The Sermon on the Mount – Part Three

 

A. Instructions for Prayer

 

1.       Enter His gates with thanksgiving and enter His courts with praise.

 

2.       It is not natural for God’s will to be done on earth. We have to pray for this.

 

Matthew 6:9–10

9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 

10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

a. Bringing needs before God:

 

•         You receive not because you ask not.

•         God only forgives us as we forgive others.

 

Matthew 6:11–13

11 Give us this day our daily bread. 

12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 

13 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.

 

B. The Merciful shall Obtain Mercy 

 

1. The unmerciful will not obtain mercy.

 

Matthew 6:14–15

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 

15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

 

C. Fasting should not be Done for Show

 

1. Notice Jesus didn’t say, “If you fast.” He said, “When you fast.”

 

Matthew 6:16–18

16 “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. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 

17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 

18 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.

 

D. We should Value Spiritual Things

 

1.      What we give the most attention to is what we will end up setting our affections on.

 

Matthew 6:19–21

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 

20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

E.                   The Power of Single-Minded Dedication

 

1.      A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.

 

2.      It is impossible to be spiritual and carnal at the same time. 

 

Matthew 6:22–24

22  “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 

23 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! 

24 “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.

 

F.                   God Wants Us Focused on the Spiritual

 

1.      Take no thought – don’t worry.

 

2.      If God takes care of the birds, He will certainly take care of us.

Matthew 6:25–26

25 “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? 

26 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?

 

a. Consider the lily.

 

Worrying over material things demonstrates a lack of faith.

 

Matthew 6:27–30

27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 

29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

 

b. God knows all about our needs.

 

Take no thought. Carnal people are focused on these things.

 

Matthew 6:31–32

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 

32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

 

c. Seek first the Kingdom of God.

 

The material things we need shall be supplied for us.

 

Matthew 6:33–34

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

 

G. We should Never Criticize Others

 

1.       Let him that is without sin cast the first stone.

 

2.       The merciful shall obtain mercy.

 

3.       The judgmental shall obtain judgment.

Matthew 7:1–2

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 

2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

 

a. The lesser always criticizes the greater.

 

A mote is a speck or a splinter. The critic says, “They do those things, but I don’t.” 

 

Matthew 7:3–5

3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 

4 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? 

5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

 

b.We shouldn’t share spiritual treasures with just anybody.

 

People that will criticize others will criticize you. Jesus did not commit Himself unto them for He knew what was in man. 

 

Matthew 7:6

6 “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.

 

H. How can We Find God?

 

1.       Seek and you shall find.

 

2.       Everyone that asketh receiveth!

 

3.       Lesson of the unjust judge 

 

Matthew 7:7–8

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 

8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

 

a. God wants to give us good things.

 

We are good to our children. How much more will God be good to us?

 

Matthew 7:9–11

9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 

10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 

11 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 things to those who ask Him!

 

I. The Way of Eternal Life is Narrow by Design

 

1.       The broad way is the wrong way. Many will go that way.

 

2.       The right way is narrow, and few will find it.

 

3.       Sometimes when truth comes, people say, “But I can’t believe all those other people are lost.”

Matthew 7:12–14

12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. 

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 

14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

 

J. How do We Recognize False Prophets?

 

1.       What is the gospel? (I Corinthians 15:1-4)

 

2.       Anyone preaching any other gospel is a false prophet.

Matthew 7:15–17

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 

16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 

17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

 

Galatians 1:8

8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

 

K. Everything Hinges on being Born Again

 

1.       The critical thing is not the fruit. It is whether the tree is good or corrupt.

 

2.       Don’t try to put a new patch on an old garment.

Matthew 7:18–20

18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 

19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 

20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

 

What we do indicates what we believe.

 

These people had prophesied and cast out devils in the name of Jesus, yet they were lost. 

 

Matthew 7:21–23

21 “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. 

22 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?’ 

23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

 

John 5:39

39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.