The Sermon on the Mount -- Part #1
Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount
Sermon #1: Hearing Jesus’ Words
Scripture Reference: Matthew 5:1-2
’And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him; And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying,..."
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Introduction:
This day probably began like any other day, but before it would be over the multitudes would have heard the grestest one who ever spoke a word, pour His heart out to them. They would hear the greatest sermon ever proclaimed and it would be spoken by Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, the Redeemer of all mankind. It would be recorded in the greatest book ever written and it would be preserved throughout the endless ages of time. It posseses the power to change lives and to make their lives happy and productive and free from the condemnation of sin. What a preacher and what a sermon!
For hundreds of years the voice of God had been silent. What they heard from the Pharisee priests and teachers was the voice of the law and its letter of perfection. However, it had no saving, changing power to offer Yet, Jesus spoke to them with a fresh word from His heavenly Father and there was a hunger among the crowds. They were desiring a WORD FROM GOD that would bring about a difference in their lives, something with power and annointing. That is exactly what Jesus spoke to them. He spoke with great power and authority.
As you begin to study this Sermon on the Mount,and take note to the greatest sermon and the greatest preacher, you must first realize something very important. It is possible to sit at the feet of the greatest speaker, the most annointed speaker, and hear every word that was spoken, and still walk away from it totally unchanged. That is one way the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST differs from the LAW of MOSES, Jesus will not force His commandments upon you. It has to be the individual’s personal choice to accept them. The words of Jesus has to be received with meekness and His words have to be able to take root inside of your hearts and then in ample time and season, His fruits will come forth from those roots. His loving, gentle, compassionate and holy spirit will flow through you and will become a light for others to follow. However the choice is yours.
The voice of Jesus is still being spoken unto us today. Every Sunday morning in churches throughout the world, annointed ministers stand before their congregations and through the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, Jesus speaks through them as He did to those in our scripture text. Man steps behind the cross and Jesus is before them working through His servants. What can you do to make sure that you hear His voice today? For you know that every time you come to listen to the voice of God, Satan also comes along to distract you and to get your minds upon anything other than Christ. How many sermons have you sat under, totally untouched and placing all the blame upon the poor preacher without the annointing upon him. Around the Sunday dinner table the preacher is the subject of the conversation. "He just did not get into it this morning." "I’ve heard him do better than what he did today." "He should have stopped way before he did, for he lost the annointing." It may never dawn upon you that the problem was not the preacher but the congregation, perhaps even you.
Regardless of who the minister is before you, it is hard to feed sheep who are already filled with other things. Being a minister I know that it is difficult to feed people who did not come hungry. When I was a very young boy my mother would play a game to get me to eat my food. She would take a spoon full of food and pretend it was an airplane coming in for a landing. My open mouth would become its landing strip. However, Jesus will not play games to get us to eat. Yet, if we hunger and thirst after Him we shall be filled.
Let us take a look at some points that may help you to receive the words of Jesus.
#1:)
HAVE AN ATTENTIVE HEART:
JAMES 1: 19-21a ’This you know my beloved brethern. But let everyone be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger,for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness...’
The first thing you need to do is to cultivate an attentive heart. Prepare your heart to receive the Word of God. Be swift to hear God’s word. Tune in to the channel God is speaking through. It is possible to "hear" and yet not "hear." The spoken word really didn’t settle into your heart and mind. It just sort of floated into one hear and floated out the other ear. When the sermon is over you have not the faintest idea of what was said. Your mind was else where, at home, what things you will do after church, the next week’s events, and etc. Sometimes people spend more time at church thinking about where they will go eat at after service, than thinking about the goodness of God. I’ve watched people pass notes around while the Word is being declared. I’ve watched people pass about Avon books and Tupperware books. There is no way those people will be touched by the Word. They did not come to be touched by the Word.
Imagine how Satan stands by and how hard he laughs at those who fail to really worship and really hear the Word of God. Satan doesn’t care how often you come to church and listen to the ministers, just as long as you do not absorb the life changing word. That’s why Jesus would often say, "He who hath ears to hear, let him hear.." Each one of us need to take heed to how we hear and to what we hear. I have found that getting into the worship part of the service, praise and worship, singing, giving, testifying and praising God, before the sermon is spoken, helps me to get in a right receptive spirit as the message is going forth.
One of the things that keeps people from hearing the Word of God, is they are "not slow to speak." One cannot listen if he or she is doing all the talking. God created each one of you with two ears and one mouth. Now that ought to tell you something. You need to be listening more than you are speaking. At one of the churches I pastored several years ago, there was a dear sister who would call me from time to time. Man did she have the gift to talk. She would talk for over an hour and not really say much of anything; at least nothing positive and edifying! She seldom gave me the opportunity to jump into the conversation and utter a word. On and on she went. I’d place the telephone receiver from one ear to the other. One day I laid the phone down and attended to something I was cooking on the stove and came back and she never knew I was gone. Sometimes you may be that way when you pray or when you sit before the minister. You have the control and you refuse to let go of it. I find in my ministry today, so many people who have been brought up in church, listened to hundreds of sermons, but they know very little of what the Bible teaches. Their ability to quote five Bible verses is questionable. They may know a little of John 3:16 and can quote "Jesus wept" but that’s about their limit. When it comes to what doctrine they believe, many of them are hanging on to customs and traditions taught to them by their parents and grandparents. Hardly any of it comes from their personal revelation from the holy scriptures. Their "sword of the Spirit" has no power for they in all reality have no sword. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. So they go into spiritual battle without a sword. DEFEATED! Sometimes you just need to shut up and lend an ear to the word of God! God always has something good to tell us! I think sometimes Jesus is looking at us and saying, "Be Quiet! It’s My time to speak now!"
#2:)
CULTIVATE A CALM SPIRIT:
When trying to listen to the Word of God, always keep a good, peaceable, calm and submissive spirit. Do not get upset! Don’t get upset or angry with the preacher for stepping on your toes. God did not call him to tickle your ears. He is nothing more than the messenger of God. Getting angry blocks out your ability to hear the voice of God speaking unto you. That’s exactly what Satan planed on you doing. Learn to be submissive to what God wants for your life, regardless of how many changes you have to make. God will help each one of us change and conform to His wants and His desires for us. So always keep a calm and gentle spirit. I’ve watched people come into church with a bad, angry, hostile spirit that looks at the minister and says,"Bless me if you think you can. But brother it won’t be easy!" I’ve watched people cross their arms in disgust as the Word of God is being delivered and some people get up and storm out of the church house. The preacher hit a tender spot they weren’t willing to give to Jesus. They did not know how to yeild to conviction.
#3:
CULTIVATE A CLEAN HEART:
When trying to hear God’s voice you need to come before Him with a clean heart. James exhorted us to "put aside all filthiness of the flesh and to recieve with meekness the engrafted Word of God, which is able to save our souls." This word "filthiness" comes from a Greek word that has to do with "ear wax." It also refers to sin. In other words, the sin in your life is like "ear wax", it keeps you from really hearing the Word of God accurately. It stops up our ability to hear the Lord. When you bring your gift to the altar to worship and the Holy Spirit reminds you of an ought between you and another person, we are told to leave that gift at the altar and then go and work out the differences between you and then come back and worship God. God refuses to accept worship that comes from an unclean heart. Whatever you have to do to clear the pathway, do it. Hearing from God is worth whatever you have to do!
A TEACHABLE SPIRIT:
In humility receive the WORD implanted which is able to save your souls." James 1:21 b
How do you RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD?
One way is to receive it with HUMILITY. This would be the opposite of ANGER we mentioned above. Anger refers to ARROGANCE. You don’t need to know what God has to say. You can get by yourself. When you possess a TEACHABLE SPIRIT then the Holy Spirit will do a work within your heart, sensing your hungry and your desire to change by His power. Humility is a part of the fruit of the Spirit which Paul mentioned in Galatians chapter #5. In the beginng of this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus mentions humility as a part of the BEATITUDES, the beautiful attitude of Christ and also of His people. Humility is essential in order for you to hear from God. Hearing the Word is not enough, you must give it a hearty WELCOME. Invite the Living Word to come into your heart, your mind and your soul. Every fiber of your being! Then KEEP THAT ATTITUDE! So many people will start off by inviting the Word of God into their heart but then afterwards they reach a certain point where they are assured they have ARRIVED, nothing more to know, nothing more to be taught. They have graduated!
I am fifty three years old and I was saved when I was a young teenager. I accepted my calling into the ministry when I was sixteen years old. I have pastored and done evangelistic work now for over 37 years but I realize more and more that I have still MORE TO KNOW than what I ALREADY KNOW. And I thank God for the hungry I feel within my heart. Every day when I pray I really want God to speak to me. Every day when I read the Bible, I want God to speak to me. When I go to church to worship and to praise God, I want Him to speak to me. I want to stay HUMBLE before Him. What about you? I want to be an humble child that Jesus allows to come into His arms and He teaches me His Gospel. I want Him to sense my hunger and need to hear Him speak.
A few years ago I felt I was in a SPIRITUAL RUT. Perhaps you may know what I mean. I wanted to hear a fresh word from God. I grew tired of depending upon what I had already learned. I didn’t want anything to hinder me from a fresh, a new, and an annointed relationship with Him. I had hundreds upon hundreds of sermons stored in my office. Sermons I worked on for over 30 years. I discarded each one of those sermons. In those sermons were hours and hours of work. However I did not want to be tempted on some busy week to pull out an old sermon and warm it over and feed the congregation, those precious people that came to hear from God, some "left overs." I have had minsters to criticize my actions but I had to do what I felt was right. I have not regretted that move.
AN OBEDIENT WALK:
’But prove yourselves, doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.’
Many people will go as far to hear the Word of God but then refuse to put it into faithful daily practice. Even the devils believe the Word of God. They recognize its truth and its power. You have to become obedient to what God speaks to you. Knowledge is a wonderful thing, however it is also a dangerousthing. For to whom much is given, much is required. If you know to do good but you do it not, it is a SIN.
What we say we believe ought to be backed up with what we practice. Our actions speak much louder than our words. Its hard to share your testimony of what you believe when others see something so much differ in your living. Make them a believer by watching you and by listening to you. Remember, not everyone that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of the Father, which is in Heaven."
This powerful sermon which Jesus proclaimed is filled with wisdom and instruction for you to govern your lives by. If you will begin with Matthew 5:1 and continue until the end of this sermon, and you accept it and you obey it, your lives will beblessed beyond measure. I have tried it and I approve of His message! May God richly bless you as we begin your journey through Jesus’ sermon.
I heard the story a few days ago of a student pilot behind the wheel. Something happened and the plane was on its way down, about to crash. The last remarks heard over the radio of the small plane came from the instructing pilot, "Give me the wheel!" When I heard that I received a spiritual thought that blessed me and perhaps it may bless you also. If you do not give the wheel, the control over to our spiritual pilot, Jesus Christ, we will surely crash into destruction. The longer we stay at the wheel the bigger mess we make of our lives!
