Blessed are the Poor

Father, we thank you, Lord, for this opportunity you've given us

to spend some time in the word of the Lord.

We thank you, Father, for your faithfulness to us.

We thank you, Lord, that you allow us to gather together in

the middle of the week to be refreshed and to refocus our

hearts and minds on things above.

Tonight, Lord, as we open your word, we pray that you'd open

our hearts and minds and our souls to be able to see the

beauty of the Lord. Thank you Father, for this

opportunity. We are grateful and we pray that

Lord, the things we learned tonight would take us from this

place and you and move us to be used by You for the glory of

your great Kingdom in Jesus name, Amen.

If you have your Bible, turn with me to the first recorded

sermon by our Lord in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 5,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

the very first recorded sermon by our Lord.

It's the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest

preacher, whoever lived. And it's interesting that the

sermon is outside and not inside.

It's on the northern slopes of the Sea of Galilee where our

Lord would preach this sermon rather than inside of a

synagogue. Also note that this sermon is

given sitting down and not standing up.

Also, you will note that this sermon is given in great

simplicity, but the same time incredible authority as opposed

to the formality of most Jewish traditions.

And the way the Lord our Lord opens up the sermon is rather

unique for the very first word he says is blessed.

In fact, he says it 9 different times.

In other words, our Lord begins the sermon by talking about how

it is people in His Kingdom can be truly blessed.

The word is macarios, which is a word that deals with inner joy,

inner contentment. It's a word that that is not

obstructed by anything outward. In other words, there is no

circumstance or situation that disrupts the joy that's on the

inside because it's a unique and and special joy given to God's

people as a gift. So he begins with gladness, He

begins with joyfulness, He begins with happiness, He begins

with blessedness. And this would get everybody's

attention because everybody who is there on that day is

associated with or know someone or has seen the miracles that

our Lord has taken, has, has, has done over the last several,

several days. Because in chapter 4, it tells

us that there were many people that were paralytics and

epileptic, and those who were blind and those who were lame,

those who were diseased, and all of them were healed.

And so in their minds they they were happy, in their minds they

were blessed, in their minds they had experienced great joy

and their family and friends were, were joyful for them

because their condition had changed drastically.

And so our Lord is going to teach them what true blessing

really is, what true happiness really is, what gladness is

really all about. He's going to teach them about

His Kingdom. After all, he's the king, and

when the king comes, he presents the Kingdom.

And Romans 1417 says that the Kingdom of heaven is not eating

and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy

Spirit. That's the Kingdom of heaven.

And so he's going to begin by telling them about blessing, how

their lives can be truly blessed.

Now if you go back to chapter 4 and you read verse #23 it says

that Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their

synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom.

So this is the message that Jesus is teaching.

It's all about the good news centered on the Kingdom of God.

As you recall when the Angel said to the shepherds in Luke 2,

do not be afraid, for I bring you good news.

I bring you good tidings, I bring you the gospel, good news

that brings great joy. For unto you this day in the

city of David has been born. To save you is Christ the Lord.

So I'm bringing to you good news.

And that good news is going to produce great joy.

Why? Because the king has come.

The king has been born. So now the king is preaching

about his Kingdom. He's preaching the gospel of the

Kingdom. He's preaching the good news

about the Kingdom. And the good news about the

Kingdom is that which brings great joy.

So he begins his sermon by saying blessed.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of

heaven. He's going to teach them what it

means to enter the Kingdom of heaven and how to grow up in the

Kingdom of heaven. He's going to teach them about

what the Kingdom of heaven is all about and how you live as a

child of the king. That's what Matthews 5-6 and

seven is all about. But the Lord also knows Psalm

144 verse #15 Why? Because he's the author of the

Scriptures, and so he knows Psalm 144 verse #15 which reads

this way. Blessed are the people whose God

is Lord. So he knows that the Jews for

all practical purposes, would also know Psalm 144 verse #15

that blessing comes to those who recognize that the God of Israel

is the Lord of their life. In other words, happiness and

joy, gladness and blessedness only comes to those who

recognize that Jesus is God, who is their Lord.

That's why the Angel said, we bring you good news of great

joy. Why?

Because the Messiah who is the Savior is the Lord, and he has

arrived. So now Jesus comes, He's

preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and now we get a

glimpse of what it is he's been saying all along, and how it is

he says it and why he says it. It is quite unique that our Lord

comes, and the very first recorded sermon that he gives is

1 all about blessing. What about joy?

What about happiness? If you really want to be happy,

it has nothing to do with your external circumstances.

But see, we don't think that way.

We think that when I get something new or I I'm better

physically that that everything is going to be great and I can

be happy and joyous. But Jesus knows that that's not

where joy really lies. Joy comes because you are

blessed because God is your Lord.

So he preaches the gospel of the Kingdom.

And so we get an opportunity to examine all that Jesus says in

these three chapters. And it begins by saying blessed

are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

You see, the, the, the sermon that Jesus gives is very

pointed. It's very, it's very perplexing.

In fact, it's paradoxical because it goes against

everything we believe about blessing.

It goes against everything we understand about true happiness.

We have a different idea about what brings US joy than what

Jesus does. But Jesus is the author of joy

because he embodies the good news that brings great joy.

I love what JB Phillips says. Well he says this is the way we

think about life as opposed to the way Jesus talks to us about

life. We say happy are the pushers for

they get on in the world. Happy are the hard boiled, for

they never let life hurt them. Happy are they who complain, for

they get their own way in the end.

Happy are the blase, for they never worry over their sins.

Happy are the slave drivers, for they get results.

Happy are the knowledgeable men of the world, for they know

their way around. And happy are the troublemakers,

for they make people take notice of them.

In all reality, that's the way we think.

That's the way the world thinks. Be it Jesus comes along and says

something totally contrary to what even the Jewish people

believed, because He wants people to understand His Kingdom

and He wants people to enter His Kingdom.

After all, He's the king. He presents to them the Kingdom.

So tonight I'm going to cover with you 4 points.

They're on your notes. If you have your notes with you,

it's basically very simple. We're going to define for you

the condition of poor in spirit. We're going to describe to you

the consequences of poor in spirit, detail for you the

characteristics of those who are poor in spirit, and then

determine the course for those who seek to be poor in spirit.

OK, so Matthew 5 verse #4 we covered verses one and two.

Last week we introduced the sermon to you.

This week we cover verse number #3 Blessed are the poor in

spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

What does that mean? Well, first of all, to know what

it means, you must know what it doesn't mean.

He's not talking about financial poverty.

He's not talking about material poverty, economic poverty.

He's not talking about that. If that was the case, if you had

no money, you'd be the most joyous people around.

But you know that's not the case.

And if you did have money and you wanted to be happy, you

would give it away. But if you gave it away to

somebody, you'd rob them of true joy because they would no longer

be impoverished. They would have your money.

So he's not talking about material poverty.

He's talking about being poor in spirit.

Now there's a word for normal poverty in the Greek it's Panace

and it And it deals with those who, who barely make a living

that they, they get paid, they, they get enough money to put

food on the table and then they're out of money.

They have no stockpile. They have no savings account.

They have no IRA, they have no retirement fund because they

can't afford that. They just live from paycheck to

paycheck, from paycheck to paycheck, just enough to put

food on their table. But that's not the word that

Jesus uses. He uses a completely different

word. And the word he uses is tokos.

It's from the verb toso, which means to to beg it.

It means in, in classical Greek, these words.

It means to cower like a beggar for someone who crouches about

wretchedly begging, covering their faiths because they are so

ashamed to be seen. That's the word that Jesus uses.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the beggarly,

blessed are those who have no resources there there there's no

most people that are poor can can scrape the bottom of the

barrel to just get enough to survive.

But those who are tocos there, there is no bottom of the barrel

to scrape. There's nothing there.

They are unable to make it. And so the Lord is using a word

that says that you're so poor, you are bigger poor.

For instance, Luke 16 uses this word to describe Lazarus.

He was a beggar. He had nothing.

He had no skill. He had no talent.

He had no opportunity. He had nothing.

He was completely and totally barren.

He experienced true poverty. So the question comes, why?

Why does Jesus begin here? Why does he start out this way?

It's because this is absolutely foundational to everything that

Jesus says. It's pivotal to understand

exactly what Jesus is trying to communicate.

You need to understand this. He is speaking to a Jewish

audience, a Jewish audience by their own right, who believed

they were very self confident. They were very self assured.

Why? Because they really believed in

their ceremonial system. They believed in their

religiosity. They believed that they, as the

people of God, had certain rights and responsibilities.

They were the circumcised, they were different than the people

of the world, they saw themselves as better than

everyone else. And Jesus comes along and begins

by talking about blessing and gladness and happiness, but it

only comes to those who are truly poor in their spirit, in

their inner man, Not poor in their body, but poor in their

spirit. In fact, the Bible says this in

the book of Isaiah chapter 66 verse #2 You know these verses.

Isaiah 66 · chapter mention

To this man would I look to him who is broken and of a contrite

heart, and who trembles at my word.

God says, I look at the man who was crushed in spirit, I look at

the man who was broken on the inside.

That's the man I look to. How about this Psalm 3418?

The Lord is near unto those who are of a broken heart, and saves

those who are of a contrite spirit.

How about Psalm 51 verse #17 King David said The sacrifices

of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.

O God, thou will not despise. And then Isaiah 5715.

Thus saith the high and lofty one, who inhabits eternity,

whose name is holy. I would dwell in the high and

the holy place with him also, who is of a contrite and humble

spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the

heart of the contrite ones. So here comes the king, and he

begins at the very outside by saying, blessed.

And you can imagine what people were thinking.

Psalm 14415 Blessed are those whose God is the Lord.

He says blessed, and then he says blessed are those who are

poor in spirit. Blessed are the destitute,

blessed are the unworthy, blessed are those who have

nothing to claim for themselves. Blessed are those who are

absolutely beggarly in spirit, have nothing to account for.

Why? Because God hates pride.

There are 6 things the Lord hates.

Seven, our abomination to him, the very first one is a proud

look. Proverbs 16, Five, the Lord says

cursed are those who are prideful.

The Lord is concerned. He's concerned that the people

in the stand, he's, he's beginning to pave the way for

what he's going to say in Matthew Chapter 7, when he says

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

these words, He says enter through the narrow gate.

For the gate is wide and the way is broad.

That leads to destruction. And there are many who enter

through it. For the gate is small and the

way is narrow. That leads to life and there are

few find it. That's his invitation at the

end, but he's working his way there.

He's beginning to set the tone for the narrow way.

He's beginning to help them say that the gate is very narrow,

the way is very small, that leads to the Kingdom of God and

very few people will ever find it.

Why? Because they're so arrogant,

they're so prideful. They would they believe that

they can earn their way to heaven, that there's something

that they can do that's good enough to get them into glory.

And the Lord begins by saying, Nope, that's not the way it is.

There is nothing you can do to get you into the Kingdom of

heaven. Everything about the Kingdom of

heaven is a gift. It's a gift by the grace of

Almighty God. If you got your Bible, turn with

me over to Luke. Luke chapter 16.

Luke 16 · chapter mention

Excuse me, Luke chapter 18 and as you're turning there, I I

Luke 18 · chapter mention

want you to remember the what Jesus said in the synagogue of

Nazareth in Luke chapter 4. Remember what he said he was

Luke 4 · chapter mention

quoting from Isaiah 61 when he said these words.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he ignored me to

preach the gospel to who the poor?

What those who had no money is that who you're preaching to no

preach the gospel to the poor. Luke 620 says blessed are the

poor, but but Matthew 53 defines it for us, those who are poor in

spirit. He goes on to say this in Luke

Luke 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. He says he has sent me to

proclaim release to the captives.

Well who who has them captive? Satan does.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives in

recovery of sight to the blind. Well who's blind?

All the unbelievers are blinded. Who they blinded by Satan

himself. Second Corinthians 44 to set

free all those who are oppressed.

So our Lord quotes from Isaiah 61.

This is where the sermon must begin.

This is how he must preach the gospel of the Kingdom, because

he's the Messiah, the Spirit of the Lord.

Is it upon him? He came to preach the gospel to

those who are poor in spirit, to those who are unworthy, to those

who recognize they had nothing to give to God, to those who

recognize that they were absolutely destitute and they

have to cry out for mercy. Remember in Luke chapter 18

Luke 18 · chapter mention

verse #9 it says, and he also told this parable to some people

who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.

Who's that? That's most people.

They trust in themselves that they are righteous.

In this case, that happens to be a Pharisee, one of the religious

elites in Israel. And remember, Jesus would say

these words. Unless your righteousness

exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll never enter

the Kingdom of heaven. You see, the Lord is narrowing

the way into glory. He's given the gate a very small

entryway. Why?

Because very few people will ever find it.

Because very many people what nothing to do with it.

And so he gives this parable about those who trust in

themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with

contempt. And that was the Pharisees. 2

men went up to the temple to pray. 1A Pharisee and the other

a tax collector. Now remember the tax collectors

were the most despised, despicable people in Israel.

Why? Because they sided with Rome,

they had purchased their, their, they've become part and parcel

to all that Rome was doing to, to gather taxes from the nation

of Israel and Israel, the Jews, they hated tax gatherers.

So you had this Pharisee who's among the religious elite who

claims to be righteous in his own eyes.

And then you have this tax collector knows what it says

next. The Pharisee stood and was

praying thus to himself. Do you know how most people pray

only to themselves? They don't really pray to God.

They don't know God. The Pharisees praying to

himself. The Pharisee said prayers, but

the tax gatherer prayed. Big difference between saying

prayers and praying. And so he says, God, I thank you

that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust adulterers or

even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week.

I pay ties of all that I get. But the tax collector standing

some distance away was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to

heaven, but was beating his breast saying, God be merciful

to me, the Sinner. I tell you, this man went to his

house justified rather than the other.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who

humbles himself will be exalted. That that's a classic

illustration of those who who in their pride saw themselves as

very self-righteous that they really got.

God was really, really great to have them on their side.

God was blessed to have the Pharisees a part of what they

believed His Kingdom was. But the tax collector, no, he

was broken in spirit. He wouldn't even had lift his

eyes to heaven, for he was completely and totally ashamed

of his condition. So what's he do?

He cries out for mercy. He pleads for God to be merciful

to him, and the Lord says, Which one do you think was justified?

The Pharisee who prayed to himself, the Pharisee who who

believed that he was righteous and good enough in his own eyes,

or the man who recognized he had nothing and therefore had

nothing to offer to the Lord? The first principle of the

sermon is this. You can't do anything to enter

the Kingdom of heaven. You can't make it on your own.

It requires total dependency. It requires you to recognize

your complete inadequacy. You have nothing to offer God,

nothing that will merit his favor.

You have nothing but a broken and contrite spirit.

Why? Because you're a Sinner and your

sin has separated you from your God.

Remember, the Lord is offering His Kingdom.

He's offering to the multitude how they can get into the

Kingdom. And this is foundational to all

of Christ's teaching. It's pivotal to understand this

because most people would just say, hey, you know, you, you

want to, you want to go to heaven, just say a prayer.

Just believe in Jesus. That's all you got to do.

But Jesus never said that. See, Jesus presented the truth

of the gospel and so many people today think they're on the way

to heaven because they walked an aisle, they signed a card, they

they said a prayer or somebody guaranteed then that Oh yeah,

because you, you believe in Jesus, you're on your way to

heaven. But they never recognized their

unworthiness. They never saw themselves as

separated from God in a sinful condition and begged for mercy

because they had nothing to offer God.

That's the condition #2 what are the consequences?

Well, blessed are the poor and spirit, for, for there's the

Kingdom of heaven. What are the consequences?

Well, immediately you are truly blessed and ultimately you will

be totally blessed. But immediately you are truly

blessed because he says, blessed are those the blessing comes to,

those who enter the Kingdom on my terms, those who come to me

my way. True blessing comes in fact, it

says over in the book of Ephesians.

These words, Ephesians one verse #3 blessed be the God and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual

blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

In other words, you are blessed with all the heavenly blessings

because you're in Christ. Think about it.

Your righteousness you have, because He is righteous, His

power becomes your power. His position becomes your

position. God is love.

Romans 55 says the love of God has shed it.

Broaden your hearts. God is peace in Christ as my

peace I give unto you. God himself is joy.

He says, I've spoken to these things unto you, that your joy

may be made full. God is strong and therefore we

are able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can

ever ask or think by the power of God that works within us.

In other words, we, we are, we are blessed immediately.

Why? Because the Kingdom of heaven is

righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

So the joy automatically comes the moment you recognize that

you have nothing to offer God, that there is absolutely no way

you can earn favor with God. You can merit your way into

glory. You can't give Him anything

because he's all sufficient. He needs nothing from you except

a broken and contrite spirit that's totally depended upon

someone else to bring them into the Kingdom.

And that's exactly what Christ does.

So immediately you're truly blessed, but ultimately you'll

be fully and eternally blessed over and the book of Ephesians

again, chapter 2 verse #5 look what it says.

It says these words, even when we were dead in our

transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace,

who had been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us

with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the

ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace

and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

So in the ages to come, what the Lord's going to do is complete

the salvation that you have when you give your life to Christ

with a totally glorified body, and you will be in the presence

of Almighty God. Think about it.

We when we enter the Kingdom, the Bible says that we are a

Kingdom of priests. We, we the priesthood of the

believer is part of the joy and part of the the gladness and

part of the happiness that's ours because we are a truly

blessed people because of what God has done.

We are blessed because we escape the eternal fires of hell.

We are blessed because Christ dwells in US.

We are blessed because all that Christ is and has, we have.

We are heirs with God, joint heirs with Christ, and Christ

inherits the entire earth and so do we.

Why? Because we are children of the

King. Whatever the king has, his

children have, and therefore we experience the true blessing of

God. Point #3 What are the

characteristics of those who are poor in spirit 1 is this.

They focus on God and forget themselves.

Those who are poor in spirit focus on God and they forget

themselves. Why?

Because they recognize that their life is nothing without

Christ. So they completely focused on

the Lord at the rite of Hebrews fix your eyes on Jesus, the

author and finisher of our faith, like Paul would say in

Colossians chapter 3, set your affection on things above.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

Set your mind heavenward. You're focused on the Lord.

You see when when when you are poor in spirit because you're

you're a you're a beggar. The only thing you want to look

to is, is the one who saves you. So that's your focus.

And you focus on the Lord so much so that you truly forget

yourself. You get lost in the wonder of

Christ. You get lost in the beauty of

Christ. See that?

That's why that's why people don't want to give their life to

Christ because they want to focus on themselves.

They they love themselves so much, but to give themselves

away and to focus on the Christ and to forget about themselves

that that's a characteristic of those who are are poor in

spirit. What are you on the Baptist say

he must increase and I must decrease.

I am not even worthy to untie his sandals.

He must increase, I must decrease.

But in our vernacular it's different.

We have to increase, we have to be seen.

But those who are poor in spirit, no, they focus on God

and forget themselves. Number 2, they forfeit their

agenda in order to fulfill God's agenda.

They forfeit their agenda in order to fulfill God's agenda.

We all have an agenda. We all have plans, and rightly

so. You should make plans.

There's nothing wrong with that. You should be organized.

You should be disciplined, but but but the the true essence of

those who are are poor in spirit is that they they don't override

God's agenda with theirs. They forfeit and they're willing

to forgo their agenda to do what God wants for them to do.

Thomas Watson, who's written a book on the Beatitudes, one of

those great Puritan reformers, said this.

He said a castle has long been besieged and is ready to be

taken, will deliver up on any terms to save their lives.

He whose heart has been a Garrison for the devil, and has

held out long in opposition against Christ, when once God

has brought into poverty of spirit, he sees himself damned

without Christ. Let God propound what articles

He will, and he will readily subscribe to them.

Lord, what will thou have me to do?

In other words, when you realize who the king is, the only

question is, or the only answer to the Lord is, is yes.

To every question, to every command that God gives, the

answer is yes, because my agenda is irrelevant.

I'm a child of the King. I want to fulfill the King's

agenda. My agenda takes a back seat to

God's agenda #3 those who are poor in spirit find good in

others and not false in others. Think of the of the Pharisee.

I thank you that I am not like the adulterer, I'm not like the

swindler. I thank you that I am so much

better than they are. That's what his prayer was all

about as he prayed to himself. But the one who is poor in

spirit, as the Bible says in Philippians 23, he esteems

others better than himself. Those who are poor in spirit

always find themselves looking up to everyone else and never

looking down on anyone. That's those who are poor in

spirit. And #4 another characteristic of

those who are poor in spirit, they they fear God alone and

fall down before him in humble Thanksgiving.

That they fear God alone and fall down before him in humble

Thanksgiving. That they want to give thanks to

God. Thanks being to God for his

indescribable gift. Beggars are extremely thankful

because they have nothing, and when they get something, when

they, when they get the grace, when they, when they receive the

mercy, they are nothing but thankful to God for what He has

done for them. They can't help but be overjoyed

with praise and Thanksgiving because they live in the fear of

God all day long. There is No Fear of God before

the eye of the unbeliever. Romans 3 tells us that only the

believer truly fears the one true and living God.

That's why the psalmist said, blessed are the people whose God

is their Lord. So what is the course?

What's the course of action? Let me give you several

principles that will help you #1 you need to see clearly your own

condition. You just see clearly what the

Lord is saying. You didn't see clearly your own

depravity. There's been a misunderstanding

in the evangelicalism as to what depravity is.

People think that depravity is you being as bad as you possibly

can be as a Sinner. That's not what depravity is.

Depravity simply is defined by the inability to do anything.

That's depravity. Because you're a Sinner and

you're separated from God, you are unable to do anything.

You're dead. Your mind is dead.

Your will is dead. Your heart is dead, your life is

dead, you're dead and your trespasses and sin.

So a person who is depraved is unable to do anything but

respond to the call of God in his life.

And the only way he responds to the call of God in his life is

because God draws him. God calls him, God compels him

to come and you need to see clearly what, what, what poverty

of spirit really is. That's the condition of of the

lost soul. That's why Christ begins here.

He has to begin here. He came to preach the gospel to

those who are poor in spirit, to those who are have been blinded

by Satan, to those who are are captive by Satan, to those who

are pressed under the bondage of sin.

He's going to preach to them that they might be set free and

believe the truth of the gospel. You need to be able to see

clearly your condition. Depravity is simply defined as

nobody qualifies. Nobody qualifies for heaven,

Nobody. That's depravity.

And once you begin to recognize that, once you see clearly your

condition #2 then you surrender fully to the Lord.

You surrender fully to the Lord. Remember what Jesus said in Luke

9 says the exact same thing says here, except different words.

If any man come after me, let deny himself, take up his cross

and follow me if you want to, If you want to come after me, you,

you've got to recognize that you have to surrender fully to me.

You got to deny yourself you. You got to say no to your

aspirations and no to your dreams and and no to all your

desires and hopes. Say no to all that.

Deny yourself and follow me that that's Kingdom living, that's

Kingdom entry. That's the person who recognizes

that he has nothing to offer God.

And when you recognize that, it's easy to deny yourself

because you have nothing to offer the Lord.

And so you come after him because you, you have

surrendered fully to him. Once you see clearly you have

nothing to offer, you beg for mercy, and you surrender fully

to Him. And like the the tax collector

in Luke 18, O Lord, be merciful unto me, a Sinner.

I don't deserve mercy, I don't deserve grace.

I don't deserve the gift of salvation.

I deserve nothing. I deserve hell.

That's what I deserve. But because of God's grace and

God's mercy, I am granted heaven, and that's the one who

was poor in spirit. So you, you see to see clearly

your condition so that you can surrender fully to the Lord.

After you surrender fully, you submit daily.

If any man came after me LED deny himself, die himself and

take up his cross daily and follow me after you surrendered

fully, you submit daily. You submit immediately, You

submit continually. Why?

Because you're a child of the king.

He's the king. So whatever the king commands,

you do your servants in his Kingdom.

So you follow the king like those in Revelation 14 to

144,000 Jewish evangelists who have been marked by God in

Revelation 7. And then when you come to

Revelation 14, they're standing on Mount Zion at the end of the

tribulation. All 144,000 of them.

Not one of them was lost throughout the seven-year

tribulation. Why?

Because they follow the Lamb wherever He went, they submitted

continually to the Lamb, They submitted daily to the Lamb,

They took up the cross daily and followed Him.

That's what it means to understand the course of action

to those who are poor in spirit. They see clearly their

condition, they surrender fully to their King, and they submit

daily to His commands. Remember Philippians 3 verse #3

the definition of a Christian. We are the marked ones.

We worship God in spirit, we glory only in Christ Jesus and

we put no confidence in the flesh that that's the person who

recognizes poverty of spirit. There is no confidence.

There's no self assurance. There's no self-confidence in

themselves. That's why Christ said without

me ye can do nothing. John 15 verse #5 You can't.

You can't get saved without Christ.

You can't walk and live the Christian life without Christ.

You can't live as a child of the King without Christ.

Without me you can do nothing. You must walk in the Spirit, you

must submit daily because you've surrendered fully, simply,

because you've seen clearly what He has said, and then #4 seek

earnestly the Kingdom of God. Matthew 633.

We'll get to this in a few few months when Christ said, Seek ye

first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these

things shall be added unto you, but you must seek first his

Kingdom. There's this seeking.

It's it's, it's basically what he says later on in the Sermon

on the Mount when he says keep asking, keep seeking, keep

knocking. Why?

Because beggars are always asking.

Beggars are always seeking, That's what beggars do.

And so there's an earnestness behind my seeking after God,

wanting to be like my God. It's constant.

It's over and over again because I am beggarly poor and I need my

God. So I seek earnestly His Kingdom,

because he's the king of that Kingdom #5 You study fervently

the Scriptures. Why?

Because you want to get to know the King.

You want to get to know Him more and more because the more you

see His Holiness, the more you sense your unworthiness and your

sinfulness. And so you want to seek Him, You

want to search the scriptures, You want to know more and more

about Him. And so you study fervently the

scriptures. Listen, if you are a beggar, if

you are poor in spirit, you can't help but go to the only

place that feeds you. It's the bread of life.

And Christ says man shall not live by bread alone, but by

every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

And beggars want to be fed. They will go wherever food is

given. They will be wherever food is

dished out. And they know it comes only from

the Scriptures. So they will study it fervently

because they want to be fed on the bread of life that sustains

them from day-to-day. Number six, if you're counting,

if you're not counting, it's still number six.

And that is this. Serve faithfully.

Those who are in the Kingdom serve the King.

That's what they do. They can't help but serve them.

I mean, think about it, when you get to eternal glory, the Bible

says that we will serve him day and night.

Doing what? I have no idea, but he's the

king. And it's, it's, it's a joy to

serve the king. And so you serve faithfully and

in the service of the king. You need no recognition from

anyone else because you're serving the king.

That's so important. Those who, who are poor in

spirit, they, they, they, they want to serve the king because

of what the king has done, and they don't care whether or not

anyone else notices or not. They serve faithfully the king

because they love him. So.

Here's another one #7 You will sing joyously.

You will sing joyously. Listen to Psalm 149.

Let the godly ones exulting glory, let them sing for joy on

their beds, let the high praise of God be in their mouth.

And then over in Psalm 132 verse #16 her godly ones will sing

aloud for joy. You see when when you receive

mercy and grace amidst all your unworthiness and knowing that

you do not deserve anything, you break out in song and you sing

what the Bible calls the new song.

The new song simply is the song of the redeemed soul made new.

That's the new song is and you sing for the glory and honor of

the King. But let me give you another one.

As I was thinking today, I'm going to give you another one,

and that's this. Stand courageously, stand

courageously. This is so good.

What? You're a child of the King,

right? You, you, you, you have the

robes of righteousness, the garments of God that clothe you.

You're equipped with the with the armor of God in Ephesians

chapter chapter 6, right? You're a priest in the Kingdom

of God. Why would you not stand

courageously against all those outside the Kingdom?

You're a child of the king. You stand for something great.

You stand for the King, you stand for the Lord and his

glory. You stand courageously.

And one more Speak boldly, speak boldly.

Speak boldly about the good news that brings great joy.

Speak truthfully about the good news that brings great joy.

Don't water down the gospel. Remember the rich, rich ruler

who came to Christ when he said, good teacher, what must I do to

inherit the Kingdom of God? Christ could say, hey, say this

prayer and you're in. He never did that.

Raise your hand, you're in. No, never said that.

He told him keep the commandments.

Keep the commandments. Why?

Because you see, if you can keep the commandments, you can get

in. You can, but nobody can.

Nobody will be justified by the deeds of the law.

Romans 319 But the standard is perfection, right?

Matthew 548 Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.

So keep them all without reservation, without sinning,

ever. Keep the commands.

What are the commands? You says on your father and

mother, don't commit adultery, don't lie, don't cheat, don't do

that. I I've done all that.

See, he was self-righteous. And that's why Jesus goes on to

say, you have heard that it was said, you're not to commit

adultery. And they would all say Amen,

Amen. And he says, But I say unto you,

But I say unto you, What do you mean?

But but I see into you. If you look after a woman and

lust for her in your heart, you've already committed

adultery in your heart. See, he, he breaks down the law

to its most intimate details. You've heard that I've said

don't murder. Of course not.

I'm not going to murder anybody that'll get me into heaven.

But if you hate your brother, you've committed murder in your

heart. See that no one can keep the law

perfectly, but that's the standard.

Christ embodied the law. He fulfilled the law, right?

Because he, but he was a perfect God.

He, he could keep the perfect standard.

And so you have to you have to realize that that when you when

you, when you look at the rich young ruler, Christ says to him,

when, after he says, I've done all that Christ says, so all you

had give to the poor and follow me.

But he couldn't do that. Why?

Because his riches were as God. He was an idolater in his heart

and he went away. And the Bible says the Mark's

Gospel that Christ felt sadness for him.

Think about that. Our Lord was saddened over the

fact that somebody had another God other than him, because

there is no other God, there's only one.

But in his own mind he was an idolater.

But Christ didn't make it easy for him to get to heaven, made

it very difficult for him to get there.

Not because He doesn't want people in heaven, but He wants

them to understand that entry into My Kingdom.

It's only available to those who recognize they have nothing to

offer me. They have nothing to give.

You are complete spiritually destitute.

You are begging poor. You have nothing.

But when you come to that place, you are truly the blessed

person. Why?

Because yours is the Kingdom of Heaven.

This is how you get in. This is how you grow up in the

Kingdom. And these are things that Christ

has said all throughout his ministry.

As we go through the the Beatitudes, we'll show you how

Christ has has said these things in different ways all throughout

his ministry because this is the gospel of the Kingdom.

So when the psalmist said blessed are the people whose God

is the Lord, the only question left for you is this is the Lord

Jesus Christ your King, Because if he is, you are truly blessed.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord for

tonight, the opportunity you give us to look into your word.

Truly, Lord, you are a great God.

Truly Lord, you have allowed us to be able to understand the

truth of the gospel and that there's so much that you say in

this, this very short sermon that that is so impactful for

every one of us. Our prayer, Father, is that we

would take the heart what Your Word truly says, and we would

not just seem joyously, but we'd speak boldly and stand

courageously on the truth of Your Word.

And that Lord, we would truly see clearly our condition that

we might surrender fully to You, submitting daily to the commands

of our God, searching diligently the Word of the Lord, knowing

that as beggars we need to be fed, and it only comes from the

bread of life. For that we are thankful.

In Jesus name, Amen.