In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is teaching what it looks like to live as the people of God. What becomes abundantly clear is that God’s standard is much different than the standard of the scribes and Pharisees. In fact, Jesus says that the true people of God will have a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. In Matthew 5:21-48 Jesus offers six examples contrasting the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees and the true law of God. What’s clear is that the righteousness of God is a righteousness of the heart and it goes far beyond the lines and parameters of the religious leaders. Further, we can never live up to God’s standard – but instead He gives those who are His new hearts – hearts that hunger and thirst for true righteousness. In 5:27-30 Jesus gives the second of His six examples – this time contrasting the scribes and the Pharisees’ understanding and application of the seventh commandment with God’s true heart behind the command.

It’s natural, we all like know where the lines are. We like to know how far we can go without crossing the line. And this is the way many people think about the law of God and being in right standing before God. They believe that there are certain lines that shouldn’t be crossed and as long as we don’t cross those lines we will be in good standing with God. This a simplified version of the false teaching of the scribes and Pharisees during the time of Jesus. They had taken the law of God and created lines and parameters. They had a system by which they believed they could determine who was right with God and who wasn’t. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is teaching what it looks like to live as the people of God. What becomes abundantly clear is that God’s standard is much different than the standard of the scribes and Pharisees. In fact, Jesus says that the true people of God will have a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. In Matthew 5:21-48 Jesus offers six examples contrasting the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees and the true law of God. What’s clear is that the righteousness of God is a righteousness of the heart and it goes far beyond the lines and parameters of the religious leaders. Further, we can never live up to God’s standard – but instead He gives those who are His new hearts – hearts that hunger and thirst for true righteousness.

In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus makes clear that the people of God’s kingdom are to be a people who live in righteousness. But Jesus knew that the people of His day had a very confused understanding of what it means to live in righteousness. The religious leaders of Jesus’s day (the scribes and the Pharisees) claimed to be teachers of the law of God, but what they taught wasn’t the true law of God. In Matthew 5:21-48 Jesus begins to show the contrast between the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees and the true law of God. Jesus is teaching that the law of the scribes and Pharisees wasn’t a pure teaching of the law of God, and in order to make His point Jesus uses six illustrations. The great preacher, Martin Lloyd Jones , said it this way: Our Lord knew the importance of illustrating a principle, so here He gives six illustrations of the one truth . . . Our Lord’s chief desire was to show the true meaning and intent of the law, and to correct the erroneous conclusions which had been drawn from it by the Pharisees and scribes and all the false notions which they had founded upon it.

As Jesus began His ministry, He began proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. He was calling people to repentance and to following Him. But as His influence grew so did the questions about His teaching. In the day of Jesus our Old Testament was their Scriptures. As the ministry of Jesus grew and people became familiar with His teaching questions began to arise about His views of the Old Testament Scriptures. Does He believe in the Scriptures? Is He teaching a Gospel apart from the Old Testament Law? Is He trying to abolish the Law or replace it? In the last sermon we considered the relationship between Jesus and the Old Testament (Matthew 5:17-18), but that question lays the foundation for the next: What do we do with commands of God? What’s our relationship with the Law, and how do we obtain righteousness?

As Jesus began His ministry, He began proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. He was calling people to repentance and to following Him. But as His influence grew so did the questions about His teaching. In the day of Jesus our Old Testament was their Scriptures. As the ministry of Jesus grew and people became familiar with His teaching questions began to arise about His views of the Old Testament Scriptures. Does He believe in the Scriptures? Is He teaching a Gospel apart from the Old Testament Law? Is He trying to abolish the Law or replace it? It seems these were common questions during the days of Jesus’ ministry, and they are questions that are still common today. What is the relationship between Jesus and the Old Testament? If we have the New Testament is there any need for the Old Testament? How much, if any of it is needful for today?

Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with a list of attributes that are found in those who are part of the kingdom of God along with related blessings. What’s clear from that list is that those who live as citizens of God’s kingdom live counter-cultural lives – lives that are very different from the world around them. Following ‘the Beatitudes’ Jesus continues to drive home the point that the people of God will stand out in the world – but this is part of His plan. We are in the world, and our presence is meant to impact the world. Using two metaphors Jesus teaches us how our lives in the world serve to restrain evil and provide a witness to the goodness and glory of God.

The Gospel of Matthew tells us that early in the ministry of Jesus there was a time when Jesus went up on a mountain with His disciples and He taught them. From that time of teaching, we have one of the longest recorded discourses of Jesus. It’s a teaching that the church has come to refer to as The Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday morning. That evening He made His first appearance to His disciples and Luke records what He said to them. These are men who had been with Jesus for years, but they were slow to truly understand the nature of why Jesus came. But now they are face to face with risen Lord and He explains it all again. He came to die and rise from the dead, and it’s part of the plan that God has had all along. Through His resurrection Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures, accomplished salvation for all who will believe and now He’s commissioning His disciples to go as His witnesses to the world. As we consider this evening that Jesus had with His disciples, we should be reminded of the significance of what Jesus accomplished and of the calling we have to take the news of His salvation to the world.

We can often be tempted to doubt God because our perspectives are too limited. If we only look at our own lives or the lives of those closest to us, we may be tempted to wonder if God will be faithful – if God will keep His promises. But when we turn the Scriptures, we have centuries and centuries of proof – God is always faithful to His word. In 2 Samuel 7 we read some of the most incredible promises that God ever made. God promised David that from His line would come a king who would sit on an eternal throne in an eternal kingdom. However, within a few generations the people of God began to wonder if God would be faithful to David. As kings failed and the nation faltered many wondered if God would keep His promises. Psalm 132 is a psalm that recalls the faithfulness of God. In the first half of the psalm, we hear the people of God asking God to remember His servant David. In the second half of the psalm, we get the assurance that God will in fact fulfill all that He has promised.

We live in a world that in large measure disregards the things of God. So much of what God has given us in the Scriptures is regarded by many as outdated or irrelevant for life in today’s world. And so, for those who are committed to trusting God and taking Him at His word, there can be a sense in which we feel like outsiders in this world. On some issues the church is being told we are on the wrong side of history, and if we aren’t careful we can start to doubt the things we’ve believed to be true. Of course, we aren’t the first generation of God-followers to find ourselves living in a time and place where the ways of God are disregarded. In fact, this is the story of most of history – and it is for people in this kind of situation that Psalm 125 is written. Psalm 125 is a psalm that is written for a people who are living under wicked rule – but here’s the encouragement: God will protect, keep and care for those who trust in Him. Psalm 125 is a psalm of assurance for those who trust in the Lord as well as an encouragement to persevere.