Well, good morning again. I'm glad you're here this morning. We're going to be starting a short new series from the Beatitudes. So if you want to find your place in Matthew chapter 5, I invite you to go ahead and do that. Today we're going to talk about blessed are the poor in spirit. And I was doing some kind of a strange research project this week of whether or not you say blessed Blessed when you're reading the Beatitudes and so I've always said I've always said blessed But I can see how you can say blessed and be right about that But I was doing some research and I found out that you say blessed when something was done in the past like you know somebody blessed someone else you know with maybe a gift or some kind of words whatever but blessed is a present tense reality and so I'm going to use the present tense reality as I read through the attitude because I believe that we can still have these blessings in the 21st century that they are for God's children today so I hope that you'll Just appreciate this thought this morning and that we can be blessed By what we by what we read and what we hear I wrote something down You know, I've heard part of the fray before but I added something to it and it might be New it might be something that I heard somewhere else along the line I'm one of those preachers that I milk a lot of cows, but I turn my own butter right what that means I wrote this down say what you mean and mean what you say, but don't be mean when you say it. Does that sound familiar or not? Okay, maybe I made it up, I don't know if I did or not, but anyway. Right now, I'm gonna take all the credit, until you prove me otherwise. I say that, you know, say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't be mean when you say it. Because there's a, It seems like to me, this has been my experience, that when someone prefaces a statement by saying this, I mean no disrespect. There's going to be some disrespect. There's going to be some level of disrespect. You know, I had a friend that would, I've lost touch with him and track of him over the years, but he always had this calling, a qualifying statement. Whenever he had something negative to say about somebody, he would add this qualifying statement to it, and he would say this, but I don't mean that in a bad way. Let me give you an example. Like, he did say to me one time, he goes, you've got a pretty significant gap in your front teeth. But I don't mean it in a bad way. And I always say the same thing to everybody, I said it's because of superior genetics, that's why I have this gap in my front teeth. It's nice to say that, that you don't mean it in a bad way. But it doesn't always come across that way when you say, I don't mean it in a bad way. Let me try this on you and see how it feels. I would like for all of you to be poor, but I don't mean it in a bad way. Because the word poor has a negative connotation to it, doesn't it? Poor, broke, flat busted, deftitude, low on lettuce, strapped for cash, out of cabbage, right? I mean, we can go on and on. I asked the young people about what they say for being out of money. They say the same thing we said back when I was a kid, broke and flat busted. And so that's kind of what it is. But poor has a negative connotation about it. And so I would like for all of you to be poor, but I don't mean that in a bad way. Or I mean no disrespect, but I wish all of you were poorer than you really are. Huh. So far, not so good. But the Sermon on the Mount, you know, it's three chapters of the words of Jesus, a message that he preached while he was here on the earth. And the first part of the Sermon on the Mount is that part that we call the Beatitudes. These are attitudes that we can be, we can be working on, that we can be striving for in our Christian walk in the 21st century. And the word Beatitude actually means blessed. Beatitude means blessed. It's from a Latin root, not real important, but the word means blessed, beatitude. And blessed in the biblical context means inner joy, inner happiness, you know, indicated by inner satisfaction and sufficiency. And Christ goes through in his opening remarks of this message that he preached, he listed off eight statements, eight pointed statements, eight spiritual statements, that have attached blessings to them that I do believe that each of us can work on in the Christian life. And I also believe this about the Beatitudes. I believe that they build on one another. Like the first one has to be in place And we're for the other seven to come into existence in our life. And we're going to focus on that first one this morning, but I want to read the section called the Beatitudes to you from Matthew chapter 5 and verses 1 through 12. And the Bible says this, And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you and everybody said again Again, Father, we're so grateful to be able to open your word this morning and to meet together again with the intention of worshiping you in spirit and in truth. And Father, we do need your word to come to life in our souls this morning. The Holy Spirit would give us that wonderful gift of illumination, help us to understand what we're reading. And Father, as these things are understood, that we'd be willing to apply them to our own individual walk with you and father i do pray this morning if there be anyone in our midst who has never trusted christ to be their personal lord and savior that today would be their day of salvation father we're asking for you to work in our midst in a mighty way in a miraculous way we ask these things in jesus name everybody again said amen amen I want to talk this morning about a good kind of poor. A good kind of poor, not being flat broke and busted or destitute when it comes to our finances, but what does it mean to be poor in spirit? Poor in spirit. And I guess I want to maybe start by saying what being poor in spirit is not. So we can kind of get on the same page together very quickly. This is not going to be a long message at all. I hardly ever keep you long. Hardly ever keep you long. But being poor in spirit has nothing to do with financial poverty. It has nothing to do with a low balance in your bank account. You can be a very poor person and a very wicked person. You can be a very poor person and a very wicked person. It's also not as some have taken this to renounce all worldly possessions and earthly goods and to live a minimalist kind of lifestyle. That's not what being poor in spirit is all about. Secondly, being poor in spirit has nothing to do with spiritual weakness. Being poor in spirit has nothing to do with being weak in the spirit. You know, I've learned this over the years of being a believer since 1985, that God does not generally bless us when we are lacking in the spiritual world, I mean, in the spiritual realm. When we're not walking with Him, God doesn't say, oh yeah, let me give you more blessings. God does not bless disobedience. God does not bless getting off the narrow way on the Broadway. God does not bless our backsliding moments as he says. And so it's not spiritual weakness, not walking away from him. God blesses us more when we're obedient, when we try to obey, and we're walking to please him by faith. Amen? Number three, being poor in spirit has nothing to do with false humility. With false humility. Just saying things to sound pious, saying things to sound spiritual. God is not within a million miles of our false humility. I'll say it again. I guess you're not going to say amen this morning. I'll say amen to myself. Amen preacher! God is not for false humility in any form or fashion. Being poor in spirit has nothing to do with your bank account, but has everything to do with the account of your heart, with the inner man, with the inner woman, with your inner self. The heart being absolutely destitute, busted, broken, whatever the case may be, penniless, if you will, a pauper's existence concerning your inner man. in your reality as a human being on this planet. When you are poor in spirit, you have come to the full realization that you have nothing to bring to the table. You don't have anything at all to offer God. Amen, saints? You've become dependent upon Him. You are in need of His work. You are in need of His grace and His mercy. You are in need of His power and His virtue and His strength. There's a couple of verses in Psalm 34 that kind of bring this out in the context that will help us understand this this morning. In Psalm 34, verse 6, the Bible says this, This poor man cried, And the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. This poor man wasn't a man who was poverty stricken in the financial realm. He was broken in the spiritual realm. He found himself penniless, having nothing to offer, nothing to bring to the table. He cried out to God. God heard him. And then God saved him out of all of his troubles. And I started to go through and think about all of the troubles that I've seen in my life and all the troubles I pray about for our church family on a regular basis. And I could begin to add things up and to categorize things and just say this, if I can just say it very bluntly and very plainly, there's a lot of troubles in our lives. But God has the ability to deliver us and to save us out of each and every one of them. He's a great God with a strong hand. His mercy endureth forever, doesn't it, saints? Over in verse 18, same chapter, the Lord is nigh, the word nigh means near, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." A broken heart and a contrite spirit are marks of one who has become poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the ones who realize they have nothing to offer. Blessed are the ones who can bring nothing to the table because there's no good within them. Blessed are the ones who give all their troubles and their anxieties and their cares and their concerns and they leave them at the feet of the throne of grace and God deals with them in His perfection, in His perfect timing, His perfect will, His perfect way. All of those things. You know, the one who is poor in spirit is willing to let go of the stuff of the world and has learned to cling to the person and the being of God. They're clinging on to heaven. They have set their affections on the things that are on high. They are looking to a rock that is higher than themselves. Amen, saints. They're poor in spirit. Where God is in heaven is where we find grace. Where God is in heaven is where we find the blessed hope. Where God is in heaven is where we find eternal strength. All of those things are true about God. We've stopped relying on ourselves. We've become less dependent on ourselves and our power and our talents and our gifts and our good. and our intellect, and we're learning more and more to fully rely and trust in the great God of heaven. Do you know our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, He came down from heaven? And heaven is a place of eternal riches. It's riches supreme. If you read about heaven in the book of Revelation, there's streets of gold. There's crystal seas. There's a place where there's no night, where there's no crying, where there's no death, where there's no tears. There's a place where the Lamb of God is the light forever and all of the different things and that Christ left that place called heaven. He left the glory. He left the supreme riches. He left it all behind and He became poor for our sakes. You know that Christ never owned a home? He didn't have a steady stream of income like we talk about in the 21st century. He didn't have many clothes that he owned. He didn't have a place where he could lay his head at night. He was itinerant in his ministry and he came here in the form of a servant. He became poor so that you and I could become rich. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that through his poverty, that ye, excuse me, that ye through his poverty might be rich. And you think about the circumstances and the surroundings of Christ's birth in Bethlehem. He wasn't born in a palace. He wasn't born in abundance or in opulence. He was born in a stable. He was born in a stable. That's where animals are born. That's where sheep and cows and horses and pigs are born. And Christ was born in a stable, and He was laid in a manger. And my understanding of the manger is it's a feeding trough, a place where animals would eat their grain and their straw from. That's where the Lord of glory was born. He became poor for us that we might be rich because of Him. And to get to that point in life, we have to realize and recognize that we bring nothing. We have nothing to offer. There's no good that can emanate from us in and of ourselves. It has to be all of God and because of God and through God. The poor in spirit aren't looking for more out of life. Philippians 4.11 says this, not that I speak, not that I expect. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." I preached on contentment as we closed up Philippines a few weeks ago. You know, I'm not looking for anything extra or anything more from this life. Whatever God has decided is what I need, that's good enough for me. It's enough to give me my daily bread. Amen. The poor in spirit aren't looking for more. The poor in spirit, I like this thought right here, the poor in spirit understands what the human heart is capable of. The poor spirit understands what the human heart is capable of. I say it often, you know, I don't like to get glowing reviews as a preacher because I know my heart. I know what my heart is capable of and the Apostle Paul brings it out very strongly in the book of Romans in chapter 7. I'm going to read this passage. This passage will twist your mind for But just let the words wash over you. Let the Word of God speak to you, because the Apostle Paul, a great man of faith, one greatly used of God, the chosen vessel to preach the gospel message to the Gentile people, he also understood the weaknesses and the deceitfulness of the human heart. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do." See what he said? What I want to do, I can't do. And what I don't want to do, I can do real easy. I know it's not the right thing to do, but it sure does come easy. It's like second nature. Because of this second nature, it's also the sin nature. Now, if I do that, which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Do you know that sin never leaves us until we get to heaven? This whole idea of the teaching of sinless perfection is not found in the Bible. We are, the old man is always with us and you probably have met the old man on more than one occasion. Amen. I've seen the old man on the golf course. Amen. I've heard the old man in traffic. Paul goes on to say, by holy spirit of inspiration, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The poor in spirit aren't looking for more out of life. The poor in spirit understands the wicked capability of the human heart. The poor in spirit is humbled by the work and the sight of God. Isaiah chapter 6. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of of hosts, and the whole earth is full of His glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of Him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke." Can you imagine being privy, able to get a glimpse of the glory of God, like Isaiah was able to see this eternal, supreme being seated upon a throne, clothed in majesty, and the train of His robe flowed down from the throne, down the steps, it actually fell at the temple, and there were these beings, these created beings that God had created to minister to Him, and they were flying around the throne, And all they can say is this, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And they kept on saying this over and over and over again. And Isaiah was allowed to see this. And Isaiah didn't say, well, I got to see this. That means that I'm special. He said this. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone. Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." The prophet Isaiah Saints was poor in spirit. He had seen rich things. He had seen wonderful things. He had heard marvelous things. God gave him a glorious message to preach, but he understood his position in place. He understood that there's a God, and he is not that God. Isaiah is not God himself. Somebody say amen. The poor in spirit also recognizes that God is the only hope for salvation. The poor in spirit recognizes that God is the only hope for salvation. Just going to read the reference of the publican when the Pharisee and the publican were down at the temple and they were, quote, talking to God. But the publican had this posture, not just in physical form, but also in spiritual form, realizing and recognizing that he needed God more than he needed anything else in this life. 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." That man went down to his house justified, Jesus said. That man also was poor in spirit. He was of broken heart. He was of contrition. He knew that only God himself deserved glory. That only God himself deserved to be exalted. And he understood this and recognized this, that he was not worthy to even look up and expect, excuse me, expect or ask anything of the great God of heaven. Because his greatest need was the salvation of his ever-living soul. Amen. When you get to this state of heart, blessed are the poor in spirit, you are in line for an amazing blessing. And the amazing blessing is this, Christ said this, Jesus Christ said this, the only begotten Son of God, God the Son said this, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We live in a world today where there's a lot of bad teaching and horrible preaching. where they teach that everybody goes to heaven. You know, I was talking to Kathy this morning, you know, we were getting ready and, you know, I was telling her what I was going to preach today and talking about, you know, the difference between the political views of our world today. And I just want you to know where I stand politically. I vote, when I vote, I vote, I look for two things specifically in the national elections. I look for those who are pro-Israel and pro-life. And for me, those things are not negotiable. If they are for you, I'm not here to disparage you right now. But I just want you to think about things from a biblical point of view, not a political point of view. Are we OK? I'm not endorsing a candidate at all. But I'm telling you, that's how I vote. And I think you ought to vote. I think you ought to vote while we still have the ability to vote freely in our country. I think you ought to vote your conscience and you ought to vote biblical values. I know that went over real well, but that's okay. As I said Wednesday night, I'm not here to be liked. Amen. You get theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Whose? Blessed are the poor in spirit. That's what I was talking about. You know, a lot of people think because they're conservative and they're quote moral and they're soft spoken, they get to go to heaven. There's nothing in the Bible that says about being moral, soft-spoken, and conservative in values that says you can go to heaven. It's a blessing on the poor in spirit. for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." That means this, that it doesn't matter if you're conservative or liberal or somewhere in between, if you're poor in spirit, heaven can be your eternal home. I'll say it again, it doesn't matter if you're conservative or liberal or somewhere in between, if you are poor in spirit, heaven can be your eternal home. And we come to God with our heart broken, we come to God in a spirit of contrition, we come to Him in this brokenness, and when we come to God, He does not send us away with a broken heart, but with a fixed forever heart. I love Isaiah 57, verse 15. For thus saith the High and Lofty One, that is, that Inhabitant of Eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place. With Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the what, saints? the heart of the contrite ones. When we come to God in our spirit of brokenness, He revives us and He fixes us forever. Our life becomes eternal because of what Christ has done on Calvary's cross. It's humbling to admit you can't do it all. It's humbling to admit that you don't deserve God's marvelous grace. You come to Him as a poor beggar, as a broken-hearted sinner in need of salvation, and Jesus gives you more than a piece of bread. He invites you to dine at His table for all eternity. And it's done very simply. It's done by, number one, admitting that you're a sinner. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You say, well, I have a hard time understanding I'm a sinner. Well, come talk to me afterwards. I'll show you. Amen. I can give you life examples from my own life. I have no hard time at all telling you right now that Mark Allen Hoffer, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church, is a sinner. And because I'm a sinner, I've come short of the glory of God. That's God's bar. That's God's standard. It's God's holiness. I've come short of that. And everyone, for all have sinned. What's all mean? All means all. That's all all ever means. I like to say it that way so you know that all means all. Right? You admit that you're a sinner. Number two, you believe that Christ paid it all. And He did. He paid it all, but God commandeth his love toward you, and the word commandeth being showed, but God commandeth his love toward you, I'm sorry, toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He died for you too, but he died for all of us. Amen, saints? He's the one who did it. He did the work on Calvary's cross. He's the one who rose from the dead the third day that gave us the possible reality and distinction of eternal life. And then you confess with your mouth, and you believe in your heart, and salvation is a transaction of faith that only God can do. Salvation is a transaction of faith that only God can do. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Charlotte Elliot was beautiful, popular, charming, a gifted musician above measure. And she was the talk of the town when she lived in London, England back in the 1800s. She had a gig or a job where she would go down into an open air square, and there she would play the piano for a few hours every evening. And every evening people would come and crowd around the piano as Charlotte played the piano, the beautiful songs that went up. And the people would come by and they'd put money in her money jar. That was how she was making her living. She was beautiful. She was charming. She was talented and gifted beyond measure. One evening, A bold preacher was in the audience that night, and he also had enjoyed the beautiful piano playing, but he kind of waited for the crowd to dissipate. And as she was closing up her piano for the night and putting her money away into her purse to take home with her, he said, you know, he said, Charlotte, he said, you are you are a beautiful young lady. And I can tell you've got a magnetic personality. And people love you, they adore you, they appreciate your piano playing. And he's saying it from experience, you're one of the better piano players I've ever heard in my lifetime. But he said this, he said, but if you don't trust Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you will split hell wide open. She was kind of put off by that. Kind of made her mad. Got her to thinking. She even said, well, how dare him? Come up here to where I'm playing the piano, where people adore me and they love me, and they tell me I'm beautiful, and they tell me I'm charming, and they tell me I'm the best piano player they ever heard of. Here comes this preacher who's telling me, if I don't get right with God, I'm going to split hell wide open. Hoof! Kind of stomped home. Like someone's mother-in-law did a long time ago. Amen, Jeff? Stomped on home. Mad. I can't believe he said that about me. She got home, she put her money away, ate something, went up to bed. She couldn't sleep. Tossed and turned. She tried to get it out of her mind. She tried to laugh it off. There's not even a hell to worry about. Why should I even be concerned about hell? I don't even know that guy. I hope I never see him again. Why should I even be concerned about what he said to me? And she tossed, and she turned, she laughed, she cried. And at 3 a.m., she couldn't take it anymore. And she asked the Lord Jesus Christ to save her ever-living soul, and He did. She got born again in her bedroom at 3 a.m. in the morning after a preacher had come and give her a little bit of witness. about how important it is to get your life right with God before it is eternally too late. It completely changed her outlook on music. She had a new perspective now. She wrote a hymn you might have heard of before. I think I have it right here. Sing with me. Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I She realized she brought nothing to the table. She was pretty. She was charming. She could play the piano like nobody's business, but she needed to be broken in spirit and to come to Christ in transparency and to accept his forgiveness and his grace for her to experience the wonder and the majesty of his beautiful salvation. And everybody said, amen. Let's all stand. We're going to sing this song as we close this morning. We'll have Ms. Sharon come and Brother Russ come and lead us here. Father, we do thank you for the truth of your word and the way it speaks to us. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. For theirs, it's a possession that we can have, that we can know now, in this life, on this earth, if we'll come to you in brokenness, if we'll come to you in contrition, if we'll recognize the fact that we are sinners in need of salvation, you will save our souls and your salvation lasts forever. Father, we thank you for that. I thank you for a woman like Charlotte, who even though she was stubborn and she was rebellious and she was prideful, she was broken, And she came to Jesus. And Father, one day we'll see her in heaven. And Father, we'll see the others who have believed on you throughout the centuries and who are in heaven now this morning. And Father, we'll be able to get around the throne and give you all the praise and all the honor and all the glory. And Father, I do pray this morning, if there's somebody here today who's yet to come to Christ for salvation, that you have shown them the need this morning, and that they'll come running to Jesus, find salvation in Him, and begin that wonderful journey of eternal life. Father, we ask these things and pray them in Jesus' name. Everybody said, well, the rest come and lead us in this. I know I kind of butchered verse number one, but it's okay. You can sing it again, but if you need to come as one would you please come grab one of us up here? We'll pray with you We'll take the Bible show you great truths about salvation to make sure that you know that you know that you know That you're on your way to God's wonderful heaven. Amen sites just as I as I am without one plea, that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God. As I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark god, he whose blood can cleanse each spot or lamp, With many a conflict, many a doubt, hidings and fears, within, without, or lacking.