Well, I'm excited to begin a new study this morning on the Sermon on the Mount. It's found in Matthew 5 through 7. Luke has a shorter version of it in Luke 6, but we're going to be looking specifically at the Matthew version found in chapters 5 through 7. It's going to take approximately four months, Lord willing, to complete, so we should be finished with it by the time the all-adult Sunday school begins in late May, early June. But if you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew 5. We're going to just be looking at the first two verses today. First two verses today. Matthew 5 verse 1, seeing the crowds, he went up the mountain. And when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, We'll go through what he says next week. But for today's purpose, let's look at this under three headings. First of all, we want to look at the context of the Sermon on the Mount. Secondly, we're going to look at misunderstandings of the Sermon on the Mount. And thirdly, we're going to look at why we even need to study this. So first, let's consider the context for the Sermon on the Mount. At the end of the Old Testament, In fact, the very last verse of the Old Testament found in Malachi 4, 6, it's written, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. So how does the Old Testament end? but ends with a potential curse unless, right? Well, we see in Matthew's gospel, the very beginning of the New Testament, the first sermon recorded that's preached begins with blessings, what we would call the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5, 3 through 12. Many commentators and scholars will also look at a comparison and a contrasting, looking at Mount Sinai in the Old Testament. compared to this common unnamed mountain by the Sea of Galilee in which the Sermon on the Mount was delivered. At Mount Sinai, for example, wherein the Ten Commandments were given, the Lord came down the mountain. Here we see in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus went up the mountain. At Mount Sinai, God spoke in thunder and lightning and the people were overcome. with a reverential fear. Here, Jesus speaks in more of a still and small voice. At Mount Sinai, the people kept their distance, but here they're invited to draw near. And yet, William Hendrickson says, we must be careful. Although it's true that from Mount Sinai, Jehovah revealed his greatness and his glory, nevertheless, the law was given in the context of love. Also, what was proclaimed at Sinai is not set aside, but is given its deeply spiritual interpretation by Jesus Christ. See, a lot of people will say law is not love. God was not very loving in the Old Testament. He was more loving in the New Testament when he sent Christ. It's false, and Hendrickson is exactly right. The law was given out of love. You cannot separate the two. And so now what we see is that at the Sermon on the Mount, that Jesus is expounding upon what was giving at the Mount of Sinai. So important to understand. So does the moral law, the Ten Commandments, the law of God still apply to us as Christians today? The answer is yes. Jesus said in Matthew 517, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. And as we see in subsequent studies of this great sermon, Jesus doesn't abolish it. He rather expounds upon it, teaching us how to live and apply it to our daily lives. Well, as we look at the context of the Sermon on the Mount within the New Testament, let's kind of do a flyby of the first four chapters of Matthew, very briefly. So Matthew 1, we see the genealogy listed in Matthew 1, and then we see the birth of Jesus Christ. Then in Matthew 2, the wise men come to visit Jesus, and Joseph and Mary then afterwards flee to Egypt to get away from Herod, who then would proceed to kill all the male children in Bethlehem who were two years and younger. Matthew 3, after Herod dies, Joseph and Mary return to Nazareth, and then John the Baptist is preaching repentance, preparing the way for Jesus, and then he baptizes Jesus. And then before Jesus delivers this great sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, we read of his temptation in the wilderness Matthew 4 after Jesus is tempted he officially begins his ministry preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand Matthew 4 17 and then Luke's account records that Jesus spends a night in prayer and These days he went out to the mountain to pray and all night. He continued in prayer to God Luke 6 12 and so as after this night of prayer he that we then see Jesus going out and choosing his first disciples. We see that in Matthew 4, 18 through 22, which then leads him to go about Galilee teaching and drawing large crowds. So that we read in Matthew 4, 25, and great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. So it's in this context that Jesus then begins preaching the Sermon on the Mount. He probably, at least in bodily form, may be tired after preaching to a large crowd. And so he retreats up the mountain and takes his disciples with him. And what's the goal? Well, he wants to instruct them. in matters of the faith. He wants them to be a support to his ministry and teaching. He wants them to learn from him that they might also be able to go and make disciples of all men. This was likely preached in the spring of the year, AD 28. And it was the greatest sermon preached by the greatest one who is the son of God. So it's with a bit of respectful and humble fear and trepidation that I even carry on this task of bringing it to you over the next few months. Let us pray as I pray every week and starting out my preparation. Lord, teach me what you want me to hear from this. Teach me what you want me to learn from this. Let us all do that. Come to the feet of Jesus and learn from the master, the son of God himself who taught this. Well, we see that it was initially spoken to the disciples. It constitutes one sermon, for we read in Matthew 5, 2, he opened his mouth and taught them. At the conclusion of the sermon found in Matthew 7, 28, 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 the scribes. Now, it was really broken down into three different sections. The first section, Jesus speaks about the citizens of the kingdom of heaven, Matthew 5, 2 through 16. Secondly, Jesus sets forth the righteousness of the kingdom. In other words, the standards of life demanded by the king of kings, and that's found in Matthew 5, 17 through 7, 12. And then thirdly, Jesus includes the sermon with an appeal. It's an exhortation, if you will, to enter the kingdom of God found in Matthew 7, 13 through 27. Well, as we see in Matthew 5, 1, who is the target audience? Who goes with him up the mountain? the disciples, right? So they were initially the target audience. It's also believed that others, though, would have seen from a distance and began to come. For by the end of Matthew 7, we see that the crowds were astonished. While it was directed primarily to the disciples, it's also directed through them to the whole church today. And thus, it's applicable for our study as modern-day Christians. Now, at first glance, maybe you had this too as we read it, one must wonder what it must have been like to sit at the very feet of Jesus on this unnamed mountain by the Sea of Galilee and to just hear Him pouring forth words. Can you imagine what that would have been like? It would have been marvelous. It would have been extraordinary. John MacArthur writes, the greatest preacher who ever lived preached the greatest sermon ever preached. And yet, let us not forget that though we don't have and see Jesus in bodily form today, he is still with us. He's still, even as we pray, he is interceding for us between us and our heavenly father. We still hear him through the pages of scripture. He is still with us. And so let's learn from Him. And let's see this almost as a personal letter, we could say, from Jesus to you, Joe, and to you, Kevin, and to you, Jacob, to each one of us as a personal letter saying, I love you, and this is what I want for you, and this is who I've called you to be. Well, let's look, first of all, or secondly, let's look at some misunderstandings of this great sermon. The first is this, that some have identified the Sermon on the Mount with legalism. Of course, that always comes up, right, when you talk about Scripture and obeying Scripture. But the thinking that this sermon is merely a carryover from the Old Testament law on Mount Sinai and thus is law only is false. It's true that in Matthew's gospel, Jesus is pictured, we could say, as the second lawgiver, like Moses, but there's much Contrasts, for example, we see in Matthew 5, Jesus is quoted six different times as saying, you have heard that it was said, but I tell you, what's he doing there? He's establishing his ultimate authority as a son of God. Furthermore, Matthew 5 closes with a very bold statement that Moses did not say. Jesus says, you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. Verse 48, one might say this is legalism, but it's not legalism to obey the Lord Jesus Christ out of love to Him. What Jesus is saying here is that we must be striving, yes, with the help of the Holy Spirit to become like Christ. And we will never reach a state of perfection. We could say a state of glorification, which is what that'll be on this side of heaven. We will reach that in our glorified state in heaven. And yet, we should be persevering, right? We should be persevering to become like Christ while we're here on earth. James Boyce comments on this verse, this is not legalism. It's not the Old Testament law restated. It's rather a condemnation of all attempts to please God by legalism in order that the way may be cleared for a man to come to God by faith in Jesus Christ and to receive a new life capable of which he requires. To identify the Sermon on the Mount with legalism is to miss the entire flavor of what the Lord Jesus is saying. Christ's ethics go beyond the law of Moses in order that we might be brought to the feet of the gospel. What's he saying there? Well, as we read through the Old Testament law, but as we also read through the Sermon on the Mount, it's very humbling because we realize we can't measure up. We don't measure up. apart from Jesus Christ. And so it draws us, when we see our sin and we see the heinousness of it, it drives us to the feet of Him who is preaching this very sermon. Certainly, Jesus also realized that the Pharisees and the scribes and other teachers of the law were misinterpreting the law as given to the people through Moses. And so what He does again is He's not abolishing the law, He's fulfilling the law. He's expanding and elaborating upon the Mosaic Law. Well, secondly, another common misunderstanding on the Sermon on the Mount is that the standards set forth are impossible and are therefore not to be taken seriously by Christians. They're impossible, so they're not to be taken seriously by Christians. And maybe you're here today and you look through different parts in the Sermon on the Mount and you're saying, man, I really, I just, I don't measure up. I'm not meek. I don't thirst for righteousness like I should." Well, you're recognizing how terribly high the standard is, right? And so, in a sense, that's good that you're coming with all humility saying, I don't do this or I can't do this. But don't say you can't do this. You know why? Because you have the Holy Spirit as a Christian living within you. And so let us not forget that the very power that raised Jesus from the dead is the very power that you have within you, namely the Holy Spirit, to help you mortify sins, to help you put off the old and put on the new, and to live as Jesus would have us live. We see in John 14, 15 through 17, if you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. Notice in this passage, if we really love the Lord, We will keep His commandments. We will desire to keep His commandments. And yet, God knows we can't do it on our own. So He sent a helper, the Holy Spirit, to dwell within us, to help us live as becomes the followers of God, thus living out the law of God in our lives that bears testimony to the fact that as Christians, we are seeking to please Him who made us. Well, thirdly, there's a misunderstanding of the Sermon on the Mount among some early forms of dispensationalist. In their view, the Sermon on the Mount was nothing more than an official proclamation by Jesus of the ethical principles on which his kingdom would be founded. Thus, in Matthew 5 through 7, Jesus is speaking as Israel's king, meaning the ethics of the sermon are not meant for our specific time of history. What do they say it applies to? It applies to the kingdom that would come when Christ's rule would extend over all the kingdom, namely His second coming. One such proponent of this dispensational view is Dr. I.M. Haldeman, who wrote, The Sermon on the Mount must be taken in its wholeness and its literalness. He goes on to say, This sermon cannot be taken in its plain import and be applied to Christians universally. It has been tried in spots, but has always been like planting a beautiful flower in stony ground or in a dry and withering atmosphere. An early edition of the Dispensational Scofield Bible said this in its footnotes, for these reasons, the Sermon on the Mount in its primary application gives neither the privilege nor the duty of the church. Well, how do we disprove that? If we're going to disprove that, then we're basically saying we don't agree with that. We think the Sermon on the Mount does apply. for all that it's been meant to apply to since Jesus taught it and for us today, not just in the age to come. How do we disprove it? Well, first of all, the sermon is filled with present tense imperatives like rejoice. It doesn't say you will rejoice when this happens. It says rejoice. Says, swear not, go, give, take heed. Jesus says in Matthew 518, 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. So he doesn't say that my words are not binding until then, he doesn't say that. Martin Lloyd-Jones writes, there's nothing therefore, so important this statement, there's nothing therefore so dangerous as to say the Sermon on the Mount has nothing to do with modern Christians. Indeed, I will put it like this. It's something which is meant for all Christian people. It's a perfect picture of the life of the kingdom of God. We are not told, listen to this, we are not told in the Sermon on the Mount, live like this and you will become Christian. Rather, we are told because you are Christian, live like this. What's he saying there? Works don't precede Christian. You can't become a Christian by doing works. Live like this and you will become Christian. Do the works and then you'll become a Christian. No, that's not true. But rather, because you are a Christian, live like this. Because we are Christians, because the Holy Spirit does indwell us, we can, by the Spirit's help, do this and live like this. This is how Christians ought to live. It's how we as Christians are meant to live. Well, secondly, from careful study on the Sermon on the Mount, we see that Christ had our world in mind when he spoke the very words in this sermon. According to the dispensationalists, the words should have applied to an age in which the Lord's earthly rule would be established. However, as Boyce points out, if this were so, there could be no possible meaning of a verse such as Matthew 544. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. What's the boy saying there? In the kingdom age, no one will have liberty to practice these things, to persecute others, or to use them spitefully. So a statement like this would be meaningless. So, in the coming months, as we study the Sermon on the Mount, let us realize that this does, in fact, apply to us today. It's God's words in Scripture, Jesus' words in this sermon, directly spoken, to us today. Well, this brings us to our third heading. Why do we need to study the Sermon on the Mount? Well, there are several important reasons. I've got these on your handout. First of all, it underscores the necessity of new spiritual birth. And we're going to look at the Beatitudes next week. But as you read through the list, how many of you can say that you do those perfectly? None of us. Furthermore, we all struggle with these, don't we, to varying degrees. Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Are you pure in heart? Are you meek? Are you a peacemaker? Or do you instead prefer to pick corals? You see, we realize that when we read through this list that apart from the Lord Jesus Christ and the new birth that we have in Him, None of these are possible. For we were at one time far off from God, living our lives to please our own hedonistic and selfish desires. But now, but now we have been brought near to the Father through God's saving work, through the great teacher of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And it's through His atoning work that we have His imputed righteousness and also the Holy Spirit that enables us and allows us to put on these beatitudes, to put them on in the church, to put them on in your homes, to put them on in your workplaces, wherever you go. Well, secondly, as we read the Word of God and seek to apply it to our lives, we grow closer to the Lord. Therefore, we become more holy, more sanctified. Paul writes, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work, 2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17. So how do we apply that to the Sermon on the Mount? The Sermon on the Mount is profitable for teaching. It's good for reproving us. It's good for correcting us. It's good for training us in righteousness. And what's the end goal? That we will please God, that we will be complete, equipped for every good work that Jesus has laid out beforehand for us to do. Well, third, the Sermon on the Mount points us to Christ. the author and finisher of our faith. How many of y'all like to read books? Yeah, a lot of you, a lot of you. How many of you think about the author as you're reading the book? Like, I wonder why he or she said it that way, or I wonder what the context is, or I wonder the setting in which she wrote this, or what she had in mind or he had in mind as he labored to put these words on a page. We do that with Scripture. As we consider the Sermon on the Mount in the coming months, let us be drawn to the author, to the speaker, to the great high priest, the mediator, the sacrificial lamb that makes all this possible, namely Jesus himself. Boyce writes, we shall see as we perceive that it's impossible to enter into the deepest understanding of these chapters without realizing that in a very large measure, they bring us into the deepest possible contact with the person and nature of our Lord. He goes on to say that the sermon on the mount, excuse me, the preacher of the sermon on the mount is the sermon on the mount. He embodies it. He lives it out perfectly, completely. And we are constantly brought into the most intimate contact with him when we study his words. Well, fourth, the Sermon on the Mount shows us the way of blessing for Christians. Notice I said for Christians, for it's the believer that will be blessed and will be a blessing to others when he or she lives out the standards in God's Word. For example, it's the poor, not the haughty, the meek, not the proud, the merciful, not the cruel, the peacemakers, not the agitators that will truly be blessed and happy in the Lord Jesus Christ. And fifth, and lastly, the Sermon on the Mount helps with evangelism. You might ask, well, how does this work? How does this sermon help with evangelism? Well, as we study it and live it out, people will see the Lord. In this postmodern culture, which is very selfish and hedonistic, people need to see us as Christians that stand out from the culture. We're not here to fit in. Our heavenly home is coming. We live in the world, but we can't be of the world. We're to be counter-cultural Christians, seeking to please God rather than our own sinful desires. Martin Lloyd-Jones writes, and I'll conclude with this, such an important quote, listen to it carefully, the world is looking for and desperately needs true Christians. I am never tired of saying that what the church needs is not to organize evangelistic campaigns to attract outside people, but to begin herself to live the Christian life. to begin herself to live the Christian life. If she did that, men and women would be crowding into our buildings. Here is the life to which we are called. And I maintain again that if only every Christian in the church today were living out the Sermon on the Mount, the great revival for which we are praying and longing for would have already started. Amazing and astounding things would happen. The world would be shocked. and men and women would be drawn and attracted to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Important words. As we study this, may it be true in your life, may it be true in mine. Let's pray. God in heaven, we humbly approach your throne and we think about the great words of the Sermon on the Mount and we realize that We're not even worthy to receive them. We're not even certainly worthy to live them out. But Father, You, in Your grace and mercy, have called us to be Your children. And Father, even more than that, now that we are Your children, Lord, help us to live as Your children, as becomes Your children. Help us to think through this Sermon on the Mount in the coming months very carefully. And help us, Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit to apply it to our lives and to pray for that, believing in the power of the prayer. We know that you hear our prayers, Lord, because of the imputed righteousness of Christ. And we know it's even Jesus now who even intercedes for us as we pray to you. And so we pray in his name, in Jesus's name, amen.