Embracing Spiritual Poverty: The True Riches of Christ

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel whatever there is that word means good news he says no no I haven't come to set up an earthly Kingdom in the sense that you think and as well as he said on another occasion to a man who'd been listening to his sermon but only listening in a mechanical manner not listening to the Spirit because the man more or less interrupts him and says master speak to my brother that he divided the inheritance with me and our Lord turned to him and said men who has made me or called me to be a divider of goods among men I'm not centered of that he is not some super economist he is not a political agitator he is not an earthly king he is none of these things though he has come to preach good news he's got a gospel. [00:18:20]

The first word he note is that that he uses is the word possible the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel whatever there is that word means good news he says no no I haven't come to set up an earthly Kingdom in the sense that you think and as well as he said on another occasion to a man who'd been listening to his sermon but only listening in a mechanical manner not listening to the Spirit because the man more or less interrupts him and says master speak to my brother that he divided the inheritance with me and our Lord turned to him and said men who has made me or called me to be a divider of goods among men I'm not centered of that he is not some super economist he is not a political agitator he is not an earthly king he is none of these things though he has come to preach good news he's got a gospel. [00:18:20]

The test of the message is this does it come to me as a rolling piece of good news because if it doesn't it's not the Christian message the son of God Himself the one who claims here to be the Messiah the one whom God tells me to listen to hell's us that he's the bearer of good news when we truly herein he leads us to rejoice well what is this isn't it obvious I say that to many this isn't good news those people there in this synagogue of Nazareth didn't hear him truly because you remember that afterwards they try to throw him and kill him and they were the typical of the attitude of so many towards him my dear friends this is the problem that confronts us of this minute here is one speaking the most gracious words the world has ever heard and speaking and promising good news and yet you see his end was to be crucified to be rejected to be hauled away by men as it were what's the matter why is it that they don't realize that he is the bringer of goodne why is it that the whole world isn't rejoicing in him tonight sitting at his feet and saying that's it that's the very thing I've been working for what is it why is it that he and his message is still being rejected there's only one answer to the question it's the thing he precedes himself to say at once he is the bearer of good news to the poor and it is only the poor who realized that his message is good news those who realize not that they are poor and to regard themselves as rich they see no good news in his message they feel it in something that was the whole trouble with the Pharisees they were not poor they said we be Abraham's seed Abraham's children and we'll never get in bondage to any men he'll say as though he shall be made free they hated him and the world in its pride laughs at him tonight and talks about some stuff and emotionalism and speaks of him and his message with disdain and with Sakhalin oh it's all due to this my friend he said himself that he'd got good news for paupers and for nobody else well now this term therefore is the only important term for us this evening what does he mean by the poor well the word that is used is a very interesting word it doesn't just mean poverty alone it means much more than that the word that is here use carries the element of cringing cringing or if you like it's the picture of a man who's scratching as a beggar in his poverty that's the word that he used so that we've got to think of it not just as a man who casually is aware of a certain need it's rather the whole idea I say of a beggar of a man who's humbled and those crouching in his outer need and Penny but let me give you some further definitions of what this means and you realize my reason for doing this if you are to realize that the Son of God has brought the greatest good news into this world that it's ever heard there is one absolute condition and that is that you realize your need of him you'll never realize the good news until you see yourself and the array of need and that is why he puts it in this word poor why we must be sure that we know what it means it's put like this again in the prophecy of Isaiah God says to this man well I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and that trembler that my world that's a definition of poverty but come let me give you some of our Lord's own definitions of what he means by this condition of poverty you remember how he starts the Sermon on the Mount do you remember the series of Beatitudes do you remember the first it is this blessed he says are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven that's the same thing poverty of spirit that's the first blessing that's the first beatitude he looks out upon mankind and he says they are the blessed happy are they who are poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven that's another way of looking at this poverty but have you noticed his invitations constantly who does he invite to come to him he says if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink his invitation is to the first thing his invitation is to the hold he says I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance they don't know who have no need of a physician but they that are sick those are the people he invites come unto me only that I worry and live a lady or that labor and are heavy-laden those are the people equals to him here's the definition of poverty but look at it as it's put still know specifically in some of his parables and there I think we see it very clearly in the pictures that he draws take for instance the parable of the prodigal son there it is surely in all its perfection that young men the the second of these two sons he asks for his share of the goods and his father gives it him and away he goes from home with his pockets absolutely full of wealth and of effluence and the way he goes forgets his father has no interest in him at all forgot all about him and went into a far country and there had his marvelous good time with his boon companions it was simply terrific but we are told later on in the story remember that he began to think of his father and of his home what made him do that I wonder well the answer is very simple it was just this he began to be in want he finds that his money is gone the food has gone nobody wants him and he's sitting in the field with a swine of the house and no men gave in to him he's got nothing and then he remembers his father it was poverty that made him think of home as one illustration but then our Lord gives another illustration in another parable he's got the parable of two debtors one of the very great yet another world a small debt but this is how he puts it when they both had nothing to pay each frankly forgave them both that's his way of putting his message his gospel here is a man who owes money and he hasn't got a father nothing at all that's poverty that's the poor of whom he's speaking here in this synagogue in Nazareth it was when they are nothing where with the pay he frankly forgave them bow or take it perhaps in a still more striking manner and he puts it in his the parable of the publican and the sinner who went up into the temple to pray and here it is of course in the form of a contrast which makes it still Chara two men go up into the temple to pray one is a Pharisee and he goes as far forward as he can and he stands forward and he says I thank thee O God that I am NOT as other men are enough of this public the other men I fast twice in the week I give the tenth of my goods to the poor there's another man called the publican he's just inside the door he doesn't stand forward in there almost on his face and youth yet he doesn't even lift up and look towards heavenly so ashamed and all he can mutter through his tears is God be merciful to me a sinner and our Lord's comment is this it's that second men he says who goes down to his house justified not profess the manners blessed of God was the second meant not the first men were the first men in a sense he doesn't need any blessing he's completed he he saw marvelous he doesn't ask for a thing he thanks God he's so wonderfully so perfect he self-existent and self-contained I faintly that I am what I am and he gets nothing he receives nothing at all the man who receives the blessing and the men who realizes that he's an absolute papa well as he's got no claim at all he can make no plea he just said have mercy upon me asila now there is our Lord's description of this very term that we are looking at together this evening in other words it comes to this I am sent he says to preach the gospel to the poor well go the poor well we're all poor if we but realize it and we are poor as the result of sin the Bible says that that sin makes purposes of us all what is sin well according to the Scriptures sin is that which robs us and makes us all poor sin does for every one of us what happened to that prodigal son in that far country shall I explain to you how it makes us poor look at it like this it makes us spiritually poor it robs us of certain things what does it rubbers on well the first thing that sin robs us of is our character man was made in the image of God perfect up right just righteous is he still like this are you righteous are you holy are you clean are you chaste are you pure have you got your character would you be perfectly willing that you were character should be represented on a screen in the sight of the whole world and of course your character means not only the things you do but the things you think the thoughts you harbours the imaginations that you fondle you yourself in your inner life and being is that as it should be no no sin robs us of our character but it not only robs us of our character it robs us of our power to resist temptation and even here to robs us I say of the power to live and to enjoy life truly man was meant for happiness man was meant for bliss junk God placed in there in paradise but is he in paradise now no no we've been robbed of this we are robbed of life itself and the enjoyment of life come let me put it very simply and very directly in this form can you really call your present existence true life are you truly happy do you feel you're living a really full life if not it's because you've been robbed of life that's how God made men originally but man is no longer like that same as robbery he's been made poor he has no life he has no energy in a vital service he's even been robbed of the hook and you see the poor of those who realize that that is the simple truth concerning the people who really have paced themselves and have come to discover the other end penis of their life it's a terrible discovery the vast majority people won't face it of course like we are told about the Church of the Laodiceans in the third chapter of the book of Revelation they think they're tremendously rich and they are not aware of their real poverty so there are millions of people in the world this evening they say isn't life wonderful and what is it when you come to analyze it and to look at it can't you see that there's a great sham in this world that people are keeping themselves on the crest of a wave as it were in order to avoid facing the reality so that we are all poor in the first instance in state and in condition but still more important is our attitude I will tell you who are the people who regard this gospel of the greatest thing they've ever heard in their lives I will tell you why it is that certain men and women would forsake all the honors that the world can give if they were all given together in order that they might enjoy this I'll tell you who they are they are the people who have realized their spiritual poverty they're the people who realize that there are paupers in the sight of God and they've come to see that of themselves now let me give you one perfect instance it's all to be seen in the life of the great Apostle Paul Paul you see as a Pharisee before he met the Lord Jesus Christ he thought that he was a very wealthy men in a spiritual sense Pharisee of the Pharisees wonderful in his knowledge living a godly and the religious life and an expert in the law over which he felt he was he boasted of his righteousness would you remember what happened when he met the Lord Jesus Christ he saw that all that wealth which he thought he had was nothing but what he calls done and refuse after leave valueless the men who thought that he was so wealthy found his great wealth with one stroke of the pen written right off no six whatsoever he falls back helplessly on the road to damascus and says what wilt thou have me to do long a complete Popper now it's to amend like that that the gospel is rarely good news it's to a man like that that the message of Jesus Christ comes as the most thorough thing he's ever heard of in his life it's a man who realizes that hitherto he's only been existing and not living that he's been absolutely dependent upon things and upon people and who realizes that when he is left to himself he really just has got nothing whatsoever to fall back upon and there are millions of people like that if they lose their loved ones if they lose their health if they lose their money or their position they've literally got nothing I know people like that we're all like that by nature we live on things and people and circumstances and conditions and when they're suddenly taken where as helpless and thus hopeless and as bereft as was the prodigal son in that field that's poverty when we realize that we don't know God that we've got no reserves whatsoever in our life oh if only we could all see ourselves as we will be on our death beds without Christ for this will be the position we will know for certain that we are going out of this life and out of this well we'll know it and will suddenly realize that we've gotten nothing at all we are leaving behind everything we've lived before we look into the future what do we see well we don't know God we've never been in contact with him we've never met Christ he's not real to us we've got nothing it's a vote and there we are that's out of poverty that's what our Lord is speaking about he has been sent he tells us to preach the gospel to the poor tremendum suddenly see that all their wealth is nothing and that their righteousness is but us filthy irregular they suddenly realize that they're beggars there are people who say nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I cling naked come to thee for dress helpless look to the far grace well the poor well the poor are the people who say I've been a fool I see it now I've got nothing I have no plea to offer I have nothing at all my friend where are you do you know God have you got life have you got vitality have you bought something well things have gone and when loved ones may have gone and when you're left alone what are you like when you're alone that's the question now our Lord says that he's come to give good news to people like that and what is the good news well it's the most astounding thing listen to some of the definitions that are given of it the exceeding riches of God's grace but God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ what is the message it's this God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life or but listen to it in these world what is the message of this son of God dismissal well according to the Apostle Paul it can be put in these terms oh well he was all rich for our sakes became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich what's it mean let me put it in this form here he is seated there in the synagogue of Nazareth he says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and what am I to say to them I've got to say this to them I am the son of God why share with God the wealth of glory and of eternity I am the father are one I am the word that was with the father in the very beginning through whom all things have been created I am the second person in the blessed Holy Trinity I am eternally rich but I sit before you as the carpenter of Nesle apparently a poor men I don't possess a house he had no place whereon to lay his head he had nothing at all foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head he's absolutely poor look at me he says what it mean it means this wrong or solely for your sakes I have become poor but you through my poverty might be made rich he comes to the pole and says I've come to give you the riches of God the riches of heaven and of eternity I do I'm doing it in this way it means this he has taken on him human nature he has become one of us as it were and he's lived our life more he has taken our deaths upon him he owed God nothing he has never broken God's law he is not a debtor to God in any sense but he has come into the world he says to take our debts upon him and all of us have made him Paul who though he was rich for our sakes became poor he's taken the Lord of all debts upon him and he's become poor terribly poor and because of that he bores the penalty of the law upon this debt he dies our death on Calvary's him but why well in order that through his poverty we might be made or we and how does he make us rich well listen to it it's like this he brings us to God there is no such thing as spiritual which is apart from God you can't get it by culture you can't get it from philosophy music won't give it you there is only one way to be spiritually wealthy and that is to be in contact with God God is the source of all riches he's the giver of every good and perfect gift and to be rich I must be right with God Christ has come down from heaven in order to link me to God and thereby he makes me rich what are the riches we'll hear they are the first thing I need is pardon and I get in him and abundant pardon what is God well in Christ he's abundant in mercy I've already quoted John 3:16 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not she'll not pity he is forgiven come to God says Christ in me and you'll be given an abundant God how can we make this plain or clear listen to this if we confess sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness that's the part as far as the East is from the West how far has he removed our transgressions from that's the message that's the good news you're troubled about your sin your past life the things you've done you can't get rid of them the Volcom takes in a way cure this one who's come down from heaven to us the corazon away into the sea of god's forgetfulness he has done it a Bonaparte plenteous in mercy our hymns are full of it out in our let the healing streams are bound this job's with me we've been singing it in our last him go to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be there it is he's got it in all it's full and in spite of us here is the message to a pauper who can't get rid of this the petty so appalling Christ has come and has taken it away he is no longer in the red that side of the ledger has been cleared it's been dealt with once and forever that's the message of this gospel cause if you don't realize you're a sinner there's no good news for you if you just go into the presence of God as the Pharisee went and said I thank thee O Lord that I am such a fine fellow there's no good news for you and he won't realize your need of good news probably until you are on your deathbed but then you will then you'll see your righteousness for the filthy of rags they are then you see that your morality is money earth then you'll see that all your virtues are mild but if you've already seen what a hopeless failure you are and what a sinner in the sight of God here is the good news that tells you that he came all the way from heaven to earth in order to delete it and take it away but not only that he gives your life it isn't enough to have the accounts heard on one side and the debt canceled that still leaves you with nothing oh he'll set you up in business if I may go on with my illustration listen to him this is what he says I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly that said the paupers the people have got nothing we've got no life in them he says that's why I've come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly super abundance in that cometh unto me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst to the woman of Samaria he said the water that I shall give him shall be in him as a warm water springing up into everlasting life this message is not merely a message of forgiveness it's a message of new life a new birth a new beginning my dear friend I care not how dare you are it is spiritual things and are helpless and hopeless come to him listen to him he says I got a message for poeple and the message is abundant abounding like life which is life indeed that is it power you need are you ashamed of your constant falling to the same and your wretched miserable failure to keep your bones and your pledges and your resolutions listen he gives power to the faint and to them that have knows no mighty increase its strength so what the Apostle Paul can say without blushing I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me my friend when Christ brings you to God he's bringing into one of whom I can say this he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think that's what offered you this is good news you see for weaklings for those who have no strength for failures for men will be defeated by the world and the flesh of the devil all what a message it's a gospel it's good news that only took self-satisfied Pharisee thank God that he doesn't need it is not like this publican that wretched failure he's a success my dear friend though you and I are living in 1955 can't you see that it's exactly the same wouldn't you like to live as Abram lived wouldn't you like to be able to look at death and Beyond as Abram did I've told you the secret believe what God says about life as it is apart from him come out of it come out of it it'll never satisfy you it will always lead to misery and unhappiness and in the end it'll lead to death and the judgment of God through all eternity come out of it listen to this call of God to follow Jesus Christ God forgives your sin and follow Christ endure the punishment of it and God gives you free pardon he'll give you this new name the name of his owns and he will lead through life through death and even into the eternal city itself and it's everlasting bliss and joy come out follow him. 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