The Beatitudes – part 1 (Matthew 5:1-12)
The Beatitudes
Matthew 5:1-12
This morning we approach what is in my mind the most penetrating,
Convicting, and revealing portion of all Scripture.
It is contained in Matthew 5 – 7 and it is called
“The Sermon on the Mount”
(1-2) “When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them,”
As we learned two weeks ago in examining the ultimate fisher of men,
The passion of Jesus was to teach the people.
His healing was an important part of His ministry as it served for vindication,
But make no mistake, Jesus came to teach.
He came to explain the truth to sinful man,
And to make a way for sinful man to be redeemed back to God.
So its no surprise that before Matthew gets specific about Jesus miracles,
He first gets specific about Jesus’ teaching.
And in doing so Matthew records a tremendous section of Scripture.
I don’t know how to convince you as to
The importance of this text, except to say.
If I was given the assignment to find the crux or centerpiece of all Scripture…
If I was challenged to send someone to the “heart” of the Bible.
I would choose Matthew 5,6,&7
I say that because there is no section in Scripture
That more thoroughly depicts the message Jesus came to preach
Than these three chapters.
I believe with all my heart that these three chapters
Are the basis for all Christian theology,
Especially as it deals with the doctrine of salvation.
In other words, you cannot understand what God wants from you
If you do not understand the Sermon on the Mount.
And on the flip side,
Once a person truly understands the Sermon on the Mount,
They have already made tremendous strides
In their quest to understand the whole of Scripture.
THIS IS A SUPREMELY IMPORTANT SECTION OF SCRIPTURE
Before we deal with the various parts of this sermon,
Let me first give it to you as a whole.
If you know the purpose of the entire sermon,
It will help you better understand all of its different pieces.
So here is the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount.
TO EXPOSE THE COUNTERFEIT RIGHTEOUSNESS OF ISRAEL
You are well aware of what the spiritual state of Israel looked like.
Isaiah said of them:
Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”
That was a passage that Jesus Himself quoted about Israel
In Matthew 15:8.
In other words Israel was a hypocritical nation
Their religion was all external.
Their love for God was skin deep.
Therefore their righteousness was counterfeit.
In short Israel was not saved,
Although they themselves were strongly convinced otherwise.
And there we have a tremendous difficulty in evangelism.
• When you approach a lost man who knows he is lost, you only have to lead him to salvation.
• But when you approach a lost man who thinks that he is saved you first have to convince him that he is lost.
And that is where we find our Lord this morning.
He is preaching the most penetrating sermon ever preached
With the intent of exposing Israel for what she truly is.
John said of Jesus:
John 1:9 “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”
And that is certainly the role Jesus is playing here.
This sermon is meant to expose the counterfeit righteousness of Israel.
And therefore the SUBJECT of the Sermon on the Mount
Is also clear.
The subject of this sermon is TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS
And that is clearly seen in two very direct and penetrating verses.
Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Just from those two verses we learn the heart of the matter.
Jesus wanted Israel to realize what true righteousness was,
And ultimately that they did not yet have it.
And so Jesus uses this sermon to expose them.
And He exposes them in several ways.
YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS COUNTERFEIT BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW THE LAW
This was the basis for 5:21-47
“You have heard…but I say”
One of the reasons for their phony righteousness
Is because they were taught wrong.
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
Because most of these people grew up being taught a lie about God and His righteousness, they had never truly been what God desired.
(This is also why Jesus spends time exposing false prophets at the end of this sermon)
But because of their ignorance of God’s truth,
They had failed to achieve true righteousness.
YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS COUNTERFEIT BECAUSE IT GLORIFIES SELF
Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”
And of course Jesus goes on from there to expose:
• Hypocritical Giving
• Hypocritical Prayer
• Hypocritical Fasting
Their righteousness sought only the glory of the world,
And it sought that glory for their self.
Seen clearest in the Pharisees who loved the chief seats at banquets and respectful greetings on the street and being called Rabbi by men.
Their righteousness was only a tool to get glory for themselves
And thus it was counterfeit, Jesus came to expose it.
YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS COUNTERFEIT BECAUSE IT IGNORES SELF
How can it glorify self and ignore self?
Very simply, they glorified themselves for what they did well,
And ignored what they did wrong.
For them, it was an exercise in self-justification,
And in condemning others to make themselves look better.
Matthew 7:3 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”
Their righteous standard was not consistent and therefore their righteousness was not true.
YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS COUNTERFEIT BECAUSE IT LACKS OBEDIENCE
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”
Again, their righteousness was skin deep.
It didn’t really love God.
It didn’t really obey God.
It didn’t really emulate God.
Israel’s righteousness was a counterfeit standard invented by man
As a way for man to glorify himself before other men.
And before Jesus came, it was universally taught
As the doctrine of God to all Israel.
In short, Israel thought they were righteous,
But in reality they were very far from it.
Jesus came to reveal that to them,
And His method of revelation was The Sermon on the Mount.
And so you can clearly see that this is a very penetrating sermon
As it exposes man’s counterfeit righteousness.
BUT IT DOESN’T BEGIN THERE
This sermon actually begins with
Jesus explaining what true righteousness looks like.
The Jews thought true righteousness looked like a Pharisee.
On the contrary the first twelve verses
Reveal what a truly righteous person looks like.
We call this description the BEatitudes.
(Not the DOatitudes)
And to understand these character traits
Is nothing short of understanding the difference
Between being saved and being lost.
I WISH WE HAD TIME TO STUDY THEM ALL IN ONE SITTING
The unique thing about studying these beatitudes together
Is that they each depend so much on one another.
They not only stand alone as vitally important attributes,
But they also build upon one another
As they reveal the character of a righteous person.
But this morning I want to begin our study of these important qualities.
There has always been a debate about whether there is 8 or 9 Beatitudes,
But we are going to break them down into 8.
#1 BLESSED ARE THE POOR
Matthew 5:3
The word “blessed” translates MAKARIOS
“happy, fortunate, blissful”
Greek writers used the word to describe those who were rich
Or those who were successful in business.
And so by using this word that means “happy” or “rich”,
Jesus introduces the strangest of paradoxes.
In Matthew 5:3 He in essence states “Rich are the Poor”
In Matthew 5:4 He in essence states “Happy are the Sad”
In Matthew 5:6 He in essence states “Full are the Hungry”
To our world the statements are mindless and backward.
Our world emphasizes pride and happiness and power and brashness
As the keys to the good life.
Jesus did exactly the opposite.
He was describing a person who was not of this world.
And those who have these attitudes are those according to Jesus
Who are truly happy, are truly rich, are truly fulfilled, are truly blessed.
So as we study this list understand that the road to true happiness
May not be the road you are on,
But rather the road that Jesus lays before us here.
And the first is vitally important.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE POOR IN SPIRIT?
In Scripture there are commonly two words used for “poor”.
One is PENICHROS
It speaks of one who is living on the bottom of the barrel.
It was the word Jesus used to describe the widow with the two mytes.
She was poor, but she did at least have two pennies.
The other word for “poor” is PTOCHOS
This word speaks a person so poor that they literally are forced to beg.
This was the word Jesus used to describe the poor man Lazarus
Who sat at the table of the rich man fighting the dogs for the crumbs
That would fall off of his table.
I probably don’t have to tell you which word Jesus used here.
It is PTOCHOS, the beggar type of poverty.
Jesus is speaking of a person who is so poor
That they have nothing to sell, nothing to offer.
They are reduced purely to begging for what they need.
And Jesus takes this poverty a little farther,
For He isn’t referring to those who have no money.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit”
Jesus is referring to spiritual things here.
He is speaking of a person that has nothing to offer God.
• They cannot pay for what they seek.
• They cannot work for what they seek.
• All they can do is come to God and beg.
They are so aware of their own sinfulness, and of their own wretchedness
That the know there is nothing they have to offer.
In the end of the book of Isaiah,
Isaiah foresees the day when Israel will finally come to God for salvation.
Listen to what they will say to God in that day:
Isaiah 64:5-9 “You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved? For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are Your people.”
They’ll come to a place where they realize they don’t deserve forgiveness,
Nor can they offer God anything in exchange for it.
All that they could give are the equivalent of “a filthy garment” to God.
They are poor, they are spiritually bankrupt, they can only beg.
They are mirrored by the tax collector Jesus praised in Luke 18.
Luke 18:13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’”
These are pictures of those who are spiritual beggars.
They don’t come to God rich in spirit.
They don’t come to God low in spirit.
They come to God poor in spirit.
THEY ARE LITERALLY CRUSHED BEFORE HIM
When Isaiah saw the Lord
Isaiah 6:5 “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
When Peter realized who Jesus was
Luke 5:8 “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
These are men that saw themselves for what they were
And realized they were spiritually bankrupt solely at the mercy of God.
And needless to say, this is a state of being
That most people resist ever entering.
In our society today beggars are looked down upon.
It is not a noble thing to be so poor that you have to beg.
And this not only in a financial sense.
We don’t find it honorable to be bankrupt spiritually.
Even in our religious settings we all like to be able to list
Our achievements and accomplishments.
Since I am a preacher, I get the rare privilege of having other preachers constantly talk to me about the size of their churches, and the “success” of their ministries.
I can only think of one who ever told me, “I’m in over my head, and God is going to have to bail me out.” (Dallas Huston)
Spiritual poverty is not something we deem as a good thing.
And yet Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”
Jesus said that in reality it is those who are spiritually bankrupt
That are the happiest.
WHY?
“for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“theirs” translates AUTOS
This is an emphatic pronoun which indicates
“theirs alone” or “theirs only”
In other words, if you aren’t poor in spirit
Then you do not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
And all of a sudden we understand why they are so happy.
It is only through spiritual poverty that a person is able
To inherit the truest riches of God’s kingdom.
So when Jesus was saying, “Rich are the Poor”
He knew exactly what He was talking about.
Proverbs 13:7 “There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing; Another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.”
It is the humble who are the happiest.
They are happy because they alone are accepted by God.
Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Psalms 34:18 “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalms 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
If you are not humbled before God, you cannot enter His kingdom.
If you are not spiritually bankrupt, you are not welcome to God.
If you do not come as a beggar, you do not come at all.
Humility is the key to coming to God.
2 Chronicles 7:14 “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Remember when Josiah found God’s word and humbled himself?
2 Chronicles 34:27 “Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares the LORD.”
That is why Peter said:
1 Peter 5:6 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,”
That is why James said:
James 4:6 “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”
If you don’t come to God broken, then you can’t come.
WHY?
Because God only accepts the humble,
And forgiveness is at the discretion of God.
Mankind must learn that we have nothing in us that is pleasing to God, and therefore our only hope is to beg.
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
David said:
Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”
We are born into this life totally in the flesh, and separated from God.
And while in this flesh, we never pleased God.
Romans 8:5-8 “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
OUR GOOD DEEDS NEVER PLEASED GOD
WE HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER
And once you know that, you need to know a second truth.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Evangelicals are quickly forgetting this truth today.
I’ve told some of you about a popular song out right now:
“Come As You Are”
He’s not mad at you. He’s not disappointed.
His grace is greater still than all of your wrong choices.
He is full of mercy and He is ever kind.
Hear His invitation, His arms are open wide.
You can come as you are
With all your broken pieces
All your shameful scars
The pain you hold in your heart
Bring it all to Jesus
You can come as you are
Louder than the voice, that whispers you’re unworthy
Hear the sound of love that tells a different story
Shattering your darkness and pushing through the lies
How tenderly He calls you, His arms are open wide
Now I know that some of you are thinking,
“What’s wrong with that song?”
Jesus is kind, Jesus is loving, Jesus does have great grace.
That is true.
The problem is not how they depict Jesus,
The problem is how they depict man.
They depict man as someone who has not disappointed God.
They depict man as someone who has not angered God with sin.
They depict man as someone who is worthy of God’s grace.
They depict man as someone who can come to God with their head held high.
And that is precisely the opposite of what Jesus said in the first beatitude.
Furthermore it perverts the gospel.
The gospel says that God is angry and disappointed in sinners.
So angry in fact that He will send them to hell.
(Why else would John the Baptist tell men to repent?)
Now His wrath does not nullify His great love
By which He sent His Son as a sacrifice for the sin of mankind.
BUT GOD WANTS SINNERS TO KNOW
You are in a great deal of danger.
You are on the brink of hell and destruction.
And your only way of escape is the mercy of God.
• And when a sinner finally realizes that it is too late.
• When a sinner realizes there is nothing I can do to appease God.
• When a sinner realizes that God is ready to send Him to hell.
THAT IS WHEN JESUS LOOKS BEAUTIFUL
That is when the sinner is prompted to fall to his knees,
Confess his filth to God, and beg for mercy.
The simple point I am trying to show you this morning is that
If you have never been broken before God…
Then you are not on the road to heaven, because the kingdom of heaven
Only belongs to those who are “poor in spirit”.
You see it is only the “poor in spirit” that beg for God’s mercy.
And it is only those who beg for God’s mercy
Who receive God’s forgiveness.
And I implore you to humble yourself before God and beg for His mercy.
Because it is there in your spiritual poverty
That you will find the true riches of eternal life.
Furthermore it is there you will be truly happy.
It is there you will be truly blessed.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
