Jun 1, 2012 | Matthew
The Sermon on the Mount begins in Matthew 5 and ends three chapters later. In other words, don’t be mislead by the beginning of the new chapter. Christ Jesus began this sermon by saying some general things about Christian character. Then He made a few comments about...
May 25, 2012 | Matthew
We touched on the last verse of this chapter two weeks ago, but it certainly wasn’t very thorough. I don’t know whether or not I can add much to your understanding, but I’d like to try. It says what it says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in...
May 23, 2012 | Matthew
As we have seen, the Lord Jesus has been reminding us about the character and traits of His own people. They can be different from the world, and they are different from the world, because they have been born again – they have new hearts and regenerated souls. They...
May 22, 2012 | Matthew
We have been looking at illustrations of Christian righteousness, especially as compared to the pseudo-righteousness of the Pharisees. And as you have probably noticed, several of these are highly controversial. They were in Jesus’ day, and they still are today. And...
May 21, 2012 | Matthew
Thirty years ago I was asked to testify in a New Mexican court. I was told to put my hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Instead of complying, I turned to the judge and told him that as a Christian I never...
May 18, 2012 | Matthew
Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount was not preached in argument, or as an answer to the Pharisees. It was given to the disciples – to the first members of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that doesn’t mean that Christ wasn’t thinking about the heresies of the...
May 17, 2012 | Matthew
Probably not very many of you glance at the bulletin, specifically looking at the titles of the day’s messages. But if everyone did, there could have been one or two who took offence at this morning’s sermon. I’m calling it “Christ’s Hell.” “Hell” is one of those...
May 16, 2012 | Matthew
These verses and those in the context before and after it are extremely hard to preach – for several reasons. And perhaps as an illustration of that we might think of John 8 and the woman taken in adultery. If you’ll remember that scripture, Christ was teaching one...
May 15, 2012 | Matthew
I realize, and confess, that I often get caught up in the minutia of my Bible study – so much so that I don’t emphasize the principle that the Lord is teaching. By that I mean, I’m so concentrating on defining the words, and linking scriptures, that I fail to express...
May 14, 2012 | Matthew
Our Lord Jesus has told us that He did “not come to destroy the law.” It was not His purpose to destroy, dissolve, disannul, demolish, disintegrate or even diminish the law. Rather His first purpose was to fulfill the law in the sense of satisfying all its demands....
May 13, 2012 | Matthew
Have you ever been accused of breaking the law? I know for a fact that you have. When that accusation comes from the lips of men, it may sting like a gun-shot wound. When it comes from a police detective, a district attorney or a judge, it may feel like a ton of...
May 12, 2012 | Matthew
Let me reiterate what I said when we began to look at this Sermon on the Mount – I am approaching it with fear and trepidation – that is – with fear and trembling. And a glimpse of the reason is seen in these verses – in two different ways. First, the Lord apparently...
May 11, 2012 | Matthew
So the Lord has his initial disciples sitting in front of Him. I can’t be dogmatic, but it appears to me that these men were the people whom Jesus called into the assembly that we call “the church.” They were the special disciples who had stepped beyond mere...
May 10, 2012 | Matthew
In the past forty years or so, I have pieced together several thousand sermons. They haven’t all had the same general form, but most of them have. They begin with an introduction and then they have two, three or four main points. Any more than four primary divisions,...
May 9, 2012 | Matthew
One of the problems that the average preacher has is knowing exactly who will be in any given service. As he sits in his study meditating on the scripture that the Lord has put before him, he has a number of ways to develop that sermon – perhaps depending on the...
