Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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What do I want them to know? The Word of God is true that leads to blessings and cursing but God news Jesus takes the curse
Why? For LIFE
What do I want them to do? Follow and obey the Word
Why? It brings LIFE
Intro
Today we are continue a series that we started a year ago at this time, a series we called the Upside Down Kingdom, it was a sermon walking through the Beattiudes of the Kingdom of God, we will read those in a moment.
“Blessed are you when you do ___”
The series we started a year ago was an introductery points of Jesus’ longer sermon called the Sermon on the Mount.
The sermon has about 30 points in it.
so if you think my sermon has too many points, Jesus’ first sermon to the masses, to the public was 30 points, which you might say back “You’re not Jesus” and you are right and everyone is grateful for that
This sermon Jesus gives, it is good to know the context and location, is in the North part of Israel around the sea of Galilee. that has a mixed crowd of Jews, Gentiles, religious leaders.
SHOW PICTURE
Jesus sermon is an announcement, proclaimation about what King Jesus’ Kingdom is going to be about.
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the 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.
We don’t have time to unpack this today, but what Jesus is preaching here is and upside down kingdom....that his kingdom is going to be about the poor in Spirit, merciful, meek, peacemakers....this is an upside down Kingdom of the ways of the world that is about human power, will, and strength, and an absence of mercy and love.
Then Jesus says what I preach on two weeks before Easter
“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.
you are salt, valuable, SALT was used to preserve, heal, and all are valuable
you are light, not just the Rabbis, threw you good works people are going to come to know me.
TODAY
Where we are today in the SERMON ON THE MOUNT is the point the point that many people are wondering about Jesus.
It is similar but not equal to how we feel about a certain politician. We wonder what this certain politician thinks about that point. What does he or she believe???
The point we are at that the Gentiles, Jews, and Religious leaders want to know is what does Jesus think of the Bible???? What is Jesus’ view on the WORD of GOD?
The Gentiles were not people who followed the word of God, did not grow up on the Word of God....maybe they heard it from time to time, but they did not believe it or follow it.
Jews, these are the people of the BOOK, the Word of God, and some followed the Word of God as best they could....there also Jewish people who grew up following the Word of God but now don’t follow it or at best follow what parts of the Word of God they like.
Religious leaders, religious leaders love the WORD of God, their whole live is dedicated to the WORD of GOD, but we come to find out later as much as they love the Word of God, they loved their traditions more. They created an Oral Torah and when it was written down it was called the Missnah....what it was the religious leaders expounding on the text of scripture....so for example on the Sabbath they give 39 different rules and regulations…one of them being that it is only lawful to walk a Sabbath’s day journey on the Sabbath which is about 3/5 of a mile and to walk more was SINFUL.
Review the groups
Jesus is preaching a message to this GROUP and they are wondering what is Jesus going to say about the WORD of GOD and what does he say?
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
(Jesus says I have not come to abolish the law to get rid, I am not setting up a new order, new book, new way of doing things, of it but fulfill it and He does fulfill the righteous requirements fo the law by doing so it makes us way for us to have relationship with God)
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Then he says
I like how Luke brings this out
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.
Think about that?
It easier for heaven and earth to pass away than one dot of the Law to become void…one dot!!!
Think about that next time someone tries to limit or take out parts of scripture they do not like…Jesus says the smallest dot is inspired and written by God and t
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT’S SO COOL?
It is up to date, it never has not been up to date, there is not update that is needed, no revision needed, no correction, 1000 years ago it was up to date, and 1000 years from now it is up to date.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
BUT SAY BUT THESE AREIt is old Words, but there are not old fashion words....The very LIFE of LIFE is in the WORD
SOME SAY BUT WE ARE ENLIGHTENED NOW.....THINK ABOUT HOW MANY THINGS WE HAVE CHANGED AND GOT WRONG UNDERE THE ENLIGHTENMENT
DIFFERENT RACES WERE NOT AS SMART AS WHITE PEOPLE
WOMAN COULDN’T VOTE
A BABY IN THE WOMB IS NOT A HUMAN
A MAN IS NOT A MAN, BUT ONLY WHAT THEY WANT TO BE
THE AMAZING NEWS IS WE HAVE SOMETHING THAT WILL NEVER FADE
THIS IS AWESOME NEWS FOR US, WE HAVE SOMETHING THAT WE CAN TRUST IN THAT NEVER CHANGES
THEN JESUS SAYS
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.
What Jesus is saying is the Word of God says what it means and means what it says..
Most of the scriptures are very clear and black and white around how we should live....there is no maybe we shouldn’t steal…or maybe what God really meant was if you love someone you can sleep with them....or maybe when God said marriage is between a man and woman he didn’t really mean that....we have more knowledge and enlightenment now!
This line of thinking has the religious people thinking preach on Jesus....tell them the instructions of God.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
You shall not hate your brother or neighbor but love them as you would love yourself....Reinterated in the New Testament
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
WHEN YOU SAY RELAX JESUS MEANS ALL THE WAYS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD not what we pick and choose
But wait some say....you cannot say stuff like this…this is not seeker sensitive....
These are not the entrance requirements they are the ways of the kingdom, the way we get into the a relationship with Jesus by the believing and giving our allegenice to God.
Here is the lie we buy into in the church....if we dumb down or avoid culturally hard parts of scripture then people will come to Jesus, so we tell them about about a water down Jesus with a water down Gospel and we have a water down or luke warm church.
What happened to the student movement in Great Britain, that was once very power and big? What happened was it moved from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, moved from the atoning work of Jesus on the cross, stepped away from the full authority of scripture and people began to proclaim in this movement is if we want to reach this generation we need to move this story, the story of the Gospel, so they developed different interest groups, Christians interested in race, Christians in alternative lifestyles, Christian groups interested in Marxism these would build bridges to the secular world and bring people into the kingdom, this did not happen! The movement had the opposite results, the church become more like the world than the world coming to know Jesus. Christian Marist became Marxist with just a remnant of Jesus.
THIS SOUNDS LIKE AMERICA!!!
Here is the interesting
Every revival starts with…NT, OT. Revivals, IT IS REFORMATION AND EVANGELISM
Awareness of holiness of God (his holiness and love)
Awareness of depth of sin (in own life and community)
HOLY SPIRIT....FRIENDS THE CHURCH IN PRIME REVIVAL MOMENT and it starts with us living the set apart lives that God call us to be
We are to be Holy as God is Holy
Not exclusive, our heart is always for the lost
This is what is at stake here, not only does the watering down of the WORD of God water down the church it brings destruction and weakness into our own lives
We become HOUSES BUILT ON SAND, AND God wants us to be oaks of righteousness
All of us know this, who are in Jesus, THAT WHEN WE DEVIATED FROM THE WORD OF GOD
It was not Roses and Sunshine, maybe at first, but it was the time when your life started to fall apart.
No one can every say over the long term that following my flesh is good.....eventually destruction comes.
And we have also seen the blessing of the Lord when we have remained steadfast even when our flesh is screaming.
WE HAVE SEEN THE BLESSINGS OF THE LORD
“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.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Look at those promises, those who stay in the WORD are like a fruitful tree! Prospers
“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, and 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 his house on 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.”
Jesus is the rock! Hard seasons come, stayed strong because they stayed on the rock....David
Jesus says the promise of scripture those who remain people of the living WORD and WRITTEN WORD will remain....there is power in the WORD of GOD....but those who do not hear and do these WORDS will fall and GREAT will be the FALL.
What Jesus is saying to us is their is a POWER in the WORD of GOD…those who follow the WORD of GOD have LIFE and STRENGTH and it is the this power than only GIVES LIFE AND POWER TO YOU but it is the WORD OF GOD THAT BRINGS NEW LIFE AND POWER to those outside the church.
And then Jesus continues to say, after he talks about the WORD of GOD
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus says an astonishing statement…though they have major flaws the scribes and Pharisees are the most righteousness.
Unless you are greater than Billy Gramham or Mother Teresa you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven....
THEY are ALL OUT, WE ARE OUT.....
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
How so?
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
The good news of Jesus, is that there is POWER AND LIFE IN THE WORD and new life in the living word Jesus.