Matthew 5:1-3

Oh Lord God of all light! May the brightness of heaven shine through the scriptures today and may it shine into our hearts to reveal the glory of God in the face of Christ. May the Spirit of Christ be the teacher today and cause the Word to leap off the sacred page and into our hearts to be worked out in renewed minds and put into practice with holy zeal! Let us come this morning to the feast you have for us with great joy in our hearts! We come to You through our Lord Jesus Christ! And it’s in His name that we pray, Amen.

"When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. "Then he began to teach them, saying: "“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” ()

Blessed Matthew, the penman of this gospel, was at first by profession a tax collector; and Christ having called him from the tax booth, made him a collector of souls.

In the first chapter Matthew sets down Christ’s Birth and Genealogy,

in the second his excellence; as a star ushers in the wise men to Him, and

as a king, he is presented with ‘gold, and frankincense and myrrh,’ ver. 9, 11.

In the third chapter the evangelist records his Baptism;

in the fourth his temptation and overcoming of satan;

the fourth his Tentations; in the fifth his Preaching; which chapter is like a rich mine, every vein hath some gold in it.

And here in chapter 5, his Preaching; which this sermon is like a rich gold mine, every vein in the mine has gold in it.

SO, Matthew has made it clear that great crowds of people were following Jesus at this stage of his public ministry;

Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew (p. 93). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.

here he moves to one occasion when the Master went up into a mountain and taught the people in the open air.

We’re going to look at our text this morning under three simple headings.

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THE PREACHER sent to deliver people of the promise.

"When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. "Then he began to teach them, saying:” ()

The “He” in our text is none other than our blessed Lord Jesus.

He is the One who has the Spirit without measure and He knew how to speak a word in due season. He knew when to humble the proud and He knew when to comfort the downcast.

He knew what teaching they needed as a gardener knows what seed is proper for specific types of soil.

He was a powerful preacher. In chapter 7 we will read that He spoke as “one who had authority”.

Jesus will set your sins before you: "“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.”” () says the saved woman at the well.

Christ will preach to your conscience. He breathed with as much zeal as eloquence, as He touches our heart strings.

As He speaks, it’s as though as He’s been inside of you and knows you!

He could drive His teaching into the most hard knotty piece of a person.

With His two-edged sword, He is able to pierce a heart of stone and shatter it! Truly, “No man ever spoke like this!” ().

The Preacher was our Lord Jesus, the Prince of preachers, the great Prophet of his church,

who came into the world, to be the Light of the world.

The prophets and John had done excellent in their preaching, but Christ excelled them all.

He is the eternal Wisdom, and is Himself God and is at the Father’s side before all creation and perfectly knew the Father’s will;

and he is the eternal Word, by whom he has in these last days spoken to us.

The many miraculous cures wrought by Christ in Galilee, which we read of in chapter 4, were intended to make way for this sermon,

and to incline the people to receive instructions from One in whom there appeared

so much of a divine power and goodness.

Which is...

And that leads us into our second point. Which is...

THE PURPOSE was the people of the promise.

THE PURPOSE was the people of the promise.

"When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain...” () So Christ saw the crowds. That the purpose of the sermon.

Christ came commissioned by the Father for this great work of rescuing the souls of men!

Preaching was His tool! The people couldn’t be as desirous to hear as He was to preach!

Christ pitied the dead souls of men and women and it was His food and drink to do the will of His Father.

In this sermon Christ is going to expound the spiritual nature of the Law.

It happens upon a mountain because the Law was delivered upon a mountain.

But here’s the difference, when the Law was given, the Lord came down upon the mountain, now the Lord goes up the mountain.

Then, the Lord spoke in thunder and lightning and now Christ speaks in a small still voice (by comparison).

Then the people were ordered to keep their distance, not they draw near. What a blessed change!

Here the glory of the gospel excels the law.

"for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” ()

Paul expounds this thought a bit in . Would you turn there with me please?

This passage deals with the greater glory established under the new covenant.

Both covenants were accompanied by glory, but so superior was the glory of the new covenant

that the glory of the old faded into insignificance by comparison.

Let’s read about it...

"Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside, "how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? "For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory.” ()

If the sun is up, the moon no longer seems bright.

The new covenant has “surpassing glory” (v. 10) since it more adequately reveals God’s character.

So here this sermon on the mount mirroring the giving of the law and Jesus then expounds the true spiritual nature of the law.

Moo, D. J. (2015). The Letters and Revelation. In D. A. Carson (Ed.), NIV Zondervan Study Bible: Built on the Truth of Scripture and Centered on the Gospel Message (p. 2365). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Picking up (so to speak) where the law left off.

When the law has done for us the very best within its power.

All that the law can do or accomplish for fallen humanity is to lay bare our spiritual poverty and convince us of how broke we are before a holy God.

The law cannot by any possibility enrich a man;

Spurgeon, C. H. (1909). The First Beatitude. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 55, p. 374). London: Passmore & Alabaster.

its greatest service is to tear away from us any imagined wealth of self-righteousness,

To show us our overwhelming indebtedness to God, and bow us to the earth in self-despair.

That’s the function of the moral law of God before salvation.

Like Moses, the law leads away from Goshen, directs us into the wilderness,

and then brings to the verge of an impassable stream, but it can do no more;

(Our Greater Joshua) Jesus is needed, to divide the Jordan, and directs us into the promised land.

THE PROFILE of the people of promise.

"“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” () Again, it’s important for us to remember.

The Beatitudes are NOT (I repeat NOT) a declaration of the plan of salvation.

They are a description of those that are already saved.

The first word in v3 is “Blessed”. It’s in the plural, so that it would literally read “Oh the blessednesses of...” OR “the happinessess of...”

Christ begins this sermon with a blessing, for this is what He came to do, is to bless us!

"God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”” ()

Christ is present to bless you by turning you away from your evil ways!

Which starts with accepting the fact that you can bring nothing to God!

That’s where the start of the Christian life is.

We come first to the jewel of poverty! These are those that are at the earliest stages of grace!

They are just as blessed as the humble or the peacemakers,

the poor in spirit are by no means inferior, because, “the Kingdom of heaven is theirs.”

The poor in spirit are those who recognize that they are completely and utterly destitute in the realm of the spirit.

They recognize their lack of spiritual resources and therefore see that their complete dependence is on God.

"This is what the Lord says: Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. Where could you possibly build a house for me? And where would my resting place be? "My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.” ()

God made everything. This means that people should honor and fear God,

which will result in humility, submissiveness to God, and total obedience to his commands.

This is the work of grace upon our hearts beloved!

All of which we discover the realm of the Kingdom to be the flip opposite of everything we’re taught!

Jesus says that blessed are the poor, our world says that the rich are the blessed ones.

That are are to become fools to be wise.

"Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool so that he can become wise.” ()

Longman, T., III. (2017). Isaiah. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 1135). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

We actually save our lives by losing them.

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.” ()

You became rich by becoming poor! By realizing nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.

You see under these poor rags are the clothing of gold.

Being poor in spirit isn’t a blessing because of the man or woman who is distinguished among us for doing the least or having the least,

the blessing comes from the fact that your chief characteristic is that you confess your own deficiencies.

This is very intentional by our blessed Lord.

It’s intentional so that grace may be all the more clearly seen to be grace indeed,

casting our eye first, NOT upon purity, but upon poverty.

Not upon those who show mercy but the upon those who know that they need mercy!

But upon those who are called the son’s of God but upon those who acknowledge that

like the prodigal who squandered his inheritance on foolish living and

had nothing: broke and working feeding pigs and was so bankrupt,

so as to long to eat his fill from the pods eaten by the pigs. Here’s what he says:

"I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’” ()

It’s like John the Baptist: "“... the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals.” ()

Or the Roman centurion who was saved, "“Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” ()

Or Paul himself. Listen to his testimony of how he sees his unworthiness against the backdrop of grace: "For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God [not worthy because of his sin]. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” ()

Part of this PROFILE is Recognizing the Setting-free Principle

Recognizing that you’re actually poor in spirit brings the richest blessings is an old truth.

Old in the sense, that from birth I’ve been broke! “Blind, naked, poor, and pitiful” is the summary of our condition by nature.

We all lie at the gate of God’s mercy covered in sores perishing!

Of course, in recognizing this is deeply humiliating.

If a man is in a place where no work can be found, being poor isn’t humiliating.

But our substance of poverty has this sting in it, that it’s a moral and spiritual brokenness that sinks us into blame and sin.

To be poor in holiness, truth, faith, and love to God, is disgraceful to us.

Spiritual poverty means fault, blameworthiness, shame, and sin.

He who is poor in spirit is therefore a humbled man, and

is on the way to be numbered with those that mourn,

of whom the second beatitude says that “they will be comforted.”

This recognition of being spiritually poor that sets people free is scarcely known among the masses of the world.

Most are utterly ignorant and don’t understand it. The universal boast of the world’s blind men is this: “We see!”

Yet they are so far from seeing the reality that they are indeed destitute and

see themselves so richly endowed by God that they thank God that they are not as other men.

This is how the self-righteous see themselves.

And if anyone of us know this to be our true spiritual condition, you must know that it’s been spiritually revealed and made known to you!

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven.” ()

To all that God effectually calls unto Himself, this is the first thing that He reveals to you by His grace!

An omnipotent hand created us out of nothing, and the same type of omnipotence is needed in recreating us,

to bring us to feel that we are nothing.

We can never be saved unless we are made alive by infinite power, nor can we be made alive at all, unless that selfsame power shall first slay us.

“I’ve been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” ()

"Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” () "But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.” ()

Dying with Christ kills off our flesh with its passions and desires and crucifies us to the world that the life we know live, is by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

It is amazing how much is needed to strip a man, and lay him in his true place.

So it becomes a sign of grace to know one’s need of grace.

If a man knows that he is in darkness, it’s because God has caused some light to shine in!

"Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”” ()

"I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.” ()

It’s faith in Christ that brings a man or woman out of darkness and sin!

It’s the Lord Himself that has wrought a work of grace upon the spirit which is poor and needy, and trembles at his Word; and

it is such a work that it bears within it the promise, yea, the assurance of salvation;

for the poor in spirit already possess the kingdom of heaven, and none have that but those who have eternal life.

Not just Recognizing the Setting-free Principle but

Not just Recognizing the Setting-free Principle but

Part of this PROFILE is the truth, that being poor in spirit Refreshes (oneself) in the Sufficient Pleasure.

Refresh yourself in these words: “for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”

This is refreshing because the King of the heavenly kingdom is always represented as reigning over the poor.

In the King is seen in vindicating the afflicted, helping the poor and crushing the oppressor.

He’s seen as rescuing the poor who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.

It’s what our Lord’s mother sang, "He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” ()

"And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”” () "a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” ()

This is refreshing because since Jesus chose the poor in spirit to be His subjects, and said, "“But seek his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. "Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom.” ()

Refresh and find sufficient pleasure because the rule states that only the poor in spirit will endure.

To them it is an easy yoke from which they have no wish to be released; to give God all the glory is no burden to them, to cease from self is no hard command.

The place of lowliness suits them, the service of humiliation they count an honor.

Self-denial and humility, which are main duties of Christ’s kingdom, are easy only to those who are poor in spirit.

Self-denial and humility, which are main duties of Christ’s kingdom, are easy only to those who are poor in spirit. A humble mind loves humble duties, and is willing to kiss the least flower which grows in the Valley of Humiliation

A humble mind loves humble duties, and is willing to kiss the least flower which grows in the Valley of Humiliation.

All the privileges of the kingdom are set up that only the spiritually poor will value them.

To others, the privileges of the kingdom are as pearls cast before swine!

Privileges like pardon for sin and being born again.

The self-righteous care nothing for pardon, though it cost the Redeemer his life’s blood;

they have no care for regeneration, though it be the greatest work of the Holy Spirit.

A self-righteous Pharisee sees no value in these things.

A robe of righteousness implies our nakedness; manna from heaven implies the lack of earthly bread.

Salvation is vanity if men are in no danger, and mercy a mockery if they be not sinful.

But we place an infinite value upon pardon for sin, “Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.” Yes Lord, Great is Thy Faithfulness!

regeneration, the poor in spirit gather every week to seek God because they know it’s the greatest work of the Holy Spirit.

We have no covering but the robe God provides us through Christ.

We have no food but to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God!

This is Refreshes in the Sufficient Pleasure.

Spurgeon, C. H. (1909). The First Beatitude. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 55, p. 381). London: Passmore & Alabaster.

This is Refreshes in the Sufficient Pleasure.

This is Refreshes in the Sufficient Pleasure.

It must be made clear, it’s only those who are poor in spirit that actually reign as kings unto God.

The crown of this kingdom will not fit every head; in fact, it fits the brow of none but the poor in spirit.

No proud man reigns; he is the slave of his boastings, the servant of his own loftiness.

The ambitious worldling grasps after a kingdom, but he does not possess one;

the humble in heart are content, and in that contentment they are made to reign.

The dominion awarded by this Beatitude to the poor in spirit is no common one;

it is the kingdom of heaven, a heavenly dominion, far excelling anything which can be obtained this side the stars.

An ungodly world may view the poor in spirit to be contemptible, but God writes them down among His children and princes; and

His judgment is true, and far more to be esteemed than the opinions of men or even of angels.

Only as we are poor in spirit have we any evidence that heaven is ours;

but having that mark of blessedness, all things are ours, whether things present or things to come.

To the poor in spirit [this morning] belong all the security, honor, and happiness which the gospel kingdom; is calculated to give upon earth;

even here below, them, that are poor in spirit may eat of its sweetness without question, and revel in its delights without fear!

Spurgeon, C. H. (1909). The First Beatitude. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 55, p. 382). London: Passmore & Alabaster.

Spurgeon, C. H. (1909). The First Beatitude. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 55, p. 381). London: Passmore & Alabaster.