Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5:¹⁷ “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. ¹⁸ I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.¹⁹ So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. ²⁰ “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

The term "Some people never learn" applies here. Jesus explains why He has come, and it is to fulfill the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets. And He did fulfill it. ALL OF IT to a T. Perfect in every word and movement. PERFECT. God's law is perfect because it is God's law!! Ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, and you will be called the least in the Kingdom. How is this possible? I defer to the question of the disciples when Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go throughthe eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven." Jesus' answer was Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God, everything is possible.”

"Religious" leaders were hedging on the perfect Word of God and the law of Moses instead of giving life, was giving death. That was not God's intenet on giving it, but the injection of man's opinions and man's reasoning swayed the law toward man's imperfect acts of following that law, and the law was corrupted and incomplete. Jesus came to bring the law back to its intent, and the intent was to help mankind, yet also set a standard and a finality to follow ALL the law, not just the parts we like.

I love to drink Diet Coke, and a good Diet Coke is a wonderful thing to me. But, if I get one that is "watered down," I really just want to spit it out and do without. Hmnnn. See what God says about a compromised faith in Revelation 3:16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! God is all about perfection because He is perfect, and so is Jesus. When Jesus says, "don't hedge on any law, big or small, we should follow His words and do it right. There is a problem because we are fallen and we CAN'T do it right without one thing, the Holy Spirit!! So Paul further helps us by saying to be filled with the Spirit, and we will not satisfy the flesh, and he also speaks to our relationship with the law of Moses. Galatians 5:¹⁶ So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. ¹⁷ The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. ¹⁸ But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.

Here is our problem: We must follow all the perfect laws of Moses, but we can't because we are sinners. God sends Jesus to save us from our sins, and God's grace makes us right. No restrictions between God and us, so we live in His grace and continue to grow in our walk as the Holy Spirit has more and more control of our lives, including our actions. We desire to live for Christ, and that includes following His Word. But we fail because the old fleshly nature tries to get back in control, but the Holy Spirit protects us and keeps us growing, and God's Word shows us how to keep growing because our "want to" is different and our intent is on following Jesus completely! Satan tries to convince us that we are failures, but he is a liar and also the "father of lies." Jesus is all truth and the author of our truth, and we continue in our faith walk to throw everything that hinders our growth, and we grow in "leaps and bounds!" As the writer of Hebrews says so well, Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. ² We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

Jesus has done everything needed for this process to not only work, but also change others' lives as they meet and talk with us about our faith. Our testimony is so important, but our testimony must be real and growing, and nothing about ourselves, but all about Jesus. If we truly know Jesus, then this whole thing works "perfectly" as God intended, and the law of Moses is working great in our lives, but only because of God's grace and the Holy Spirit's power in our lives. Without the leadership of the Holy Spirit, we fall back into a worldly life, and we fail. No need to fail. Trust the Holy Spirit and follow God's Word. Nuff said!! Our faith walk is built to succeed and not fail!! But it is not built on our righteousness, but on the righteousness of God. Anything less is compromised.

We know we are in a good place when we give all praise to Jesus and Him alone. Paul handles Jesus warning in Matthew 5, which says ²⁰ “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven! Paul handled that problem with his warning in Romans 12: ³ Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

Don't try to live on your own strength. Don't do it again! ONLY JESUS.

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren