The Sermon on the Mount
Notes
Transcript
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
What is Repentance?
What is Repentance?
Story of Myer Harris Cohen, aka Mickey Cohen
Loving God: The Cost of Being a Christian, Charles Colson.
1949 head of the underworld in Los Angeles
Nice to his friends, even more than he was ruthless to his enemies.
Liked to be ‘Robin Hood’, protecting the little guy.
Jim Vaus, associate, saved at Billy Graham crusade. Tried to explain it to Mickey, who supported Jim, and released him from his employment.
Billy Graham was becoming famous, so Mickey wanted to meet him.
Went to hear Billy at a private meeting. After Billy shared the gospel, another evangelist encouraged those who wanted to learn more to raise their hands to get a Gospel of John. Mickey wanted one, and was told he had to raise his hand to get one, so he did.
Prison from 1951-1955.
Vaus introduced Mickey to another Christian leader in L.A. This man continued to meet with Mickey and urged him to commit his life to Christ. He told him that God loved him and had a wonderful plan for his life.
He told him he was separated from God.
Mickey was a Jew, and struggled with that. He was one of God’s chosen people, and did things to the best of his ability.
“I always strive for the best. Even with my limited education… I always strive to do things in a professional way… I mean I have my own principles about things. Like when I pulled off a heist, it was a bad relfection upon my own self if anybody just standing around got hurt. I worked clean… Especially after my Cleveland and Chicago days, I was never a person who would take the life of anybody unless it was absolutely a must… No one who knew ever said Mickey Cohen wasn’t one of the finest.”
The Christian leader told him that Jesus was God’s provision for our sin, and that Mickey needed to receive Jesus. “This is called the penitent’s prayer. If you’ll repeat it after me, you can know right here and now that you will be reborn as a son of God. You will live in heaven foreve. You’ve seen the high life, Mickey, but non of us have seen anything like heaven. So will you pray with me?”
Mickey repeated the prayer.
Mickey flew to New York to meet Billy Graham. Graham tried to explain the gospel and what Mickey had done in his prayer. But he sensed resistance.
Mickey went to the crusade Billy was holding. He wanted to get backstage for a photo with Billy, but only got to sit in the VIP section, and afterward, got his picture under the marquee.
Mickey returned to L.A. and was hanging out with his old crowd. The Christian leader went to Mickey and told him he shouldn’t be doing the same old things he had done before.
Mickey replied, “You never told me that i had to give up my career. You never told me that I had to give up my friends. There are Christian movie stars, Christian athletes, Christian businessmen. So what’s the matter with being a Christian gangster?
“If I have to give up all of that—if that’s Christianity—count me out.”
Too many ‘Christians’ have bought that same concept of the gospel.
Too often the gospel is not the true gospel of scripture, but rather a presentation of a way to a better life.
“Theology becomes therapy… The biblical interest in righteousness is replaced by a search for happiness, holiness by wholeness, truth by feeling, ethics by feeling good about one’s self… The past recedes. The Church recedes. All that remains is self.” Wells, David, No Place for Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?
We don’t hear what Jesus preached, “Repent and believe!” We just want the believe.
And when we think of repentance, we have a wrong concept of repentance.
We think of repentance as sorrow expressed when we get caught. Regret, but the regret is for the consequences. “I really don’t like what I am facing now. It isn’t fair.”
Is that repentance? No. That is not what Jesus called for. That is not what John the Baptist was calling for. “Repent!” “You brood of vipers, produce fruit in keeping with repentance!” In other words, don’t just make a show of repentance for others to see. Truly repent. That is not what the prophets of old called for. For that is not what God requires.
Repentance is a turning. A 180. It is a turning of the mind. Now in the scriptures, the mind, the heart, the will are all intertwined. Repentance is a change of mind, heart and will. It is moving away from our old thinking, our old love, our old desire to God’s thinking, God’s love, God’s desires. Our old way is I think, I love myself, I want for myself.
The turn is to what God thinks, what God loves, What God desires. And when that changes, there will be a change in our view of ourselves, and our actions.
Jesus proclaimed, “Repent and believe.”
When he taught the sermon on the mount, we get a glimpse into the mind, the heart, the will of the repentant.
Let’s look at the Sermon on the Mount.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the poor in Spirit
Blessed are the poor in Spirit
Blessed? Happy? No.
Blessed - approved by God, satisfaction comes from God and not from circumstances
Do I really want God’s approval more than anything else? Do I want God’s approval more than to look good to people?
Poor - not financially challenged.
Poor - to crouch, cower like a beggar, helpless, destitute
Poor in spirit
like hunger and thirst for righteousness
like pure in heart
The phrase “in spirit” defines how they are poor.
Not to think I am nothing… worthless, for you have great worth as God’s creation.
Not shy
Not one who constantly puts themself down
poor - crouching like a beggar, knowing that spiritually I am bankrupt. I have nothing to my own credit.
I am completely, utterly destitute spiritually, relying on someone else to give to me.
What do I need? righteousness!
I have none of my own. I have nothing. I need God to gift it to me. I cannot earn it. I can only beg for mercy.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
Broken not over consequences, but broken over sin.
For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed - approved by God
Mourn?
Contrition toward God, a brokenness over sin.
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Meek - humble before God, we accept God’s dealings with us as good and do not dispute or resist.
My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.
Who can say, “I have a pure heart?”
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.
Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’
But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’
But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.
And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’
But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,
because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
This is necessary for Salvation.
It is also necessary for continued spiritual growth.
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
