The Sermon of All Sermons, Part 1

Scholars consider Jesus sermon on the mountain to be his finest work if not the greatest speech of all time. The most familiar section is known as the Beatitudes the entire discourse takes up three chapters in the book of Matthew today on Insight for living. Chuck Swindoll provides a helpful summary of chapters 5, six and seven before we conducted deep dive into each verse. So whether this passage is new to you, or it's quite familiar. Let's listen carefully as God speaks to us through the sermon of all sermon. What a privilege it is to have a copy of the Scriptures in our own language provided for us. However we may wish to purchase it specially when you realize in some lands to carry a copy of the Scriptures is lethal and to declare the message of the one true God is a frightening risk. We have no such fear in this land so far because of that we have the privilege not only of carrying a Bible studying and learning in carrying out its message, but even gathering to hear it proclaimed. Maybe never lose the thrill or a sense of gratitude for that privilege today returned to the book of Matthew. Three chapters.

As we do, if you will, a flyover of the sermon on the Mount chapters 5, six and seven take you 15 minutes or less to read the sermon.

I always say to folks don't get your hopes up Jesus could deliver that much truth in 15 minutes.

I don't know of anyone who's ever lived who could do so.

Certainly not in the way he was able to do it and he is captured for us in this sermon, the answer to that which plagues everyone who claims to be a follower of his and that is hypocrisy which is hideous and to make matters worse, it is addicted. Most of us learn to be hypocrites long before we learn to be good Christian because that's true. The sermon on the Mount is a very relevant message for each one of us to hear. If you doubt that you need to hear it more than anyone else want to read just a few excerpts from chapters 5, six and seven I will read a few verses from each chapter.

Chapter 5 verse one begins. As I read from the new living translation.

One day as he saw the crowds gathering Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him and he began to teach them the Beatitudes follow. In verses three through 10 down through verse 12. And then Jesus says, verse 13 you are the salt of the earth. Verse 14 you are the light of the world like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. Chapter 6 verse one. Watch out don't do your good deeds publicly to be admired by others.

For you will lose the reward from your father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don't do it, as the hypocrites do blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity.

Verse five when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get first 16 and when you fast will make it obvious as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled, so people will admire them for their fasting until you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get chapter 7 verse one do not judge others and you will not be judged.

For you will be treated as you treat others the standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. Verse 24.

Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise like a person who builds a house on solid rock though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock, but anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey his foolish like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority, quite unlike their teachers of religious law. May the Lord use the message today and in the days to come from the sermon on the Mount to break our habit long-standing a performance before others in hypocrisy.

Study the book of Matthew Chuck Swindoll. Be sure to download his searching the Scriptures. Studies going to Insight world.org/study in our text message about the sermon of all sermons, all of you who know Christ are preachers of the gospel. You hear that you might think will not medium another preacher let me give you a new thought somewhat, as written, preach the gospel at all times. If necessary use words you see you are at all times. As a representative of Christ, delivering the gospel, you're just not saying so it's coming through good deeds.

It it comes when you shake the salt and when you spread the light or is Jesus put it so well when you let your good deeds shine so that others praise your heavenly father. That is a preaching to know what is. I discovered that when you deliver the message in your life you have very little difficulty. Later delivering it from your lip. For those who are the recipient of your good deeds or disarmed their fill with gratitude and you've not done it to manipulate that you've done it because you care. It has been compassion. It has been mercy. It has been love. It is been a demonstration of your concern for their lives in whatever way you may have preached through your good deeds. You see when you preach the gospel without words you are carrying out the Christian life at its core level and I can assure you there is no difficulty in any community were gathering our size, who lives out the life will have any trouble spreading the message of Christ by word. Later on, and then admittedly, there are some who are called to be proclaimers of the truth called. Who are those who are called to be preacher pastors, teacher, Jesus did not originate the preaching of sermons as powerful as his sermons were they been going on mine since the days of Enoch and no one in Job and Abraham. There had been sermons preached by kings and especially by prophets, including all the way to John the baptizer so Jesus preaches one in a long line of other preacher we all know who love the Lord Jesus that when the messages preached it is to be done so without reluctance or apology.

I agree with John RW Stott writes in his fine book on preaching between two worlds. Preaching is indispensable to Christianity without preaching a necessary part of its authenticity is lost for Christianity is in its very essence a religion of the word of God because God has spoken.

We must speak what he has spoken. Hence the paramount obligation to preach. Of all the sermons Jesus delivered, none is more significant, more famous, more convicting, or more enduring than his immortal sermon on the Mount. That's why I called it the sermon of all sermon it cannot be improved upon.

Before we get into it. I want to do today.

Sort of an overview of the sermon as a whole, and even before that, I want to set the stage for it because you may have made have overlooked that in your understanding of the Scriptures. So go to chapter 5 Matthews gospel and let's focus on the first two verses we point out some things that can be easily overlooked their contrasts is Jesus waiting for the people I should say seven Jesus going to the people he had the people come to him. She verse one. One day as he saw the crowds gathering. He went up on a mountainside. Most preachers would rush to the crowd. Jesus walks away from the crowd and on the mountainside. We read. He sat down and his disciples gathered when you compare this with Luke in the parallel passage in Luke that matches Matthew five, you notice that not just the disciples who were the close and the called ones. Jesus but a larger gathering than they had come together to hear this second thing I noticed is not inside the building. Most sermons are preached in the building called the church or chapel or temple or Tabernacle some type of synagogue. He's not inside a building.

He does his outside on a mountainside when you travel to Israel. You are pointed to an area called the Mount of Beatitudes, which is north of the Sea of Galilee is a sloping rise that leads to a plateau. Most scholars believe that that was there at that plateau.

Jesus delivered the sermon.

You can see the wildflowers in the spring. The beautiful glowing grass from the wind and the rippling waters of the sea in front of you as your on that site to beautiful sight, but it's not like you would think of a mountain in Colorado or up even north of that, or in some other country.

This is like a sloping rising hillside where he preach this message noticed Nessa also that he didn't stand up most sermons today are preached. While the person is on his feet. We read that Jesus sent down the people gathered around him sitting and he sat down among them. It wasn't uncommon it isn't to this day for rabbis to deliver their message in a sitting position. So we sitting down, I noticed also.

He doesn't begin by blasting away as many evangelists do when they preach the gospel. He begins in a very gentle way, telling them how they can find lasting happiness and he repeats that several times.

Blessed are you blessed are you, how happy are you, how happy would you be how happy you are, as he delivers what we know today as a series of Beatitudes. What was the result of delivering the message turned to the end, often at the end of the sermon. People were ready to leave and they are on their way to wherever they want to go for the day.

Quickly forgetting what they heard.

It didn't happen this day on the 28th verse of chapter 7 when Jesus finished watch closely. The crowds were amazed at his teaching, Haiti Robertson, the great Baptist scholar, writes, they listen spellbound to the end and were left amazed. He also points out that it is in the imperfect tense is Matthew writes it in the Greek language which suggests a continued action.

They were continually sitting there amazed a buzz of astonishment as Robertson puts it, the bird means, literally, they were struck out of themselves. We have a saying the day they were blown away.

This sermon started then they could get over it. They had never heard anything like it, though they had heard preaching all their lives. None like this one man writes the people and heard many sermons before from the regular rabbis in the synagogue.

We have specimens of these discourses preserved in the mission and Gemara.

The Jewish Talmud.

When both were completed the driest dullest collection of disjointed comments on every conceivable problem in the history of mankind have been addressed, you have sat through sermons like that and you have been bored to tears, and may I say to you it wasn't your fault. If a servant is uninteresting. It's the preachers fault. Now you may not be interested in hearing it, and you may be reluctant to listen. But if he delivers the message as it is designed to be deliver. You cannot be bored because the truth is designed to set you free. When you are liberated from bondage are not bored in this case the bondage is hypocrisy is a long-standing habit. Among those were followers of Christ to learn the system. Unfortunately were raised around it.

Preachers can be the worst that hypocrisy we could look like were living one's life when in fact were living a lie.

We can say things beautifully but we can live them pathetically and because you're around that you could pick up that habit. Just as people did in the days of Jesus and this sermon is designed to make you different to make you break that habit.

If it happens to be one you informed. In fact, I agree with John or Debbie Stott. I think the key statement in the entire sermon is chapter 6 verse eight do not be like them. Jesus concern is that those who follow him will continue to follow the Pharisees and the scribes to continue to live like and sound like and ultimately looked like hypocrites, which is why he repeats on occasion through the sermon. The word hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites who pluck for Chase is a Greek word that is used on occasion in the Scriptures. It's a word that means one who plays a part in the ancient Greek plays they would wear a mask. The mass was at the side of the stage. The same actor would go and get the mask for tragedy.

The one that's frowning in the mouth is turned down, he would hold his large mask in front of his face and he would repeat the lines that were tragic lines and the people in the audience would understand. He's playing the part of this tragic scene a little later he would go get another math that would be smiling would be a comedy part and he would play this part same person wearing two different mask.

He was called in who pluck we toss from which we get the word hypocrite. It means obviously one who plays a part one who wears a mask before going further into this grand a chapter or five or three chapters of this sermon on the Mount. I want to address a few of my comments to hypocrisy in our day.

We live around political hypocrisy is not a political statement. It's a true statement.

Rare is the politician who isn't also a hypocrite. They learn to play a part. They make promises they have no plans to keep and they deliver them with persuasion to the point where you will vote for them believing they will keep their word. Most don't.

So there's political hypocrisy. The deliver speeds and were impressed only to find out later that they were plagiarists. They stole the words from someone else, and what sounds like there were original work was in fact the work of someone else who did not get the credit for what they say Passover. Do you hear a politician say and I quote they come across as though it's their original thought.

That's hypocrisy. Here's another when there is a moral and ethical hypocrisy that is swept are times we leave an impression that an individual is trustworthy, has integrity and we find out later that person lied there was a a newscaster who announced that he had for the longest time been in a helicopter that was shot down and he barely escaped with his life after he was finally faced with the truth he made the comment I misremembered what is Miss remembering it's lying. I have never once heard a newscaster say I lied.

I expect to live the rest of my days and never hearing why because you build up a front façade you're putting on a performance venue in front of the microphone until you're caught in a lie and then you relieve your responsibility. If the organization you work for has integrity, then there's financial hypocrisy it's called fraud. We've all read of it funds a raise for one cause, but they are spent for other things promises are broken. Plans are phony. The fraud occurs and we are shocked.

So the sermon on the Mount is a message that is for every one of us living today, the worst kind of hypocrisy in my opinion is religious hypocrisy, so-called spiritual leaders look one way, but in reality they do not live that way in private. They are another kind of person sermons are preached, but another one originated instead of Christ and his kingdom being enhanced the person himself is enhance the great temptation is to learn the system and to fit into that lifestyle. One of my ongoing prayers for Stone Breyer Community Church is that we will continually break down a tendency toward hypocrisy. One of my great goals for us as a church is that we live the life Jesus taught and when we don't, we admit it. The Lord does not expect perfection but he does expect authenticity so that not if but when we do wrong, or say something that isn't correct. We acknowledge it, rather than denying it or moving on is the what were the true in the sermon of all sermon. Jesus didn't shield the Pharisees from their deserved review, in no uncertain terms. Jesus called out their behavior is hypocritical. You're listening to Insight for living and there's much more from the sermon on the mount that Chuck Swindoll needs to address.

We urge you to keep listening through this week as we ventured deeper into this classic message from Jesus and to learn more about this ministry. Visit us online@insightworld.org. Many of our listeners have resolved to study the Bible on a deeper level with the extra time that the pandemic has afforded over the past year while working at home more becoming quarantined.

Many people are leveraging this time to read and study as never before.

Along those lines, I'm pleased to remind you that Insight for living offers. The Swindoll study Bible. This is a fully integrated study Bible, complete with Scripture helpful commentary from Chuck is practical insights and more and you can purchase the Swindoll study Bible by going to Insight.org/offer and when you're prepared to dig deeply into the gospel according to Matthew, which is the primary focus of our current series. We recommend that you add Swindoll's living insights commentary on Matthew to your personal collection Matthew commentary comes into hardbound volumes and the written in a style that's easy to understand and the format is simple to navigate to purchase Swindoll's living insights commentary on Matthew or the Swindoll study Bible go to Insight.org/store or if you prefer you can call us listening in the US dial 1-800-772-8880 Insight for living ministries is a nonprofit organization made possible not by the purchase of study tool, but voluntary gifts of grateful friends to help us continue providing BCB programs and all of the collateral resources give a donation today when you call us listening in the United States dial 1-800-772-8880 or give online@insight.or describes the sermon of all sermon right here on Insight for living. The preceding message. The sermon of all sermons was copyrighted in 2015 and 2021 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R.

Swindoll.

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