The Sermon (An Introduction to The Sermon on the Mount)

Well take your Bible and turn back with me to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, I'm sure it's open there from our scripture reading earlier. Although we read the end of chapter 4 and the first two verses of chapter 5, this morning we will look at a few other verses in chapter 4. Matter of fact, I will reference a couple of verses even in chapter 3. And again if you have your Bible turned to where we are, where we were earlier, you'll be able to follow along just fine with no problem. Now beginning in chapter 5 we have what is traditionally called the Sermon on the Mount.

The Sermon on the Mount is actually found in three chapters, chapter 5, chapter 6 and chapter 7. Sometimes people will make the mistake of believing that the Sermon on the Mount is only here in chapter 5 as they look at the beatitudes which are from verse 2 on down to verse 11. But the Sermon on the Mount is found in three chapters, chapter 5, chapter 6 and chapter 7. Most of the Bibles that we have today have some type of a heading before chapter 5. So for your own study, you might want to note that, by the time we get through this study you will know definitely that this is three chapters here in verse, here in the Sermon on the Mount.

Now truthfully, as the preaching pastor here, I'm very anxious to jump into the Sermon itself. What I mean by the Sermon, I mean verse 3 where Jesus begins to speak, He begins to teach when preparing to preach and when I get into the exercise of preaching, I want to start with the verses. I want to really get into chapter and verse. That's what I really love to do. I like to go verse by verse, chapter by chapter. But sometimes we need to cover some introductory material and that's what we have here this morning and I believe this introductory material will be of great benefit for you as it has been for me for several, several, several weeks.

Now I want to go back into chapter 3 and chapter 4 for some background and this will take us right up to the actual Sermon. If I can use this language, this will set the stage for us all this morning. This will help us see big picture. I know I use that language quite often here. So the first thing I want us to see are number one, the broader background of the Sermon, the broader background of the Sermon itself. It is important for us to see where the Sermon on the Mount fits into the earthly ministry of Jesus. This helps us see those who were hearing the Sermon which helps us understand why Jesus taught as He did.

So let's look at this broader background of the Sermon. Notice that we are at the beginning of the earthly ministry of Jesus. This is at the beginning of the earthly ministry of Jesus. Back in chapter 3, Jesus had been baptized. He had been tempted there in the wilderness in chapter 4. John the Baptist had finished his earthly ministry. He had prepared the way for the coming Messiah which was Jesus. And when John faded from the public scene, then Jesus stepped forward to begin His public ministry. And in one verse, verse 17 of chapter 4, look at verse 17 with me. What does it say?

"From that time, Jesus began to preach." Now what does that phrase "from that time" mean? This one statement describes the beginning of the earthly ministry of Jesus. It was a dividing line between the public ministry of John and the public ministry of Jesus. Notice we see the calling of Jesus' first disciples. If you glance at chapter 4, you see this starting in verse 18 and it goes on down to verse 22. As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He encountered four different men. Two sets of brothers specifically. There was Simon Peter and then there was Andrew.

One set of brothers and then there's James and John, the sons of Zebedee, another set of brothers. And if you notice in verse 20, Jesus is calling Andrew and Simon Peter. And what happens, immediately, verse 20, they left their nets and followed Him. And then verse 22, it applies to James and John. Immediately, they left their boat and they left their father and they followed Him. So this is Jesus calling the first of His disciples. And then notice we see the spreading of the success, if you could use that language, of Jesus' earthly ministry. I read those verses earlier from verse 23 to verse 25.

This is a broad description of the earthly ministry of Jesus, but it's loaded with information. Here we see that Jesus went all throughout Galilee teaching and proclaiming the gospel and healing the masses. This led to the spread of His popularity. Look at verse 24. It might surprise some of you, but it says, "So His fame spread." Even the King James uses that term fame. But things continue to snowball. Look at verse 25. "And great crowds followed Him," the verse says. So people came here. They came from Galilee, which was the region that He'd been ministering in. It grows even more.

People came from Syria, which was an area northeast of the region of Galilee. People came from the Decapolis. That's a term which described a group of Greek cities southeast of Galilee. People came from the city of Jerusalem and the region of Judea, which was south of Galilee. If you look at your map south of Galilee, there is Samaria. And even south of Samaria, there is Jerusalem and Judea. So people came from that region. And then the text says that people came from beyond the Jordan. Now, this was a region east of the Jordan. It was a distinct area, and it's mentioned or noted many times in the Gospels.

Now notice what we see here in this broader background of the actual sermon. Jesus had started off His earthly ministry with a bang. Lots of success. Verse 24 said that His fame spread. Now this is not an overstatement. He had great crowds coming great distances for great miracles. But crowds were coming great distances to hear great teaching. At every opportunity, Jesus proclaimed the Gospel, the Kingdom of God, and the Scriptures say that no man taught as Jesus did. But this leads me to a couple of questions, and I want us to ponder these questions together. The first question, who is in the crowds, these great crowds?

And what do these crowds mean? We have mostly Jews with some Gentiles, and then specifically we do have the disciples. But the greater context of these crowds is the nation of Israel. The Jewish people and their religion was behind it all. The Jews had erected a system of works around the Old Testament law. They had a mixture of the Old Testament and their man-made rules, which were supposed to ensure that they kept the law. Truthfully it was nothing more but a system of works, a failed system of works-based religion. Now remember who was in the crowds?

I said it earlier, primarily Jews who represented the nation of Israel, primarily Jews who represented their works-based religion, and a few Gentiles as well. And there is a lot that we can learn here from the different peoples who were listening. And we will revisit these people, mostly the Jews. We will revisit their religion next week in the introduction of the message as we get into the Beatitudes. And then number two, I want us to see the specific setting of the sermon. We've looked at the broader background of the sermon. Now let's look at the specific setting of the sermon. Now this comes out of chapter five, the first two verses.

We read them earlier. In the crowds he went up on the mountain and he sat down and his disciples came to him. And he opened up his mouth and he taught them, saying. Now right away Jesus does something that sounds very, very human. It seems that he turned and noticed the great crowds. Now this was no accident. It wasn't like these events snuck up on Jesus, no. He saw the crowds and he began to teach them. Now here in chapter five, there are no miracles, there are no healings, there are no great signs that are supposed to point to his deity. But notice what he did. Notice that Jesus went up, verse one says, what does it say?

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain. He went up on the side of the mountain there in Galilee. And Bible scholars tell us that Jesus went up on a gentle slope overlooking the Sea of Galilee. This was a place that was perfect for teaching. He had a vantage point so that he could be seen and heard by the crowd. He had a vantage point here in that he could see the crowds and he could make eye contact with the crowds and he could look into their faces as he communicated to them the perfect word of God. So he went up and then notice that he sat down. Verse one goes on to say that he went up on the mountain when he sat down.

Now Jesus is not sitting down here just to be comfortable. This was a common position for teachers in Jesus' day. In the synagogues, the teaching rabbis would sit down when it was time to read the text, the Old Testament scriptures, and explain the scriptures. Other men could speak in the Jewish synagogues, but when the rabbis would sit down, they were taking their position and place of authority among the people. So when Jesus sat down, the crowds knew that Jesus was assuming a place of authority. It would be safe to say that when Jesus sat down, the crowds began to take notice. And then notice Jesus, he began to speak.

What does verse two say? "And he opened his mouth and he taught them same." Here we see that Jesus opened his mouth to teach. He was accustomed to teaching in this earthly ministry. Jesus preached repentance and the news of the kingdom. Verse 23 says that he taught in the synagogues as he traveled all throughout the land. But here we see Jesus began to speak, but this is not just any sermon. Jesus is preaching the most important sermon within the New Testament scriptures, possibly the most important sermon within the entirety of the whole Bible. Yes, I said the most important sermon within the scriptures.

Now I want to give you three reasons to solidify that statement. I don't know if you caught that statement, and I'll say it again. This is possibly the most important sermon in the entirety of the scriptures. I want to give us three statements that will solidify that position. Now this is not exhaustive. I will continue to give you reasons why this is the most important sermon, really as we proceed all the way through this series. But notice, within the Sermon on the Mount, and we will learn this as we go, Jesus expounded the entire meaning of the Old Testament law.

He then demonstrated the demands of the law, which were impossible for any man to keep. And then within the sermon, Jesus uses the law properly in regards to salvation for mankind. He eliminates any possibility that man can earn salvation, demonstrating within the sermon that man must depend on salvation by God's grace alone. And then within the sermon, Jesus went into the very depths of the law itself, revealing that the true demands of the law go much further than the surface meaning of words. He set a standard higher than any Jewish teacher had ever set before, and that standard was perfection.

And listen folks, only the perfect Son of God could demonstrate these realities about the Old Testament law. Jesus does that and more here in the Sermon on the Mount, and I call it the sermon. Now at this point in the message, there are three subjects I want us to think about. Now these subjects are very practical, and these subjects help get us going in the right direction. This helps set us up for the series. Now the first subject I want us to see or explore or think about is I want to show you our approach in the sermon, how we will approach studying and teaching and working through the sermon, and then why the sermon is so important.

I've already alluded to that, Son, and then the purpose of the sermon. This will take us right up to verse 3, which is when Jesus begins to speak. So first, let's think about our approach to the sermon. What I mean by approach, my approach is we travel together through the pages of chapter 5, 6, and 7. This is our approach. Now we will study this sermon as one message. There are some Bible scholars which teach that Matthew compiled different portions of Jesus teaching into one sermon. Now these scholars teach that all this did not take place in one setting. Now personally, I do not believe that.

That is why I took the time to give us that broader background. Remember Jesus' ministry had grown and grown and grown in a very short time. And finally, there was this large crowd, and right behind all of those Jews was Israel, their religious system, and their abuse of the Old Testament law. And Jesus then taught them this one sermon as a correction to that entire system that they had erected around the law. He taught one sermon to set things straight. Now we do see portions of this sermon scattered throughout the gospel, but we will study this as one sermon taught in one setting, taught by our Lord to these crowds, these people.

And then as we study the sermon, we also must master two disciplines. Still, this is our approach to the sermon. We must master two disciplines. First we must study the parts. The words, the phrases, and the verses. We study words, phrases, and sections of the sermon because we need to go as deep as we can. But we cannot lose sight of the sermon as a whole, the big picture. So we study the parts, which is one discipline, but we also study the sermon as a whole, which is a second discipline. Now this work is difficult at times. It takes discipline. It takes us making sure we're exercising both disciplines.

I'll give you an example that will help you see what I mean here. This word blessed found in verse two all the way to verse 11. It is a very, very important word. I'm very anxious. I'm excited to expound on this word. And this word blessed dominates these verses from verse two all the way to verse 11. And it's very important. But we must discipline ourselves to see this word in the context of the entire sermon. Continuing with our approach, we also must see that the sermon was preached in a particular order. Now this might not mean much to some of you, but we need to see that Jesus did not randomly talk.

We may not understand the order or the reason to the order, but everything was done in proper order. And as we go through this sermon, we will see the order unfold for a particular reason. And then last in this approach is our condition as we relate to the sermon on the Mount. If we are confident that we are born again, if we know that God has saved us, then we will hear how the sermon applies to us in our Christian life. There is specific application for those of us who are born again Christian all through the sermon. And we should look for the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, work in our minds and work in our hearts.

We should look for the Holy Spirit to teach us, to correct us, to encourage us, to guide us and to ultimately mold us into the people that God wants us to be. Oh, but there are some here you are not born again. You've not been born of the spirit. You're not a biblical Christian. For you, you will hear God's perfect standard that you cannot meet. You will see yourself against God's perfect standard and in desperate need of God's grace. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will convict you throughout the sermon and bring you to that place of repentance and faith. So this is our approach to the sermon. Now let's continue.

I want us to think for a moment about why the sermon is important. Now in all of my reading for the past several months, I ran across many reasons from many different Bible scholars why studying the sermon is important. Now for me, there were three that just kind of rose to the surface. Now the first reason is the sermon on the Mount shows us the true Christian life. You need to remember that folks. The sermon on the Mount is the picture and an explanation of the true Christian life. The sermon on the Mount is the Christian life according to Jesus, not according to man or a religious standard.

I read one scholar who said the Bible shows us God and the sermon shows us the Christian life. Oh, I might need to say that it's simplistic, but doesn't it help us see the importance here? The Bible shows us God and these sermons shows us the Christian life. You could say that the sermon on the Mount is the Christian life. It is an explanation. It is an example and it is a picture. And then also the sermon on the Mount shows us the proper relationship between the Old Testament law and grace. Oh, some of us really need to see this.

The sermon on the Mount shows us the proper relationship between the Old Testament law and grace for us who are Christian. For those of us who are born again, the sermon shows us that we are not under the law. I mean the law no longer judges us as being lost and without Christ, but we are meant to live God's law and even more than God's law. We're to go beyond the law and the sermon shows us what that looks like and even how that is possible. There is no other place in scripture that shows us this standard and then still with why the sermon is so important.

Practically the sermon on the Mount destroys, utterly destroys superficial surface religion. Now listen folks, I don't know if you realize this, but that was the number one problem for the Jews in Jesus' day. It was superficial surface religion. That was what Nicodemus' problem was when he came to see Jesus at night. And when Jesus preached this sermon, he systematically dismantled their man-made religious system right before their eyes. And listen folks, the sermon on the Mount does the very same thing today. And then let us think about the purpose of the sermon.

I wanted us to think about our approach to the sermon and then I wanted us to think about why the sermon is so important and now I want us to think about the purpose of the sermon. These purposes are fairly practical and easy to follow and these purposes lead us right up to verse 3 which is the beginning of the sermon. Now most important, studying the sermon on the Mount will point people to Christ. Christ is the main character here. For one thing, he is the one teaching from chapter 5 to chapter 7. Also he is the only one who ever lived this perfectly. Now think about that. He lived this perfectly.

Also he is the only way we personally can strive for this standard. So in every way this sermon points to Christ and I pray that that takes place in your life. I pray that as we study together and while you are in your private time with the Lord Jesus that this sermon and our journey together points you to Christ. I pray that you see Jesus behind every word, behind every phrase, behind every verse, behind every sermon, behind every example that I may give and I pray that we all see Jesus in a great way together. And then next the sermon on the Mount shows us our need for the new birth.

The law of God, the Old Testament law, the scriptures say they are a schoolmaster that shows us our need for Christ. But the sermon on the Mount goes beyond. It goes where the law cannot go. Through the sermon Jesus deals with the matter of the heart, with the matter of the heart and mind showing us our great need for new life in Christ. A purpose which might surprise some of you and that is evangelism. Yes, evangelism. As we live this standard only by God's grace then sinners around us will see us as different. It isn't a matter of what we do and don't do. It becomes a matter of who we are.

It becomes a matter of our character and our disposition. Sinners see our inner self coming out in our actions and this is a must in evangelism. Otherwise we're hypocrites. Two more purposes. We also need to see that the sermon allows us to live a life which is pleasing to God. Now think about that folks. The sermon allows us to live a life which is pleasing to God. This is His standard for the Christian life. Now a question. Do you want to live a life that is pleasing to God? I mean let's just think about that folks, do we really want to live a life that is pleasing to God?

And if so, then set your all to study the sermon on the Mount and then to live out what you learn with God's help. And if you do, you can be sure that you're living your life will be pleasing to the heavenly Father. And then last, this last purpose and it might surprise you, blessings from God. Listen, blessings from God. Yes, we study the sermon to be blessed of God and I know that that makes some of you perk up. I told you I would take you right up to verse 3. Now notice what verse 3 says. Blessed are the poor in spirit. The very first word Jesus utters within the sermon is blessed.

And nine times this word is used from verse 3 all the way down to verse 11. Wouldn't you say that's a key word? And see this word blessed speaks of an inner happiness, an inner blissfulness. Now this is not from emotions or physical circumstances. No, this is the spiritual condition of the inner man. Only the purpose of the sermon is Jesus' desire to bring His followers into an inner state of happiness and contentment and blessing. And we need to see that Jesus wants us to study the sermon on the Mount, His sermon, so that its teachings would begin a lifelong inner work within us.

Jesus desires to enable us to live the true Christian life, therefore bringing about a true inner spiritual happiness even though our outward circumstances may be difficult. One scholar that I have studied for quite some time translates this word blessed as flourishing. That's accurate. Question. Do you want to flourish in your Christian life? I mean do you want to be blessed and do you want to flourish within your Christian life? Well Christ wants you to. That's the purpose of the sermon. He certainly does.

And He knows that if this sermon does this work in your life, your life will bring glory and honor and praise to God the Father all throughout your days. Now as we close, I want to issue you two warnings and a challenge. Maybe you write this down. Two warnings and a challenge. Now I'll go ahead and tell you these are what I call friendly little warnings. First I'll give you the two warnings. They are short and they're sweet. These warnings are meant to prepare you and then I will begin to close with our challenge. Now the first warning. Be prepared to be shamed. Listen folks, as we dive into this sermon, be prepared to be shamed.

The standard set out here by our Lord is perfection and perfection always shames the sinner and we're all sinners, even those of us who are redeemed. Perfection beyond the externals of the written law is the standard. First chapter 5 verse 48, Jesus says, "You therefore be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." So in many ways, studying God's perfect standard through this sermon, it will shame us and humble us. And then the second warning. Be prepared to be drawn. Yes, be prepared to be drawn into this work. As a believer with the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God will enable you to be drawn into this message.

Yes, to be shamed, but to be drawn. So look to be drawn into God's standard here. It is the Holy Spirit who will draw us into this work and it is the Spirit who will enable us to walk a lifelong journey striving for this perfect standard. So here are the warnings. Be prepared to be shamed and be prepared to be drawn into the work. Now my challenge. Last night as I was finishing up, I thought of an illustration that might help some of us. I have shared with you from time to time that I really keep up with the news on my telephone. And what I mean by that is I have certain news feeds that I will read.

I really don't watch the news on television, but there are certain news outlets that I subscribe to and I try to be abreast of what's going on. Of course some of our news is very difficult for us to read, is it not? But there's one story that just rotated in and out of the news feed this summer and it was the story about mountaineers and how they ascend every year to Mount Everest. Now I'm not an expert on Everest, but I think you know and I know that it is the tallest mountain in the world. For those who live there on the mountain, it's a sacred place. But for those who are in the mountaineering, it is a journey, it is a quest.

And very few can get to the top of Mount Everest and it's dangerous. But all of the news articles that I read talked about how Mount Everest, it has become littered with garbage. All types of garbage, even human excrement from years of men and women going up that mountain, there are old tents and mountaineering equipment, there's trash from food, you name it, oxygen bottles, I mean from base camp all the way up. And there are all of these efforts to work to get all of that garbage down off the mountain and there are many, many dead bodies. You know you think about that.

It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful places on earth, but yet it's strewn with garbage. And here before us we have the most majestic, the most noble, the most important sermon within the pages of Scripture. It is the sermon, the sermon where the living Lord Jesus explains to us how we live this Christian life. And listen folks, let's come on this journey together and let's do whatever we can do to get the garbage and the litter and the waste out of our lives.

Let's get cleaned up and let's get ready and let's journey together, seeking our Lord Jesus, desiring to understand this perfect standard so as to be the people that God wants us to be. That's the challenge from your pastor. And as you read, oh read, start in chapter 5, read over and over. As you read and you meditate and you pray over these verses, as you discuss the sermon on the map with brothers and sisters and within your family and in your family discipleship time and as you continue to pray and continue to meditate and ask the Lord to give you meaning and understanding here, listen, ready yourself, ready yourself.

Let's ready ourselves to do what? To study the sermon. That's the title of the message, this sermon. There's no better title. It's the sermon. My prayer and my desire is that as we journey together, this really does transform us and enable us to live this Christian life.