Royal Poverty

Introduction:

Connection:

What is true Christianity? What makes someone a true Christian? There’s a lot of phony religion out there. There’s a lot of people who profess godliness with their lips, but deny it with their lives. A true Christian doesn’t just affirm a creed (though he certainly does that)—he preeminently is a child of God—he partakes in the eternal life that is in the Son of God—he is marked by the fruit of the Spirit of God. True religion is about both confessing the truth of the Gospel—and living out the power of the Gospel. This is a true Christianity. You can’t manufacture it. You can’t mass produce it. It only comes from the LORD! It only comes by the Gospel of Jesus Christ! And this is why we are beginning a series this morning on the Sermon on the Mount; because therein Jesus Christ preaches on true Christianity, in God’s covenant promises, and in God’s covenant law!

Here is the life to which we are called, and I maintain again that if only every Christian in the Church today were living the Sermon on the Mount, the great revival for which we are praying and longing for would already have started” - MLJ

Need:

This is our great need this morning: to know what true Christianity is, and to know that we are true Christians indeed! And if we aren’t—then we must know how we can partake of this blessedness!

Theme:

Royal Poverty

Purpose:

To introduce the Sermon on the Mount and to open up the first Beatitude of the Lord Jesus.

Turn to Text:

Matt. 5:1-3 NKJV

Summary of the Gospel of Matthew so far:

Chapter 1: Jesus is the promised Messiah and Son of Abraham, who is Immanuel, God with us, and the sufficient Savior of sinners!

Chapter 2: Jesus is the true King who is worshipped and the true Israel & Son of God who undergoes an exodus out of Egypt!

Chapter 3: John the Baptist preaches repentance unto the dawning kingdom, and Jesus receives a Red-Sea baptism as the Redeemer!

Chapter 4: As true Adam and true Israel, Jesus defeats Satan in the wilderness and then proclaims the arrival of the kingdom!

Ch. 4:18-25: Jesus calls the first Apostles & Ministers of the Gospel as fishers of men, and begins the conquest of his kingdom!

Read Text:

Matt. 5:1-3 NKJV

PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

(1) Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount - v. 5:1-7:29

The Sermon on the Mount is arguable the most popular portion of the teaching of Christ—and I would add—the most wildly abused. It is sometimes grabbed ahold of by liberals who say they want to follow Jesus as a moral example. Good luck! Try for one day to obey the Sermon on the Mount in your own strength. You would fail at the first sentence. Blessed are the poor in spirit. That immediately knocks you out. You have no chance! I have no chance! We have no chance.

But through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, everything changes! As Erskine sung: ‘The Gospel bids us fly, and gives us wings’. The righteous standard doesn’t change, but in Christ and in the Spirit we find the strength we need to obey!

The Sermon on the Mount explains the perfect & righteous will of God through a piercing & powerful explanation of the Law of God. This is a Sermon that describes the character of those who savingly belong to the Kingdom of Heaven, through Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. The Beatitudes aren’t about natural dispositions. They’re about Spirit-wrought-fruits in those who are citizens of Heaven. Only those who have the Spirit-wrought-Beatitudes flowing through their veins can claim to truly belong to King Jesus in true Gospel salvation!

Romans 8:9 NKJV

Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

And so right off the bat there should be a sense of solemnity. Are we truly blessed by the Covenant of Christ? Do we truly belong to the Kingdom of Christ? The Beatitudes crush us in the fact that we can’t save ourselves—but they also assure us, if we bear their fruits, that we have the blessings of the Gospel at work in our lives. The Sermon on the Mount is meant to crush us; but it’s also meant to free us; and then it’s meant to direct us.

You can’t take the morality of the Sermon apart from the Gospel of the Kingdom. You remember that John the Baptist and Jesus have both been preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God (which has absolutely nothing to do with a 1000 year earthly millennial kingdom, but with the redemptive reign and present rule of Jesus Christ which commenced in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension as King). Both John and Jesus have been preaching the arrival of the Kingdom of God! They’ve both been calling sinners to faith. They’ve both been calling sinners to repentance. They’ve both been calling sinners to salvation in the promised King of Grace.

Matthew 3:1–2 NKJV

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Matthew 4:17 NKJV

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

And as Jesus preaches the saving and redemptive power of His Kingdom, confirmed by miracles, chapter 4 ends with many crowds starting to follow Jesus outwardly for physical blessings and healings—but hadn’t received the spiritual blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the backdrop for the sermon. The Sermon on the Mount shows us who are savingly blessed by God in the Gospel of the Kingdom—it shows us the righteous standard of the Law for our obedience in the Kingdom—and it guides us as we follow Jesus Christ as his true disciples.

One of the biggest errors in understanding, as I see it, is the way in which we understand the relationship between the OT Law and the Sermon on the Mount. The Judiazers thought there were no changes at all. They still wanted to observe the shadows of the ceremonial law, like circumcision, the feast days, and animal sacrifices. The Pharisees thought they were truly obedient with a mere outward form of godliness. They wanted to obey the letter but not the spirit of the law. And today many Evangelicals think that Jesus has entirely done away with the law so we can now love one another. They think the law is anti love, and that Jesus is anti OT. This couldn’t be further from the truth!

The true meaning of the Sermon on the Mount isn’t about abrogating the OT, changing the moral Law, or even giving new laws—the true meaning of the Sermon on the Mount is about showing us how to faithfully interpret & keep the OT law, in the NT Kingdom. This is why the Sermon begins with the Beatitudes! It proclaims the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven which has spiritually arrived.

The Beatitudes describe those who have entered the Kingdom of Grace through the saving work of the Gospel of Christ. And then the rest of the Sermon exhorts true Christians and disciples to obey the Law of God, as it is exemplified by Jesus, explained by Jesus, clarified by Jesus, and applied by Jesus. The Sermon fulfills, confirms, and enforces the morality of the Old Testament. Why? Because there is one-overarching-covenant-of-grace! God is faithful & thus his covenant don’t change. God is gracious & thus his gospel doesn’t change. God is righteous & thus his law doesn’t change. And we can’t pit the law against love—b/c the law itself requires love—and love is a true fulfilling of the law!

Matthew 22:36–40 NKJV

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

It’s true that the temporary shadows of the OT do pass away in the coming of the NT administration. The ceremonial laws have been abolished, and the specific forms of the civil laws have been abrogated (except for their general equity & morality) …. but here Christ teaches us that the moral Law of God is renewed & enforced by the Gospel of the Kingdom! The moral law is immutable and unshakeable! Christ strengthens our obligations to it, he doesn’t release us from it!

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus contrasts, not OT commands with NT commands, but the Pharisees misinterpretation of the Law with the true interpretation of the Law. Pharisaical abuse of God’s Law in external righteousness is not sufficient in the spiritual Kingdom of Christ! True citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven don’t add or take away from the Law, they don’t relax or tighten the law—they seek to know, love, cherish, and obey the Law which requires true love for God and true love for neighbour.

This is the goal of the Sermon on the Mount, to teach us the true meaning of God’s Law, so that we may know how to rightly delight in it, live by it, and joyfully keep it in the era of the New covenant—not for salvation, but from salvation. The Sermon shows us how to delight in God’s law as a child of the King, with true righteousness that exceeds the hypocritical righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus is teaching us how to sing and live out Psalm 119!

Psalm 119:34 NKJV

Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

Bahnsen: When we come to view the law as do the inspired writers of Scripture, we will treasure it and revere it as they do, rather than reacting in aversion like so many individuals do today. When we see that the law of God is wondrous, pure, sweet and golden, that God’s commandments are accompanied with genuine life and divine lovingkindness, that the statures of the Lord are the source of good, blessedness, stability, peace, understanding, comfort, strength, honor, hope, integrity, protection, great delight, and true freedom, then we will appropriately respond to the law with joyous song, meditation, love, praise and dedication. This must be the outlook of the one who has been saved by sovereign grace.

And so the Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes, proclaiming God’s blessings on those who are truly blessed in the Gospel-Kingdom of Heaven (which has spiritually dawned with the 1st coming of Christ, but won’t be physically consummated until the 2nd coming of Christ). From there Christ enforces the moral law for his disciples in the NT age of the covenant & kingdom. And then he further applies his ethic for the disciples of Jesus Christ as they seek first his kingdom in all of life!

This is the Sermon on the Mount. It crushes us, it frees us, and it guides us. It crushes us in our sin, it frees us in our Saviour, and it guides us in our obedience. The Gospel of the Kingdom leads to the Law of the Kingdom in the Covenant of Grace! As Ezekiel proclaims about the new cov. admin:

Ezekiel 37:24 NKJV

“David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.

(1) Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount - v. 5:1-7:29

Are you ready for this journey? Let’s begin with the King ascending to teach his disciples the Law of his Gospel-Kingdom:

(2) Jesus Ascends the Hill - v. 1

Matthew 5:1 NKJV

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.

(2) Jesus Ascends the Hill - v. 1

Just as Moses, the shadowy Mediator of Covenant, ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Law of God and communicate it to the old Israel & church of God—Jesus, the true Mediator of the Covenant, ascends the Mountain to teach the Law of God and communicate it to the new Israel & church of God.

RSB: 5:1 Since Jesus reveals the depth of the commands given through Moses, His ascent of a mountain is reminiscent of Mount Sinai.

Exodus 24:12 ESV

The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”

And so Jesus is here both the Mediator of the covenant, proclaiming the Laws, but he is also the Lord of the covenant, who himself gives the Laws:

Isaiah 33:22 NKJV

(For the Lord is our Judge, The Lord is our Lawgiver, The Lord is our King; He will save us);

And here He is, the King of Glory, ascending the Hill of the Lord—who is both the Lawgiver as God, and the Law enforcer as man! And he comes to preach the blessings of the covenant & kingdom for his true disciples and followers. Jesus here preaches on true Christianity; on true religion before God.

Remember that there is a large crowed of people who are following Jesus becuase of his miracle working power. Jesus sees the multitudes … but notice that the text says of his disciples that they came to him. And thus the crowds were farther out, and able to listen. They heard the sermon too. But the disciples drew near, to sit at the feet of their Lord and Saviour. And so here is Christ, as the Covenant Lord, preaching the Covenant Word, to the Covenant Community! The crowds are there, but the disciples are the true audience.

France: The audience of the discourse is specified not as the crowds but as “his disciples,” … intended in context to denote those who have been called to follow him.

And so as we continue, we remember that Jesus is addressing his covenant community (all who can rightly be called disciples, namely, professing believers and their children), but in particular, he he is defining true blessedness and salvation for those who are gathered around his royal words.

(2) Jesus Ascends the Hill- v. 1

So let’s turn to the first words that come out of the mouth of the Head and King of the Church:

(3) Jesus Blesses His Own - v. 2-3

Matthew 5:2–3 NKJV

Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

(3) Jesus Blesses His Own - v. 2-3

As we have noted… the Sermon on the Mount is fundamentally a Sermon on the Covenant of Grace, the Law of God, and the Kingdom of Heaven. And here we learn that Jesus is not giving us conditions to meet in order to merit salvation—but rather—He is giving the character of those who have already been blessed by salvation! These blessings of the covenant come upon the saints by God’s sovereign grace, through faith and repentance. The keynote of this sermon is not cursing (although that comes later), but rather, the central focus of this sermon is blessing and beatitude, from our King of Grace!

Henry: Christ begins his sermon with blessings, for he came into the world to bless us (Acts 3:26); as He in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed, Gen. 12:3. He came not only to purchase blessings for us, but to pour out and pronounce blessings on us.

But before we continue we need to define what these covenant blessings are! We’ll do so with the help of a biblical lexicon and grammar:

BDAG writes that blessed (Μακάριος), in the context of the S.O.T.M. means:

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. μακάριος

being especially favored, blessed, fortunate, happy, privileged; … [or more specifically], [being a] privileged recipient of divine favor.

And so from here on out in this sermon series, our working definition of blessedness in the Beatitudes, (Μακάριος), will be: to be joyfully lavished with God’s saving goodness.

And to be clear… we don’t earn these blessings—they are lavished upon us by the mercy and bounty of Jesus. Which means that if we don’t have these blessings, then we haven’t yet received the grace of the Gospel. And so these beatitudes function as measures and marks of true salvation in Christ. Of true blessedness!

And thus we note that the first mark of a true Christian, of someone who is repenting, believing, and striving to serve the Lord, is someone who is poor in spirit.

But what does it mean to be poor in spirit? Well, it means to confess your spiritual bankruptcy, your spiritual poverty, your spiritual emptiness, your spiritual inability, and your spiritual ugliness. In other words… it’s to bewail your natural spiritual depravity.

To be poor in spirit is to acknowledge that we are by nature dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), that nothing good dwells in our hearts (Rom. 7:18), that we aren’t righteous, we don’t understand, we don’t seek God, we’ve turned aside, we’ve become worthless, we don’t do good, we speak death, we deceive with our tongues, we spit poison with our mouths, we curse God and man, we are swift to do evil, we know only ruin and misery, we have despised the way of peace, and worst of all, that we have no fear of God before our eyes (Rom. 3:10-18).

To be poor in spirit is to tremble before a holy God, as those who justly lie under his wrath and curse (Isa. 6; Eph. 2). It is to cry out with the Apostle Paul, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:24). It is to be able to say with Solomon, vanity of vanities, all is vanity (Eccl. 1:2). It is to agree with Jesus that we must be born again, and not by the will of man (Jn. 3:3). It is to to lament that we are unable to fix our lives, we are unable to heal, we are unable to help ourselves, we are unable to cooperate with God, we are unable to offer God anything—because the only thing we have to offer him is our sin, transgression, and iniquity (Ex. 34).

To be poor in spirit is to reject anything within us, as the ground of our hope—it is to reject anything done by us, as the ground of our salvation (Rom. 10:1-4). We must recognize that we are slaves to sin, that everything we do by our free will is laden with sin, that everything we do in our own efforts is stained by sin, and that all our our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment in God’s sight (Isa. 64:6). It is to tremble before the living God and his Word (Isa. 66:2). It is to recognize that we are at the whims of God’s mercy, and that if he doesn’t move toward us in grace, then we are justly condemned and damned forever due to our sin, evil, and rebellion (Rom. 2). It is to confess that we rightly deserve the eternal flames of hell and the infinite sufferings of judgment.

This is the first mark of a true Christian. This is the first mark of a true disciple. This is the first mark of one who has been savingly blessed in the covenant of grace. This is the first mark of one who eternally belongs to the kingdom of heaven.

Do you know something of this in your experience? I’m not asking you if you can agree with the theology. Do you know something of this in your experience?

Can you honestly say that you feel what it is to be poor in spirit? That you know what it is to cry out to God for his mercy alone? That you know what it is to feel the weight of his judgment? That you know what it is to realize that if God gives you what is fair & what you deserve, then you would be cast into the lake of fire, and that the smoke of your torment would go up forever and ever?

Do you know in your experience what it is to tremble in your sin? To cry out to God with earnest faith? To trust in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ? To rely upon Him, and Him alone? To flee to the promises of God for refuge? To hide yourself in the Rock of Ages? To put your only hope in the Gospel of the Kingdom? To be converted by the grace of God and knit to the church of the redeemed?

Acts 2:37–39 NKJV

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

This is the beginning of the true Christian life. And if you haven’t felt what it is to be poor in spirit, then you aren’t yet blessed by the living God, you aren’t yet blessed by the Gospel of Christ, you aren’t yet blessed by the Spirit of grace, and thus you aren’t yet a true citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

You might be baptized in the triune name. You might be members of the visible church. You might belong to the kingdom on earth. But if you aren’t poor in spirit, then your baptism will rise up to curse you, you will be expelled from the church on the day of judgment, and you will be judged by the King for unpardonable treason. We must not take this lightly!

The Gospel first wounds you, before it heals you. The Gospel first crushes you, before it frees you. Only those who look away from themselves—and look to Christ alone—find the blessings of God’s covenant and find entrance into the Kingdom.

Lloyd-Jones: We cannot be filled until we are first empty. There are always these two sides to the gospel; there is a pulling down and a raising up. It is an essential part of the gospel that conviction must always precede conversion; the gospel of Christ condemns before it releases. If one feels anything in the presence of God save an utter poverty of spirit, it ultimately means that you have never faced Him. That is the meaning of this Beatitude.

And as we continue through the Beatitudes in the coming months, we must note that they have a logical order to them. There is a reason why this is the first Beatitude that Jesus lists! If we don’t have this at the basis of our Christianity, then everything else crumbles. God gives grace to the humble! To the broken hearted. To the weary and heavy laden!

Psalm 34:6 NKJV

This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.

To be poor in spirit is to place no hope in your own spirit, because their is nothing there to cash in! It is to reject yourself. It is to reject your heart. The poor in spirit don’t follow their hearts—they plead with God to forgive and cleanse them. We must experientially know what it is to be poor in spirit—to confess that even our works, our prayers, our deeds, our efforts, our singing, our church attendance, our reading of the Bible, our rational discourse, our logical precision, our skills, our gifts, our knowledge, our wisdom, and our heritage has no spiritual cash-value in God’s sight.

Philippians 3:7–8 NKJV

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ!

You see, the irony of this first Beatitude is that we can’t make ourselves poor in spirit—we already are by nature. To be poor in spirit is not to change ourselves—it is to acknowledge our depraved selves. It’s to recognize that by nature we are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. That by nature we are dead dry bones, unable to come to God, enslaves to the corruptions and desires of our own hearts.

The only difference between a true Christian and an unbeliever—is that the Christian is honest about his own depravity—and he, by the saving grace of the Spirit, flees to Jesus Christ as His only hope in life and death, coming to God as his Father, on the terms of his covenant of grace, on the conditions of repentance and faith. And so, Trinity and any visitors: are you poor in spirit?

Watson: Some think if they can fill their bags with gold, then they are rich. But they who are poor in spirit are the rich men. They are rich in poverty. This poverty entitles them to a kingdom—How poor are they that think themselves rich! How rich are they that see themselves poor! I call it the ‘jewel of poverty’.

Jesus here proclaims that only those who know this jewel of poverty have the riches of the Kingdom. And notice that Jesus says for theirs IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. In the present tense! He doesn’t say for theirs WILL BE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. He says theirs IS the Kingdom of heaven. They belong to it, and it belongs to them. They have entered into this redemptive reign of Jesus Christ, who rules us by his Word & Spirit.

The Kingdom has dawned, the King has come, He is reigning from heaven, and ruling in redeeming grace! Are you a member of His spiritual Kingdom? Have you entered through the Gospel? Have you—poor in spirit—repented of your sins, and trusted in the works of Christ alone? Then take heart, dear Christian, for you are part of a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, a Kingdom that cannot fail. You belong to the king of grace!

Colossians 1:13–14 NKJV

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

And if you aren’t part of the Kingdom of heaven yet—oh cry out with the man in the Gospels and pray: God be merciful to me, a sinner!

Oh you guilty and ashamed, come to Jesus, bring your poorness of spirit, and he will give you riches of grace—throw your lust, your anger, your covetousness, your idolatry, your selfishness, your bitterness, your vanity, your addiction, your love of money, your fear of man, your anxiety, your hatred, your discontentment, your theft, your sexuality, your brokenness—throw it upon Jesus, come to Him, in spiritual poverty—and he will bless you with grace upon grace, by the blood of the new covenant, which washes away all our sin, and which transfers us into the Kingdom of Heaven—which has spiritually begun, and one day, will physically conclude, when we shall reign forever, and ever!

(3) Jesus Blesses His Own - v. 2-3

And so come now to hear our conclusion for this first Beatitude:

(C) The Spiritually Poor are Spiritually Blessed with Spiritual Riches in the Spiritual Kingdom.

Psalm 34:18 NKJV

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Not what my hands have done Can save my guilty soul; Not what my toiling flesh has borne Can make my spirit whole.

Not what I feel or do Can give me peace with God; Not all my prayers, And sighs and tears Can bear my awful load.

Thy work alone, O Christ, Can ease this weight of sin Thy blood alone O Lamb of God, Can give me peace within.

Matthew 5:3 NKJV

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

(C) The Spiritually Poor are Spiritually Blessed with Spiritual Riches in the Spiritual Kingdom.

Amen? Let’s pray.

Discussion Questions:

(1) Who is the audience of the Sermon on the Mount, and why is that significant for us today?

(2) What is the significance of King Jesus ascending the Mountain to give the Covenant Word to his disciples?

(3) What does it mean to be blessed by Jesus in the gospel and covenant of grace? How does that differ from ‘worldly blessings’?

(4) Describe the meaning & experience of being poor in spirit as a true disciple of Jesus.

(5) In what sense are we already members of the Kingdom, and in what sense are we still awaiting it’s fullness?