← Back to sermon library

Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to Matthew, chapter five. Matthew, chapter five. Begin reading in verse one. And 
seeing the multitude, he went up on a mountain and when he 
was seated, his disciples came to 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 those who mourn, 
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they 
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger 
and thirst for 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 sons of God. Blessed are those who 
are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom 
of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile 
and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely 
for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, 
for great is your reward in heaven. So they persecuted the prophets 
who were before you. You are the salt of the earth. 
But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It 
is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled 
underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. 
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they 
light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand. And it gives light to all who 
are in the house. Let your light so shine before 
men that they may see your good works and glorify your father 
in heaven. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
thank you for the Word of God. Thank you for the Beatitudes. 
Thank you for the Sermon on the Mount and the preacher, the Lord 
Jesus Christ. We pray now that you would fill 
each one of us with your Holy Spirit. We pray that you would 
guide us in our study of this section of your Word. We pray, 
God, that it would indeed cause us to reflect upon our own state 
before you. And I pray that your Spirit would 
be at work humbling us causing us to truly manifest these characteristics. We just pray as well that you 
would forgive us for all of our sins, for all of our unrighteousness, 
for all of our transgressions. How we thank you that the Lord 
Jesus not only taught this sermon, but he died for us and he rose 
again, knowing well and good that none of us have fulfilled, 
none of us could fulfill all that this word calls us to. How we praise you for sovereign 
grace. How we praise you for the blood 
of Christ that atones for our sin. And we just pray now, God 
in heaven, that you would be glorified. And we pray through 
Christ the Lord. Amen. Remember, as we mentioned 
last week in just a brief introduction to these Beatitudes, that they 
are indicative statements. They are not imperatives. In 
other words, we're not being commanded here to go out and 
be poor in spirit. Rather, this is a description 
of what those who have been saved by God's grace. This is a description 
or characteristics of those people. Now, just in saying that, I realize 
They are not perfect descriptions, or we don't manifest these things 
perfectly, but these things should be true in each and every one 
of God's people. These Beatitudes presuppose the 
grace of God. Martin Lloyd-Jones says that 
all Christians are to be like this. All Christians are meant 
to manifest all of these characteristics. He says none of these characteristics 
refers to what we might call a natural tendency. Jesus is 
not here describing what men are by nature. He is rather here 
describing what men are by grace. It is grace, as Newton wrote, 
that taught our hearts to fear. It is grace that creates this 
poverty of spirit. It is grace that produces holy 
mourners. It is grace that produces meek 
men and women. It is grace that produces those 
who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for those who are merciful, those 
who are pure in heart, those who are peacemakers, and those 
who are persecuted for the cause of God and true Lloyd Jones again 
says each one of them is wholly a disposition, which is produced 
by grace alone and the operation of the Holy Spirit upon us. So 
the Beatitudes describe what we are by God's grace, the remainder 
of the Sermon on the Mount specifies or highlights that ethic of Christ's 
kingdom that we, as God's people, are to imbibe or are to obey. So this morning, I want to just 
take up the first four Beatitudes. You remember last week we said 
the first four refer to the attitude of a Christian. And the last 
four basically describe his activity or his action. That may be a 
bit of an artificial categorization, but I think it is helpful at 
least homiletically or in terms of a sermon so that we can get 
a hold on these things and see what Jesus is specifying. So 
the first four are attitudes that are consistent with the 
kingdom of God. The last four are actions that 
are produced by those who are citizens of the kingdom of God. 
But first, before we look at these four, what is the blessedness 
in view? I mean, each of these statements 
starts with that word blessed. Kids, the word means happy. It's 
kind of an interesting thing, isn't it? Happy are those who 
mourn. Seems a bit odd, doesn't it? 
Those who cry usually are sad. Those who mourn are usually sad. But Jesus here is pronouncing 
blessedness or happiness upon the people who look like this. In many ways, what Christ teaches 
here goes against the world in every step of the way. The world 
doesn't teach happier you when you're poor. The world teaches 
happier you when you're rich. The world doesn't teach happier 
you when you cry. The world teaches happier you 
when you laugh. So what Jesus is showing or describing 
here is that the person who, by God's grace, participates 
in the kingdom of God, he will be different than those in the 
world. He will be different or unique 
in terms of God's demands upon his or her life. The word that 
is used here by Jesus means happy, fortunate, or blissful. It's 
not a superficial feeling based on circumstances. I mean, again, 
if I asked you, what makes you happy? You'd say, a good meal. 
It's not necessarily wicked. What makes you happy? When people 
are kind to me. That's not necessarily wicked. 
What makes you happy? Well, when the sun shines, right? 
But in each of those instances, if those three things aren't 
happening, then you're not happy. You're sad. You're unhappy. You're going to frown. If it's 
raining again, your happiness is connected to the appearance 
or non-appearance of the sun. That's not what Jesus is highlighting 
here. He says that this blessedness 
or this happiness is a supernatural experience of contentedness based 
on the presence of God's grace in one's life. It doesn't come 
and go. Blessed are you, Jesus says, 
when these things by God's grace are true of you. The stress is 
upon God's favor given to his people. They are, in fact, blessed. We ought to come to this passage 
on a regular basis. Some of us struggle with what 
people call depression or the old writers called melancholy. 
Oftentimes we get discouraged or we get discontent. Well, the 
Beatitudes remind us just what is ours in Christ Jesus. We are a blessed people. We are 
a happy people. We are a blissful people. Again, 
not based on our circumstances, but based on the presence of 
God's grace in our life. There is much to rejoice in when 
we consider his goodness to us. Well, let's open up these Beatitudes. Notice the first is the poor 
in spirit, the poor in spirit. I don't know how long each one 
of these is going to take us. I don't want to rush through, 
but at the same time, I don't want to get bogged down and forget 
our place in the larger context of the Sermon on the Mount in 
Matthew's Gospel. But the poor in spirit does not 
mean poor financially. It does not mean you've got empty 
pockets and therefore you are blessed. Jesus is not saying 
go get rid of everything you have and you will have eternal 
blessing. It does mean to recognize oneself 
before God. That's what it means to be poor 
in spirit. It means to see yourself in relationship to the living 
and true God. And in just a moment, we'll illustrate 
this in other portions of the Scripture. It means to have a 
proper assessment of who you are before God. D.A. Carson writes to be poor in spirit 
is not to lack courage, but to acknowledge spiritual bankruptcy. Remember, this comes by grace. This is not a natural tendency. Naturally, we all think we're 
doing quite well. Naturally, we think we've got 
it all figured out. Naturally, we can't even imagine 
the fact of God ever casting us into eternal perdition. By 
nature, we think we're okay. But when God's grace hits us, 
when God's grace moves us, poverty of spirit is the natural result. Carson says it confesses one's 
unworthiness before God and utter dependence upon Him. In other 
words, this gracious disposition realizes I cannot attain God's 
favor in my own strength. I cannot keep the Sermon on the 
Mount. I cannot fulfill the obligations 
of God's holy law. I cannot merit his favor in and 
of my own strength. It renders a man spiritually 
bankrupt. It shows him his position before 
a thrice holy God. RT France says it is a positive 
spiritual orientation, the reverse of the arrogant self-confidence, 
which not only rides roughshod over the interests of other people, 
but more importantly, causes a person to treat God as irrelevant. The poor in spirit acknowledge 
their dependence upon God. all the time. Let's illustrate 
for you children out here. I want you to see what it means 
to be poor in spirit. God doesn't leave us on our own. 
He gives us vivid, lively pictures of what it means to be poor in 
spirit. Turn to Luke chapter 18 for just 
a moment. Luke chapter 18. Jesus tells a parable about two 
men who went to the temple to pray. I'm just going to read 
through it, and then I'm going to ask you to think about which 
one's the poor in spirit here, which one evidences dependence 
upon God, submission to God, and which one is the opposite 
of being poor in spirit, which one thinks everything's okay, 
which one thinks that he merits with God, which one thinks that 
he is okay apart from the work of God's grace. Notice in Luke 
18, 9, also, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves 
that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went 
up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax 
collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed 
thus with himself. God, I thank you that I am not 
like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as 
this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes 
of all that I possess. Does he sound poor in spirit? 
Does this man sound like he's in utter dependence upon the 
living God? Has he got a view of what he 
is before a thrice holy God? Do you take or do you see what 
he is doing? He comes into the presence of 
God and he's bragging. He's boasting. He's presenting 
his works, he's presenting his merits, he's presenting his character 
and his accomplishments before the living and true God, the 
high and lofty God, the God who demands absolute perfection, 
the God who does not look upon evil approvingly to any degree 
whatsoever. This guy has what the Jews call 
chutzpah. He comes before God and he presents 
himself as the one who deserves God's favor. Kids, this is not 
to be poor in spirit. This is the exact opposite. You see, apart from the grace 
of God, this is us. Apart from the grace of God, 
we say things like I've never killed anyone. I've never committed 
adultery. I've never been to an abortion 
clinic. I have never smoked crack cocaine. I haven't. I haven't. I haven't. And what I have done, 
I've gone to church. I've read my Bible. I've prayed. I'm not like these disgusting 
sinners that populate my city. I'm not like them, Lord. That's 
us. Apart from the grace of God. Look at what it says to the Pharisee 
stood and prayed thus with himself. I don't think we should just 
run right through that. Is that how you pray? You pray 
thus with yourself? Has prayer become a time for 
self-congratulation? Is prayer a time to pat yourself 
on the back? Is prayer a time to think about 
what a great guy or girl you are? Has prayer devolved or degenerated 
into that place where you entertain the unholy Trinity, me, myself, 
and I? That's what this Pharisee's doing. 
He stood and he prayed thus with himself. Thank you, God, that 
I'm not like all this riffraff. Thank you, God, that I'm not 
like this tax collector. Thank you, God, that I give. 
Thank you, God, that I do. Thank you, God, that I'm this. 
It's wicked. This is the opposite of being 
poor in spirit. What's the response of the next 
man? The tax collector couldn't even look up into heaven. He 
beats his breast and he says, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Who's poor in spirit in this 
chapter? Who is poor in spirit in this parable? Now, make no 
mistake about it. The tax collector would have 
money. The tax collector had a nice hefty bank account. The 
tax collector, when he collected from others, made sure that he 
was not lacking or wanting. Remember when God or Jesus saves 
Zacchaeus, what does he say? I'm going to pay back. How could 
he do that? Because he was sitting on loot. 
The issue is not, do you have money in your wallet or not? 
The issue is, are you spiritually bankrupt? Has God shown you what 
you are by nature? Has God shown you what you deserve 
by nature? This man comes before the Lord 
God most high, standing afar off, would not so much as raise 
his eyes to heaven, but he beats his breast, saying, God be merciful 
to me. And it's literally the sinner, 
not just among many. That's a legitimate prayer at 
times. Isaiah said, well, as me, I'm a man of unclean lips 
and I live among the people of unclean lips. But when this man 
is ushered into the presence of God and the grace of God has 
humbled him and impoverished his spirit, he sees him in relation 
to God alone. David does this in Psalm 51. 
He says against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this 
evil in your sight. You see, grace has a way of causing 
you not to begin to think about what about this guy? What about 
this guy? What about this guy? It's what about me in the presence 
of the living and the true God? God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Jesus says, I tell you, this 
man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone 
who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will 
be exalted. You can turn back in your Bibles 
to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61, which I think is the 
background for several of these the attitude. These first three 
specifically in Isaiah 61 at verse one, we read the spirit 
of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach 
good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken 
hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening 
of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the acceptable 
year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of of our God, to 
comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give 
them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment 
of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees 
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. 
Isaiah 57, verse 15, for thus says the high and lofty One who 
inhabits eternity. That ought never to surprise 
us, brethren, when God is described in such majestic and lofty terminology. Isaiah 57, verse 15, for thus 
says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name 
is holy. That's theology proper. That's 
the doctrine of God. That is good stuff for you and 
I to consider. What ought to amaze us and blow 
our minds is what the prophet goes on to say in verse 15. I 
dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and 
humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the 
heart of the contrite ones. You see what gets at the heart 
of this matter of being poor in spirit is humility. Pharisee 
prayed thus with himself. Thank you, God, that I'm such 
a choice specimen. It's amazing. Now, some of you 
guys might have got away with that with your girl. Yeah, honey, 
I'm a really great guy. Look at this tricep. Look at 
my accomplishment. Look at how I work, honey. I'm 
all that. You ladies in gaining the favor 
of your man. Yeah, well, I cook like no other. 
I'm the sweetest thing you'll ever meet. You see, it might 
work on the horizontal plane to a certain degree. But for 
a sinner who has broken God's law continuously to stand before 
the higher lofty One and congratulate himself is an affront. It is 
vile. It is wretched. God humbles. God makes love. God prepares 
the heart. The prophet in Isaiah 66 verse 
1 says, Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne and earth is my 
footstool. Where is the house that you will 
build me? And where is the place of my 
rest? You boast of your temple in Jerusalem. You boast of your 
sacrificial system. You boast of your accomplishments. 
You boast of what you have engaged in. God says heaven is my throne. The earth is my footstool. How 
are you going to impress me? What can you possibly bring to 
God to cause him to go? Wow, that's amazing. He says, all those things my 
hand is made and all those things exist, says the Lord. But on 
this one will I look on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit 
and who trembles at my word. You see that humility and a trembling 
before the word of God goes hand in hand. It always tells someone 
who's proud in their response to the written word of the living 
God. The poor in spirit treasure it. 
The poor in spirit tremble at it. The poor in spirit listen 
to the voice of God as it crushes the cedars of Lebanon. The poor 
in spirit respond to the voice of God. Turn over to Revelation 
chapter three. Another illustration of what 
it means to be poor in spirit. Revelation chapter three. Again, 
just trying to highlight, just trying to illustrate, just trying 
to demonstrate and show what it means to be poor in spirit. 
The message this morning isn't, go cash out. You'll get rid of 
all your money. Now, you may be a covetous idolater, 
and that would be a good remedy for you, but not based on this 
text. Jesus is describing something 
that happens by God's grace. It was grace that taught me spiritual 
poverty. It was grace that laid me low. 
It was grace that showed me a sovereign God and my offenses before Him. It is spiritual bankruptcy of 
precisely what the church in Laodicea did not have. Notice 
in Revelation 3.14, and to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, 
write, These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, 
the beginning of the creation of God. I know your works, that 
you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or 
hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor 
hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Sometimes people read 
that and go, ooh, that's icky. Jesus vomits things out of his 
mouth. The Old Testament's in the background. It was God's 
word to Israel. If you live like the Canaanites, 
the land will vomit you out like it did with the Canaanites. Jesus 
is covenant Lord. Jesus is head and king of the 
church. Jesus says that if you carry on in your religiosity, 
you carry on in your pride and in your arrogance, you carry 
on corporately as a place that has ceased to preach and uphold 
the truth of God's Word and seek by His grace to put it into practice. Jesus says, I will vomit you 
out of my mouth. Notice verse 17, because you 
say, I am rich, have become wealthy and have need of nothing. I mean, 
you can hear them corporately in their prayer meeting. Okay, 
you brother over here, I want you to pray and thank God that 
we're all rich. Okay, I'll pray for that. Okay, you brother so-and-so, 
I want you to pray to God and thank Him that we've become wealthy. 
All right, I can pray for that. You can hear it now, can't you? 
You shimmy up the stairs to their prayer meeting and you hear a 
bunch of self-righteous people. You hear a bunch of self-congratulations 
going on. You hear that the pat on the 
back. You see what Jesus is saying 
for you corporately to gather together and rejoice in what 
you've accomplished is an offense to the sovereign God of the scripture. For you to be arrogant in the 
midst of God's people, for you to be proud, for you to be self-satisfied, 
for you to be self-dependent. For you to be independent of 
the living and true God is an affront to his holiness. Notice, 
he goes on to say, you become wealthy and have need of nothing. 
Notice what Jesus indictment is. And you do not know that 
you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. You see, blessed are the poor 
in spirit. They recognize it. Everybody else is. No one has 
anything to offer to God. If you're here this morning and 
the grace of God is not operative in your life, do not think for 
a moment that you're rich. Don't think for a moment that 
you're OK. I'm OK. Don't think for a moment that 
you can satisfy God's holy requirements. The Laodiceans were poor, but 
they didn't have eyes to see it. They lacked discernment. For all of their wisdom and all 
of their boasting and all of their haughtiness, Jesus says, 
you don't know this about your condition. You say I'm rich, 
have become wealthy, I have need of nothing. You don't know that 
you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. What a 
horrible state. What a horrible position. People 
make fun of Christians or, you know, moguls like Ted Turner. 
Oh, it's for the weak people. Or, you know, the philosopher, 
the Marxist who said that religion is opium for the masses. You 
know, these people who have come to Christ realize certain truths 
about who God is and who they are in relationship to him. You're not going to merit any 
favor with God by denying cardinal truth. If I robbed you at gunpoint, 
And you said, well, I don't believe in the existence of guns. Does 
that change the reality? People say, well, I don't believe 
in the existence of God. Oh, really? OK, well, then you're 
off the hook. You're an island unto yourself. You're autonomous. You have stepped out of God's 
universe. No harm, no foul. He's not going to get you. He's 
not going to send you to hell. He's not going to require it 
from you. That is crazy nonsense. You see, the Christian, by God's 
grace, has had the blinders ripped from his eyes. And he sees that 
he's poor. He sees that he's wretched. He 
sees that he's miserable. He sees that he's weak. He sees 
that he deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life 
and that which is to come. And by God's grace, he sees Jesus 
as the strong tower and refuge to whom alone he can fly. The 
rest of you who do not see these things doesn't change reality. 
Doesn't change what is. Go back for just a moment to 
Revelation 2. This is an interesting juxtaposition, if you will. The 
church in Smyrna. And to the angel of the church 
in Smyrna, write verse 8. These things says the first and 
the last who is dead and came to life. I know your works, tribulation 
and poverty, but you are rich. So beautiful. They were materially 
or economically poor. Probably Jewish persecution rendered 
many of them unable to provide the basic necessities of their 
physical life. That's why I think there's a 
reference to this synagogue of Satan. Unbelieving Jews and Romans 
were persecuting the Christian church. Jesus says to this church 
in Smyrna, there's no condemnation for this church whatsoever. You're 
poor. You've got little. You've got 
pockets that, you know, when you do like that, there's nothing 
there. But you're rich. What does he mean by that? You're 
sitting on a pile of loot. Smyrna's rich with natural resources. Wait till you learn you can cash 
in on these. You're spiritually rich. You 
may not have a lot in the bank account, but you have a lot in 
the account of God. It's grace, spiritual poverty, 
spiritual impoverishment means in the language of Martin Lloyd 
Jones, a complete absence of pride, a complete absence of 
self-assurance and of self-reliance. It means a consciousness that 
we are nothing in the presence of God. You say, well, that's 
going overboard. No, it isn't. Blessed are the 
poor in spirit when God's grace is moved in your heart and your 
life. What has been the natural response? Well, I'm not that 
bad after all. No, it's how in the world is 
God not dealt with me because of my sin? Oh, what an amazing 
grace that is displayed in God, and that he hasn't dealt with 
me according to my sins. That's the response. That's what 
led Lloyd-Jones to say further. He says that if one feels anything 
in the presence of God, save an utter, utter poverty of soul, 
it ultimately means you've never faced him. That's what it means. You say, Preacher, I know nothing 
of the spiritual poverty you're talking about. I think I'm pretty 
good. I think I'm OK. You know, Jesus is going to look 
at my peer group, and he's going to see this guy. He's really 
bad. He never comes home on time. There's a constant drain to his 
parents. He's a rebel. You know, certainly 
among this peer group, I stand out. Right? That's not poverty of spirit. 
Poverty of spirit doesn't even look up into heaven. It beats 
its breast, and it says, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Lloyd-Jones says, if one feels 
anything in the presence of God save an utter poverty of spirit, 
it ultimately means you have never faced Him. That is the 
meaning of this beatitude. Do not seek to get away from 
that. Do not say, oh, that was Lloyd-Jones. He was a little 
bit of a Puritan. He was a little bit of a hard, 
hard guy. He went a little bit beyond what 
the Scripture says. No, Jesus here is describing 
those who have been affected by the grace of God and poverty 
of spirit, humility before God. I think this verse indicts us 
all. We are a proud people. May not be reigning sin. There's 
enough remaining pride in all of our hearts that manifests 
itself in selfishness, ambition, not a godly way. Like I want 
to work hard and excel so that God is pleased. That's not what 
I'm talking about. I'm talking about the pride that 
sees no further than our own noses or needs. sees no further 
than our own bellybutton, navel-gazers. All we think about is the world 
in relation to me. Blessed are the poor in spirit, 
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The poor in spirit will 
renounce this world. The poor in spirit will renounce 
independence. The poor in spirit will renounce 
all that this world has to offer. What do they get in return? Because 
God is gracious. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If we would build high, Ryle 
says we must begin low. Humility is that chief grace. Humility is that chief display, 
that chief trait. Go through the epistles sometime. 
Tonight, God willing, we'll see it in the fruits of the spirit. 
You cannot escape this conclusion. Proud people are an offense to 
God. Again, look at the Laodiceans. 
You came into their church on Sunday. Everything looked cool. 
Everything looked right. Everything looked appropriate. 
They probably had the music. They probably had the this. They 
probably had the that. I'm not sure they had the music. They 
had everything in place. You can hear them at the back 
of the foyer. Somebody came in. Yeah, welcome to the church of 
Laodicea. We got a lot of money here. We're doing all right. 
We've got a building program. We're going to have an index. 
God's prospering us. Come to our prayer meeting. You 
hear people saying, thank you, God, for our wealth. Thank you, 
God, for our riches. Thank you, God, for what you've 
given us. Thank you, God, for what we are. You go to that church 
in Smyrna, you go to their prayer meeting, they're saying, God, 
be merciful to us, the sinner. God, protect us. God, help us. 
God, watch over us. God, we're being squeezed by 
this world system. We are being persecuted. It's 
like we have nothing. Jesus says, I know you're poverty, 
but you're rich. Pride is an offense to our high 
and holy God. He inhabits eternity, he says, 
but this one he looks upon. To him who is lowly and of a 
contrite spirit. Is this a description of your 
heart and mind? Is this a descriptor that you can say, you know, it's 
not what it ought to be. It's not what it's going to be. 
By God's grace, it's not what it once was. Blessed, he says, are the poor 
in spirit. Let's look at this next one. 
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comfortable. 
Again, as we looked at Isaiah 61, I hope that you'll see that 
that's the backdrop for what we have here in the first three 
Beatitudes. Mourning here doesn't mean you're 
a crybaby. Some people cry because they 
spill milk. Some people cry because they 
get let down on a daily basis. Some people cry because their 
team loses. Just wait a couple of weeks and 
visit downtown Vancouver or Boston and see if someone's actually 
crying because their team lost. Certainly, Jesus doesn't mean 
them, does he? Blessed are those who mourn when 
their sporting team fails. No. Mourning in and of itself 
is not a virtue. Let's let the context, let's 
let grace describe, let's let Isaiah 61 fill in the blanks. I think the mourning in view 
here is connected to sin. The morning that's in view here 
is when one again sees him or herself before the holy God. See something of the holiness 
of the Lord. See something of his inflexing 
or unflexing righteousness and purity and dignity. And then 
we see ourselves. What's the biblical response? 
Impoverishment of spirit and a holy morning. The Bible envisages 
proper mourning over the death of a loved one, over a desire 
to see the best of people, both spiritually and physically. But 
again, spiritually speaking, brethren, I think what Jesus 
is getting at here is that those who, by God's grace, have come 
to recognize themselves before him. The answer is not. It's 
not that bad after all. I'm OK. Now, it's more like what we see 
in Isaiah the prophet. Woe is me, for I am undone. There's a preacher in Southern 
California. He said several years ago that 
he was shaving and Jesus appeared to him. He's shaving. He's looking 
in the mirror and Jesus appears to him. And so this pastor starts 
talking with him. Pastor John MacArthur said, you 
mean when you saw Jesus, you didn't fall down as a dead man? 
You could continue shaving in the presence of the thrice holy 
Christ. Trace through the scriptures, 
brethren, and see what happens. Trace through the scriptures 
whenever a man is given a view of the glory of God. What happens 
when Moses wants to see God's glory? God says you can't handle 
it, Moses. I'm going to carve out this niche 
in the rock, I'm going to hide you in there, and I'm going to 
pass by you, and I'll give you a look at my hind parts. You can see me pass by. Isaiah, 
I've already mentioned. Ezekiel. What happens when Ezekiel 
sees the glory of God? I fell as a dead man. What happens 
when John sees the glorified Christ, when he's on the island 
of Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, 
he sees Jesus. And what happens? He fell to 
his feet or he fell at his feet like a dead man. See, the response 
is grace does not teach us to laugh and be giddy. I'm not saying 
there's no place for joy in the Christian life, the Bible commands 
it, God takes it seriously. But in this whole issue of holy 
mourning before God. We have sinned against Him. We 
have violated His law. We have rejected Him. We have 
rebelled against Him. We have eaten His food. We have 
drank His water. We have lived on His benefits. 
We have done all this. Grace comes and it humbles us. 
Grace comes and it produces something of a holy morning. The preacher 
Solomon said this with reference to morning. He says it's better 
to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. 
That's countercultural, isn't it? What if instead of a fellowship 
lunch today, we're going to have a time where we got on our faces 
before God and cried. You know, I got to get home. 
I got to let that dog out. I got to get that nap. It's a 
Sabbath day. You always talk about Sabbath, 
rest. I had my rest. We think it's better to go to 
the house of feasting than to the house of mourning, don't 
we? I mean, kids, just think for a moment. Would you rather 
come over to my house and have a great big cake? And ice cream? Cookies? Joy? Happiness? Or come 
over to my house so we can get on our faces and cry before God 
because we have not kept His word? That's kind of weird, isn't it? 
Well, this is what Solomon says. He says it's better to go to 
the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for that 
is the end of all men and the living will take it to heart. 
I think I read it in a Spurgeon sermon somewhere. He referred 
to an ancient tradition of the Egyptians. Whenever they would 
have a feast, they'd have a court sitting at the table with them. 
He said, that's an awkward ritual, isn't it? Come on and sit there. You get the place cards and you 
want to make sure you're far from that departed person was 
to keep this fact before their eyes. Life is more than feasting. Life is more than birth. Life 
is more than fun, more than games. There is an eternity to gain. There is a heaven to win by God's 
grace or a hell to suffer by your sin. Solomon says it's better 
to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting, for 
that is the end of all men, and the living will take it to heart. 
Sorrow, he says, is better than laughter. Doesn't Jesus sound 
like Solomon here in the Sermon on the Mount? He says, for by 
a sad countenance the heart is made better. He says the heart 
of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools 
is in the house of mirth. If all you ever want to do is 
mirth, fun, joy, pleasure, happiness, this, that and the other, let 
me just tell you something. This is life. There's brokenness, 
there's hurt, there's pain, there's trouble, there's agony, there's 
sorrow. One man, poet, said this, I walked a mile with pleasure. 
She chattered all the way, but left me none the wiser for all 
she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow and 
narrow words, said she, but all the things I learned from her 
when sorrow walked with me. We want to build high, we need 
to begin low. We're a sinful lot. Blessed are 
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed 
are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The Christian 
is one who is conscious not only of a holy God and a wonderful 
Savior, but the sin that necessitated the blood of the Redeemer King 
to wash them and cleanse them and fit them for presence in 
his sight. Psalm 38. Psalm 38 illustrates 
what it means to be a mourner. Again, children, let's just see 
what Jesus means here. By blessed are they who mourn 
those who cry, those who weep, those who feel the pinch of their 
own sinfulness before the Holy God. David says, Oh Lord, do 
not rebuke me in your wrath, nor chasten me in your hot displeasure. For your arrows pierce me deeply, 
and your hand presses me down. There is no soundness in my flesh 
because of your anger, nor any health in my bones because of 
my sin. For my iniquities have gone over 
my head like a heavy burden. They are too heavy for me." I've 
often wondered if that's where Bunyan got the picture for Christian. 
Bunyan has that Christian walking to that narrow gate with that 
big burden on his back. He's got that big weight of sin 
on his back. The Banner of Truth edition, 
there's sketches or pictures given of the various scenes pictured 
in that book. And when we see Christian kneeling 
at the cross, that burden snapped, or the straps have been snapped, 
and you see it falling off in the background. This is what 
David is saying here. My iniquities have gone over 
my head. You see, only a Christian admits 
something like that. It's grace that teaches us that. 
Man by nature wants to try and argue that he's pretty good, 
that he deserves, you know, a place in heaven, that he's done OK 
for himself, that he's not as bad as other men. He's not like 
dirty, rotten tax collectors. That's the response of the natural 
man. A man by grace says my iniquities have gone over my head like a 
heavy burden. They are too heavy for me. My 
wounds are foul and festering because of what? Everybody's 
against me. The parents are mean. My society 
is bad. I've been victimized because 
of my foolishness. I learned all too well, the way 
of the transgressor is hard. My foolishness has produced this 
in me. I am troubled. I am bowed down 
greatly. I go what? Mourning all the day 
long. You say, well, preacher, this 
sounds pretty morose, man. You got all you Christians walking 
around crying all the time. How's Jesus described in the 
prophet? He's a man of joy who went about singing zippity doodah 
and calling the masses to himself. It's a man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief. What do we see him do at Lazarus's 
gravesite? Jesus wept. Why? He didn't know he had the power 
that in a few moments he was going to call this man forth 
from the grave and raise him from the dead. Jesus wept because 
he's in a world punctuated by sin, suffering, death, and sorrow. That's a biblical response. Not change the channel, not pretend 
that it's just going to go away. Something like the psalmist would 
fit us all quite well. Rivers of waters run down from 
my eyes. Why? Because men don't keep your 
law. Does that cause you to cry? Does that cause you to weep? 
You see these murder trials going on? We all love a good court 
case. Have we thought for a moment that little children were victimized 
and had their lives snuffed out by some wretched person? You see, mourning is something 
the church has forgotten about. Something we don't think is that 
good anymore. We're beyond that now. Jesus, 
you are a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. All we 
like to our people, all we want to do is laugh. We just want 
to have a good time. In fact, instead of the angels 
crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth 
is full of his glory. If those angels knew us and knew 
what we wanted, they'd be up there saying the Lord is nice 
and nice and nice. He's just there to serve us. 
He's just there to perform for us. He's just there to do for 
us. Where is this kind of anguish over our sins? Romans 7, verse 
24, you say, well, it doesn't say Paul is crying there. Oh, 
yes, he is. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this 
body of death? What did his sin produce? What 
did remaining corruption cause in the Apostle Paul? Did he say, 
well, you know, that's the way it goes. You win some, you lose 
some. No, the good I want to do, I don't do. The evil I don't 
want to do, I find myself doing. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who 
will deliver me from this body of death? James's instructions 
to the church is very appropriate. James chapter four. He says in 
verse seven, therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and 
he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will 
draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, 
and purify your hearts, you double minded. Some commentators, Bible 
teachers say, well, you can't be talking to the church here. 
I mean, they've been cleansed, right? They're not sinners anymore. They're saints. I think James 
is bringing heat to bear upon his audience because they have 
professed faith and they are not living consistent with that 
profession. Notice what it goes on to say, 
lament and mourn and weep. We don't like that. Do we? I mean, face it, right? Come 
to that church. They're going to have a session 
of lamenting, mourning, and weeping. Why would I want that? That just 
doesn't sound fun. I want to do a holy jig. I want 
to see the puppeteers. I want clowns serving me the 
Lord's Supper. I'm not making that up. There's 
churches that have clown service or clown, clown ministry, Lord's 
Supper. I'm of the mindset those two 
words shouldn't be in the same sentence together. Clowns and 
Lord's Supper, they just shouldn't be in the same sentence. let 
alone in the same service, let alone in the same activity. But 
see, that fits Canada. It fits America. We like our 
religion happy. We like our religion peppy. We 
like our religion therapeutic. We like our religion moralistic. 
We like our religion to produce good results. What's James say? Lament, mourn, and weep. Maybe 
it's high time the church take this part seriously. Let your 
laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Now notice 
how he connects holy mourning with poverty of spirit. Humble 
yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. James, arguably more than any 
of the New Testament writers, sounds so much like the Sermon 
on the Mount. James is writing, I believe, 
with a mindful of the Sermon on the Mount in his head. And 
I think he's referring here to those Beatitudes that speak of 
an impoverished spirit and the reality of a holy morning. Thomas 
Watson says this, but some may say my constitution is such that 
I cannot weep. I met a guy like this once. He 
said, oh, I just don't cry. Let me punch you in the face 
and see if I'm kidding. I'm just making sure everybody's 
awake. I wouldn't do that. The holy 
punch. I just can't cry. I can witness horrible things. I can witness morose, terrible 
things, and for whatever reason, I just can't cry. Well, Watson 
answers. Somebody say my constitution 
is such that I cannot weep. I may as well go to squeeze a 
rock and stink to get a tear. I answer, but if you cannot weep 
for sin, can you not grieve? The eye may be dry, but the heart 
can certainly grieve. He says, intellectual mourning 
is best. There may be sorrow where there 
are no tears. The vessel may be full, though 
it wants vent. It is not so much the weeping 
eye God respects, get this, as the broken heart. Jesus isn't 
saying that if you have a constitution that is set up in such a way 
that if you see a gift of God walking across the street and 
you shed a tear, God is going to comfort you. That's not what 
he's talking about. He's talking about a broken spirit, 
a broken heart that issues forth inconsistency with such a disposition. The promise attached to this 
beatitude is beautiful. They shall be comforted. They 
shall be comforted by the Father, by the Son, by the Holy Spirit. 
They shall be comforted by the Scripture. They shall be comforted 
as they gaze at Calvary. They shall be comforted when 
they realize their sinfulness before a holy God. They'll be 
comforted in the Apostles' Declaration. There is therefore now no condemnation 
for those who are in Christ Jesus. They'll be comforted by the doctrine 
of justification. They'll be comforted by the doctrine 
of sanctification. They'll be comforted by the doctrine 
of the indwelling Spirit. They'll be comforted as they 
seek the Scriptures, as they learn the truth, as they understand 
that God is for them. There is present comfort now 
for holy mourners, but never lose sight of that eschatological 
or that not yet comfort that is coming for holy mourners. 
The Apostle John describes this beautifully in Revelation 21. 
He speaks of the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from 
God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. It says, And 
I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle 
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall 
be his people. What a beautiful realization of all the covenant 
promises of God. God himself will be with them 
and be their God. And what happens at this point? 
It says, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall 
be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no 
more pain, for the former things have passed away. No more rivers 
of waters running down from our eyes, because men don't keep 
your law. In the New Jerusalem, God so orchestrates our will 
that we only do that which is pleasing. Men boast of free will. In the Eschaton, it's the absence 
of free will that's the blessing. God so moves us and so works 
in us and so fashions us that we'll only ever please him. No more tears. No more sorrow. 
No more grieving. No more pain, no more, because 
they'll be comforted. We'll take up the last two or 
the next two, God willing, next time. I just want to close with 
a few thoughts before we go and eat. Actually, we're going to cancel 
lunch today and go and lament and mourn and weep. Wait a minute, 
preacher, you didn't say that. Yesterday, I was running on the 
treadmill. And there was a guru or a guy speaking about gurus 
on the box. And this guy was talking about 
self-realization. That's big in Eastern religion. 
Self-realization. One dictionary defines self-realization 
this way, fulfillment by oneself of the possibilities of one's 
character or personality. You see, the gurus and the Eastern 
mystics and some of the world religions teach that the true 
path to happiness is self-realization. Christianity teaches a version 
of that. Let me just make sure I qualify 
this quickly. God shows us our self. God shows us our sin. God shows us there's no fulfillment 
in my path of realization. God shows us our brokenness. 
God shows us our spirit. God shows us our sin. God shows 
us what we are in relationship to him. And then what happens? By his grace, we renounce self. 
Self-realization in those schemes will bring hell and suffering 
and torment and damnation. When God graciously shows us 
ourselves in relationship to Him, when God shows us our need, 
when God sets before us Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior, 
that's when realization happens. It's grace that we need. The Beatitudes show us that the 
man who, by God's grace, has realized what he is before God 
stands in complete and utter dependence upon God's grace for 
any blessing whatsoever. Kids, listen, all little ones, 
I know it's about time to go and lament and mourn and weep, 
so I want you to listen. Is Jesus saying that if you cry, 
you're going to go to heaven? No, Jesus is saying that what 
you think about God, what you think about sin and what you 
think about Jesus makes all the difference. See, it's grace that 
shows you your need. It's grace that produces tears. It's grace that shows you Christ's 
sufficiency. That's what Jesus is teaching. 
Blessed are you, he says, when these things are true of you, 
not because you've earned it, not because you've achieved it, 
not because you went upstairs and lamented and mourned and 
weep, but because my father, who is in heaven, has shown you 
these things and has revealed unto you my saving ability. It's grace that we desperately 
need. So don't take this passage and 
leave today and say, well, I need to work on being poor in spirit 
so that I'm blessed. No, you need to believe on the 
Lord Jesus. You need to look and live. You 
need to look to the gospel. You need to come to the one alone 
who can save you from your sins. You need to listen to what the 
scripture says, that God is a holy God. You're a sinner and that 
you need Jesus and not just children, anybody. Maybe like those Laodiceans 
this morning, thinking everything's OK with you. Living like that 
Pharisee, living large, thinking that you're not like other men. 
You're not unjust. You're not an adulterer. You're 
not a dirty reprobate. You're, after all, you. You need 
the gospel. You need grace. You need mercy. 
You need the forgiveness of sins that comes alone through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. It is the Christian who, by God's 
grace, has something of this in his life that, by the grace 
of God, needs to develop it. needs to develop humility. How 
do we develop humility? Well, one thing is we can quit 
being so stinking proud. Just stop being so proud. Stop being so self-absorbed, 
so self-ish. I mean, oftentimes I think that 
we're all only oriented to ourselves. You might be saying, oh, that's 
your problem, creature. It is my problem. Blessed are the poor 
in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. 
Blessed are those who live in light of God's grace, and they 
pursue those things that God calls choice. If all the world 
says that it's good never to cry, but God says there's comfort 
associated with it, we should cry. We should seek to be what 
the Lord has prescribed here. You've got to ask yourself, do 
these things describe you? Are you poor in spirit? Do you 
or have you mourned over sin? Everybody's a Christian today, 
aren't they? Seriously, go downtown sometime 
and ask people, what's your religion? I'm Christian. Really? If everybody's 
a Christian, why are the abortion levels so high? Why are the divorce 
rates so high? Why is drug abuse so high? Why 
is there such crime in our nation if everybody's a Christian? Somebody 
somewhere might not be telling the truth. I know that may be 
a shock. Might be hard to swallow, and 
it might not just be out there. All those dirty, wretched, false 
professors. Are you poor in spirit? Have 
you ever mourned over sin? You know what it is to be meek? 
Meekness doesn't mean doormat. It means willing to yield to 
others. It means how you relate to others. You know what these things are? 
You know what it is to hunger and thirst for righteousness? 
I've always found it beautiful that Jesus used that metaphor 
in pursuit of righteousness. Can you go a day without food? 
A day without water? You actually can. I think you get three days without 
water. You can go a lot longer without 
food. But what happens? The stomach 
starts to say, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry. I was somewhere 
recently and the man that was standing next to me, his stomach 
growled like so loud. It was one of those awkward situations 
and he broke the silence. He said, whoa, wow, you know, 
that's what happens. Isn't that an apt metaphor for 
the Christian? Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? 
Is it something that punctuates your life? Is it something that 
you're about? Can you take it or leave it? 
No. Jesus uses a metaphor that's 
powerful. Something we can all sink our 
teeth into, no pun intended. Something that we can relate 
vividly to. Your hunger and thirst for righteousness. Do these beatitudes describe 
you? Have you come? Do you know? Is Jesus Lord and Savior in your 
life? If not, believe. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your 
word. We thank you for these descriptions of what kingdom 
living looks like. We just pray, Father, that you 
would forgive us as Christians for our wretched pride and our 
arrogance and our self-dependence and our attitudes at times, that 
we don't need you or that we don't need your grace or the 
things that you've prescribed for our good. We pray, Father, 
that you would cause us to reflect upon these things that Jesus 
speaks here, cause us to reflect in the context of the rest of 
the Bible, to look at the prophet Isaiah, to look at the book of 
Revelation, to reflect upon those two men who went to the temple 
to pray. And Father, for any and all who do not know you, 
we pray that you'd open their hearts today. We pray that you'd 
cause them to see the glory of Jesus, the one who exemplifies 
these things perfectly, the one who was a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief. the one who always hungered and 
thirsted for righteousness, and the one who died and rose again 
for sinners. We pray, Father, that all over 
the world today as this gospel is preached, and I would pray 
very specifically even for our time here this morning in this 
place, that you would save to the uttermost those who draw 
nigh unto you through Jesus Christ the Lord. And it's in his blessed 
name that we pray. Amen.