Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Today is Gospel Saturday. We’ll read Matthew 5-7. And after the reading, I have some comments I’m calling today’s episode “The Sermon On the Mount.”

Design: Steve Webb | Photo: Steve Webb

Comments on the Sermon On the Mount

Jesus had begun drawing large crowds by now. He taught in synagogues, he preached the gospel of the kingdom of Heaven, and he healed all kinds of disease and sickness among the people. He became famous, and people are always drawn to famous people. In Jesus' case, they wanted to see miracles and hear him teach.

So on this particular day, when Jesus saw the crowd, He walked up a mountain so that his voice could be heard by them, and once he found a place to sit, he began speaking. It was common in that day for teachers to sit, and students to stand, and we have other examples Jesus sitting while teaching. Matthew 13:2, 23:2, 24:3, Luke 4:20.

Given the denseness of Jesus' message, there is no way to talk about every point in one episode of this podcast. But I do have a couple of points I want to address.

Jesus Fulfilled the Law and the Prophets

In 5:17 Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them." This is very important, because He will be accused of blasphemy when the religious leaders hear certain parts of His teaching. He was declaring here that His purpose was *not* to oppose the Law that God gave to Israel through Moses. He came to fulfill the Law, to live it as God intended, not as the Scribes and Pharisees had misinterpreted it.

No one had ever fulfilled the Law, because to do so would mean that he or she had never sinned. Jesus is the only one in the history of mankind to live a sinless life. Jesus never broke the Law of God.

The Law and the Prophets pointed to Jesus. He fulfilled them.

The Law and the Prophets proclaim that the penalty for sin is death. Jesus' death on the cross fulfilled this as well. He had not sinned, but He took my sin and yours upon Himself. He was the perfect and final sacrificial Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:4, "Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."

The Bottom Line

If I was forced to distill the Sermon on the Mount, what would I say was the lesson Jesus wanted the crowd to leave with?

Jesus laid out some pretty high standards, didn't He? If you're angry with a brother, you will subjected to judgement. If you look with lust at someone who is not your spouse, you are an adulterer. If someone hits you on the right cheek, you are to turn your other cheek to him. And you have to love your enemies. And that's only part of the first chapter.

Maybe I'm alone here. Maybe I’m the worst guy on the planet. But according to Jesus’ teaching in this sermon, I. Am. Guilty. Guilty as charged. I cannot sit behind this microphone and claim to be righteous. I can’t expect to get into Heaven on my merits. 

I am in deep, deep trouble. 

Am I alone? Hmm? Oh, good.

This realization that we fall far short is exactly what Jesus intended with this sermon. He needed to make us aware of our need for Him. We desperately need Him. We need him more than food, more than water, more than the air we breathe. Because without Him, our future is bleak. Our future holds nothing but blackness, torment, and separation from God.

But here is the Good News! In John 3:17 and 18 Jesus says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 18 The one who believes in him is not condemned.”

If I believe in Him, I am free from condemnation! My sins, which are many, are not only forgiven, they are forgotten. They are as far from me as the east is from the west. God sees me as pure and holy and righteous, because of what Jesus did for me.