Audio - Sermon On The Mount 4 of 18

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The Ninth Sunday After Trinity
Sermon on the Mount, 4th Sermon
July 28, 2002
 
NKJ Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 "Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. 17 " Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
 
This morning we continue our series of sermons on the sermon on the mount—Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7
 
Again just a reminder—Jesus is preparing the 12 to be sent out into the world to preach
 
Great multitudes are also present on the mountaintop—Jews and Gentiles alike—to observe and listen to Jesus
 
TEXT: 14 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 "Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
 
Jesus begins this part of His sermon by telling the 12 that they are the light of the world
 
            Their teaching is to carry the authority to enlighten the world
 
No other light will be necessary—the light of their teaching is all that is needed to drive the darkness of evil from this earth
 
Anyone preaching a message other than the message of salvation to be preached by the Apostles—would be a message of darkness
 
Jesus knew there would be many false teachers and men preaching lies—therefore He is preparing the 12 prior to sending them out
 
The Apostle Paul also warned believers and preachers that there would be false preachers who would attempt to lead the flock away from the light and into the darkness
 
NKJ Acts 20:28 "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31 "Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. 32 "So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
 
NKJ 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
 
Jesus is teaching His disciples that they are to be His preachers
 
They will be the light that shines from the mountaintop—they must not hide
 
They must be open and public in their teachings and preaching—shining freely and brightly—never fearing to speak out
 
Just as Jesus chose His disciples to be Apostles—to shine the light of the Gospel upon the world—so He also chose us to shine—and illuminate those around us with the message of salvation
 
Walk boldly throughout the world—letting your light shine—not hiding—but standing fearlessly before the world with the Word of truth
 
TEXT: 16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
 
Now Our Lord provides the disciples—and us—with an application for this lesson
 
            The light is our faith
 
Good works—the fruits of our faith—are the rays of light radiating from the lamp—these good works are what the world sees
 
What Jesus calls good works here is the teaching of others about Christ and faith
 
We shine by helping others—we provide the light—the Biblical teachings of Christ
 
The holy Spirit provides them faith and understanding—and thus the gift of salvation
 
NKJ 1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
 
TEXT: 17 " Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
 
When Jesus uses the words “the Law and the Prophets” He is referring to the Old Testament
 
The Jews called the Law—the first five books of the Bible—the Pentateuch or Torah—these were the five books of Moses
 
The Prophets were the remainder of the Old Testament—therefore, Jesus is saying that He did not come to destroy the Old Testament
 
One point of interest here—the Jews often called Jesus a Samaritan—which was their way of slandering Him—because the Samaritans did not accept anything but the 5 books of Moses as the Word of God in the Old Testament—they rejected the rest of the books
 
Returning to the thoughts of our text—Jesus says He did not come to destroy the Old Testament—but to fulfill
 
Here if we examine the Greek—we find that the word fulfill suggests an empty vessel being filled to the brim
 
            The vessel would in this case be the written Word of the Old Testament
 
            The filling would be the fulfillment of the things of Scripture
 
The Old Testament was already complete—and all that remained was for Jesus—the Christ—to accomplish the things to be fulfilled
 
TEXT: 18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
 
Until heaven and earth pass away means until the end of time—Judgment Day
 
At that time everything that the Old Testament—everything in the entire Bible—will be fulfilled
 
Until that time—not a word—not even the smallest letter of God’s Holy Word will be altered
 
Human laws change all the time—to compensate for changes in the world
 
The Bible is unchanging—it was perfectly inspired by God to men—and therefore no changes are required
 
Some parts of Scripture have already been completed—Creation—and the redemptive work of our Savior are examples
 
Other parts of Scripture are in the process of being completed—such as the work of the Church here on earth
 
Other parts of Scripture will have to wait for fulfillment—such as Judgment Day
 
But until all is complete—the Bible stands without change
 
TEXT: 19 "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
 
The word least here is not to say that some part of God’s Word is not very important—we have only to go back to verse 18 to note that every letter is important—and shall not be altered—much less ignored or avoided
 
Luther says any preacher who rejects the least part of the Word—rejects heaven—because God will reject that preacher when the time comes to inherit heaven
 
Every preacher must proclaim the Scriptures in their entirety—and he must be prepared to discuss God’s Word with those who disagree on what the Word says
 
That is one of the reasons I publish the list of sermon verses in your bulletin each week—to make it easy for you to reconstruct the sermon and question my teachings
 
Hopefully not in a confrontational way—but in a way that we all learn from the experience
 
But what if a preacher did teach or preach in error—that wouldn’t change the truth of the Word would it?
 
As verse 18 states—nothing will change in the Word until all things are fulfilled and completed
 
Therefore—there is a danger of a preacher preaching a distorted Word of God—but the Word of truth will remain unchanged and perfect until the end
 
That’s why it is so important for each of us to read the Word regularly—to understand with the help of the Holy Spirit—and to identify errors of others—that they might learn
 
AS we learned last week—it is our responsibility to help each other grow in the Word and reach a higher level of spiritual maturity
 
NKJ Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
 
Till we all come to unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—and we do that by teaching one another—helping each other to learn more about Jesus