Today, after more than 7 months of exhaustive study,  we reach the conclusion of the first recorded sermon the Lord preached, known as the Sermon on the Mount. And in the last chapter of His sermon He has shown us that there are only  two types of people, two ways in which to live, and two possible destinations or outcomes of their lives.  He has shown us three illustrations of that principle, and now the one in today’s passage is another one, which is the third.  In the first illustration, Jesus presented two ways, entered into by two gates, leading

Read More…

Last week we considered what really is the beginning of the culmination of the Lord’s message in the Sermon on the Mount.  He begins to wrap up His message by showing that the contrast between the natural man and the spiritual man reaches it’s eventual destination.  And since Jesus has been teaching that there are two possible types of men – the natural and the spiritual, the unregenerate and the regenerate, those born again and those who have not been born again – then it stands to reason that He indicates that there are  but  two possible destinations. So Jesus

Read More…

It’s interesting, if not ironic, that the world has picked up on certain statements or principles contained in  the Sermon on the Mount, and yet in considering them out of the context of the rest of the sermon they fail to understand what Jesus was really teaching.  We come to another such statement today, which is commonly known as the Golden Rule. It used to be a stand alone principle that was taught in secular as well as religious settings with a certain amount of frequency.  I can faintly remember one of my teachers from public elementary school talking about

Read More…

Last time in our study of the Sermon on the Mount, we said that the verse of scripture most well known by the unsaved person is that of vs 1 of this chapter; “judge not, lest you be judged.”  And though the interpretation of that verse by those people is not in line with the greater context of scripture, we did our best to show the correct interpretation.  We showed that on the one hand Jesus was saying not to judge out of a sense of comparison and condemnation of others, but on the other hand, in verse 6, He

Read More…

The first verse of scripture we read today at the beginning of this passage is undoubtedly the most famously known verse in the Bible among those who are not believers.  Yet unfortunately, though they know the verse well enough, they do not understand very well what it means.  For the unsaved, or even for the so called carnal Christian, it is the proof text that they hope gives accommodation to whatever lifestyle they chose to live. However, just a few verses further in this chapter, in vs 15-16, Jesus says that we shall know them by their fruits.  And so

Read More…

As most of you are aware, we are studying through the Sermon on the Mount, or what I like to call the Manifesto of the Kingdom of Heaven. And we are here today looking at the subject of fasting, as part of the Lord Jesus’s message. I find it ironic that on the day when we have scheduled a brunch to follow the service, we would be dealing with the subject of fasting. I assure you that was not intentional, even though it may seem that I might be angling to have more French toast left over for myself. That’s

Read More…

Prayer is spiritual communication with God.  Your body is engaged, your mind is engaged, but most importantly, your spirit is engaged in fellowship with God through prayer.  Prayer is spiritual communication from my spirit to the Spirit of God. Jesus said “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So I feel that before I can even talk about prayer this morning, I must address the more important matter of the necessity of being made spiritual beings. I want to relay something this morning that I recently wrote to someone in our

Read More…

As we have been studying the Sermon on the Mount, or what I prefer to call the Manifesto of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus has been giving the characteristics of those who are citizens of the kingdom.  And in that context, Jesus said that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees then you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Now we all know that is a high standard, because the scribes and Pharisees were known for their fastidiousness in regards to the law. Jesus then addresses the whole issue of the law and the difference

Read More…