Sermon on the Mount Overview

Well, today is a bitter sweet day. If you have been with us for the last several months, you will recognize the bitterness of this day. The bitterness of this day is that we are not going to be looking into the life of the man who I hope has become our dearly beloved friend, Abraham. It has been several months now that we've been preaching through the life of Abraham, and we have come to the end of the life of Abraham. So therein lies the bitterness. However, it is, as I said, a bitter sweet day, and the sweetness lies in the fact that now for the next several months, we will spend our time in the Sermon on the Mount. We will look at Matthew chapters five, six, and seven and look at this most in depth teaching, this most in depth message that we have from our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. Here in the Sermon on the Mount we will delve into subjects of all sorts as we wrestle with the Sermon on the Mount. But my job today is twofold number one to set the tone for us and give us an overview of this next preaching segment, and number two also to offer us a sort of theological foundation from which we can understand what we are about to hear over the next several months. First time we say a word about why we preach the way we do. Now many of you already know this, but that's okay. We can't say this enough. We practice systematic exposition. And there are two words there that are meaningful, and there are a lot of people who practice exposition, or it's pository preaching. To exposit simply means to take out of We come to a passage of scripture, and we take out of it what it is there and present it, first of all to ourselves and then to you. So in the simplest and most basic terms, that's what it means to do exposition. Systematic exposition is a bit differently. Expository preaching is merely taking a passage of scripture in its context and preaching that passage of scripture in its context, as opposed to something topical, where we would take multiple verses or portions of scripture and put them together in order to make a comment about a certain subject or topic. Thus the name topical preaching. Now, we don't argue that there is never that it is never appropriate to do topical preaching. For example, if we were doing a doctrinal study, if we were instead of going through the life of Abraham or going through the Stone on the mount, if instead we were looking at the doctrine of Christ. And let's say we were to preach a series of men on the doctrine of Christ, then we would be topical because we would take all of the key passages and key verses that teach us about the doctrine of Christ and build those together in our messages. And there may be times when we do that, and that is completely appropriate. However, there's a difference between a topical series that is doctrinal in nature and the topical series that is felt needs and man centered in nature, which is what we object to. And so you may hear topical message on the doctrine of Christ or the doctrine of the Church, but you won't hear topical messages on six ways to have a happy life, in five ways to reduce stress, and so on and so forth, at nauseum ad infinitum. Okay, so there's a difference. What we practice here is systematic exposition, and what that means is we do expository preaching, but we do it systematically through portions of scripture. For example, we went through Genesis one through eleven. That was a portion of scripture that we taught through systematically. Now, before we did Genesis one through eleven, we did the Gospel of Mark. Before we did the Gospel of Mark, we did Ephesians, Okay, and so systematically we're preaching through the scriptures. What you'll notice there is that there's a pattern. We started with an epistle, then we went to a gospel, then we went to the Law Old Testament. So we went New Testament, New Testament, and then Old Testament, went to Law. Then we came back and we went through John, or went through Mark an epistle, came back to the Old Testament. Then we went through first John an epistle, came back to the Old Testament. There's a pattern there. There's an intentional pattern there. We believe that God has called and commanded us to teach the whole council of God. We have to preach the Old Testament. We have to preach the New Testament. Not only that, but in the New Testament. We can't just preach the epistles, because that's just that's cherry picking. For preacher. That's the easiest preaching there is in the whole Bible, especially the Pauline epistles. Paul just he's a preacher, and the stuff that he writes is just preachable. You can go to a passage in Pauline Scripture and it just falls into three or four points. They're just right there, you know, and you just walk through that. It's cherry piket. That's the easiest exposition you'll ever do is preaching Pauline epistles. All right, and that's fine, there's nothing wrong with that. But you can get real lazy preaching through Pauline epistoles all the time. The other thing is, we need the Old Testament as much as we need the New Testament, because we know that Jesus himself said that the entire Bible is about Him. So we have to preach Christ from all of scripture. And that's what we've been attempting to do, preach Christ from all of scripture. So as we looked at the life of Abraham, it wasn't just here's five things Abraham did, therefore you go and do them so that you can be more like Abraham. It is how do we see Christ in the life of Abraham. So systematic expediciity is about a balanced diet. By the way, you may not know this, but we use the same approach for our scripture reading in the mornings, so we don't just read New Testament in an Old Testament. But as we read through, we're about to finish Revelation. And before we read through Revelation, I believe we did John, So we did a gospel. Now we did appalling epistle. I believe we've read through did I say Revelation Romans Romans? We were through Romans. So we did it. We did it a gospel, we did an epistle. Before that, we had done Revelation, I believe you know. So now we're probably gonna I mean, we've read through Acts as well, so we'll probably going to read through another Gospel at this time or something. But the whole idea is a balanced diet for us to hear the word of God. When it comes to the Old Testament, we're in Jeremiah. We'll be in Jeremiah for a while, reading a chapter a week. It takes almost a year to read through Jeremiah. Okay, so we'll be a whole year reading through Jeremiah. Well, after we've read through Jeremiah, we've read through one of the prophets, we've also read through one of the books of the Law. We'll probably go to some wisdom literature, and we'll preach through some wisdom literature. Okay, so maybe go Proverbs or Psalms or something of that nature. Song of Solomon. No, not with the little ones in here. We may read Song of Solomon with yeah, never mind, all right, And so again a balanced diet of the Word of God. So you see that more readily as we read through these books in our New Testament reading and Old Testament reading, because we do that a lot faster than we preach through these books. But so now we've been through the life of Abraham, after having gone through First John, after having gone through Genesis one through eleven, after having gone through Mark, after having gone through Ephesians, we're going to come back and we're going to pick up with Isaac, and we're going to go through Isaac's life after we've on the Sermon on the Mount, which gets us back into gospel again, and then we'll go back and we'll do Isaac's life, and then we'll come back and we'll probably due I believe it's the Book of Acts we talked about or something we talked about. But again, we talk. About our preaching schedule years in advance, because it takes years for us to do all of these things and to do them well. So that's why we're doing what we're doing. That's why we're in this book, and we're going to go back to another book, and we have Old Testament, we have New Testament. The whole idea is to give a balanced diet and to demonstrate the fact that Christ is present in all of Scripture. Now, having said that, we're coming to the Sermon on the Mount, and I want you to understand not just what we're going to be teaching, but why we're going to be teaching teaching it, and the theological underpinnings for what we're going to be teaching. Now, sermonon the Mount starts in Genesis chapter five or Matthew chapter five. Now, in order for us to understand the Sermon on the Mount properly, it'll probably be good for us to understand what happened before that in Matthew chapters one through four. So first, let me give you an overview of Matthew chapters one through four. In fact, let me back up even further and give you an understanding of the Gospel of Matthew. We have four gospels, and a lot of. People run into the four Gospels and say, why don't we have four gospels? How do we even just have you know, one gospel? Well, the gospels were written by different authors, and they were written to different audiences, and they were written for different purposes. In fact, when. We looked at the Gospel of Mark, for example, we talked about the characteristic of Mark, and Mark's favorite word being straight away or immediately that if we were talking about this in terms of movie genres, that Mark was an action film, you know that quickly goes from one point to the next. Mark was trying to tell the story of Christ to a particular audience, probably a gentile audience, in a particular way. Matthew, on the other hand, is a different writer. Matthew has a different perspective and a different audience. In mind, Matthew's audience is a Jewish audience. Matthew's audience is a Jewish audience. So because Matthew's writing to a different audience, he is writing a different gospel, and he emphasizes different things. For example, John, John's gospel way different than the other three, so much so that the other three gospels are called the Synoptic Gospels. Could you use your context clues there? Lo, Mom and Dad teach you all the time about your context clues. There's sin in there, like synonym and things like that. So they're kind of the same. Yes, absolutely, And there's a lot of information that's shared within the Synoptic Gospels. John's gospel is much different. He organizes his gospel around seven signs, and his goal is to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah because of the miracles that he performed. Matthew's goal is to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah because of his fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. So we find more illusion to Old Testament prophecy there in Matthew than we find in other places, because that's what Matthew is all about. In fact, we see that here in the beginning Matthew chapter one and verse one. Notice what he says, the book of Genealogy of Jesus Christ. By the way, that worth that he uses there for genealogy of Jesus Christ actually hearkens back to Genesis, the beginning, the genealogy, the beginning. So just like John. When he says in the beginning was the word, he's hearkening back to Genesis, Matthew here is also hearkening back to Genesis with what he says. And by the way, there's some good news here. Remember I said that it was a bitter sweet day, bitter because we've left the life of Abraham. Well, that's not altogether true. The genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of all together. Now Abraham. Remember we told you the life of Abraham was about Christ. The significance of Abraham was twofold, number one Abraham being in the lineage of the promised Seed Jesus Christ, and number two Abraham being this picture for us of justification by faith. So we see here that Matthew is making a connection between Jesus Christ and Abraham. Now, in Luke's genealogy he goes further, not just the son of David, the son of Abraham, but he goes back the son of Adam and the Son of God. Why Luke's trying to do something different than Matthew wants to make a very simple point, and his very simple point is this, Jesus is the promised Seed. Now, if you've been here for the last several months, you've almost gotten tired of hearing of that Jesus is. The promise Seed. You probably wake up with them and they're like, Jesus the promised. Okay, okay, okay. We've said that over and over and over and over again. What we see in the Old Testament lineage, what we see in Genesis one through eleven, what we see in Genesis chapter five, in those ten generations that go from Seth to Noah, Adam's line from Seth to Noah in ten generations. What's that all about. That's all about the promised Seed, what promised seed, the seed that was promised in Genesis chapter three and verse fifteen. When the Gospel it's first preached Genesis chapter three and verse fifteen, the proto u Angellion, the first proclamation of the Gospel, says to that old serpent, I'm gonna put enmity between you and the woman, in between your seed and her seed. Your seed's gonna bruise him on the hill. However, her seed's gonna crush his head. That's the first proclamation of the Gospel. There is a promised seed of the woman who is to come, and that promised seed of the woman is the one who is ultimately going to destroy the serpent. Okay, that's the message. So when we look there in the life of Abraham, we're just a few generations away from Noah, who, according to Genesis chapter five, is ten generations away from Seth, who's the son of Adam, who gets us all the way back to the beginning. And their lineage is not important because it just gets us to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but it's important because it gets us from there to the lawgiver Moses, and from there to the King David, and from there to the ultimate Messiah and King Jesus. Okay, so we've. Left the life of Abraham, but we haven't left his story because his story is ultimately the story of Christ. Okay again Christ in all of Scripture. Then we have the genealogy. So after this introduction to the promised Seed, we have the line of the promise Seed that's in Matthew chapter one, verses two through seventeen, and we won't read through all of that we don't have time to read through all of that. Then we have the birth of the Promised Seed. This happens in Matthew Chapter one, verse nineteen through Matthew chapter two and verse twelve, or chapter one eighteen. Rather, and look at it, look at the chapter one, verse eighteen. Now, the birth of Jesus took place in this way? What an understatement. Matthew says. The whole Bible has been about getting us to this point. I love the way Paul puts it. In the fullness time, in the fullness of time, Christ came into the world born a woman, born under the law, in the fullness of time. And here, Matthew says, birth of Jesus Christ happened like this after all of that, I mean, come on, man, can we get just some crashing symbols in some grit. Now, this is really not about his birth. That's just a small part of it. Jesus didn't come just to be born so that we could finally say, the promised descendant is here. His name is Jesus because he will save his people from their sin. He's the deliverer. We see the birth of the Messiah, their birth of the Promise Seed. Then we see the enemy of the promised seed in two thirteen and following. And here's what's interesting. We've alluded to this before the gospel is proclaimed. Now, who's the gospel first proclaimed to. It's first proclaimed to the serpent. Genesis Chapter three, fifteen, Jesus is talking to the serpent He preaches the gospel to the serpent first. In other words, he's not preaching the gospel so that the serpent could get saved. That's not the only purpose of the proclamation of the gospel. Let me say that again. Salvation is not the only purpose of the proclamation of the gospel. He proclaims the gospel to the serpent to just announce the judgment that is to come. And unfortunately, for many people, if not most people, that's what the proclamation of the gospel is. It is a pronouncement of the judgment that is to come. So he says, listen, here, serpent, there's a seed that's gonna come crush your head. It's gonna be the seed of the woman. So that happens in chapter three. What does the serpent work out? In chapter four kills Abel. Why the serpent is after the seed? That's fine, God, you just told me how you're gonna try to get me. I know, okay, I know how to get around it. I'll just kill the seed. If I kill the seed of the woman, I'm fine. That's why the next thing you see is the birth of Seth, the promised Seed. Well, then later on what happens when we get, for example, to Moses. I know how to end all of this. I'll just get rid of Moses. Pharaoh will just make a decree and he will kill all of the firstborn sons. Why the serpent is still after the seed. Now in Matthew we see Herod, and what does Herod decree the same thing that Pharaoh decreed, kill all the first born may old children? Why because the serpent is after the seed. So it's interesting we get to the life of Christ and we're still in Genesis. A man, by the way, that's what helps us to interpret Genesis. What's genesis about? Genesis about all this stuff? Right here? Genesis is not just about legalisms and moralisms. Genesis is about how God gets the promised Seed. And so we see that there. Then in chapter three we see the forerunner of the promised Seed, the announcer of the Promised seed. Well, why is that important? Well, because at the end of the Old Testament we are told that there is going to be a forerunner who will announce the coming of the Promised Seed and the spirit of Elijah. He's going to go out and do that in the wilderness. And now we have a guy who has the same diet as Elijah, type of ministry as Elijah, and he is pronouncing the coming of the Messiah. So we see that in chapter three. Then in chapter four, verses one through eleven, the Messiah, the Promised Seed, goes through the same thing that he went through when he was still in Israel. Let me say that again. Okay, the Promised Seed has been born. Now in Matthew, where's the Promised Seed before? Again, earthly speaking, humanly speaking, we know Jesus is and again the pre incarnate Christ has always existed. But we're talking about this physical seed. He's one hundred percent man, he's one hundred percent God. We understand that no co mingling or or co mixtures of his nature. So where's the promise Seed? Well, Well, first, the promise is there in Seth. Then the Promise sees there, you know, down and Noah. Then the promise is there in Abraham, then promises there in Isaac. Promise he's there in Jacob. So the promised Seed goes to the wilderness for forty years. Well, when Jesus is born, where does he go to the wilderness for forty days? Why? Because the wilderness wandering wasn't about Israel. The wilderness wandering was about Jesus. That's why again, Christ says he's in all of scripture. Forty years they wander in the desert, forty years, they wander in the wilderness. The promised Seed is born for forty days. He wanders in the wilderness for forty days. And then what happens There is a showdown between the serpent and the seed. You gotts see how good this is? The showdown right there? In chapter four, God's made a promise. He proclaimed the gospel. First one he proclaims the gospel to is the serpent. Serpent tries to kill the seed again and again and again and again and again. Can't do it. So if I can't kill the Promised Seed, I'll corrupt the promised Seed. So he tempts him in the wilderness. Jesus is tempted in every point, as we are. And yet. Without sin. After that we see the ministry of the Promised Seed. Chapter four, verses twelve and following. What is this about, Well, if you look in your Bible, you'll see all of these quotations from the Old Testament. How are we gonna know the Messiah when he shows up. We're gonna know the Messiah when he shows up because of the ministry that he does, because of the things that he does. And the blind will see, and the lame will walk, and the mute will speak. These are the. Things that the Promised Seed that the Messiah is going to do. So in chapter four, verses twelve and following, we see him doing those very things. And at the end of that we get to chapter five. Because the other way we're going to know the Promised Seed is not just through his ministry, but through his teaching, and that brings us to the Sermon on the Mount and the teaching of Christ. Now, in order for us to grasp this, there are a couple of things that we're going to have to be clear about in order to understand the Sermon on the Mount. Because we've talked often about how difficult it is to preach Christ and the Old Testament to preach the Gospel even when we're in the Old Testament, because what we usually want to do is we want to go and do character studies in the Old test and we want to say, here are the character traits that these individuals in the Old Testament had. You work real hard to have these character traits. We've talked about that and how important it is that we recognize that we're called to preach the Gospel. Amen. The Bible is about Christ, not about you working hard enough to be like Christ, which you can't do. Well. If you thought it was hard in the life of Abraham, what do you see how hard it is? And the Sermon on the Mount, because if we're not careful, we get to the Sermon on the Mount and. Here's what we do. There's a list of rules, there's law. Jesus is even elevating the law Old Testament law. Said this. I say that you thought the Old Testament law was hard to meet, I got a law that's even harder for you to meet. The Sermon on the Mount is an introduction to Christian ethicsduction to Christian ethics, and in order for us to understand Christian ethics, we must understand the Christian Gospel. We have to get it. We have to understand that the gospel is about a pronouncement of the work that God has done in Christ. It's a pronouncement of the coming of Christ, the life of Christ, the ministry of Christ, the proclamations of Christ, his death, his burial, his resurrection and ascension, and his coming again. It is the pronouncement of that good news, the pronouncement of that message. Man has a sin problem, there is but one answer, and that answer is the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's the gospel that we proclaim. Unfortunately, we are hardwired for works righteousness. We're hardwired for works righteousness, especially in this culture. You know, what it means to be an American, or at least what it used to mean to be an American, was all about rugged individualism, pull yourself up by your own Okay, we know these things. I'm looking out for number just worried about me myself. Okay. We're Americans, man, we're hardcore. Not only are we Americans, but we're out here toward the West where rugged individualism was born. Who went west? The most rugged of the rugged individuals. I'm going out west to stake my claim. I'm going out west to make my mark. I'm going out west to be dependent upon myself, just me, my rifle, my horse, and we're gonna make it so rugged individual individualism. The further you go west, the more deep rooted, ugged, rugged individualism is. And here in Texans, the lone Star state, Are you kidding me? We're about as rugged an individual as they come. And as a result of that, here's what we do. When we come to the Bible. We look for rules that we can keep so that we can be identified as rule keepers. And if we're not careful, that's all the sermon on the mount will be rules that we can keep. So that we can be rule keepers keepers, or. The flip side, rules that other people aren't keeping that we can become informed about so that we're just when we condemn them, she can't say amen. You ought to say ouch, okay, that's. All we get. We get here and we say see, see, see see he's not righteous. She's not righteous, says all right. Here, they don't live like that. So we need to understand something about the Gospel. We need to understand something about justification. We need to understand something about sanctification so that we can then understand Christian ethics. Understand that justification is a declaration that God makes of our righteousness. It is a declaration that God makes of our righteousness. Justification is not something you or I achieve. Justification is a declaration made by God, and we don't understand justification that way. That's why we always like to ask questions that begin with this, Can a person be a Christian if they do dot dot? We love that question? Hey, Can a person be a Christian if they just fill in the blank whatever it is. Can a person be a Christian if they You know what I love when people start asking me a question like that. You know, can a person be a Christian if they? I stop them right there, Wait a minute, don't finish your question. Let me answer your question before you ask it. If what's about to come out of your mouth is something other than can a person be a Christian if they are not completely trusting in justification by faith alone, by grace alone, through Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, and understanding that from the Scripture alone? If anything else is about to come out of your mouth, the answer to the question is yes, Yes, A person can be a Christian if they whatever whatever. The only thing a person can do and not be a Christian is not come to God through his son Jesus Christ, by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, and understanding that from the scriptures alone. Can a person be a Christian if they kill somebody? I don't know. Ask Paul when you get to heaven. Ask Moses. He's a murderer too. Well. Can a person be a Christian if they whatever? What at home sexual What about home sexuality? Can a person be a Christian if they struggle with homosexuality? I don't know. We can ask Paul that one too, because the First Corinthians, chapter six, he gives us a whole list of things that people were before they washed and sanctified. Homosexual was one of them. Here's why we like to ask that question. We like to ask that question because we do not understand the doctrine of justification. A person's a Christian because they've been justified by God, they have been declared righteous by God. Well, yes, but what if they send news flash? Who told you? You don't? Amen? Yeah? But you know what I mean? Yeah, I know what you mean, you mean the sins that you happen to not commit. You ever noticed that people don't ask that question? You know, Can a person be a Christian if they dot like I do? No, it's always about stuff that those people do. I've heard about a person who did so, and so can that person be a Christian? Listen? If you could think what you thought on yesterday, say what you said on yesterday, do what you did on yesterday, and still have hope of heaven, of course a person can do whatever that is out there and still be a Christian. You're a rank sinner from the word go. You're justified not because of your own internal or inherent righteousness, but because of the righteousness that is imputed to you. And it's Christ's righteousness, not your own. It is an alien righteousness. It is an alien righteousness. Okay, understand this doctrine of justification. That's how we're saved. That's how we're saved through justification by faith alone, only by faith, not faith, and not faith plus, but by faith alone. That's all. That's all. Well, Yeah, well what about what about? What about? What about? What about? You know all these things and you go, can we just live any way we want to. I didn't say that, but that's the doctrine of sanctification, which is evidence of justification, not a means of justification. Let me say that again. Sanctification is evidence of justification, it is not a means of justification. Well, what's the difference. The difference is if I believe sanctification is a means of justification, then I answer the question, are you a Christian like this? Yes, I'm a Christian because I don't whatever remember sitting in a service once or listening to a testimony, and this man was giving it, standing up and he was giving his testimony and going on and on, and you know, I was relatively new to the ministry, and I was uncomfortable, you know, but I'm like, okay, it's testimony. But I really couldn't put into words why I was uncomfortable. And I was sitting with a man who was kind of a mentor to me at the time, and this guy's standing up there, and among the things that he talked about was how God had delivered him from alcoholism, how he fell on his knees and prayed to receive Christ, asked Jesus into his heart, and from that moment to this, he's never had a taste for alcohol again. And I'm sitting there and I'm kind of going, wow, it's pretty interesting. Doesn't happen like that for most people, although he kind of presents it as though it's supposed to most people. If you struggle with alcoholism, you come to faith in Christ, you probably still struggle with alcoholism a little less as you grow in grace. That's this process called sanctification. Okay, but I didn't know. I'm sitting here. Maybe I'm just being judgmental or whatever. This older sage minister kind of laying down and he said to me, interesting, isn't it makes you wonder? Did God deliver him from alcoholism or did the devil just trick him into trading pride for alcoholism. I don't drink anymore, but I'm so proud. I stink to high Heaven. But I don't drink anymore. Don't even have a taste for it. Good for you, And there are a lot of people out there. They think they're saved because of what they don't do anymore, or because of what they do. I have my quiet time regularly. Good for you. I do this, I do that, I do the other regularly, good for you. But when you stand before God, if you stand before Him with quiet time and witnessing and not drinking, and so on and so forth, what you will hear very clearly will be depart from me. I never knew you, your worker of iniquity. Let me say something to you. There are people who outwardly do a whole lot better than you do, who are going to go to hell when they die. And there are people who outwardly do a whole lot worse than you do, who are going to go to heaven. Sanctification is a process. It is evidence of our justification. It is not means of our justification. We must understand that, we have to understand that we have to grasp that listen to this. This is from the Belgic Confession, and they put this so well. We believe that true faith, being wrought in man by the hearing of the word of God and the operation of the Holy gooes, doth regenerate and make him a new man, causing him to live a new life, and freeing him from the bondage of sin. Therefore, it is so far from being true that this justifying faith makes men remiss in a pious and holy life. That's so far from true. If you're truly justified, you're gonna be sanctified. Sanctification follows justification as inexorably as growth follows birth. Kids born, Kid's gonna grow. It's gonna happen. May not get as big as everybody else, Kid's gonna grow. It's gonna happen. So to answer the question, well, do that mean we can just live any way we want to live. No, you don't understand justification. Nothing could be further from the truth. If we are truly justified, that's the only way we have access to a holy, unrighteous life. Sanctification grows out of justification. It's the fruit of justification. Think about justification being the seed that's planted and sanctification growing out of it. It's going to happen. Listen to this. That on the contrary, without it, that is, without true justification and true sanctification. Without it, they would never do anything out of love to God, but only out of self love and fear of damnation. Let me say this, here's what the Belgian Confession just said. Without true justification and true biblical sanctification, the only things we will ever do, we will do either out of pride or fear. If you don't understand justification, you will go through the Sermon on the Mount finding things for yourself to do out of pride and fear. That's all you got. Without justification and sanctification, that's all you got. All you've got is pride and fear. I do this, this, this, this, and this so that I can say this is what I do. I don't do this. This is so that I can say it's not what I do that's pride, it's rank pride, or it's fear. I'm scared of not going to heaven when I die, so I work really hard to find the things that I'm supposed to do so that I don't get to heaven. And God says, yeah, you missed one. That's a complete lack of understanding of the doctrine of justification. That's a complete lack of understanding of the doctrine of sanctification. By grace, are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Lest anyone should boast, there's pride. Pride's gone. Boasting's gone. It's absolutely gone. I want you to see something here, look with me in the Book of Romans Romans chapter three. This is an extensive passage, but we have to get this if we're gonna understand Christian ethics and the Sermon on the Mount. We have to. We've been through this before, and we'll probably be through this again and again and not no, probably we will be through this again and again and again and again because we are hardwired for works righteousness. Okay, we're hardwired for legalism, every last one of us. We're hardwired for it. We're hardwired for going to the scriptures and doing one of two things, either in pride finding the stuff that we do and saying, yes, you see, I'm a Christian because I do, or finding things that we don't and out of fear promising that we will. That's why most services in most churches, you know, what do we do? What do we do at the end of it? You know, give people a chance to come up and run and cry. You know, I feel guilty. I want to rededicate my life. That crawls all. Over me, makes me want to spit every time I hear that rededicate my life. Can I tell you how doctrinally corrupt? That is. Number one the act of going up and rededicating my life. First of all, that's not what we're called to do. We're called the repentance and faith, not rededication. Secondly, the act of rededicating my life means that what I did at first was not repent and placed my faith in Jesus Christ as the only ground for my salvation. But I dedicate my dedicated myself to trying as hard as I could to live like He wanted me to live. That's not true justification. So using the term rededication actually undermines the very doctrine. Of justification itself. It's corrupt. It's corrupt. You don't go to heaven because you dedicated your life to Christ. You go to heaven because you were justified by the finished work of Jesus Christ and his finished. Work alone alone. Here's the other problem with the whole concept of rededication. I tried really hard and I failed. So now I'm saying this time, I'm gonna try harder. That's not gospel living. And I said to myself first, that's not the gospel. It's just not. The gospel is about the finished work of Christ. So as we go through the sermon, on the mound. This is not about heaping guilt on Christians for not having done enough. It's not it we do that. We completely miss the doctor of justification altogether. And what we do we will do either out of pride or out of fear, one of those two things. That's all we got. So listen to this Romans chapter three. Let's begin in verse nine. Here's the other thing. When we're preaching the law, and we should preach the law, the law and the Gospel, we have to. But what's the purpose of the law. Paul tells us in the Galatians that the law has two purposes. Number One in the law is a mirror. The law is a mirror. We look into the mirror and we see ourselves for who we are. We look at the law of God and we say, oh, woe is me. I am undone, or I'm a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips. And God comes back and says, I'm glad you see your ellips. I wish you could see the rest of you. Okay, we're ruined from the word go. That's what the law does. That's what the law does. And the other thing The relation says, the law is a tutor to lead us to Christ. So it shows us that we're ruined and undone, and secondly, it leads us to Christ. Here's the problem. If all we preach is the law and not the gospel. If all we preach is the law, you don't do this, you must do this. Then what I've done is I've hardened a sinner and I've made a more reliant on on themselves than they were before. I've said, here's the law. See how bad you are. You need to go back to the drawing board, and you need to try hard. No, it must always be law and gospel. Here's the law, see how ruined you are. And oh, by the way, I know your first tendency is to say, I'm gonna go back, and I'm gonna do that. But before you do, let me remind you you can't. You never will, you never ever ever will. But the good news is that's why Christ came to die law gospel. So the sinner comes to the end of himself not to try harder and rededicate. But the sinner comes to the end of himself and can finally see Christ. God forbid that we should preach through the Sermon on the Mount, and ever just give law in that Gospel. And I say that for myself, and all the other preachers are gonna be joining me in preaching through this. It's not just. Law, it's law and gospel. The law's a mirror and the laws a tutor. The law laws us to see that we're ruined, and the law drives us to faith in Christ. And if we don't preach both, we're merely hardening people in their sin. Condemning people in their sin. We're just telling them to run faster and faster on the hamster will that goes absolutely nowhere. It goes nowhere Romans chapter three, beginning verse nine. And listen to this, and think. How foolish it is to tell unbelievers to keep the law. What then, are the Jews any better off? No, not at all, For we have already charged that all both Jews and Greeks are under sin. As it is written, no one is righteous, no, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. So no, we will not be starting a seeker service here. No one seeks for God. The only seeker in the Bible is God. We see that in John chapter four. He's seeks worshippers who will worship him in spirit and truth. So I guess I just lied because we do have a secret service, because it's a God centered service, and he's the only seeker in the Bible. All have turned aside together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Think about that for a moment. No one does good, not even one. Now here's the response that often comes from people. Now, wait a minute. There are lost people out there who do good things. I broke down one day and a lost person stopped and they helped me change my tire. How can we say no one does good? Just hold on. I'll explain that to you in a minute. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, and their past are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, So that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be help accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight. By works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight. None, none, none, none, not one will be justified in the sight of God because of works of the law. Since through the law comes the knowledge of sin, there's the mirror. The law lets you know you're a sinner. The law awakens that sin in you don't believe me. Couple of tests. We're all walking together, strolling through a park to beautiful, lovely spring day. And as we're walking together through the park, we see bench after bench after bench in the park. We never once have an inclination to touch the bench until we see one that says, wet paint, do not touch. What's that? The law awakens sin and you you didn't even think about it till you find out it was unlawful. You ain't think about it. As soon as you find out it was unlawful, You just wanted to do it. Why is it that when we're traveling down the highway Okay, and all of a sudden, the speed limit says sixty five and I'm going seventy seventy one, and I'm fine. I feel comfortable. Seventy seventy one, I feel good. I'm going fast enough. However, the speed limit now goes up to seventy. Now at sixty five, I was going seventy and I never thought about speeding up. I felt comfortable. Now the speed limit is seventy. What do I have to do. I got to crank it up seventy five about seventy was enough. Seventy was enough until they told me I could go seventy again. If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. Okay. Anybody feel like crawling under something right now you're a lawbreaker, just embrace it. And so you are. But now verse twenty one, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. Apart from the law, although the law. And the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction. For all of sin and fall short of the glory of God, all are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ, Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to. Receive by faith. That was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded by what kind of law? By the law of works? Nope, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of gentiles? Also, yes, of gentiles? Also, since God is one who will justify the circumcise by faith and the uncircumcised through faith, do we then overthrow the law by this faith? There's the question everybody wants to ask when you preach the doctrine of justification by faith. Alone, immediately, immediately, immediately. People still want to start saying, wait a minute, are you saying that we can just do anything? Nobody ever said that. But that's the immediate question. Why. Because we are hardwired for works righteousness, That's why we have to ask that question. Because the old man in us wants credit, and the biblical doctrine of justification slaps him in the face and says, you get no credit. And we come back and we say, well, well, I gotta find a way around that. How about I ask an absolutely absurd question, like, well, what if I just go on a killing rampage? Are you saying that I could steal? That's the old man saying I refuse to give up my credit. You gotta give it to me. I gotta have it, give me my credit. I must have something. We're in to boast. I have to. I work too hard to be I'm a lawkeeper for you to not give me credit for it. It's the old man by no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law. Let me say something to you. You cannot do anything good until you've been justified. Let me say that again, you cannot do anything good until you've been justified. Let's read these first few verses in chapter one again. I'll explain that in a minute. What then shall we say in chapter four? Rather was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say Abraham believe God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his do And to the one who does not work, but believes in Him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one whom God counts righteous. Apart from works verse seven, Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. So what about this Christian ethics stuff, glad you asked back here in the Sermon on the Mount. I want us to get this. And again, we must understand justification. We must understand sanctification. If we don't, we will never grasp Christian ethics. Okay, we won't. We're talking about what makes something justus, what makes an action? Just three things. First of all, let me explain this. I'll explain that later. Let me give you three things. Number one, it has to be a right action. It has to be a right action. And by right action, I mean it has to be an action that is right as defined by God. It has to be a right action. Okay, if God defines it as wrong, it can never be right. So it has to be a right action. Secondly, it has to be done for a right motive. It has to be done for a right motive. And thirdly, it has to be done for the right goal, for the right goal. In order for an action to be ethical from the standpoint of Christian ethics, you have to have right action, right motive, and right goal. And unbeliever will never have the right motive and will never have the right goal. Therefore he will never perform an ethical action from a biblical perspective. That's why Paulkins say, there's no one who does good. Let me paint this picture for you. There's a war going on, and here's the war, and there's a unit in this unit in the midst of this war is fighting a battle. And as this unit is fighting a battle, all of a sudden, a grenade comes and there is one in the unit who throws his body over the grenade. Now, for the most part, we look at that and we would say that was an ethical action. What if he threw his body on the grenade because he wanted a purple heart, he wanted glory for himself. Now, his motives and his goal were completely sinful. Therefore his action was unethical. What if he's just sick of fighting and he wants to die and this is a quick way to do it. Now, his motives and his goals were sinful and unethical, Therefore his action can never be deemed ethical. Do you see what I'm saying? We must have right action and right motive and right goal in order for an act to be ethical. So, as we go through the Sermon on the Mount, here's the picture that Jesus is painting. Jesus is saying, basically in the Sermon on the Mount, time and time again, you know what you guys have heard that all you had to do was this action. But I've come to tell you that you do those actions, and your goals and your motives are complet completely off base. Therefore it's still not ethical and it's still not pleasing to God. Sermon on the Mount is about this. Only through the justified and sanctified life can we ever do anything that is ethical. That's the simple message in the Sermon on the Mount. Only through a justified and sanctified life can we ever do anything that is ethical. Let's look at a couple of these. We understand this idea of right actions. It has to be doing what God said. Let's look at right motives, right motives Romans chapter two, verses six through nine. He will render to each one according to his works. To those who buy patience and well doing, seek for glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, they will be wrath and fury. In other words, if you're self seeking, two people do the same thing, but one of them is self seeking. Gotta have right action, right motive, right goal. Look at Romans fourteen twenty three. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. If you needed any more evidence that an unbeliever cannot perform ethical actions, there it is right there. Whatever is not from faith is sin. Can an unbeliever who is not placed faith in Jesus Christ ever do anything from faith? No, So whatever he does is sin because he's not doing it from the proper biblical motive of faith. Okay, which again is why Paul can say no one does good. From our earthly human perspective, we see things all the time that are good. Again, that's common grace, folks. Total depravity, radical depravity doesn't mean that man is as bad as he can be, and we can praise God for that. All right, that's the grace of God. But that does not make his actions ethical. There are a lot of motivations for it, but it's not faith. Philippians, chapter two, verse three, and four. Do nothing from rivalry your conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. If I'm doing it for self interest and not for the interest of others, it's unethical. Look at another motive. Look at Ephesians five and twenty one. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Is a wife who submits to her husband because she's awed by her husband, committing an ethical act when she submits to her husband, No, she's supposed to submit out of reverence for Christ. Her motives are impure if there are anything other than reverence for Christ. Is a woman who's submitting to her husband just so she can manipulate him and get something from him, performing an ethical action? Is she being obedient? No? Submit yourself to one another out of reverence for Christ. Is a child who submits to their parents for something other than reverence for Christ committing an ethical act from a biblical perspective, No, it must be out. Of reverence for Christ. By the way, all of this stuff that we're learning on the Sermon on the Mountain has huge implications for the way that we teach our children, because for most of us, we're just teaching our children to be self righteous lawkeepers who believe in works righteousness. Do it because it looks good, do it because it'll embarrass me if you don't do it. We're building self righteous lawkeepers and teaching them to rely on work's righteousness as opposed to the finished work of Jesus Christ. Not only right motives, but right goals. Listen to some of these goals. So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Amen, that's a right goal, the glory of God. Why did you do that? That God might be glorified? That's why. Okay, that's why. Then it was an ethical action. I gave money to the poor, and then I told everybody that I did it. What was your goal to bring glory to myself? Because I gave to the poor, Jesus says, then you got your reward, nothing waiting for you in heaven. You got exactly what you were after people patting you on the back. He talks about this in the Sermon on the Mount. When you fast, put lotion on your face. Don't be all you know, maggot and everything, and we wople look at what's going on. I'm fasting Colossus three seventeen. And whatever you do in word or do, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him Colossius three twenty three. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord, and not for men to write Goal one Peter four ten through eleven. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Listen to that. It's a couple of goals. Number one, I want to be a good steward of the grace of God in my life. And number two, I want to serve my brothers. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him be belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Those are right goals, Okay, right action, right motive, right goal, folks. The Sermon on the Mound is not a list of things for us to work hard to do. The Sermon on the Mount is a mirror that reflects to us one of two things. For those of us outside of Christ. It reflects to us that we are rank sinners in need of a savior, and that even our righteousness is but filthy rags in the sight of God. It's but I did ABC and XYZ don't care, didn't have the right motive, didn't have the right goal. It was sin. It was either pride or fear. So the Sermon on the Mound is going to expose that in all of us. And the other thing is the Sermon on the mound is going to show us how desperately we all need Christ. Now, let me say a word about these two principles, and then we'll look at an overview of what we're going to study. There is a difference between indicatives and imperatives. Indicatives and imperatives. I know it sounds like we're in English class, but this is very important, folks. Indicatives and imperatives. All right, Well, what's an indicative and indicative? Is? This is a chair? That's an indicative. I just told you what that was. I indicated what it was. What's an imperative? Sit in this chair? I just told you what to do. There's an indicative and an imperative. I want you to notice something in the New Testament. Whenever you find imperatives, you find indicatives. In other words, Peter says you are a holy nation, you are a royal priesthood. That is an indicative. That's who you are. Then he says, be holy as I am holy. That is an imperative. But the two of them come together. Can you be holy in and of yourself? No, you can't. You can only do it because of the indicative. It's because of who you are in Christ that you are able to do this. Remember it's God who works in us both to will and to do his good pleasure. We have indicatives and imperatives. Now I want you to look at something. Look at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, we have there in verse two, the beatitudes. Blessed are those who blessed? Are those who blessed? Are those who blessed? Are those who are the beatitudes indicatives or imperatives. They're indicatives, but we usually preach them like imperatives. Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. And we come back and say, we've got to be like the people who It's an indicative, it's not an imperative. He's paid a picture of who Christians are. Okay, So the Sermon on the Mount starts off with indicatives, not with imperatives. Then look with me. After he finishes the indicatives in the beatitudes, look at what he does beginning in verse thirteen, more indicatives. You are the salt of the earth. Verse fourteen, you are the light of the world. Is he telling us something to do there. No, he's telling us who we are there, okay. And it's only after we have those indicatives that we come down and he teaches us about the law and we begin to see some imperatives. Do not. I think I've come to a boist the law. I've come to abolish it. I've come to fulfill it, which is very interesting. Jesus says, I haven't come to a bolist the law. I've come to fulfill it. And we take that to mean I got stuff for. You to do. Huh. Jesus says, I've come to fulfill the law. We say, yeah, Jesus, come on, let's go fulfill the law. No, no, no, no, no, I've come to fulfill the law. I know, Jesus, come on, let's go fulfill the law. Okay, wait a minute. Remember remember when I said you can't fulfill the law? Yeah, Jesus, But come on, my old man needs something to boast about. You see how ridiculous it is. Then he comes and he shows us a picture of the law. You've heard it said, But I say, unto you, what's he doing? There? Is Jesus trying to make us feel guilty? If we've ever said something bad to our brother, is Jesus trying to say, you know, now you need to be very careful and not say you fool to your brother, because if you say you fool to your brother, then all of a sudden you've committed a sin that is worthy of death. And then what do we do? We go around saying, well, wait a minute, can a person who does that go to heaven? That's right back where we started. People, that's not what Jesus is saying. Just throw justification right out the window. It's meaningless, it means absolutely nothing when you get to the imperatives. Jesus says, do this, And our next question is, oh, does that mean that if somebody doesn't do that, that they're not a Christian. Forget the doctrine of justification. Just throw it out, trample it underfoot, and let's go right back to work's righteousness again, shall we? Because that's exactly what we just did. Are you guys seeing this? Because we all do it. We all do it. You don't want to hear stuff from when I first started preaching, trust me, And even if you do want to, I don't want you to. Okay, But that's what we do. And so here after that we have this law outlined. And what Jesus does here beginning of verse seven, verse seventeen, Verse seventeen, he makes a statement about Christian ethics. I haven't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. This is not about antinomianism, Jesus says. The statement about Christian Antinomianism is lawlessness. There is no law. Just do whatever you like, do whatever feels good. No, no, no, no no, Jesus says, I come to fulfill it. And I'm upping nanny on the law. You've heard it said, don't kill I'm saying, don't even hate your brother. That goes beyond just the rule that you thought you've kept. And what Jesus does in every one of these with murder, and then with adultery, and then with divorce, and then you know, with swearing falsely, you know, the eye for a nine, two for two, all of these things, With all of these things, Jesus upstandy. And he said, basically every one of you is the rich young ruler, and every one of you would look at me and say, I've kept the ten commandments. I haven't killed anybody. And Jesus says to every one of us, whether it's murder or adultery or lying, whatever it is, Jesus gives us those examples, and he looks as square in the eye and says, you think you can look at me and say you're not guilty of this, that's because you don't understand righteousness. You are absolutely guilty of this. You're an adulterer because you've looked at a woman lustfully, and you're just as guilty as a man who's gone to bed with a woman who's not his wife. You're an adulterer. In other words, here in this erm, in this portion of the Sermon on the Mountain, Jesus is saying, yes, you too need a savior. All you who point fingers at people I have this, you know, open outward gross sin and stick your chest out because you don't, Jesus says, in this section, yes you too need a savior. Don't you dare think you're any better than those people. Don't you dare think that because you haven't pulled out a gun and shot somebody dead, that you don't need somebody to rescue you and save you just like somebody who has. Don't you dare think that for a moment. That's what he's doing in this section. That's what he's doing in this section. Then we get to chapter six, and in chapter six he talks about these outward things that we do. He talks about giving to the poor and being seen when we give to the poor. He talks about fasting and being seen when we fast. He talks about praying and being seen when we pray. Talks about all of these things and basically says, you know what, keep that to yourself. Keep that to yourself. Does Jesus say that there's never to be a prayer that's offered in public? No, that's not what Jesus is teaching. We have examples of such in the New Testament, okay, and the New Testament Church and the epistles. We have these prayers that were read publicly. So that's not what's being said here. It's talking about our private prayer life. That's what he's referring to. And basically what he's saying is if you turn fasting or giving, or praying or any of these sort of things into a means by which people can see you and give glory to you, then you've completely missed the boat you don't get it. You don't get it. After that, he moves into this section about us having our treasure in heaven and not being anxious for anything. And then we get into chapter seven, and in chapter seven we look at judging and judging rightly, judging the tree by its fruit. Now here's what's interesting. If we're not careful, we get to chapter seven and this whole thing about judging the tree from its fruit, and we think the chapter seven is about you and me looking and pointing fingers and things of that nature. But if you remember what we've done with the indicatives and the imperatives, and you remember what Christian ethics is really all about, then basically, here's what Jesus says. You know what's in a person basically by what comes out of the person. The reason that you know you're a justified person is because of the sanctification that the spirit works in you, not because of your outward efforts. That's why in verse twenty three, many will say to me, Lord Lord, do we not prophecy on your name? And your name performed many miracles and cast out demons. And I'll say, depart from me. I never knew you. You work are of iniquity. But wait a minute, I did the right stuff. No you didn't. Right action, right motive, right goal. It's not there. It's not there. Now here's what's interesting. And we'll see this when we get to chapter seven. But we think, you know, you'll know a tree by its fruit. According to verse twenty three, those are individuals who, from an outward perspective were bearing fruit that looked pretty good. But that's just to us the ultimate fruit. Only Jesus can judge. We don't know. We don't know. Does that mean we don't make judgments? Absolutely not. We're taught how to make judgments there. And then finally, where do we end up building your house on the rock? Two types of individuals both built houses, one on sand, one on rock. What's the difference between the two. Where you have to take the whole sermon on the mount and the consideration in order to understand the difference between the two. On its face, we may think that the difference between the two is one individual took the Bible and used it as a rule book and built this house based upon the rule book. In fact, you've probably heard it that way. Okay, One individual took the Bible, and basically, the Bible was his blueprint. The other one, the Bible wasn't his blueprint. The one who used the Bible has his blue blueprint. That's the one whose house stood. The one who didn't use the Bible as his brue blueprint, that's the one whose house didn't stand. Folks, in order to understand what Jesus is talking about with the house on the rock and the house on the sand, you got to go all the way back to the indicatives and the imperatives at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. My house doesn't stand because I used the Bible as a blueprint. I can be lost and do that. My house stands because the imperatives that I perform in my life flow out of the indicatives, because justification is the fruit of my sanctification, and not the other way around. I can be as lost as a goose and use the Bible as a rule book and completely miss the point. It's not what it is. And the fact of the matter is there are people all around us who are absolutely unequivocally lost, headed for a hell, fire and damnation and nothing but but if you speak to them about the God they'll get offended. Why, because they've been there, They've done that, they prayed the prayer, they asked Jesus into their heart, and now they're onto the imperatives. Never mind that none of the indicatives are true of them. How do you know someone's truly a Christian because of the imperatives or because of the indicatives, folks, it's because of the indicatives. We grow in our performance are the imperatives. Hopefully you're doing a lot better today on the imperatives than you were five years ago. Does that mean you weren't saved five years ago but you are now now again, assuming you've been in Christ that long. Okay, if you're a Christian here today, I would expect that ten years from now, twenty years from now, you'll be a lot further along on the imperatives than you are today. Does that mean you're not truly a Christian now? No? No, it's the indicatives. It's who God says we are in Christ, that works itself out, that grows in these imperatives, and by his grace he grants us both to will and to do his good pleasure. But even that's from him. So it's not this picture of being saved by grace and then kept by works. We're justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. And here's a newsflash, we're all so sanctified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. It's not just my sanctification that is of God, my justification that is of God. My sanctification is of God as well. What does that mean that I don't have to do the imperatives. No, that means you get to do the imperatives. Did you catch the difference. I have to do the imperatives means sanctification by me and my works. I get to do the imperatives means Christ has made me a new creature. And because I'm a new creature in Christ, I am finally now and only now, no longer a slave to sin. By the way, that ought to make more sense to you now too, Well, how does the Bible say I'm a slave to sin? I didn't just always go around sinning. I did some things that were Ah, No, you didn't. You were a slave to everything you did. You did for sinful motives and for sinful goals, even though outwardly it looked better than the way most people lived. Are y'all seeing this now? So as we go through the Sermon on the Mountain, we need to come in here every week, gird it up, come in here every week, ready to see both law and gospel, coming here every week, looking for the indicatives and the imperatives, Coming in here every week understanding that we're going to see a mirror, and that mirror is going to show us some horrible things about ourselves and some glorious things about Christ. That mirror is going to show us how desperate we are, and how desperate everyone around us is for Jesus Christ. And if we come away with anything, with anything, anything, anything from the Sermon on the mount I hope we come away with this. I hope we come away no longer boasting number one. And secondly, I hope we come away no longer as people who thrust the imperatives on the lost. Let me say that again, I hope we come away no longer being the people who thrust the imperatives on the lost. So, in other words, we say to the drunkard, stop being a drunkard, instead of saying you are what you are because of your sin, and Christ alone can deliver you, not just from that sin, but from all your sins. We don't say to the homosexual, you stop being a homosexual. He can't. Oh well, wait a minute, does that. Mean that Pastor Vodie believes that homosexuality is something that's biological instead of a choice? And yeah, yeah, yeah, listen, I don't. Believe that homosexuality is a choice anymore than I believe being a liar's a choice. We're slaves to sin. Our sins just have different titles. Amen. Does the homosexual have to stop being a homosexual before they can be a Christian? Here's my question? Why do we ask that? But we don't ask if the worri or worry worry because the Bible says be anxious for nothing. How come we don't say, does the person who suffers with worry have to stop worrying before they can be justified? How come we don't ask that. Because all of us are guilty of that one and we're only concerned about the sins that other people commit that we tend to be free of. Does the alcoholic have to stop being an alcoholic before they can become a Christian. Listen to how ridiculous that is. The Bible tells us no one does good and we're slaves to sin. The alcoholic can't stop being an alcoholic. The liar can't stop being a liar. The homosexual can't stop being a homosexual. All of those individuals may get the imperatives and work real hard to suppress their sin and not do those things anymore, But their actions are not ethical. Why because they don't arise from right motives and they don't arise for right goals. And I'm afraid that many of us, myself included, have been guilty for a long long time of preaching work's righteousness to people instead of the gospel truth be told. There are a lot of our family members, and I'm gonna just go on. I'm gonna say this, and I'm gonna be finished. There are a lot of us who look at our family members and we're much more interested in getting them to homeschool. We're much more interested in getting them to go to family and a greater church. We're much more interested in getting them to discipline their children or whatever than we are in them getting saved, because that's all we talked to them about you need to do this, you need to do this, you need to do that, you need to do the other, and it just breaks our heart that they don't live the kind of life that we live. But we haven't shed one tear over the fact that they have not been born again. Shame on us, Shame on every last one of us for putting the imperatives before the indicatives and for actually believing that we're something that we absolutely are not. There is none righteous, no, not even one. You are who you are indicatives because of the finished work of Jesus Christ in your life. And it's only because you are who you are that you are able by his grace to do what he commands. We get that, we got the sermon on the mountain. Let's pray, Father. We confess to you. That we are arrogant, egocentric, narcissistic, rule keeping works, righteousness, prideful. Sinners. In most days, instead of acknowledging it, we actually boast about the pitiful things that we think we've mastered apart from your grace, and then turn around and point fingers at other people who don't have our level of outward conformity. Would you crush that in us by your grace, would you allow us to come face to face with your law and our sin, so that we come to the end of ourselves and see the beauty and the majesty that is only found in the person of Jesus Christ. I pray for those under the sound of my voice whom the enemy has tangled up in knots so much so that they aren't even Christian, but think they are all because it works righteousness. Those individuals under the sound of my voice who work hard to keep the imperatives and perhaps have shaved a few of the rough edges off of their own life by their own effort, and the Enemy's got them right where he wants them, because they believe that they are Christian because of the meager things that they've learned to accomplish in their flesh, not realizing all the while that their motives are corrupt, that their goals are bankrupt, and that they have absolutely no share of any inheritance with Christ, because their trust is in themselves and not in Him. I pray that today you would bring every one of us to the end of ourselves, that we would grasp biblical justification and biblical sanctification, and completely and utterly reject this pitiful excuse for a gospel that our culture has embraced, and that we might leave here in repentance and faith, faith, trusting in Christ alone, not what we do, but what He has already done. And in doing so. May we never ever belittle the imperatives. May we never ever embrace lawlessness. But may we, by your grace, grow in our sanctification and bring glory and honor to You as you work in us, both to will and to do your good pleasure. And when we accomplish those things, may we be so careful to give your name all the glory and all the praise, recognizing that there is nothing good that comes or dwells in our flesh. Everything praiseworthy in us is a direct. Result of Christ to sanctifie those whom He justifies. May we get this, May we grasp this, May we walk in this. May we rejoice in this to the glory of our Lord, Master, Savior and King Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen.