Transcript for:
Study on the Sermon on the Mount

all right guys man thrilled you're here we have got a phenomenal study that we're going to be starting so it it's just great to see a packed room and if you're as excited as I am then um we just may go all night okay so this is this is really really good um just up front to let you know I'll be here next we'll be here next Thursday morning and we're going to be here a bunch of Thursdays and just push through this and it's uh it's really great so I I'm just ready to dive into this and sooner I get started the more time we'll have at the end to talk among ourselves so let's go to the Lord in prayer Father in heaven we ask now again for your blessing to be upon the teaching of your word we know that your word is powerful we pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit uh to take your word and bring it home to our minds and into our hearts and to really mobilize our wills and so we look to you to do great things today as we dig into your word we pray this in Christ's name amen okay so here we go um take your Bible and turn with me to Matthew Chapter 5 we're St starting a brand new series on The Sermon on the Mount and I'm in entitling this first study the greatest sermon ever preached and so I want to begin by reading we're going to look at the first two verses but I'm going to read a few more verses just to kind of wet our appetite for what lies ahead uh I I think that this is going to be one of the most heart searching and life-changing studies that we will ever undertake if not the most so Matthew Chapter 5 beginning in verse 1 when Jesus saw the crowds he went up on the mountain and after he sat down his disciples came to him he opened his mouth and began to teach them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied blessed are the merciful for they shall receive Mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of right righteousness for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you and these verses we begin a new study of The Sermon on the Mount this is unquestionably the greatest sermon ever preached it will be the greatest sermon you will ever hear it is delivered by the greatest preacher who ever walked the Earth the Lord Jesus Christ he addressed the greatest subject any preacher has ever undertaken as the expans founded the truth concerning entrance into the kingdom of heaven and life in the Kingdom of Heaven so this is Jesus's Manifesto on Kingdom living and this is the first recorded sermon that we have given by Jesus to come from his lips and it will set the tone and the trajectory for everything else he will have to say in his three-year Ministry so what we have here is the great king himself announcing his kingdom is at hand here is the greatest evangelist preaching the gospel here is the greatest teacher expounding the human heart here here's the greatest Expositor expositing the law here is the greatest Prophet for telling what lies on on the other side of death so this sermon begins with the Beatitudes and it concludes with the narrow gate and the broad gate and it includes in between being light and salt the true interpretation of the law the religion of the heart the Lord's model prayer seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness the Golden Rule and and much more this will be I want to say it again I believe the most heart searching study in which we will ever be engaged and therefore potentially the most lifechanging study in which we will ever be engaged uh Jesus came to confront superficial hypocrisy in false religion and he came to establish the true religion of the heart so in this first study which will serve as something of a front porch to get us into the house of this sermon I I want us to look at the first two verses very carefully and the first thing I want you to see is the popularity of Jesus the popularity of Jesus in verse one Jes Jes Matthew as he records this begins when Jesus saw the crowds let's just stop right there the crowds it's in the plural the many crowds that come flooding out of villages and towns and hamlets and are merging in together to form really one ginormous overflow crowd that is following after Jesus the these are huge crowds Jesus is in the northern region of Israel is what is known as Galilee and he is so popular in Galilee at one point after he will feed the 5,000 they will try to make him King and and literally establish the kingdom it would be in the South where Jerusalem is where the religious leaders are the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees that's where Jesus will be crucified but up north that's where Jesus is hailed in the South he's nailed in the north he's hailed and we see the crowds and just to give us an idea of the enormity of the crowds I want you to look at the end of the previous chapter in chapter 4 I want to look at verses 23- 2 just to get our arms around the crowds I want you to to to be able to visualize this massive crowds were flocking after Christ and so in chapter 4: 23 we read Jesus was going throughout all Galilee I I mean he is on the move he he is in reality an itinerate evangelist uh he's not standing still and he's going throughout all Galilee again the northern region of of Israel teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom he he's preaching the Good News of Salvation he's preaching the Good News of the kingdom of God that is at hand the kingdom that is to be in the hearts and in The Souls of of men and women and he's just going everywhere preaching the gospel and people are not staying where they are they're going with him to the next town to hear more and at the end of verse 23 it says and healing every kind of disease and every sickness among the people he he's performing Miracle after Miracle which is authenticating him as the Messiah and is validating the message that he is bringing and it is demonstrating acts of Mercy on the people verse 24 the news about him spread H it it spread like wildfire the news about him spread throughout all Syria that's that's beyond Israel that's north of Galilee between Damascus and the medit Mediterranean Sea it the news can't even stay confined in in Israel and we read in verse 24 and they brought to him all who were ill these who were ill could not even hardly get there on their own they had to be brought to Jesus uh on pallets the blind had to be led uh the sick had to be carried to Jesus that this is an extraordinary scene those suffering with various and and Matthew as he records this I mean he just layers this out and and Matthew is an eyewitness of this he's one of the fishermen just verses earlier who has been called follow me and I'll make you Fishers of of men so Matthew is observing all of this and will be writing and recording this now years later for us and so we read those suffering with various now watch this diseases and pains demoniacs epileptics paralytics and he healed them and diseases refers to all kinds of illnesses and sicknesses and ailments and maladies and pains are the results of these diseases just inflicting um excruciating pain there's no relief for these people and demoniacs who are causing some of the Affliction and they're being Unleashed because Christ is now here and hell is doing everything it can to suppress the advancement of the gospel and epileptics referring to those who are having seizures and undergoing convulsions and cannot even control them their involuntary muscles and then paralytics with crippling handicaps and these are especially those who are having to be brought to Jesus and he healed them he healed them all BB Warfield the great Theologian summarizes this and said he banished disease from Palestine for this time of his ministry One Touch of the hymn of His Garment that he wore could heal whole countries of their pain One Touch of his hand could Restore Life close quote this is but an indication of what Matthew records here of how widespread were the Miracles performed by Jesus that he all but wiped out disease in Israel for this moment in time this is staggering now look at verse 25 large crowds so the idea is these these Crowds Are they're not diminishing they're they're swelling they're multiplying they're they're enlarging um large crowds great vast multitudes followed him now notice from whence they they come they're coming from everywhere From Galilee that's the whole northern region of of Israel and the Decap uh Deca means 10 paus means City means 10 cities it it's a tight Confederation or un unification of 10 cities uh south and east of the Sea of Galilee that were Roman and Gentile districts so they come flooding out of these 10 cities and Jerusalem that this is the holy city it's where the temple is that's where the Pharisees are where the scribes are the experts in the law and Judea this is the southern region of Israel this is the the Hill Country and Beyond the Jordan that means on the other side on the east side of Jordan of the Jordan River that that is Flowing North and to to South we call it trans Jordan it's the region of Korea I mean just let your eyes see this in verse vers 25 from whence they are all coming forming this huge um crowd of people it's hard to estimate really the immense size of the crowds we know that later when Jesus is in Galilee which is the the place of his greatest popularity that he fed the 5,000 but that's 5,000 men if you add women and children it's easily a crowd of 20,000 that Jesus fed that day but here it's not just Galilee it's Jerusalem it's Judea it's it's on the other side of Jordan who who knows how many multiplied thousands of people are converging here for The Sermon on the Mount so that this is that this is in many ways un unprecedented I mean this is almost like the Revival at the Watergate with Ezra in Nehemiah chapter 8 where the Bible commentators estimate there were 42,000 people who cried out bring the book bring the book and and Ezra reads from the law of Moses from from Sunrise until uh high high noon and this revival breaks out I mean it that's the only parallel or it's like Jonah going into Nineveh and the whole city the great capital city of the Assyrian Empire comes under the sway of the preaching of of Jonah 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed I mean Jesus was the most magnetic preacher and teacher whoever lived I mean the power of His words were penetrating they were pure they were true and the profundity of profundity of his teaching was was just nothing short of astonishing and at the end of The Sermon on the Mount if you'll turn to the end of chapter 7 just for one second Matthew records the effect of The Sermon on the Mount that Jesus will give to this huge crowd in Matthew 7:28 when Jesus had finished these words the crowds again plural multiplied crowds were amazed at his teaching in fact later in the Gospel of John when they come to arrest Jesus they send out a temple uh officers to arrest him and they stood there in the crowd and they heard Jesus speaking they went back empty-handed without Jesus and the religious leaders said well where is he we sent you to to arrest him so we can put him to death and they just simply said never is a man spoken like this I mean it overwhelmed them and overpowered them the crowds were amazed at his teaching it literally it means they were out of it was out of their mind put them out of their mind they' never heard anything like this verse 29 for he was teaching them as one having Authority and not as the scribes never did a man teach and preach as Jesus did and you may ask so why they crucify him because never did a man preach and teach like this the words that he spoke were so penetrating to the heart and revealed the soul Souls of men to themselves that they did everything that they could to extinguish the light because it was exposing the Deeds of Darkness so come back to Matthew 5 I just wanted to give you a flavor of the popularity of Jesus this was not a small group Bible study okay this wasn't the men's bible study this there there's no drive-thru window here okay that this is this is a Billy Graham crusade in a football stadium this is ginormous so second I want you to note the position of Jesus not just the popularity the position of Jesus we continue in verse one he went up on the mountain it's not really a mountain it's a tall Hill really one tall Hill on a a ridge of Hills that overlooks the Sea of Galilee which is in the north the Northwest Northwest of capernium and he went up on the mountain in order to be seen and heard so that his voice could project out over those who are surrounding him and it came to be known as just the mountain definite article the as if there's no other Mountain not a mountain it was a mountain until Jesus got there and once he delivered this sermon from that point forward it became the mountain because it was became the pulpit from which the greatest sermon ever heard was delivered and we read verse one and after he sat down this is the total opposite of our culture preachers stand up behind a Pulpit and and the people sit down in this ancient culture is the total opposite the people stood and Jesus sat down which is to assume the position of one having Authority um it it is was the accepted posture of a synagogue Rabbi and a school teacher it's the posture of authority and we still even use that term today certain professors sit in the chair of and then whoever has donated money to that school it's the the chair of in that person's name and even to this day we we we recognize this uh it's taken different forms and other cultures in the Reformation uh the the teacher wore the genevan Gown which signified you are a scholar and you have mastered your subject and it was the long black uh robe and it doesn't come from Catholicism it comes from the classroom that you are a professor that you profess the faith and that you have mastered uh Theology and the subject that that you are teaching well in this culture Jesus sat down uh this is not the only time he would sat down when he gave his his discourse on the parable of the sewer and the seed and the soils you remember that in Matthew 13:2 it says large crowds gathered to him so he got in a boat and sat down and he spoke many things and he did the same thing when he gave the Mount Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 of what will be the sign of the End of the Age we read Matthew 243 and he was sitting on the Mount of Olives Jesus said to them verse four so Christ is here now assuming the posture and position of one who will speak with authority and because he speaks with authority he drowns out every other voice uh no other voice can compete with the Purity and authority and Fidelity with which the Lord Jesus Christ speaks later in Revelation 1 when John is given a vision of Christ on the island of patmas he speaks with the sound of many Waters and the ideas is like a powerful waterfall that just drowns out any other human opinion or philosophy or or ideology I've stood at the base of of nigara Falls and try to talk to the person standing next to you it's it's it's it's pointless you you can't hear anything other than this loud roar and so as Jesus now assumes this position of sitting as as as the teacher the greatest teacher who's ever lived the greatest Expositor who has ever lived he he speaks with the sound of many Waters and he drowns out every other teacher and every other religious leader this says to you and me we must hear Christ we we we must sit at the feet of Christ we we we must drink in what Christ teaches and take it to heart and put it into practice in our in our lives the third thing I want you to see is the pursuers of Christ at the end of verse one it says his disciples came to him this is the first time in the new Testament the word disciple is used it's the first time in the gospel of Matthew that the word disciple is used and when we first look at this we might think oh this means the 12 disciples no it's not to be restricted to the 12 in this context the 12 will not be identified as his disciples until Matthew 10 and in verse 1 nor is this to be understood that his disciples here are all converted and all have entered into the kingdom of of Heaven I mean that's obvious at the end of this he tells them to enter through the narrow gate and if they build their house on Sand uh they they will be swept into Eternal destruction at the End of the Age now this word for disciple it it simply means a student it simply means a Learner mathas in the Greek that's that's what the word means and not every disciple is a True Believer you can sit in school but not buy into what the teacher is teaching you you you can go through the assignments but that doesn't mean that you have embraced what is being taught you're just simp simply a student and so in this case his students came to him it's very Broad and wide reaching it it's it's a mixed bag for example Judas is here and Judas was belonged to the devil as well as other disciples and I want I want to show you one passage and I do want you to turn to it with me to John chapter 6 and in verse 65 and I I just want to be clear as a bell on this with you in John chapter 6 and verse 65 I I I want us to want you to see that not every disciple is regenerated is Born Again is converted you can be in school but not have the truth in you and so in John 6: 65 this is at the end of his uh living bread discourse Jesus was saying John 665 Jesus was saying no one can come to me that's a strong statement of the bondage of the will it's a strong statement of total depravity radical corruption the word can is different from the word may may is a word of permission can is a word of ability Jesus is not denying you have permission to come he extends the universal offer of the Gospel he's referring to the ability to answer that invitation and call no one has the ability to believe in and of themselves it must be the gift of God so that's why he says no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the father if the father granted it to the whole world then the whole world would come if the father grants it only to his elect then it is only the elect to come now that's hard ball teaching so how did how how did that go down with this crowd 20,000 verse 66 as a result of this what's the this Hardball theology hard sayings of Christ as a result of this many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore we we don't want to hear any more of this you're not tickling our ears you're boxing our ears uh they withdrew from class and no longer wanted to sit under his teaching they they broke all ties with him they didn't like what they heard they did not want any association with Jesus Anymore his teaching was too hard to swallow and so these who withdrew in verse 66 were his disciples they were false disciples they were unconverted disciples so in verse 67 Jesus said to the 12 and remember even this is a mixed group 11 believed one did not Jesus said to the twel do you not want to go away also you do not want to uh to go away also do you verse 68 Simon Peter answered him now Simon Peter is a true disciple Lord to whom shall we go you have words of eternal life verse 69 we have believed see here's a true disciple we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One Of God for these other false disciples they were in it for the Miracles they were miracle mongers that they were in it for the bread and for the fish and what can Jesus do for me it was the Prosperity Gospel so verse 70 Jesus answered them that I myself not Choose You the 12 and yet one of you is a devil see not all the disciples were were saved one of the disciples one of the 12 was a devil verse 71 lest there be any misunderstanding John now adds his commentary to The Words of Christ in verse 71 now he meant Judas the son of Simon es scariot for for he one of the 12 was going to betray him so the point here to establish with you is that not every disciple is a true disciple many disciples are false disciples just like not every church member is a true disciple not not every not everyone who attends a Bible study like this is a true disciple you you can be in the class but not be in the Kingdom so so who so so come back now to to to Matthew 5 as as we're looking at the pursuers of Christ so who all is in this crowd says his disciples came to him well I want to give you five categories of people I want to break out this crowd these disciples they're five different silos in which we can can place them so who are they well number one I call them the converted some came because they were genuinely converted like 11 of the 12 disciples they they want more truth that's why many of you are here this this morning because you want more truth the second group we'll call them the Curious many came just out of curiosity like what's going on here we've never seen you know Miracles like this before we've never seen a crowd like this before what's what's going on people do that today with restaurants and movie theaters and things like that then third there are the crowd Seekers others came because they just want to be part of a large crowd and people just want to be where the action is this is where the action was and then fourth the controlling still others came especially out of Jerusalem like the Pharisees and the scribes that they want to protect their own tur and so they're they're they're controllers and and they're coming to check out who's our competition and then fifth they are the counterfeits those who think they are in the Kingdom but in reality they are not and so Jesus will address them in this in in this sermon because you got to get someone lost before you can get them saved I mean the good news is not good news so you know what the bad news is you need to know where you stand with the Lord before you can come to the Lord you need to know you're without the Lord before you'll ever seek the Lord and so there were many counterfeit disciples and they're self-deceived they don't know that they don't know they they don't know that that they're not in the kingdom and so they're naive they're gullible just like Untold millions are today in churches so I need to ask you before we go any further in which group do you find yourself this morning you knew I was going to ask you that question I mean where are you I I see what table you're seated at um are you one of the converted you can be in church and not be one of the converted you can be in a kind of a Hardball Bible study like this and not be one of the converted um have you come to that place in your life where you have repented of your sins and committed your life to Jesus Christ or are you just one of the Curious maybe you're here today just to kind of check this out what's going on I I've heard about it uh or are you one of the crowd Seekers I mean we got a packed out room right now of of of men men especially older men just love Fellowship you know no one else will talk to them at home I mean they got to get out of the house their wife has heard it she's going around with toilet paper in her ears and and can't hear anymore so you come to this thing you show up here and it's just the battle of the talkers stories against stories you know and and so it's possible you may be one of those or are you one of the controllers I mean maybe you go to another church and you can't figure out why your church isn't studying the Bible so you want to show up here to see what's the competition what's going on here or maybe you're one of the counterfeits I mean you walked in here just assuming everything's fine with you and God and it may be over the course of this study the veil may be removed and you may see yourself for the first time as God sees you not how mama sees you how how God sees you and it it may be an eye-opening experience so that's the pursuers that's these disciples don't don't see disciples here and automatically jump to the conclusion oh that that's that's all the saved and this is a sermon for everyone who's saved no now this sermon is for everybody it's for both saved and lost and these disciples even the 12 they weren't all saved okay just extend that out so this brings me to the last heading that I have for you it's verse two it's the preaching of Jesus the preaching of Jesus and nobody could preach like Jesus I've already said that and so verse two he Jesus opened his mouth and when he opened his mouth it was pure unadulterated truth that came forth RC sprl would call it unvarnished truth he is Deuteronomy 18:15 the Fulfillment of what Moses said the great prophet who would come the great mouthpiece from God who would speak only the words that the father gave him to speak and he began to teach he brought content he brought Doctrine he brought theology he he he didn't come to bring little devotional thoughts he he he didn't come to be a life coach he he he he didn't come to just Pat heads and and entertain and drum up a crowd he's already got a crowd and it would be a crowd that are crucifying no he began to teach he began to instruct them in black and white truth concerning the Kingdom of Heaven how you get into the kingdom of heaven and what it's like to be inside the kingdom of heaven and what are the marks the distinguishing marks as someone who is actually in the Kingdom of Heaven no he he began he he opened the treasure Vault of Truth and brought out the gold and the silver of sound Doctrine and theology he began to teach and say to them and what follows now is the greatest sermon that has ever been preached it's the greatest sermon that's ever been heard as IT addresses the subject of the Kingdom of Heaven within the hearts and The Souls of men we'll talk about this next week there are different aspects of the kingdom of of Heaven There is his Universal Kingdom over which he rules in sovereignty over all creation over Satan and his demons over Believers and unbelievers over over Providence and history and circumstances that's his that that's his Universal Kingdom and then there's a future Millennial Kingdom where he will rule and Reign for a thousand years here upon the Earth that's not the reference here the reference here is the Kingdom of Heaven that's in the hearts of men the Kingdom of Heaven he said is at hand in chapter 4 the great King has now come to teach on the kingdom that is at hand this Kingdom must be within you and you must live inside this Kingdom and this Kingdom must live inside of you if you are to be one who will be entering into the presence of God with his approval so this sermon will address everyone in the crowd it'll address everyone here today you you you'll never come to one of these studies and wonder well does does this apply to me this sermon is addressed to both true disciples and false disciples it's addressed to both the converted and the unconverted this sermon will address both entrance into the kingdom as well as life inside the kingdom this sermon will expose the false convert and it will edify the true convert it's a sharp two-edged sword it cuts both ways this sermon will both evangelize the lost and it will equip the saved and so what lies out ahead for us in The Sermon on the Mount let me just give you a quick Fly Over The Sermon on the Mount we're going to do not just the Beatitudes where we're going to do the entire Sermon on the Mount we're going to put our arms around the the the full counsel of God in this sermon and so let me just give you some tint pegs just very quickly in chapter 5: 3-12 we'll see Christian character this is what a Christian is this is what a true disciple is it's the Beatitudes and then in verses 13 to 16 Christian influence being salt of the earth and light of the world this is the only person who makes a difference in this world is the one who has this Christian character in verses 3- 12 this one alone is Salt and Light verses 13- 16 and then starting in verse 17 through the end of the chapter is Christian righteousness what what does this look like to to live out this Christian character and it begins with the heart the Pharisees had externalized religion and it was the outward facade of of of a person's uh looking like they're living the right life but Jesus targets the heart Zero's in on the heart in in the rest of the chapter and then in chapter um chap chapter 6 veres 1-8 Christian godliness godliness refers to to the heart attitude the Pharisees would pray so as to be heard in public and they would fast and and and give arm so as in public to be seen and Jesus just cuts through that that's not Christian godliness uh your right hand should not even know what your left hand is is is is giving and he gives the model prayer this is this is how you are to pray we're going to learn how to pray and then beginning in verse 19 to the end of the chapter in chapter six is Christian priorities seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things shall be added unto you and be anxious for nothing and and to concern yourself not with material things but with spiritual right realities that's the priority and then we come to chapter 7 and the first six verses is Christian relationships we're not to judge others but but we are to remove the speck out of their eye only after we have first examined ourselves and removed the log out of our eye and then in verses 7 through 12 as Christian P um uh persistence we are to ask and seek and knock in prayer and we'll learn more about prayer and then finally in verse 13 through the end of the chapter vers vers 29 Christian conversion that this is what true conversion looks like and it is Jesus the great evangelist issuing the call to come into the kingdom and it's going to be a a call for each one of us to examine ourselves have I truly entered through the narrow gate or have I only entered through the broad gate and we're going to talk about what constitutes the narrate and what constitutes the broadgate so let me wrap this up I I want you to be a regular part of this study I don't want you to miss a single lesson in a very real way I feel like my whole life has been a preparation to teach this study I've been preaching for over half a century I think it is all to prepare me for this I want you to be here for this not because I'm teaching it though but because Jesus is the teacher and so no matter where you are in your relationship to the kingdom of heaven this sermon will address you directly so I want you to come every week that we meet here for this study it might be easier to stay in bed it might be easier to to go off on something else I I want you to prioritize this because of the weight of of the content that we're going to be unpacking starting with the Beatitudes and so I want you to drink in the teaching of Jesus I want you to come thirsty I want you to come hungry I want you to absorb the teaching of Christ into your life I want you to apply it to your soul and I want you to live it for the glory of God and I want you to get to the next level of spiritual maturity in your life and so in order for you to grow up we have to go down into the word and to mind out the gold and the silver of this sermon so if I only had one series to preach for the rest of my life I would be hard pressed to come up with a better section of scripture Than The Sermon on the Mount what Jesus preached that day the first recorded sermon of Christ so I'm going to bring this to conclusion and open it up for any questions or comments and Kent you've got got a microphone there as well got a oh I'm on here yeah you were on Kent you always on Steve you mentioned this but I uh I want to bring it up again and maybe you can spend a little bit more time on it yeah yeah hit um as you said there are two different types of people those who want what Jesus can do for them yeah and those who want Jesus and there was Judas yeah who really wanted what Jesus could do for him and then he wanted to use Jesus he want to use Jesus so what I'd like for you to do is is give us some through your experience so that we can look B it was hard to know if Judas was that way by looking correct right so how do we know that we want Jesus for who he is and not for what he can do for us what is the difference give us some uh so that we can reflect on that in our own lives I can't that that is a great question I I think the first word that immediately flashes to my mind is humility um a true disciple denies himself and takes up a cross which is an instrument of death the a cross was the first century electric chair the cross was the first century gas chamber um and Jesus calls us to deny our self our self agenda our self-promotion our self elevation and to take up a cross and he's calling us to die to self and saying if you follow me it's all over for you it's now all about me Christ and he says follow me but where was Jesus going well he was going to his cross to die Judas on the other hand really typifies and represents the false disciple Judas wanted to use Jesus for his own ends to overthrow the Roman Empire and the occupation of of Israel the Holy Land and he saw Jesus with all these crowds he saw Jesus with all this power to perform Miracles if I can just rechannel Jesus in the right direction we can throw off the Yoke of Roman oppression and we can take back our land we can take back our country we can take back our nation and so he was so respected he was actually the most respected that they made him in charge of the money they they made him the treasurer because he he was used to dealing with with money and so you're the best one to keep up with with the money that the women are giving to to fund our ministry and so he he he was in it for the world he was in it for politics he was in it for finances he was in it to try to ride Jesus's coattails but in the process influen Jesus to do what we need you to do for us where the other 11 they left their Nets they left their business they left their families they left it all they've burned their Bridges behind them there's nothing in it for them and Matthew left who wrote this left his tax booth that was a big deal if you had the tax boost that means the Roman government put you in charge of extracting taxes from your fellow countrymen Rome was smart enough not to put a Roman in there to gather taxes but to put a fellow Jew in there to gather taxes it is not as abrasive and they gave Matthew an amount uh that he would have to raise and turn into Rome and anything beyond that Matthew could keep for himself well sky is the limit so he's the most hated man in town because he's got a bird bird nest on the ground I mean he's got the best deal in town and Jesus came to him and said follow me and he just immediately got up out of his tax booth and never went back and walked away from it so the 11 were marked by self-denial humility lonliness of mind you Lord alone have words of eternal life to whom shall we go however the false convert always still has the world in his hand always he won't let go like the Rich Young Ruler who who came to Jesus said teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life you remember that guy I mean he was the hottest Evangelistic Prospect you you could think of I mean he actually came to Jesus and asked the right question I mean this like being on an airplane the guy sitting next to you says I see you reading your Bible can you tell me how to become a Christian I I mean you you've waited your whole life for this and the Rich Young Ruler will leave because Jesus said okay well then go sell everything and come follow me and have treasure in heaven now that does not mean that you have to buy your way into the kingdom and it doesn't mean you have to give up everything but it does mean you have to be willing to let it all go whatever the Lord says and so that's the difference between the true and the false now I I could talk for the next three hours on the difference and you could raise 20 hands and say what about this and what about this and oh yeah okay well I didn't have time to address that caveat I'm up here at 36,000 ft flying over you know the middle of the country that is the two difference self-denial and self promotion and self-control and self exaltation and it doesn't mean you cannot like have a job and make money I want you to have a job and I want you to make money or else we're going to have to support you okay so we need you to do your part and work hard that's not the point the point is it's one thing to have money it's something else for money to have you and that's the difference open hand clutched hand so Kent that that's the best I've got it's a matter of priorities good yeah so sorry I talked so long on that somebody else Dr Lawson um is it stretching that too far to say there's a lesson here for the church oh like like a lesson for the church this whole thing's a lesson chur I mean just as the body of Believers but the organizations that we build to gather in that call themselves the church I know we the church but um it seems like the church organizations you know many in every town have the same position of Judas and the disciples where the treasure intended to expand the kingdom is being brought to them and the question is what are you going to do with it are you going to buy another widescreen TV or are you going to go out and evangelize in the streets am am I stretching it too far or is there a lesson in there that you you can maybe help me pull out yeah well first of all I want to be clear if you go buy a widescreen TV that doesn't mean you're in sin I agree yeah I mean we got one right here I agree I agree but I'm saying that that I agree I but Kent did it not me I guess I'm referring to like he owns the place you know so I guess I'm referring to the stewardship of treasure in general that's intended to expand the church not not buying every church has to make discriminating decisions on how they use the money that's entrusted to them and you have City churches you have country churches you have ghetto churches you have upscale churches you have big churches you have small Church churches and so there's not a one-size fits-all template that you can just lay over every church and if you go by one of these then you you're you're in a um a worldly State and if you hit the streets then you're a true church so I I would never want to to package it like that that that would lead to really legalism which is for me to say all right this is a good church this is a bad Church because what Jesus is doing here in The Sermon on the Mount he's cutting through the TV screens and he's cutting through the te the street preaching he's actually addressing your heart not what you're doing on the outside it's he's addressing your heart and if your heart is right then you're going to make the right choices on where you spend what's entrusted to you you can do the right thing and have a wrong heart you you can you can do street corner preaching and and have a carnal worldly fleshly attitude you can go purchase a a screen for your church so that for whatever reason the the word can be clearly heard and seen and have a pure heart so it would be really fisec to sit from the outside and go okay that's that's a worldly church and that's uh uh a spiritual church because of let's say those two scenarios that you laid out for us so that that's that's the flashing red light that that Jesus is putting up here even for the Pharisees that that when you pray you pray at the intersection of Maine and Broadway so everybody can hear you and when you give your money you you blow trumpets so that everybody knows you're about to drop two little coins in into the box and when you fast you put on a sad face so that everybody knows well I guess you've been fasting because you look so bad and and so Jesus is saying no that has nothing to do I mean the Pharisees were doing that and they were patting themselves on the back as they paraded their self- righteousness and Jesus will keep coming back no it's the it's the poor in spirit it's the pure in heart it it it it is th those who mourn it is the meek it is those who hunger and thirst for righteousness it's it's the heart and once the heart is right then there will flow right choices and right decisions so that that would be my answer to that and I mean there there's there's another hour's worth of things that I could talk about where different churches make different decisions and live at a certain level I I mean I I think I've I've said the priority yeah well I'm looking at my friend the clock and as much as I I do not want to land This Plane I know I need to let um some of you old men go back to the house and uh hang out make a guest appearance and uh others of you need to head to work so please be here next week next week is blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven if you're not poor in spirit you're not in the Kingdom so it's the first step into the kingdom you're not going to want to miss the first step because if you miss first base it doesn't matter if you get to second or third base you're out so you got to touch first base love sports analogies right okay father thank you for the beginning of this new study it's going to rock our world I pray that you will give us unusual penetrating insight into our own hearts and souls as a result of this study We Praise You for Your Grace we need much Grace we're still not the people we need to be we still have much spiritual growth yet ahead of us we still need more fruit to be produced in our lives so use this study to bring us to this point in Christ's name amen all right God bless you and I'm preaching this Sunday across the street at Trinity on John the Baptist hey that was awesome