To review the first beatitude in a nutshell: the Holy Spirit works poverty of spirit into a believer. It is the realization that he is spiritually bankrupt; that he has no spiritual merit and cannot earn any merit by his own strength to escape condemnation in God’s courtroom. Coming to a realization of spiritual poverty, ushers in the second beatitude attitude: Mat 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
One’s personal sin is the chief cause of his spiritual poverty. This mourning is something like that for the loss of a loved one; a deeply felt grief. Consider the following examples from scripture:
Psa 38:4 My guilt overwhelms me—it is a burden too heavy to bear.
Psa 38:5 My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins.
Psa 38:6 I am bent over and racked with pain. All day long I walk around filled with grief.
Luk 18:13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’
Rom 7:24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
Job 42:6 I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”
Ezr 9:6 I prayed, “O my God, I am utterly ashamed; I blush to lift up my face to You. For our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached to the heavens.
(If you download E-sword, free Bible software, the commentary TSK, Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, gives many references for any verse under consideration; using TSK to follow any of the above verses will yield many verses from the entire Bible, and you would begin to see that God frequently calls individuals and nations to show poverty of spirit and mourn their sinfulness; and He brings down judgment upon those who do not listen.)
In considering Matthew 5:4, it seems appropriate to speak of problems related to the professed believer identifying and dealing with sin in his Christian walk. We will begin by discussing the role of the pastor, but quickly turn to the believer’s own responsibility in putting himself under God’s appointed means of grace, and hindrances to doing that in his walk.
Those who preach only grace, or who speak minimally on sin, are actually a barrier to those in the pews ever experiencing the mercy of God, concerning their own sins. How so? Because if a Christian does not have an experiential understanding of his sinfulness, then he actually doesn’t really believe that he has a need for God’s mercy and won’t be seeking it: his own good self-esteem, for example, will cloud his understanding such that he will not see his true needs; like those of the church of Laodicea: Rev 3:17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Rev 3:18 So I advise you to buy gold from Me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from Me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. Rev 3:19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.
Those words from Christ to His church are an admonishment to examine themselves, to see their sin and need of His righteousness and to turn from their sin. They apparently could not see their sin; more importantly for you, can you see yours? It is a terrible problem, to be unaware of your own sin, and the heinousness of your own sin to a holy God. But because of the many false prophets wandering around in the church today (see my post on prosperity preachers), preaching the psychological gospel; the prosperity gospel; the healing gospel; peace via ecumenism…neglecting to preach on the doctrine of sin; neglecting to preach the true gospel that commands one to repent of his sins and turn from them to God, the narrow gate is hidden.
If you cannot see your sin, and you call yourself a Christian, then you have already entered the wide gate and are walking on the broad way. Dr. John MacArthur says that each way has a signpost saying “This way to heaven,” but actually only the narrow way goes there. Many stay on the broad way because they can keep their sins, their pleasures and all their friends…. You must decide! Do you want your “best life now” or eternal life in heaven?
Carefully consider a few of the many verses from scripture wherein God poses us with that choice: Deu 30:19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 1Ki 18:21 Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent. Gal 1:6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to Himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News Gal 1:7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Gal 3:3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Jer 2:13 “For My people have done two evil things: They have abandoned Me—the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!
These are but a few examples of God speaking to us through His servants wherein He is saying that His way leads to salvation from His wrath against sin; and that man’s way leads one to eternal damnation. He has often repeated such solemn reminders in His word because the consequences of our choice will be grave if we enter into it lightly. The above verses are each about despising God’s appointed way of salvation and following our own way that we think will lead to the same place of salvation. It does not!
If you are not troubled by now, then consider that if you are unaware of the dreadful state of your soul; that is, if you are unaware that you are a helpless sinner bound for hell without God’s forgiving mercy via Christ, then you will not be moved to consider this choice seriously. You are like the Laodiceans, believing all is well and that you can continue into the unknown future merrily skipping along in all your pleasure seeking…unaware of the peril awaiting you. Furthermore, I would confidently say that if you are a Christian who only attends church on Sunday, that you are likely a Laodicean Christian. If you do not abide in God’s appointed means of grace, then you are actually trusting in something other than Christ (see: categories, Christian Walk; God’s Appointed Means of Grace).
Regarding the discernment of the foundation of your trust, it is not easy to see what we are trusting in when we begin our pilgrimage. God the Holy Spirit will reveal such things to pilgrims abiding in the means of grace. They will have such questions and diligently seek such answers. Laodicean type Christians won’t be moved to know such things; because they won’t have a good foundation of scriptural understanding, prayer, and self-examination that fosters this type of spiritual growth.
According to MacArthur, the narrow gate is entered alone, and the narrow way is walked alone, not with your group. This does not mean that you must depart from the company of other believers, but that you are individually accountable to Christ; your relationship with Him is personal; your friends are not part of that. You will be with other Christians in corporate worship; and your relationships with them will impact both of you. But whether you enter into heaven or hell is based on your individual relationship with Christ. Reading Matthew 5-7 should make this clear to you; but reading the New Testament will certainly clarify that for you.
In part b, hindrances to mourning sin will be discussed.
Recommended studies and study tools for this beatitude, post a and b:
Dr. John MacArthur’s study of the Beatitudes. It is free to download at “gty.org” via your pc; or by iphone with the “Grace To You” app. I suppose there is an app for android too?
Dr. John MacArthur’s sermon series on Romans 1: Judgment on a Reprobate Society (search on his site, via phone app, “by scripture” and choose Romans, it is the first series. Therein, you may learn about God’s various forms of judgment).
Sermon audio: search Matthew 5:4 for numerous preachers sermons, including Paul Washer whom I recommend.
Dr. Sinclair Ferguson’s three part series on the Beatitudes at Sermon Audio.
Albert N. Martin’s sermon series on psalm 51, sermon 5, which biblically defines sin, it is linked to the bottom of the preceding post.
E-sword free Bible software: software has at least a half-dozen free versions of the Bible; commentaries; dictionaries; Strong’s concordance / KJV; and one may purchase additional resources in each of those categories.