Simple Faith

Bill Henry: This is called being poor in spirit. Beloved in Christ, we are still not worthy, even today, to have Jesus under our roofs. Do you believe that? There are some here that say, "No, I am worthy now." But you're not worthy. You're made worthy by the blood of Jesus Christ. Remember this.

Well, that makes me feel humbled, Pastor Bill. Good. I don't feel as important as I did a moment ago. Good.

Guest (Male): There's a word in the English language that has perhaps caused more destruction and heartache than any other word, and that word is pride. This is Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry. Welcome to the program today. Pride has kept many people from God simply because they don't think they need a God.

Today on Simple Faith, we'll notice again the first qualification for entrance into God's kingdom: becoming poor in spirit. Pastor Bill has just started a brand-new series based on the Sermon on the Mount. Today we'll observe one of the marks of a true believer, which is humility. We're looking at the Beatitudes, the "Blessed are" statements from Jesus. So let's jump right in. Here's Pastor Bill beginning with a quick glance at Isaiah chapter 6.

Bill Henry: Verse 5: "Then I said—" So what is his reaction to seeing God? "Then I said, It's all over. I'm doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips and I live among the people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of heaven's armies." You see, guys and gals, when Isaiah saw the Lord God Almighty, he came undone, your Bible might say. He became poor in spirit. He became humbled before God.

A lot of us need a good dose of humbling before God. And again, I firmly do not believe we can be saved apart from this. A humbling before God. It's interesting in Matthew chapter 8, we read of another fellow. In verse 5, it says: "Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him—" Now, a centurion was this Roman leader. He's one of the guys over 100 other soldiers. He was an important man.

He came to Jesus, verse 6, and said, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented." And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof." Would you say that to Jesus today? I'd be like, "Come on in, Jesus!" No, the humble says, "Lord, I'm not worthy for you even to come under my roof, but only speak the word and my servant will be healed."

He goes on, "For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this one, Go, and he goes; to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it." When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such faith, not even in Israel." This guy wasn't even a Jew, and he understood that Jesus was far more important and righteous than he was. "Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof."

This is called being poor in spirit. Beloved in Christ, we are still not worthy even today to have Jesus under our roofs. Do you believe that? There are some here that say, "No, I am worthy now." But you're not worthy. You're made worthy by the blood of Jesus Christ. Remember this. Well, that makes me feel humbled, Pastor Bill. Good. I don't feel as important as I did a moment ago. Good.

Sincerely, even Job. Think about Job, this man, this great humble man when it came to suffering and all these different things. But he, too, ended up questioning the Lord. If you read the entire book of Job, he comes to a place where he starts to agree with his so-called friends. He starts comparing himself to his friends and even gets angry with God and judges God. So God humbles him.

If you start in Job 38, check this out. It says, "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said—" Let me ask a quick question. How many people here have ever questioned the Lord? Raise your hand. You ever question, "Lord, why did you allow this? How could you do this, Lord? Don't you know how important they were to me? Lord, don't you understand what this job could have done? Lord, I can't believe you're letting me go through this." Ready? Here's the Lord's answer to you right now. Ready to be humbled? Here you go.

"Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man. I will question you and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding." Those of you who raised your hands and have questioned God, how many were here when God laid the foundations of the earth? Please raise your hands.

He goes on and on. In verse 12, he says, "Have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place?" How many people here have caused the sun to come up today? Verse 19, he goes on, "Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed its neck with thunder?" He goes into chapter 40. "Then the Lord answered and said to Job out of the whirlwind and said: Dress for action like a man. I will question you and you will make it known to me. Will you put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like his?"

This goes on and on until chapter 42. Then Job becomes poor in spirit when he hears all this from the Lord. Then Job answered the Lord, Job 42:1: "I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know." That should be our response, by the way. Not more questions or holding those questions to God.

Verse 4: "Hear and I will speak. I will question you and you make it known to me. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore—" Check it out. Ready? Here comes the poor in spirit. "Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." Have you come to that place where you despise yourself and repent in dust and ashes? That's what makes a true Christian.

This is so important for all of us here. We need to understand that to come to Christ, it takes a great humbling like Job. To be like Peter when he was confronted by the Lord for his denial; he went out and wept bitterly. To be as Paul as the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus and his life was changed forever. Even John the apostle, the beloved John, when he saw the Lord unveiled.

This is John; he was an older man now. He's done many miracles and been preaching for 40, 50 years or more. He'd seen the risen Lord, and then when he sees Jesus again in Revelation 1:16, we read this: "Jesus had in His right hand seven stars, and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead."

When we understand who God truly is, when we come to salvation and saving faith, we will fall at his feet. You are God Almighty. Some people say, "I can't wait to see God. I'm going to give him a piece of my mind." Really? But I love how Jesus responds. "He laid his right hand on me, saying to me, Do not be afraid. I am the first and last. I am He who lives and was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. Amen."

James, the half-brother of Jesus, said this: "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up." Well, Bill, if I come to that place, I'm never going to recover. Good! Don't ever recover your old self. You'll still fight against him or her for the rest of your life in this body, but never recover them again. Notice it says that as we humble ourselves and lower ourselves in the sight of God, he will lift you up.

We don't have to lift ourselves up. We don't have to believe in yourself or love yourself first. No, be humbled by God. Let him lift you up. See, to be those who humble ourselves in first coming to Jesus and now as we remain in Jesus. It doesn't just happen when we come to faith. Remember what Jesus said: return to your first love. That's how we do those works you did at the beginning. We should remain broken forevermore.

At least broken in that part. One day it will pass away. This corruptible will put on incorruptible. Praise God! But until that time, we have a fight going on, a battle between our flesh and the spirit. Don't allow pride to creep into our hearts as his chosen children. Don't allow pride to come in. You see, when the people of Israel came together, the Lord pointed out their sin to them, and I love this. At one point, they wept bitterly.

Ezra 10:1: "While Ezra was praying and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God—" Now, what's sad is this is really strange to some of you here. What do you mean weeping over my sin? What does that mean? How about it means weeping over the sin that put Jesus Christ upon the cross? I just told some lies. You put Jesus on the cross. I was just prideful. You put Jesus on the cross. I looked at some pornography.

You put Jesus on the cross. Keep going down. You put Jesus, I put Jesus on the cross. So they saw this. They're confessing, they're weeping, they're bowing down before the house of God. A very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel, for the people wept very bitterly. It's because of their sin. They had gone against the word of God.

We see the same thing happen in Nehemiah. I love this. So in Nehemiah, all the people, the walls have been rebuilt and the people have come together, they're celebrating. In Nehemiah 8:1, we read this: "Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate, and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses." Remember, this is only the first five books.

So Ezra the priest, verse 2, brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday. So that would be like us. Anybody want to be here till about 4:00 reading the word of God? Some of you are sure. Most of you are like, "Uh-uh. I'm going to be falling asleep."

I'm going to be trying to sneak out of here, but not them. I love this. So they were there from morning until midday before the men and women. They're reading, just reading the word, those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. In verse 8, it goes on, and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," while lifting up their hands.

They bowed their heads and they worshiped the Lord with their faces on the ground. In verse 9, Nehemiah, who was governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites taught the people, said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Why did they weep? Because they realized that they had been breaking all these laws of God.

Has that broken your heart? Does it break your heart today? Even as a Christian, does it break your heart, or is it no big deal? It's a huge deal! We know better and yet we still sin every day. Amen? But that's why we're quick now. We should be quick to fall on our faces, sometimes to weep. "Lord, I'm so sorry. I've been a Christian for 40 years. Lord, you got the short end of the stick with me. I'm all cleaned up now and I'm still an ugly pig."

I'm still an ugly dog in the streets, but you so love me that you gave your life for me. You loved me even while I was a sinner, Lord. And he still loves me even now. How can I not weep over my sin that killed him? How can I not weep even now when I sin against my wife or my kids or other people? First and foremost, by the way, it's against God. How do I not weep and mourn over that sin?

Not that I might lose my wife or my kids, but that I've sinned against God who loves me, who is holy, who created me. Now, this goes on and on. The same thing happened with the people of Israel in Acts chapters 2 and 3. As the gospel was preached, they came to a place of repentance as they heard of their own sin and salvation in Christ. But then there was another heart that we see in Acts chapter 7.

You see, with Stephen and the Sanhedrin. While those in Acts chapters 2 and 3 heard these words of God and they were cut to the heart, it says. They were cut to the heart and they asked, "Oh, what must we do to be saved?" as they were pointed out with their sin. Yet in Acts chapter 7, when Stephen was before the Jewish Sanhedrin and all those who were religious and thought they were so mighty, they gnashed their teeth at them. They hardened their hearts.

You see, guys and gals, we can still have this same reaction today when people hear the word of the truth of their sin and the cross of Jesus Christ. When you hear today that you've sinned, how do you react as a Christian? As a professing Christian, how do you react still when your husband or wife, your son or daughter, parents or your friends or somebody comes to you?

Jay and I, Pastor Jay and I, we've had to rebuke some people and correct them as we're told to do in the Bible, in the word. Here it's not very often, but we've had to. Some people think it's like we enjoy doing it. We fight over, "Oh, it's my turn. I get to do it. No, no, I get to do it this time." No, it's the opposite. "It's your turn. You go do it. I don't want to do it. You do it."

No, we do it because God tells us to, but we're never happy about doing it. But here's the thing: some people hear it and go, "Oh, Pastor Bill, so sorry. Didn't realize. You're right." Others just go, "How dare you point this at me?" They get all mean and nasty. And their Christianity comes out. No, it's not their Christianity. Even when we sit here and we're teaching and preaching, all of a sudden we're talking about us as Christians.

You can look around and some people are like, "Yeah, I know, man. I still love Jesus but I know that's still me." Others are like, "No, that's not really me. I don't need to change." And we need to be careful because that old saying is still true: the same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay. The same word of God that can soften us to the Spirit of God and keep us in that place of being poor in spirit before God.

Well, Pastor Bill, aren't you going to remind us about God's grace and his love today? No. I mean, I have here and there, but this is what Jesus was teaching, guys and gals. I don't have to offset everything all the time. Let's hear about being humble before our God. And that's an okay thing to do. John the Baptist, it's interesting, he called out the proud and religious folk.

He said when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. He said, "You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Prove by the way that you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God." In other words, be poor in spirit. Don't just say to each other, "We're safe for we are Christians," and "I came to faith at Bible camp." Oh, wait, it doesn't say that. Sorry.

It says, "For I'm a descendant of Abraham." That means nothing, for I tell you God can raise up children of Abraham from these very stones. Look, guys and gals, remember that your profession of faith, if it's real, it will start with being poor in spirit and it will continue with being poor in spirit because again, there's nothing for us to be prideful about.

What? I don't like that, Pastor Bill. It doesn't matter. It's really your flesh, by the way, that doesn't like that. My flesh. Because these same warnings stand for us all today. Christianity not only starts with the Holy Spirit convicting us of our sins and leading to that place of choosing to be poor in spirit or not, he also will keep us there. So that we're quick to repent of sin as we said a moment ago. We're quick to confess our sin. The true Christian will be poor in spirit.

It's interesting, in Laodicea, one of the churches that Jesus wrote to in Revelation chapter 3, he warned them of this. He said, "I know your works, that you're neither hot nor cold. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich and I have prospered and I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked."

I think he's not talking about physical riches there; I think he's talking about spiritual riches. And again, because we're living, I believe, in this church age of Laodicea, we have to be careful of this especially so. Are we living like the Laodiceans? Are we putting trust in our own— "I'm a Christian, I don't need to read my Bible to tell me what's right and wrong. It's all under grace, it doesn't matter."

Then you're putting on, "I need nothing," you're saying to Jesus. You're the one who is lukewarm. You think that you've prospered, you need nothing. You're rich spiritually, not realizing you're wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. He says, "I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, white garments of the righteousness of God so that you may clothe yourselves and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve for your eyes to anoint your eyes so that you may truly see."

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Are you poor in spirit today? Have you been humbled? Do you keep yourself humble? As we're closing, we see what their reward is. He says, "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." You see, blessed are the poor in spirit, those who understand that their only riches spiritually come from Christ. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is how we gain the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, beloved in Christ.

Not through our own works of righteousness, not through our own righteousness, but by understanding that we are completely impoverished spiritually, but we have everything in Jesus Christ. That we have everything we need at the cross. Everything we need in his word. Every spiritual gift. Man, I will take all of those, but I will remain ever humble and thankful to the Lord for them all because I don't deserve one.

But by God's grace, they are all here. And again, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Again, as we look upon the cross and we find forgiveness, the world calls us silly, but in reality, we find free forgiveness and life eternal with God himself. Anybody? Woo! How blessed. And no, we won't, by the way, gain the world here. Notice that. For all these things are perishing. All these worldly things are perishing.

That's one of the main terrible things about the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel, the name it and claim it, the blab it and grab it, Bill Johnson and Benny Hinn and all those others. Because they're all about here and now. And by the way, I'm old enough to see a lot of these guys dying now and gals dying. Did they not have enough faith? They die of something. They don't just die of old age. They die of something.

You see, God takes care of us here on earth as we were singing today. We're going to see that in Matthew 6. God will take care of us, but he doesn't care if we're rich or if we're healthy all the time because he wants us in heaven with him for all eternity.

Guest (Male): That wraps up our look at Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, the first of the Beatitudes. And next time, we're going to move right along to Matthew chapter 5, verse 4: "Blessed are those who mourn." I hope you've been blessed by today's message from Pastor Bill Henry. This has been Simple Faith. Simple Faith comes your way from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today we brought you a message from Pastor Bill from his new series in the Sermon on the Mount.

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And if you'd prefer the U.S. mail, our mailing address is P.O. Box 55, Battle Ground, Washington, 98604. I'd like to invite you to come worship with us here at Simple Faith Calvary Chapel. We have three services on Sunday morning at 8:00, 9:44, and 11:30, and a great time of studying God's word every Wednesday night at 7:00. For more information and directions, just go to simplefaith.org. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. And now, before we say goodbye for today, here's a special message from Pastor Bill.

Bill Henry: Hello, this is Pastor Bill. May I ask you to please pray for this radio ministry? And I would also like to encourage you to look at a few of the radio programs that you are blessed by and start to help support them financially each month with a small blessing of $5, $10, or $20 a month, maybe more even. But even small gifts from a lot of the Lord's saints can help support radio ministries that bless you and keep them on the air. Thanks and Lord bless you.

Guest (Male): Well, thank you for joining us today. Be sure to join us next time as our series on the Sermon on the Mount continues here on Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry, brought to you by Simple Faith Calvary Chapel.