How to Trust God’s Promises In Difficult Times

This summary, optimized for Google’s SEO standards, outlines Dr. Adrian Rogers’ foundational teaching on the Beatitudes from Matthew Chapter 5, which he calls the “keys to the kingdom”. Rogers focuses specifically on the first key: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. This message asserts that true happiness, or “blessedness” (Greek: makarios), is found not in pursuing worldly success but in the radical, necessary act of recognizing one’s absolute spiritual bankruptcy before God.

I. The Blueprint for Blessedness (Makarios)

The Beatitudes are presented as a “blueprint for happiness”. Rogers compares chasing happiness to a dog chasing its tail: the more we pursue it directly, the more it runs away. True joy, or blessedness, is makarios—meaning to be self-contained and to have what you need within you.

Jesus emphasizes character qualities—what a man is—over worldly possessions or prestige. The world prioritizes “the big B’s”: the bucks, the brains, the beauty, the brawn. However, many people who possess these things do not have true blessedness or joy.

The spiritual qualities Jesus describes are: poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers.

II. The First Key: Understanding Spiritual Bankruptcy

The foundation of the Christian life starts with the first Beatitude: being poor in spirit.

Defining “Poor in Spirit”

The word “poor” used in this context does not mean ordinary poverty, but specifically means a beggar. It describes a person who is absolutely, totally, devastatingly impoverished or destitute.

• Financial vs. Spiritual: Jesus is not talking about financial poverty. The Bible never puts a premium on material poverty.
• Not Poor-Spirited: Jesus is also not referring to being “poor-spirited”—a milk-toast person who is “hungover” or just feigning outward humility. True humility is an internal condition, not an external expression like having a “face as long as a saxophone”.

The Spiritual Realm

The human nature is composed of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit is the realm through which we know the world above us—the spiritual world. To be “poor in spirit” means admitting that, in the realm of the spirit, one is absolutely, totally bankrupt and a beggar before God. If a person fails to see this, they will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

When approaching God, one does not “strut into His presence”. The root word for “poor” means “to cringe, and to cower, to shrink back”. There are “no peacocks in heaven”. A person must say, “In my hand, no price I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling”.

III. The Discovery of Self: Brokenness Follows Bankruptcy

The second Beatitude, mourning, naturally follows the discovery of spiritual bankruptcy.

Seeing Yourself vs. Others

Many people sit in the congregation with the attitude, “I’m not perfect, but I’m not as bad as some other people”. Rogers states that having this attitude means “you are not yet bankrupt”. People with this haughty attitude have never seen themselves.

• Filthy Rags: They have failed to discover the biblical truth that “even your righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of a righteousness and a holy God”.
• Pharisaical Righteousness: Jesus taught that unless a person’s righteousness “shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees,” they will not enter heaven. Since the Pharisees were outwardly better than almost anyone today, the only way to exceed their righteousness is through the imputed righteousness of Christ.
• The Standard: The standard is perfection: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect”. Measuring yourself against others, such as hypocrites in the church, is foolish; one must measure oneself against the standard of Almighty God.

The Catalyst for Brokenness

A person’s “greatest need is to see their need”. This self-discovery comes when we see God for who He is.

• Peter’s Revelation: Simon Peter, an aggressive, big fisherman, only realized his sinfulness after a glimpse of Christ’s majesty, leading him to cry out, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man”.
• Isaiah’s Vision: The prophet Isaiah, after thundering “Woe is you” against others, cried, “Woe is me” when he saw the Lord high and lifted up on His throne.
• The Syrophoenician Woman: Jesus cruelly called this pagan woman a “dog” to bring her to the point of brokenness. Instead of taking offense, she humbly admitted, “Lord, that’s the truth,” but pleaded for the “crumbs that fall from the table.” Her heart was broken, and Jesus declared her great.