Introduction:
No one enters the narrow gate proud.
No one will ever enter the kingdom of heaven with lofty eyes and a puffed-out chest.
It is the lowly, it is those who bow down, that receive the yoke of Christ.
ESV Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
God produces a brokenness to fit sinners for the yoke of His Son. All that He does to break them is show them the truth — the truth about who He is, and the truth about who they are.
IT IS AN AWAKENING THAT MAKES THE SINNER DESIRE THE YOKE OF CHRIST.
The barrier that stands between the sinner and Christ is a lying self-perspective — a lying self-perspective that is inborn.
It exists in every human being who has not experienced the new birth.
WE WERE BORN SINNERS, WHICH MEANS WE WERE BORN WITH A SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS THAT PRODUCES PRIDE.
SINNERS ARE, BY NATURE, PROUD PEOPLE.
To save us, God must humble us.
We are responsible to humble ourselves, but without God’s grace, we are powerless to do what we ought.
YOU CAN’T REPENT OF WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE.
True humility is a gift OF SIGHT. God grants spiritual sight and with that sight a humbling takes place, and with that humbling a life is entered into in which there will be more humbling. God is at work throughout the rest of our lives, teaching humility to those He has humbled.
The first beatitude describes such a person and celebrates God’s grace to them.
Blessed are those whom the Lord has graciously humbled — those whom He has made poor in spirit.
Today we consider what it means to be poor in spirit. We consider the first beatitude under three headings. (1) The great barrier between man and God (2) The great change that removes the barrier (3) The great future that belongs to the humble.


• THE GREAT BARRIER BETWEEN MAN AND GOD
THE GREAT BARRIER THAT EXISTS BETWEEN MANKIND AFTER THE FALL AND HOLY GOD IS SIN.
BUT GOD HAS MADE THE WAY FOR THE BARRIER TO BE REMOVED.
GOD HAS MADE THE WAY FOR MAN’S SINS TO BE FORGIVEN. GOD HAS MADE THE WAY FOR MAN TO BE RECONCILED TO HIS CREATOR.
What stands between mankind and the RECEPTION of God’s gracious remedy is MAN’S PRIDE.
When man SINNED, he fell (that’s a move downward), but in that sin his view of himself went up.
His view of God fell, and his view of himself rose.
Satan promised that he would be as God, but instead, he was cursed with a mind that believes he is God. He is cursed with a heart that substitutes for God.
HE BECAME A GOD HATER.
HE BECAME A PROUD IDOLATER
The result of sin is a spiritual blindness in man that produces a devastating and damning view of himself and of his creator.
HIS VIEW OF GOD IS TOO SMALL
HIS VIEW OF HIMSELF IS GRANDIOSE
THAT DECEPTION RUNS THROUGOUT ALL HIS SELF-PERSPECTIVES.
• HE FEELS STRONG WHEN IN FACT HE IS FRAGILE
ESV Psalm 39:5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
ESV Psalm 39:11 When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah
• HE FEELS INDEPENDENT WHEN IN FACT HE IS NEEDY
ESV Matthew 5:33 "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
The attitude that Christ is addressing is the attitude that says that mankind has control over his own existence.