Approaching the Mount

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Matthew 5-7

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Well, this morning we begin a series from the Sermon on the
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Mount. This is the first week we'll begin after many weeks of beginning in Exodus, this is the first week we'll begin in Matthew for some time to come, perhaps several months, as we work through these chapters from Matthew five through seven.
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And since this is given as a complete unit of teaching, a sermon as it were,
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I want to read the entirety of Matthew five through seven for us. And then with the time that remains,
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I'll lay out an introduction, things that I want to put before you as we begin to make our way through chapters five, six and seven in the
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Gospel of Matthew. So if you care to look on with me as I read, you can turn to Matthew chapter five.
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Matthew chapter five. And seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain and when he was seated, his disciples came to him.
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Then he opened his mouth and taught them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
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Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
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God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
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Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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And blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.
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Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?
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It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world.
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A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
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Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your
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Father in heaven. Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.
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I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
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Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
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But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
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For I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
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You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.
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But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
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And whoever says to his brother, Raka shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, you fool, shall be in danger of hellfire.
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Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way.
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First, be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly while you're on the way with him.
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Lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer and you'll be thrown into prison.
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Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you've paid the last penny.
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You've heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
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If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, cast it from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
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And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off, cast it from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
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Furthermore, it has been said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.
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But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery.
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And whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely.
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But shall perform your oaths to the Lord. But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is
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God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.
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Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your yes be your yes and your no, no.
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For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
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But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
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If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too.
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Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
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But I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you.
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And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your father in heaven.
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For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
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For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
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And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?
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Therefore, you shall be perfect just as your father in heaven is perfect.
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Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them.
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Otherwise, you have no reward from your father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.
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Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will himself reward you openly.
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And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.
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Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you've shut your door, pray to your father who is in the secret place, and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
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And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
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Therefore, do not be like them. For your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him.
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In this manner, therefore, pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
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Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
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And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
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Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
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But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
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Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to be fasting.
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Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head, wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your
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Father, who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret, will reward you openly.
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Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
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For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye.
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If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
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If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.
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You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.
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Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly
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Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
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So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you, even
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Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you,
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O you of little faith? Therefore, do not worry, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?
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For all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things, but seek first the kingdom of God and His love.
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His righteousness. And all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things, sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
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Judge not, lest you be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged.
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And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
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Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye?
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Hypocrite. First, remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
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Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn, tear you in pieces.
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Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you.
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For everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds.
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And to him who knocks, it will be opened. Or what man is there among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
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Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him?
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Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets.
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Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
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Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
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Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
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You will know them by their fruits. The men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles.
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Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
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A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down, thrown into the fire.
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Therefore, by their fruits, you will know them. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my
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Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name?
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And I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
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Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
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But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall.
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And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
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Chapters five through seven compose the first major discourse in the
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Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew, if we can sort of be loose with the macro structure, goes from narrative to discourse, narrative, discourse, narrative, discourse, narrative, discourse.
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Five major discourses or bodies of teaching interspersed with narrative.
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And so here, with the so -called Sermon on the Mount from chapters five through seven, is the first of the discourses.
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And these discourses aren't happenstance, they're part of Matthew's desire to present the person and work of Jesus Christ, the
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Son of God, the Messiah. And so we find, for example, the beginning of the Beatitudes pronouncing blessing, corresponding to the final discourse, which begins with the pronouncement of woe.
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There's five major discourses, and the first and second, as well as the fourth and fifth, balance out the whole.
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And that brings, of course, the central discourse to the fore. The so -called
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Sermon on the Mount, according to Ian Boxall, was first given this title by Augustine, several centuries after it was first spoken to these disciples gathered at the
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Mount. Perhaps these chapters are more rightly called the teachings or the sayings, if we were to use
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Matthew's own words, but we can oblige the now unavoidable, near universal title, the
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Sermon on the Mount, which would make Jesus a preacher. Not uncomfortable for us to consider
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Jesus a prophet or a preacher. Mark chapter one considers that Jesus went through preaching about the kingdom of God.
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And Jesus, as Spurgeon says, when he began his sermon series on the Beatitudes, that we now have the teaching from the prince of preachers, which is ironic because Spurgeon became known as the prince of preachers.
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But as far as Spurgeon was concerned, Jesus was the prince of preachers. And the greatest sermon the prince of preachers ever preached was
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Matthew five through seven. We have before us, arguably, the most famous words of Jesus.
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From the time following the apostles to the fourth century, the Sermon on the Mount is the most frequently and extensively quoted section of the
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New Testament. These are words that weren't just read, weren't just memorized. These are words that were cherished, taught, celebrated, defended, exhorted.
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And even since the fourth century, this sermon has hardly been surpassed. It's quoted and utilized both inside and outside the church.
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How often we see godless politicians appealing to words from Matthew five, six, or seven.
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Perhaps the most famous quote from the Bible in English -speaking culture is from Matthew chapter seven, "'Judge not, lest you be judged.'"
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Which is, of course, ever quoted, but ever misused or misapplied. The Sermon on the
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Mount for Augustine contains the perfect standard of the
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Christian life. As Luke Johnson writes, in the history of Christian thought, this sermon has been considered an epitome of the teaching of Jesus, and therefore, the very essence of Christianity.
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As A .B. Du Toit writes, no other famous oration poses a more thoroughgoing challenge to every generation.
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It challenges the religious life, the policies, the everyday ethos of a people.
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It's an onslaught of selfishness and self -indulgence and hypocrisy of people or societies or even nations.
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It challenges us in our lethargy, in our hesitancy to break out of our comfort and to accept fully the cost of being a disciple.
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Many attempts have been made to whittle down the challenge of Jesus, and yet the challenge of Jesus always emerges, exposes, and inspires.
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And so as we begin our month -long journey through these verses, we need to be careful that we don't whittle down the challenge of the
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Sermon on the Mount. Now, as we begin, we're crossing over from Exodus chapter 20, where very purposely moving from receiving the
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Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai to standing at the foot of this mount and hearing
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Jesus pronounce this sermon, this teaching of the kingdom of God and of the commandments as he applies them to the lives of his people.
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And so as we cross over from Exodus 20 and arrive here at the Sermon on the Mount, we need to keep in mind the things that we've learned about the moral law along the way.
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Going back to some of the earliest sermons before we began the Ten Commandments, where we considered in more detail from chapters 19 and 20, how we are to understand the moral law of God.
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Let me remind you what our confession summarizes, and I think very rightly so. Second London Confession, chapter 19, which is on the law of God, in paragraph two states, the same law that was written in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in Ten Commandments.
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So here is our doctrine of how to understand the moral law. The moral law was first written upon Adam and Eve's heart as a result of creation.
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It was the perfect rule of righteous that for them was as intrinsic as blinking and breathing.
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It was written on their heart. They could not but keep it. It was their way of life without effort, without strain or striving.
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But even after the fall, this moral law remained the perfect rule of righteousness.
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That has not changed. That has never changed. This is the law. This is the reflection of perfection, of God's own character and what is righteous in his sight.
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And so this perfect rule of righteousness, this moral law, no longer written on the flesh of Adam and Eve, but now, as it were, carved into the stone tablets, this picture of the stony heart of Israel at Mount Sinai.
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Now what was internal at creation is made external in the covenant at Sinai.
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And of course, this is the moral law. Chapter 19, paragraph three goes on to say, these Ten Commandments are now commonly called the moral law.
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Now most of the debates, and these are the things that we'll discuss when we get to chapter five, verse 17 in the
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Sermon on the Mount, most of the debates about the moral law relate to its perpetuity.
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In other words, are we still under the law? What does it mean to no longer be under the law, but to be under Christ?
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What does it mean to no longer be subject to the curse of the law, but to be freed from the curse of the law in Christ?
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What does it mean to serve God by love, which is a fulfillment of the law of Christ?
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What is the law of Christ? All of these questions relate to the moral law and the issue of how does it abide?
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How does it remain? Is there a perpetuity to the moral law? Well, let me give you a preview of where we'll settle when we get to 517.
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We just go to paragraph five in chapter 19 of our confession. And again, we'll spend some time looking at these texts that are being summarized by the confession.
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But here in paragraph 19, chapter 19, paragraph five, we read this.
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The moral law, the moral law, that perfect rule of righteousness, first on the heart, then in the stone, that perfect rule of righteousness, that moral law does forever bind all.
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Have you been noticing the debate about the Ten Commandments in the Louisiana schoolrooms? There's a wonderful article written by Dusty Devers on the need for this, on the rightful need for the
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Ten Commandments to be displayed, to be taught, to be owned. Why? The moral law does forever bind all.
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That's why. As well, justified persons as others. It binds them to the obedience thereof.
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And that not only in regard to the matter contained in it, but also with respect to the authority of God the creator who gave it.
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And neither, this is the vital part, neither does Christ in the gospel in any way dissolve.
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But rather, much strengthens this obligation. So the moral law is binding upon all, whether justified or not.
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The moral law is binding upon all. Its obligations are upon all. And Christ, in the gospel, in no way dissolves this obligation.
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He actually strengthens it. He turns up the intensity, the weight of this obligation.
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All right, that's the position that we are going to hold and defend as we work our way through chapter five.
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Now, what scripture do you think the framers of our confession are drawing on when they say
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Christ in the gospel in no way dissolves but strengthens the obligation of the law? Well, they're drawing from Matthew 5, 17 and 18.
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Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
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Assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass until all the law is fulfilled.
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So our starting point is Jesus does not overturn or undermine the law, he fulfills it.
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Now, another preview, fulfill means more than just reinforce. He's not just in a bald way perpetuating the law, he is doing something transformative by fulfilling it.
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That's a vital point. And how we parse that is very important. We'll save that when we get there.
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But of course, we see here what Jesus taught elsewhere. As he says in John 10, 35, scripture cannot be broken.
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If God is the law giver, then it's not so much the law of Moses as it's always been the law of the
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Lord. Christ's own law. And so he doesn't just point to or uphold the law, he points from the law to himself.
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And therefore, teaches from the law his own people. And we see that already, even in Matthew 7, verse 12, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them.
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This is the law and the prophets. He's applying the law as it is to them, saying you need to follow this and fulfill it.
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So we're meant to frame Exodus 19 and 20 with Matthew five through seven. It's why we've left
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Exodus 20 to come here. And that's not just because we have law teaching and law teaching.
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Matthew is far more sophisticated than that. For example, we read that Jesus went up on a mountain and when he was seated, his disciples came to him.
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Something we read right past, but an ancient reader wouldn't perhaps miss the echo. It's the same phrase in the
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Greek of Matthew 5, 1 as it is in Exodus 19, 3. Of course, in the Septuagint, in the
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Greek translation. We read there in Exodus 19, 3, Moses went up on a mountain or into a mountain.
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We read here in Matthew 5, 1, Jesus went up or into a mountain. Same exact phrase, same exact language.
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Moreover, his disciples come up the mountain with him, just like the 70 elders come up to Moses in the mountain in Exodus 24.
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And what happens when they come up to the lawgiver? They see the Lord and the law is given.
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So there's a thematic parallel here. We're meant to draw a comparison between Moses and Jesus, something that Matthew is laying forth.
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Now it's important that we understand this comparison rightly. It's actually not just Matthew 5 through 7, it's something that runs through the whole of Matthew's gospel, a very important study.
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I would disagree with a lot of his presuppositions, but the content is very important. Dale Allison, who wrote a study on the typology of Moses in the gospel of Matthew.
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I'll be amazed if anyone Ebays that or looks that up, but very important study, and I'll be referencing a lot of material as we work through Matthew 5 through 7.
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So there's this major thematic parallel, but how we understand the comparison is very important.
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Jesus, this is very important, Jesus is not the giver of a new law. Jesus is not the giver of a new law.
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Remember what we read, the summary. Neither does Christ in any way dissolve, but much rather strengthen the obligation of the moral law.
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Jesus does not give a new law. Rather, Matthew presents Jesus as the new law giver in contrast to Moses.
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So Jesus doesn't give a new law, but Jesus is the new law giver, unlike Moses. We can go all the way back to about a century after Jesus' death and see that from the very beginning, early
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Christians approached the gospel of Matthew and looked at Jesus in this way. Justin Martyr, one of the earliest
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Christian apologists that we have, he was converted about 130 AD, so you figure about 80 years after the
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Apostle Paul was planting churches. And Justin Martyr engages in defending the faith to skeptics of both pagan and Jewish origin.
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And one of his defenses against a Jewish skeptic named Trifo, this book is called
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Dialogue with Trifo, Trifo's arguing Christians aren't carrying out God's commandments.
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They reject the law of Moses in the way that Jews understand it, and therefore they're lawless.
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How can they be pleasing to God? They don't keep the law of Moses. And Justin Martyr responds in part by saying
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Christ is a new law giver. He uses that phrase. He says, Christ is our new law giver through whom the poor have the gospel preached to them and the blind receive their sight.
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In other words, Justin is saying one greater than Moses has come. Hebrews 3 .3,
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this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. And as much as he who builds the house has more honor than the house.
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See what the writer of Hebrews is saying. Moses just dwelt in a house that God created.
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Christ has more glory than Moses because he doesn't just dwell in the house. He's the house builder.
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He's the one who gave the law. Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, the reformers, broadly speaking, all wrote extensively on the
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Sermon on the Mount being the law of Christ. However diverse their views, and there's big differences between Luther and Calvin and so forth, they all generally held that Matthew five through seven represents a proper interpretation of the law of Moses.
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That what Christ is doing is essentially clarifying what the Jews in their traditions had obscured or misapplied or marginalized.
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More or less, they were saying, there's a continuity between the law of Christ and the law of Moses.
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And yet Christ is a new law giver whose glory transcends the glory of Moses, whose honor and authority far transcends the honor and authority of Moses.
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One greater than Moses has come. Why? Because Christ does not merely relay the law.
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Christ comes to fulfill the law. We can see
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Matthew working this out, this fulfillment. So for example, we don't just have a fulfillment of the law in the teaching of Jesus as if Christ is fulfilling the law by teaching
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Matthew five through seven. No. Christ fulfills the law throughout the gospel of Matthew, not just by what he teaches, but by his life, by his death, by his resurrection, he fulfills the law.
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And so we have the pattern of the first four chapters, which is vital, right?
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Matthew doesn't just have this transcript of a sermon and says, where am I gonna fit this?
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Well, we have the infancy narrative, I kind of have some details. Jesus begins his ministry. I guess this is as good a place as any.
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No. How we understand the first four chapters related to the fifth is vital. So what do we have?
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We actually have an Exodus pattern. We have the storyline of Exodus being, as it were, refracted through the narrative of Matthew.
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So we begin Matthew with the slaughter of infants, much like Exodus begins with the massacre of the infants.
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And then we have Moses in Exodus returning to his people as the long -awaited deliverer, the promised deliverer,
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Stephen's speech and acts presents Moses. And here in Matthew, we have the long -awaited deliverer returning to his people.
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And then we have the baptism through the waters, both in Exodus as well as in Matthew. And then the testing in the wilderness.
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And then, both in Exodus and in Matthew, we have Jesus and Moses ascending the mountain to give the law.
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We have a perfect parallel between the beginning of Exodus and the beginning of Matthew.
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Matthew confirming that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the son of David, the son of God, Emmanuel, God with us, the yes, the amen of all of the
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Old Testament prophets. And in the baptism and wilderness testing, Jesus' sonship is emphasized.
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He is the perfect son, unlike Adam, unlike Israel, obedient and submissive to the will of his father, trusting his father even when paradise has become a desert and he's starving rather than feasting on whatever's pleasing in his sight.
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Jesus here is presented as a new Moses. When we put together Matthew one through five,
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Jesus is presented as a greater law giver. The one that even Moses himself in Deuteronomy 18 said, there's one, a prophet who's coming, hear him.
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You must hear him. And of course, we see the issue of the authority.
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In fact, we look at Matthew 4 .23 and carry it through. This is the beginning of Jesus' teaching.
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Matthew presents Jesus as a great teacher. We're going to begin looking at that next week. Moses can only relay what's revealed to him.
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For example, Deuteronomy 10 .1, he'll go in to the people and say, the Lord said to me, right?
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Whenever we find Moses going to the Lord, the Lord says to Moses, go and tell my people this.
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And Moses goes to the people and says, the Lord told me to tell you this. He's a reporter, he's a conveyor, he's a messenger.
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But how does Jesus speak in the Sermon on the Mount? I say to you. You've heard this said,
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I am telling you. I am saying to you. So we have an authority.
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He speaks of his own accord. Speaks from his own authority. Something that at the very end of the
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Sermon on the Mount, even the people recognize. Who is this who speaks with this kind of authority? We don't hear teaching like this.
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In fact, he goes so far as to present himself as the divine judge. So in Matthew 7, he says, not everyone who says to me,
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Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. I will say to them, depart from me. So the one who speaks authoritatively is the one who exercises judgment on that day with all authority.
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Whoever hears these sayings of mine, I will liken to a wise man, right?
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These are his sayings. This is his authority. He is presented as the one greater than Moses, the one who must be heard.
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And so are you preparing yourselves to hear him? Weeks and months ahead, are you preparing yourself to hear him?
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We are about to grapple with some very challenging demands from our Lord and King. And as we'll come to see, the demands of Jesus are far more rigorous than anything the
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Pharisees held. People like to think that we can balance out potential legalism by lessening the demands of the law.
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That's never the way to deal with legalism. That's a way of muddling, justification, a way of ruining, sanctification.
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We don't actually lessen the demands of the law. Jesus doesn't lessen the demands of the law.
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He clarifies them. He shows them in their intensity, in their purity, in their clarity. By the end of the
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Sermon on the Mount, you realize, I wish I could be a Pharisee. It's a little bit easier to be a Pharisee compared to the way that Jesus is teaching.
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We're about to grapple with the demands of our Lord and our King. And if, as he says, we are not more righteous than the
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Pharisees, we'll never enter the kingdom. Oh, is this symbolic?
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Is this some sort of metaphor? Oh, tell me what it really means. Here's what it really means. If you are not more righteous than a
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Pharisee, you won't enter the kingdom. That's what it means. If we murder in our hearts,
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Jesus says we're liable to hellfire. If we give ourselves over to lust, we'll end up there.
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If we reject the will of our Father, we will not enter the kingdom. Gulp. Many Christians grate at these warnings.
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What do we do? We end up feeling the pressure and quickly try to get away from the heat. And so we set it aside.
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And we do that by saying, well, it must mean something else because this is impossible to obey. And so we disregard
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Jesus' whole sermon. He must have meant something else. This must just be a whole sermon that's meant to just show me my need for Him.
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And so I only just take it as, yeah, you know, hypothetically, you should be able to live like this. Hypothetically, this should be your life.
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And then hypothetically, you would enter the kingdom. But we know no one can live like that. No one can do that. So there's just a different way to come.
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Well, let me tell you, there is no indication in the Gospel of Matthew that he thinks that these commands, that this teaching is impossible to follow.
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On the contrary, he actually says, the heavy burdens come with the Pharisees. How that is the case, we will see as we work through.
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But let me tell you, there's a big danger in setting aside this sermon. You may plug your ears when
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I'm preaching. You dare not plug your ears when Jesus is preaching. And when we come to Matthew 5 through 7,
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Jesus is the preacher. Jesus is giving His sermon. Jesus is not mincing words.
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Jesus is not speaking enigmatically. He's speaking plainly and forthrightly. What He's saying will be coming to pass.
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So there's a big danger in setting aside the Sermon on the Mount, especially when we set it aside by normalizing that sense of impossibility.
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Jesus strengthens the obligations of the law. And we say, it's impossible. And so our response is, we normalize failure.
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What do we say? No one's really like this. No one could really walk in this way.
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Well, at some level, there's a reason Scripture says, to the defiled, all things are defiled. You stop someone on the sidewalk and you say,
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I'm a Christian, as we so often did in Worcester, I'm a Christian, I'm here to talk about the Lord Jesus. Have you ever heard the gospel?
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Has anyone ever talked to you about Christ? There's, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm a Christian, Christian. You know, I'm as good as anyone else.
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Ooh, that's not gonna get you into the kingdom. That's a sure way to be purged. To the defiled, all things are defiled.
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Now, of course, and I almost hesitate to footnote what Jesus doesn't care to footnote. We all stumble in many ways.
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As James says, we don't set that aside, but let me not alleviate what Jesus means to be intense.
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The word of God never, never, never normalizes the practice of sin.
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The word of God never countenances a consistent expectation of failure.
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It never operates in that way. Paul doesn't write in that way. Peter doesn't write in that way.
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Jesus doesn't preach in that way. There is no expectation of a practice of lawlessness or a life of sin or a giving one over to worldliness or lust or hatred in their heart.
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These things are never normalized in Scripture. To say who could really live to that standard, who could really meet this impossible obligation, you might as well say, no one really can obey
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Jesus. No one really can bear good fruit. No one really can build their house on the rock. No one can really be pure of heart.
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No one can really enter by the narrow gate. Well, then why is Jesus preaching at all if that were the case?
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Martin Lloyd -Jones, an excellent book. My copy's been out on loan for some years.
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Excellent book, Martin Lloyd -Jones, studies on the Sermon on the Mount. And he speaks in his introduction to that of the danger that he sees in the churches of his day.
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He's writing about 60 years ago. And he says, what do we see most in our churches?
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What marks and defines our churches at this time? And he says, superficiality.
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Superficial. He writes, we have so emphasized the teaching that all is of grace and that we ought not try to imitate
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Jesus' example in order to make ourselves Christians. We know instinctively you cannot make yourself a Christian.
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But then we are left virtually in the position of ignoring his teaching altogether. TLDR, I just read
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Matthew 5 -7. Too long, didn't read, this is impossible, it's all of grace, I don't have to really pay attention. We're virtually in the position of ignoring his teaching altogether, saying it has nothing to do with us because we're under grace.
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Now I wonder, Lloyd -Jones says, I wonder how seriously we take the gospel of our
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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Then he adds, the best way of concentrating this question is to ask,
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I think, how seriously do we take the Sermon on the Mount? Do you take the gospel seriously?
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Will you take Matthew 5 -7 seriously? What would it look like for you not to take this sermon, these words of Christ, these promises and warnings, seriously?
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Well, if you don't take it seriously, first of all, the Lord's promises won't motivate you. How often in that reading did you hear that word, reward, reward, reward, reward?
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There's a sense of doing, an expectation of doing, and with it the promise of reward, blessing, blessing, blessing.
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If you don't take these words seriously, if it's all under grace, and you're just plugging your ears and letting the time fly, his promises aren't motivating you.
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There's no sense of, there's work to be done, there's good works prepared beforehand for me to do, from all eternity, good things, good opportunities, ways that I've been wronged that I can rectify, ways that I've been cursed that now
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I can be blessed. So on the one hand, the Lord's promises don't motivate you.
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Secondly, if you don't take these words seriously, the Lord's warnings will never restrain you. You will have successfully defanged all of the
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Lord's warnings. They'll have no bite, no threat. You'll be like a cat that has been declawed.
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A lot of fury and movement, but no wound. It's a dangerous thing when
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God's promises don't motivate us, and when God's warnings don't restrain us. That's a dangerous place to be.
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What's the end result when promises don't motivate and warnings don't restrain? What's the end result? You'll never be changed.
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You won't enter that narrow gate. You won't bear that good fruit. You won't worship God from a pure heart. You won't have a clean conscience.
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You won't have the life that is characterized and held forth in the Sermon on the Mount. You won't be changed, which is a complete impossibility for one who has claimed to receive the living word, who's claimed to drunk from the living water, who's claimed to be indwelt by a living spirit.
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People utterly unchanged by the gospel prove themselves to have never really been saved by the gospel.
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Listen, the gospel changes people. What does Paul say in 1
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Corinthians 6 in its overtones of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount here? Do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
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Don't be deceived, he says. Don't be deceived. That's what
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Jesus is teaching here. In fact, righteousness is a central concern. There's some scholar, going back to the 80s, a couple of scholars that basically argued in the structure of Matthew 5 through 7, the theme of righteousness is the pivotal theme.
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It's the central theme. I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's certainly vital. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.
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Jesus says, amen. Only those who do the will of the Father enter the kingdom.
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Only those who are righteous. Martin Luther, in 1530, as he began working through the
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Sermon on the Mount, and in a little summarization at the very end, in the so -called
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Vulcan Predicton, he said, it's as if Jesus is saying, would you like to know what
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Moses and all the prophets are teaching you? I'll tell you in brief. You should read
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Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. That's great, but listen, you just want three -chapter overview, a 10 ,000 -foot summary of what the law and the prophets are all about?
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I'll give you that. Luther says it's a sermon that can be extended to great length, but it can also be summed up in brief.
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How long did it take me to read it, 12 minutes? All teaching and preaching,
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Luther says, flows out from here. It gets distributed from here. It comes together again here.
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The world, however, in our old Adam, our old nature, don't allow that we give serious thought to it, that we don't measure our life by its teaching.
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Instead, we let it go in one ear and out again the other. But if we always measured our life and actions by this standard, by the
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Sermon on the Mount, we would never throw His teaching to the wind, and we would have more than enough to do for the rest of our lives.
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So Jesus, as Luther understands, is preaching this sermon to His people gathered at the
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Mount, desiring them to apply this sermon very closely to the pattern of their lives.
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We are to do God's will. We are to practice righteousness.
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According to Matthew 7, 21, again, those who enter the kingdom of heaven are those who, Jesus says, do the will of my
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Father in heaven. Those who do not enter the kingdom of heaven are those who practice lawlessness.
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There's a doing, there's a practice that's at the very heart of Jesus' charge. You think of the end of Matthew, the very end of the
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Gospel, with the Great Commission, what does Jesus do? He causes people to make disciples who will also be taught how to do what
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He has commanded. And so we find the same thing that Jesus is doing in the Mount here,
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He's commanding His disciples to do among the nations. Make disciples, teach them to obey and do all that I've commanded.
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In other words, those who have made a practice of His will, rather than a practice of lawlessness, will be engaged in teaching others how to practice
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His will rather than practice lawlessness. This is the theme of righteousness. It occurs several times throughout this sermon.
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And as we saw in chapter six, verse 33, it belongs very centrally to the kingdom of God. Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.
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This is about kingdom living in a phrase. Ultimately, who is the sermon on the
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Mount for? It's for people who are striving to enter the kingdom, who are here and now, in this inaugurated sense, living by the
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Spirit in the ways and the will of the kingdom. And so we find this righteousness theme combined with another vital theme that we'll unpack in weeks to come, the kingdom of God.
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A vital theme throughout Matthew's gospel, the kingdom of God, defined by many as God's reign,
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God's salvation breaking in upon the world, opening up all of the age, the messianic benefits of the age to come, bringing them into the present by the power of the
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Spirit. Leading His people, as it were, in pilgrimage until the full realization and consummation of those realities.
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And so on the one hand, we see this tension, right? In 417, Jesus says, my kingdom is at hand.
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But then here in the Sermon on the Mount, we're to pray for the kingdom to come. We find this in -breaking.
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It's both now and not yet. It's both here and far. It's both near and distant.
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It's at hand and it is to come. The Sermon on the Mount then is situated between that tension, teaching us how to live as sons and daughters in the kingdom.
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We're taught to usher the ways of the kingdom into this world, drawing others out of a domain of darkness into this kingdom of light, teaching them how to obey the ways that correspond to truth and righteousness.
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This is why we are salt and light in the Sermon on the Mount. And in this way, the Sermon on the
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Mount as a whole deals with God's law as a rule of life and the key identity of His people in the
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New Covenant. That would be my summary. The Sermon on the
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Mount as a whole deals with God's law as a rule of life and the key identity of His people in the
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New Covenant. That's what the Sermon on the Mount is all about. Kingdom living for kingdom people.
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Ushering in the way of the kingdom in the coming of the king. That's what the
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Sermon on the Mount is all about. Now, let me say as we feel perhaps the intensity of the law, as we perhaps feel the weight of the challenge and maybe even now our teeth are gritted and we're thinking, ah,
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I don't know if I'm ready to dive into this. I don't know if my life and my pattern of walking is ready to be exposed to this.
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I don't know if I'm ready to have heart surgery and mortify all that's unruly and disordered in my life.
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Well, let me tell you, the same sermon and the same
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Lord and lawgiver begins, as will begin next week, with the pronouncement of blessing. And uniquely, the blessing comes not to those who have maintained a perfect practice of righteousness, but blessedness is pronounced on those who are poor in spirit.
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Blessedness is pronounced on those who mourn. Blessedness, in the parallel in Luke 6, are on those who desire to show mercy that they might receive it.
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Blessedness, as it were, is found in the one who can pray, Father, forgive my debts.
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And so part of entering the narrow gate is actually being poor in spirit, so poor in spirit that you feel the full weight of the law and you do flee to Christ, not because you've watered down the law, not because you've normalized failure, but because you've embraced all that the law is and demands from you and you recognize, apart from the power of the
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Spirit of God in Christ, you are hopeless. But by fleeing to the Savior from that poverty of spirit, from those wet cheeks that say, why do
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I keep going back to my vomit like some mangy dog? There and then at the foot of the cross, as we've always said, that fruit is born.
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God is shown to be merciful. Power, joy, peace, and assurance flood the soul of the
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Christian. And that's not, nor can it ever be because the law has been diminished.
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Because the law has been emptied. Because the law has been overturned. No, Christ in no way dissolves the law.
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He strengthens its obligation. So we won't keep the gospel pure if we water down the law.
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There's this phrase that I'm sure it's had currency beyond him, but I've heard it used by Tom Hicks, who's a very good preacher and pastor down south.
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And it's this term, glosspel, right? G -L -A -W -S -P -E -L, glosspel.
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This hybrid of gospel and law, which comes from using the gospel as it were to water down and mitigate the law.
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And you end up losing both law and gospel. You don't have a pure gospel, a gospel that actually liberates.
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You have some weird form of legalism and sort of fleshly merit. And you don't even have the intensity of the law or the perfection of its demands.
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And so sanctification goes off the rails too. Everything falls apart when you don't allow the law to be the law and the gospel to be the gospel.
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So you don't keep the gospel pure when you water down the law. You don't stand on justification by faith alone.
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When you dissolve the law, you don't grow in sanctification and the holiness that makes us fit to dwell with God when you dull the law.
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If you dull the law, your sanctification just becomes apathy and lethargy. As good as anyone else.
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We all struggle. Jesus doesn't say, who's perfect?
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He says, you must be perfect. As your Father in heaven is perfect.
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The law then becomes our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. Christ did not come to destroy the law.
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He came to fulfill it. And so as we leave Exodus 20 and begin this journey in Matthew five through seven, we must always remember that key point.
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Whenever we consider the law, the works of the law, the demands of the law, the perfection of the law, the righteousness exalted in the law, the delight of the law, we remember this.
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Christ fulfills the law. Christ fulfills the law.
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How does he fulfill? I'm just going to read and then we'll close. I'm gonna read this brilliant, brilliant statement by William Perkins, the great
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Puritan William Perkins. His first, the volume one of his collected works is actually his exposition of the
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Sermon on the Mount. He says, in riffing on Matthew 5, 17, he says this.
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Christ fulfills the law in three ways. First, by his doctrine. Second, by his person.
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And third, in men. Christ fulfills the law in three ways. By his doctrine, by what he's teaching.
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By his person, by his life, and in men. By his doctrine, he fulfills it in two ways.
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First, he restores it to a proper meaning. He strengthens its obligations rather than allowing them to be barnacled over by traditions of men.
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But then secondly, by revealing the right way the law is to be fulfilled. Or not to do it in the way the
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Galatians were making an error in seeking to do. So he reveals not only what the law is, but the right way to keep it.
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In the power of the spirit, through the atoning sacrifice that gives us a covered standing before God.
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Secondly, in his person he fulfills it. And this in two ways. First, he becomes a curse to the law.
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In suffering death upon the cross for us. And secondly, by performing perfect obedience to the law.
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Doing everything that the law required for both loving God and loving neighbor. In which respect it was said in Galatians 4 .4,
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he was born under the law. But then third, Christ fulfills the law in men.
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He says in reprobates as well as the elect. In those who are saved as well as in those who are damned,
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Christ is fulfilling the law. It is a fulfillment of the law for Christ to use the law to judge those who have broken the law and have no standing before God.
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That is a fulfilling of the law. But what about the elect?
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What about God's people? What about sons and daughters of the kingdom clothed in the righteousness of their savior? What about them?
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How does Christ fulfill the law for them? Well he fulfills the law in two ways,
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Perkins says. First, he creates faith in their hearts. Faith that lays hold of Christ knowing that he fulfilled the law on their behalf.
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And secondly, not only does he create faith in their hearts to help them to lay hold of Christ fulfilling the law, but secondly, he gives them his own spirit.
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Which makes them endeavor to fulfill the law. Which in Christ is accepted as perfect obedience in this life and in the life to come it is perfect indeed.
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You see what Perkins is saying? We don't water down the law, we don't turn down the intensity of its heat, we don't dull the blade that would cut and wound.
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We allow the Sermon on the Mount to say what it says. We hear these words of Jesus, we allow it to sink deep into our hearts.
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We allow it to turn over in our conscience, exposing, maybe even horrifying us. We recognize that Christ is fulfilled the law.
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And that means he's given us a faith to run to him, to flee to him, to cling to him. And there we recognize he's given us his own spirit.
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Now we desire to do his law. And even though we stumble in many ways and we see those imperfections, not only do we long for obedience, we're counted to have obedience.
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We're counted to have his obedience, imputed righteousness on our account. And though it's imperfect yet counted as perfect in this life and the life to come, it will be perfect indeed.
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That's how Christ fulfills the law, amen. So let me close you with these words.
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Sometimes you have to begin by pointing to the conclusion. How does Jesus end his Sermon on the
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Mount? What's his charge? To help people remember the challenge and to grapple and to persevere.
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Let's not allow it to go, as Luther said, in one ear, out the other, to be thrown away with the wind.
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So what do we need to retain as we prepare to work through Matthew five through seven? Well, we need to remember what
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Psalm one taught us as we open, that there's two ways to live. There's a thousand decisions you make every day.
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There's hundreds of ways that your path in life twists and turns, but scripture says, everything about your life, every path, every step, every decision that you make, ultimately boils down to one of two ways.
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There's only two ways to live. And that theme of duality is throughout the Sermon on the Mount, as we'll see.
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It's reinforced, two ways, two ways. Broad path, narrow path, right? Bad tree, good trees.
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Two ways to live. So know this, Jesus says, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them,
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I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, beat on the house, but it didn't fall.
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It was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings,
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Jesus says, and doesn't do them, will be a foolish man.
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Who built a house, but built it on sand. And the rains came, and the floods ascended, and the winds and the storms beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall.
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What kind of hearer will you be when we work through Matthew five through seven?
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How seriously will you take the Sermon on the Mount? Let's pray.
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Father, thank you for your word. Lord, please prepare our hearts. Lord, we would not ignore, we would indeed rise to this occasion.
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We would see providentially this opportunity. Lord, for you to examine and search us in ways that perhaps we've hidden and fled for many years.
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Lord, that you would use this teaching, this time, these months ahead, to strip down all that obstructs, and entangles, and stands in the way of us living a life worthy of being called
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Christian. That you would strip bare in this body all those things that are of the world, and of the flesh, and of the evil one.
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That you would shine the light of your law in such a way that by clinging to the cross of Christ, it becomes our delight.
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It becomes our rule of life, having been clothed in His righteousness. Looking to the one who makes us counted, or accepted in the beloved, even as we await the day when we will be perfect as He is perfect, seeing
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Him as He is. And so Father, do this work in our midst. Bless this time. Help each one in this room, each one sitting here, to prepare to sit at the mount week by week, to receive these words deep into their heart and soul, and that your spirit would bless the word, that it would come to fruition, and bear much fruit beyond even our hoped expectations.