The Authoritative Message of Jesus

Matthew 5:1–2 KJV 1900

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

As we begin our study through the sermon on the mount and later the book of James I want us to remember the theme of this passage.

Matthew 5–7 presents Jesus’ authoritative teaching on the faith-filled, obedient life of discipleship.

My desire would be to go verse by verse through the Sermon on the mount and study it in depth however if we did this it might take a who year before we would ever get into the book of James and i know the book of James is where the Lord wants us to be studying at this time.

So we will give a brief overview of the Sermon on the mount in one message (or try to) and once we have an understanding of these chapters we will move on to the book of James and study that book more in depth!

Introduction:

The Counterculture of the Kingdom (Matt. 5:1-16)

The first 12 verses here in Matthew 5 are what we call the Beatitudes. These attitudes and what each person MUST experience in order to be saved as well as after Salvation. So lets take a moment to look at what these attitudes teach us and how we need these attitudes in our lives.

The opening verses give a portrait of a true disciple of Jesus (Matt. 5:2–12). These statements are pronouncements of blessing, celebration, and affirmation over those who fit the description.

The Greek word from blessed is “makarios” which means “happy”. So what the scriptures are saying is “happy are the poor in spirit, happy are they that mourn, happy are the meek, and so on. To be honest from a human point of view it doesn’t make sense. “Happy are the poor in spirit?”

The reason this doesn’t make sense to us and does to God is because he works in a different economy. Let me explain my looking at scripture itself

Notice with me verses 3-6 we see our attitude before Salvation.

King James Version Chapter 5

Blessed are the poor in spirit

Before someone can be saved they must realize their standing guilty before God from breaking his holy moral law and that they deserve his FULL wrath and an eternity in Hell. they must realize the weight of their sin or in other words how poor their spirit really is and this causes something when we come into understanding of this. see the next verse.

King James Version Chapter 5

Blessed are they that mourn

once we realize the depths of our sin it should cause us to mourn. Mourn because we realize what a sinful state we are in and can do nothing about it in and of ourselves. Because we realize the sinful state we are in and the grieves us to our soul it will do one thing and that is found in the next verse.

King James Version Chapter 5

Blessed are the meek

The word “meek” here in the greek is “praus” which means “humble”. so when we realize our sinful state that causes us to mourn it will humble us in recognition of who we are and who God is. This will naturally cause us to

King James Version Chapter 5

hunger and thirst after righteousness:

And what does the rest of that verse say will happen when we become poor in spirit, mourning over or sin, humbling ourselves, and seeking for righteousness?

King James Version Chapter 5

for they shall be filled.

and as a result of being fill with salvation verses 7-9 tell us that we be merciful to the lost by sharing this gospel message and we will in return receive more mercy.

King James Version Chapter 5

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

By receiving mercy and sharing mercy this will cause us to have what is described in the next verse

King James Version Chapter 5

Blessed are the pure in heart

and because God has given us this pure heart we want to share the peace of God with all men that passes all understanding why because we want everyone to become the children of God.

Now we know that the world doesn’t always like what we have to share with them and because of that they will persecute us. But what does God say about that in verses 10-12?

King James Version Chapter 5

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

With though persecuted by the world around them, Jesus’ disciples must have an actively positive presence in this world. What kind of perspective are we to have? notice verses 13-16

King James Version Chapter 5

13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and tglorify your Father which is in heaven.

Salt was known as a beneficial preservative for meat, and light shines in the darkness (Matt. 5:13–16). So how do we be salt and light in the world? by displaying the attitudes of the beatitudes!

This is just a rough run down of the beatitudes and by no means is exhaustive of the depths of these verses so if you want a real blessing study these verse more in depth for your selves and they will change your life!

Kingdom Obedience and the Old Testament (Matt. 5:17–7:12)

Two Ways to Live (Matt. 7:13–29)