(The Sermon on the Mount and Prayer - Session 1) - Part 5 — Gerhard Du Toit

Christ’s Ministry and Responses in Galilee

And my brother and my sister, from what we can gather in the Gospel of Matthew, is it possible this Thursday night to say to one another that from chapter 4 onwards to the end of the 18th chapter, because in the beginning of the 19th chapter, Matthew made a statement and he said, after these things, Jesus departed out of Galilee.

And it's possible for us to be able to say that most of his time within the region of Galilee, or rather in those chapters in Matthew's Gospel, that's where Christ finds himself according to Matthew. Now, you and I need to ask ourselves, if it was true that the Lord Jesus spent so much of his time in Matthew's Gospel within the regions of Galilee, we need to ask ourselves, what did the Savior do?

Three Aspects of Jesus’ Life and Ministry

And so if you would study those chapters, you will discover that you come across three different aspects of the life and the ministry of the Lord Jesus. You will discover that from chapter 11 to chapter 18, we are looking at reactions that came from the lips of Christ as people responded to the words that He said unto them.

Jesus’ Words Force a Decision

You say, why do you say that, Brother Gerard? Because my brother and my sister, the voice or the words of the Lord Jesus Christ never neutralize people. I mean, whenever He said to them something, they were never allowed to sit on the fence.

They knew exactly what it was going to cost them. And as they faced the reality of the price, people responded in two different ways, and those two different ways that they responded, do we find in the understanding of the conviction of sin and the acts of the apostles.

Peter’s Sermon and Conviction of Sin

Because you remember in Acts chapter 2 when Peter preached, the Bible says they were pricked in their hearts, and that's one of those words in the Greek New Testament that is speaking to us about the conviction of sin.

But they were pricked in their hearts to the degree that they wanted to be saved. And you remember what they said to the apostle Peter when Peter preached that first sermon, and they turned to him, and the Bible says that they were pricked in their hearts, and they said to Peter, men of Brethren, what must we do?

And he said to them, repent and be baptized, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And he was speaking about the promise of salvation. Now there is another word that we discover that come as a result of the words that came from the lips of Christ, because we said a moment ago that every word that came from the lips of the Lord Jesus brought a two-fold response.

Stephen’s Ministry and the Apostolic Calling

It never neutralized people. They loved Him or they hated Him. And the other word that you find is in the book of Acts again. You remember there was a man with the name of Stephen. He was one of those deacons in the early church, or one of those evangelists in the early church.

And when the church was growing, and the Acts of the Apostles, the Bible made this statement because the early apostles said that we want to give ourselves to the ministry of the Word of God, and we want to give ourselves to prayer.

But the church was growing, and they found those men, and there was a man with the name of Stephen. And the Bible said about Stephen that he was full of a Holy Ghost. He was a man that was full of faith.

Stephen’s Sermon and the Conviction of His Hearers

And you remember he only preached one recorded sermon. It lasted for about 56 verses, and it cost him his very life. And there was a moment that as they listened to the life of Stephen, and the words of Stephen, and the words that came from the life of Stephen, my brother and sister, were so deeply cutting into the lies of those people that listened.

And listen, let me tell you all that he did. He was quoting Scripture. He was giving them the history of the Old Testament. And when the Spirit of God took the Word of God and brought those realms of conviction that was so relevant and so real upon the lives of those people.

Rejection of Stephen’s Message

You remember what the book of Acts said. The book of Acts said they snatched upon their teeth. The book of Acts said they were cutting their hearts. You know what the Greek word means in the New Testament?

It speaks of the fact that they were sown asunder.