The Sermon of the King

I. Introduction – What does it mean to be a Christian and to enter into God’s Kingdom?

Read Matthew 4:17-5:2

Matthew 4:17–5:2 (ESV)

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

We will be starting a new series today as we look at Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

This is a passage of Scripture that most of us are probably already familiar with at least in part. It has become well known, even in secular circles.

What is the Golden Rule?

Can anyone recite the Lord’s Prayer?

But before we get into the sermon today, we need to take a look at the context of which we find the sermon.

Background to Matthew

a. Author – Matthew, Levi the Tax Collector

Matthew was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. He was a tax collector until Jesus called him to follow Him. While he was not following Jesus yet at this point, no doubt he heard about it from some of the other disciples and might have even been a part of the crowd that heard Jesus teach this sermon on the mount.

b. Audience – The Jewish People

We have four separate gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each of them have a unique purpose and audience to which they are writing. Therefore, they are each going to focus on different events during Jesus’ life and give a different point of view based upon who they are writing to.

Matthew is writing specifically to a Jewish audience and he is going to be focusing on many of the different aspects of Jesus’ ministry that is a fulfillment of the Old Testament Law and Prophets.

c. Purpose – To show how Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises

i. It has been four hundred years since the close of the OT

ii. God has been silent these four hundred years

iii. Matthew opens up by introducing us to this “Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” and gives us a geneaology to prove his ancestry.

1. Son of David points us to God’s promise for a King to reign on David’s throne

2. Son of Abraham points us to God’s promise to bless the world through Abraham’s descendants

3. Matthew wants us to be sure that Jesus really is the fulfillment of these and all the other promises

a. OT quotations – 96

b. “fulfill” -17 times in Matthew, 2 of which are in the Sermon on the Mount

4. Matthew shows us that Jesus is “God with us” as foretold by the Prophet Isaiah (Matt. 1:22-23

Matthew 1:22–23 ESV

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

5. Then in Chapter four, we see Jesus beginning to preach. God with us is breaking the 400 year silence by preaching, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matt. 4:17) God with us who is the King who will reign on David’s throne is declaring the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven!

7. This is what the overall message of the Sermon on the Mount is going to be:

a. To clarify what it means to repent

b. To clarify what it means to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven

iv. What we need to see is that Jesus is the One that fulfills all the promises of the Old Testament and that his message is also a fulfillment of the message of the Law and the Prophets. As we will see in his sermon, He has not come to do away with the Law, but to fulfill it, to deepen it and to clarify it for us!

II. Why is Jesus sitting?

a. It might be for comfort – this will be a very lengthy sermon

b. Authority

i. In the synagogue, the rabbis and teachers of the Law would sit in the seat of Moses and expound God’s Word to the people

ii. Matthew is highlighting the fact that Jesus is sitting down to show His authority as a teacher of the Law

Jesus is a very strong and effective teacher and has demonstrated his teaching abilities to this point

iii. But His authority is going to be even greater than that of a teacher

iv. As Matthew has already shown, Jesus is God with us and His sitting down is actually more of a King sitting down on His throne.

vi. This shows us that this message is not someone’s lofty opinion, but words of command and authority meant to be lived out by God’s people

Matthew 7:28–29 ESV

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 their scribes.

Jesus’ words and teachings are not merely good advice and suggestions. What Jesus is giving us here is a message of supreme authority meant to be lived out and obeyed by His people because Jesus is speaking as a King who loves and commands His people for their good and His glory.

Many people want to receive Jesus as Savior and healer and comforter, but are we willing to submit to Him as Lord and King?

We are not saved by obedience, but He does save us to free us from sin and free us to obedience.

III. Why the mountain?

a. Matthew shows a number of times Jesus was on a Mountain with His disciples

i. The Sermon on the Mount

ii. The Transfiguration where He is revealed to be God’s Son to His disciples

iii. His Olivet Discourse, a teaching to His disciples before He went to the cross

iv. The Great Commission was given from a Mount

b. Matthew is directing His Jewish audience back to an OT event they would have been very familiar with:

i. Exodus 19:9-25

Exodus 19:9–25 ESV

And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.” On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish. Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.” And Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’ ” And the Lord said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them.” So Moses went down to the people and told them.

ii. Here we see God coming down to the Mountain to speak with Moses and to all the people

iii. He is covered with clouds, lightning and thunder

iv. The people are prohibited from touching the mountain or even it’s base because of God’s holiness and the people’s sinfulness

v. God gives His Law to Moses and to His people. The law is good because it shows us what holiness looks like and what God expects.

vi. However, There is fear in the demonstration of God’s power and holiness. While the law demonstrates God’s holiness, the law is weak in making His people holy.

We cannot simply obey the law and be set free to approach our holy God. The people are right to be fearful to approach God and this is the last time we see God speaking directly with His people instead of through a mediator like a prophet.

c. Here in Matthew 5, we see:

i. Jesus, “God with us,” God made flesh and dwelling with us, is coming up to the mountain

ii. The people are invited to come with Him, we are no longer separated from God, but God is with us now

iii. Instead of thunder and lightning, Jesus speaks with a tender and gracious voice

iv. Instead of fear, there is joy and peace

v. Jesus is giving us a clarification of the Law and what it is meant to do in our lives

Now, we have to remember, like the Law, we cannot simply try to follow the Sermon on the Mount and achieve righteousness. What Jesus is showing us is that He has come to show us His righteousness and then to give us His righteousness as we follow Him by faith. He is God with us making it possible for us to be righteous and holy. And as we live by faith in the Son of God, our lives will begin to display the righteous requirements of the law that Jesus expounds upon here in the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon is showing us what our lives will begin to look like as we become citizens in this Kingdom that King Jesus is inaugurating.

d. The beautiful picture we see here is that the Law God has provided us with was not something we could reach up and attain ourselves, but that God has come down to us and has made a way to fulfill the Law within us as we live by faith and trust in Christ! Christ will make this clear that while these truths are to be reflected in our lives, there is a deeper requirement than simply outwardly obeying this list of laws, but that our hearts are to be changed by this Law. Instead of a Law of slavery, Christ is giving us His Law of Liberty as He sets us free from sin and free to a life of faithful obedience that flows from the heart!

IV. Conclusion

a. The Sermon on the Mount shows us what repentance and holiness really look like and shows us what the Law was designed to point us to

b. But we realize that on our own, we cannot be good enough to approach God and to keep the Law as He intended it to be kept.

c. So God came down in human flesh, to live among us as our King, to bring forth the Kingdom of Heaven and to make holiness available to a sinful people through His crucifixion and resurrection.

Yes, the cross is Jesus’ payment for our sin. But the cross is also God’s way of making us holy and restoring His image within us. And we see what that image is as we hear and receive the Sermon on the Mount.

d. This message is both for believers and unbelievers –

i. To believers it will challenge us to continue to grow and allow the holiness God has designed for us to shine forth through us. Will we be willing to allow Christ as our King to show us the areas of sin He wants to heal so we can live as the citizens of the Kingdom He wants us to be?

ii. To those who have not placed their faith and trust in Him. This sermon is not simply a list of laws to check off on our list as we seek to obey them. On our own we cannot live out this sermon, but true joy and happiness is found here when we follow Christ in faith, repentance and obedience.