“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” And this is such a lovely thing. The note of compassion which concludes this chapter and session is startling, isn’t it? You see God’s idea of kings and rulers have all been shepherds. Moses had that training. David had been a shepherd. And the Lord Jesus is the Good Shepherd. And when we pray the Lord to thrust forth laborers into His harvest, pray that He gives them the heart of a shepherd. Pray that the Lord would give you a heart of compassion for the lost.

“There came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” Now this leper, when he came to the Lord Jesus, he didn’t come and say to Him, “Will you make me clean?” or, “Are you able to make me clean?” He came with faith. He said, “Lord” and he recognizes His lordship, and he says to Him, “If you will—if you will, you can make me clean.” Not always His will, friends. But if it’s His will, He can do it. And the will of God must come first.

There’s nothing wrong with the Ten Commandments. God gave them. They reveal His mind, His will. Nothing wrong with that. But there’s something radically wrong with man. May I say to you, do you want to hear what the Gospel of Matthew says? It’s the words of the Lord Jesus. Listen to Him. He says, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man.” The heart is the problem. Man has an awful case—a desperate case of heart trouble today, and jogging just won’t help him. He needs Jesus, not jogging. And He alone can change it.

Nothing that you do—you can’t lift your little finger for your salvation. Now after you’re saved, God has a way for you to live. And that way for you to live is not the Law. It’s not the Ten Commandments. Oh, I know, all the denominations—I was brought up in one of them, I was educated, my shorter catechism said that when you get to sanctification and to live for God, they drag in the Ten Commandments. Suppose you did keep all of the Ten Commandments, which you don’t—but if you did, that wouldn’t save you. Because that’s not what saves you today: It’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that saves you.

Friends, the Sermon on the Mount, it’s a glorious passage of Scripture. Don’t bypass it. Don’t say it’s not for today. It is, and if you read it aright, it’s going to bring you to the person of Jesus Christ. You’re going to come to Him, and you’re going to say, “Lord, You said these things, and I don’t measure up to them. And I know You want them done, and I can’t do them in my own strength, and I’m guilty before You. I’ve fallen short, and I need Your mercy. I need You as a Savior.” And you turn to Him. Then He gives you the Holy Spirit that He might produce these things in your life. Oh, that you and I would be brought to Christ through the Sermon on the Mount.

“For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” That’s the kind of a teacher He was. He came teaching with authority. And you and I today need to recognize that we haven’t anything to say unless we can say it with the Father; unless you believe it. I don’t want to hear a man giving me a string of theories that he’s never tried them at all. He knows nothing about them. Today we have a gospel to give; a message to give—a message of salvation. And we know it works, because it’s worked in our case. And we have the witnesses of others. And it’s by coming to Christ.

“Therefore whoso heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man that built his house upon a rock: rain descended, floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house.” If you’ve come to Him, He’s the foundation. “No other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Now, when you come to Him and rest in Him, you can build on that foundation, and you can build a life that has fruit in it. Not by your own effort, but that which the Holy Spirit produces—that which is gold and precious stones and silver.

“Wide is the gate, broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, many there be which go in there at: Because straight is the gate, narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, few there be that find it.” Now the picture he’s giving here is not the old picture of a big, broad way with a lot of fun on it and a very narrow way. What he’s given is a picture really of a funnel. You enter the funnel at the broad way, but it keeps narrowing down until you come to death and destruction and hell. The other one you begin at the narrow part, and that’s where Christ is. He’s the Way, the Truth, and the Light. And He says, “I have come that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly.” And the more you walk with Him, the wider it gets. That’s what it means to become a child of God—it gets better every day when you’re a child of God.

Money is a real test of your relationship to God. You see, money can become your God; the almighty dollar is the god of many today. And covetousness is called idolatry, you recall, by Paul. Therefore, we’re not to attempt to put treasure on earth. But you actually can put money in the Lord’s work and, by doing it, and if it is the Lord’s work and is used for the propagation of the gospel to get the Word of God out, then, my friend, it can be translated or transferred to heaven. It becomes legal tender in heaven. And that’s where we gather treasures, in heaven.

But he says now, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Now, a great many people think that money cannot be used in a spiritual way. When you talk about money, you’re talking about something very material. He says you’re to gather up treasure in heaven. Well, how can you gather up treasure in heaven? Instead of putting it in a bank in Switzerland, why not put it in heaven where you’re never going to lose it? And how can you do that? By putting it in the Lord’s work. And you make sure you put it in the Lord’s work. My friend, you ought to investigate everything you give to.