NEW SERIES: The Sermon On The Mount
TEXT: Matthew 5:1-10
MESSAGE: “The Marks of a Believer”
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“The Sermon on the Mount challenges us with this question: ‘To which drum are we marching?’ Are we marching to the drum of the world, like those around us, or are we marching to the drum of God’s kingdom as we hear it in God’s Word, the Bible?” — Iain Duguid
“The more I read these three chapters — Matthew 5, 6, and 7 — the more I am both drawn to them and shamed by them. Their brilliant light draws me like a moth to a spotlight; but the light is so bright that it sears and burns. No room is left for forms of piety which are nothing more than veneer and sham. Perfection is demanded.” — D.A. Carson
A life marked by…(1. Spiritual Poverty 2. Grieving Sin 3. Deep Fulfillment)
- Spiritual Poverty (v. 3)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.”
— Luke 18:9-12
“At the very outset of the Sermon on the Mount, we learn that we do not have the spiritual resources to put any of the Sermon’s precepts into practice. We cannot fulfill God’s standards ourselves. We must come to him and acknowledge our spiritual bankruptcy, emptying ourselves of self righteousness, moral self esteem, and personal vainglory. Emptied of these things we are ready for him to fill us.” — D.A. Carson
- Grieving Sin (v. 4)
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
First, why are the blessed mourning? Because they see the reality of sin.
“Is no one any longer guilty of anything? Guilty perhaps of a sin that could be repented of or atoned for?…Anxiety and depression we all acknowledge, and even vague guilt feelings; but has no one committed any sins? Where, indeed, did sin go? What became of it? “I believe there is ‘sin’ which is expressed in ways which cannot be subsumed under verbal artifacts such as ‘crime,’ ‘disease,’ ‘delinquency,’ ‘deviancy.’ There IS immorality; there IS unethical behavior; there IS wrongdoing. And I hope to show that there is usefulness in retaining the concept, and indeed the word, SIN…” – Karl Menninger (Non-Christian, American psychiatrist – 1973 “Whatever became of sin?”)
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.”
— Luke 18:13-14
“If (sinners) will perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled…let no one go there unwarned or unprayed for.” — Charles Spurgeon
- Deep Fulfillment (v. 6)
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
And so, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
What is this righteousness that Jesus is talking about?
“…For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…” —Philippians 3:7-10
TAKEAWAYS:
- How dependent are you on God?
- Are you known as a peacemaker?
- Do you see the true hero?