, our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification and our redemption. We are not the objects of His scorn, but a source of His delight and divine pleasure.
• Learn to delight in the gospel beloved. We do not need a new truth or a new experience. Rejoice in the glorious gospel  that Jesus died so that sinners like you and me could be reconciled to God and forgiven by God……theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

TONIGHT PROVERBS CHAPTER 6