THEME: The beginning of the so–called Sermon on the Mount dealing with the relationship of the subjects of the Kingdom to self and to law

INTRODUCTION TO THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

Although we will consider each chapter of the Sermon on the Mount separately, let’s first consider it as a whole. The Lord Jesus gave four major discourses. Matthew records three of them: (1) the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5–7; (2) the Mystery Parables Discourse, chapter 13; and (3) the Olivet Discourse, chapters 24–25. The Sermon on the Mount is the manifesto of the King. The Mystery Parables Discourse gives the direction that the Kingdom of Heaven will take after Christ’s rejection. The Olivet Discourse is prophetic, looking toward the future. There is a fourth discourse, recorded in John’s Gospel, which deals with new truths and relationships in view of Christ’s death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession. You and I are vitally connected with this latter discourse, by the way.
While the Sermon on the Mount is in Matthew 5–7, excerpts of it are in the other Gospels, also. It is unlikely that our Lord gave it only one time. He repeated, as you know, a great deal of the truths that He gave and probably gave this message, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, on many occasions. Luke records only a portion of it and mentions the fact that our Lord came down and stood on the plain, indicating that this was a different occasion. Frankly, Matthew’s account is probably only a part of the Sermon on the Mount. I believe that our Lord gave a great deal more than we have here. However, this was given for our learning and our understanding today.
There are two things I would like to say by way of introduction to this section. One is that the far right and the far left are not confined to politics, but among theologians who expound Scripture we also have the far left and the far right. This is vividly revealed in the understanding of the Sermon on the Mount. The liberal theologian is to the far left. He treats the Sermon on the Mount as the gospel, the good news. He acts (even if he doesn’t say it) as if it were the only important part of Scripture.
Many years ago I played handball with a very liberal preacher who later became rather famous as a leader of the liberal wing. One day he told me that all he needed of the Bible was the Sermon on the Mount. He went even so far as to say that all he needed was the Golden Rule, as recorded in Matthew 7:12: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” To say that this is all the Bible you need may sound good, but it is pious drivel. The question is not whether you feel that the Sermon on the Mount is your religion. The question is: Are you living it? That is the important thing, and we’ll have more to say about that later.
Those who reduce the Christian message to the Sermon on the Mount represent a very large segment of liberalism in our day. But please notice that the content of the Christian gospel is not found in the Sermon on the Mount. For instance, there is absolutely no mention of the death and resurrection of Christ. Yet Paul said to the Corinthians, “… I declare unto you the gospel….” What is the gospel? The Sermon on the Mount? No. Paul made it clear that the gospel is this: “… that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:1, 3–4, italics mine). My friend, the gospel is not in the Sermon on the Mount, and that is the reason a great many people like to claim it as their religion. The preaching of that doctrine has made more hypocrites in the church than anything else. It is nothing in the world but verbiage for men to say, “I live by the Sermon on the Mount.” If a man is honest and will read the Sermon on the Mount, he will know that he is not living up to it.
My friend, if the Sermon on the Mount is God’s standard (and it is) and you come short of it, what are you going to do? Do you have a Savior who can extend mercy to you? Do you know the One who can reach down in grace and save you when you put your faith in Him?
To reduce the Christian message to the Sermon on the Mount is a simplicity which the Scriptures would not permit under any circumstances whatsoever. To do so is the extreme left point of view.
There is also the extreme right point of view. This group treats the Sermon on the Mount as if it were the bubonic plague. They have nothing to do with it. They give the impression that there is something ethically wrong with it. This group is known as hyper–dispensationalists. (Don’t misunderstand, I am a dispensationalist but not a hyper–dispensationalist.) They maintain that we can’t use the Sermon on the Mount at all. In fact, one of them told me that the Lord’s Prayer has no meaning for us today. He was a prominent man, and after I heard him make that statement, I ran a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord’s Prayer. In fact, I have a book entitled Let Us Pray which deals with the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer does have meaning for us in our day. It is for us although it is not to us. But the extreme right want to rule it out entirely.
It is true that there is no gospel in the Sermon on the Mount, and it is tragic indeed to give it to unregenerate man as a standard of conduct, and to tell him that if he tries to measure up to it, he is a Christian.
The Sermon on the Mount is Law lifted to the nth degree. Man could not keep the Law in the Old Testament. So how in the world can he keep, in his own strength, the Sermon on the Mount which is elevated to an even higher degree?
It is likewise true that the modus operandi for Christian living is not really found in the Sermon on the Mount. It gives the ethic without supplying the dynamic. Living by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit is just not one of the truths taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Paul says: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3–4).
You don’t find that teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. It contains nothing of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. However, it does contain high ethical standards and practices which are not contrary to Christian living; in fact, it expresses the mind of Christ which should be the mind of the Christian also. The great principles set down here are profitable for the Christian to study and learn, but he can never attain them in his own strength; he must go elsewhere to look for the power. What you have in the Sermon on the Mount is a marvelous electric light bulb, but you do not have the generator that produces the power that will make the light. And it is the light, not the bulb, that is all important.
The primary purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to set before men the law of the Kingdom. In Matthew we are talking about the King who has come to present Himself. John the Baptist was His forerunner, and the King called disciples to follow Him. Now He enunciates the law of the Kingdom. This is the manifesto of the King and the platform of the Prince of Peace. And it’s law! It will be the law of this world during the Millennium, and then it will find full fruition. Christ will reign on earth in person and will enforce every word of it. The Sermon on the Mount will finally prevail when He whose right it is to rule shall come. Now it’s inconceivable to me that anyone who acknowledges Him today as Lord would despise this document or turn from it. The Christian who calls Jesus Christ Lord, will seek to do what He commands, but he can obey only in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is worse than futile to try to force the Sermon on the Mount on a gainsaying and rebellious world. Only the gospel of the grace of God can make men obedient to Christ, and it was given to bring men into obedience to God.
The Sermon on the Mount needs to be preached to bring conviction to the hearts of men. This document lets men know that they have sinned, and it reveals that none are righteous and that all have come short of God’s glory.
The Christian can take the principles set down in the Sermon on the Mount and consider them in the light of other Scriptures. This will provide a wider view and a better understanding of the mind of Christ. For example, only here can you find Christ’s definition of murder and adultery. Christ took two of the commandments and lifted them to the nth degree, “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exod. 20:13–14). Are these the only two which He lifted to a higher level? The answer seems to be obvious. These are the only two which are recorded in Matthew. Apparently, He did or could lift each commandment to a much higher level of attainment. If it could be said of the Mosaic Law, “… for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Gal. 2:16), then it would be ten times more difficult for a man to be justified by the Sermon on the Mount.
Try putting down upon your own life these two commandments: “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Let me illustrate what I mean by a little story. This incident took place during my first pastorate when I was a lot more blunt than I am now. An elder in the church I served in Nashville, Tennessee, invited me to speak at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon. This elder was a very wonderful man. He was the vice–president of a bank in the city, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and when he asked me to bring a brief message, he said, “You won’t have but a few minutes, but I want you to give these businessmen the gospel.” Well, I arrived at the place a little early, and there were several men standing around. I went up near the speaker’s table, and there was a man there who shook hands with me and began to rip out oaths. I had never seen such a fine–looking, well–dressed man curse as this man did. Finally, he said to me, “What’s your racket?” I told him that I was a preacher, and he began to cover up immediately. He apologized for his language. He didn’t need to apologize to me; he needed to apologize to God because God heard him all the time—which I told him. Then he wanted me to know that he was an officer in a certain liberal church, and he boasted, “The Sermon on the Mount is my religion.”
“It is?” I said, “Let’s shake hands. I congratulate you—you’ve got a wonderful religion! By the way, how are you doing with it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said that the Sermon on the Mount is your religion. Are you living by it?”
“Well I try.”
“That’s not quite it. The Lord said that you are blessed if you do those things, not if you vote for them. Are you keeping it?”
“I think I am.”
“Do you mind if we take a little test?”
“All right.”
“The Sermon on the Mount says that if you are angry with your brother you are guilty of murder. Are you keeping that one?”
“Well, that’s pretty strong, but I don’t think I have been angry enough to kill anyone.”
Then I quoted the one the Lord gave on adultery: “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (v. 28), and asked him, “How about that one?”
“Oh, I guess that would get me.”
“Well, I imagine that there are several things in the Sermon on the Mount that would get you. Apparently you are not living by your religion. If I were you, I’d change my religion and get something that works.”
Oh, how many people there are like that man! They very piously say that the Sermon on the Mount is their religion, but all they mean is that they think it is a good document and a very fine expression, but it doesn’t affect them one whit. I found out later that the man I was talking with had two wives—one at home and one at his office. My friend, if the Sermon on the Mount is your religion, you had better make sure you are keeping it. It is loaded with law. But if you will look at the Sermon on the Mount honestly, it will bring you to a Savior who died for you on the cross. The Sermon on the Mount sets before us great principles and high goals. We need to know them, but they reveal how far we come short.
Matthew’s record of the Sermon on the Mount is, I am sure, only a skeleton of Christ’s actual message. I have divided it like this:

1. Relationship of the subjects of the Kingdom to self (Matt. 5:1–16).
2. Relationship of the subjects of the Kingdom to law (Matt. 5:17–18).
3. Relationship of the subjects of the Kingdom to God (Matt. 6).
4. Relationship of the subjects of the Kingdom to others (Matt. 7).

The Sermon on the Mount opens with the Beatitudes. It is well to note that they are be–attitudes, not do–attitudes. They state what the subjects of the Kingdom are—they are the type of person described in the Beatitudes.
Verse 1 makes it clear why this discourse is called the Sermon on the Mount.
First it should be noted that the Lord did not actually give the Sermon on the Mount to the multitudes. He gave it to His disciples, those who were already Hi


McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Gospels (Matthew 1-13) (electronic ed., Vol. 34, pp. 67–73). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.