Poverty of Spirit Part 1: What It Is/Is Not

Review of Beatitudes Principles and Introduction to the First Beatitude

0:02 We resume our studies this morning in this portion of the Sermon on the Mount, which we have commonly called the Beatitudes, these eight blessings uttered by the Lord Jesus as the very foundation of all that he would say in the subsequent part of this Sermon on the Mount. Last week we tried to lay hold of four or five basic principles which run throughout the warp and whoop of these Beatitudes, and we did so for the simple reason that we did not want to start with particulars until we laid hold of some guidelines that would act just as that, as guidelines for us as we continued our study in the Beatitudes. And so we considered last week the fact that the Beatitudes are, first of all, an authoritative declaration of what true believers are, and what their blessedness is. Secondly, we discovered the fact that they are a description of the character of a true Christian. They are dealing with what a man is, not primarily with what a man does.

1:18 Then we saw that they are a revelation of the fact that God's basic concern is with a man's inner character and the attitudes of his heart.

1:28 And then we saw that they are a description not of anything natural, but all of these things, our Lord Jesus describes as the prerequisites and characteristics of true blessedness, are things that God, by His own infinite grace, works in us by the Holy Spirit. And then last of all, we considered the fact that these are a clear description of the essential difference between the Christian and the man outside of Christ. There are many what we would call peripheral or outside or incidental differences between the Christian and the man, who is outside of Christ. But the Beatitudes describe the essential difference.

2:11 You remember what the unregenerate man admires or considers a virtue? Entirely opposite from what the Lord Jesus describes as virtue. What the unregenerate man considers as worthy of his pursuit? Entirely different from what the saved man considers as worthy of pursuit.

2:29 And in the area of rewards, a tremendous essential difference between the Christian and the man. And the man outside of Christ. Now we come this morning to begin a detailed study of the Beatitudes. And we want to begin with the first one.

2:47 Verse 3 of chapter 5 of the Gospel of Matthew.

2:53 Blessed or perfectly happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

3:05 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs, and the emphasis when our Lord spoke was upon the word theirs, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What was he telling us? He was saying, without any attempt to explain what he meant, he was saying that the kingdom of heaven is the exclusive possession of men and women who are poor in spirit.

3:35 Now let me repeat that. The kingdom of heaven is the exclusive, exclusive possession of men and women who are poor in spirit. Perfectly happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs, and only theirs, is the kingdom of heaven.

3:53 No one is in the kingdom of heaven who is not poor in spirit. Everyone who is poor in spirit in the way that our Lord Jesus meant it is in the kingdom of heaven. What about this matter of the kingdom of heaven? I believe it will be wise here because we'll be referring to it again and again throughout our study.

Defining the Kingdom of Heaven

4:13 in this Sermon on the Mount to try to lay hold of a basic understanding of what the kingdom of heaven is. Now some would say, and if you have a well-known Bible with notes in it, you'll find this distinction made, that there is a distinction between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. And in some places there may be, but in most cases these two terms, the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God, are used interchangeably. I want you to see a passage where the Lord Jesus used them, almost in the same breath, in an interchangeable way.

4:46 Matthew chapter 19.

4:50 Notice what we read. In dealing with the rich young ruler, our Lord Jesus has concluded his dealings with him, and then he's talking to the disciples, and he says in Matthew 19, verses 23 and 24, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of what? God.

5:24 Now it's obvious he's using the two things interchangeably. He says a rich man can hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. Why, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. There's no distinction here.

5:35 He's using the terms interchangeably when he's dealing with the same subject. Then we find that these passages, where you find parallel passages in the Gospel of Matthew and Lenten, and you line them up with the same account in the other Gospels, you find the same phrases used interchangeably. In fact, this very quote that we have before us this morning, Blessed are the poor in spirit, you have essentially the same thing in Luke chapter 6 and verse 20, and Jesus said there, Blessed are ye poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Here he says kingdom of heaven, there he says kingdom of God.

6:10 One other thing that I trust will be sufficient to clarify this, in Matthew chapter 13, speaking here of the parables of the Lord Jesus, we read in verse 11, Matthew 13, 11. He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Now notice the phrasing. It is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

6:36 Now we turn to Mark chapter 4 and verse 11, and we read this. And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Now we turn to Mark chapter 4 and verse 11, God. And again, Mark 4 is dealing with the parables of the Lord Jesus, the exact same setting. Matthew says, Kingdom of Heaven. Mark says, Kingdom of God. So because they are used interchangeably, because the Lord Jesus in the same sentence used one or the other, because they're used in parallel passages, we must establish the fact at the very outset that there is no hard line of distinction between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord Jesus was speaking to Jewish people in Matthew. At least Mark was recording for the sake of the Jews, I should say. And it was the constant tendency of the Jews to think of the Kingdom of God in a material sense. And so the fact that the Lord Jesus

7:34 used the term the Kingdom of Heaven, he was reminding them that his Kingdom was basically not an earthly thing, but a spiritual, a heavenly, an eternal thing. And then another reason why we have the Kingdom of Heaven. The reason why we have the Kingdom of Heaven mentioned so much in Matthew is that the Jews were reluctant to use the name of God. The name was so sacred to them, they fell into an almost superstitious habit of being reluctant to use that name. So Matthew, rather than cause unnecessary offense to the Jews, simply used the term Kingdom of Heaven. Now I've said all of this because I believe it's necessary to clear away any confusion so that in the future, when we cross this phrase in the study of the Sermon on the Mount, the Kingdom of Heaven, we will be able to use the term Kingdom of Heaven. We'll know that we're speaking of the Kingdom of God. Now, what is this Kingdom? Say, Pastor,

8:23 you still haven't answered the question. What is the Kingdom? One writer has defined it, and this has been most helpful to me, and I will share it with you this morning. The Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, is Christ's rule, or the sphere and realm in which he reigns. The Kingdom of Heaven is Christ's rule, or the sphere and realm in which he reigns. And there are three aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven. There is the past aspect, illustrated in the ministry of the Lord Jesus. We find in Matthew chapter 12 the record of how the Lord Jesus was casting out demons, and then he entered into a controversy with the religious leaders of his day, and he said this. He said,

9:10 If I, by the finger of God, cast out demons, then is the Kingdom of God come unto me. The Kingdom of God, in this sense, was that place where the Lord Jesus was exercising his authority and his power. He said in another place, The Kingdom of God is among you. Wherever the Lord Jesus went, anointed with the Spirit of God, performing the miraculous, at that place and in that situation, the Kingdom of God had come. The reign and power of the Lord Jesus was being manifested. Now, there's a second aspect in which the Kingdom of God is used, and that refers primarily to its present aspect. The Kingdom of God is coming. Wherever and whenever the Lord Jesus sets up his rule and reign in the heart of a man or woman, there the Kingdom of Heaven has come. This is why Paul could say in Colossians

10:14 chapter 1 and verse 13 that we have been taken out of the Kingdom of Darkness and we have been brought into the Kingdom of Heaven. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13.

10:22 Of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is forming a kingdom, and whenever a sinner, out of a sense of his guilt and depravity and his awful rebellion against God, turns in repentance and faith to the Lord Jesus, that person is not only born of the Spirit and indwelt by the very life of God, he is not only brought out of death into life, out of light, out of the darkness, but that the life that they have been given to God is the life that they have been brought into. He is born again, and he is born again, and He is the new King, a new Master, a new Sovereign, The Lord Jesus. He comes under the direction of the Charter of the Kingdom of God, which is the Word of God. And now He is obligated through grace to live in accordance with the rules and precepts and dictates of His King of Grace. And this He is glad to do, and it's no burden to a truly saved man to acknowledge Christ not only as His Son, but as his Father. only as His Savior, but as His Lord and as His King.

11:29 So, wherever a man or woman is truly born of the Spirit, truly saved, there the kingdom of God has come. And then, of course, there is the third aspect of the kingdom of God, its future aspect. That time when the Lord Jesus will take to Himself the reins of government and rule, and we read that wonderful passage in Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and forever. And so here you have the kingdom of God in its three aspects.

12:12 Its past aspect, wherever the Lord Jesus was present performing the miraculous and in power, there the kingdom of God. He was exercising His rule and authority. Wherever and whenever He comes and enters the human heart by His grace and the mighty, mysterious operations of the Spirit, there the kingdom of heaven has come. And there is the future aspect, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ.

12:40 Now, when the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 5, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, He was referring primarily, as He was throughout all of His ministry, to this second aspect of the kingdom of heaven, the rule and reign of Jesus Christ within the human heart. Now, if His rule and reign is in my heart, then the third aspect of the kingdom, the future aspect, is also mine, for we read, we are kings and priests unto God, and we shall live and reign with Him. If we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him. But it's this second aspect, the inner aspect, of the kingdom of God, the rule of Jesus Christ within the human heart.

13:26 And when we read about Paul preaching and teaching the kingdom of God in Acts 20 and Acts 28, we don't have time to look at those chapters. This is what Paul preached. It says he was there in the jail in Acts 28, preaching the kingdom and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus. Does that mean he was telling people primarily and essentially about a coming future reign of Christ?

13:49 No. He was impressing upon them the necessity of repentance and faith that they might enter into the kingdom of God, that they might own Christ as their sovereign and as their Lord. None enter the kingdom of heaven but by the new birth. Jesus made that clear.

14:08 Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. No one is saved outside of that kingdom, and nobody is in that kingdom unless they've experienced a marvelous, marvelous change, the foundation of which is set before us here this morning. Blessed are the cool in spirit. If God in supernatural power has brought you into his kingdom, then the foundational character, or to change the figure, the foundation stone which he has laid in your redeemed nature is this stone of poverty of spirit.

14:47 And if you know nothing of poverty, then the kingdom of heaven is not yours. Jesus Christ has never set up his reign and his rule in your heart and in your life.

What Poverty of Spirit Is Not: Physical Poverty

15:02 Now what is then this all-important matter of poverty of spirit? What did Jesus mean when he said, blessed or perfectly happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven? Well, I find it very helpful in trying to define things, and I've mentioned this, many times to you, and have followed this course. In defining something, it's always good to start with what something is not.

15:29 And by process of elimination, you back yourself into a corner where your choice of what the thing really is is much easier. You can eliminate, it's not this, it's not this, it's not this, then it must be this. Well, that's what we want to do this morning. I don't know how far we'll get.

15:42 We may not even get to what it is, but we're going to start with what it is not. What is it not when the Lord Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit? Well, most obviously, he's not referring, to physical poverty, or material poverty. Now, God's general choice is amongst the poor.

15:59 We've just got to face the facts if we understand our Bibles at all. According to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, not many mighty, not many noble are called. God hath chosen the weak things to confound the mighty, and the things which are not to bring to naught the things that are. James tells us in James 5, 2, hath not God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith?

16:23 And for the most part, God's people have been in what we'd call the lower economic bracket for the simple reason that God wants to move amongst the people through which you'll get the most glory. But, though not many noble are called, God does call some. We read in Acts 17, 4 and Acts 17, 12 that there were certain notable, noble women amongst the Greeks, women of repute who were saved, apparently wealthy, influential women. And we read that they were saved.

16:54 And then we read in 1 Timothy 6, Paul says to Timothy, charge them that are rich in this world not to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but to be rich toward God, rich in good deeds, clearly indicating that in the church there were men and women who were rich. So the Lord Jesus is not referring primarily or even remotely here to the matter of physical poverty. Because physical poverty is simply the result of a providential dealing. I was born, born in a poor home and raised in an area where it was hard perhaps to make a decent living.

17:29 Or it may be the result of sluggishness. Scripture says the sluggard desire can have nothing. Or it may be the result of sin, like the prodigal who came into poverty because of his sin. It's a purely natural thing and we are not reading a description of anything natural.

17:46 Poverty of spirit in the sense that our Lord Jesus describes it is something supernatural, something that is work, by the grace of God. Not by laziness, not by sin, not by a providential dealing. He's dealing with something that is spiritual. Well, if it's not physical or natural poverty, what is it?

What Poverty of Spirit Is Not: Natural Shyness or Diffidence

18:06 Well, let me state secondly, it is not a natural shyness or diffidence. Now that's a good word for you to learn, some of you junior AYFers. And when you get up into high school, why, you can just surprise your teacher when you write the word diffidence. Now that's a good word.

18:22 It's easy to spell, just like it sounds. Two F's. I-D-E-N-C. Some people are naturally shy and diffident.

18:30 They're the kind of people that whenever you meet them and look at them, they kind of shift their eyes and they don't look you straight in the eye and they don't stick their chin out. They're just naturally retiring. And how easy it is. And I've heard people say, oh, so-and-so is such a humble person.

18:45 No, he's just born that way. He's just naturally diffident or shy. It's not a matter of the grace of God. It's just a natural shyness.

18:54 Now the illustration, I said I almost sprung on you in the Sunday school class, but I used my better judgment and held it till now. We've seen this so clearly in the two dogs that we've had in the past year. Now we picked up a little dog, a cross between a terrier and a beagle, mostly terrier. And she was a cute little dog, well-marked and never snipped or nipped at Joel.

19:18 But she was terribly shy. She was the kind of dog, one illustration, one morning she heard the garbage man outside, and she went over in the corner, didn't even see him, went over in the corner of the kitchen, and there she sat and shivered for an hour or two. Terribly shy. Now she didn't have time to be beat.

19:32 We got her as a little puppy. And we treated her, gave her as much affection, more affection than probably a lot of people. Hardly a time we'd pass her. We didn't reach down and try to pet her.

19:41 But to the time we got rid of her and put her up for adoption, she was six months old. She never would come under my hand and even let me pet her. She was so shy. Unbearably, it was almost agony to watch that poor little pup.

19:53 Now why was she that way? She was just born that way. She was just born that way. There was no operation of the grace of God in her.

20:02 She was just born shy. Now the dog we've got now is different. Some of you kitties know that. You go out, I've seen some of you on a Sunday.

20:08 After Sunday school, if our dog lady's been tied out there, and she'll come running up and stretch her little chain as far as it'll go and get up on her paws and lick you and just fall all over you. Why, she's proud as the devil. Is she? No.

20:21 She's just, what? She's just naturally more aggressive. Now, this is purely a matter of genes and hormones. It's not a matter of anything involved here in even training or the grace of God or anything else.

20:35 One was born with a dog nature that was shy. One was born with a dog nature that's more open and bold and forward. Now, what's true in dogs is true in human beings. Some of you were born naturally shy.

20:49 It's always been agony for you to meet new people. You'd rather that the earth would just open itself up and swallow you in, than have to meet new people unintroduced and sort of take the first step. It just kills you to do it. You're naturally shy.

21:03 Others of you, why, you just would walk up to President Kennedy himself, pat him on the back and say, how you doing, Jack? Good to meet you. I mean, that's just the way you're built. That's just the way you're made.

21:16 Not a matter of training primarily. It's just a matter of your natural constitution. Now, when the Lord Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, he was in no way no remote way pronouncing blessing upon people who by nature were shy. This wouldn't be fair.

21:35 What about some of us who weren't born shy? Would it mean that we had to be forever shut out of the kingdom of God? Does it mean that we will have to assume a personality that is not our own? Does it mean we're going to have to squeeze ourselves into a mold of reserve and diffidence where we cast our eyes to the ground and can't look people in the face and stick our eyes and stick our hand out and smile and say we're glad to meet them?

22:00 Of course not. The Lord Jesus never came to cramp and to warp the personality which he made. He came to sanctify it and to purify it and to redeem it but never to destroy it. So some of you who may have been breathing easy when you've begun to read the Beatitudes and say, well, that's me.

22:17 I'm poor of spirit. I'm just so shy. No, no. The Lord Jesus isn't talking about that.

22:22 And there may be others of you who say, well, there's not much hope for me. I'm just not that kind to sit around as a wall. I like people. I like to get out.

22:29 I just can't be poor in spirit. Don't you be troubled in your conscience. It has nothing to do, nothing to do with natural shyness or diffidence or the absence of it. And then thirdly, and now we're getting closer to home, it has absolutely nothing to do with a mere mouthing of the phraseology of humility.

What Poverty of Spirit Is Not: Mere Mouthing of Humility's Phraseology

22:50 See, most of us are familiar enough with the Bible and Christianity to know that humility is a virtue.

22:58 We've got sense enough and body and soul and Bible knowledge enough to know that to strut your stuff and to puff your chest out and to brag and to boast will not meet with too much approval with people who know their Bibles at least a little bit. Pride is looked upon as a vice. Humility is looked upon as a virtue.

23:19 But now here's the problem with us. Once we recognize this, then the terrible temptation is to learn to mouth the phraseology of humility. To take the what a humble heart would say it and make a proud heart talk like a humble heart.

23:39 The Lord Jesus isn't talking about those who merely learn to parrot the phraseology of humility. I've heard people say, oh, listen to that man pray. Isn't he humble? No, he may be proud as the devil.

23:50 He may be praying in that very way to get others to think he's humble.

23:58 I think you and I will be surprised in the day of judgment when there will be people who are renowned for their humility whose pride will be brought out of the murky depths of their hearts and spread before men and angels and stand speechless before the searching eye of him who will say, depart from me, I never knew. We can learn very easily to ape any virtue.

24:29 We can imitate. And we're masters at this by nature.

24:35 And so if you and I have learned to mouth the phraseology of humility, let us not rest content that we know something about poverty obscure.

24:44 It's so easy to want the reputation of humility without paying the price of being truly poor in spirit. Remember Ananias and Sapphira. They wanted the reputation of being sacrificial givers.

24:57 But they didn't want to pay the price. Remember what happened to them?

25:02 Why did they come indicating that they sold everything and were giving everything? They wanted the reputation for being completely sold out and being sacrificial givers. But they held back part of the price. Why?

25:15 They didn't want to pay the price for the reputation they received.

25:21 We may want the reputation of being humble.

25:25 But how few there are who are willing to pay the price of being stripped down until utterly broken before God. Humility is something more than the parroting of well-learned phrases. It's the condition of the heart in the presence of God. And so poverty of spirit is not physical or natural poverty.

What Poverty of Spirit Is Not: False Humility Shirking Responsibility

25:48 It is not natural shyness. It is not merely mouthing the phraseology of humility. And then last of all let me say this.

25:58 Poverty of spirit is not a false humility which shrinks from assuming responsibility. And as a pastor I want to say this very clearly this morning and I trust God will bear witness to your heart. Some people every time you face them with responsibility they respond with words like this. And I have no individual in mind this morning but if this fits fine.

26:19 May God give you grace to put it on. Every time you face them with responsibility they say well you know I'm just no good. I'm just not qualified. I just don't have what it takes.

26:29 I'm just not this and I'm just not that. And all the while you know what they want you to say? They want you to say oh no it's not that way. You really are capable.

26:40 Oh yes well you can do the job. Sure you can. And they're just itching that you respond to their words of humility with words of praise and comfort and encouragement. You'll never get it from me.

27:00 Ask to do a job. And you say well I'm just not capable and I'm just not worthy. They say alright fine God will find someone who's willing.

27:14 Searching isn't it? This is not poverty of spirit. It's nothing but laziness coped under a false humility. How much laziness in the house of God is being coped with this false humility.

27:33 I'm not worthy. I'm not capable. I'm not this. That's right.

27:37 God knew all of that. That's what qualified us. He takes the weak things. But let's go the step the second step.

27:44 Paul said we're not sufficient but he has made us able. He has made us able.

27:52 May God help us not to be guilty of this. You remember what God did to Moses. Moses began to pull this. His initial response was one of true humility.

28:00 When God said now look I want you to go down there and deliver my people. Forty years before Moses tried it on his own steam. Remember he went out and murdered the Egyptian?

28:10 God said now look Moses you've got a few things to learn. Put him back in the wilderness. Now God comes and says look it's time to go down and deliver my people. Moses said no.

28:17 No God. Not me. Not me God. God says yes I want you.

28:22 He said who shall I say who's going to send me? He says say the I am has sent you. But he says God you know that they won't miss me. What will I be able to do?

28:32 He says what's that in my hand?

28:35 Up to that point it seemed to be true humility. But then he slipped over to this area and he said but Lord I'm not often. It says and the Lord was angry with Moses. Why?

28:44 Why? I believe he fell into this area of a false kind of humility. Now let me say this kindly lest some of you be overly troubled. When some of you have responded in the past not to me I haven't had this much dealings with you in this area but perhaps to others and you've been faced with responsibility and you've said oh I'm just not worthy.

29:06 Perhaps that first response was a response of true humility true poverty of spirit even as it was with Moses.

29:14 But that initial response is gradually slipped over into this area where it's no longer a genuine humility it's just plain laziness and unwillingness to say Lord here's a job and I'm not capable but you're a great God and I take the challenge and I'm willing to long shout and believe you.

29:36 So poverty of spirit isn't this because all of these things can grow on Adam's stock. Any of these things I've mentioned this morning can grow on Adam's stock. Every one of them.

29:49 But this poverty of spirit never grew out of Adam. It only comes by the mighty operations of the spirit of God. I remind you as we move this and then I'll just give a little taste of what the definition really is and trust that'll whet your appetite to come back again next week.

30:06 You remember what the Lord Jesus said about a man who had this false kind of humility? He was entrusted with a talent and when the day of reckoning came he came and said now look you were such a hard master and I was such a poor businessman I didn't dare go out and invest it. I was afraid I might not bring back my original investment. Remember what the Lord called that man?

30:31 Remember what he called him? What did he call him?

30:34 Thou humble servant? No sirree. What did he call him? Thou wicked and smothful servant.

30:44 See it? Some of us who sit back and say oh I've just got my one blue talent and I'm just so afraid I won't use it wisely for the Lord and so you don't do it. Hey! God says you're a wicked and a smothful servant.

30:58 Now don't get angry with me. God said God gave I wouldn't I wouldn't say that. I'd just say you haven't learned the lesson. The Lord Jesus called that kind of person a wicked and a smothful servant.

31:08 Isn't that what he says?

31:11 So may the Lord help us to be delivered from the false concepts of what true poverty of spirit is.

What Poverty of Spirit Is: A Deep Inner Awareness of Spiritual Destitution

31:18 Well if this isn't what it is what is it?

31:22 Well let's just take the words themselves. That'll be the best introduction I know. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now what constitutes poverty?

31:31 What makes a man a poor man?

31:35 Now just stop and think for a minute. What makes a man a poor man? Isn't it this? And if I'm not right you correct me at the end of the sermon.

31:42 If this was the Sunday school class you could correct me right here. But you correct me as you leave this morning. Isn't this what constitutes a poor man? A poor man is one who lacks a normal sufficiency of food clothing and the means of procuring the same.

32:00 That's a fancy way of saying money.

32:04 And the money in some places may be like we saw here one night. You saw that little piece of brass or something with two of these. You could buy a good wife or a poor pig. Remember that?

32:13 We had the missionary here from Mr. Strash with Missionary Aviation Fellowship and their money was this hunk of brass shaped sort of like a propeller and he had under it with two of these or five of these you can buy no, no I know what it was a poor wife or a good pig whatever it was the pig was worth more than the wife I've forgotten now. But a poor man now is someone who lacks a normal sufficiency of these things and because of it what does he do? He's a needy impoverished man and there's nothing in himself about which he can glory and if he's going to have his needs supplied he's got to look outside of himself.

32:52 Now there's the meaning of the word poor. Lacking normal sufficiency there's nothing that I possess in which to glory and if I'm to have anything more I've got to look outside of myself. I've got to find a source of supply that's not my own. Blessed are the poor now take the next word in spirit.

33:14 What is a man's spirit? Well we read in the book of Proverbs in the American Standard translation which is clearer the spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord searching all his innermost parts. My spirit is this deep inner self. What we read about in 1 Corinthians 2 where it says who knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man that is in him.

33:41 My spirit my deep inner consciousness my deep inner self the real me. Now Jesus said put the two things together. Perfectly happy are the poor in spirit. Are those who are impoverished who are destitute who have nothing to glory in who must look outside of themselves for the good the supply of their need blessed are the poor in where?

34:10 In the realm of the spirit. So what is poverty of spirit? Let me give to you what I believe it is. It is that awareness in my deep inner self that I am needy and impoverished spiritually.

34:25 I have nothing about which to glory. I have no source of supply in myself. I must wholly look to another in my in short as one man of God has said it is the consciousness in my heart of hearts that in the presence of God I am nothing I have nothing and I can do nothing and I stand in need of all things.

34:54 That is what poverty of spirit is. The deep inner consciousness of the deepest realm of my personality what I am where I think and reason and desire that inner consciousness that I am nothing I have nothing I can do nothing and I stand in need of all things. Now do you see why Jesus said theirs is the kingdom of heaven?

The Supernatural Origin of Poverty of Spirit and its Neglect Today

35:25 No man ever is brought to poverty of spirit apart from the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.

35:34 One man of God has said the Holy Spirit alone can correct self-ignorance from his illumination will result poverty of spirit. But you see your natural heart will never tell you this. Not all men by nature are guilty of what we call the sin of pride in the sense that pride is a marked sin with them either in the eyes of others or in their own hearts. There are some men whose what you call besetting or major sin is a wicked temper or wicked lust or something else.

36:07 Some whose primary sin is pride there is a sin a swagger and a cockiness about them that speaks every time they walk and move. I'm a proud man but this is not true of everyone.

36:21 But though this is not true of everyone in some manner what we call naturally humble men as Adam counts humble men no human heart by nature ever recognizes its deep spiritual poverty. Only God can produce this.

36:41 The natural heart won't do it and neither will much religion in our day do it.

36:51 The whole philosophy of the world that has been breathed into the church is you've got the stuff get up and produce. I know Christian schools that operate on this principle of taking the best that's in young people and polishing that and producing and then sending them out supposedly to serve Christ where they've never been brought to this deep inner awareness that they are nothing and that they are nothing they have nothing they can do nothing and they stand in need of all things.

37:31 It would be a wonderful thing if even this virtue were aped in our day in the church. I would love to even see a few people going around with a false humility but the virtue of humility isn't even aped in our day. What's the virtue that's aped and imitated in our day? Why it's the swagger and the quick response and the clever the clever turn phrases of the church.

37:54 Of the TV entertainer. This is the thing that's aped in the pulpit in the church today. Who's the successful evangelist in our day? Not the man who comes like Paul when he said in Corinthians I came unto you with fear and in much trembling.

38:13 Why we'd throw the fellow out and have a substitute for him on Tuesday if he came that way on Monday. We'd say poor kid preacher hadn't had enough experience to gain self-confidence. Send him home! Give us another one!

38:24 This was no kid preacher who said He said I was with you in weakness in fear and in trembling. Why? Because he knew what he was in the sight of the Holy God and he knew the immensity of the task and he was conscious I am nothing. I have nothing.

38:42 I can do nothing.

38:45 And he came confident in his God yes but utterly unconfident in himself. Not so in our day. The swagger the self-confidence the finesse of the world these have become the virtues that are imitated in the Church of Christ.

Call to Self-Examination and Prayer

39:05 What a shame that we have so far departed from this that our Lord sets forth as a foundational virtue of every member of the Kingdom of Heaven. God willing next week we're going to go on and show this virtue as it's described in the lives of different ones in the Old and New Testament. Then we want to consider some of the manifestations of poverty of spirit why poverty of spirit is absolutely necessary to spiritual blessing and then perhaps if we have time a little bit on how to maintain poverty of spirit before the Lord. But as I close the message this morning I want you as someone who's been exposed to God's truth to settle certain things in your own thinking today. Settle this. Settle this. If you're a stranger to poverty of spirit if when I spoke this morning about what it means to be poor to be consciously destitute in the sight of God not mouthing the words but consciously destitute as you sit here this morning conscious that it's nothing but the infinite mercy of God that keeps you from slipping into a burning hell conscious that it's nothing but the restraining grace of God that keeps you from plunging into sin even though you've been a Christian for 50 years.

40:28 If you don't know any of this this deep inner consciousness of the utter destitute nature then dear one I submit to you that you're a stranger to the kingdom of God for blessed are the poor in spirit there's and there's only is the kingdom of God. Isn't that what it's saying?

40:51 Then I would say this if you are conscious of this because it's such a neglected virtue in the thinking of our day perhaps you've browbeat yourself what in the world's wrong with me you've said? The more I seek the Lord and the more I cry out to grow it seems that the only answer I get is a greater revelation of my utter destitute self. What's wrong with me? Beloved nothing's wrong God's answering your prayer and if your cries to God for a deeper walk with Him have been answered by a greater disclosure of your utter sinfulness then thank God because anyone that He's going to lead on in spiritual life and power He's going to do it by a greater disclosure of our utter poverty. Why? So that increasingly we will look to a source outside of ourselves even the infinite fullness of our lovely Lord and in place of my poverty I'll experience His wealth.

42:00 So some of you perhaps have been discouraged it seems all God's done since you began to really get earnest in praying for something more in your life of His grace and power has been exposure upon exposure and breaking upon breaking don't be discouraged this is God's way this is God's way and my last statement is that if you value your soul you who are not conscious of this poverty of spirit of which we've been speaking if you value your soul will you pray that God in mercy will open your eyes to see what you really are before God?

42:44 Jesus said and I leave His words with you thou knowest not that thou art He said you don't know what you are He says thou knowest not that thou art wretched miserable poor and blind and naked but He said you don't need to stay in that condition I counsel thee to buy of me gold pride and defiance and white raiment that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see you can come to the Lord Jesus this morning asking Him to anoint your eyes with eyesalve that you might see your utter poverty that seeing it you might be pressed out of yourself to Him who is the altogether lovely One in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you will know what Jesus meant when He said blessed perfectly happy are those who are poor in spirit the world looks at something like this and say it's nothing but a mess of contradiction but the soul that's been the object of God's mighty operations understands do you understand this this morning God grant that you do

44:04 shall we pray Lord we so often compare ourselves with ourselves and in doing so thou hast said we are not wise when we come and face the words of our Lord Jesus our mouths are screwed up our mouths are stilled and our hearts are laid bare Lord I ask of Thee that thou would apply this word to each one of us to me Lord in a new way to those in our midst who've never known true poverty of spirit who've never seen their utter wretchedness spiritually who've never seen enough of themselves to be driven out of themselves to seek mercy in the Lord Jesus Father in Thy mercy and grace open their eyes we pray lest they perish in self-deceit wherein we've been guilty of merely mouthing the phraseology of poverty of spirit

45:30 Lord forgive us where we've been guilty of hiding our laziness behind a false humility forgive us for that O God produce in us true poverty of spirit that we might be a God-blessed people this is our desire and we believe this is the way of blessing and so we dare to trust Thee to fulfill the cry of our hearts accept our praise and grant that this word will do its effectual work in the days that lie ahead we pray in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen