A Summary of Matthew 5-7 - Sermon on the Mount

[Music] well good morning watermark how we doing awesome welcome to our friends in Plano in Frisco and Fort Worth and those who may be joining us via the streaming my name is David Leventhal I get the privilege and the joy of getting to serve on the elder team here with Bo and Dean and Brian and Todd and I am really excited about this morning we are kicking off a brand new series that's gonna run through the whole summer the next 15 weeks we're gonna be working through what is easily the most famous sermon ever given in the history of all sermons forever and ever okay we're gonna be working through the Sermon on the Mount we're gonna call this series as you guys just saw the summer on the Mount and I am so excited about being able to go deep into this sermon that has worked its way into our society things like love your enemies turn the other cheek don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing judge not or you'll be judged all those things come from the Sermon on the Mount oh we're gonna get to dive deep over the next 15 weeks my task this morning is to help us get a big-picture overview of the whole sermon which is no small task and in order to do that what I want to do I don't know if you're like me when I when I get in the car to go somewhere that I don't know where I'm going which is most of where I'm going I put the little google map machine directions in and I always zoom out so I can see the big picture where's that where am I going overall and then I'll dive in so if you're like me and you'd like to know where we're going I'll tell you if you don't then close your ears so spoiler for the morning we're gonna take a look at the historical context that Jesus was walking into when he preached the Sermon on the mountain there's a lot there and we need to understand that we're gonna look at the first three verses of the sermon of the mount because those three verses help set us up for the other 104 verses that make up 107 verse some of them out and then once we're done with that we're gonna do a high a flyover of the rest of chapter 5 chapter 6 in chapter 7 okay and when we're done with all that my goal my my desire for us is that we would be able to understand that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is gonna answer two questions what does a kingdom of God person believe and how are they ever live as a result of that what do they believe and how are they to live as a result of that and first Timothy four Paul writing to his younger sort of pastor buddy he tells Timothy hey Timothy make sure that you're devoting yourself to the public reading of scripture to exhortation into teaching and one of the things we're gonna do this morning is we're gonna read the Sermon on the Mount the whole thing from start to finish okay I want and and we're gonna have the words up on the screen behind me here you can follow along in your Bible we're gonna be in the ESV translation or if you'd like you can simply listen and let me read over you the Word of God okay all right let's get going Matthew chapter 5 verse 1 seeing the crowds he went up on a mountain and when he sat down his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you you are the salt of the earth but if salt has lost its taste how shall its saltiness be restored it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet you are the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house in the same way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets I have not come to abolish the law of the prophets but to fulfill them truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away not an iota not a dot will pass away from the law until it is accomplished therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these Commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven for I tell you unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven you have heard that it was said to those of old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable the judgment and whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire so if you are offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you leave your gift there before the altar and go first be reconciled to your brother and then coming off for your gift come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court lest your accuser hands you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and he be put in prison truly I say to you you will never get out until you have paid the last penny you have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust will intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart if your right eye causes you to sin tear it out and throw it away for it is better that you lose one of your members then that's your whole body be thrown into hell and if your right hand causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away for it is better that you lose one of your members then that's your whole body going to hell it was also said whoever divorces his wife let him give her a certificate of divorce but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife except on the grounds of sexual immorality makes her commit adultery and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery again you have heard that it was said to those of old you shall not swear falsely but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn but I say to you do not take an oath at all either by heaven for it's the throne of God or by the earth for it is his footstool by Jerusalem for it is the great city of the King and do not take an oath by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black let what you say simply be yes or no anything more than this comes from evil you have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say to you do not resist the one who is evil but if anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also and if anyone would sue you and take your tunic let him have your cloak as well and if anyone forces you to go one mile go with him two miles give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven for he makes his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust for if you love those who love you what reward do you have do not even the tax collectors do the same and if you greet only your brothers what more are you doing than others do not even the Gentiles do the same you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven thus when you give to the needy sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others truly I say to you they have received their reward but when you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you and when you pray you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by others truly I say to you they have received their reward but when you pray go into your room shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you and when you pray do not keep up empty phrases as the Gentiles do for they think they'll be heard for their many words do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him pray then like this our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name 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 also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for if you forgive others their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses and when you fast do not look gloomy like the hypocrites for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others and truly I say to you they have received their reward but when you fast anoint your head wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you 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 for where your treasure is there your heart will be also the eye is the lamp of the body so if your eye is healthy your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness if then the light in you is darkness how great is the darkness no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he'll be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve God and money therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life what you will eat what you will drink nor about your body what you'll put on is not life more than food in the body more than clothing look at the birds of the air they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them are you not of more value than they and which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to a span of life and why are you anxious about clothing consider the lilies of the field how they grow they neither toil nor spin and yet I tell you even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these but if God so clothes the grass of the field today which is alive to which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven will he not much more clothe you oh you of little faith therefore do not be anxious saying what shall we eat shall we drink what shall we wear for the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself sufficient is the day for its own trouble judge not that you be not judged for what the judgment you pronounce you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured to you why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye or how can you say to your brother let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your eye you hypocrite first take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be opened or which of you if the son asks him for bread will give them a stone or a free asks for a fish will give them a serpent if you then who are 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 so whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves you will recognize them by their fruits our grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles so every healthy tree bears good fruit but the diseased tree Bears bad fruit a healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire thus you will recognize them by their fruits not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven on that day many will say to me Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name cast out many demons in your name do many mighty works in your name and I will then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you workers of lawlessness everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built this house in the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it and when Jesus finished these sayings the crowds were astonished at his teaching for he was teaching them as one who had Authority and not as their scribes how great is that whatever you hear the rest of the day including the next thirty minutes we have together will not be as good as that we might as well frankly shut it down but our kids discipleship ministry would be discouraged if we all of a sudden show to pick up our kids so let's keep going okay so as we talk about this I want to give you a couple of tips first thing to know is we are studying in the Gospel of Matthew what's called a gospel narrative account and it's important that we realize when we study gospel narrative accounts that really there are three audiences we need to be concerned about the first audience are the individuals who were with Jesus on the day or on the days when he gave this sermon okay who was Jesus speaking to at that time the second audience is Matthew's audience see Matthew wrote the gospel his gospel account some years later mid to late first century and he was writing to a specific group of people in a specific context going through specific things and so we need to consider Matthew's audience and the last audience are the couple thousand of us today that are here who are reading God's Word and wondering what does this mean for us today and for us to understand what it means for us today we have to better understand what it meant to the folks that were listing to G okay we have to understand context context is really important and it's funny because I was we were before we started this morning we were back in the in the room with the worship team and just talking about it and I overheard some guys talking about Avengers endgame so who's seen an endgame yeah okay yeah awesome go Thanos so here's the deal if you walk into Avengers endgame and you've not seen any of the 21 prior films you are gonna be one lost brother and you're gonna be Elberon your fourteen-year-old saying okay now who is this guy what is where do they fit the story and why is everybody so discouraged with feyo's right you need context to understand end games and then amen otherwise you're lost okay now in the same way the Sermon on the Mount is not gonna make complete sense if you don't have the context now if you've never seen any of the Avengers films you can enjoy the film it's a great film maybe I'm spoiling and you similarly if you read the Gospel of Matthew any of the Gospel accounts frankly you can enjoy them you can be moved by them but you will not have the full hike 4k high-def picture if you don't understand the context and so what is the context great question let me talk about what Jesus was walking into what was the context of the day because if we get this then all of a sudden everything's gonna make a lot more sense how many of you have heard the term Holika Holika anybody heard that term yeah then think so I bet you have heard the term oral tradition or tradition of the elders right have you guys heard that term yeah the term for oral tradition is called Holika and what Holika is is it was the the it was based on the 613 commandments that God gave to the nation of Israel and Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers and Deuteronomy we call about the Pentateuch there were 613 commands and based on that the rabbi's decided hey we need to figure out what of these Commandments mean how do we live in them khalakka means to in the way how do we walk in the way of the Lord and so what it is is it's it's a legal body of rules and regulations that was established and passed down by the scribes and the rabbis as they interpreted and applied the law of Moses it's writ was in place in Jesus's day it is in place today for those who were a part of Judaism and here's the kicker Holika was put on the same level as the commandments themselves he what I just said it was put on the same level as the actual commandments so let me give us an example we've all heard the commandment honor the Sabbath right it's it's mentioned it's one of the Big Ten right when the Big Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 it's mentioned about a dozen times in your Old Testament specifically it's also mentioned exodus 31 and in Exodus 31 and we're on that context Moses says hey remember to honor the Sabbath don't work on the Sabbath don't work on the Sabbath don't work on the Sabbath he says it three times in that passage and so the rabbi's were like well gosh we don't want to break the command we don't work on the Sabbath so what does it mean to work on the Sabbath how do we make sure we keep ourselves and our people from from breaking this commandment and so from that Exodus 31 and other contexts they came up with 39:39 prohibited categories of work things like planting plowing weaving measured cutting igniting a fire and all there was 39 of these categories that they said hey you can't do these or you'll break the commandment now then they had to ask themselves well golly what does it mean to not plant and so that category had underneath of it sort of sub rules and sub regulations so things like hey you can't water that's the part of planting you can't fertilize you can't plant seeds those are all also prohibited based on the category and so you can see how this quickly adds up God said you shall keep the Sabbath because it's holy for you and from that single command came 39 categories of work that were prohibited and from those 39 categories of work came hundreds of others of rules and regulations that were equal to honor the Sabbath can you understand how burdensome that would be and so Jesus walks in to the nation of Israel right he's born God becomes man and he's gonna say hey I am really frustrated and discouraged by what you have laid on my people and the burdens you put on them okay and if we don't understand that then the rest of the gospel Matthews you're not gonna quite understand why is Jesus so put out as he is he upset with the commandment out of the saddest know Jesus said he didn't come to abolish the law he came to fulfill the law but he did come to abolish the world tradition and the Sermon on the Mount is filled with this concept we're gonna read in chapter 5 in fact I just read it you may have heard me say about six times in Chapter five you heard me say something like you have heard that it was said to those of old Jesus is talking about the oral tradition there and we're gonna pack all that for us the next fifteen weeks you chapter six you heard me read about the hypocrites who do their acts of righteousness before others to be seen by men he's talking about the Pharisees they're chapter seven you heard me read about false prophets whose life and teaching produces diseased fruit he's gonna tell us that at the end of the line there are gonna be some who said we did this in your name and this in your name and this your name in Jesus he said I am gonna tell them Jesus said this I'm gonna tell them depart from me I never knew you you workers of lawlessness this is in the Sermon on the Mount this is the Gospel of Matthew and you will not get it in 4k if we don't understand this and if you think I'm crazy let me give you another couple of examples from Matthew Matthew 15 the Pharisee the scribes they come to Jesus and they're barking at Jesus about why his disciples don't wash their hands in accordance with the tradition of the elders right gotta wash your hands and Jesus says to them why do you break the commandments of God for the sake of your tradition for God commanded honor your father and mother and whoever reveals his father and my mother must surely die that's what God said but you say Holika world tradition if anyone tells his father or mother whatever you have whatever you would have gained from me I'm giving the God then he need not honor his father and mother and so for the sake of your traditions you have made void the Word of God you hypocrites well did Isaiah prophesy of you see this wasn't just a first century issue this goes back to the Old Testament well that is that Isaiah prophesied when he said these people are me with their lips but their hearts are far from me in vain do they worship Me teaching as doctrines the commandments of man Matthew 23 Jesus in a scathing section further verbally undressed as the Pharisees he says they referring to the scribes and Pharisees they preach but they do not practice they tie up heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on people's shoulders but they themselves are not willing to move them with a finger they do all their deeds to be seen by others oh yeah yeah no the reality is if I had time I could have also read from Matthew 9 14 to 17 Matthew 11:28 2:30 Matthew 12 1 to 14 Matthew 12:22 27 Matthew 16 5 to 12 Matthew 19 1 to 11 Matthew 21 23 to 27 Matthew 21 33 45 Matthew 21:22 15 to 45 it is all over your gospel this context Jesus is butting heads with the religious leaders of the day because they had oppressed the people of God Jesus came and said I came to give you life and life indeed I came to set you free it's for freedom that Christ came and he's about to rip off the shackles of the old the the oral tradition of the elders and that's why we read in Matthew 26 that the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest whose name was Caiaphas and they plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him Jesus came to up end their entire system of religion and they weren't real excited about it and so they said hey we're gonna we're gonna do an end to you not our system this is the broad historical context that we are going to be in for the next 15 weeks as we go deep and we for us to understand we have to get that that's the purpose so if that's the context that makes sense okay now within Matthew so now you have the broad historical context for the Matthew and really that's the historical context obviously of all the Gospel accounts and we need to be aware of that now within Matthew the Sermon on the Mount falls really early on in Matthew's Gospel and that matters right so just as a reminder your Old Testament ends with the book of Malachi and Malachi tells the people hey ah God is going to send you another Elijah before the great day of the Lord and then there's 400 years of silence where God has not spoken through a prophet to the nation of Israel and then all of a sudden one night the cry of a baby cracks the silence and we see in Matthew's one two four leading up to the some amount we see Jesus is genealogy and we're reminded that Jesus is a part of the Messianic line of David we read about his birth narrative and how all these different components of his birth narrative align with various Old Testament prophecies we're introduced to John the Baptist the guy that Malachi prophesied about the Elijah guess who it is if Jesus is cousin John the Baptist we read about Jesus's temptation when he goes toe to toe with the devil in the wilderness and Jesus recites Bible Bible Bible Bible and tells Satan be on your way and then we see Jesus start his ministry he calls for disciples come back to that a sec and then in Matthew 4:23 2:25 right before his sermon starts here's what we read then Jesus he went throughout Galilee he was teaching in their synagogues proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people so his fame spread throughout all Syria and they brought him all the sick and those afflicted with various diseases Taine's those who are oppressed by demons those having seizures paralytics and He healed them and great crowds followed him from Galilee and Decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan and people are starting to whisper who is this man and the whispers become a murmur and the murmurs swell and the crowds come together and then Jesus in chapter 5 verse 1 sees the crowds he goes up on a mountain when he sat down his disciples came to him he taught him and he taught them don't think Colorado Rockies mountains in Israel are not like that think like flagpole Hill okay that's it's a large hill it's not a Rockies so Jesus goes up on this hill this mountain and he begins to teach him and there's a couple of observations we can make that are really important for us making sure we're interpreting the rest this sermon correctly you'll notice Jesus says I'm sorry Matthew says that his disciples came to him and he taught them the them he taught them that them refers to the disciples it does not refer to the crowd that's important the crowd is there they get to listen they get to eavesdrop but that's not Jesus's audience we're gonna see at the end of the sermon amount remember the crowds were amazed because he taught them as one who had Authority but that's not who Jesus is teaching he's teaching disciples and so if you're like me you're like well what is it disciple what does that mean and so Bible study tip number two one of the ways you can figure out what a term means is to ask yourself does the author of this book use that term in any other places and fortunately for us Matthew uses the term disciple seventy four other times I read them all so I'm gonna read them all right now no I'm just kidding I'm not gonna do that but I will tell you what it means from looking at all the other seventy four instances of matha tastes the Greek word for disciple we can say conclusively that that that term refers to two groups of people they refer to the term that were most frequently used the disciples the twelve disciples right those who are already in there I put all their chips in now remember at this point in the gospel Jesus is only called for disciples so not all 12 are necessarily official disciples so that's the first group the second group that Matthew uses to describe this term are those potential disciples those who are evaluating Jesus to see are they going to come out of the crowd and go all-in with Jesus and that's great news for us today because in a room like this in this crowd we have folks who have said I wanna I'm all-in with Jesus I believe that he is who he said he is I believe that he did what he said he did I believe he wrote it and we have folks who are trying to figure out do I want to leave the crowd do I want to become a disciple and Jesus is gonna say hey just you know crowds that are now following him because of all the miracles if you want to be my disciple that means something and let me tell you what that means and we have the Sermon on the Mount okay Jesus starts the sermon about first thing he says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven now next week we're gonna spend the whole sermon talking about the Beatitudes I don't want to spoil it for you but we do need to talk about this verse first because it sets the stage for everything else blessed are the poor in spirit those who are who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy before God those who realize that they cannot earn their way into heaven that they are not going to be able to do their acts of righteousness and their pride see also the Pharisees but those who are contrite of spirit those are the ones that make up the kingdom of heaven those are the ones who are counted in the census of heaven the kingdom of heaven not those who are doing a religious act to be seen by others not the Gentiles if those who recognize they're broken and that's our first application point for day which is this that the Sermon on the Mount Jesus did not give it to us to them to Matthews audience as a way to earn entrance in the kingdom of heaven you cannot obey the Sermon on the Mount the only thing you learned for it is your inability to follow the sermon the mount you have to be broken in spirit it doesn't describe how to earn your way into the kingdom of heaven Jesus would tell Nicodemus in John 3 who is a Pharisee hey Nicodemus unless whoa is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Paul crystallizes this idea for us in Ephesians 2:8 and 9 and 10 he says for by grace you have been saved through faith it's not of your own doing it's the gift of God it's not as a result of works it's not as a result of obeying the Sermon on the Mount so that you can't boast and he says for we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared it beforehand that we should walk in them you are not saved by any sort of rules regulations or checklist then can I just as clearly as I can communicate this let you know if your game plan if your end game for your entrance in the kingdom of heaven involves anything anything other than recognizing your poverty before God your inability to please him and falling on your knees before Jesus the cross think I can't do it the sin that I bear I'm gonna trust that you have borne up on my behalf on the cross through your death burial and resurrection if your game plan is anything other than that you are not on a path to heaven you are on a path straight to hell and Jesus did not die for you to try and earn your way into heaven the Sermon amount describes the character of a disciple not the requirements to become one the sermon amount describes the character of a true disciple not the requirements to become one we don't do to be saved we do because we have been saved we don't work towards the cross we work from the cross which is why I said at the beginning Jesus is gonna answer the questions what is a kingdom of God what does a kingdom of God person believe they need to believe that they are broken in spirit and how are they to live as a result okay Jesus expects his followers his disciples to listen and to obey now let's talk about the rest this from the mountain there's a lot of ways to divide the certain amount one commentator I like his simplicity he divides it into two big buckets the general and the particular and then each bucket has three sub buckets I'm a simple guy I like simplicity that seems pretty simple the general part of the sermon amount is the what we just read the Beatitudes and the salt and the light the first part the three categories the first couple Beatitudes describe the character of a disciple the next couple of the end describe what the character of a disciple what that gets you which is persecution and the third component is that the character of a disciple is meant to be salt and light in the world and can I just let you know that the reason the church in America has so lost its effectiveness its salt and it's lightness it's because by and large not always but by and large the church has allowed a lukewarm hominis form of Christianity where we let people come in to church call them dust self disciple and live like a Sun of state in the rest of the week that's problematic may it never be so here God calls people you're gonna be my disciple if you're gonna be my disciple Jesus to the crowds if you want to follow me not because I'm miracles because you want to be my guy my woman here's what you need to look like we make a mockery of the term Christianity when we refuse to extend mercy when we refuse to forgive when we're peace fakers and not peacemakers when we refuse to acknowledge our spiritual poverty we do not look like Christians and we're all required if you're a Christian you're all we're all required to display these qualities now good news is over time as you get to know Jesus and as you walk with Him you will display more and more of these qualities over time I'm hopefully today more merciful than I was twenty five or six years ago when the Lord got ahold of me because I've been walking with Jesus in the context of community and and he's sharpen these maybe more merciful more of a peacemaker but the requirement is all the same that we're all moving in that direction the rest of chapter five so that's the Podesta general and the rest of the sermon amount the the large bulk of it are the particulars about how do you live that out what are some illustrations and something analogies of how do you live out these general qualities and in Chapter five we're gonna see the big takeaway is that the Spirit is more important than the letter which is why Jesus says about six times you have heard that it was said of old he's referring to that world tradition that checklist mentality if you're a Jew in the first century and you're trying to obey Holika which is the 613 commitments you're just it becomes a checklist mentality it can't just tell you that as much as we love checklists that has never been God's intention for the follower of God not for the Jews and not for Christians God doesn't want you to check a box any knucklehead can complete a task that's why Jesus says whoever relaxes the least of these commands will be called least linking heaven which means he's not getting in we relaxed the law of God when we reduce it to a checklist because anybody can follow a checklist the heart however that's much more difficult to tame that's why it's harder so Jesus in chapters the rest of chapter five is gonna is gonna deal with how we address the heart and it's our struggle with our anger it's our lustful hearts it's our failure to honor the covenant of marriage and it's our unwillingness to keep our word it's our lust for vengeance and retaliation all those things that Jesus says no no no you've got to deal with the heart issue if you want to stop being a lustful pervert you got to go to your heart you gotta address your heart chapter six is gonna deal with the Christian the disciple in his relationship to the father if you were listening you heard me read about 17 times father father in heaven your heavenly Father because I want you to know hey when you're in right relationship with the father that affects how you do your acts of righteousness you don't do them to be seen by others you don't do them to be praised by others you do them privately to honor God it's not about getting the applause of men and he says when we don't do that we end up looking like one of two things when you're so focused on the world you look like either a hypocrite I just mentioned that chapter a couple times which refers to the Pharisees and they did their stuff to be seen by men they had a false sense of virtue they weren't really giving to the poor because out of an overflow but God gave them they gave the Porsche everybody seemed that guy's amazing do you see how much coin he put in the in the temple Treasury God says you're a hypocrite if you live like that and the world has every right to call us hypocrites when they see us come in here on Sunday and talk about how God is our Father and we live for an audience of one and then we'd go out on Monday and we live the rest of the week pining for attention obsessing about our face Graham posts climbing over top of one another to to get next rung up on the ladder they have every right to call you a hypocrite to call me a hypocrite that's we look like and the other option is they can call us a Gentile now biblically speaking all of the humanity is divided into two groups Jews and Gentiles that's it Jesus says you look like a Gentile if you do certain things Jews Paul says in Romans three had a huge advantage over the Gentiles because the Jews had been entrusted with the Oracles of God see if you're a Jew you could go back to your history and you could say man I remember how God freed us from Asia then God the Father saved us and I can remember how we our ancestors wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and God provided for them daily I remember when God led us into the promised land and and got rid of her enemies for us because God took care of us and the prophets who reminded them go back God wants you to deal with your heart as you go back go back Jews had that history the Gentiles not so much and Jesus says when you babble in your prayer because you don't know God you feel like you've got a pepper God because he's like a reluctant landlord that demonstrates your living like somebody who doesn't know God when you're anxious about what you're gonna eat it's gonna where you don't look like a disciple you look like a Gentile someone who has no history of God doesn't know the father I remember I don't know six or seven years ago I started having some real significant issues of my allergies and I couldn't get that full satisfying deep breath of air this went on for a couple months and so I kind of adopted the moniker deep breath David because I couldn't figure out how to get my allergy pop and cleared and left and right and then one night as I was laying in bed it hit me clears day I didn't have an allergy problem I had an anxiety problem see I was stressed I was anxious because the job that I was in at the time wasn't going great I wasn't sure if I was gonna have that job and as a guy who's a husband and a father I think I don't know if I have five kids we have seven kids now probably five a time four or five I was burdened how are we gonna provide and then it's it dawned on me you're living like a non-believer you look like a pagan and so what did I do I repented I went to my teeny group and I shared with him it just occurred to me I'm living like a pagan I'm stressed about my provision and I'm acting like I don't know God who has provided for our family so well over many many many years the world has a right they have every right to question our faith when they see us fretting about provision and they see a self-medicating our anxiety to death they have a right to be skeptical of what we say we believe when they hear us sing on Sunday about the love and a devotion of God and they see us Monday through Saturday scrambling for resources stressed out about mortgage payments trying to one-up one another they have every right to say you guys don't much look like a disciple Chapter seven we're gonna see that the Christian lives with a regular awareness that God is coming back and we're gonna be held accountable for what we've done you see that Jesus says judge not that you not be judged for the judgment you pronounce you will be judged with the measure you use will be mouss you'll be amused measured against you one gate leads to destruction one gate leads to life remember he's talking to disciples every tree that does not bear good fruit is what cut down and thrown into the fire some people are gonna hear away from me I never knew you and so what matters is not so much what we think about God although that's really important but what does God think of us as he know us Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 5:10 that we're all going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one of us may receive what is due for what he has done in the body whether good or evil if you know Jesus I want to be crystal clear on this point if you know Jesus if you're a disciple who by faith has trusted in the death burial resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins your eternity is secured but Jesus is clear you're gonna be assessed on how you lived did you build with straw hay or stubble this Paul says in 2nd Timothy that you build with things are gonna endure gold silver we're all gonna be evaluated Jesus's Sermon on the Mount continually puts two things two options against this we're gonna be a narrow gate or a wide gay person we're gonna be somebody who he knows somebody who doesn't know and we're gonna be a healthy tree or diseased tree and then Jesus closes his sermon with the story about two men who were building a house house looks similar as far as we can tell they use the same architect houses were exposed the exact same set of circumstances one endures one crumbles but it's not really about houses is it Jesus says this hey this is the story about houses to illustrate the truth which is the disciples who hear my words and obey them they're the ones who are gonna last the disciples those who are evaluating or the crowd who hear my words and don't obey it's not gonna work out well for them and here's the problem of the foundation you can't see it and a lot of us we won't realize it till it's too late you may think your disciple because you said some prayer at some summer camp when you were 8 and there's not a shred of your life that reflects sermon I'm out living Jesus says hey I want to let you know one day you may discover you've got built on a foundation it'll be too late at that point may it never be said of us so we have to ask ourselves today and for the next 14 weeks what are we gonna do with Jesus's words we're gonna obey we're gonna melt back into the crowd Heavenly Father thank you for your word you're infallible perfect word thank you for this sermon thank you for Matthew the tax collector the one that you saved the one who betrayed his nation that you then made an evangelist what a great reminder to us that you can do anything with anybody I pray for folks in this room this morning who are in the crowd or who are a potential disciple follower that they might be pricked in their conscience they might decide that today they're gonna lay it all down before you and they're gonna trust you and that their tomorrow and their Tuesday might reflect a disciple of Jesus for those of us God who by grace you have you have awakened our hearts to the beauty of the cross would you help us to not just call you Lord Lord but to obey I pray that our lives would be marked by Sermon on the Mount living not being merely hearers who are deluded in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Watermark Community Church

Views: 5,162

Rating: 4.9365077 out of 5

Keywords: Sermon, Church, Christian, Christianity, Dallas, Watermark Community Church, Bible, Bible Study, Summer Series, Sermon on the Mount

Id: PnKQkzlvYQ0

Length: 49min 9sec (2949 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 31 2019