We are still considering Matthew 5:3, poverty of spirit, but before concluding that topic, the following intimately related topic of the two gates/ways needs to be discussed. In John MacArthur’s study on the Narrow Way, he stated that Christ’s purpose in the entire Sermon on the Mount is to destroy men’s self-righteousness and bring them to where He began the sermon, poverty of spirit. In Matthew 5 and 6 He showed them that they perverted God’s commands with their traditions, which were constructed such that they might be able to keep them and earn self-righteousness. In 5:20, He stated that one must have more than Pharisaical self- righteousness to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. In the process, He moved them towards the choice that He presented them in Mt. 7:13 and 14, the entering in of either the broad or the narrow gate.
Two things hinder one’s entrance into the narrow gate: false prophets and self-deception. That is, the false prophets obscure the narrow gate by presenting a more attractive easy, wide gate wherein one might enter with his sins and all his friends…. The narrow gate, on the other hand, is hard to find, then once it is discovered it is difficult to fit through, one’s sins and all his friends… cannot enter with him.
In Mt. 7:21-29 Jesus spoke of what it looked like when one entered into either the wide gate or the narrow gate. He emphasized that the factor that determined whether one entered into the narrow or the broad gate was NOT what he said after he heard the word (his profession), but what he did. Those who obeyed the word, entered into the narrow gate. He compared that obedience to building on rock, the rock of obedience to scripture.
But it seems that as one builds on the rock, he begins walking in the narrow way by, as Luke says, digging deep: for example, taking time to learn doctrine, particularly the doctrine of original sin. Early on in his walking in the narrow way he will be required to shed baggage like self-righteousness, pride, sinful patterns of conduct, worldly attitudes, selfishness…therefore, understanding his natural condition (that he was born in sin and is therefore a sinner) is essential. Moreover, he will necessarily have to apply the doctrine of original sin to his life via self-examination and prayer so he can advance in the narrow way of life, becoming more dependent upon God and less independent…. Herein, poverty of spirit will be further developed by God’s Spirit, and his concurrence with God’s Spirit and His word (confession means to agree with God).
I can’t say, with specificity, how this is accomplished, but based on my own walk, it seems that a lot of pruning has occurred in my life via providential events that have been permitted by God to afflict me. These events have seemingly been meant to advance me in the narrow way, to conform me to the image of Christ. For example, when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, my first reaction was to pursue a course of self-treatment and pour myself into the requirements of that treatment. It took me 6 months to realize that this actually could kill me, as my cancer was 7 on the gleason scale of 10 in aggressiveness. When that dawned upon me that this cancer may be how I am removed from God’s world, I began to devote myself more diligently to prayer and reading of God’s word. That is, I began turning from self-reliance and I sought the Lord with greater zeal as I believed I needed to get ready to meet Him in a short time…. So, I was moved to a greater dependence upon the means of grace appointed by God. During that time, in my Bible reading, all things that spoke of His sovereignty stood out and I was moved to surrender to His purpose for my cancer in my life: chastening, pruning or dying. I let go of my own will. However, since the urgency of that illness has passed, I have lost some ground there–it is a daily battle to walk in the narrow way.
To conclude my consideration of the first beatitude, I said all of the above so I could say that the process of walking in the narrow way is also the process of increasing in poverty of spirit during our pilgrimage on the earth. Therein our realization that we are destitute of spiritual merit and must wholly depend upon God for it, increases. Also, we grow in our sensitivity to our sinfulness and in our realization of God’s mercy and in our dependence upon God (self-sufficiency, a huge idol for most, is smashed by God). That is, we become more humble our entire Christian life; and at the end of it, we realize much more clearly that we are wretched, and more importantly, that God is a holy, sovereign, loving, merciful, just,… God. A big part of that is mourning over sin, which will be the topic of post 2.
Therefore, if in your walk with God you have become more self-confident, more pleased with yourself, more exalted in your own mind…, if you believe yourself to be a “good person,”in your walk with God (which is opposite of the beatitude way of the kingdom citizen outlined by Christ) these and similar worldly characteristics are RED FLAGS indicating that something is terribly wrong with your Christian walk. You may be in great decline because you have neglected God’s appointed means of grace; or you may not yet be born again. Turning to His means of grace (the hearing of preaching; prayer; reading of His word; fellowship about Christ with believers; partaking in the Lord’s supper–Acts 2:42) will restore you if you are merely in decline. Otherwise, praying for God’s mercy in giving you repentance unto life is indicated. May God bless you in your walk with Him. [In Albert N Martin’s first sermon in his 16 part series on Psalm 51, available at Sermonaudio.com, he emphasizes that a Christian must learn how to biblically confess his sins; and he identifies 4 false forms of Christianity concerning sin: 1. perfectionism, 2. positionalism, 3. antinomianism, and 4. legalism: see link at end of post for this sermon and for sermon 5 from his Psalm 51 series that defines sin biblically.]
One last important point about poverty of spirit: knowing that God the Holy Spirit is busy working this into me to conform me to Christ’s image, has enabled me to take heart when I am in the midst of seeming constant failure in my Christian walk, knowing that Christ finishes the work He begins in a believer. That is, it is easier to seek the Lord’s help to get back up after failing! Furthermore, I can be encouraged by the apostle Paul’s words regarding his painful discoveries of his own weakness and his realization that it was necessary if he was to be strong in the Lord: 2Co 12:8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 2Co 12:9 Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 2Co 12:10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. [Weak via his fleshly strength; strong in the Lord’s strength.]
I was happy to hear Dr. John MacArthur say (in discussing Matthew 5:4 in his series on the beatitudes–a free download at Grace to You.org) that he gets weary of his constant failure in his war against sin; then he noted that the source of much of his frustration in that struggle is because he keeps erroneously thinking that the battle will end [it will, at glorification]. He then went on to point out that the penitents of the Bible experienced the same, e.g. Psa. 38:4. So, if you are honest about your sinfulness and are being crushed by it all, take heart as this is what God requires you to experience: it seems to me that seeing my weakness has helped me to see that I am a sinner and that I am always being shown new examples of that; in the process, I am at the same time being shown new examples that indicate that God is good, merciful…. If there were no struggle, we could never come to such realizations.
Consider a few more verses on God disciplining His children: Eze 39:24 I turned My face away and punished them because of their defilement and their sins. Eze 39:25 “So now, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will end the captivity of My people; I will have mercy on all Israel, for I jealously guard My holy reputation! Eze 39:26 They will accept responsibility for their past shame and unfaithfulness after they come home to live in peace in their own land, with no one to bother them. Jer 30:11 For I am with you and will save you,” says the LORD. “I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished.” 1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Psalm 51, sermon 1 of 16 from Pastor Albert N. Martin’s series, that explains 4 wrong ways of dealing with sin:
Psalm 51, sermon 5 from Albert N. Martin’s 16 part series; this sermon defines sin biblically: