Jesus preached the gospel and had miracles in Matthew chapter 4. The Sermon on the Mount is, in essence, His follow up booklet to new believers. The Sermon on the Mount by Jesus is all about the kingdom of God and His righteousness. In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus said that the kingdom of God is within us. Righteousness is right standing with God. Jesus will be contrasting our attempts at right-standing with God through our own works and discussing His righteousness, which is a free gift of God. Jesus is really preaching or teaching the gospel message, but He does not speak of His death for our sins and His resurrection. He will not speak of His death and resurrection until many chapters later. The gospel is about our right-standing with God given to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus bore our sins and took our penalty on the cross. When we trust in Jesus and call upon His name, we receive His righteousness or right-standing with God. Many teachers seem to teach the Sermon on the Mount as if Jesus was speaking disjointed thoughts that had no connection. Jesus is speaking in a sequential, logical manner, explaining the kingdom of God within us and our right standing in it. Matthew uses the phrase kingdom of heaven. It is the same thing as the kingdom of God. Matthew was writing to the Jews, who did not like to write the name of God, so Matthew used the phrase kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." As we try to approach God by our own works, trying to keep the Law or the commandments of the Old Testament in an attempt to gain God's favor, we will fail and see that we are poor in spirit. When we know we can only receive the kingdom of God as a gift by His mercy, then we receive the kingdom of God in our hearts.
Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn (by trying to keep the Old Testament Law, we fail and see that we need mercy), for they shall be comforted (we receive His mercy and grace)."
Matt. 5:5 "Blessed are the meek (teachable; we learn from the Law that we actually need His mercy and grace), for they shall inherit the earth." Inheriting the earth is a reference to God supplying our needs in Matthew 6:33.
Matt. 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled (with His righteousness)." When we recognize that we cannot gain His favor by our own works or our own attempts at self-righteousness, He fills us with His righteousness. God gives us right-standing with Him as a gift, by His mercy.
Matt. 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." As we see that we cannot gain right-standing with God through our own works or self-righteousness, we then receive His mercy. We begin to extend His mercy and grace to others; in turn, we obtain mercy from other people.
Matt. 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." God's grace and mercy flowing through us leads us to walk in holiness and purity of heart. As we are pure in heart, trusting in His gift of righteousness to us, we will begin to see or perceive God within us. We also see or perceive God as He is, that He is love and has mercy toward us.
Matt. 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." We begin to share that peace with God comes through His mercy and grace. He is not mad at people. He gives us right-standing with Himself as a gift. There is peace between God and man when we approach God through His grace and mercy in Jesus. People will see the love of God in us and call us the sons of God.
Matt. 5:10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." People who are prideful and trust in their own works or self-righteousness will not like those who are trusting in right-standing with God through mercy and grace in our Lord Jesus Christ. Persecution will result as we preach or declare right-standing with God through His grace and mercy instead of our own works.
Matt.5:11-12 "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." When we preach right-standing with God through His mercy and grace, those who oppose this message will say we are just using grace as an excuse to sin and cover up the evil we are doing. Notice Jesus said we are blessed if they say all kings of evil against you falsely for My sake. If we participate in evil and use His grace as an excuse to sin, their accusations against us are correct. This will cause self-righteous people to reject our message of grace instead of seeing the error of their way.
Matt. 5:13 "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." If we proclaim right-standing with God through Jesus apart from our works by His mercy and grace, but do not walk in holiness, our message will have no effect with people. Men, not God, will reject us and our message of grace.
Matt. 5:14-16 "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 lampstand, 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." When we declare that we are right with God by His grace and mercy, but we also walk in love and holiness before people, people will glorify God and accept our message of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.
From this point forward in His message, Jesus will raise the standard of the Old Testament Law to include not only our actions but our thoughts. None of us are perfect in our actions. We all do some good but we also do some bad things. We need mercy, not justice. Jesus will discuss your righteousness or attempt at self righteousness before God beginning in Matt. 5:20 and contrast it with His righteousness in Matt. 6:33. This is the key to understanding the rest of the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus. The rest of Matthew 5 will discuss our failure to live up to the righteous standard of the Law in our actions or thoughts. Matthew chapter 6 will discuss wrong motives behind good deeds that we do, in order to look good before other people. This should cause all of us to cry out for His mercy and grace, which He will give to us freely in Jesus.
Matt. 5:17-20 "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."
The Old Testament Law was given to convict us of sin. When it does that and we cry out to God for His mercy and grace in Jesus, the Law has done its job and is fulfilled in our lives. The Law will continue doing its job of convicting people of sin until they realize that they need mercy and not justice. The key words to understanding the rest of Matthew chapter 5 and most of chapter 6 are your righteousness. This will be in contrast to His gift of righteousness in Matthew 6:33.
In Matthew 5:21-48, Jesus raises the standard of the Old Testament law to include not only our thoughts but our actions. None of us have kept these standards perfectly. We have either failed in our actions or our thoughts. In Matthew 6:1-18, Jesus tells us not to do our good or charitable deeds before men in order to be seen by them. There is not one of us who would be completely pure in regards to this either. We have all sinned; we have all done good things with the wrong motive. In Matthew 6:19-34, Jesus discusses the deceitfulness of riches and shows us how worried we get over material needs. After all of this, there is not a one of us that can stand in our own attempt at self-righteousness before God by our own good works. We need His mercy and grace.
Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, and all these things will be added to you. As we can see, Jesus was contrasting our attempt at being right with God through our own works with God's gift of righteousness through His mercy and grace. Since Jesus is speaking logically and in sequence, He tells us to stop judging one another in Matthew chapter 7.
Matt.7:1-6 "Judge not, that you be not judged (by other people). For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged (by others); and with what measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the 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 eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank (of self-righteousness) 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 (your heart) to the dogs (self-righteous), nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." When we judge others, they will judge us and tear our heart to pieces.
Matt. 7:7-8 "Ask (for His righteousness as a free gift), and it will be given to you; seek (first the kingdom of God and His righteousness) and you will find; knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks (for mercy and grace) receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." Jesus will then show us that God is more merciful and graceful than any human parent in Matthew 7:9-11.
Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter by the narrow gate (God's gift of right-standing through His mercy), for wide is the gate and broad is the way which leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."
Many people teach that few people will go to heaven by misinterpreting these verses. Jesus was speaking to the Jewish people. Comparatively few of the Jewish people accepted what Jesus was saying about grace because they were approaching God by trying to keep the Old Testament Law and be justified by their works. Billions of Gentiles have accepted the Lord over the centuries.
Matthew 7:15-23. Read this passage. This entire passage is referring to false prophets. Who are the false prophets Jesus was referring to? They were the Jewish teachers who were teaching that we are made right with God by trying to keep the Old Testament Law. This would have enraged those Jewish teachers of the Old Testament. Jesus said you will know them, the false teachers, by their fruits. The good tree is the one teaching the grace and mercy of God. The bad tree is the teacher teaching self-righteousness by trying to keep the Old Testament Law. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. This isn't talking about Christians struggling with sin. It is saying that those false prophets teaching self-righteousness by our own good works will be cut down and thrown into the fire, a reference to Matthew 3:12.
Finally, in Matthew 7:24-27, the rock that Jesus refers to is God's gift of righteousness apart from our works. That is the rock upon which we build our foundation. That rock is the mercy and grace of God given to us in Jesus.
We are made right with God by what Jesus did for us. He paid the penalty for the sins of our entire lifetime. He gives us right-standing as a gift by His mercy and grace. Praise the name of Jesus!
Keith Oliver
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