Sermon on the Mount 1
JASON MARTIN / General Adult
Jesus in the Gospels / Matthew 5:1–3
The Poor in Spirit
Read Matthew 5:1-12
1. Matthew has 5 major sermon sections
a. Matthew 5-7 = The Sermon on the Mount
i. Living in God’s Kingdom - Genesis
b. Matthew 10 = The Mission Discourse
i. Go out and announce the Kingdom - Exodus
c. Matthew 13 = Kingdom Parables
i. What is the Kingdom like and how does it grow? - Leviticus
d. Matthew 18 = Community Discourse
i. How Kingdom citizens live together in community - Numbers
e. Matthew 24-25 = The Olivet Discourse
i. The coming Kingdom and judgment - Deuteronomy
1. Each of these five blocks ends with ‘when Jesus had finished these words’
2. Matt 5:1 - The mountain isn’t an accident or a small detail
a. Exodus 19-20 - Moses goes up on Mount Sinai and represents the people to God - and God to the people. Moses receives God’s Word and relays it to the people. He is their mediator.
b. Jesus goes up the mountain and speaks God’s Word. Right away, Matthew is letting us know that Jesus is greater than Moses.
i. This will repeat over and over
1. out of Egypt > through the waters > through the wilderness > up the mountain to give God’s Word
2. ‘you heard it said, but I say to you’
a. Jesus is NOT saying that Moses was wrong, He’s explaining what these things mean in the Kingdom
Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
Matthew 17:5 ESV
5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
1. Moses and Elijah are there, but Jesus is Who they commanded to hear.
3. Matt 5:2 - He was mainly teaching the disciples
a. ‘He sat down to teach’ is how a Rabbi would teach his students
b. This teaching wasn’t meant to teach Gentiles how to be good people. He’s teaching the disciples what life is like under the rule of their King and in His Kingdom.
4. Matt 5:3 - poor in spirit / Kingdom of Heaven
a. Jesus isn’t starting with 10 rules to follow. He starts with who is blessed in the Kingdom - and it’s not who they expected
i. The world says ‘blessed are the’
1. rich
2. powerful
3. successful
4. athletic
b. Jesus says the poor in spirit - it’s a reversal of expectations like we find all over the upside-down Kingdom of God
i. What does poor in spirit mean?
1. the word used means destitute / poverty - not simply ‘humble’
a. NOT - feeling worthless
b. Rather - I have nothing I can bring to God that makes me deserving of His Kingdom
2. pride is ‘ I have something to offer God - I did something’
3. poor in spirit is ‘God did something and I need Him’
a. Psalm 34:18 “18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 51:15–17 ESV
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
i. The poor in spirit don’t bring God their resumes - they bring broken spirits and empty hands to receive the Kingdom.
5. Remember what Jesus taught in the synagogue in
a. Luke 4:18 “18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,”
i. They weren’t the poor in spirit. Instead, they thought they were rich in spirit. They had the resumes.
b. Read Isaiah 66:1-2
Isaiah 66:1–2 ESV
1 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? 2 All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
a. Look at all the good I’ve done Vs. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner
b. Read Luke 18:9-14
i. The pharisee had something to offer God - the tax collector didn’t
c. In Luke 15:11-24, the prodigal son came back to his father empty handed, but forgiven. “Father, I have sinned..”
6. The opposite of the poor in spirit isn’t the rich - it’s the self-sufficient
a. Read Revelation 3:14-18
i. they didn’t understand their true condition
7. Matt 5:3 - theirs is the Kingdom
a. present tense - already / not yet - the Kingdom has arrived and the Sermon on the Mount is part of that announcement.
b. Jesus is identifying the people who are already experiencing God’s favor because they already belong to the Kingdom.
c. The Kingdom is received, not earned.
8. Notice the progression of the beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12;
a. Social status
i. I recognize my poverty
ii. I mourn over sin
iii. I become meek before God
b. Character
i. I hunger for righteousness
ii. I become merciful
iii. I become pure in heart
c. Conduct
i. I become a peacemaker
ii. I endure persecution for righteousness’ sake
iii. I endure the persecution of false witness
Exported from Logos Bible Study, 4:49 PM September 14, 2026.