We have finished our study of the Sermon on the Mount, or what I prefer to call the Manifesto of the Kingdom of Heaven.  This message of Christ described and delineated the character and nature and practices of those who are citizens of the Kingdom.  And yet sprinkled throughout this message are references to different aspects of the Kingdom which are what I would like us to think about today.  Because as Jesus teaches it, there is a progression to the present and future aspects of the Kingdom which are not always that clear to us.  Modern Christians often have a view of heaven  that incorporates many preconceptions that do not necessarily line up with what the Bible teaches.  And so I would like to expound on the subject of heaven today.

Right at the beginning of the Sermon, Jesus says that the characteristics of the Beatitudes are a description of the citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.  He begins with that in ch 5 vs 5, with the first Beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  In another place, Jesus says the Kingdom of Heaven has come near you. And so there is a present reality of the Kingdom of Heaven which Jesus was referring to.

But as Jesus gets to the end of his sermon, He speaks of another aspect of the kingdom.  For instance, in ch.7 He speaks of a future aspect; Matt. 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven [will enter.] Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’” The phrase “In that day”, refers to the day of judgment, which comes at the end of the age, or the end of this world.  It actually seems to refer to the kingdom of heaven as something in the future, what we often think of as “going to heaven” when we die. 

This connection of the Kingdom of Heaven with the end of the age, or the end of the world, is found again right after the Sermon on the Mount, in chapter 8.  After healing the centurion’s servant.  Jesus said in vs 11 “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline [at the table] with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;  but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

So again we see this idea of the Kingdom of Heaven, which Christians are supposed to be a part of now, being connected to the end time, when the Lord judges the just and the unjust.  And some come to their reward, and some to their condemnation and judgement.  In chapter 5 vs 12, where Jesus is talking about being persecuted for His name sake, He says, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great.”  So there is a reward for the just, and judgment for the unjust in the future dimension of the Kingdom of Heaven.

We have learned from the Sermon on the Mount and other teachings of Christ that the Kingdom of Heaven is the spiritual realm of the Lord. Heaven is a term that is used in the Bible to speak of the atmosphere around the earth, or to speak of the space in which are the stars, or to speak of the realm of God. What all those indicate is heaven is the invisible, spiritual realm over all the earth. In the scope of time and matter it’s not finite, it’s infinite. It’s the invisible characteristics of the Lord of Heaven manifested on the earth. “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool” speaks of an infinite God in an infinite heaven ruling over a finite earth. 

It might be helpful to think of the Kingdom of Heaven in three stages: inauguration, continuation, and consummation. In the inauguration, the Lord was manifested on earth. John says “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory.” God’s kingdom was inaugurated “on earth as it is in heaven.”  So we should understand the fact that heaven is where God is.  Thus Jesus could say the Kingdom of Heaven has come near you, it is in your midst. 

With Christ’s first coming, Christ on the cross broke the curse of sin and made it possible for the world to be reconciled to God. In Christ, God offered the perfect sacrifice for sin so that man might become citizens of heaven. All of Jesus’ ministry—the words He spoke, the miracles He performed—showed the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven. When Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead,, He was giving a foretaste of the future state of the Kingdom of Heaven when it comes in it’s fullness. That was a preview of what will eventually be a universal reality—a kingdom of righteousness and justice, without death, disease, on earth.

And the victory that Christ accomplished on earth at His inauguration as King is that  He overcame death, which was the means by which Satan kept the world in chains. He now holds the keys of death and hell.  He took captivity captive.  He has overcome the world, and Satan and death, and provided liberty to the captives. Heb. 2:14-15 says “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,  and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” Col. 1:13  “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”

The continuation stage of the kingdom of God is the stage we are in now—living in between Christ’s first and second coming. It’s a stage of redemptive history often referred to as “already and not yet”: the kingdom of heaven is already in existence, but not yet complete. We have been given the deposit of the Holy Sprit to live in us and govern us until Christ comes again. 1John 3:2 says,“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” So at this present time we live by the Spirit, we walk by the Spirit. 2 Cor.5:7, “we walk by faith and not by sight.”

The third stage, the kingdom’s consummation, will take place when the King comes back visibly and with power and every knee will bow to Him.  1Cor. 15:51-57 says,  “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, [that is to die in the Lord] but we will all [both dead and living in Christ] be changed,  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.  But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.  “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;  but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”   Christ has accomplished victory over death. When He returns there’ll be no more sickness, death, tears, division, or tension. The “peace on earth” which the angels announced the night Christ was born will become a universal actuality.

Now it’s to this third phase of the Kingdom of Heaven that I would like to speak for a while.  The consummation of the Kingdom, the idea of heaven, future.  And I would suggest to you that there are two stages of the future Kingdom of Heaven.  There is the intermediate state, and the glorified state.  Unfortunately, most Christian’s theology makes little distinction between the two.  There is a nebulous view of heaven that you go there when you die, and there is no distinction.  To add to that confusion, there is the idea of the rapture of the church, which they are usually taught happens at the beginning of the tribulation at the end time.  Then there is another  belief that there is a 1000 year reign of Christ on earth called the Millennium where Christ will reign with a rod of iron and yet there will still be unbelievers on the earth.  And then they believe that there is another rebellion, and then Armaggedon, and then finally, sometime in the far future, there is the eternal reign of Christ.  I don’t have time this morning to deal with all the various views.  But I feel that it’s important that we understand what the Bible calls our “blessed hope.” I think it’s important that we understand what we have to look forward to in heaven.  I think that the problem with most Christians is that their view of heaven is so dim, that the reality of this world far outshines heaven, so that it has no future appeal.

But that was not the case with the earlier saints.  Hebrews tells us that they looked eagerly for a city  “which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”  “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

Now the simple teachings of Christ and the apostles is that one must be born again spiritually into the Kingdom of God, which is the spiritual reign of Christ in the hearts and minds of His people.  It was inaugurated by the appearance, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is entered into by faith in Christ’s finished work.   And though Christ our King has ascended into heaven, His Spirit was sent into the hearts of His people to dwell in us and rule over our soul and body.  Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 5:5 that the Holy Spirit was given to us as a deposit in this intermediate state of the future glorification that we will enjoy. We have new life in the Spirit.  We walk by the Spirit. 

I would like for you to look at 2 Cor. 5, because it speaks to this principle of the intermediate state as well as the glorified state.  Notice vs 1, Paul says, 2Cor. 5:1 “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”    Those of you who are part of our Wednesday night studies will remember that 1 Cor. 3 says we are God’s building.  And Paul here says that this building that is in us, is not made with hands, but is eternal in the heavens.  So there is already an aspect of heaven abiding in us.  That which is eternal.  We have new life in the Spirit, even eternal life.  And that eternal life which is from God is, according to Ephesians 2:5, already  seated in the heavenlies. “[God} made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” So heaven is not just a place, but a state of being.  It’s a spiritual state.  

But this body which we are in Paul compares to a tent.  A tent is a temporary dwelling. It’s not permanent.  However the building we have from God is permanent.  It’s spiritual. It’s our soul and spirit.  And I would point out that all men were created as living souls.  In Genesis 2 it says God breathed His breath into man’s nostrils, and man became a living soul. Man will live forever in his soul.  But because of the curse of sin, “it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment.”  This body will be torn down.  It will be folded up.  It will die. But Paul says the spirit of the Christian is eternal in the heavens.  We already have been given eternal life.  Jesus said in John 11:26, “everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

Then in 2Cor. 5:2 Paul says, “For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.”  What Paul is referring to is perhaps the statement in Ecclesiastes 3:11, that God has set eternity in their hearts.  There is a consciousness of something more, something beyond the grave.  Man wasn’t designed to be temporal, but eternal. 

Paul speaks further on this subject in Rom 8:19-23 “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.  And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for [our] adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”

Now this is speaking of waiting for the redemption of our body.  That is the glorified state, when we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  When this corruptible shall put on the incorruptible.  But that is speaking of the resurrection of the body and the recreation of the heavens and the earth in the glorified state.

Paul speaks of that day in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of [the] archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

The second coming of Christ then ushers in the consummation, the completeness of the Kingdom of Heaven.  But notice the reference to those who are asleep.  That’s talking about those who are dead in Christ. In the scriptures, sleep refers to those who are believers who have died. And Paul says here that those living when Christ returns will not precede those who are asleep (that is dead in Christ) but the dead in Christ will rise first. Now this is speaking of the resurrection of those believers who have died in the time between the first and second coming of Christ. 

But why would they need to be resurrected if they are already in heaven? That they have not already been raised into heaven is evident because the resurrection follows after the Lord descending with the trumpet of God.  That’s the second coming.  And so it behooves us to understand what constitutes this being asleep in Christ.

And to answer that, perhaps the best answer is found in Luke 14 in the story that Jesus tells of Lazarus and the rich man who both died, and Lazarus was taken by the angels into Abraham’s bosom, which was a reference to Paradise, and the rich man lifted up His eyes in torment. Jesus said that in between the abode of these two men was a great chasm, and no one could cross from one to the other. That was in keeping with the Jewish tradition of what was known as Sheol in the Hebrew, or Hades in the Greek.  It is the abode of the dead. It is believed to be in the center of the earth.  It is the intermediate state of the soul while waiting for the resurrection.  And as we have seen in 1Thess. 4, the resurrection of the dead comes at the last trumpet and the descent of Christ at His second coming, which ushers in the consummation of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now I do not believe that this is a parable.  The writer does not identify it as a parable, for one.  And two, there is no other example of a parable being told by Christ in which He uses actual names of people. So I think our understanding should be that this is an actual event, though some aspects might be allegorized. But we should understand the setting and events as realistic descriptions of an actual place and actual people.

Now there are some important things we can learn from this story concerning this intermediate state – what happens when a person dies.  One is that the dead are conscious.  This is not soul sleep. That is not taught.  The body is correlated to sleeping but the spirit is alive and conscious.  Peter says that Christ also descended into Hades during the time of His physical death.  Though His body was dead,  He was alive in the Spirit.  1Peter 3:18-19 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, [the] just for [the] unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;  in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits [now] in prison.”  Paul makes it clear in Eph.4:9 that Jesus descended into Hades, the abode of the dead, in the lower parts of the earth.

Furthermore, the story of Lazarus teaches us that the believer is comforted, while the unbeliever is in torment.  It teaches a common refrain in the OT that the saint is gathered unto his fathers, as we see Him seated in Abraham’s bosom.  Furthermore, we learn that they engage in conversation.  That they are conversant about current events, even the present condition of things on earth.  We also see that point confirmed at the transfiguration, when Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ on the mountain and they talked about things to come.  So we can be certain those qualities of our life immediately after death, in what we call the intermediate state, awaiting the final appearing of Jesus Christ. 

And if we go back to the passage in 2 Cor. 5, we see in vs 6-8 that when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord.  Vs 8 “we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”  Now I cannot say exactly how this is accomplished.  The mystery of God that He can be everywhere at once.  He is omniscient as well as omnipresent.  Christians all over the world, at all times, are promised the presence of the Lord.  Jesus said “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”  

Jesus said further on that subject in John 14:16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;  [that is] the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, [but] you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”  So millions of Christians have the presence of the Lord with us now, and I think Paul indicates that we shall have His presence with us after death in an even more intimate way.  Because we are spirits in the intermediate state, we can know the Spirit in a more direct way. And remember, the Spirit is called the Comforter, and Jesus said He will be with us forever. Notice also that Abraham was described as comforting Lazarus in Luke 14.  In that sense, I think that Abraham, though an actual forefather to Lazarus, was allegorically a figure of our Heavenly Father who comforts us and welcomes us into His presence.  And I would remind you that where God is, there heaven is.

The glorification of the Kingdom is the last act of the consummation of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Paul only speaks of one aspect of it in 2 Cor. 5, but it is a major part of what is involved in it.  And that is the judgment for all men that occurs when Christ comes the second time.  Paul says in vs 10, 2Cor. 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 

Jesus speaks of that in conjunction with HIs coming, in Matt. 25:31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;  and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. … 41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; … 46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

This same event is described in Revelation 20, as the second death for those whose names are not written in the book of life.  And it says that they were cast into the Lake of Fire.  But there is another outcome for those who are saved, who are the church, the bride of Christ.  And that is described in symbolic language in the next chapter, 21. Rev 21:1-4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer [any] sea.  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,  and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be [any] death; there will no longer be [any] mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

This is then the city the patriarchs looked for whose architect and builder is God.  This is the heavenly Jerusalem which will be the eternal dwelling of God with His saints, the church. And notice that this heavenly city came down out of heaven, to a new heaven and a new earth. As Peter says in 2 Peter 3 at the day of the Lord this present heaven and earth will be burned up, and we are looking for a new heaven and a new earth.  This is the consummation of the kingdom of heaven,  a place of no more death, no more pain, no more sorrow.The Kingdom of Heaven will be on earth as it is in heaven.  And God will dwell among them.  He tabernacles among them. This city is described further in the vision as a cube, the same shape as the Holy of Holies in the old tabernacle.  We will dwell in the unadulterated, unveiled presence of the Lord God Almighty in all His fullness.  We will dwell in the beatific vision, in the midst of the source of all life, all wisdom, and all power.   And we shall be given a glorified body like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  We shall rule and reign with Christ, as co heirs with Christ in a body that is glorified, immortal, incorruptible, forever and ever in the Kingdom of Heaven. 

This is the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven.  If you would enter it, you must do so now, in this age, in this life, by faith in the life and work and word of Jesus Christ.  You must be born again spiritually, that you might have eternal life, which will never die, so that you might attain through the resurrection of the dead that which is imperishable, incorruptible, reserved in heaven for you.

1Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  to [obtain] an inheritance [which is] imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,  who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

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 to two destinations.  There was the narrow way, through the narrow gate, which led to life, which only a few found,  and there was the broad way entered by the broad gate, which led to destruction, and many were on that path.  Everyone is on either one of two paths of life, leading to only two destinations. One way leading to life and one leading to destruction.

In the second illustration Jesus pictures the life of a person as like either a good tree or a bad tree. The good tree produces good fruit, but the bad tree produces bad fruit.  And He says the bad tree will be cut down and thrown into the fire.  So, He says, you shall know them by their fruit. That is, the fruit of their lives indicates whether they are a good tree or a bad tree, resulting in either life or death.

In the third illustration which we are considering this morning, the Lord compares  two men who are builders of houses.  The wise man builds a house with a foundation upon a rock and the foolish man builds his house on the sand.  And when the rain came, and the floods rose, and the winds blew, the house that was built upon a rock stood firm, but the house that was built upon the sand was destroyed.

Now as I said, this is the conclusion of Jesus’s sermon.  He has been showing throughout this message that there is an important difference between the natural man and the spiritual man.  We learned when we studied the Beatitudes that the characteristics of the man described was not natural. It was not normal. But rather the attitudes and nature of that man showed a supernatural character which indicated that there had been a fundamental change in him.  And we deducted that this man had been born again into the kingdom of God.  He had been changed from natural to spiritual as the result of a supernatural conversion.  And in this new life, new nature, new character, he exhibited spiritual life which came from God. 

Then as Jesus continues His sermon, He continues to show this difference between the two type of people, the natural and the spiritual man, which is a continual theme running through the entire sermon.  Now at the culmination, Jesus shows the two possible outcomes of these two different types of people. And as a preacher, as a teacher of the gospel, Jesus uses these illustrations to press for a decision.  He warns against doing nothing, of simply going along with the natural flow of the world.  He warns that it’s important to examine yourself, to judge yourself, lest you be judged at the last day.  He is pressing us towards a decision to enter into the narrow way that leads to life, or be found on that day to hear, “depart from Me, I never knew you.”

So in this illustration, Jesus presents two men who build two houses.  Now most commentators say that these represent two different things; one is the men, and secondly is the houses they build.  I recognize that I am not as smart as those commentators, but I think that they are one and the same.  The man is represented by the house.  In other words, the man is indistinguishable from the life he lives.  And I think that is an important point which Jesus is emphasizing here.  It’s not possible to consider a person without considering his life.  It’s impossible to say, so and so is a good man, and yet they live as a bad man.  I think that this is the point of the comparison of the fruit tree.  Jesus said a bad tree bears bad fruit.  What you are is evidenced by how you live.  What you are on the inside shows itself on the outside. 

I think this speaks to a lot of Christians who want to claim justification by grace, but their lives never show any sign of sanctification.  But Hebrews says without sanctification, no one will see the Lord. So their life is a betrayal of their profession.  There life is a reflection of who they are.  The house they build is their fruit, it’s the life they live. As Jesus says, you shall know them by their fruits.  He doesn’t say, you will know them by what they claim to be.  In fact, the false prophets Jesus spoke of in vs15 claim all sorts of things; they claim to be prophets, they claim to be able to perform miracles, they claim to speak in Jesus’s name, and yet He says “I never knew you, DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.”  Their fruit was lawlessness, which was evidence that they were not of God.

Notice also in this illustration that from outward appearances, both houses seem the same. They are built in the same location.  They are subject to the same storms, the same stresses of life.  The difference between them was one was founded upon a rock and one was built on the sand.  We get some further insight into this illustration if we look at Luke 6, where on another occasion Jesus uses this same illustration in a very similar sermon.  Look at Luke 6:47.  Jesus said, “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:  he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted [accordingly,] is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

So what is the difference between Matthew and Luke?  In Luke, Jesus says that the difference is the wise man laid a foundation which was built on the rock.  The foolish man built his house without a foundation.  Now that gives us some insight into what Jesus was getting at.  

Those of you that were at Bible study last Wednesday night will remember we looked at another passage which talked about a foundation.  Paul says in 1 Cor. 3 vs 9 that you are God’s field, and God’s building.  There the analogy is established that Jesus likens a man to a house.  Paul says that we that are Christians are God’s house.  God’s temple.   Paul says in another place, 2 Cor.  5:1 “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”  So there should be no doubt that our life is correlated to a house, and the house which is built on a foundation is the life that is born of God.  It’s a spiritual house, a spiritual life, which we received from God.  The natural man does not have it.  He is natural, carnal, still in his sins. He too builds a house, but it’s natural, it’s not of God.  And as a result, it has no spiritual, eternal character. Paul says in 1Cor. 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”  So there is a great difference between the natural man and the spiritual man.  The spiritual man’s life has a foundation which is Jesus Christ, and the natural man has no foundation.  He cannot ascertain that which is spiritual.

Go back to 1 Cor. chapter 3 again, and see what Paul has to say about this foundation.  1Cor. 3:10-15 “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.  For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is [to be] revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.  If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

Now Paul is speaking in that passage to Christians.  He is addressing the church at Corinth.  The foundation Paul makes clear is faith in Jesus Christ.  It is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is the word of Jesus Christ.  It’s not just believing that Christ existed, but believing in His gospel.  And you will notice that Paul says it’s important to build the right kind of building on that foundation.  That which is built which is not of God, which is not spiritual, will be burned up at that day.  And that which remains, in other words, that which remains which is spiritual, shall receive a reward.  If all you built on your salvation is carnal, is natural, is things of this earth, then you will still be saved, Paul says, but yet as through fire.  All of your works will be burned up.

Now I wanted to share that passage because it speaks clearly that the house is your life, and the judgment that is to come for all men, both good and bad, and it speaks clearly about the nature of our foundation.

But I want to point out that Jesus is giving us another type of comparison using a similar analogy.  He is saying one man has a foundation, and the other one does not.  So one person is a Christian and the other is not.  That’s simply what it means.  One has put their faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and have been given spiritual life, and one has not.  Their faith is in themselves, in science, in philosophy, in false religion, in wealth, in prestige,  in power, whatever. Whatever they are building, it is not for the glory of God, it is not a spiritual life, it is something they are attempting to do on their own. 

Jesus says the wise man dug deep and built a foundation.  A foundation is analogous to being born again.  When we are born, that is the beginning of our life.  And when you build a house, the foundation is the beginning of a sound, well built house.  You cannot have spiritual life without new birth.  And new birth spiritually is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ. 

The other man Jesus describes as foolish.  He doesn’t see the need for a foundation.  He thinks the efforts of his life are sufficient.  He may have all the external appearances of a good life, but without a foundation which is laid in Jesus Christ his life is destined for destruction.

I want to point out another aspect of this foundation which the wise man built upon.  When you build a house the foundation is something that is not really seen.  It’s hidden.  It’s what is underneath the ground, underneath the framing.  But even though it is unseen, it’s vital to the stability of that house.  And so it is with our new birth.  From the outward appearance the natural man and the spiritual man may look very similar.  On the surface, the natural man may even have a bigger or nicer house than the spiritual man.  But the inner quality, the hidden quality of the spiritual man is what gives his life that indestructible quality, even immortality. Without the right foundation, the house cannot stand the tests and trials of life and the judgment to come.

There is another aspect of this foundation which Jesus wants us to consider.  And that is it’s based on obedience to the word of Christ.  Notice Jesus says, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”  And then in regards to the foolish man He says, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”

Now the Lord is not teaching here that the way to eternal life is by doing works.  But rather He is saying what James says in his epistle, that faith without works is dead. When Jesus says that everyone who believes in Me will be saved, He is not talking about merely an intellectual assent to the truth of the gospel, but believing and trusting to the point of being obedient to it, of acting upon His word. 

Jesus said previously that “not everyone who says to Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven will enter.”  So there is a difference between a life founded on faith and obedience to the word and a life that may have an intellectual acknowledgement of the truth, but does not actually live in accordance with the truth.  

The difference between faith and intellectual assent is that intellectual assent says “Lord, Lord” but does not do His will.  Faith is dying to self and putting God’s will above your own.  Paul says in Gal. 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  

Now that is possible for the spiritual man because in regeneration God has changed my desires.  I have a new heart.  Salvation is not just a clean heart, being forgiven, but being changed.  It’s a new heart, new desires, a new character.  It’s being remade in the image of Christ.  It’s being a new creation, old things are passed away and all things become new.  And so there is now a desire now to do the things of God.  As Jesus said in the Beatitudes at the beginning of this message, “blessed are they which hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”  As a new creation I have a hunger for righteousness, I have a hunger for the word, I want to live to please my Lord and Savior.  I am willing to make a sacrifice of my old way of life in order to obey and please the Lord.

So you have pictured here two men, whose lives are characterized as two houses, which look very similar on the outside, but inwardly one has a foundation and one does not.  One man hears and does the word of God, and one does his own will.  So then what?  To each his own?  You have your religion and I have mine?  Is that the outcome?

No, Jesus says that both these houses will endure storms.  He describes it as rain, floods and wind which beat upon the houses.  And Jesus says that the house which was built on the foundation did not fall, but for the house without foundation, great was it’s fall.  Now what does that mean? 

Well, some preachers have tried to break down this allegory to the point of identifying things that I don’t think Jesus Himself even thought of.  I read one theologian who said that the rain symbolized things like illness, loss or disappointment, something going wrong in your life.  Floods, they say, represent the world, and the things of the world like the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life.  And the winds blowing they say symbolizes the attacks of the devil. I must say, I do sometimes think the devil is in the wind.  But I don’t know how we can really determine what specific things are symbolized here. 

However, in light of the text, one thing I think we can be certain of.  These storms of life come upon the whole world. Notice Jesus says the same storms come to the wise and the unwise. They come upon the Christian and the non Christian.  Christians in Christ’s analogy are not immune to the storms of life. Rather, Jesus said in John 16:33  “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” So if we are to understand this illustration correctly, Jesus is saying that trouble and trials, the storms of life, are universal.  It’s something that happens to everyone.

For the Christian, I believe the Bible teaches that God uses trials to refine us, to sanctify us, to mature us and to strengthen us.  But for the unbeliever, who does not have a foundation, such trials will wreck destruction upon them.  So that is one interpretation.

But I think the intent of this illustration goes further than that.  I think He is not just speaking of the trials of this life, while we are living, but that Jesus is speaking of the end of our life. Death is universal. If you look at the other illustrations that Jesus gave in His sermon, He speaks of the day of judgment.  He says the broad way leads to destruction.  He says the bad tree will be cut down and thrown into the fire.  He says that may will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord” and He will say, “depart from Me I never knew you.”

So I think that Jesus is referring to the storms as a metaphor for death, and the judgment to come.  And I find support for that by His reference to the rain and the floods.  And I find it similar to language found in the Genesis account of the flood.  The flood in Genesis was an act of God’s judgment upon the wickedness of the world.  It had never rained, and so men were not concerned about that possibility. Yet the day came when God closed Noah and his family up in the ark, and the rains came, and the waters of the deep broke loose, and the floods came and destroyed all living things upon the earth.  And great was it’s fall.  

Listen, Hebrews 9:27 says, it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgement.  I think Paul is speaking of the same event  in 1 Cor. 3, in the conversation about the foundation and building upon it, Paul changes the metaphor from water to fire, saying in vs12 “Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,  each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is [to be] revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.”

You will remember that Peter said the first world was destroyed by a flood, but the next time the world will be destroyed by fire.  And so I believe this is a reference to the day of judgment, when those who are without a spiritual foundation will be cast into hell, for eternal destruction, and great will be their fall.  It’s a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.  God will pour out His wrath upon those who considered the blood of Jesus Christ as something common, something to be trampled underfoot in their hurry to live life like they wanted.  And as the wicked were destroyed in the day of the flood, so also at the end of the age, on that day, the wicked will be cast into the eternal flame, undergoing eternal destruction.

But in the account of the flood, you will remember that one family was saved.  They had a firm foundation.  They had built upon that foundation of faith in obedience to what God had said.  And so they built an ark in obedience to God’s word, and when the rain and the floods and the wind came, which destroyed all the rest, they were delivered. 

Listen, Jesus gave this illustration to say that there is a choice that is set before you.  To receive the life of Christ by faith in Him and repentance of your sins, or to go on your way, trusting in your own ability to make a life for yourself.  But the fact remains, that none of us get out of here alive.  It is appointed for all men to die and after that the judgment.  But a life lived in Christ is a life that endures beyond the grave.  It is a life that will be resurrected in a better body, in a better world, for a better future.  But for the life that rejects Christ, that refuses to bow to His will, for that soul there is nothing but eternal destruction.  I pray that you will hear His invitation today to come to Him, to receive Him as your Savior and Lord, and to follow Him all your days.  If you will come to Him, He said He will never cast you out.  Today is the acceptable day of salvation.  You are not guaranteed tomorrow.  Come to Jesus for forgiveness and a new life in Him.

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 said in vs.13, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  So there are two types of people, two gates, two paths and two destinations.  One is life, and one is destruction.

What is really the major thrust of this section down to the end of the sermon then is this principle of a coming day of judgment.  That there is appointed a day of judgment for all men. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 

So then what Jesus is urging is that we thoroughly examine ourselves to be certain that we are on the narrow way that leads to life.  And to that point, Jesus gives us two warnings.  The first warning is one about false prophets. If pastors are supposed to be shepherds who lead us in the path of life, then we should be concerned that they are leading us correctly, and that they are not false shepherds, or as Jesus refers to them here, as false prophets. 

He says in vs15, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”  The question then is who are these false prophets, and how shall we recognize them? First of all, notice that He says they come in sheep’s clothing. In other words, they look like the right kind of people, they have the right clothing on.  There is nothing in their appearance to make you suspicious.  They say the right kinds of things.  They have a personality and decorum that lends itself to appearing righteous. 

This last week I thought seriously for a while about growing out my beard.  Since we didn’t have Wednesday night Bible study I didn’t bother to shave all week.  So I thought it might be a good opportunity to grow out my beard and see how it looked. But yesterday I chickened out and shaved it off. However, I had  thought it might make me look more distinguished perhaps.  More studious, sophisticated.  And I bet if I were to add to that a black shirt with a clerical collar, I would get a lot more respect.  I have a nephew that recently started working as a pastor in a Hospice facility.  And he has decided to wear a clerical collar in order for people to recognize him as clergy more easily. And from what I hear it works wonders.  So I can’t help but think that people respond better to outward signs of a spiritual office, that they would give more respect if I looked a certain way.  Yet Jesus says beware of such people who have the appearance of a prophet, but their teaching is false.

And really, I think their teaching is more what Jesus is referring to rather than just the way they look. Though I would remind you that Paul said that the devil masquerades as an angel of light.  So there is that.  However, the doctrine of demons is more to the point of what Jesus is getting at.

I’ve often said that the defining characteristic of a false prophet is not so much what they say, as what they don’t say.  It’s a very subtle difference. The most dangerous preacher is the one who does not emphasize the right things. They say all kinds of things that sound ok, perhaps even orthodox, and yet it’s what they leave out that is deadly. The false prophet is one who doesn’t speak of the narrow way in his gospel.  He does not say things that are offensive, that call for any sacrifice.  Paul refers to that as tickling the ears of his listeners in  2Tim. 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”  Notice there is a collaboration between the false prophet who wants to please men and the hearer who wants to hear things that are pleasing to him.

In Jeremiah there is a description of the false prophet as one who cries “peace, peace,” when there is no peace.  In other words, they are a comforting preacher.  They want to assuage your concerns about the judgment to come with comforting, beguiling words that lull you to sleep, to say there is nothing to fear.

The fact is the false prophet rarely preaches about things like holiness, righteousness, the need for repentance, and the wrath of God. He always emphasizes instead the love of God. He makes God out to be a one doctrine, one aspect, one dimensional God, and that dimension is strictly defined as love, but not Biblical love, but some sort of sentimental mushiness that winks at sin.  And to that I say, to conceal the truth about God by omission is just as destructive as to preach outright heresy.

As I said, the deceit of the false prophet is not what they say, but what they don’t say.  They don’t really talk about sin. They don’t try to say that we are perfect, but rather that sin is not serious. The bottom line is that they don’t want to deal with sin.  They don’t emphasize the need for repentance. They emphasize that the door is quite wide, and the way is broad that enters into life.  It’s easy.  It doesn’t require any sort of sacrifice on your part.  They emphasize a relationship without repentance. But Biblical repentance has works.  John the Baptist said in Matt. 3:8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

So Jesus’s warning is to beware of false prophets because they will lead you on the wrong path.  I have much more compassion for sheep that have been led astray than I do for the false shepherds who lead them astray.  Sheep need a shepherd, and God has appointed in the church pastors who are to shepherd the sheep.  But as James said, let no many of you become teachers for they will incur a stricter judgment. 

So Jesus tells the church to beware false prophets.  You are not totally inculpable. You have a responsibility to be on your guard and judge them by their fruit.  Notice that Jesus says they look good on the outside, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.  In other words, they devour the flock, they take advantage of them, and ultimately they ruin the flock. So though Jesus said in the beginning of this chapter to judge not lest you be judged, He now warns us to exercise righteous judgment.

So to that point, He says that we are to be fruit inspectors. Twice Jesus says, you will know them by their fruits. Vs.16 “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn [bushes] nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.” 

The whole point of this illustration is that Jesus likens a man to a fruit tree.  One is good, and another is bad.  Though they both look the same superficially, one brings forth good fruit, and one brings forth bad fruit.  One is cut down, and thrown into the fire, and one has life.  Once again, Jesus is reiterating the principle of two types of men in the world; the natural and the spiritual.  He speaks in another place in a parable about the wheat and the tares.  One is sown by the Lord’s workers, and one is sown by the Devil.  Both look similar.  And yet at the harvest, Jesus says, their work will make evident which is will be gathered into the Lord’s harvest, and which will be burned up.

The point is that a man may look like a Christian on the outside, he may say the right things, and appear to do the right things, and yet inwardly he is not a Christian.  And that is the difference between a good tree and a bad tree.  Outwardly they look the same.  They may both look the same, bear the same leaves, the same flowers.  But one produces fruit that is good, and one fruit that is bad. 

Jesus says, “Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?”  The point is this; that out of the heart comes that which defile a man.  There will be evidence of righteousness in the righteous. There will be holiness in the life of a man who is sanctified.  As Hebrews 12:14 tells us; “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification/ holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”  

There has to be a change of nature, a change of heart.  That’s why we use the term “regeneration.”  It’s new birth, it’s being born again.  It’s a new life, spiritual life.  And only when that is a reality, can there be the kind of fruit that God deems good.  Simply being a  moral person, or being kind, or being a nice person is not good fruit.  Only a spiritual tree can produce spiritual fruit. Only an apple tree will produce apples.  Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes.  Like produces like, kind produces kind. So if you are going to produce spiritual fruit, then you must first be made spiritual. If you are going to bear the fruit of righteousness then you must first be made righteous. And that comes only through faith and repentance which leads to the righteousness of Jesus being transferred to your account resulting in regeneration.

So we are called to judge with a righteous judgment in regards to false prophets and false teaching.  We are called to be discriminating when it comes to the fruit of a person’s profession or proclamation.  But we are to be careful because we can easily be deceived.  Ultimately we cannot always know the difference when looking at the outside appearance.  But we must remember that ultimately, God is the judge and God is never deceived.  He knows the heart of man.  God will judge at the last day.  “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  

And that brings us to some of the most terrifying words found in scripture, in vs 21-23. This statement is what makes  the preceding warning  about false prophets so concerning. Because false prophets can lead you to the wrong destination.  Jesus gives the second warning in vs21, saying, ”Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven [will enter.] Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

So in this second warning Jesus is warning against the danger of self deception and self delusion. It may have been fostered or encouraged by false prophets, but ultimately it is your responsibility to be sure that you have entered into the narrow way and the narrow road that leads to life, and not been pandered to by preachers the popular gospel. 

In this passage, Jesus gives us a list of false things upon which men tend to rely upon as evidence of spiritual life, but which in fact are not evidence at all.  Or to put it another way, the Lord shows what is possible to experience as a man who is actually still dead in his sins, still carnal, natural, and who has not been born again.  And it’s a pretty enlightening list.

First He says they will say unto Him, “Lord, Lord.” What is important to realize here is not that it’s wrong to say “Lord, Lord.”  No one is going to enter into heaven without saying recognizing that Jesus is Lord.” But what He is saying, is that not everyone who says that will get in. In other words, merely saying you believe that Jesus is Lord is not enough. James 2:19 says, “the devils also believe, and tremble.”  There is a danger in being content with an intellectual assent to the truth.  It’s possible to say you believe in Christ, and yet your life is evidence you live in denial of that truth.

Listen, the historical evidence of the existence of Jesus of Nazareth is undeniable.  But no one is saved by simply believing that He lived and died on the cross 2000 years ago. You can believe that and still remain unregenerate. You can say, “Lord, Lord,” and still remain outside of the kingdom of heaven.

The second danger is that you can be zealous and fervent in your belief, but still be unsaved.  Notice the repetition of the word “Lord.” These people are not just giving intellectual assent, but they have an emotional component to it. They have a fervency in their faith. But what Jesus is indicating is that enthusiasm and fervency does not make it spiritual.  Emotion may be simply a work of the flesh.  It may be born out of carnal enthusiasm which stems from a natural desire of the flesh.  I’ve seen so many country music stars for instance who live like the devil, and yet when they sing some old gospel song they shed crocodile tears and get all choked up. So emotion or fervency or enthusiasm is not evidence of spiritual life.

Then the Lord indicates even more dangers which can contribute to a false confidence, and that is their works.  What works can a person do and yet still be outside of the kingdom?  The first thing He says is that they say, “did we not prophesy in Your name?”  To prophecy means to speak forth the word of the Lord. There are two types of prophecy; fore telling, and forth telling.  Jesus doesn’t indicate exactly what type He is talking about.  I think both are covered here.  The point He makes is that many people will offer a defense in the day of judgment that they prophesied in His name.  But He will say to them, “I never knew you, depart from me you who practice lawlessness.”

I believe this indicates there will be many preachers in the day of judgment that will not be accepted into the kingdom of heaven.  It’s hard to believe that someone can preach God’s word, and yet miss it themselves, but that is what Jesus says.  Such was true of Balaam the prophet. He delivered the message of God, but the outcome of His life revealed that he was outside of the kingdom.  

Paul warns in 1 Cor. 13:1-3 “though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and yet don’t have love, it profits me nothing.”  In fact, as I quoted James as saying earlier, the fact that a person is a preacher subjects them to a stricter judgment.  And that’s why I feel that the false prophets deserve a greater condemnation than those foolish sheep who follow them.  

The point being, that Jesus says that in the judgment we shall find men and women who were lauded by man as doing some great work of God, of having some special anointing of God, and yet they will be cast out of the kingdom.  

Not only though are those who prophesy subject to judgment, but Jesus says also those who cast out devils.  Notice again, “in My name.”  It is possible for a person to cast out demons in the name of Jesus and yet still be outside of the kingdom.  And we can find an example of that in Jesus’s inner circle.  When Jesus sent out the disciples to preach and cast out demons, they came back rejoicing that the demons had been subject to them.  It’s pretty clear that this gift was given to Judas as well.  And yet once again, the outcome of his life was evidence that he was not part of the kingdom of heaven, but rather the son of perdition.

Furthermore, there is an account in Acts19 of certain sons of Sceva who claimed to have  the power of exorcism. Jewish exorcists. Yet they weren’t saved. Even today we hear of certain people who are exorcists and claim a certain amount of success in that.  But Jesus says such evidence is a false positive.  It’s not necessarily evidence that they are of the kingdom of God.

The final false evidence that Jesus gives is one that has great advocates in many religious circles today.  And that is the ability to do signs and wonders. He said they will say, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not in Your name perform many miracles?’  Many people today claim to be great workers for God and they show as evidence their ability to do miraculous things.

And yet scripture should have taught us that such miraculous powers are not necessarily of God.  Remember the magicians of Pharaoh, when Moses performed the signs that God had given him to authenticate His message, the magicians were also able to duplicate many of them. They were able to do miracles. 

Not only though do we have that example in the Old Testament, but Jesus Himself says later on in Matthew 24:24, “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”  So false prophets have been given power, presumably from Satan, to deceive people into following their false teaching.  And it affects even the elect.  That is even those that are saved are subject to their false signs and wonders.  

That’s what I find so ironic about certain denominations today that advertises that the main characteristic of their faith is that of signs and wonders. They put it out it as evidence of God speaking to them. And yet in the church age, the Bible gives more warnings about such things than it does accolades.  

For instance, Paul warns in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, about the coming of the one at the end of the age who will deceive through signs and wonders, saying, “Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;  [that is,] the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,  and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.”

So it’s not only possible, but Jesus indicates that it is very likely that many who have relied upon such power will be found to be outside of the kingdom at the judgment.  Such miraculous powers are often attributed to the Holy Spirit, but may in actuality be given by Satan himself. In fact, there are powers of man, such as hypnotism and things like that, which though we don’t understand them, nevertheless may seem to effect miracles.  And so we must be wary of such things and those that use such power to deceive men.

When Jesus’s disciples came back rejoicing that Satan and his angels had been subject to them, Jesus said, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)  The important thing is not what kind of external validation or power or appearance of righteousness that it seems someone may have, but whether or not they have been born again into the kingdom of God.

Vs.21  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven [will enter.]”  If you have been born again as a child of God, then you have received a new nature that will want to do the will of God.  You will obey the word of God.  You will exhibit the characteristics of God, the very characteristics described in the Beatitudes at the beginning of the message.  And that is only possible if you have been made into a new creation, given spiritual new life, a new heart, and new desires.  That is the only way to enter the narrow gate, by regeneration, through faith in what Jesus Christ has done for you, and that is the only way to enter the narrow way, through the new birth that is given as a result of your faith, as you take up your cross and follow Him, being conformed to His image through obedience to His word.

Examine yourself today in light of God’s word, and see if there is evidence within you that you have been regenerated, that you are a new creation, a new tree, if you will, so that you might bring forth good fruit.  ““So then, you will know them by their fruits.”

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 the Golden Rule.  I suppose that would not be politically correct today.

However, various forms of the Golden Rule have been around since before the birth of Christ.  In fact, a famous Rabbi by the name of Hillel  who was asked for a summary of the law in 20AD said, “What is hateful to you, do not do to anyone else. This is the whole law; all the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.”  That statement of course is in the negative.  Jesus was the only one to phrase it in the positive.  But it is a statement that is found in other philosophies and religions as well, so it is not a strictly Christian principle, though, in the positive it is only found in Christianity.

So I should stress that the majority of religions and philosophies do not teach this principle as Jesus taught it. Their emphasis is only focused on a social dictum or a social gospel.  But Jesus wasn’t just giving a moral precept that we should all try to keep as a means of earning good standing with God and man and thus creating a social utopia here on earth.  Furthermore, if you approach this principle in a merely legalistic way, then you are guilty of what the Pharisees were guilty of, which was to keep the letter of the law as a way of earning righteousness and as a means of being seen of men to be righteous. 

Jesus, however,  in HIs sermon has always gone beyond the letter of the law to indicate that the attitude of the heart is what God is after.  And only as one has been regenerated through faith in Him can you then have the new heart that desires what God desires, that loves that which God loves.  So this statement is a continuation of what Jesus has been saying all along.  He has been establishing and delineating the character and nature of those who have been made a new creation, have been given new life, who are now a child of God and a part of the Kingdom of God. 

However,  we should also recognize that there is no getting around the fact that this is a commandment.  Those that think there are no commandments in the new covenant show their ignorance of scripture.  In fact, this is very similar to another commandment which Jesus gave in response to the question “what is the greatest commandment?”  Jesus answered in Matt. 22:37-40  “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’  “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’  “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Notice the similarity after the second commandment to love your neighbor, in the phrase “the whole law and the prophets,” to the phrase found after the Golden Rule, “for this is the Law and the Prophets.”  Jesus says that both are a summation of the law. And in conjunction they help to explain one another.  So, if you love your neighbor as yourself, if you treat your neighbor like you would like to be treated, then you will not steal from him, you would not commit adultery with his wife, you would not lie to him, and so forth.  All of the law found in what is called the second table of the law dealing with man’s relationship to man, would not be an issue.  

But it’s important to understand that the Bible does not teach the law is a means of salvation. That’s what the Pharisees were thinking, and it’s the thinking of much of the modern church.  The natural tendency of man is to be legalistic.  And so many have looked at the Sermon on the Mount and have seen a series of injunctions which they thought were some new form of the old law, and though we couldn’t keep the old law we can somehow keep the new law, and thus we will be saved by keeping the law, or at least, keeping it as best we can.  That is the gist of a lot of people’s theology.

But Paul said the law was intended to be a schoolteacher to lead us to Christ.  The law shows us our sinfulness in light of the standard of God and in that light it shows us our need to be saved, to be forgiven, to be made a new creation.  Only when we are regenerated, given the righteousness of Christ and made in the likeness of Christ by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, can we then strive to keep the law with any hope of success.  So then we keep the law because we are Christians, not in order to become a Christian.

1John 2:3-5 says, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;  but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.”  So keeping the law is only possible if we are Christians, not as a means to become a Christian. And keeping the law is evidence that we are a Christian.

Let me also try to clarify it this way.  Not only is the law a schoolteacher to lead us to Christ, but after we are saved, the law is a schoolteacher to raise us up in Christ, to mature us in Christ.  In the first creation, we were made in the image of God, in His likeness.  The Bible says that repeatedly.  We were made spiritual beings so that we could have spiritual intimacy with God.  But the spirit of man died in the fall.  So for man to be reconciled to God we must not only be forgiven, but we must be regenerated, to have a new spirit that can have fellowship with God.

So then in the second creation, that which is called being born again, we are once again made in the likeness of God, which is to be like Christ.  And though we have been given a new nature, a new spirit, new desires, there is still a process of training that is necessary if we are going to be conformed to the image of Christ.  So through the law of God, we come to know what is expected of us, how we are to act as the children of God, that we might in obedience to the law grow up into Him and be completed in the process of  sanctification.

Now that is the point of Jesus’s teaching here.  We are to love one another, love our neighbor, do good to them that persecute you, give good gifts to others, and do unto others what you would have them do unto you, all because that is the way God treats us.  And we are to be like Christ. So the law, this law, informs us of what we are to do, if we are to be like Christ.

And the synergy of the law is that the priority of the foremost commandment makes it possible to keep the second commandment.  What I mean by that is, only if we love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, are we then able to love our neighbor as God loves us. Being reborn in His likeness gives us the capacity to love like God.  The difficulty is that in order to love God like that, wholly, completely, then we have to get someone else off the throne.  And that someone is ourselves.  Self wants to be on the throne. Self wants to govern our lives.  Self wants to preserve and guard and protect what’s his.  And so self has to be dethroned in order to love God first and foremost. 

There is a very deceitful theology that is propagated by certain preachers which looks at the second commandment, that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and then extrapolate from that that it’s necessary and even a good thing, to love ourselves.  I have read some Christian books to that effect, saying that even before you love God you must first love yourself.  Folks, that is a lie out of hell.  The answer to our problem is not to love ourselves, but rather the problem is that we love ourselves.  That’s what is wrong.  But if you love the Lord with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your strength, then that doesn’t leave room anymore for “self” to be on the throne.  God must be first.  

And then notice, you are still not next in line.  The order is you love God first and then your neighbor is next.  You are in last place. So we need to start with God.  And that means that in order to even begin to love our neighbor correctly we must first have a right relationship with God.  We were made by God and for God, and we can function truly only in relationship to God.

So you can’t love your wife, or your husband, or your neighbor, or your enemy like you’re supposed to, unless you first love God preeminently.  And as we believe in Him, are obedient to Him, follow Him, love Him and trust Him, then we can see others as God sees us, and we can do unto others what is good, the kind of things that we would like for them to do for us.  Not doing good so that we might be repaid for our kindness.  But as God who loved us when we could not do anything to repay Him, so we do for others that which is good.  

God gives us good things in spite of our being who we are.  God doesn’t give us what we deserve. But God showers upon us His grace and mercy.  So we should love others as God loves us and show good to them as God has shown to us.  And the ultimate good that we should do for them is to show them the love of God so that they might believe in Him and be saved.  That they might be transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of God.  That is the good that we might do that is greater than all other good things. 

The fact is, if we truly loved others as we say we should, then we would be very concerned about their soul’s final destination.  Yet though as Christians we claim to be concerned about lost souls, yet in practice we show little concern about it.  I know, I am speaking from personal experience.  It seems awfully hard to speak to an acquaintance about the nature of their soul, doesn’t it?  It’s a subject we find very hard to broach even with loved ones, much less with our friends and acquaintances.  

And yet it’s the most important topic in the world.  And so we see this subject of our soul’s destination dealt with here by our Lord in the last section of this sermon, and He deals with it in a way that shows it’s of paramount importance. It’s a logical progression in His sermon from speaking of doing good unto others to speaking of the way of salvation.  Jesus does not ignore what is of ultimate importance.  But He goes straight to the heart of the matter.  

Jesus has shown in HIs sermon repeatedly that there are two natures, two types of people, two perspectives, two types of hearts, two types of attitudes.  Sometimes the differences seemed on the surface to be slight, but Jesus showed that there was indeed great differences which found their origin deep in the heart of man. Throughout the whole sermon Jesus shows that there is a distinct difference between the natural man and the spiritual man.  

Now Jesus takes that to the next level, and shows that there is a distinct difference in outcomes as well. There are two gates, two paths and two destinations for all men.  Jesus says in vs 13, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Now what Jesus is actually doing here is showing that there is a choice that is given to all men, there are two paths and that we are going to choose one or the other.  The Sermon on the Mount is not just a philosophical teaching that can be considered and talked about and pondered upon and admired for it’s exalted themes and then put back on the shelf and you continue as you were.  It is a choice that has to be made.  And the way to make the wrong choice is to simply do nothing, to continue going on as you are.  If you consider all that Jesus has said concerning the kingdom of heaven, and you do nothing but think about it, and then set it aside, then you have effectively said no.  You have made a choice without doing anything. Because the Bible tells us that all men are already on the road to destruction. You were born that way.

Romans 3:10-12, 16 says, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;  THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;  ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” and so as a consequence, “DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS.”

But believing in Christ is something that requires a change of direction, a change of heart.  It requires following.  It is a new way of life. It’s a decision and a commitment to believe Christ and follow Him.  Notice first of all that Jesus says the way is narrow that leads to life.  I believe that the gate indicated here is none other than Jesus Christ.  He is the narrow gate.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me.”  That’s pretty narrow.  That’s pretty exclusionary. Acts 4;12 says, “There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”  There is no other way of gaining the righteousness needed to be accepted by God than through faith in Jesus Christ. Through faith in Him, and what He did on the cross, our sins are transferred to Him and His righteousness is transferred to us.

Jesus says in John 10:9  “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” He goes on to say in that passage that “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  So no one can come to the Father, no one can be saved, except through faith in Jesus Christ.  Faith in what He has done for me as my Savior, as my Substitute.  He took my place on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, so that by His death I am given life, spiritual life, abundant life.  

That is the only way to God.  That is the way to life.  But there is another way, what Jesus calls the broad way.  Many are going through that gate.  It’s the popular path.  It’s the way the world is going. But Jesus says this way leads to destruction.  Listen, it’s a terrible tragedy that the world is headed for destruction.  There is no calamity on earth, no famine, no flood, no earthquake, nothing that comes close to the world wide calamity precipitated by the fall. The entire world is destined to die, to stand before the judgment of God, and receive the wages of sin, which is death.  That’s a terrible thing of unimaginable proportion.  And if we are honest we  might find ourselves almost thinking  judgmentally towards God when we consider that so many millions of men and women are doomed to destruction. It just doesn’t seem fair.

And yet, God has given us the means by which to save them.  We know the good news, we know the gospel.  We have the antidote for their disease.  And yet, in a manner of speaking, we walk right by the dead and dying without lifting a finger to help. Maybe that’s what Jesus was referring to when He said “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  If you know that the outcome of the way of life they are on leads to destruction, then is not be a good thing that is really necessary is to tell them of a better way? Has not God done the greatest good thing that could ever be done in giving Jesus Christ as a ransom for sinners? Does this great good not compel us to tell those that are doomed to destruction before it’s too late?  That there is another way, provided by Christ,  that leads to life?

And to that point, let me emphasize that Jesus calls it the way.  Before the Christians were called Christians, it was called “The Way.”  Jesus says not only is the gate narrow, but the way is narrow that leads to life. We need to realize, and those we attempt to lead to Christ need to realize, that the way of life is a difficult choice.  It is  hard.  It requires leaving some things behind that will not fit on this narrow way.  We shouldn’t try to deceive people into thinking that it is something easy to come to Christ, and then later on they will begin to discover that the way is hard. It’s going to require some sacrifice in regards to the things that the world finds needful.  

The author of Hebrews likens the way to a race course, of which he says we must “lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  So there is some sacrifice that is necessary if we go on this narrow way.  Self sacrifice is what is necessary.  Crucifying the flesh. Dying to self.

Also I think what is indicated is that this narrow way can only accommodate one person at a time.  Perhaps it can be compared to a turnstile, like they have at the subway stations.  Only one person can go through at a time.  I remember we went to NYC a couple of years ago with Melissa who was looking into a college up there. And this lady was taking on a tour, and she led us through this revolving door, you know the kind with four sections or so and you step into one section and it spins around and you step off on the other side.  And when the lady stepped into the section of the door to lead the way, my wife tried to jump in there with her.  The lady had a surprised look on her face when Susie crammed up against her.  It was meant for only one person at a time. 

But the point is, the narrow gate and the narrow way indicates that you are going to have to enter this gate on your own.  You can’t piggy back on your wife’s faith, or on your family, or with anyone else.  It’s an individual commitment, an individual choice. Jesus said take up your cross and follow me.  The broad way is crammed with people.  Everyone else seems to be doing the same things, going the same direction.  And there is a certain degree of confidence in numbers.  But Jesus says they are all going on the wrong path.  

Paul in Ephesians 2:1 speaks of this way, this path, as like the course of a river.  He says, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,  in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” 

I remember crossing a bridge over the Shenandoah River on a Sunday afternoon a few years ago.  And there was probably a 100 or more people out on the river floating on rafts.  They were all lazily floating along and it really looked like a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon on a hot day in the summer.  And I can kind of use that image in my mind for what Paul was referring to  as the course of this world.  The whole world is floating along, being carried along by the world’s culture, the worlds’ philosophy, the busy-i-ness of this world.  All their friends are there with them.  There is no care for what’s ahead. It hardly seems like you are even moving, and yet you are being carried along to eventual destruction. And Paul says that is the strategy of the prince of the power of the air, that is Satan, in order to keep the world entertained and oblivious of the danger ahead, to deceive and destroy.

Listen, we that know the truth, that have the truth, must share the good news with those who don’t know it.  We are the ministers that God has sent into the world so that the world might be saved.  We have the good news to give. Knowing what we know now, if we were unsaved, would we not want someone to tell us the good news about how we can be saved from the destruction which lay ahead?  Therefore, do unto others what you would have them to do unto you. For this is God’s commandment to you. 

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 then tells us we need to judge or show discernment between those that can appreciate things of God, and those that cannot.

But if vs 1 is the verse that most unbelievers think they know, and yet have it wrong, then perhaps the verse before us today in vs 7 is the one that Christians most often claim, but yet misunderstand.  This verse is the proof text for the name it and claim it crowd.  And the problem with their interpretation is that they tend to look at this verse out of context. We have to consider the context of the sermon in order to know the right interpretation of the Lord’s teaching.  Unfortunately, a lot of Christians want to believe that in this verse God gives us a blanket approval or guarantee for anything we want to ask for.  And yet I think a careful study of this passage will show that is not what these verses are teaching. 

So for an accurate interpretation we must first consider the greater context of this passage. A lot of commentators believe that when you get to chapter 7, Jesus just gives a series of unrelated statements.  But I don’t believe that’s the case at all.  I believe there is a connection and a flow from principle to principle. And the connection to  this principle is found in verse 6 which speaks of the need for godly discernment, or godly wisdom.  The whole point of Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is to show that Christians have been regenerated, made into a new creature, a spiritual being, and that as a result of that transformation, we have received a new nature, a new way of thinking, because we are now the children of God, and being made in the likeness of God.  So in that context, Jesus says we are not to judge like the world judges, comparing ourselves to one another for the purpose of trying to show superiority in righteousness, which is really just self righteousness.

But on the other hand, Jesus indicates in vs 6 that we are in fact to judge with righteous judgment.  We need to have spiritual discernment, so that we may rightly divide the truth, and righty dispense the truth. When Jesus speaks of the dogs and swine, he is speaking of people who haven’t got spiritual discernment, and therefore cannot appreciate the truth of the gospel.  I believe it was actually a backhanded reference to the Pharisees.  They claimed to be superior to the disciples of Jesus, to be even more righteous than Jesus.  And yet they were actually unspiritual, and they could not appraise spiritual things. 

So the connection from vs 6 to 7 is the need for discernment, or wisdom. And to that end, Jesus is saying that we should seek from God the necessary spiritual wisdom and discernment.  We need to seek wisdom from God because it’s not a natural trait. The natural man thinks that he can tell the difference between good and evil.  But there is a great difference between natural wisdom and spiritual wisdom.  As we learned in our study last Wednesday in 1 Corinthians, the “natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”   So to understand spiritual things, to have spiritual wisdom and discernment, then we must receive it from the Lord. 

And Paul says that in 1 Cor.1:12 saying,  “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.”  This spiritual wisdom, Paul says, is not of the world, not according to man’s distinctions, man’s judgment, but it’s a gift of God.  It’s the grace of God spread abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit so that we might have spiritual discernment.  

That spiritual discernment given by the Spirit of God enables us to judge with righteous judgment, so that as He says in vs 1 we will not be judged.  As Paul says in 1 Cor. 1:15, “But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.”  To appraise is to judge, to determine value, to distinguish.  And Paul says if we are spiritual and led by the Spirit we are to judge all things with righteous judgement, and yet not be judged.

So there is a need to ask for wisdom because spiritual wisdom is from God, it’s not natural, and the natural man cannot ascertain it. James, the half brother of Christ recognized this need, and I believe in answer to that he wrote a parallel text in James 1:5, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”  We have a resource for spiritual discernment, for judgement, for wisdom, and it is freely given to us by God our heavenly Father.  Wisdom is an unmitigated promise to those who believe.  But it’s something that we need to pray for, that we need to seek after, and strive for. 

Paul, writing to the Philippians says that it was his prayer that they would have wisdom and discernment.  Phil. 1:9-11 “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,  so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which [comes] through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” 

Notice Paul is making the distinction there that they are spiritually mature, that they would exhibit Christian love but with knowledge or wisdom and discernment.  He desires that they reach the stage where they could not only discern between bad and good, but between what is good and best.  That they would grow in maturity to approve the things which are excellent, and that spiritual maturity brings about fruit, which is righteousness, which glorifies God.  

We raise our children to be able to discern between good and bad when they are babies.  But as they grow we hope to train them in wisdom and discernment that they may also be able to discern between what’s just good, and that which is best.  That’s why Paul could say, “all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.”  To be able to judge what is best, what is God’s best, requires spiritual discernment.  And God promises to give His wisdom to those that seek it with all their heart.

We see the flip side of that far too often in modern evangelicalism.  The popular preachers, the television preachers especially often present a gospel that is superficial, that is a form of merely pop psychology in the name of Christianity.  And so they find some verse like the one we are considering today and they may read it, but then they formulate opinions and interpretations of it that are devoid of spiritual truth.  It’s simply the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of psychology, of the power of positive thinking, or whatever it is to make you feel good, under the name of Christianity.  It’s intended for the spiritual naive, for the carnal Christian, or for the unbeliever. But it’s not the wisdom of God and so it’s actually destructive heresies. Peter warns of that in 2 Peter 2:1 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”

So Hosea 4:6 says “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” That’s why Jesus said in the last chapter, “If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”  If you think the darkness is light, then you are in real trouble. If you are listening and ascribing to pop psychology while thinking it is the truth of God then your faith is in danger of being shipwrecked.  We need to have discernment that sees the truth of God because only the truth can set you free. Whereas a half truth will cause you to end up on the rocks.

The writer of Hebrews speaks of this need for spiritual maturity in chapter 5, saying in vs 11 that he had many more things to say to them, but it was hard to explain because they were only interested in fleshly things.  They had no appetite for deeper spiritual truth.  He said they needed to mature beyond that of being babies, beyond just feeding on milk.  Solid food he said is for the mature, it’s for the discerning. And then he says “who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” 

It takes practice, in the sense of perseverance, a continual striving, in order to train your spiritual senses to discern good and evil, between truth and error, and between good and best.  It’s like that guitar over there.  I can buy the same guitar that some rock star has, and I can even try to play the same song on that guitar, but if you listen to him and then listen to me it will be obvious that I do not have the skill that he has. But  I can assure you that he wasn’t born with that ability.  It came by hours and hours and possibly years of practice.  And as Christians we have to practice, by diligence, by perseverance, putting our faith into practice, putting God’s word into practice and by diligently seeking and following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

And I think that is what Jesus is saying here, “ask and you shall receive,” the verb indicates a continual asking. Keep seeking, keep knocking.  It’s not that God isn’t listening, but that spiritual maturity and wisdom is a continuing progression as we are obedient in faith to what we have been shown. Our discernment is trained by constant practice, by constant reliance upon the spirit of God as we persevere in the truth. 

So far from being a blanket promise that God will do anything I ask Him to do, that He will give me whatever I ask for, regardless of what it may be, we can be sure that God’s purposes are much greater than simply the gratification of my fleshly desires.  If anything, we ought to be glad that is not what Jesus is saying. There have been many things in my life that I have asked for, prayed for diligently, and yet God did not give me what I wanted.  And though I was disappointed at the time, today I can look back and say I thank God that He knew what was best for me.  We can thank God that this is not a blanket promise to fulfill our wishes, but that it is a promise to fulfill what I need in order to be spiritually mature and complete. 

Paul speaks of this dichotomy between the natural and the spiritual in  2 Cor. 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,  while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

So if we are going to apply this doctrine which Jesus is teaching us here, then the first thing that is necessary is that we need to realize our need.  We see that inherent need expressed in Jesus’s instruction to ask, seek and knock. The Lord simply wants to emphasize that we are to show persistence, perseverance and diligence. In Luke 11, Jesus gives a parable of a man who had a guest arrive at midnight, and since he had no food to set before him, he went to a  neighbor to ask to borrow bread.  And because of his persistence in knocking, He said, the neighbor eventually gave him the bread.

So these three words emphasize the element of perseverance that is so necessary in the Christian life. How often have we taken stock of our walk as a Christian, and we  realize that we are not where we ought to be?  So we make a fresh commitment to go to church more regularly, to read my Bible more diligently, to pray more often, and then we make some progress for a few days, or maybe a few weeks, and then we find that we have lost our resolve. That is what the Lord is talking about.  If we are really going to reach the level of spiritual wisdom and maturity that God desires us to have, it’s going to take persistence and perseverance, which is expressed by asking, seeking and knocking.

Jesus indicated that this characteristic was an element of the new nature of a Christian when He gave the Beatitudes at the beginning of the message.  He said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. But it’s an ongoing filling.  In the natural state we don’t eat once and then we are forever filled.  But we eat continually, day after day.  And so we need to go on hungering and thirsting, day after day for the spiritual food, for the wisdom from God so that we might discern between good and evil and bring about the fruits of righteousness. 

I think this idea of hungering and thirsting for righteousness  is collaborated by the illustration that Jesus uses of a son asking his father for a loaf of bread in vs 7, or asks his father for a fish in vs 8.  Jesus correlates this continual seeking with food, because I believe this promise has to do with spiritual food.  And through perseverance we receive that which we ask for.

And that segues into our next principle that is taught in these statements, and that is that God is our Father.  We have emphasized this point repeatedly several times in our study of this sermon, because Jesus Himself emphasizes this point so often.  God is our Father.  He says if our earthly fathers does so for us, then how much more will our heavenly Father do good for us that ask Him.

But let me emphasize that Jesus is not teaching the universal fatherhood of God, or the universal brotherhood of man. That isn’t a biblical principle. And what Jesus says here illustrates that it isn’t biblical, because He says, “if you then being evil…” He doesn’t include Himself, because there was no evil in Him. But He includes the whole of mankind.  “If you being evil” indicates that we not only do things which are evil, but that we are evil.  Our human nature is essentially evil and those who are evil are not the children of God, but as Jesus says elsewhere; “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.” So by nature we are the children of wrath, we are evil, we are enemies of God, and we are not HIs children.

We can only become the children of God by regeneration.  We must be born again.  1 John 1:11 says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name.” You can become a child of God only when you are born again through faith in Jesus Christ.  And only as a child of God can we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit by whom our spirit is made alive in Christ. So then we have a Helper, a teacher, who Jesus said will lead us into the truth. 

And because God is our Father and we are HIs children, we can be confident that He will not give us anything that is not good for us, or good for HIs purposes.  Again the comparison Jesus makes is to the human father, saying  “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?”  If human fathers are like that, then how much more is our Heavenly Father?  The devil loves to try to tell us that our Father doesn’t care when something happens to us that we think is bad.  But Jesus tells us that our Heavenly Father can never give us anything that is evil.

And to add to that point then we must realize that God never makes a mistake.He knows the difference between good and evil far beyond what we can imagine.  Sometimes as a father I have decided upon some action in regards to my children, and then sometime later I have realized that I made a mistake. I meant well at the time, but I didn’t realize how it would turn out.  But God knows the future and the past, and He can never make a mistake.  He gives us what is best, though we sometimes have to trust Him in that because at the time it may not seem like the best thing to us.  But God knows the future, and He is working all things for His good purposes. 

The last thing we can take from this passage is that God gives good things to them that ask Him.  What good things is He talking about?  Is He talking about a new house, or a new car, or a pay raise in your job?  No, those things may or may not be good things.  I often find myself asking God for something, perhaps that He would allow me to get some more money.  I used to be an antique dealer before I became a pastor.  And every few months it seemed I would find what I called a national treasure – a home run. And I would make a lot of money off of that one item.   It happened so often that I thought it would always be that way.  

Today of course I no longer am an antique dealer.  But I confess that somewhere back in my psyche I still kind of have that prospecting bug, that sense of wanting to find a treasure.  But on my budget I am relegated to scrounging through the neighborhood thrift store instead of going to pricey antique shows. But still, I will admit that I sometimes pray that God could still allow me to find another national treasure.  I pray kind of like Samson when he was captured by the Philistines and grinding at the mill, “Lord, give me strength one more time.”  But God hasn’t seen fit to do that.  And though I would like to think I could handle it ok, perhaps even do a lot of good things if I found something like that, yet God knows what is best for me. Perhaps God knows, if I found a national treasure it might tempt me to not take my ministry quite so seriously, maybe even cause me to be tempted to quit the ministry when things don’t go the way I want them to.  So I have to trust that God knows best.

So what are the good things that God promises us? Well the answer is found in a very similar  message that Jesus preached which is recorded in Luke 11.  Jesus there says in vs13, ”If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

The Holy Spirit then is the good thing that God promises to give us. Three times in Jesus Upper Room Discourse, on the night before He was crucified, He gave the promise of the Holy Spirit.  Notably Jesus called Him the Spirit of Truth.  In John 14:17 He said, “that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, [but] you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” Then in John 15:26 He said “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, [that is] the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me”  And in John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” 

Listen, this is so important.  I am afraid that some of us here today would rather have the promise that God will give you whatever it is you ask of Him.  But He has given you a better promise than that.  He has promised to give you the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit who will lead you and guide you into all truth as you rely on Him and seek Him to guide you.  He is an ever present Helper.  He is always with us.  And He has discernment and wisdom that He is able to give to those who seek Him.

The Holy Spirit is the giver of all good gifts.  He is the giver of life.  We are born of His Spirit.  He is our Heavenly Father.  We have His Spirit living in us to guide us and give us wisdom and discernment in all things. It’s so amazing how this section of the Sermon on the Mount we are looking at today ties in so closely with what we were studying in 1 Corinthians 2 last Wednesday night at Bible study.  And in that study you should remember we read from

1Cor. 2:12 which says, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.”  

This is the best gift that we can receive.  If we have the Holy Spirit, then we have an ample supply of everything that we need for life and godliness.  Through Him, God will richly supply all our needs according to His riches in glory.  So “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Eph. 3:20-21 “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,  to Him [be] the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

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 it is evident that some sort of judgment is necessary and even commended for Christians.  So a careful analysis of what Jesus said, as well as what the scriptures say elsewhere is obviously needed.  And we hope to do that this morning.

As you are all probably aware, today’s text is a part of the greater Sermon on the Mount, which we have been studying for several months now.  And in our study we have emphasized repeatedly the importance of considering the minutiae of individual verses in the greater context of the sermon.

In chapter 6, we especially noted the principle which is that the Father is always looking at us.  He sees the heart, the motivation behind what we appear to be on the outside.  And so it is in this section, we are to remember that we are always walking under the watchful eye of our Father in heaven.  Even though Jesus’s instruction appears to be mainly concerned with our relationship to others, yet still the important thing is our relationship to God.  What man thinks of us is not as important as what God thinks of us.  We must remember that in this new life we have in Christ, that it is but a moment, a transitory span of time, and that we are all headed towards a final destination, and to a final judgment, and an ultimate assessment before the Lord.

The Christian would always remember that he is walking in the presence of God, that he is going on to meet God, and that reality should be the basis for all that he does in life. And if we truly are God’s children, then we are undergoing a process of refinement, a process of judgment and discipline, because we are being prepared for the final judgment. As the scriptures tell us; we shall all have to give an account for the things which we do and say while on the earth.

So our Lord begins this section dealing with how we are to walk in this world under the eye of God by saying “Do not judge…”  Simply looking up the word judge in the dictionary is not going to answer our questions as to what the Lord meant in such a saying. As I said at the beginning, the world loves to quote this verse back to us as a means of excusing their lifestyle. It’s also used by spineless, liberal churches to promote an easy believism style of Christianity that is opposed to nothing, stands for nothing, and consequently, amounts to nothing. 

So it is vital that we understand correctly what it is that the Lord is teaching here. As I mentioned, vs 15 of this same chapter indicates that we are to judge in regards to false teachers.  Futhermore,  any student of the Bible knows that the State or government is given the responsibility to judge in certain judicial matters. God uses the government to restrain evil and punish evildoers.  So the government is supposed to judge in certain situations.

And not only the State, but also the Church is supposed to judge.  How do we determine if someone is a false teacher or not unless we exercise judgment?  Titus says, “Reject a factious man after a first and second warning.” (Titus 3:10)  How do you know if a man is disagreeable towards the gospel unless you are able to judge his actions?  Jesus said in John 7:24, “Judge with righteous judgment.”  He says in Matthew 18 that if a man is in sin, go to him privately.  And if he doesn’t listen to you, go again with one or two more.  And if he denies you again, then take him to the church.  And if he neglects the church, then let him be to you as a heathen.  And there are many more instances in scripture where we are told as a church to exercise judgment.

So what does the Lord mean when He says, “do not judge?”  I think the problem is illustrated in the attitude of the Pharisees.  Remember the Pharisee and the sinner who went to the temple to pray and the Pharisee thumped his chest and said, “Lord, I thank you that I am not like that man.”  It was the comparative,  condemning attitude that was so wrong.  It’s a self righteousness that finds it’s validation in comparing themselves to others and then condemning those who they think are less righteous than they are.

But the Bible makes it clear it’s not just Pharisees that have this problem.  After all, this sermon was addressed to Christians, to those who were believers. This attitude of condemnation is something that affects us all. It’s a self righteous spirit.  A critical spirit. He is talking about a self righteousness or superiority that expresses itself in a derogatory manner, and ultimately ends up in contempt for others and puts a stumbling block in front of others. 

A good commentary on this principle is found in Romans 14 where Paul says to avoid judging one another in respect to food or drink or a Sabbath day. They had been exalting those matters to a primary position in the church, and judging and condemning others who did not share their views.  And Paul says such was wrong. Rom. 14:10, 12 “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. … 12 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Now then, Jesus has given the principle, “Do not judge.”  And so He then does as He has when presenting other principles, which is to give the reasons we should obey it. The first reason is “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged.”  The common understanding of this would be summed up in the adage, “those that live in glass houses should not throw rocks.” In other words, those that criticize others can’t stand it when they receive criticism. 

And while there is truth in that, that is not really what Jesus is saying here.  He is not speaking of being judged by others, but do not judge, lest you be judged by God.  God is the judge.  As the verses we just read in Romans 14 say, “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. … 12 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Now this is not a popular doctrine among a lot of evangelicals today. They point out that John 5:24 says that if we have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, we have passed out of judgment into life. Or they add Romans 8:1, which says, “There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”  And so they think that we have escaped all judgment if we are a Christian.

But remember, this passage we are looking at today, as well as the one in Romans 14, is addressed to the Christian as well. Those who have been made a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. So it behooves us to be reminded that there are three types of judgment.  Lack of understanding of the three types of judgment causes many Christians to be overly glib in regards to what the Bible calls the fear of the Lord.

First of all, there is the judgment which is the final judgment.  Hebrews 9:27 says, “it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” There is a judgment which determines the Christian from the non Christian, the sheep from the goats, those destined for heaven and those destined for hell. This is the great judgment which decides those who are a part of the Kingdom of God and those who are not.

Then there is a second judgment to which we are subject to as God’s children.  Paul speaks of this judgment in regards to communion, in 1 Corinthians 11. He warns against eating the supper unworthily, because you eat damnation unto yourself. In vs. 29 Paul says, “For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.  For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.(are dead) But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”

The point is clear that God judges HIs children when they are guilty of sin or living in sin. Paul says the punishment may result in sickness and even death.  Paul speaks of another incident involving punishment and discipline of a believer in 1Cor. 5:5 “[I have decided] to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”  In other words, the sinning person may be allowed to die in order that His spirit may be saved at the judgment.  But as Paul said in chapter 11, if we examined ourselves, and judged ourselves rightly, then we would not be judged.  So it is quite incorrect for a Christian to assume that there is no accountability in regards to his actions once he has been saved.

That’s why Hebrews 12:6 tells us that “FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”  If you are truly a child of God, then He promises to discipline you, even to scourge, that is to whip those that He loves.  And conversely, if you do not receive discipline, then you are not a son, but an illegitimate child.  Once again, the principle is that we are all under the watchful eye of our Heavenly Father, and God is watching our lives and judging our sinfulness, all for our benefit.

There is a third kind of judgment taught in scripture, the judgment which is often referred to as the judgment of rewards, or the Bema seat judgment. Romans 14 again states, for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  1 Cor. 3 says that “everyman’s work shall  be made manifest,” and the “day shall declare it.” Whatever a man builds upon the foundation, whether gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or stubble, it will all be judged by fire.  So there is a judgement of our work since we became a Christian.

2Cor. 5:10-11 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.  Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.”  That is addressed not to unbelievers, but to Christians.  We are judged in this judgment not to determine our eternal destiny, but it is a judgment that will affect our eternal destiny, deciding what will happen to us in the realm of the Kingdom of Heaven.  As indicated in Revelation 14:13 “And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, ‘Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on! Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”  Notice their deeds follow with them. Our works follow us into heaven.

So the chief reason then, why we are not to judge, is so that we are not judged ourselves by the Lord. We must be careful to obey His word, as we live now in this world. If we judge, then He says we shall be judged in terms of that very judgment we rendered.

So the second reason for not judging is because the Lord says, ““For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” In other words, when we judge, we end up producing judgment upon ourselves.  We even set the standard of judgment. (by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you).  The world calls this principle karma, that you get back what you give out.  But that falls short of what Jesus is talking about. 

The Lord is saying that God Himself will judge us according to our own standard.  Consider other references to this, such as in Luke 12 where Jesus talks about the servant being beaten with few stripes or with many stripes.  Jesus says in Luke 12:48 “but the one who did not know [it,] and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”

Another text in support of this is Romans 2:1, “Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.  And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.”

We have to be careful if we set ourselves up as an authority, as a judge. We are going to be judged with that same standard.  And though our judgment we mete out is from men, we will be judged by God, according to the standard we set.

The last reason Jesus gives is found in vs 3 to 5 of our text.  “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”   

This last reason is really an illustration, which is dripping with sarcasm and irony.  What the Lord is saying here is that we should not be judges, because we are incapable of it. We can’t do it.  We have all heard of the blind leading the blind.  But this is worse than that.  This is a blind eye doctor trying to do surgery on a man who has something in his eye. That would almost be humorous if it wasn’t so terrifying to think about.

What Jesus is getting at in this illustration is that if we are really as concerned about righteousness as we try to appear to be, then we would have addressed the issues in ourselves first. We would judge ourselves if we really cared about righteousness.  But the truth is you are more concerned about people rather than principles.  You are concerned about showing your self righteousness, and condemning the other person, all the while affecting to care about their spiritual condition.

Notice He says, “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?”  If you want to be able to see clearly to take the speck out of another person’s eye, first make certain that your own eye is clear.  And notice that the implication is  that the fault in your own character is actually greater than the fault in the other person. 

And because of that glaring fault in ourselves, while appearing to be righteous in regards to another’s faults, Jesus calls us hypocrites,  It’s interesting that in all the other cases in which He called someone hypocrites, it was usually someone outside of the church.  But now He calls those who are supposed to be Christians hypocrites.  We pretend we have this great interest in the other person’s well being.  But in fact, He indicates that we are glad to expose it.  We get some kind of satisfaction about exposing someone else’s weakness. And to some extent, Jesus puts the heavier burden of sin upon us than those whom we are attempting to judge.

So what is involved in getting the log out of your own eye?  The eye is a most delicate and sensitive organ.  If you even try to touch it it closes up. And so it is with the soul.  It is the most sensitive thing spiritually there is in a man.  To be able to deal with it requires patience, humility, sympathy, and compassion.  Furthermore, you cannot help another unless you have first been cleansed yourself. When we have rightly judged ourselves and taken care of the sin in our own life, then and only then can we speak the truth in love to those who are taken in some fault.

The final statement in the passage we are looking at today at first glance may look like it’s unrelated to the previous verses.  But actually it is the final statement in regards to this principle regarding judging. Up to now the Lord has told us that we should not judge in the sense of condemning, or as a means of comparison to make ourselves look better.  But now He let’s us know that is not the total statement in regards to this matter.  What follows should help us to find the proper balance.

The Lord is not saying in “do not judge,” that we should not have any discernment or judgment whatsoever.  There could be no discipline in the church without discernment.  There would be no such thing as exposing false teachers without discernment.  So while the Lord tells us not to have a critical spirit, He never the less tells us to be discerning.  We are supposed to discriminate between truth and error.  We are supposed to test the spirits to see if these things are so. We are supposed to beware of false prophets.  So we are to discriminate, but not just so we can condemn them, but that we might help them. So here we learn how we are to help the brother who has a speck in his eye. We must be able to recognize the speck and the log and discriminate from person to person accordingly.

First of all, Jesus says, ““Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”  What does He mean by that?  Well, He is referring to the truth, that which is holy, and which He likens to pearls. He is talking about the truth of the gospel, the message of the Kingdom.  

Secondly, in referring to dogs and swine, He cannot be saying that we should avoid giving the truth to the unbeliever, otherwise we could never be able to be a witness for the gospel.  So what then? Well, if you recall the four gospels, Jesus never approached people in a cookie cutter fashion.  He never approached two people the same way. He clearly differentiated between people and different types of people.  He confronted the Pharisees differently than the publicans and sinners.  He handled Nicodemus differently than the woman of Samaria. He had another approach for the woman caught in adultery, and another for her accusers. He answered Pilate in his court, but He had nothing to say to Herod in his. So it’s obvious if you study the gospels that Jesus handled people differently, yet the truth remained the same. But He varied the way it was presented dependent upon the situation of the person.

And we  must remember that this principle is intended for us as well. So first we must recognize that we must learn to discriminate between different types of people. We should not approach people in a mechanical, prescribed way of evangelism, for instance. You must consider the person, and what his situation is. Otherwise, we may be guilty of doing something similar to trying to take the speck out of someone’s eye.  We may achieve a certain feeling of self righteousness in our evangelism, but end up accomplishing very little for the kingdom.

Paul said that he became all things to all men, that he might by all means save some. To the Jew he became a Jew, to the Gentile he became a Gentile.  That is the first principle, to distinguish the person and the situation and properly accommodate the message to them. We have to know what each situation needs and each person requires. You do not handle Pilate and Herod the same way. 

And then we must be careful in the way we present the truth. We have to approach people correctly.  The gospel is offensive enough on it’s own.  We should not add offense to it unnecessarily.  We should not be a cause for blaspheming and cursing, as it was said of the Jews.  People may indeed blaspheme and curse us, but let it not be on our heads because of the way we presented the truth.

Finally, we need to have studied the scriptures so that we know which doctrines of the truth are necessary for this particular person.  For instance, to the unsaved person, to go beyond the basic doctrines the depravity of man, the judgment of God against sin, and  justification by faith is not helpful, and in fact can be disadvantageous to our purpose.  People will often try to get off the subject of repentance from sin and faith in Christ and want to talk about predestination, for instance.  To go beyond the basic tenets of the gospel with an unbeliever is akin to giving a baby a T bone steak.  It’s beyond their understanding.  

What this reveals to us is that we are unable to save someone.  It’s a supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit that causes a person to come to a point of repentance and faith.  We are to so shine our light before men that they might see, but only God can give sight to the blind.  Only God can save.  Only God can forgive sin.  And only God can give new life.  He uses us, not to judge, but to shine the light of truth.

When we are dealing with someone we need to realize their true condition.  We need to understand that they are under the dominion of sin and they are deceived and blind to the truth.  In that sense they are like dogs and swine, they might either bite the hand that feeds them, or they cannot appreciate the pearls of the gospel. They don’t appreciate the things which are holy.  And so we have to have a great compassion on such people.  Nothing but the illumination and  rebirth from God can enable them to appreciate the truth, and understand the truth.  So we have to recognize that God has to do that which we cannot do.  We show them compassion and we share with them the truth of the gospel according to what they can understand at this point, and then we trust God for the growth and increase of that seed which we plant.

Only when we have compassion on sinners the way Christ loved sinners can we hope to break through to them and help them become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.  We need to have the discernment given through the Holy Spirit that we might be able to help those who are still dead in their sin, and are destined for judgment.   The amazing thing is that God has chosen to use broken vessels like us to distribute the words of life to a world that is dying.  Let us have compassion for the lost, and be careful not to have a critical, hypocritical spirit as we endeavor to bring others into a saving knowledge of the truth.

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 purely coincidental, I promise.

Fasting has not been in vogue among Evangelicals for the most part for many years, perhaps due to a reaction against the wrong emphasis traditionally given to fasting by the Roman Catholic church. But the Lord obviously considers it a principle that needs correction as it was practiced in His day. And the fact that it was practiced by both the Old and New Testament saints should be obvious to anyone that has studied scripture in even a cursory way.

Jesus has been talking at this point in His sermon about public expressions of religion that are often done for personal advantage rather than solely for God. In vs.1 He says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.” Then as an illustration of this principle, Jesus gives three examples of ways in which people practice righteousness to be seen of men. The first illustration is that of giving, the second is prayer, and the third is fasting.

Now in His discourse Jesus was primarily concerned with the negative aspect of fasting, that is it’s ostentatiousness, the tendency to do it to be noticed by men. But because it is something that is not understood today nor practiced today very often, and surely not often as it should be, then perhaps it is best if we start by considering what the Bible says we are to do in regards to fasting, and then what the Lord says we are not to do.

So then what is expected of us in regards to fasting according to the Bible? Is it a valid spiritual discipline or not? First of all, we should recognize that fasting is commanded in the Old Testament. The children of Israel were commanded to fast on the Day of Atonement, which of course was one day a year. But in addition to that, we see many instances in which the Israelites fasted for additional periods. In the New Testament, we see that the Pharisees fasted twice a week. However, they were not ever told to do so.

As concerning the Lord’s teaching regarding fasting, He did not expressly teach it, but He certainly taught it indirectly. First of all, in the passage before us today He said, “When you fast…” It is understood that they would fast. Furthermore, in chapter 9 of Matthew, He was asked about fasting. They said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” And so there Jesus implies that though fasting was not being practiced by His disciples, it was something that would be done when He was no longer with them. And so by extension, it’s something that we should do today.

And one final example of fasting is that which was done by the Lord Himself when He was tempted in the wilderness. On that occasion, He was led by the Holy Spirit, and He fasted for 40 days. By the way, I have heard of a number of documented cases of someone who fasted for 40 days and they died as a result of it. Perhaps not simply died from the lack of food, but from other illnesses that arose due to their immune system being depleted, or something like that. But I would discourage anyone from thinking that is something that we should strive for. However, the fact that Jesus fasted, certainly indicates that we should follow His example. There is nothing He did which was superfluous, or which was not the Father’s will. So the fact that He fasted should be an indication that we are to fast as well.

Furthermore we see illustrations of the early church and the apostles practicing fasting. For instance, when the church at Antioch sent out Paul and Barnabas they first spent a period of prayer and fasting. Paul remarks that he often fasted. And even in the more modern period of the church, we find that most of the great men of God such as the Wesley’s, George Whitfield, Calvin all fasted on regular occasions.

So since we have confirmed the historical and biblical precedents for fasting, then we must define it. What exactly is meant by fasting? What is accomplished by it? You will recall that last Sunday I spent some time talking about the fact that man is mind, body and spirit unified in some mystical way into one being. And so they each depend and interact with one another. I believe that you can affect the mind through the spirit, and the body through the mind. And so there can be some effect on the mind through the actions of the body and the spirit. I have often counseled people who were suffering from depression or anxiety that they should work on the body and the spirit in hopes of elevating the mind. You can exercise the body, but it is difficult to exercise the mind, especially when you are ill in your mind. But bodily exercise can have an effect on the mind. And certainly, through spiritual exercise we can control the mind. The Bible teaches that the body and mind are to be subject to the spirit. And also fasting, as it relates to the body can also have a bearing on the mind and the spirit.

Today, there is a great deal of interest in the subject of fasting from a strictly human perspective. I have practiced something called Intermittent Fasting, which is done for health reasons. But even secular fitness experts have noted that fasting causes an increase in mental health and a sense of well being. They claim it not only helps in lowering fat, but also lowering cortisol, which is a stress hormone, and that it gives clarity and focus to the mind as well as a sense of well being.

And as Intermittent Fasting has gained popularity, it has also raised awareness of more intensive fasting, such as 24 or 48 hour fasts. There are multiple physical benefits to fasting and people are becoming aware of them. So while all those things are good, and possibly even helpful on a mental or even a spiritual plane, that is not what the Bible indicates the purpose of fasting is for.

I believe the Bible shows us that fasting is always related to prayer. We never see fasting as a means in and of itself. I think the order in which Jesus addresses fasting and prayer shows that fasting is subservient to prayer. It follows His discourse on prayer. It’s not something which stands alone as a means of righteousness, or even as a means of spiritualness. As I just pointed out, there are a lot of benefits to fasting on a physical level that have nothing to do with the spiritual. So fasting as a Christian, for the purpose of drawing near to God, has to do with prayer and making my prayer life more effective.

If we fast purely for the sake of fasting, as some sort of ceremonial thing we do at certain times of the year, then I believe we are violating the biblical teaching in regards to fasting. If fasting is an end to itself, then it is of no effect spiritually. Anything we do as a matter of rote, as a matter of obligation to a certain schedule, is in violation of the spiritual principle. And what I mean by that is to fast with the goal of getting a certain direct or immediate result is to view fasting in a mechanical way, a quid pro quo with the Lord in which since you did this, you can expect that in return. We don’t fast to get the results we want. It’s not a means of getting God’s blessings.

This kind of attitude in Christianity is pervasive to all sorts of things, not just in fasting. I read an interview from the modern false prophet Joseph Prince on Fox News the other day, and he was promoting a new book in which he says if you take communion you can expect God to heal you. And he relates a story of his son who was injured, and they began daily communion with him in the hospital, and he recovered twice as fast as the doctors had said he would. And so he has this book outlining how you can administer communion to yourself every day and see tremendous blessings and healing. Nothing in the Bible even remotely implies that, but that doesn’t seem to faze him. It’s just another way for him to make millions off of a book making false claims. But the point is that he is teaching a quid pro quo style of religion, where if you do something in a mechanical way, then God will be obligated to respond as you want.

And in a like manner, fasting is not a means of gaining God’s blessings, or healing or anything like that. So while there are definitely some physical benefits to fasting, we must not mistake that for the spiritual benefit that we should be practicing it for. The goal of fasting is to make us more spiritually attuned to the Lord’s leading.

Our desire to enter into fasting should be because we are led by God to do so, when I am intent on drawing near to God, when I feel there is a need to be solely consumed by my devotion to God and my desire to be led by God. It is a means to put aside the pleasures of the flesh that I might devote all my energies to the pursuit of God in the spiritual realm.

The other thing that I think is taught about fasting when you consider the past examples in scripture, is that of an attitude of repentance. I think that fasting, and the things that went along with it such as sackcloth and ashes, were used to demonstrate repentance and humbleness before God. Sackcloth and ashes were used to make the person uncomfortable, as a sign of mourning. And in the Bible we often see the attitude of true repentance being accompanied with fasting.

For instance, in the story of Jonah and Ninevah, the prophet Jonah eventually preached to Ninevah the message God gave him to preach, and the king responded according to Jonah 3:7-10 And he caused [it] to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that [is] in their hands. Who can tell [if] God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did [it] not.”

And so God responded to their prayer, which was a prayer of repentance. To repent is to turn, and the king said, “let everyone turn from his evil way.” That’s repentance. And fasting can be a visible demonstration of the heart of repentance.

Listen, often the problem with our prayer life is that we have an impure heart. We can have impure motives. James said in James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend [it] on your pleasures.” And the problem with fasting as Jesus described it is simply that. You don’t have a pure heart. You’re not really fasting as a corollary to intense prayer and spiritual struggle. Your heart isn’t right. And that is exactly the problem of the scribes and the Pharisees. Their hearts were not right.

David said in Psalm 66:18 “If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear me.” James “said the effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.” So there is obviously a correlation between prayer and righteousness. And while fasting is not a means of righteousness, it is a means of showing repentance. And repentance is necessary to be right with God and that we might have effective prayers.

Another reason for fasting I believe can be found in the example of Jesus. He fasted for 40 days. And yet Jesus did not need to repent. He was without sin. So why did He fast? I used to think that it was a part of His trial, that He fasted to make Himself weak so that He would be tested more severely. But that’s not it at all. I believe the Lord Jesus fasted not to become weaker, but to become stronger. Fasting may weaken you physically, but it makes you stronger spiritually. Jesus said when He was tempted in the wilderness while fasting, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” There is a food that is spiritual that supersedes that which is physical. And I think that is the reason that we should fast, to receive spiritual sustenance which has a far greater value than food.

So even in our weakness from fasting, we gain spiritual strength. Paul said concerning weakness in 2Cor. 12:9-10 “And [the Lord] has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

So fasting is a means of drawing near to God, it can be a demonstration of a repentant heart, and it can be a source of spiritual strength. But what it is not to be is a demonstration externally for others to see so that they notice how spiritual you are. Jesus says in vs16, “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.”

Now I hate to have to say this, but that’s one of the characteristics of the way a lot of churches practice Lent, which is supposed to be 40 days of fasting. They mark the forehead of the person fasting with charcoal in the shape of a cross, and then you are supposed to leave that on there and not wash it off. The whole point then seems to be they want to be noticed by men. And Jesus says that is the only reward they will receive, the temporary adulation of man.

But rather, Jesus says fasting as God would have us to fast, is something that takes place on the inside. It’s an attitude of the heart. It’s an attitude of repentance, of leaning not on your strength but on the Lord’s. And to that heart which God sees, God will reward accordingly. Jesus says in vs17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.”

Listen, the most important thing in our lives should be that we are right with God and concerned about pleasing Him. Our greatest desire should be to be in complete fellowship with Him. Then we can be certain that we are praying according to His will and that whatever we ask of Him we can be certain of receiving. We can be confident that we can do whatever He calls us to do by the strength which He supplies. And our reward is to be in fellowship with Him both now and forever. To be one with Him. And through prayer and fasting we can have fellowship with God in a way that supersedes the physical, and enables us to grow spiritually, so that we may be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

We see that this whole idea of fasting is really an illustration of the beatitudes which says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” And
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” That is the goal of our fasting, to be right with God, to be pure in heart, and to draw close to God that we may have unobstructed fellowship with Him.

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 church last week.  It’s about the necessity of what the Bible calls the new birth, being born again, being made spiritual.  Because the Christian is not someone who is just religious, or who is moral, or even someone who prays to God.  A Christian is a new creation, a different kind of human, a person who has a new life.  And so before you can really pray, before you can exhibit the kind of life that is pleasing to God, you must be made into a new creation.  And I want to make sure that everyone here understands this before we move on this morning to talk about prayer. Because this is fundamental.  You can’t even really pray if you don’t have this new life in you, the life of the Spirit.

The Bible teaches that humans were made body, soul and spirit.  The spirit actually is the Spirit of God that was breathed into man at creation. Gen. 2:7 “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” The spirit is the essence of life that enlivens the soul and body and enables man to be like God.  But sin caused man’s spirit to die. “In the day you eat of the fruit of the tree you will die.” When Adam and Eve sinned, man’s spirit died.  We still have a soul (that is the mind, the will and emotions) and we have a body.  But there is something that’s missing, or dead,  which is the spirit.    

For most people who are not saved, there is a sense of a “hole in their heart”, something missing which they spend their life trying to fill.  Unfortunately, they usually try to fill it with material things, or carnal things, which never can fill it, because what’s missing is their spiritual essence of life. You may even try to fill that hole with religious things, because deep inside you might recognize that what is missing has to do with God, and yet you cannot by your efforts make your spirit alive again.

That’s why Jesus said to Nicodemus, “you must be born again.”  He went on to clarify that statement by saying that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.  Man without the spirit is spiritually dead.  The way to be born again spiritually is to believe in Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, by whom all things were made, and that He died for us so that we might have life through Him.  By faith in Him and repentance of your sin, recognizing that you need to be made new, the Spirit of God will give you new spiritual life.  Then and only then  can you live a life which is satisfying, which is fulfilling, which has purpose and which produces joy. It’s a life that is immortal and will never die.

Life without the Lord is futile. You can reject the truth through unbelief and try to find the answers to life somewhere else, but there is nothing else that can fill that hole in your heart because we were made to be spiritual beings who can have a relationship with God. And only through regeneration can we be made alive spiritually and be able to commune with God. If that has not become a reality for you, then the rest of this sermon is not relevant to you.  The only prayer that God will consider in your case is “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.  Forgive me, and give me a new heart, a new spirit, that I might have everlasting life.”  Because until you have been born again spiritually, this teaching of Christ about how to pray as a means of communication with Him is irrelevant.

Now for those who are born again, who have spiritual life, Jesus teaches about prayer in two sections; the false way to pray and the right way to pray. Let’s look first at the false way.  The wrong way to pray is wrong in it’s approach; it’s focused on ourselves.  Jesus illustrated this in Luke 18:10 in  the parable about the Pharisee and the publican who went up to the temple to pray.  Jesus said the Pharisee prayed in the prominent place, and the publican stood afar off.

The error of the approach in this first illustration of Jesus is that the man wants to be seen, to be known as a man of prayer, as a religious man.  And so he positions himself as to be in a prominent place at the hour of prayer. How we approach God in prayer is of importance. The Pharisees were very zealous about their religion, they prayed 3 times a day, 9, 12, 3.  And in this sermon Jesus is saying  rather than going to a private place to pray, to humble themselves before God at the hour of prayer, they made a show of praying on the street, to be seen of men.

There is a danger as indicated in this teaching, that some people worry more about how their prayer sounds to others, rather than how it appears to God.  It’s possible to pray beautiful prayers for the sake of men, but which accomplish nothing with God.  Be careful you do not find yourself praying in such a way as to be heard by men.

Secondly, in regards to how not to pray, Jesus says in vs7,  “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.”  There is another danger that is indicated here, and that is long prayers for the sake of being seen by men to be spiritual.  It’s sometimes the practice of preachers to reluctantly conclude their sermon, only to preach another one in their prayer.  God isn’t served by giving Him the plan of salvation.  Nor is He served by the wordiness of your prayers in which you go on and on about things that He obviously is already aware of, but for the sake of those hearing you feel obliged to sound out all the doctrine that you know.

But even more specifically, Jesus warns against vain repetition, which He relates to the practice of the Gentiles, in other words, the pagan practice of prayer.  I believe that type of praying includes things like praying the rosary. God doesn’t care if you say it 100 times or 1000 times.  It’s unbiblical through and through.  For one thing, it’s praying to Mary.  And we are expressly forbidden to pray to any one other than to God, and through no one other than Jesus Christ.  So that’s in error. And the other thing is it’s meaningless repetition.  Anything becomes meaningless repetition after you say it three times.  

And one other thing that’s indicated here is that the length of our prayers are not to be a means of appealing to God.  God isn’t concerned that you spend 3 hours in prayer simply as a method of an appeal to God.  It is a great thing to spend time with the Lord in prayer, but not just in a mechanical way, but in an intimate way.  

The bottom line is that Jesus says those that pray that way, in long, repetitious prayers, or ceremonial prayers, are done for man and not God. He said, “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.” He says that they have received their reward.  They wanted to be seen of men, and they were seen of men.  And that’s their reward.  God isn’t moved.

Now let’s look at what Jesus says is the right way to pray.  Again, the whole secret is the way we approach God. That’s the essence of the Lord’s teaching.  Vs6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.” And then in vs 8 “So do not be like them (those who use meaningless repetition); for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

The principle Jesus is teaching is this; we must realize when we pray that we approach a Holy God.  That’s what is important.  And then specifically Jesus gives us some details in how we are to approach God. First, He says, go to your closet and pray in secret.  Now this is not a prohibition against public prayer.  In 1 Corinthians and other places, such as James, we are told to engage in worship with prayer and supplications. But the principle is that you eliminate the distractions of the physical, you close your eyes to everyone around you, and you focus solely on the Lord.

However, I happen to believe that there is a great value in a special place that you go to pray.  Jesus went on the mountains to pray, especially at night when everyone else was sleeping.  Daniel went three times a day to an upper room which faced towards Jerusalem.  Paul tells us to pray at all times, in all places.  I like to pray when I go for a run or when I walk early in the morning.  I believe it’s an advantage to pray aloud, or at least audibly, if not loudly. Jesus says God knows what you need before you ask him.  David said in the Psalms that before there was a word on his lips God knew what he was going to say.  So God hears the prayer of our hearts.  Speaking audibly doesn’t help God, but it does help me to pray more effectively.  And I believe it discourages the devil. Because he is certainly around when we pray.  But regardless of where you pray, pray to God alone, to God exclusively, blocking out everything and everyone else.  

Secondly, we are to pray realizing that we are entering  into the presence of God. We pray to the God of creation, the Lord of all the earth.  I’m afraid that many of us enter into the throne room of God with more casualness than we would enter into the Oval Office to speak to the President of the United States.  We must realize who God is and come to Him in reverence.

And related to that, and almost contradictorily,  we must come to God as our Father in heaven. Jesus said to “pray to your Father in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”  It’s an amazing privilege to consider the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Great Almighty, is also our Heavenly Father.  That the Lord of All is also our heavenly Father who loves us as His children.  He knows us intimately, even to the very numbers of the hairs on our head. He has said that nothing can separate us from His love.  It’s a very privileged relationship to have God as our heavenly Father.

And because He is our Father, Paul says in Ephesians 3 that “He is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think.” So we don’t just go through the motions in prayer.  We don’t just count the beads. But we have a confidence born out of our relationship to Him, that since He hears us, since we are His children, He will answer us.

Now we come to Christ’s example of prayer. I want to point out that He doesn’t instruct the disciples to pray this prayer, but to pray in this way.  In other words, it’s an example of proper prayer, not a prayer to be used by rote.  Listen, prayer is the highest expression of the spiritual man, the greatest activity of the human soul, to be engaged in conversation with your Maker.  And so it’s not something that is to be mechanical, or just reading what others have written, or recitation of learned prayers.  But it’s to be honest, sincere, humble communication from your heart to God.  When you are alone in communication with God it should be something that speaks from your heart, unhindered by pride and how you might appear towards others.  But a genuine expression of your heart to God.  It’s a spiritual communication that has no par on earth.

I believe it’s possible to miss out on a lot of the blessings of our Christianity because we don’t know how to pray.  And so Jesus has given us some general principles in regards to prayer, and now He gives us an example of prayer, that we might know how to pray as God would have us pray.  It’ interesting that it is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer.  But the Bible never calls it that, in fact, it would be better to call it the disciple’s prayer.  Because it is meant to be an example of how the disciples are to pray.  

As in much of what Jesus has covered in the Sermon on the Mount, the principles He teaches is of more significance than the particulars.  It’s an example and by that example we learn principles regarding how to pray.  It’s not intended to be a word for word kind of thing which we have to recite again and again.

Notice that the first principle seen in this prayer is regarding the right approach. The first principle is that you come to God on the basis of a relationship; His relationship to you as your Father in heaven. I am told that this is the first recorded case in the Bible of a prayer being addressed to God as Father.  Through Jesus Christ we are able to have an intimacy in relationship that surpasses that of the patriarchs and prophets of old. But only those who have by faith appropriated the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and have been born again by the Holy Spirit are truly the sons of God.  And so that is the basis by which we can call God our Father. 

It’s important to place that phrase “our Father,” with the ensuing phrase, “which art in heaven.”  It’s important because our idea of fatherhood has been greatly debased by our understanding in the physical realm of fatherhood.  Many people today do not have a very high regard for their earthly fathers.  For some, their earthly father has forever disparaged that title.  But Jesus gives us this complete title, to remind us that our heavenly Father is holy, He is perfect, He is good, and He loves us.  We have our life from Him. And so we can trust in Him to hear us, and to help us in time of need.

The second great principle in this example prayer is that the priority of our perspective as Christians should be the glory of God and the exaltation of His kingdom and purpose.  He prays, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  The priority of God’s agenda takes precedence before my agenda. Our needs don’t come first, but His kingdom is first. Our will is not paramount, but His will be done.  Only as His will is done, can my needs be met. Because we are made for Him and by Him, and for HIs purpose.

Jesus wants us to pray with the desire that the will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven there is no rebellion to God’s will; on earth there is disobedience and rebellion against  His will. The citizens of Jesus’ kingdom will want to see His will done  on earth as it is in heaven because that is the way the kingdom of God will come into fruition in the world.  One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And so we should be praying for  men and women renounce their rebellion, renounce their attempts at self rule, and bow to the authority of Jesus as King.

Fundamental to our prayers then is the desire that God’s will would be done. I would remind you that even Jesus prayed “your will be done” when He was in the Garden, being in such agony that He was sweating drops of blood, He was concerned that the will of the Father be done.  I would also remind you that often I have said there is no safe place outside of the will of God.  And that should serve to instruct our prayers for God’s will to be done.  We can ask that God do such and such, but our desire should be that God does what He thinks is best, because we cannot know the future, and we can’t always know what is the best.  But there is peace for the person that trusts in the perfect will of God, because he knows the character of God, and that God will do what is best and what is right.  Hallowed be your name reminds us that God is holy, and righteous, a pure, and all that ensues from Him is good and perfect.  And so on the basis of who He is, we can call for His kingdom to come to fruition, and His will to be done in the earth. 

So the first section of prayer has to do with adoration.  The second section has to do with petition. We need to recognize this divine order to our prayers, and model them after this example.  First God’s will, then our needs follow.

Someone has said that the petitions could be divided up into three components.  1,“Give us this day our daily bread. 2, And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 3, And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”  Our whole life found in those three petitions.  In just three statements, Jesus has covered the whole life of the believer: our physical needs (the body), our mental needs (the soul), and the spiritual needs. And that addresses the whole man, body, soul and spirit.

The tragedy of the world we live in today, informed by evolution and science that there is no God, there is no spirit, leaves mankind without hope.  I would suggest this is the root of our social troubles in this world, it’s the root of depression, of drug use, of alcoholism, so many of our world’s ills are due to the fact that they refuse to recognize that man was designed to be spiritual as well as a body and soul.  But Jesus includes them all as needs that God alone can fulfill.

It’s interesting that Jesus starts with the body.  But when you think about it, you realize that without food, without water, the body would soon perish. And so there is a rightness in that petition for God to supply us with the food we need to survive. And then He goes on to deal with the cleanings from defilement sin and the guilt of sin, and then the need to be kept from the power of sin.  

So bread means real provisions for our physical body. We can pray for God to supply our physical needs and believe that He is concerned about that.  And then our debts are our sins, which we receive forgiveness for through faith in Jesus Christ. It’s important that we understand that prayer is an opportunity for confession and repentance.  David said, “if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”  So the power of our prayers is in some measure due to our recognition and confession of where we have sinned and asking for forgiveness. That’s a vital part of our prayer.

James as well says, “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.” Many a prayer I believe falls flat because we have unconfessed sin in our life.  God sees all that we do, no matter how well we might have hidden it from others.  And if we hold onto that sin, then we lose that fellowship with God through which we can be certain that He helps us in our petitions.  

So confession is important and so also is our forgiveness of others. If we fail to forgive others as God has told us to do, and as God has shown Himself to do, then is that not sin?  Is it not regarding sin in your life if you fail to forgive your brother? This is such an important principle that Jesus repeats this teaching in vs 14  saying, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  So forgiveness is not just a quid pro quo, but it is a matter of unconfessed sin in your life that needs to be confessed and repented of. Our willingness to forgive others is proof of the fact that we have been forgiven, that we have a new spirit,  and that we have the nature and character of Christ.

 And temptations refers to that which is a test, and in that testing that we would have power over sin. Listen, Christ died on the cross not just to give us forgiveness of sins, but to give us power over sin.  Jesus said on another occasion to the disciples, “watch and pray, that you be not led into temptation.” There are situations which are dangerous for you as a Christian to be found in.  Watch and pray, be anticipatory, be on your guard, stay in a sense of prayer as you go through life, in reliance upon the power of God. 

Coupled with that is the phrase, “deliver us from evil.”  The power of the devil is deceit and the snare of deception.  He is a liar and the father of lies.  And so we pray for God to deliver us from evil.  Deliver us from the lie of Satan.  I pray all the time that God would deliver my kids from evil. Because the lie is flattering, the lie is deceitful, the lie of the devil sounds plausible, it looks good, it tastes good, and if God doesn’t keep them from falling for it then they will certainly fall into temptation, and then a snare, and then into captivity.  

That’s the way the devil has strategized to cause us to lose fellowship with God.  And if we are not in fellowship with God then we are ripe for destruction.  We are blind, we are helpless, we are wandering around in the darkness without constant communion with God.  But as we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with the Lord. 1John 1:6-7 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and [yet] walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Walking in fellowship with Christ gives us  power over sin, and that’s victory for the Christian.

Finally, there is the postscript, of the conclusion of the prayer.  Some translations leave this part out in favor of other translations which they say are older.  I believe it should stay in.  I think it’s a fitting doxology. “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”  That recaps succinctly I believe the primary points of the prayer, the sovereignty of God’s kingdom, the resources we have through His power, and the future glory that we shall share with Him for ever as sons and daughters of our Father in heaven.  

I hope that God is your Father in heaven. What a wonderful treasure it is to know God, and know that He has called us His children, and given us of His life, that we might be with Him forever.  If you have not been born again by the Spirit of God, then on the basis of His gospel, I extend to you today the offer of salvation which has been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Believe in Him for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of His Holy Spirit, that you might have eternal life in His name.  

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 between the teaching of the Pharisees in regards to certain laws, and God’s perspective of the law.  And He expounds on six laws as illustrations of the kind of righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.  And it is clear that Jesus correlates righteousness with obedience to the law.  Now the emphasis is not on keeping the law as a means of salvation, because He has made it clear that the natural man cannot be righteous enough to earn favor with God.  But rather Jesus is teaching that once you are born again, made into a new spiritual man by the righteousness of Jesus Christ applied to your account, then according to your new nature you will live righteously.  Righteousness is emblematic of your new nature.  So the result is that Jesus said in vs 48 of the last chapter, “you shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” If you’ve become a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, you’re going to show the same kind of character as God according to the level of your spiritual maturity.  And God’s character is righteousness.

Now in this next section, Jesus talks about the motivation for our works of righteousness. As He indicated in the Beatitudes, God is concerned about our heart, which is where our motivation for good works comes from.  If we love God, if we have a new heart, new desires, then our love for God and to see Him glorified will be the motivation for serving Him. Our righteousness must be a righteousness that brings glory to God.  Not a righteousness that draws attention to ourselves, in which we get the glory.  That was what the Pharisees were guilty of.  They practiced their righteousness to be seen of men.  It isn’t that we are not supposed to practice righteousness.  We are.  But we don’t do it to draw attention to ourselves, to show how righteous we are before others so that they will notice us.  But we practice righteousness because our Father is righteous, and we want to be like Him, and be noticed by Him and to cause men to notice Him.  He is our Father, and so we act like our Father and work to bring glory to Him.

So in that regard Jesus says in vs1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.” This is the general principle in regards to works of righteousness and  Jesus will go on to illustrate it in three ways in vs 2 through vs 18.  He gives three illustrations of practicing righteousness; almsgiving, praying and fasting.  Three expressions of righteousness.  Not that these three are the only ways in which we practice  righteousness, but they serve as examples of righteousness, that we might learn the spiritual principles applicable to all aspects of life.

You may remember that Jesus has said previously in this message that we are to “let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven.” These two  statements are not contradictory, however, but complimentary.  The point is not to hide your good works, but to manifest good works in such a way as to bring glory to God and not for selfish purposes.  We don’t practice righteousness to be seen of men.  But rather our works should point people to God.  We live by the power of God in us and that results in people glorifying God for what we do.  This is a general principle that controls our motivation for righteousness.  And our motives are what Jesus is referring to here.

Whether or not our works are righteous or not comes down to the motivation of our heart.  Is the motivation for what we do to please God or to please men? If it is to please men, then perhaps the real motivation is to bring attention to yourself.  When we strive to please men we are really looking for their recognition, so that they may applaud our efforts.  It’s quite possible that what we try to make appear as selfless works of charity or benevolence, is actually quite selfish, if we were to honestly appraise our motives.  Our works of righteousness are done either to please God or to please ourselves.  And if our righteousness is going to be of any effect, then we need to analyze our motives to be sure that we are doing them to please God.

The Westminister Shorter Catechism states as it’s first question, “What is the chief end of man?”  And the answer is,  “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”  That statement speaks to our motivation, our primary purpose in life as the children of God.  Only as  our primary purpose in life is to glorify God can we have the joy and fulfillment that God promises us in this life. Unfortunately, many Christian’s perspective on this is skewed.  For many the purpose of the  Christian life is all about embellishing my life, making me happy, fulfilling my desires, and glorifying my life.  And so the purpose of my salvation is to glorify me. To make me happy. But true joy and fulfillment comes not in self realization but in living for God and to bring Him glory.

 Jesus should be our example for how we are to live. He lived His life for the glory of God.  He said that the words He spoke were of God and the works that He did were of God.  He lived His life entirely for the glory of God.  And as Peter said, we are to follow in HIs footsteps.  Only as we live for God can we find satisfaction in this life.  When we live for ourselves, we will only find frustration and futility. 

There is another principle that is inherent in this teaching.  And that is that we are always in the presence of God. We are always being seen by God.  Nothing we do escapes His notice.  He sees our every action, He hears our every word, and He even knows our every thought.   Jesus said, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.” Why should we beware of that?  Because  “otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”

In other words, God sees all that you do.  He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart.  He knows your motivation. You might be able to deceive men, but you cannot deceive God.  I think it speaks of the callousness of our heart that we make such a display out of our works in order to prompt the adulation of man, and yet ignore the truth that God sees our hearts.  Jesus said in Luke 16:15 “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”   We need to remind ourselves constantly that God sees us at all times and that He knows our hearts and the motivation behind our actions.

I think one of the best scriptures that speak to this that we can meditate on is Psalm 139. The psalmist says, “You have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.  You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. … Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?”  It’s a wonderful thing to recognize the presence of God with us, but it is also a humbling thing which we should remind ourselves of on a daily basis.  

The psalmist considers  that God sees him at all times, and he cries out to Him in a prayer that should be a model for us as well; “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;  And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.” 

Jesus mentions another principle here in this passage which is that of rewards. Some people don’t like the idea of varying rewards in heaven. They like to think that when we get to heaven we’re just going to exist in some kind of mindless, remorseless bliss.  But Jesus indicates here that there are rewards which come from God for things that are pleasing to Him.  

Even Jesus Himself lived His life looking forward to reward in heaven.  Hebrews 12:2 says, “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  And in Hebrews 11, we are told of the saints of old that “they were seeking a city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God,” and in particular Moses, who “considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.”

So as Christians it is legitimate to look for a reward.  It is the outcome of our faith. Heb. 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Also Paul speaks of our reward for our works in 1Cor. 3:11-15 “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,  each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is [to be] revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.  If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.  If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

But what Jesus teaches us here is that there will be no reward if in fact we did our works to be seen of men. “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.” If you have your reward from men, then you will have no reward from God. That is a sobering thought.  When I think of my preaching, for instance.  If I am concerned about how men will react to me, and whether or not they will like me, and I construct my preaching to be liked by men, then I will receive no other reward from God.  What a tragedy that would be.   And I would urge all of you to examine your spiritual life and consider whatever work you have done in light of this principle.  Is it to receive accolades or acknowledgment from men or from God?

Now then, we have examined thoroughly the principle, let us look then at the first illustration that Jesus uses; that of the giving of alms.  The giving of alms refers to giving to charity, donations, gifts and so forth which were given to the temple for the relief of the poor and the service of the temple.  Today it might be correlated to the giving of offerings to the church, or giving for charitable purposes.  

First of all, I would point out the obvious.  Jesus considers the giving of alms to be a work of righteousness of a citizen of heaven.  In the Old Testament they were required to tithe up to 27 percent of their yearly income.  In the New Testament, the requirement of the law is done away with because the temple service has been done away with.  But the principle of giving is still in effect in the church. 

Paul states the principle in regards to giving, comparing it to sowing seeds in a field which will bring forth fruit.  He says in 2Cor. 9:6-8 “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  Each one [must do] just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” 

Now I am not going to belabor this point because that is not the intent of this message.  But I will say that if you are being disobedient against the command of God to give, you are going to miss the reward of God.  However,  here Jesus is assuming that Christians are going to give, but the motivation for their giving is what is under consideration.

First of all, He says the wrong way to give is to announce it. Vs.2, “Therefore, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”

Now in the temple there were these trumpet like receptacles which were mounted on the walls.  And people would line up to drop in their offerings.  And so rich people, or people desiring to be noticed, would make sure that they had an offering of very many coins that would make a loud clatter as it dropped down the trumpet. Of course, that was designed to draw attention to themselves. Jesus could have been referring to that practice.  Or it is possible that some people would actually have a trumpeter to go before them to draw attention to their giving.  But I think that regardless of what means they used to to draw attention to themselves, the point that Jesus is making is that you do not use giving alms as a means to be noticed by men.   In fact, if you do, Jesus says you will not receive a reward from God. Your reward is the reward of the accolades or applause you received from men.

We see that type of activity all the time in the secular world, don’t we?  Some ultra rich billionaire holds a press conference, or has his publicist send out press releases to the media to let everyone know that he is giving a couple of million dollars or so to such and such a charity. And everyone fawns over him for their magnanimity. Well, Jesus says that they have already received their reward.  They got their name on a building, or on a placard somewhere but in a hundred years from now no-one will even know who they were anymore. 

Later on in this sermon, speaking directly to this principle, Jesus says in vs 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”  When we give for the glory of God, to be used by God, then our giving is in reality laying up treasure in heaven.  And in heaven we will be rewarded for our faithfulness in that regard. 

But again, Jesus is not dealing at this point with the worthiness of giving, that should be something that all Christians are in agreement about.  But rather the motivation and how we can give without negating our reward.  And so Jesus says how we are to give. He says in vs.3 “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,  so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.”

In other words, don’t announce the fact that you are giving.  But Jesus takes it even further than that.  He also is saying, do not even announce it to yourself.  Your left hand must not know what your right hand is doing. Now what does that mean?  I believe it means that you are not to keep track of your giving in such a way as to take credit for your giving.  I also think that it means not doing the math, so to speak.  Not being calculating in your giving.  

The Pharisees were known for giving of their tithe, even to the mint, even down to the mint and dill and cumin in their herb gardens.  They trimmed their herbs and brought in these little pieces of mint and dill as evidence of how scrupulous they were.  And yet their motivation was to be seen of men. Jesus uses a word there in vs 2, which is hypocrites.  He may have been obliquely referring to the Pharisees in using that word.  In another place He outright calls them  hypocrites to their face.  So it’s likely He was referring to the Pharisees because they did their works to be seen of men.

Hypocrite in the Greek is “hypokritēs”.  It means an actor on a stage.  It means doing something for the applause of men.  And unfortunately, I think it characterizes much of what is done in the church in the form of not just giving financially, but also in our time and talents.  I think much is done not for the glory of God, but for the appreciation of men. Much of what is done is calculated to be noticed and appreciated by men.

Furthermore,  I think that as Christians we can be calculating in our giving by either being very frugal or very scrupulous.  But God loves generosity.  He loves us generously.  He lavishes His love upon us.  He is not stingy in His grace.  And neither should we be.  

Remember what Paul said in 2Cor. 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.”  An abundance for every good deed; that’s giving according to the grace that God has given to you.

I have my own theory about this phrase, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.  I’ve never heard any other preacher say this, or theologian or commentator for that matter. So I’m on my own here.  But I hope I have been given some discernment.  In the Middle East, they had ancient calculators called an abacus. They were used by the Greeks and the Romans and the Egyptians before them.  They were capable of doing very sophisticated mathematical formulas on the abacus which were made like tables which had  rows of beads.  And in one archeological excavation many years ago they found a vase from this time period covered with drawings, and some of the drawings showed a man who is presumed to be a treasurer, moving beads on the counter with one hand while holding a writing tablet with the other.  So my opinion is that Jesus could have been referring to an ancient abacus, which was used to solve math problems. Therefore, according to my theory, He is referring to using this calculator with one hand and writing down the numbers with the other.

Whether I am right or not is not really the point, however.  The point that Jesus is making is that you are not to even let yourself know the amount or the total of your giving, as if to validate to yourself your degree of righteousness, but to let God do the accounting.  Let God keep track and you just be faithful to give as He has given to you.  And then God will reward you in kind.

And this principle is not just applicable in giving.  That is just one illustration of keeping accounts.  It’s possible to do good deeds and keep accounts.  It’s possible to build up resentment because for years you did this and that, and you feel you suffered so much, and you were not appreciated for it as you thought you should be.  And one day you find that resentment has turned to bitterness.  Perhaps you were looking for the wrong kind of reward.  You were looking for man’s appreciation.  And as such you lose your reward from God. That’s why the gospel tells us that we are to do all things, such as love, or serve, or work as unto the Lord, not because we hope to get reciprocation from man.

Listen, whatever work of righteousness which we do, if we do it for the Lord, then we will receive a reward. If we keep accounts, and we are stingy, or self serving, then God will not reward us.  The good news is that He rewards even the smallest of good deeds.  Paul said that God judges us according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.  So God isn’t concerned with the size of your gift, but the heart of the giver.  

Jesus said in Mark 9:41 “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”   God rewards us not on the same basis as men, who only appreciate the rich or the wealthy.  But God rewards us according to what we have, and how we used what we have for His glory.  Remember the widow’s mite; she gave more than everyone else, because she gave out of her poverty. And she gave in such a way as only the Lord knew what she had given and what resources she had to give.  

So let us remember that God’s presence is always with us.  His eyes are constantly upon us.  Therefore let us live in all respects for Him, to please Him, and to bring glory to Him. And let us draw comfort from the fact that God sees all, He knows our hearts, He sees every act, and He will give us HIs reward, which is far beyond any reward that we can get here on earth. He will give us a reward that will not fade away.  Let us lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven and do the works of God here on earth, in order that we may bring glory to God and enjoy Him forever.

I want to focus our attention today on the last paragraph of chapter 5.  As most of you are aware, we are studying the Sermon on the Mount, or what I prefer to call, the Manifesto of the Kingdom of Heaven.  This is the first recorded sermon of Jesus Christ.  And in it He has elucidated the characteristics of the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.  

One of the most striking statements that Jesus makes concerning the kingdom of heaven is He says that no one will enter unless their righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.  The scribes and Pharisees were known for their righteousness.  They were known for keeping the law to the smallest degree.  And Jesus confirmed  that even the smallest point of the law was important, and would not be done away with until all was fulfilled. And yet, even so, He said that the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees still came up short of what was required to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

So then Jesus uses six illustrations of the law in order to show the kind of righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.  In each case Jesus first says, this is what the scribes and Pharisees teach concerning the law, but this is what I say regarding it.  And then in expounding the law He goes on to show the full extent of the spirit of the law, and thus He illustrates the degree of righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, the kind of righteousness needed to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And let me make sure that you understand what is meant by the kingdom of heaven.  He is not speaking of going to heaven when you die, but of becoming a citizen of God’s kingdom now.  It is a spiritual kingdom in which those who are a part of it are first of all made spiritual beings, who live under the reign and rule of Christ their King, who live their life for their King and by the power of His Spirit, and who are given everlasting life. The kingdom of heaven is not a place, but a state of being which exists now and forever.  We need to stop thinking of heaven as a destination we will attain someday and all that’s required is that we do certain things in order make sure that we go there when we die sometime in the future.  But we need to realize that we need to enter the kingdom of heaven now and live in the Spirit and by the Spirit now as citizens and ministers of God’s kingdom and then our eternal destiny will be secured.

That’s what Paul was speaking of in Eph.1:3 which says, “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”  He’s not talking about heaven to come, but the heavenly, or spiritual realm we enter into now.  He speaks of it again in chapter 2 vs 4 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),  and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus,  so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”  Again, spiritually we are raised with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly realm.  That is a present reality, and then in the ages to come, in eternity future, He will show us the surpassing riches of His grace.  It’s entering a spiritual state now, being born again into a life that will never end, going from glory to glory. 

Now we came last week to the last illustration which Jesus gives of the law, the law of love. Paul said in Romans 13:10 that love is the fulfillment of the law. Or you could say love is the culmination of the law.  And so Jesus is speaking of that law of love  in vs 43.  He said,  “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Now that is where we stopped last time, and I don’t have time to review all that we had to say about that passage.  But the verses we are going to look at today build on that statement, and are connected to that statement, so I want to include it for the sake of context.  However,  I do want to pick up on that last phrase and expand on it for a moment.  Notice the phrase, “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”  This statement is of vital importance in coming to the correct interpretation of this passage.  And It’s not the first time that Jesus has referenced this principle.  He states in vs 9, as one of the beatitudes, that the peacemakers shall be called sons of God.  He states again in vs 16, that our light should shine before men in such a way that it glorifies our Father who is in heaven.  

The point that Jesus is making is that those who are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven are also the sons of God.  God is their Father.  And so it is reasonable to assume that the children are going to look like their parents.  They will  have a similar nature and character as their parents. It’s quite reasonable to expect when you see parents and kids together that you see a  family resemblance.  And in like manner, if we are the children of our Father in heaven,  we will  share in His nature.  We will be like Him.

Now this is only possible as the man or woman is born again.  We are all born naturally through our parents.  The Bible teaches that by the lineage of our parents we are born in sin.  We are born with a sin nature, and as a result we all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.  So to become a child of God means that we have to be born again.  Jesus said to Nicodemus, who incidentally was a Pharisee, a teacher of the law, Jesus said in John 3:3, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus was confused about that, as perhaps some of you are.  He said, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  So to become a child of God you must be twice born, once in the flesh, and then born again in the Spirit.

So to be born again is to be born again spiritually.  He is born of the Holy Spirit and his spirit becomes alive in Christ.  No longer is he just a natural man, like everyone else, but he is a spiritual man, a Spirit filled man, who now lives in the power of the Spirit and according to the leading of the Spirit. Only in this way can it be said that you are now sons of God.

Now if this is true of you, that you have been born of God, then you are meant to be like God, you are meant to manifest Jesus Christ to the world and to imitate His example. You are meant to be like Christ, to be conformed to His image; that means you look like Christ, you act like Christ, you speak like Christ. 

A Christian is not just someone who is morally upright, a do-gooder, a person who goes to church on Sunday.  There are other religions in the world that are moral, that honor justice and do good works and so forth, and yet they are not Christians.  They may even believe in God, or at least their version of God. But they deny Christ is God and so therefore they are not Christians.  But they may still be moral people.

However, a Christian,  who has become a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, is one who is born again spiritually by God, and now has the indwelling of the Spirit of God in Him, and who is being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and therefore he manifests the life of Christ and the nature and character of Christ through HIs life.

Now only in that way can you be the type of person that Jesus describes in this chapter.  Only in that way can your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Because only through salvation, by being born again spiritually, is the righteousness of Jesus Christ applied to your account, and your sinfulness is applied to Jesus Christ.  Only in that way is your nature changed, your heart changed, your desires changed. Only by being born again are the old things passed away and all things become new and you become a new creation. 2Co 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [he is] a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” And only as that has happened are you able to be the type of person manifesting the kind of righteousness that Jesus describes in this passage.

So Jesus speaks to this necessity by comparing the works of the natural man with the works of the spiritual man. He is speaking in the context of the law of love, which was the last  illustration of the law, but it’s application is far broader than that.  In vs 46 Jesus says, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”

Here is the practical application of righteousness exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.  They were undoubtedly moral people.  They even worshipped the true God of Israel. But they were still natural men.  They had not been born again because they had not believed on Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. They did not recognize Him as God’s Son.  And so though moral men, they were unsaved.

But here in this statement, Jesus equates the righteousness of the Pharisees, who only loved other Israelites and hated everyone else, He equates that with the love of the tax collectors. Tax collectors were the most hated Jews in all of society.  They were considered traitors who worked for the Roman government to extract taxes from the Jews and at the same time charge exorbitant rates. And so they were considered the lowest of the low in Jewish society. 

And again Jesus compares the righteousness of the Pharisees, with their love for their own, as nothing better than that of the Gentiles.  As we have pointed out last week, the Gentiles were hated by the Jews, and were considered no better than a stray, flea infested dog.  So for Jesus to compare their love for their own with the love of the tax collectors and Gentiles was not very flattering for them to hear.

The point that Jesus is making though, is that even the most base of natural man loves his own children, loves his own family.  That’s not the kind of love that God requires of us.  That’s natural love.  But God requires a supernatural love from His children, a love that goes beyond a love toward those that are likeable, those that are like us, to those who are unlikeable and are different from us, even to the point of loving those who hate us.  The citizen of heaven loves more than the natural love of man, to the kind of love that God has towards the world.  The Christian is to love even as far as the kind of love that Christ had, offering Himself as a substitute to die in the place of those who were enemies of God.  

As Jesus said earlier, the Christian is the type of person that goes the extra mile. If you ask him for his coat, he will give you the shirt off his back as well.  He does more than is required. He does more than the natural man.  But not only that, the Christian does that which the natural man cannot do.  The Pharisees could claim that they kept the letter of the law, but only the Christian has the capacity to go beyond that to exceed their righteousness.  He goes beyond the norm by not only loving his neighbor, but also loving his enemies, and then even doing good to them that hate him, and even to the point of praying for them who persecute him.

And as I indicated earlier, this is only possible because there has been a transformation in him, from the natural man to the spiritual. He has been born again, so that He is made in the image of Christ.  He is meant to be like Christ that he might be the child of his Father which is in heaven.  So that Jesus says in vs. 48, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”   He is not like the natural man because he has been made a new man, a new creation, a child of God His Father.

That aspect of God as our Father is one that needs to be explained.  The natural man thinks of God as someone to be obeyed, someone in authority. But the Christian knows God as His Father.  He still is to be obeyed, He still is the authority, but He is also our Father and we have a relationship with Him as His children that He loves.  So that as a result of our relationship as sons we are able to love our Father with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  We are able to love Him that way because He first loved us, and because He has given us spiritual life.

Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher of the 19th century once said, “It is a high crime and misdemeanor for a man to assume the name of a son of God, when he is utterly devoid of the divine nature, and lives in unholiness.”  If we are truly sons of our Father, then we will manifest a dimension of His character and holiness.  If God is in you, then you will exhibit His character.  And His character is characterized as holiness.  

So then Jesus says to His children in vs 48, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  It is going to be a natural progression.  As you are born of God, you become made in His image, conformed to His character, and as a result you will manifest His character.

The word translated there as perfect is a word that is used in many other places in the New Testament. It is the word “teleious” in the Greek.  And it has the idea in it of completeness.  The definition is brought to its end, finished, wanting nothing necessary to completeness, perfect.  So the principle that Jesus is teaching is not that we must somehow obtain utter perfection, but rather be made complete, mature, finished, nothing lacking.  The principle I think is that we can often fall short of God’s standard by not going far enough.  We are complete when we love as He loved.  We are incomplete when we love as a natural man loves. 

So the thing we are to be striving for is maturity in our sanctification.  It’s coming to a place where we have died to the selfish nature and we walk in the Spirit.  It’s coming to a place where we know Christ and His attributes and we have imitated Christ and followed in His footsteps and our nature becomes aligned with His nature.  Where we sin less because we love Him more.  Where we are interested in the things that He is interested in. Our perspective on life is like His perspective.  We love what He loves.  We do what He does.  We act like He acts. That is spiritual maturity, completeness, or what is called here being perfect.

When Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, be perfect, I’m sure there were many that wanted to say in response, “But I can’t be perfect.” And that’s when He says, “You’re right. And because you fall short of perfection, which is the standard of God, then you need a Savior.” None of us can reach perfection in our own efforts in the natural man.  All of us fall short.  But  that’s where the new life in Christ comes in, and gives to you what Peter calls the divine nature. He gives you HIs Spirit to dwell in you.  Therefore God, in a miracle of salvation, does for you what you could never do for yourself – to be like God.  When you came to Jesus Christ, positionally, you were made a son of God, to be like God.  You were given His spiritual life, His righteousness,  and His nature.   And in maturity, in completeness, your  behavior comes into harmony with your who you are spiritually.

Oswald Sanders said, “The Master expects from His disciples such conduct as can be explained only in terms of the supernatural.”  And if your conduct can only be explained in terms of the supernatural, then you will give testimony to the world of the power of Christ,  and they’re going to take note.  But if you say you’re a Christian but live like everybody else, what is the difference?  What do you have that they don’t have?  If we’re to speak to this age, and bring this world to Jesus Christ, and let them know that there’s real life in Christ, it’ll be when our lives are unique, and there is no other explanation than that God is in us.

I would conclude then by asking this question. It is the most important question that a person can ask in this life. Is there evidence of spiritual life in you?  Is there evidence of God’s divine nature in you?  I’m not asking if you go to church, or if you have taken communion, or if you do some charity work.  I am not asking for that kind of thing. There are people who do that who are not Christians. If that is all you do, what do you do more than others?  Is there something of your heavenly Father about you? In the earthly realm you expect to see some traits, some characteristics of the fathers in the children.  Is there any less to be seen of our Heavenly Father in us? 

If God is your Father, somewhere or another, in some form, the family likeness will inevitably appear. May God help you to examine yourself in light of His word, that you might see yourself in light of God’s likeness, that you might recognize if you are truly His child.  The tremendous thing about the gospel of Jesus Christ is, that if you fail the test, and you recognize that you are still in your sins, and without God, then there is an invitation to become a child of God that is still open and waiting for you to respond.  Jesus has given HIs life in exchange for yours, so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.  Call upon the Lord today that you may become a true child of God and enter into the kingdom of heaven.