No sermon has had more reputation and usefulness than the Sermon on the Mount. Many books written about it, many sermons have been preached upon it, and no section of that sermon has been used or sometimes abused more than the Beatitudes. We can think of this section of God's Word as an explosion of spiritual realities in so many different ways. We have the definition of Christian character found in these verses. We have wonderful demonstrations of the saving grace of Christ found in it as well. And in each particular beatitude, there's different aspects of Christian character that are stated. They bring that promise even at the end, as we noted last week. Martin Lloyd-Jones, a great preacher and writer, he said this, what we have here in each individual case of the Beatitudes is not a description of a natural temper. It is rather a disposition that is produced by grace. So the emphasis in the Beatitudes for each one of us is upon the grace of God. It's what God and Christ has already done and continues to do for every believer. You see, as we consider these things this morning, would any of us ask for these things? I think it was Sinclair Ferguson who said, what eight things do you most want to see developed in your life? Without the grace of God operating in our life, we might say power, esteem, prestige, and a list of many other things valued by the world. But in Christ, as new creatures in Christ, we seek a different character, we seek a different perspective, that which is set forth by Jesus Christ in these Beatitudes. The first beatitude, spiritual poverty, brings us face to face with ourselves and the absolute need of divine grace. The Savior here doesn't mince his words in setting forth what is the gateway into the kingdom of heaven. And I can think of absolutely nothing that stands so opposed to the spirit of the world in this first beatitude, to be pure in spirit, and yet, Yet the Lord Jesus Christ affirms that without it, without poverty and spirit, a person will never enter the kingdom of God. So if we are to consider these Beatitudes, if we are to consider these truly as individuals and think upon them, we need to be conscious of our spiritual poverty and realize that it's only the ones who are conscious of their spiritual poverty will ever enter into the kingdom of heaven. As we consider that, then surely we need to know what this means. Are you of power and spirit this morning? That's a question each one needs to ask themselves as we delve into this beatitude and this portion of God's word. And as we do, friends, let us ask the blessed Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts. to open up the Scriptures to us, to bring a word and season to our souls this morning and work within us. And as we consider the Beatitudes, we must acknowledge that none of the qualities set forth in these eight principles of the Christian faith are natural to us. They're not. They're far removed from our earthly character, our natural bent, our inclinations are far removed from that. And apart from God's grace in our lives, we cannot exercise the character and the qualities that are to be the part of every believer. You see, we cannot do what Jesus does. We cannot follow in his steps. Apart from saving grace in Christ, we cannot. It is not possible. We must have a new heart. We must have new desires. We must have a new inclination, new behavior, new motives to live as a part of a Christian in this world, as we are commanded to do. You see, I realize that a large portion of the so-called Christian world would state just the opposite. These beatitudes have been abused so often by those who claim to be Christians. They've been set forth as a way of living. Christ is a wonderful teacher, a wonderful moral leader. You follow his teaching. You seek to live as he lived. And that will be enough for heaven. That will bring you into a right relationship with God if you simply follow in his footsteps and seek to live the life that he lived. He was a wonderful moral teacher, and of course he was the greatest teacher of all. And we are to follow in his footsteps, but we cannot do it without saving grace. And we have that WWJD, what would Jesus do movement, you want to see the bracelets. And there's nothing wrong, Christians trying to follow his example. But many people think, especially young people, you wear this bracelet, you go to a camp, You go to your church on a Sunday. You try to live the best you can and try to be a good person. You try to live a righteous life as you see it, according to the teachings of the Beatitudes. And that is enough for heaven for you. That is enough to get you into God's heaven. And instead, friends, when you read the Beatitudes, What you should see when you read the Beatitudes, you should see the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount as a sharp instrument of God of breeding us for our sins and exposing the wickedness of our heart and showing us the need of grace in Christ to ever, ever try to follow in the footsteps of Christ. So let's look today at the first of these. I want to look today at the blessing of spiritual poverty. Verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Three questions we want to seek to answer this morning. Firstly, what does it mean to be poor in spirit? What does it mean to be poor in spirit? The original word in the Greek is tokos, which means to be what is essential for life, to be without what is essential for life, to be destitute of the basic essentials. It speaks of one who has not only power, but is also powerless to accomplish anything for himself. There's another Greek word that speaks of the working power, who's able to provide the basis of himself through daily labor. But this word that is used here, the word tokos, speaks of one who is reduced to dependency on others. They cannot provide for themselves. They are dependent upon others, they have no means of support for themselves. It's used of the beggar in Luke 16. Luke 16, 20, 21, and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. Poor, destitute beggar. It's also used of those who are not necessarily beggars, but who are dependent on the support of others. It's often used, for example, of a widow. She may have regular support if someone is taking care of her, but she has no means of providing for herself. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is seen here in this first beatitude that those who cannot provide the daily necessities for life for themselves are blessed and happy in his kingdom. But there's more. He adds to the word poor the words in spirit. Not only are the poor blessed, but the poor in spirit are blessed. And the context here, it seems, right down to the core, right down to the heart, they're blessed. That's what in spirit means. For example, in Mark chapter 8 in the verse 12, when we're told about the Lord Jesus Christ, how he sighed deeply in his spirit. What does that mean? But it means that he sighed right down deep to the core of his being. When we're told about John the Baptist, how he grew to be strong in spirit. That means he grew to be strong within. He was a man of solid, unshakable character and conviction. And by adding these words in spirit, Christ speaks of poverty that goes to the very depths of our spirits, the very depths of our being. It's not a mere outward poverty that he's speaking of, but a poverty of the very spirit of a person, the inner part of that person. You see, the world can look on, and we can often see people who don't have much in life, people who are poor. And they can be poor and not have much in life, but you can say they have a rich spirit. I'm sure you know people like that. They don't have very much of this world's goods, but they have a beautiful spirit about them. They're godly, they're fresh, they're bright. But here, Christ is saying, he's not talking about people who are poor on the inside. He's talking about people who are poor, sorry, on the inside, not just on the outside, but who have an inner weakness. Their spirit is poor as well. Their heart is poor. They haven't got an inner greatness. They have an inner weakness. They're in poverty of spirit. Now, I want you to see this poverty of spirit is true of every one of us, every one of us here this morning, every one of us in this world, because God made us that way. He made us to be dependent upon Him We are made and created in the image of God to be dependent upon God. We are dependent upon God for our greatness. He made us to derive riches of spirit from him. And that is the thing man does not like. Man does not like to depend upon God. Man wants to be autonomous. Man wants to live his own life. Man wants to be dependent upon himself. He doesn't want to be dependent upon God for anything. He doesn't want to walk. in the counsels of God or listen to the law of God or be under the rule of God, he wants out from that. But yet God created man to walk and fellowship him in the garden of Eden, to walk, to be perfectly blessed as he is created in his image, to live for the glory of God. That is true blessedness. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ, as we think of him, you see, we are born to be reflectors of the very glory of God shining, shining in the way that Christ himself. Remember, as we read these Beatitudes, we see Christ in them all. He's pictured in them all. Christ's expressed image of his father. Christ lived that life as a man in his humanity. Christ became pure in spirit. And his greatness as a man was that he followed God. He followed his father. He was submissive to his father. As a man, he was the exact image of God as we ought to be. Do you remember what I said about the widows before? They're called poor, not necessarily because they have nothing, but because what they have, they obtain from others. And the Lord Jesus Christ, by becoming man, became, in a sense, like a widow. He continued in prayer. He received strength from God, from his Father. in his humanity. He lacked nothing, but what he had, he had by depending upon God. That is the way we were made. And the most foolish thing, the most reckless thing that man ever did was he severed himself from God, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They sever themselves from God, and that is what has impoverished our spirit. That has brought us down to spiritual bankruptcy. Every member of the human race now in nature is impoverished in spirit because they are cut off from God. But our poverty goes even deeper than that. Not only did we impoverish ourselves, but we also went into tremendous debt. You see, it's one thing to be deprived of riches, but it's even worse to be in debt. You see, how awful it is to be a poor man and have nothing, but how awful it is to be a poor man and owe a million pound. You see, we put ourselves in debt to the justice of God, and by our rebellion, We offended the holy justice of God. Now we must pay the penalty, and we have no resources to pay that penalty, no resources to pay that price, and there's no greater poverty than this poverty. We're absolutely dependent upon God for mercy. If he does not show you mercy, he will bring the full weight of his holy wrath and justice upon you, and there'll be no escaping it. You see how poor we are. You see how poor each one is. We are dependent to start with, and then we rejected the one who alone is able to supply our living, and we brought his wrath upon us. Every member of the human race, in this sense, is poor in spirit. But the second question we need to answer is, what does the Lord Jesus Christ mean here? When he pronounces a blessing on the poor in spirit, what does he mean when he pronounces his blessing on the poor in spirit? We've seen who the poor in spirit are, what we're like. What does he mean here? Does he now mean that everyone is now blessed? Since everyone shares in this poverty of spirit I've just described, does this mean that everyone shares in this blessing that Christ has pronounced upon the poor in spirit? No, of course it doesn't. Because the Lord Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, makes it very, very clear. He makes it very clear that many will not be blessed. They'll not be blessed. Toward the end of this very sermon, he says that there will be many who will enter the white gate into judgment, into destruction. He speaks of many who on that day, on the day of judgment, will say, Lord, Lord, if we've done this, we've done the other thing in thy name. He said, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. At the very end of this Sermon on the Mount, he speaks about those who believe they're all right of God, only to find their life and house has been built upon the sands. And throughout his entire ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ emphasized that many will not be saved. Most of his parables actually make the contrast between those who are saved and those who are lost, those who end up in hell. So what does the Lord Jesus Christ mean when he speaks of the pure in spirit and says they are blessed? How does he make a distinction when everyone is impoverished in spirit? I think it's obvious that Christ is not speaking about what a person is. He's talking about what a person sees themselves to be. What a man, what a woman, what a boy, what a girl, see themselves to be. Do they see themselves to be pure in spirit? That's the point he's making. And to paraphrase or to fill out his words, he says, blessed are ye who know yourselves to be pure in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. Christ often speaks this way. For example, in John 9.39, He said, for judgment I am coming to this world, that they which see not might see, and they that which see might be made blind. What he means is those who think they see, apart from him, must become blind, realizing that they don't see at all. In the same way that Christ says that those who see may be made blind, we can say with reference to Matthew 5.3 that those who enrich in spirit must become poor in spirit. Christ's words, the church at Laodicea, applies to all who do not know themselves to be impoverished by sin. We looked at this when we looked at the seven churches there in Revelation 3 and 17. He says, because thou sayest, I am rich, and increase of goods, and of need of nothing, and knowest not thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. This church had absolutely nothing, but they thought they had everything. And they were poor in spirit in reality, but they were not poor in spirit because they knew it not. There's no blessing for those who do not see themselves as being poor in spirit. There's no blessing for you in just being wretched and miserable and poor and blind before God if you do not know it. If you do not see it yourself, there's no blessing for you unless you see it for yourself that you're in this miserable state, that you are impoverished in spirit, that you have nothing. You see, some people have this notion that God owes them something, that you have power within yourselves to make God a debtor to you in some way. You might say, oh, I've done this for God. I've done that for God. Surely he will bless me. You see, you're not pure in spirit. You're a stranger to the blessing of Christ. Some of you might be busy trying to save yourselves. You think you can do something for God. If you do something for God, that will put you in God's good books. How often in the earthly realm do we do that? Children maybe have been bad and think, right, I'll get mummy and daddy's good books. I'll try and be on my best behavior. I'll try and earn some brownie points, as we say. And so many who come to church think they're going to earn brownie points of God, that he's going to overlook their sin. they're gonna overlook their wretchedness. Perhaps you say, I do the best I can, I love my neighbor, I go to church, I read my Bible, I hope that God will accept me. Rather than being pure in spirit what you are, you're wretched, you're poor, you're miserable, you're blind, and you don't even see it. Some may be pretending there's no judgment. We hear that preached today. A loving God would never send anyone to hell. You may be like the man in Deuteronomy 29. When God pronounced that cursing, the man said to himself, I shall have peace, although I walk in the imagination of my heart. You're not pure in spirit. You could never think that way. about God's judgment. If you knew who you truly were before, a holy and righteous and just God, rather you'd be filled with terror that you'd have to stand before him one day in your impoverished spirit. But listen, friend, we can take encouragement from all of this. You see, it's wonderful news, wonderful news that the salvation that Christ brings is a salvation you cannot contribute to. That is the best news for this world. You cannot contribute to it. That is the most wonderful news, that you have nothing to bring, nothing to bring, nothing to add. There's not one thing you can bring. All you must come. All you must do is simply come. And you see, that actually frees you to come. The fact that you have nothing to bring, the fact that you can't earn or do anything towards it, that frees you to come. Come as you are, the Bible tells us. Oh, he does not minimize your condition, pretend that that is not bad, but he knows you're too ruined to save yourself. That is why he came, to seek and to save those that were lost. You see, the only thing that disqualifies you, dear sinner, from salvation is that you keep on thinking you have to contribute to it in some way. Why is it so hard? Why is it so hard for the sinner to come with nothing? Why is it so hard for the sinner to be pure in spirit and come empty-handed to Christ? Why? A.W. Pink said, to be pure in spirit is to realize that I have nothing, that I am nothing, and I can do nothing and have need of all things. It evidences itself by bringing the individual into the dust before God, acknowledging his utter helplessness and deservingness of hell. I think the simplest way to express it is spiritual bankruptcy. To be pure in spirit is a realization that you have no assets, to commend yourself before God, you have no capital to bargain with at the throne of judgment, you have absolutely nothing. Like David in Psalm 34, verse six, all you can do is cry, like this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. You must realize that, to be poor in spirit. It's a realization that you never get to a point, never get to a state of righteousness through your own deeds. Rather, your righteousness, all your good deeds are as filthy rags. As Paul, you look at them as dung in comparison to the righteousness of Christ. You some think their performance or level of good works will be enough, but friends, you must realize that we're all lawbreakers before a holy, and righteous God, you must become, as it were, pure in spirit, you must realize that your heart is wicked. You must realize that you're depraved, you're a sinful wretch that is deserving of God's judgment and God's wrath, and as a beggar has nothing in his hands to bring, you run, you cast yourself upon Christ for mercy, you cry, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, I am nothing. The hymn writer. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. Naked I come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. File I to the fountain fly. Woe is me, Saviour, or I die. You recall the story of the prodigal son, that young man. that young man who was so full of himself, so full of self-confidence, consumed by the desires of this world. He left the father, journeyed to that far country, took all his money, lived it up at a great wonderful time. Then he came to himself, the famine in the land, no money left, he was a poor destitute beggar. He came to himself, he didn't Say, I'll go back to my father. I'll go back to that place of sonship. I'll go back to that place and that land of plenty. I'll go back to that house of money and wealth and all the rest. And I'll have all I need again. No, he didn't. He said, I'll go back to my father. I'm saying nothing but a sinful wretch. I'm nothing but a servant. He became poor in spirit. He realized who he was. And friend, to be blessed. to be truly blessed, you need to see yourself as being pure in spirit. You need to see your unworthiness before the Lord. You need to see your desperate need of Him. You need to see Him alone as the only hope for your situation. Are you pure in spirit this morning? One final question we need to answer. How are the pure in spirit truly blessed? How are the pure in spirit truly blessed? He says here in verse 3, he said, we're blessed because the kingdom of heaven belongs to you. Blessed are they, the pure in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Kingdom of heaven belongs to you. Of course, belonging to a kingdom means you're under a king. And in this case, the king is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The Scriptures teach us that he will reign until he's brought all his foes, all his enemies under his footstool. His goal is perfect submission to God everywhere. His kingdom will be a kingdom characterized by perfect holiness and righteousness. There'll be no sin in his kingdom. Belonging to this kingdom means you have the blessings that Christ the King brings to his people. First and greatest of these is, of course, the forgiveness of sins. And by his death on the cross, as the King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, died there upon the cross, he secured blessing for all his subjects. He took the place of all them when he went to the cross. All of God's wrath against the sin of his people was poured out upon him. He paid the price in full. Now, there's no more condemnation. Christ has taken it all, and his people are now free. We're no longer chained in sin. We're no longer under the dominion of the evil one. Those who are truly blessed, those who are born again by the Spirit of God serve a new king, a king of glory. We serve a new king. We are subjects of a new kingdom, a heavenly kingdom. We're no longer off this world. We're citizens of heaven. This kingdom is a kingdom of forgiven people. We're truly blessed. People who are reconciled to God. People who've had that separation, that enmity between them and the Creator removed. We've brought into this family, we've been adopted, we've been given a new name, we've been given the name of the King of Glory. This is the blessing. This is the true blessing. This is how you're truly blessed. And again, I ask you this morning, are you pure in spirit? Are you truly blessed? Have you come to that point in your life when you've turned away from your sin and you fled to Christ, you've trusted in him? There's another blessing here, not just the blessing of salvation, but there's the blessing of sanctification here. Because we see that when we're saved, we're indwelt with the spirit of God, we start to love the things of God. We start to hate the things of the world. We start to die to self and die to sin and live for Christ. We seek to walk in his footsteps, just as we are commanded in the Beatitudes. We are to walk as he walked, we're told, in 1 John. Oh, that is difficult, we realize that. But day by day, we are to make progress. We are to grow in grace. We're to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to become more like our King. Imagine that. We are saved. And one of the blessings of our salvation is to become more like our King. What a blessing. Oh, yes, we look in the mirror at times, we don't see much progress. But the promise. You see, we looked at these Beatitudes, and yes, some of them are not all fulfilled now. They start now, but they're hooked on those promises of heaven, some of them. And this is one of them. One day we will be perfect. One day we'll be in glory. He has begun this good work in us and he will perform it, he will finish it. One day we will be like our King. Now you see why Christ says, those who possess this kingdom are blessed. And I want you to notice that this kingdom belongs to the pure in spirit now. Christ says, that you can be pure in spirit now. You can possess this now. The call of Christ, wherever he went, was to repent and to enter his kingdom. That's what he preached. It's not something you have to wait for. It's something you can have now. He calls you. Dear sinner, today he calls you now to repent, to believe in him. to come into his kingdom and to be truly blessed. That is his call to you now, not to wait, not to earn it, not to put it off to another day, but now, behold, now is the day of salvation. Now. He's offered to you now in the gospel this very moment. But what is it that can make a person to be pure in spirit? It is to meet the king of this kingdom. That is the only thing that'll make you pure in spirit, because you may look at the subjects of this kingdom. The sinner often does this. You go to witness to someone, you present the gospel, and they will say, what about so-and-so? So-and-so say they're a Christian. So-and-so say they belong to that kingdom, that church, that family. And as citizens of this kingdom, We let the Lord down. We live as hypocrites at times. And sinner, if you look at other Christians in here, you'll be let down. You will see failures. You will see sins. But friends, when you look at the king, look at the king, the one who rules this kingdom. You look at him. When you look at Christ, when you see him in his perfection and his glory, then you will see yourself for who you are as a hell-deserving sinner. You think of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 6. Those who gazed upon Christ became pure in spirit. What did he say? He said, woe is me, for I am undone. I am ruined. That means I am ruined. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. He saw Christ. He saw Christ. What about Peter? When Peter saw the Lord Jesus Christ, when he filled his nets with fish, what did Peter say? He said, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. What about Paul, that self-righteous man, that pharisee of pharisees? Philippians 3, there it was as he compared himself to other men. It was as if he said, I'm the best of them all. And he writes this in Philippians 3. In verse four, if any other man thinketh that he hath wrought, he might trust in the flesh, I more, I more, circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless, blameless, my good works, my legalism, My trying to follow the commands of the law, I'm blameless. I'm better than all the rest of them in it all. But what does Paul say about his life after he met Christ? Where did all his good works and all his righteousness belong when he met Christ? He goes on to write in that chapter, what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, whom suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. And Paul, Paul met the King. He saw himself for who he was, a hell-deserving sinner, not a religious zealot, but a hell-deserving sinner. And when you meet Christ, friend, you can no longer be proud. You must be pure in spirit. When you gaze upon the King of glory, the sinless Son of God, you will be pure in spirit. Have you met Him this morning? Have you met the Savior? Are you pure in spirit? Have you realized your own unworthiness? Have you realized your sinfulness? Have you repented of your sin? Have you fled to Christ for mercy? What a great blessing it is to be pure in spirit. It means you possess the kingdom of heaven. It means you've seen the King of glory. It means you have received from him the forgiveness of sin and the promise of the Spirit. It means you have a hope for all eternity. What's your hope this morning, friend? What is your hope? Is it this church? This preacher? This denomination? Your good works? What is your hope? If your hope is not found in Christ this morning, you have no hope. But rather, you're a lost sinner, and you're not blessed. Rather, you're cursed. You come this morning, flee to Christ. He's merciful. Oh, how merciful He is. He will accept you. He'll receive you. Come, come this morning and be truly blessed. Come and be pure in spirit. The Lord bless His word to our hearts this morning. Our Father in heaven, we thank you once again for the hope of the gospel, Oh, Father, we think of ourselves, and many in this meeting can testify of such. That day and hour when we came to our senses, we realized we were nothing. We had nothing. We had nothing to offer Thee. We were nothing but hell-deserving sinners. We saw our own sinfulness in the mirror of Thy Word. As we gazed upon Christ in all His perfections and glory, we realized we were nothing. who came pure in spirit. Father, we thank you for all who have trusted in Christ for salvation, all who are truly blessed this morning. Our earnest prayer and desire is that each one here in this meeting, those watching online, will come to know what it is to be truly blessed. Oh, Father, speak on this morning. Even as the voice of the preacher grows silent, speak on by the voice of thy spirit. Encourage us through thy word. Bless us, Lord, those who wait on around thy table, May we be encouraged and may our hearts be warmed afresh as we think upon Christ, the mighty to save. Those who must leave, we ask you'll bless them, go before them, keep your hand upon them for good. We ask and pray it all in our Savior's precious name. Amen. Amen.