If you want to follow along in your Bibles, you can turn to John 15. Though we will be considering a number of different passages this morning, as this is our topical Sunday on the subject of sanctification. John 15, the first five verses, and this is the word of the Lord. I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Congregation, we have been considering these two grand theological topics, justification and sanctification. If you don't mind, just briefly, justification is that one time event where our legal status before God is changed. We trust in Christ for salvation. He, at that moment, forgives us of all of our sins. We are legally right with God. We are righteous in Christ, not in ourselves, but because of He who represents us, Jesus. Our legal status is forever changed at that moment. We are eternally right with God. After that, The process of sanctification begins. God begins that renovation in our hearts, in our souls, where he sends the Holy Spirit to make us what he created us to be. We first needed the legal aspect to be done away with. We needed to be forgiven, and forgiven legally. Now he begins the cleansing. Last month, we looked at the idea that sanctification is a battle. It's a lifelong fight with sin. We struggle, we repent every day. That process, that battle doesn't end until death or the Lord returns. Therefore, we cannot say what some people often say. I used to struggle with anger, but then I had a great moment in my life where something happened and I never struggle with anger anymore. I'm never angry. Well, we can't say that if we're going to be honest. If we struggle with anger, we will struggle with anger. I used to have pride, but then I had my breakthrough. Now I don't struggle with pride anymore. It sounds great, but if you're a real person, you know that's not how it works, if you're honest. The battle that we fight is a constant battle. The very fact that you're in the battle shows that you are being sanctified. You care about fighting against sin even though it's a constant struggle. This morning we are looking at the need to be poor in spirit in order to be sanctified. That that poverty of spirit that Matthew speaks of in Matthew 5, the words of Christ, is meant not just for someone who's coming to Christ but for Christians our whole lives. We are in constant need of spiritual strength. And look at our passage I just read, Jesus said to his disciples who are already believers, I am the vine, you must abide in me for apart from me you can do nothing. You are still weak. You are still spiritually empty. You still need to abide in Christ, you need a constant work of Christ in your heart as a Christian, or you can do nothing. So that's easy to understand when it comes to justification. As a matter of fact, you cannot be a Christian unless you become poor in spirit. Christ said, unless you become like a child, completely dependent on a parent to feed you, you can't be a Christian. You can't enter his kingdom. You have to come to God empty handed and say, I have nothing. I'm a sinner. All I can rely on is the mercy you offer me in the gospel. That's being poor in spirit. And that is the requirement to be a Christian, that you come poor in spirit, that you have nothing. But sometimes Christians believe that once they become Christians, now they've been made new people, they're really something now. And we can begin to rely on ourselves that we've now become better people. But God has so designed it that you not only are dependent upon Christ for justification, But you're dependent on Christ for sanctification, for every good grace, for all strength. And you need Him every day. You always need to depend upon Him and His working in you. You see, there are times that when God grants you spiritual strength, let's say, for example, today or yesterday, you resisted a temptation. Someone tempted you and you, in the strength of Christ, said no. And now God gave you the strength. Well, what happens when you begin to say, wow, I'm really something. I'm quite a Christian. Matter of fact, I'm pretty good Christian compared to most. They would have given in. Well, you start thinking that way. And what happens a week later when that same temptation hits? Well, you fall. What happens? Well, you begin to rely on yourself. You become self-sufficient. You're no longer poor in spirit. You're no longer thinking that you're someone who's poor and empty, needing constant grace from God. And what does the Bible say? Let him who stands take heed, lest he fall. Now, we've seen this in the Bible, right? The Apostle Peter. Jesus says in the Last Supper, one of you tonight will fall away. And what did Peter say? Though all these others fall away, I will never betray you. He begins to rely on his own goodness as a Christian, his own strength, his own commitment. He thinks, I'm a much stronger Christian than they are, in terms we might say. And what did Jesus respond with? Peter, even tonight, you will deny me three times. We've seen this with King David, right? Great victories in the strength of God, defeating Goliath and many enemies. And what happens when he becomes self-sufficient and proud? Well, the whole episode with Bathsheba. God sometimes, and he often does this, leaves us without strength when we begin to think we're something. When we begin to rely on ourselves. We don't admit our weakness and need anymore. And so what does God do? He lifts his hand from us, his daily strength, and he leaves us. And what happens? We do something we're ashamed of and we say, I can't believe I did that. God leaves us to show us that we need him every day, that we're not something. We're not so great that we need to always rely on his strength and grace. And we've all been through those times. when we look back and say, I really relied on myself and I didn't come to God for help. But we must always see ourselves as poor and needy. Now, let me just add here that sometimes there's a confusion when it comes to poor of spirit. I don't speak of personalities. And I say that because there are some people with very strong, outgoing personalities And there are some with very weak, meek, and mild personalities. But you see, that doesn't necessarily mean you're poor in spirit. That's just personality, the way you were raised and wired. For example, I've known some very strong-willed, strong personalities that are actually very poor in spirit. They'd be the first to admit that when it comes to spirituality, I trust the Lord. I don't have anything. But I've known some very quiet, meek people who deep down are very self-sufficient. They're actually trusting in their own goodness. So we're not speaking of personality. We're speaking of admitting every day we need Christ to walk the Christian life. We need His strength. This happened to the Christians in Laodicea in Revelation 3, one of the seven letters. They thought they were something after a while. Look how strong Christians we are. And do you remember what Jesus wrote through John? For you say I am rich, I have prospered, I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. You see, you think now that you're really something because of the work I've done in you. You forgot that you're still poor. You're still weak and naked. You failed to see yourself rightly. But this is the way we are to see ourselves as Christians. Every day, even now, you wake up every day, I am poor and needy spiritually. I need God to give me strength today. This sense of need is what gives rise to your daily prayers. What did the Lord teach us when he said, here's how to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. He doesn't just mean physically that we'll be fed. He means spiritually. We wake up and we say, Lord, I have nothing in myself. I have nothing to offer you. Left to myself, I'm in trouble. Give me the strength I need to get through this day. I am poor and needy this morning. Even if yesterday I did very well and I had some victory, today I am poor and needy again. Give us this day our daily bread. But sometimes we pray like that one man in the Bible who prayed, Lord, Thank you that I'm not like those others, that I'm not like those sinners. Thank you how well strong you've made me. Now, even as Christians, our daily prayer is, Lord, have mercy on me today as sinner. I need your strength today, for I am poor and needy. As the hymn says, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. That is the attitude we should have about ourselves. That's what it means to be poor in spirit, even as Christians. That brings us to the next point. Once you understand as a Christian that you are still poor, you are still needy, you need Christ to work in you every day, then you would diligently use the means God has provided to give you strength. You see, you have to go outside yourself. to be strong because there's nothing in you still. You need Christ to work from outside of you, and he does that through the church. Throughout history, theologians have called the church our mother who nourishes us. As God is our father, the church becomes our mother, as famous men have said. And so God provides a way, when we're empty, to be filled, to be fed. And he does that first through the preaching of the gospel. This is different than the mentality today that says your strength comes from having daily quiet times or devotions. The problem with that view is that it turns everything back on you again. You become, it all depends on your discipline, your self-discipline. And it really relies on you. But God has provided a way for you to become empty and say I need help. I'm needy. I can't rely on myself. And so in the Bible, God always promises to feed his people through the preaching of the gospel. Let me give you an example, Revelation 1-3. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear. Here, God promises blessing when the Christians gather on the one, who is the minister, who is reading and preaching, and on those who are hearing. God says they will be blessed. Romans 10.14, how will they call on him whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? To hear Christ speak to us is to hear the preaching of the Word of God, the preaching of the gospel. That is the chief means we are fed. Galatians 3.5, does he who supply the Spirit to you do so by the works of the law? or by hearing with faith. In other words, do you grow strong in the Spirit by performing every day or by coming and hearing and believing the gospel that you hear? Paul says it's by hearing the gospel that you are supplied the strength of the Holy Spirit, not by your works. And then Romans 16.25, Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ." You see, God is the author of preaching. He promises to bless it by His Spirit. You are to come needy, wanting to learn and to be fed, and to believe and obey what you hear. That doesn't mean reading your Bible privately cannot be of helpful or great benefit. It simply means that God is first and foremost attached, a promise, to preaching. that He will feed His people who are empty. And therefore, you are to make a diligent use of preaching. You are to come to church and say, I am needy. I need the Word of God taught, and I'm not self-sufficient. I need the gifts of others who are also called to teach, just like we'll talk about other gifts. Now, that doesn't mean if you ever miss a Sunday you're going to starve spiritually. It just means that you live a life, a pattern, of coming to church to hear the Word of God, and that's how God feeds you. And if you're truly hungry, if you truly understand you're needy, you go eat some bread, right? You go where there's bread. You come to hear the Word. And as I've often said, when you wake up and say, I don't think I should go to church today. I feel like a hypocrite. I'm so empty, and I've had such a bad week. What do I always say? That's why you go to church, because you are empty. And you need to hear the word and be fed and encouraged. You come with nothing. You also need the Lord's Supper as we will partake this morning. God feeds us spiritually through the supper. Now, if I was going to come up with ideas and how we can be strong, we would probably come up with many different ideas. But God has attached his promise to the Lord's Supper. And so we come and trust him. That is not very flashy. but it's God's way to feed us when we believe what those elements picture. We admit our need for other Christians. We say if we're needy then we don't possess every Christian gift or grace. I may not have the gift of faith or prayer or encouragement or discernment or mercy or service. I need other Christians because I'm only one small part of a body that makes me strong. And so to be poor in spirit is to admit, I need the regular preaching of the word, but I also need the sacraments, the Lord's Supper, and I need other Christians. I need fellowship. I can't have strength on my own. I'm not self-sufficient. And you cannot say, well, I have God. That's all I need. Because God says, no, that's not. I have so created that you need the church, you need one another, you need other Christians. Hebrews 10, you know that famous verse teaches us, do not forsake assembling, for it's there that you stir up one another toward good works. Simply by gathering together, you stir one another up, that we are not in this alone, that we walk the Christian life together. Another way to admit your need to be poor and spiritist is to admit that you need church government. You need oversight of elders and the ministry of deacons. You are saying, I'm not self-sufficient enough to completely guide and oversee my own life. I need Christ's government that he has established. And so Hebrews 13, 17 says, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. So to be poor in spirit evidences itself in admitting I have these great needs. And I'm going to go where God has supplied the answers to those needs. And that is the church, the preaching of the gospel, the Lord's Supper, the fellowship that I need. Now, let me also add that when you truly understand how poor and needy you are, it's not that difficult to be a thankful person, to be a thankful Christian. You see, if you're one of these spoiled young women we see on all these reality shows, I don't watch them, but I know them. When they go on vacation, they expect the best of everything, right? If they're going to go out on a boat, they expect some kind of a yacht. If they're going to eat, they expect gourmet meals. And if they do not receive these things, they whine and complain because they see themselves as very privileged. But if you see yourself as poor and needy, if you're drowning in that same ocean, then that, if a little tugboat comes by and pulls you up, and you haven't eaten and you're hungry and they give you bread and water, are you thankful? You don't say, I don't want this tugboat to pull me out. I want a nice boat. No, because you obviously recognize your need. If anyone gives me something, I'll be thankful. See, if you're always complaining about life or church, sometimes the problem is not those circumstances. The problem is you think too much of yourself. You think you deserve more. You see yourself as that wealthy, deserving, spoiled person. You don't recognize what Christ said, that you're still blind, poor, and needy. And when you're blind, poor, and needy, when you get some food, you're pretty thankful. It's not perfect, but it's enough. Finally, we're going to end early because of the Lord's Supper. Remember that you have no resources in yourself that in Christ is all wisdom and riches and power. So we come to God every day in prayer and we say, I am needy. I am empty. Please give me strength today. And then we make diligent use of the means God has provided through the church. First and foremost, listening to the sermons, but not just listening and being there. but then with faith believing and obeying. And at the same time admitting we need one another. We're not strong. Each of us by ourselves is weak. We need the strength of Christians, first and foremost locally, but really Christians all over the world. But let me end with the point all throughout the Bible that God always promises to bless the poor in spirit. Throughout the Psalms we see that. Psalm 34, 6. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. They don't mean financially poor in the Psalms. They mean poor in spirit. Spiritually needy. Psalm 10, 17. Oh Lord, you hear the desire of the poor and afflicted. You will strengthen their heart. You will incline your ear and listen to them. James 5, 6. But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So congregation, when you became a Christian, when you were converted, you admitted even as a child, I need God to save me through Christ and the gospel. He has to die for my sins. I have nothing to add to this to be saved. All I am is a sinner. But now that you're a Christian, you are to maintain that same attitude every day. Lord, I'm still a sinner. I need your constant grace and strength to walk before you. And I need you and I need to use the means you have provided the church. I need them. I need preaching. I need the supper. I need fellowship. I'm a poor and needy person. And when you feed me, thank you. Thank you for whatever food you have given me. God is a God of the poor in spirit. And I'll close with from Isaiah 57. The Lord God says I dwell in the high and holy place. But I also dwell with him who is of a humble and lowly spirit.