Hope Sabbath School: Lesson 3 - The Sermon of Jesus on the Mountain (2nd Qtr 2016)

welcome to Hope Sabbath school an in-depth interactive study of the word of God I'm glad you joined us today as we continue a series of studies on the Gospel of Matthew our topic today the sermon of Jesus on the Mount it's going to be a great blessing and we're especially happy that one of our team Stephanie is going to be teaching today Stephanie we're looking forward to a great study and we're glad that each one of you has joined us for our study today it's been a great series hasn't it I noticed people ask it's not the same people every time no but we're all studying and this Gospel of Matthew I think the biggest challenge is we could take a whole series of studies on just one section like the sermon of the on the Mount but we have to look at the big picture and the message that Jesus is giving us through his sermon Matthew so we want to pray that God would bless before I do though I want to welcome our hopes Abba school members around the world thank you for writing to us you can write to us at SS hope at hope TV org and we're always happy to know how God is blessing your lives Girard rights from the Cameroon he says high hopes Sabbath school team I am a church member in the Cameroon I like to spend my time studying with Hope Sabbath school and I now have an iPhone and I'm ready to get the hope Sabbath school app well we I think we have the iPhone app hopes have a school app in a hundred and thirty seven countries and we have the Android app which is only more recent that's I think in 150 countries so we're glad your art that you're gonna get the hope Sabbath school app for your iPhone and it's great because you click and the most recent program opens up he concludes by saying Hope Sabbath school is like a river of blessing for me and I'm learning more about the Word of God my dream is to be with you one day live in this amazing amazing Bible study well you know if you come over here when we're filming Gerard we'd love to have you on our team but just as much a part of hope sabbath-school right there in the cameroon and i want to invite you and everyone else watching think about gathering a group together you can download the outline the same outline that stephanie will be using today in our study from our website hope t v-- org slash hope SS you can download the outline or you can watch the program with a group of friends hold up your iphone for them Gerard and get a group of people watching we can share what we've learned together here's a note from Pavel anybody want to guess where Pavel is from he's from Russia that's right how did you know he says greetings hope sabbath-school from Russia we always watch the Sabbath School discussion and truly enjoy it our younger daughter Veronica consistently asked me to send you a message so here it is here comes the message from Veronica I was sitting in the kitchen and enjoying your songs I like you my name is Veronica and I'm 5 years old well it's good to know we have hope Sabbath school members - at 5 years old right Thank You Veronica for your message and we hope you'll sing with our new scripture song praise Him in the heights you can download that from our website - I'm watching you every week continues Veronica with my mom and dad thank you for the song so I love them and I love all of you well thank you so much Veronica we love you too and your mommy and daddy thank you for being part of our hopes Abba school there in Russia it's amazing what a variety of people we have watching isn't it grace writes to us from China and she says I often translate Hope Sabbath school for my mother who teaches a Sabbath School in a small Church in Beijing so this will be talking about making Hope Sabbath school available in other languages it's already happening by individuals you remember a recent email from someone in Russia her husband was translating for her please pray for my family so that we can all love and reverence God Wow these days there are many temptations people of all ages especially young people pray for us so that we can have the wisdom to follow God god bless you well we'll do that grace god bless you there in the great country of China may God bless your witness to those around you and here's one last really encouraging email from Christian now that name has special significance as you'll discover in a minute Christian is from Malawi and Malawi is right there in the heart of Africa right dear Saints that's an encouraging title dear Saints I'm happy to God for using hope sabbath-school to bring a change to my life this is wonderful it has really made an impact on my life since I grew up a Muslim and I never found the truth as I found it now now I have decided to follow Jesus and be baptized as I am speaking I am now a true believer in Bible truth thank you for the mission you're doing in cooperating with Jesus Christ in saving lost sinners like me may the good Lord bless us all and now you understand he has another name but he's being given a new name his name is Christian thanks for writing to us Christian from Malawi and we just want to praise God for the way he's leading you not only for your salvation but to be a blessing to those around you right now we want to sing our scripture song it's word-for-word from Psalm 148 so it's 3,000 years old but it's got a new tune I hope you'll enjoy it praise Him in the heights let's sing it together you only stop and for those of you don't know in Hebrew praise the Lord is hallelujah so what a beautiful ancient scripture song with a message for us today and Stephanie is you lead us in this important study of the sermon of Jesus on the Mount I know the end we're gonna say praise the Lord because it's really encouraging news so what did you lead us in prayer as we begin our study let's bow our head dear Heavenly Father thank you so much for giving this us this opportunity to study your word we just ask that as we study your word you would send your Holy Spirit to guide us into direct us that at the end of this study Lord our lives would be changed and we would have something to share with those around us in Jesus name Amen so our study today is on the Sermon on the Mount according to Matthew but we also know that Luke records this Sermon on the Mount as well and there's some differences that we see before we go into looking at some verses we do see some differences between the account of Matthew and that of Luke what can we learn from the differences that we see notice that Matthew is how many chapters it spans over three whole chapters and that's over a hundred verses and Luke spans over how many verses thirty just around thirty so what can we learn from the differences that we see there anyone you know Stefan it's interesting that even in the thirty verses of Luke some things are new so that tells me that probably neither of them has everything if Jesus taught all day on the mount that the spirits guiding them to to share some insights yes it's not it's not a video that's guided by the Holy Spirit but which is interesting because then we ask why did the Holy Spirit inspire Matthew to include what he did but so we're much more we've learned that it's thought inspired right it's not exact word by word inspired was there someone else are all a little different because each one has a different perspective God uses each personality to bring a new insight and he puts it all together for a more complete picture word I think Matthew and Luke are writing down the words Jesus yes so it's a little different from the Prophet being given a vision like Daniel and he writes it in his own words rather than being dictated I think here Jesus may have said different things in different ways during the day and for some reason which maybe we'll discover in our study Matthew decides I'm gonna record some of these by the way he was there right he was an eyewitness Matt Luke has to talk to eyewitnesses and so he guided by the spirit to get some other insights but I think there's the Holy Spirit's definitely given us a reliable account of what Jesus said amen is there a difference in the audience that Matthew and Luke are speaking to yes all right gospel from our researches is more targeted to a Jewish audience so in his gospel he tend to play up more Jesus kingship in his rendering of the Sermon on the mouth it is a little more longer than Luke's version because we know in those days the king is the person invested with the authority to enforce the law keep the law in the land like the lawgiver so he spends a little more time on that as opposed to Luke who was writing more to Gentiles but he wanted the Gentiles to to see the law in a way that was more applicable to them so he did not include many of the things that Matthew wrote about so would you say that in Matthew some of the very detailed renditions that that Matthew shares is very connects with the Jews yes in a way that is is powerful yes indeed all right let's go ahead and jump into Matthew chapter 5 and we'll read verses 17 through 19 and Joshua if you would be willing to read for us that those first three verses in Matthew chapter 5 verses 17 through 19 absolutely I'll be reading from the New King James Version the Bible says do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets 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 whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these Commandments and teaches men soul shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does and teaches them he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven so what are we talking about here we're talking about the law of God right this is the introduction to the law of God that Matthew is talking about let's go and look at a few more verses and then we'll consider some questions as it relates to the verses that we read in Matthew chapter 5 21 to 22 all right would you read that for us Matthew chapter 5 verses 21 and 22 and then we'll read verse 27 and 28 reading from the New Living Translation you have heard that our ancestors were told you must not murder if you commit murder you are subject to judgment but I see if you are even angry with someone you are subject to judgment if you call someone an idiot you are in danger of being brought before the court and if you curse someone you are in danger of the fires of hell first yes go ahead and continue on you have heard the commandment that says you must not commit adultery but I see anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart so do you see a pattern what is the pattern that you see in these verses go ahead Trisha we first if we were wondering well what law is he talking about it's clear as we kept reading that he's talking about the ten commandments that the people yes I'm really prided themselves being able to keep and you start to understand more about what Jesus meant when he said I've come to fulfill to give clearer understanding of what it truly means to keep the law at the time they were more concerned about the outward physicality of behaviors that proved they were observing the laws but here he Jesus starts to point to what's happening in our hearts in our minds and our thoughts and kind of showing that breaking the law even sin doesn't just occur in an action it kind of starts in our hearts and our minds and so again in fulfilling that law he's really kind of peeling back what they thought was the reality and showing that it's much deeper than they thought in just the behavior there's something that's happening in the heart that only he can come and help them fix or help them actually did you have a comment Jason go ahead yes I'm looking at this here and it talks about how he didn't come to destroy but to fulfill because Jesus could be accused me of these new teachings is destroying the law but what he's saying is look I'm not destroying the law I'm showing you what it really means so he's not saying what was said of old is untrue he's saying what was said of old it is true but it is also this so you have a very limited picture of what the law is but this is a greater understanding a greater fulfillment of what the law truly is and that is what he's doing here in the sermon he's expounding on that yes Missy from the fall of humanity you know you they had perfection in Eden then came the fall felt they felt so far Hugh manages fell fell fell and so step by step through scripture you see how God bring taking them step by step back to his ideal until you could see the fulfillment of the law in Christ when he came to humanity and it was supposed to be a revelation of who God really was you know opening our minds to what the law really meant yes Nathan keep in mind that Matthews writing to Jews yes and Moses was the great hero as the giver yes Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the law from God and then he gave it to the people the people did their best to keep the law but Moses was the one who led them out of slavery and into the Promised Land right so the deliverer right now Jesus is showing matthews showing jesus is the one who went up on the mountain and now expounds on upon the law he's the new moses showing them okay you received the law on the mountain from Moses or from God through Moses now up on this mountain Jesus is saying let me show you what this love really means and how it applies deeply and inwardly and and then you're going to be free not just from Egypt but from the slavery of sin to the depths of what the law means deep in the heart and I want to go to another passage before we leave the the teaching of Jesus in the law of God about the law of God and we'll move to Matthew 5:43 248 and Kyle would you be willing to read that for us Matthew 5:43 248 I'll be reading from the New King James Version the Bible says you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies bless those who curse you do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you may be sons of your father in heaven for he makes his Sun Rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust for if you love those who love you what reward have you do not even the tax collectors do the same and if you greet your brethren only what do you do more than others do not even the tax collectors do so therefore you shall be perfect just as your father in heaven is perfect well I'm there's a lot in that verse what do you what do you pull out from those verses go ahead Joshua I would say is this aspect of Christianity that's the most difficult you know if you compare this sort of command from Jesus in comparison to the 10 commandments the 10 commandments actually look pretty easy if you tell me I'm supposed to love my enemies do good to those who are persecuting me it's like are you serious but at the same time we have to think about the fact that people outside of Christianity judge US based on this sort of thing not simply oh how many times do you go to church in a week or how many Bible verses you know but it's in our character and in the way that we treat others Wow yes I actually this summer I was traveling around in Europe and happened to interact with an individual on a train and somehow we got to talking about this kind of stuff and he told me you know Christianity is supposed to be so much more radical than it is so many people they focus just on the 10 commandments but what about the Sermon on the Mount and it kind of goes along with what you're saying like people from the outside are looking at us and it's like wow this is what Christianity is supposed to be and I think that he was completely right that we should be looking a lot more at the Sermon on the Mount for many of the things that how we should interact with other people so isn't it interesting I think God is trying to Jesus was trying to move us away from just ahead knowledge yes to hard knowledge yes right a hard experience you know I think Stephanie something Jason said earlier is really important because some Christians get confused and say the Ten Commandments doesn't matter we just need to love but that's absurd that's like saying don't hate people but you can kill them don't lust after someone but you can commit adultery with him or her it's not that the the the commandment stands yeah but as Trisha Lee was pointing out God is calling us to a much higher standard yes in fact to be honest is an impossible standard if we're going to do it in our own strength because we have we know have feeble we are it's gonna take a miracle exactly so that as Joshua pointed out people will look and they'll actually see Jesus reflected right instead of us and that happens as a result of the head knowledge going to our heart right and that's the next section that we want to move into is is this outward conformity versus an inward conversion and I like us to move to Matthew chapter 5 verse 20 go back to Matthew chapter 5 verse 20 and Missy would you read that for us I am reading from the New Living Translation but I warn you unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven so I think this is coming back to what Giuliana was saying it people expect something more than just check off right they want something real so what mike but it's not just the realness notice here he says unless your righteousness exceeds their righteousness what was their righteousness that was not sufficient for God their righteousness my righteousness means right doing so they had the outward expression of doing right but at the same time the inward conversion was not their what they were doing was not from a heart that genuinely loved God and love people so you found that a lot of what was being done it looked right to the folks on the outside but God knew that the heart was not transformed so Jesus is saying it's not just to do right on the outside I want your heart to be in the right condition also that means that your actions will be inspired and motivated by the right this so it starts in the heart starts in the mind and then our actions follow I'm go ahead just gonna add on to what he said because the Pharisees that a scale of how they they said okay you know this is a sin and this is worse and worse and worse and this is a good deed and this one's really good and this one's really really good and they almost would balance and I said if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds then you earned righteousness in God's sight so it was this whole outward way of building up themselves basically to feel like they were good and accepted by God but that's Jesus comes and he says that's not what it's about every amount of human righteousness is inadequate the only thing is the true heart righteousness that you were talking about pastor Derek that is only from the Holy Spirit and that's a total transformation of character true perfection in God's eyes by the way those who are listening because we look at it and we say oh it has to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees we will we know what the righteousness of the Pharisees look like but for those who were listening the Pharisees were on a heist high level right so for them they were thinking woe for us to exceed that we can't even match them mm-hm how do we exceed that so what is Jesus trying to teach and and also another question that I would have to is that have you ever tried to earn the favor of Christ Oh God have you ever been in that situation please be willing to share I hope a time when maybe you've you've tried to do that what was that like go ahead your first question about how could they exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees the Pharisees you're right they were very good at doing what they were the law required in the different requirements that they made but they did not love God and they did not love other people other than themselves and we find that that was what God was trying to teach them is that at the heart of the commandments loving the Lord more than anything else and loving your neighbor as yourself and they completely missed all of that so the checking of the boxes meant nothing because they didn't love God they crucified him tried to kill him at every chance they could they did not love their neighbors they were the ones walking past the the Samaritan on the road and and these people I think that it's hard because as humans and even as you grow up as a child you learned that if you study hard and you get a good grader if you do this you get a reward so it kind of goes against the way even society runs and functions that if you do something then you get some a caption has an equal reaction but here God is showing us that it really doesn't depend upon you or me or us it all has to depend upon Christ and that's where the faith comes in so it says it's the faith it's the obedience it's all depending upon Christ and it's really his righteousness that's working in us and I think what happens at least for me is that and I'm sorry it's just that once you are honest with yourself and when you realize I keep trying and I keep failing and that's not good enough at some point you just have to get tired of trying and failing and you realize it can't depend upon me anymore I have to reach out to somebody who I know is successful in this life and it was Christ and who has the power to do it exactly this out of the mess exam and I think we've all been there haven't we yeah we realized that we need Jesus Audrianna he wanted to share I only wanted to reflect a little bit on your question which was how would we express if we have been in a similar situation where we felt we need to do something in order to earn God's favor and I recall I was a teenager and have said in church many times listening to baptismal appeals and calls to to give our lives to Jesus and as the pastor's daughter it was something I would listen to very frequently however I had a feeling or a tendency of thinking that I have to be very prepared to make that step so for years I have resisted the call and I have considered I'm not ready yet or I'm not good enough well until I was 17 when I started to meditate more upon this decision and and decided I have to make this step even if I'm not feeling quite ready and the Lord will take care of the rest I cannot tell you how blessed I felt afterwards it was the best decision of my life just a little later it says seek first the kingdom and his righteousness mm-hmm and and and really what trishul is saying is righteousness is a gift back to that miracle of new creation that we talked about in a previous study God God is gonna change us from the inside so that we we're motivated by love even in the keeping of the commandments love to God and love to those around us and that's a miracle of a new creation and I believe John chapter 14 15 tells us a little bit of about that John chapter 14 and verse 15 and Nathan would you be willing to read that for us John chapter 14 verse 15 alright I'm reading from the New King James Version John 14 and verse 15 if you love me keep my Commandments Wow it's very simple right very plain so how does our how does your attitude towards God's law change when you have this trusting loving relationship with Jesus as your Savior and your Lord how does that change alright and then I'll come back to you you you you want to keep it because you know when you have this love relationship with God I compare it to a marriage you know for those who are married here understand you know you you have you have your spouse you know you exchange vows and so forth and you know some folks they may be married for thirty years four years 50 years and and sometimes you question them you ask them how did you guys mean in that relationship that connection the the obedience to the vows and they just said to me very simple I love the other person that's why I do what I do so when you're in that love relationship with God you want to do the things that pleases him the same way he likes doing things that blesses you so you're motivated by a love for God that that is what really propelled you to obedience the heart's been changed the hearts hearts been changed Missy and then Nathan I see Scripture is God in continual pursuit of humanity look at me look at my face look at what I've done for you please keep your attention on me look at what I've said in my word get to know me when that gets when we are able to hone in on that the law is a natural result of a relationship powerful Nathan well I love this woman this is my wife and you know if I do something that hurts her mmm that hurts me mm-hmm to see my wife hurting because of something I've done to break my heart so when we're in love with the Lord mm-hmm and we realized that when we break his law we're hurting him he's given us his law because he wants us to be happy yes and when I wander away from that law that he's given which is a law of freedom a law of Liberty and and it's a law that brings joy to my life I know that not only am i hurting myself but I'm hurting him yes and so my love for him just propels me into the into naturally obeying the law because I don't want to break his heart I don't want to hurt him as well okay Joshua and then we'll go to Tricia Lee and then we have to move on I believe that we not only serve a holy God but we serve a practical God so when I look at his Commandments I see that even if I were Christiaan it would be in my best interest to still keep these Commandments so if you think about what it would be like to murder someone and what you would have to live with after that if you know what it feels like to commit adultery and see the effects of that trickling after if you look at each and every law you'll see wait a minute he's not telling me to keep these laws as hoops to jump through in order to make it into heaven but it's for our own good and for our best interest in order to keep these laws yes Missy and Joshua mentioned about getting to know God and what's in our best interest I think that the devil's deception is that we would think of God as someone who's out to get us when that cannot be trusted and if he's a being that is not to be trusted or as you know wants to hurt us then I don't care about what he's saying I don't care about his laws it's not good for me when we do exactly what Missy was saying try to get to know him allow him to enter our lives and we see who he is like how Jesus came the best example revelation of the father he lived a whole life when we see the life of Christ how would we not want to be more like him how can we not want to see who truly who the father is and then everything he sinks are to make sense those things for our best interest as things that will help us be in a loving relationship with him and so even Christ coming and and expounding and fulfilling the law was us seeing the father's who he really is not the deception not the lies the angry guy with lightning Thunderbolts and when we see that then the law starts to be something beautiful for our best interest and something that helps us be in a good loving strong relationship with him we have full confidence that he has best interest yeah we need to move on to God's ideal for his children which somewhat connects with what we've already been speaking about but Matthew chapter 5 verse 48 and Nicole if you would be really willing to read that for us and then we'll follow it up with Luke 636 and Nancy if you would read that one after Matthew 5:48 okay Matthew 5:48 I'm reading for the New International Version and the Bible says be perfect therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect and then Luke 6:36 we're looking at these two in conjunction with each other 6:36 okay and this is from the New King James Version therefore be merciful just as your father also is merciful all right what is Jesus asking us to do to be like God he's asking us may I might have mentioned it this way he's asking us to do the impossible without him it would be impossible without him do you understand what I'm saying but he's giving us the strength to do it so it's not impossible but without him if we're trying to do it as only head knowledge it is going to be impossible sometimes people read that like be perfect and think that's the way to make God love us right never quite good enough there's no what it's saying at all right that's why Luke's wording is different is important he's saying I want you to reflect the beauty of my father's character and and what does it look like Jesus said if you want to know what the father is like look at me so he's saying I want you to reflect my character to the world and and that is not to earn his love he already loves us so out of that loving relationship yes go ahead you wanted to say see I also wanted to add to it elder Morris said that this perfection that God is calling us to is not so much a state of sinlessness as a spiritual maturity to which we need to attain and the Lord can help us to attain that and of course at each state of the Christians experience there is the different level of maturity because what is perfect for a great one student at 2+2 is not perfect for a great 5 student or great 8 student so this perfection is where we are at if we just fulfill what God requires us to do at that stage we have a change to God's ideal what she's saying at each state God reveals light to us he reveals more of himself to us perfection that is being talked about here is the progressive state of growth Christian maturity a plan starts out as a seedling but then it grows to a big tree and bears fruit a baby starts off walking on fours and mumbling but eventually they're grown they walk on legs and now they can talk well and do things for themselves this maturing there there's growth God's idea of perfection is that you should continually grow now that you reach a stage here where ha that you're perfect now you don't need to go any further no his idea of perfection is progressive Christian maturity so let me go ahead go ahead Kyle's you know somebody might be worried well you know I'm not perfect and I have all these faults and my only thing I think we could all say look to Jesus yeah look to Jesus because Jesus is we look to him if you love me keep my Commandments he says the only way that we can truly grow in likeness to him is to fall in love with him and how do we fall in love with him by looking to him spending time with that is so key because otherwise we're just going to try to earn our righteousness and that will never get us anywhere I mean we must look to Jesus beautiful beautiful so my my question I think we already have an answer for it but my question is is there is this a means of salvation or an evidence of a living loving connection with Jesus evidence of a living connection with Jesus not the means to salvation will you will you share with us a verse that submissions to Galatians chapter 2 so all Riccio go Henry Galatians chapter 2 I believe 20 and 21 relations chapter 2 verse 20 and 21 yeah reading from the New Living Translation what if God says my old self has been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me so I live in this earthly body but trusting in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless for if keeping the law could make us right with God then there was no need for Christ to die Wow Wow another verse another promise that we can share someone out there is as Kyla was saying may be wondering how do I do this how did how is this practical they just say people may not know who wrote the Galatian letter but saul of tarsus later called Paul the Apostle he had gone down that road of trying to earn righteousness he said you know I was flawless you know but he's killing people who believed in Jesus so he understands the miracle of his changed heart and I just want to emphasize I know it is one stage and then another but it's a miracle at every stage for us to be who God's calling us to be is a miracle and and Paul would be the first one to say that it is a miracle that's why he says if anyone is in Christ she or he is a new creation a man he's seen it himself it's ketta in that verse is mentioned Christ now lives in me he says no longer I who live but I died I surrender self in the old way and I accept Christ in my heart and he changes me internally now what I do is motivated by love so it's very important to see the transformation would you share with us a time when you experienced or you saw someone who represented the character of Christ what impact did that have on you you saw that someone had the character of Christ what was the impact on you or what was the impact when someone saw the character of Christ in you what impact did that have on you oh good I can just share briefly and my teacher inform - this is back in the UK was full of the love of Jesus I am I was only privileged to go to a Christian school for four years but that one year with Christian Emerson my teacher changed my life Wow because she was full of the love of God and when you see that and I think that's the ultimate witness this is not just what we say when when the love of God fills a heart we just say I just want to be be like that and that person says well I'm a follower of Jesus so follow him amen reflecting the light of Jesus Nancy my dad my dad is full of the love of Jesus he and you know what he does is he studies the Bible in the morning and he studies a chapter in the morning and a chapter in the evening a chapter in the new a chapter in the old and I like to think about it as he's marinating his life in Jesus you know when you it's it's a cooking term when you take some meat or some tofu and you put it and you know and all of those in sauces and things well that's what he does with his life and so everything he does is covered in Jesus and it's he's been a great example to me yeah and I'm I'm guessing that he's been on his knees praying often and and I think that's the section that we want to move into next we've talked about the head knowledge and that it reaches our hearts and as a result our hands or our actions produce what's already happened inside now we're going to talk about how do we sustain that and that is by spending time with God in prayer so I'd like to have Julianna if you would read Matthew chapter 6 55 through 13 Matthew chapter 6 5 through 13 talking about Jesus teaching on prayer and I am reading from the New King James Version 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 assuredly I say to you they have their reward but you when you pray go into your room and when you have shut your door pray to your father who is in the secret place and when your father who sees in secret will reward you openly 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 therefore do not be like them for your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him in this manner therefore pray our Father in heaven hallowed be thy 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 forgive our debtors 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 amen amen what important lessons can we learn about prayer from Jesus example oh go ahead Trisha Lee I like that he where counseled not to have vain repetitions so there were practices that heathens had at the time but also it was also part of the religious practices to repeat certain things the more I say it then the more likely God will hear but here this model it's in the simplest way it is a conversation so I think even in talking to God we're acknowledging that he's hearing us we're not just saying phrases out and hoping it goes somewhere but we're actually speaking to another being who can hear and understand and wants to have a conversation with us so we have full confidence in the person that we love and trust yes amen Nathan I can't miss the distinction Jesus is making between people who pray to be seen by others and and it's not just what they say but where they are when they're saying it they're out on the street corners versus people who are praying in secret he says go into your room and pray to your father who's also in secret so in other words what do you think showing us here is this is an intimate time it's like when you you know I'm sorry if this sounds a little too far-fetched but just like a married couple behind closed doors in the intimacy that they share and they're having quiet time or conversation you know no one else is there and this is the same way he says with your father in heaven you are in closed doors intimate communion you're it's just you and him you're not showing off to the world you're not doing this before others you're having quiet time so Jesus wants us to be having intimate communion with our father quietly just to think that he's willing to spend quiet time with us the God of the universe I mean think about that that's powerful very cute Natan points that out because I'll back that up in verse 6 seed of that same chapter he uses the word hypocrite he says don't fast as the hypocrite do you and outward is a is a key word because in the Greek it means an actor you know someone who puts on a show of performance so what is Jesus saying about these individuals who pray to be heard by many people or use many words to look religious and so forth he's saying you're just acting and my Bible says to me if you Harbor iniquity in your heart God will not hear your prayers this was the problem with the religious leaders and those who were doing it for outward show the heart wasn't right right he's act act asking for an inward change go ahead and call just to take it a little bit just a little different you can also teach someone how to pray and so when I look at this verse and I look at this text I think about children and make sure that we instill within our children the desire to pray and the need to pray and so I know we have to teach them how to pray and how to spend that time with God so they can then grow to a place where they can spend that quiet time in their closets knowing what they're to say so I think that we should really remember that we have to also teach our children how to pray in the light of what Nathan said the little book steps to Christ he speaks about prayer is the opening of the heart to God is to a friend that's a very personal and even the Lord's Prayer could become a vain repetition it could if you just repeat it ten times and think that God will hear you by saying it 10 times in fact if you look at the Gospels Jesus prays a lot of different prayers he does he's opening his heart to his father's to a friend and I think what what I'm hearing in this great Sermon on the Mount just like with loving obedience is when you love God you want to talk to him yeah and you want to listen to you have an open communication Julianna and then we need to move on I was just gonna say really succinctly that what this says to me and I guess why I choked up trying to read it was that it says we have a direct connection we don't have anything else in the way that the god of the universe wants to talk to me and and and wants me to talk to him amen wow that's wow that's powerful Wow oh well Matthew chapter 7 thank you so much for sharing Matthew chapter 7 and we'll go to verse 24 to 27 and Jason would you read that for us Matthew chapter 7 and we're moving into our last section of our studies living what we learn go ahead I'll be reading from the New King James Version Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 through 27 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 and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock 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 and the winds blew and beat on the house and it fell and great was its fall what is Jesus appeal in these verses what is Jesus appeal Missy trust and obey just listen to what he has to say and do them just simple go ahead Joshua I would just say it's a build your foundation or Christ essentially if you look at family structures it never made sense to me as to why atheists get married you know think about it just for a second just picture that in your mind for a minute how is it if you're not focused on the love of Christ in the beauty of his word in the understanding of his heart rather than your own how is it that you can unite yourself in a marriage and try to build your family on a structure that cannot stand that's built on worldly principles that are like sand they can change at any time they're weak they're futile so when I think about that in my own life I say okay I have to build my foundation on Christ because outside of that like everything else is just going to be a wreck you know and it's really that simple so I think it's a lesson to us to just say okay let's go about things in the smartest way possible Nathan and then we'll come up to Kyle Jesus is comparing two kinds of people here both of them heard his word he says whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them and then he says later whoever hears these things and does not do them so it's not about just hearing and knowing it's actually about putting it in practice and he says the one who puts into practice these teachings of mine this is solid rock foundation that you can build on and and it's trustworthy so build on this but if you hear it and you don't do it whatever you're building on is like sand that's it's not a solid coat you won't make it through the storm mm-hmm Kyle yeah and I'll just add to what Nathan said just to think that this whole time in Matthew five we've been looking at you know Jesus's standard of righteousness versus what our human standard is and if we build our lives on our own righteousness on our own works then it's like sand we have no real foundation the only rock is the rock of Christ's righteousness that can get us through the storm and so you know it all connects its dependence upon him even the prayer thing if prayer is all about dependence on God and so depending on his righteousness on his character in our in our hearts will give us the foundation that will carry us through that storm amen Tricia we did you have a comment you want I was just reflecting on what Juliana mentioned about the invitation to connect with the Lord our Father and even in reading this I just feel as though personally I'd be a fool not to accept that invitation that the Great God of the universe came since his son went through all this length to show me what who he really is to show me what his law means to show me how to love other people who wants to love me and wants to accept my love to him and he's just giving me the simple way to him that I become kind of silly and seeing all of this and then saying no I'd rather build it my own way and just really feels like it's just a heartfelt invitation and that Wow how do I respond to that and I was just just thinking about that so I want it I want to move on we have one more verse to cut to read and that's why John chapter 13 17 and I'll ask Tricia we if you would read that for us the question is is why does Jesus want us to live in harmony with his word John chapter 13 verse 7 yet I'm reading from the New King James Version and it reads if you know these things blessed are you if you do them attrition we I think that that is what you were talking about it's a blessing Jesus God wants us to be happy yes it has to go from the head to the heart to the hands and to the how how do I do that by spending time with Jesus and falling in love with my Savior and Lord and then what happens when you're sharing with others doesn't it make you happy you're you're in in the will of God there's no better peace than that go ahead all right let me just wrap this this this study here together we think clearly Jesus is saying the law is important you must keep it but I don't want you to keep it from an unconverted heart because to do that is to do it with a heart that is not connected to the love of God that is devoid of the right motives and right thoughts so keep the law but make sure the heart is converted why because when you do that you build your faith our faith is built upon the rock yes and our eyes are fixed on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith and we share that with joy in our hearts what a God God we serve thank you so much for this lesson and for sharing today thanks Stephanie and you know the Sermon on the Mount ends by saying they were astonished at his teaching because he taught as one having Authority and really our authority comes from that living connection with God doesn't it and I want to challenge you if you think about this message I have to be honest if I look at God's ideal it's an impossible standard unless a miracle happens in my heart that God's grace not only saves me but transforms me into that of Jesus that he wants me to be to reflect the beauty of his character to others that's God's plan for you and for me why don't we pray that that miracle could happen each day not only for our blessing but the blessing of those around us let's pray our Father in Heaven we're astonished at the teaching of Jesus to know how much you love us and how much you want to work in us and through us Oh Lord forgive us where we have tried to build our own righteousness build on sand instead of on Jesus the solid rock please accept our lives now and work innocent through us as we follow you with love in our hearts is our prayer in Jesus name Thank You amen amen thanks for joining us for Hope Sabbath school we are learning a lot from the Gospel of Matthew take what you learned and share it with those around you

Channel: HopeSabbathSchool

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Keywords: Seventh-day Adventist, Hope Sabbath School, hopesabbathschool, God's word, Bible study, Jesus Christ, sermon, gospel

Id: DseArAtRU2A

Length: 58min 24sec (3504 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 11 2016