The Sermon on the Mount (An Overview)

Selected readings from Matthew 5-7

About the Sermon

Matthew’s Use of the Sermon

Jesus and Moses - Parallels

Both appear after 400 years of silence

Abraham was told his descendants would be captive for 400 years - then Moses came when God heard the cry of his people.

The last prophet of the OT was Malachi, then there was 400 years without a prophet’s message until Jesus was born.

Both are delivered at birth from threat of death

Pharaoh ordered all Hebrew sons to be thrown into the river at birth… but Moses was drawn up from the water. Herod ordered all Hebrew children in Bethlehem under 2 be put to death, but Jesus was led away by a message from the Lord.

Both are brought out of Egypt

Moses led the people out of Egypt Jesus’ parents fled to Egypt (Matt 2) until Herod died, so that the prophecy would be fulfill, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Both teaching on the Mountain

In Exodus and Deuteronomy - Moses went to the mountain to proclaim the law of God. Jesus goes to the mountain to preach the Kingdom of God

What Matthew shows

Christ is the Greater Prophet -

Deut 18:15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers… I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”

Christ brings a Greater Kingdom -

The Kingdom of Israel was worldly, material, and the people were looking for a messiah to restore its former glory.

Jesus came announcing the kingdom has come! the Kingdom is the rule and reign of God, the expression of his sovereign will. To belong to the kingdom is to belong to the people among whom the reign of God has begun.

Not bound by borders, languages, or nationalities.

This sermon plants the flag of the Kingdom of God, and calls its citizens to faithful living.

The preachers’ heart

Committed to the Righteousness and Holiness of God

God is holy, and calls his people to holiness He taught from God’s Word with Authority -

Not like the scribes who would constantly quote other teachers - He spoke the Word.

Connected to the people

Blessing, Anxiety, Holiness, Service, Worship

Why study the Sermon on the Mount

This is the teaching of the Lord

How often do we meditate on, and apply Christ’s teaching to our lives. We are content with the gospel, the truth of what Christ has done, but do we hold ourselves to the life he’s called us to live?

The Sermon shows us how to please our heavenly father, living as citizens of His kingdom in a fallen world

An Overview of Jesus Teaching

Kingdom Values (Chap 5:3-14)

American Values: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - often times those are disordered affections, or taken for granted - but when the people hold to those values, it creates a culture of responsibility and prosperity.

Jesus teaches the values of the Kingdom of God, but they are not the values of this world.

Blessings - the poor, the meek, those who hunger for righteousness, those who suffer, those who strive for peace.

Pursue holiness, seek reconciliation, not retaliation.

Pray in private; give, but don’t tell anyone - that is, don’t perform your religion for the praise of man.

Don’t be anxious about food and clothing, but seek God’s kingdom.

Reversal of worldly perspectives.

Oswald Chambers, “Everything Jesus Christ taught was contrary to common sense. Not one thing in the Sermon on the Mount is common sense. The basis of Christianity is neither common sense or rationalism.”

Worldly living will not produce heavenly blessing. Jesus shows the way to find blessing for Christians is not with the worlds standards, but with heavenly principles.

As you study the Sermon, be prepare to have your values reoriented, that you might have a heavenly treasure rather than a worldly one.

Kingdom Righteousness - Chapter 5:17 - Chapter 6.

The major portion of the sermon is Christ’a teaching on righteousness, the law of the Kingdom.

Matt 5:20 Your righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees

Matt 5: 21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43… The teaching on the law - you have heard is said, but I say to you…

Matt 6 deals with our the Spirit of worship… when you give to the needy, when you pray, when you fast

Matt 5:48 You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus’ teaching on the law

It isn’t a matter of outward obedience, but a matter of the heart.

Those Pharisees who claimed to be righteous, Jesus would later condemn for being outwardly beautiful but within are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

It is not the letter of the law, but going to the spirit of the law.

Lloyd-Jones - No one can really live the Sermon on the Mount until they are born again; the Sermon on the Mount is impossible to the natural man or woman.

If you think you can be good enough to enter the kingdom on your own, you don’t know God’s requirements, and you don’t know yourself.

An impossible demand, unless it is a gift. The Sermon is deeply gracious, pointing to our need for a savior.

Not legalism - but a rebuke of every attempt to come please God by legalism, so that the way may be cleared for us to come to God by faith. Christ’s ethics call us to such an impossible standard, that it is only through Spirit of God working in us that we can be made right.

The Sermon on the Mount does not encourage righteousness in man apart from Christ; it condemns us for falling short of God's righteousness, and it drives us in desperation to the cross… The Sermon on the Mount calls for a pure righteousness that flows from a regenerated heart, through the grace that is found in Christ alone.

Kingdom Living - The Application - (Chapter 7)

Living the Christian life before the face of God - Coram Deo

Judge not, because you will be judged (7:1); ask the Father to provide (7:7); live by the golden rule (7:12); bear the fruit of righteousness (7:15); and do the will of the Father (7:21) and all that Christ teaches (7:24).

The Christian is one who walks through life knowing he will appear before the throne and give an account of his life.

Because of the grace we have in Christ, we want our lives to honor and glorify Him.

The Application

Imperative Commands - calling us to action

The Commands of the Sermon… moral, ethical, practical

Jesus said, if you love me you will keep my commands (John 14:15)

Indicative Realities - Indicating our reality

Oswald Chambers - The sermon is not a list of rules and regulations, it is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting his way with us.

The sermon describes the life of Christ, and the life he gives to those who are in him.

Apply this truth to your life, know the reality of the kingdom, and live by grace through faith in Christ.