BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO KNOW THAT THEY ARE LOST WITHOUT CHRIST

Proclamation:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  Matthew 5:3 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, which He spoke at the beginning of The Sermon on The Mount.  As recorded by the Apostle Matthew, Jesus spoke these words as He taught His disciples and the crowd which had gathered around them.  His first point was that those who are poor in spirit, "those who are acutely conscious of their own ‘lostness’ and hopelessness apart from divine grace," are blessed. (John MacArthur)  To them is given access to the kingdom of heaven.

Application:

Being blessed is a divinely bestowed sense of well-being.  This is the first of the beatitudes, "the eight characteristics of blessed people, which represent the principal graces of being a Christian." (Matthew Henry)  The poor in spirit are emptied of self and willing to be filled with Christ.  To be poor in spirit is to be humble and lowly in our own eyes.  It is to seek to glorify The Lord God, and not to glorify ourselves.  Self-denial is the first lesson Christ taught in the beatitudes.  The foundation of Christian principals is based upon belief and humility.  These are the people who will compose the kingdom of heaven.  The congregation of The Church of Christ is called the congregation of the poor in spirit. (Psalms 68:10 and 74:19)  Those who would be first, will be last, and those who would be last, shall be first in the sight of The Lord. (Matthew 19:30 and 20:16)  It is not good to think too highly of one’s self. (Romans 12:3)  For we would not be able to do anything, and we would be nothing without The Lord. (John 15:5)  Blessed are those of us who know that we are lost without Christ and who know that only He can show us the way.