The sermon delivered by Jason Dohm on the Sermon on the Mount offers a comprehensive exposition of Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. It emphasizes the essential characteristics of those who belong to the Kingdom of Heaven, such as being poor in spirit, meek, merciful, and pure in heart. Jesus contrasts this true kingdom with the counterfeit kingdom of man, which is focused on external appearances and lacks spiritual life. The sermon highlights Jesus' fulfillment of the law and the prophets, correcting misinterpretations by religious leaders and expanding upon the law's true spirit, which is rooted in love. Jesus calls for repentance and humility, urging listeners to trust in God rather than earthly treasures. The sermon warns against hypocrisy in religious practices, encourages sincere prayer, and emphasizes the importance of building a foundation on Jesus' teachings. Ultimately, it calls for self-examination and a genuine transformation into the image of Christ, fostering a deep relationship with God as a loving Father.

For those maybe visiting with us, we have been preaching through Matthew, started a few months ago, and we have really slowed down to go through the sermon on the Mount. And we just finished up last week, and this week's going to be a summary sermon and we're going to be reading Matthew 5, 6 and 7. In seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain and when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Then he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the pure in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder. And whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you, that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Raka, shall be in danger of the council.

But whoever says, you fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly while you're on the way with him lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you.

For it is more profitable that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. Furthermore, it has been said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason, except sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oath to the Lord.

But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven for it is God's throne, nor by the earth for it is His footstool, nor by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But Let your yes be yes, and your no, no. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let them have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. Give to him who asks, and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away.

You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same. And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?

Therefore, you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them, otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory from men? Assuredly I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret and your Father who sees in secret will himself reward you openly.

And when you pray you shall not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room. And when you've shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they'll be heard by their many words.

Therefore, do not be like them, for your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen for if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Moreover when you fast Do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Oh, assuredly I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to men to be fasting but to your Father who is in the secret place and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

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. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.

But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else He will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so closed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, oh you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall I eat?

Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows what you need, or knows that you need all these things but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Judge not that you be not judged, For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at that speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or How can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye.

Hypocrite, first remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do not give what is holy to the dogs nor cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you.

For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who if his son asked for bread will give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him Therefore whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them for this is the law and the prophets. Entered by the narrow gate for wide is the gate And broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go and buy it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to me Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock but everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built this house on the sand and the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. And so it was when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. Father, we are so thankful for the weeks and months that you've had us in this text. This perfect sermon, unlike any sermon that's ever been preached before it or preached after it. So wide ranging in helpful doctrine and practice.

God, we're so thankful to have your Word to have been given to have been given a view of this sermon preached by your perfect Holy Son, knowing that the most helpful things are there. God help us to attend to these things as we ought. Help us to so carefully consider them and to find ourselves living in these words, honoring the authority of Jesus Christ through obedience to the things that he has said, so that we find that all of our building has been done on a sure foundation. On Jesus Christ and His sayings. May it be so in Jesus' name, Amen.

Our 17th Sunday on the Sermon on the Mount, we've been here for four months. And someone said at Men's Bible Study, I think we'll look back on our time in the Sermon on the Mount like we look back on our two years in Deuteronomy, for those of you who are with us at Hope. We just keep referring back to that because there's a really watershed period of time as we just saw the sequential, careful, slow exposition of the law of God and saw how wonderfully it carries over to govern us as a rule of faith and practice today. I think years from now we'll look back on our time in the Sermon on the Mount and see how it helped us in so many ways. In chapter 4, the lead in to the Sermon on the Mount In verse 16, Jesus having been tempted and having wonderfully passed all those tests that were put upon him by the devil in the wilderness, it says in chapter 4 verses 16, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.

And so Jesus has actually been launched into his public ministry. And you have this curious description of the quote unquote people of God. Here they are, the children of Abraham, the physical offspring of Father Abraham, having been given the law, Having it taught to them for all this time and yet the prophet Isaiah Describes them as a people sitting in darkness not knowing What the light really is and then the Messiah comes and dawns on? On the people and that's really what the sermon of the on the mount is It is a dawning of the Son of God on the quote unquote people of God, yet who were a people who were sitting in darkness. In chapter 4 Verse 23 it says, and Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

So Jesus has been launched into his public ministry. He's going all through the District of Galilee. There's 200 towns and villages there. And he's ranging through all of them. There's probably 3 million people in this district at the time.

And so this is not a very small ministry. This is becoming very quickly a very significant ministry with 200 destinations and Jesus going to these places. And he's preaching the kingdom. And he's healing the sick. And he's teaching in the synagogues.

And in chapter 4, verse 17, we see what he's teaching. And he's teaching, repent, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And the Sermon on the Mount is an exposition of this. That is the summary statement. Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

And then the Sermon on the Mount is the exposition of that. It tells what it means to repent. It gives so many different pictures of what it means for a people to actually repent. To turn from the things that they've loved and had an affection for, and to turn away from those things and turn towards the living God. And to be transferred out of one kingdom, a kingdom that leads to destruction and be transferred into a completely different kind of kingdom where the destination is life and that abundant life.

This is to the people of God. Remember, Matthew's audience is the Jewish people. Matthew is a Jew writing to Jews about the King of the Jews. And yet, when Jesus comes onto the scene, when he dawns on the people of God, he talks about The kingdom of heaven. The Jews had a kingdom in mind already.

It wasn't the kingdom of heaven. It was an earthly kingdom. It was an earthly kingdom that would come to prominence and where the descendants of Abraham would have the preeminence. And they would be the top of the heap. And they knew in their minds what they thought the coming of the Messiah was going to look like and how advantageous it would be for them.

And yet when Jesus comes, he has something completely different in mind. It's the kingdom of heaven. It's not a counterfeit kingdom of man at all. And so he's calling them to repentance, to turn away from all those expectations that they had cherished through the centuries. And understand that the kingdom of the Messiah was very different than anything that they had imagined.

And he's turning them on their heads. And the people at the time had to be thinking, repent? That's the message to us. We are the people of God. We're the people who are in.

Repentance can't be the message for us. And yet it was the message for them, because through the centuries they had come to practice a very dead religion. No life, lots of structure, lots of activity, lots of things being said, no love for God in their heart. And so Jesus is calling them to turn away from the activity, the outward conformity to the law, and actually to become born again. And so we see these parallel lines that are traced from the beginning of the sermon all the way to the end of the sermon, where there is the true Kingdom of Heaven, where Jesus Christ is King, and where He is loved and therefore obeyed by His subject.

That's one line that flows all the way through the sermon. And then there's this parallel line, which is exactly what the Jews were expecting, which is a counterfeit kingdom of man. And it has all the outward trappings that they were expecting, and Yet there's no spiritual life or power in it. So as we went through the sermon, we just saw this all the way through. This, not that.

This, not that. This, not that. And Jesus is calling us to a choice. It will either be The kingdom of heaven, which has life, which has a real king at the head of it, who is loved and therefore is obeyed by his subject, or it's something else. It's something very mechanical, very sterile, very external, very manageable, and yet with no life and power in it.

Chapter 5, the beginning of the sermon. And again, this is a sermon. It's one sermon. It's a unified sermon. It's not a collection of sayings that Matthew pulled together and represented by a sermon.

If that's the position you take, you've eroded the doctrine of the inerrancy of scripture because when you read this, there's no getting around, Matthew thought it was a sermon. Matthew is representing it as a sermon. So that's how we should see it. And given that it has such a logical flow and such a powerful series of arguments, so perfectly put together, We have no reason to suspect that it's anything other than what Matthew represents it to be Chapter 5 the beginning of the sermon starts with the description of the essential Characteristics of the kingdom to be attitudes These eight things that are planted within those who repent, those who turn away from their own things and turn towards the living God. And when that happens, you're born again.

When that happens, you become a new creation. And a new creation has internal characteristics that are this. They are poor in spirit. They are not full of themselves. They are not puffed up.

But they realize who God is and in the light of who God is who they are and that they are nothing. And it makes them poor in spirit. They are those who mourn. They see, because they have seen God rightly in themselves rightly, they know that there are things to be so sorry about. They know that there is this effect of sin in their own life and in all the world.

That sin And rebellion against God is ravaging the world. And so they see these things rightly, and it causes them to actually mourn. They're those who are meek. They're not protecting turf, defensive about all of these things. But they're laid bare before God.

They're not trusting in themselves anymore, and so they're very meek. They're not forcing their own agenda because they've bowed their knee to a king. They've become a part of a kingdom. They've become subjects to King Jesus. And so there's no sense among these people that they need to protect their own turf, but that they just need to submit and love God and show God, demonstrate their love through obedience to Him.

They are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, not some sort of an external conformity, but actual true righteousness, obedience to God in His ways. They are people who are merciful. They are people who are pure in heart. There are people who are peacemakers, not some sort of peace that exalts man and negotiates a stalemate among those who have no concern for the glory of God. That's not the peace that's being spoken of at all.

But it's a peace that has concern for the glory of God. And most of all, most fundamentally, it's the peace that comes from being forgiven. It's the peace that comes from the enmity with God that is wrapped up in the natural man being wiped away through the work of Jesus Christ. And there are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. You think with all these wonderful internal qualities for being born again.

Wouldn't they be the most loved people in the world? And Jesus says at the beginning of the sermon, nope, not so. It actually won't cause them to be loved. It'll cause them to be despised, because the world will not know what to do with people who are poor in spirit, and who mourn, and who are meek, and who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and on and on. Though that might be beautiful To those who have been given eyes to see and ears to hear, it will actually be the smell of death to those who have not yet been born again.

When we think of these essential characteristics that Jesus begins the sermon with, these attitudes, you see right away that this is not the result of self-help. These are not people who have graduated from self-help and have attained to a certain level so they can say, now I'm poor in spirit. Now I'm more. Now these are things that only happen as a result of the work of God, the mighty work of the Holy Spirit coming, not to tinker with the natural man, but to overthrow the natural man, to kill the natural man. Now that we see through the cross Exactly what the radical nature of this is, we know that it's being buried with Christ and being raised to new life.

And these people having these essential characteristics placed in their hearts, being transferred out of one kingdom and into another kingdom they are blessed. They are blessed by God. And they are like the tree in Psalm 1, which is planted by rivers of water, whose leaves never wither, who always bear their fruit in their season because there they are right there by the Rivers of living water always having everything that they need to be sustained So Jesus builds his foundation for the sermon in what the subject of his kingdom are like, what they are. He doesn't start with what they do. He starts with what they are.

And we know it's because you must be born again. There's no point in beginning with what we ought to do because we're powerless to do those things until God comes and does a mighty work in the heart. There's no point in talking about sanctification until someone has been justified. There's no point in talking about becoming mature in the faith until you know that you are in the faith. And so Jesus doesn't start with what the people of God ought to do, although that's important.

And although all of that is true, It avails very little until we pass over from death to life. And we've had these essential characteristics born into us by the work of God Himself. Jesus says, when these things, because of the work of God, become into operation in a person, that they actually manifest themselves. And he says that very explicitly. They become salt and light.

There is a manifestation of these things. Although they're all internal, they don't just stay internal. Although their core characteristics that happen in the heart, they actually is always an outworking. And so that the people of God become the flavor of Jesus Christ in the culture. They become salt.

They become light. And There are good works that come out of all these internal qualities that aren't about ourselves, or how we're viewed, or whether or not we're appreciated, but they're for the glory of God. These outworkings happen so that people may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. Now Jesus, in speaking of his kingdom and what his kingdom is going to be like, takes great pains here early in the sermon to talk about how this relates to everything that has gone before. Does this mean that everything that has gone before is now null and void and Jesus goes out of His way to say in the strongest terms that that's not what it means at all.

He says, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." And so Jesus here is putting himself forth as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. There's all these prophecies that talk about the coming Messiah. And Jesus says, I'm here to fulfill all those things that have been said about him.

There are all these things in the law that are types of the work of the Messiah, like all the sacrifices. Now the blood that was required all the time, since the law was giving up until the work of the cross, Not really effective for the forgiving of sins, just a type. Just a type. No sins were ever forgiven, although that obedience was required, no sins were ever forgiven because those animals died. But it was a type.

It was something that would foreshadow. It was something that would prophesy that there would be one sacrifice for all. And it would be the life of the Son of God coming to be shed on our behalf. Substitutionary atonement. And so Jesus, in that sense, fulfills the law and the prophet.

There's all these ceremonial things in the law that are types that are pointing forward to Jesus. And now Jesus is saying, I'm here. I'm here in fulfillment of those things. And Finally, he would be the one to do what no one else had ever been able to do before. To actually obey the law from beginning to end.

All the laws all the time. Thousands of years of human history, millions of people attempting it, and no one ever, ever even coming close to fulfilling all the law all the time. And yet here Jesus is to do that so that a righteous life that he lived on our behalf could be imputed to us. This is one of the senses in which Jesus fulfills all the law and the prophets. So Having said that he hasn't come to abolish these things but to fulfill them, he then embarks on this amazing exposition of the law.

As it turns out, though the Jews had been given the law, A right sense of the law had not been preserved at all. And so Jesus comes to contradict the teaching of the religious leaders of the time. And you remember the rest of chapter 5 in this exposition where Jesus talks about murder, and Jesus talks about adultery, and Jesus talks about swearing ohs, and Jesus talks about retaliation. And he starts by saying, you have heard that it was said, People were teaching you this is what the law means, but I say to you, contradicting what the teaching has been, maybe for hundreds of years, but contradicting that and saying, no, not that, but this. Not that sense, that interpretation, but this sense and this interpretation for the law of God.

And don't you remember those weeks where you just felt this massive expansion where the teachers of the law had been working so diligently to skinny this down, to whittle away the law to something that could be done, an outward conformity where we could feel good about how we were doing with respect to the law. And Jesus will have none of that. Jesus comes to contradict that, to set that aside, and then to expand it back out, the borders of the law to where it always belonged, and to bring the spirit of the law back. They've been so careful about the letter of the law and the external observances so that they can keep everything so neat and tidy and know exactly where the boundaries were. And yet, the spirit of the law was lost in all these things.

And Jesus is bringing love back to the law. Paul says that love is the fulfillment of the law. And that's always what Jesus taught. When Jesus said there's a framework that you hang all the law and the prophets on. He says it's this, that you love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.

And the second is like it. You love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And so it always had been, and so it was at the time of Jesus, and so it will be until the end of time, that all the law and the prophets hang upon the love of God and the love of neighbor. And that was something that had been so lost through the teaching of the religious leaders of the day.

And so Jesus says, if you want to know about the laws in this kingdom, you have to think rightly about them. It is not OK to reduce them down to an external observance where we can have a compliance and can think we're doing well. No, that's not my kingdom. That's an earthly counterfeit. That's a man-made kingdom where we can make ourselves acceptable.

But in my kingdom it is very different and the laws are expansive. And then if anyone was missed in his exposition of the law, he ends chapter 5 in this way, chapter 5.48. Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. So he foists perfection upon us, a requirement for perfection upon us. And in case we missed it, and in case we're inclined to mis-define perfection and it's something that it's not, and lower the bar again, he says, just as your Father in Heaven is perfect.

So we know what the definition of perfection is that he's saying. In chapter six, Jesus turns to the practice of religion. And he takes three different case studies. He takes charitable deeds. He takes prayer.

He takes fasting. And these are all things that are being practiced in abundance during his time. So he's not introducing new things, but he's talking about old things, things that are well established, things that are done all the time. And especially, the more prominent you are in the faith, the more you're doing these things. And yet Jesus begins to put his finger on the chest of the hypocrites.

To point to them, to call them out, hypocrite, means an actor that wears a mask, and someone who's playing a part, someone who is willing to change the mask that they're wearing for the greatest advantage of the moment. And So Jesus calls the practitioners of the religion of the day hypocrites, because they're doing their charitable deeds. They're praying their prayers. They're fasting before men, As if there were no God in heaven. As if the only advantage to be gained from these religious practices would be to be seen by men, to be appreciated, to be thought of as holy and as spiritual.

And Jesus says again, not in my kingdom. Not in my kingdom. My kingdom is different than that. In my kingdom, people do their charitable deeds in a way that The right hand doesn't even know what the left hand is doing. In my kingdom, people go into their rooms and they shut the door.

And they pray to their God in secret. In my kingdom, when you're fasting, you wash your face and you fix your hair so that people don't even know that you are fasting. And the God of heaven who sees in secret rewards openly. So again we have the development of these two tracks. The kingdom of heaven, the real kingdom that has a real king, Jesus Christ, who is loved and therefore obeyed by his subjects and this other kingdom built on everything external, built on seeking the applause of men and never the two kingdoms shall meet.

Jesus takes an opportunity as he is talking about prayer, to actually teach the subjects of his kingdom how to pray. And It's not words that should be said word for word. He's already actually condemned the vain repetitions in prayer. So it's not that we should say these exact same words in this exact same way every time that we pray. But he's teaching us categories, right categories, good categories for prayer.

And you can't study the Lord's Prayer without seeing and knowing that it all starts with God. Our Father in heaven, Our Father who has adopted us, who has taken us out of one kingdom into a completely other kingdom and who rules over everything, He's in heaven, He's ruling over all the works of his hands. And his name ought to be hallowed, ought to be known as great, ought to be made great. And we're to be praying that his kingdom comes. We're to be praying for an expansion of his will so that the will of God would be done here on earth just as it's done in heaven, perfectly and in all the time.

And these are great commission prayers, brothers and sisters. We're being taught to pray great commission prayers, that the nations would be discipled, that they would come to know God as a great and almighty God, and that his will would be done where God isn't even known today. That there would be a spread of the gospel so that the will of God would be known and done where Jesus Christ isn't even known today. And then it shifts once the God and the glory of God has been firmly established in our prayers then it shifts to the things that we need. We're told to pray for our daily bread that God would give us what we need for today.

We're told to pray for pardon for our sins, and at the same time we commit to forgive those who we have anything against. And we're told to pray that we'd be delivered from temptation. Having been pardoned for sin, we're being told to cry out to God that He would keep us from returning to sin. And in this prayer, we learn what Jesus Christ as King is doing. He is driving us to dependence.

He is driving us to humility. There's no place left for people who are full of themselves here in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. There's no place for that. Because we're people who are bowing down before a Father in heaven to pray that he would give us what we need today, to pray that he would pardon us for our sins, to pray that he would keep us from returning back to those sins that we've returned to a thousand different times that we've been kept from temptation. Where is the prideful man in this prayer?

He's nowhere to be found. He can't pray this way. He can't pray this way with integrity because it is a God-centered prayer that acknowledges our dependence upon Him and keeps us humble. Having taught us to pray in chapter 6, Jesus then talks about masters and how that relates to treasure. He wants us to know that in his kingdom, in the kingdom where Jesus Christ is king, there is only ever one master and that it's not possible to serve another master if you're in this kingdom.

And he's warning us that your master is not the one you talk about. He's warning that your master is not the one that you speak of, but it's the one that you serve. And that no one can serve two masters. So you might talk about two, you'll only ever serve one. And one of the things that tells us a lot about the master that we've not only pledged to serve, but that we're serving is treasure.

Are we laying up things on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal? Or are we laying up our treasures for the glory of God in heaven, where moths can never get at them, where rust never destroys, where thieves can never break in and steal, but that are safeguarded for us until the end. Jesus says that everyone picks a master And that the master that you pick sets a course. And he talks about eyes. And we have to look at this text through Romans 1, which talks about those who serve the created thing rather than the creator.

And when that happens, when we store up things on earth, when our treasures are earthly treasures, and we are actually not serving the God of heaven, but we are serving the things that He has created? There is a darkening that happens. Jesus is warning about this on the Sermon on the Mount. If you will not serve God as God and live thankfully before Him, then you will serve created things and your eyes will be darkened. And Jesus says, if the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness?

And so Jesus brings a warning to us. And at the end of chapter 6 he says, in this great, unforgettable summary statement, he says, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. He so desired us to know if we would have God as our master, if we would truly have God as our master, not just the master of our lips and of our proclamation, but the master of our lives, the one that we really serve, Jesus would have us know what kind of a master he is. And Jesus teaches that he's a master that knows how to clothe his children. He's a master that knows how to feed his children, so that his children would be free to seek his kingdom and his righteousness, because this father takes care of his children.

This father supplies all the needs of his children. And so they don't have to spend all the days, minutes, hours of their lives worrying about the things that the pagans worry about, that the heathen spend their time striving after, but they can know that their God takes care of these things. And so they can fix their attention on his kingdom and his righteousness. Finally, in chapter 7, having established perfection as the standard, not so that we would have any sort of works, righteousness at all. That's never why Jesus is establishing the law and perfection is the standard.

He is doing that to keep us humble and to have us trusting in Christ and not on ourselves. If you came out of chapters 5 and 6 still trusting in yourself, still without humility, then either you were not paying attention or something. Did you just feel week by week the weight is just being piled up? Who can survive the weight of what Jesus is piling up upon us. And that was by design.

Jesus as the master preacher is bringing us to the breaking point where we would say, I can't do it. I can't be that. And we would begin to have our pride broken and be humbled before the Lord and know that we must trust in him and we can never trust in ourselves because of the standard of perfection that he has set before us. So having done that in chapter 7, he brings us some warnings of things we ought to look out for as we understand that the standard is perfection and is dealing with sin. And Jesus is just recognizing that human nature with this standard of perfection would have us eyeballing our brother and saying, he's not perfect to this standard, all the while applying a different standard to ourselves.

And Jesus says, no, in my kingdom, that's not how it works. In my kingdom, you do deal with sin, but you don't start with your brother's sin. You start with your own sin. And you deal with your own sin first. And then, and then you'll see clearly to help your brother deal with his sin.

Not as a judge that comes to pronounce a verdict on your brother, that is not your position, but is one who comes in a spirit of gentleness with love for your brother's soul to help him with his sin. That is how the kingdom of heaven works. The kingdom of man, this counterfeit kingdom works in a completely different way where we look cross-eyed at each other, where we hold our brother to one standard and hold ourselves to another. But Jesus says away with all that. That's not how it works in my kingdom.

In my kingdom the standard is perfection and you hold yourself to that standard and you deal with yourself according to that standard. And then the humility that that brings, when you see how well you are doing against my standard of perfection, the humility that that brings will afford you the ability to go to your brother in the right way in a spirit of love and humility to help him with his sin. And finally in that section, he talks about how we deal with those who are outside the kingdom and their sin. It's not appropriate to go sanctify the unregenerate, because they haven't been justified. People that haven't been justified can't be sanctified.

Now, does that mean that the law has nothing to say to them? No. The law has something very much to say to them. But it's not about them being conformed into the image of Christ. It's them coming to a knowledge that they are condemned before God.

See, when we deal with sin and our brother, our job is never to condemn our brother. Because they've been justified by Jesus Christ. And yet, the unregenerate is exactly the other way around. They must Not that they are condemned by us, who are we? But the unregenerate must understand that they stand condemned before God and so that they can be broken.

They can be brought to the cross. Then in the sermon, Jesus begins to speak about his kindness as a father, about his predisposition to be good to his children, to bless his children. And he actually commands and invites us to ask, and to seek, and to knock. And He's trying to pull us out of a ho-hum religion where we never expect anything great, where we always think things will just be done to the extent of our own strength and to stop that, to come outside of that and see that there is an almighty Father in heaven who has commanded his children to ask of him, to seek from him, to knock at the closed doors, knowing that God is always able to open any door or to give whatever would be sought, or to grant any request. And he asks us to consider wicked men, like us, knowing that earthly fathers also have this predisposition to good towards their children.

When their children ask them for good things, for reasonable things, when they ask them for a fish, they don't give them serpents. When they ask for bread, they don't give them stones. So Jesus says, if earthly, wicked, evil fathers are like that, have a predisposition to bless their children, how much more your Father in heaven? And so we're asked to consider, are we thinking rightly about God? Are we thinking of Him as a Father who has All the good qualities of a good earthly father, only to an exponential degree, are we thinking of him as something else.

And Jesus is shifting our minds to see him as a father who wants us to ask, wants us to seek, wants us to knock at doors that are closed. Not so that we'll have things to spend according to our pleasure, but so that the glory of God would spread, so that the things we were praying for in the Lord's prayer would actually come to fruition. God desires that. God desires that we would have a part in all those things. Does he need us for them?

Of course not. The kingdom will advance without you. The kingdom will advance without me. And yet, God in his wisdom and in his kindness desires for us to be part of this expansion of his kingdom. Finally, Jesus perfects these two parallel lines he has been tracing throughout the whole sermon of the kingdom of heaven where he's the king and where his subjects love him and therefore obey him and this counterfeit kingdom of man And he puts it in the starkest terms.

He says that there is a wide door that leads to a broad way that leads to destruction. And there's a narrow gate that leads to a difficult way, but that way leads to life. And in these things, and in the story of the wise man who builds on rock on Jesus Christ and his sayings, and the foolish man who builds a very similar looking house, maybe an identical looking house, but he builds it right on top of the sand, not knowing that the fatal flaw has been built in. In these things, he is making his claim to absolute supremacy. He is making his claim to kingship.

He is claiming that he will be the one to separate the sheep from the goats at the end of time. That men and women and children will come to him on that day, on that day when we all must stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ and he will be the one sitting as the judge. And so either you will be for this king or you will be against him. Either you will be a part of his kingdom, having not just talked about serving him, but actually having been brought supernaturally by work of the Holy Spirit through the work of the cross into this kingdom. Or though you say, Lord, Lord, you will be found outside of it.

And he will say, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. This is the kingdom of heaven. More importantly, this is your king. It is King Jesus, who sets himself before you today. That's a summary of the sermon.

So here's my question. What have we done with this? What will we do with this? Has this been an interesting intellectual exercise for four months? Or is this something that, in a profound way, is transforming us, is helping us to be conformed into the image of this King.

And so I have a series of questions to ask us as we exit the sermon. Number one, have you repented and been brought into the kingdom of heaven? All of this was just an exposition of that one statement, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And so we should all be asking, have I repented and been brought into this kingdom? Do I have the signs of loving the things that he loves and hating the things that he hates or do I find overwhelmingly I don't really love those things?

Having these warnings before us that not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven. These are frightening words, and they should frighten us. Jesus has given them to us for this intent, that we would be sober minded, that we would consider, we would examine ourselves to see if we're in the faith, that we would test ourselves to see whether we had been united with Jesus Christ so that his merits would become our merits and his sacrifice would be on our behalf. Number two, is the law of God producing humility in you. Jesus Christ throughout the whole sermon, from beginning to end, is driving towards humility and dependence.

Is that having its effect? We had 16 weeks of that. I could tell you they were a humiliating 16 weeks for me, and I'm so glad. I don't know how to quantify it. I just know I'm less proud today than I was 16 weeks ago.

I am. I have seen more of what God is like. And I have seen more of what I'm like. And I'm feeling more like a brother who could come alongside you in gentleness and humility to help you with your sin now. And I am wide open to you doing the same towards me.

It's been good. And Is that true of you? Can you look back on the last 16 weeks and say, I have been brought low by the law of God, by the vision of perfection that Jesus Christ has set before us? And is that giving you a healthy fear so that you're afraid about sin again? There's a paradox here.

The Gospel in one way sets us free from condemnation. And yet, Jesus Christ at the same time wants us to be so afraid of sinning against our Almighty Father that if our right eye is causing us to sin, we'd rather pluck it out and cast it from us. If our right hand is causing us to sin, we'd rather cut it off and cast it from us to be free from sin so that our whole Self isn't shipwrecked. Next question. Are you the friend of Almighty God?

Are you just busy with religion? So much of the sermon has been directed to that question. Are you the friend of Almighty God? He has called himself Father over and over and over again in this sermon. The subjects of his kingdom are his children.

He's their father, predisposed to do well to them, to be kind to them, to bless them. And is this how we know our God? Is this tender to us? Or is this all very official? All very transactional?

Jesus wants nothing to do with transactional religion, where we are busy, where we erect the banner of the name of Jesus Christ and then just begin to do things. But at the end of it Jesus says, I never knew you, depart from me. Jesus Christ has a kingdom where we have a Father where we've been adopted. And it's a tender thing. It's a thing where we would delight to go into a room and shut the door, though no one else would ever know it, to be with God, to pray to him in secret.

Next question, are you trusting in God or are you worrying? These months should be building our faith as we see what Jesus says and the great promises that he has made to us through this sermon. It should be taking us away from worry and taking us towards trust. Our faith should be built up by the promises of God that he has given to us in the Sermon on the Mount. Next question.

Are you dealing with sin? How could we be in these texts and not deal with sin? Those who have repented and been brought into this kingdom, they hunger and thirst for righteousness. The status quo is not appealing to them. Not making progress is not an option for them, because they've been given, they've been made hungry, they've been made thirsty for God in His ways.

That's what dealing with sin is. It's an acknowledgement that it puts us out of the way of God Almighty when we rebel against Him. And when we truly have this hunger, truly have this thirst given to us by God, then we'll find ourselves dealing with sin. We'll find ourselves having God identify those things to us. So that we'll no longer treat those sins as friends, but treat them as enemies.

Finally, are you building on rock? Paul says that no one can lay a foundation other than what has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. There is only one foundation. There are no other alternate foundations. The alternative is not to have a foundation and to lay all the things that you're building just upon the sand and to continue to build in the fatal flaw.

And As we learned last week, though no one else may be able to see the fatal flaw that's built in, time and circumstances will always reveal. A time will come where the rain comes down and the floods come up and the winds beat and you get it from all sides to reveal your work, whether you've been building on sand or whether you've dug down to bedrock, the Lord Jesus Christ and are building on that. Are you in the Kingdom of God? These last 16 weeks have been a treasure. I hope we will look back and remember that there was a time when God gave us more clarity about his kingdom and about what it was like and about how it was so radically different than the counterfeit kingdom of man.

And we would be captured by this beautiful vision of a man or a woman or a child who is poor in spirit, who mourns over their own sin or over the sin of others and of the devastating effects that it brings, who are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are merciful, who are pure in heart, who are peacemakers, who are persecuted for righteousness sake, and yet they rejoice and they're exceedingly glad, knowing that they're in great company. Because so they treated the prophets that were before them. Oh God, May God give us an increase of these things that start as little seeds. We see how imperfectly they're formed in us and yet he is able to water. He is able to give increase that we would excel in these things more and more, we would find ourselves growing in them as we love our King and therefore obey his sayings.

Let's pray. Oh God, thank you. Thank you for these precious words. No wonder the crowds were amazed as you taught with such authority, As you set yourself up as God, you are God, Jesus. We worship you.

We're so glad that you are the King. We desire to be made faithful subjects conformist by your word. We ask you in Jesus' name, Amen.