Transcription
Hello everyone. This is Mike Howard and I am here with Beverly Howard. We're going to do a Bible study. This is the third lesson on the sermon on the mount. Today we're going to be in Matthew chapter 7. The title of the lesson, Authority Acknowledged.
Well, Jesus is going to start this chapter uh by talking to us about judging others wisely. In other words, if you've got a speck in your eye, I mean spec, you see a speck in your brother's eye, but you've got a log in your own eye, get the log out first before you help your brother with the speck in their eye. He's going to say, "Ask, seek, and knock in prayer, and God being the good heavenly father, unlike us evil earthly fathers, will give us what we need in this life." He talks about wisdom in relationships and finishes that section up by saying remember do unto others the way you want them to do unto you which is kind of a flip with the way it was being taught at the time where people the rabbis were saying don't do something to someone else that you don't want them to do to us. So this is a much more positive approach to uh what we used to call the golden rule.
But we're going to focus in these verses on the last three here. the narrow way and Jesus is going to determine for us that the the way to the kingdom of God is extremely narrow uh compared to the way that leads to destruction which is extremely wide. He's going to then tell us about teachers who are teaching to not go the narrow way but go the wide way. And then he's going to finish by saying build your new life in the kingdom of God wisely.
So remember the title of the lesson is authority. So where does authority, what does that word mean? Well, it comes from the word author, which means the one who creates and controls. And we think of author as someone who writes a book, but it's broader than that. And it's the power to give orders or to make decisions or to enforce obedience. Now I think of you think of authority in this world. You think of things like uh police officers or judges uh or um in the case of our church, we were building a new building and we were under the authority of the city of Crystal River for permits that that told us how big the building could be and what it needed to look like architecturally and how high it needed to be because we're in a flood plane. and and I kind of bristled against some of those uh rules uh at the time, but then right after we finished the building, we had a flood. And wasn't it interesting that because of what they enforced, we escaped the flood in that building. That's the only building that didn't flood for us.
So, what about authority in the Bible? Well, God holds supreme authority because he is the author. He's the author of life. He's the creator. And the Bible is God's inspired word. And that makes it the ultimate standard for truth, for morality, and for guidance, holding the involatile authority of God's word. Jesus then is the is God's word who's made flesh. He's incarnate who has been given all authority according to Matthew 28:18. All authority in heaven and on earth. It's been delegated by his father. Supreme authority is what Jesus is going to talk about in this particular set of verses. He's going to describe himself as this narrow way. He's going to tell us that his words are truth and that his if we follow his words, we will have life and that he is the gate, the very narrow gate for the very narrow road. So, and these themes of course uh are developed further in the other gospels and later on especially with the uh the gospel of John.
Enter God. He's going to start I'm going to go back a couple of verses and because this puts it into context. Enter God's kingdom of life is kind of where he's headed in these verses. He says in verse 13, "Enter the kingdom through the narrow gate because the other gate is broad and it its road will lead you to destruction and many are going to enter through that broad destruction gate. But small, he says, is the gate and the narrow is the road that leads to life and only a few are going to find it." And remember in John chapter 10, John uh expands on this when Jesus says,"I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and they'll go out and they'll find pasture." So he's he's using the uh example of a shepherd with the sheep. And he is he Jesus is the the gate for the sheep.
Well, we see that Jesus is talking about being a narrow gate into the kingdom of God. But he's also going to tell us that there's a broader gate that's going to lead you to destruction. And that gate has a bad shepherd. As a matter of fact, in verse 15, watch out for false prophets. He says, they come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. So that these are not the people you need to be listening to if you're going to build your life on God's word. And that becomes real in Revelation 13:1 when the Apostle John sees in his vision at the end of time. Then I saw a second beast, that's the false prophet, coming out of the earth. That beast, the false prophet, had two horns that looked like he was a lamb, but actually when he spoke, he was like a snake or a dragon. So that's what I would call a ferocious wolf. dressed in sheep's clothing.
Verse 16, Jesus is going to give us some advice about how you spot these ferocious wolves by their fruit. He says, you will recognize them. They're going to look a lot like the other teachers that you listen to. It's going to be a little hard for you to tell uh them apart from the other teachers. How then will you know that they're teaching a false gospel? Well, it's the fruit. It's the result of what they teach. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree, every messenger, remember he's talking about false prophets here or false teachers. That gospel message, every good messenger bears good fruit. That means that when they tell people about the kingdom of God, the true gospel, those people then by pacing their faith in Christ become redeemed and therefore their lives are transformed. But if it's a bad gospel, if it's a lie, if it's deceitful, then they're going to bear destructive fruit. These people's lives are going to not reflect God. A good tree, a good messenger can't bear bad fruit. That's sincot bear bad a good tree, a person who is proclaiming the real gospel cannot bear bad fruit. That's because the gospel message has power unto salvation. and that will not result in sinfested lives. But a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. You with me? Kind of a flip there. Every tree, every messenger that does not bear good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire. They're going to be condemned. You don't want to be anywhere close to them. Thus, by their fruit, these sinfested followers, you will recognize them. In other words, when you see a church that has a a false gospel pastor or teacher, those people are not going to be leading uh god-honoring, god- glorifying lives. And so, you need to stay completely away from those. You need to be part of a church where the pastor or the teacher uh is proclaiming the real gospel, the true gospel. And Paul gets into that in some of his letters because the Judaizers would come into the early Christian church and start preaching a a false gospel. And Paul got very upset with them.
So verse 21, not everyone who says to me, and he's going to say, uh, just calling the name of Jesus doesn't make you a good prophet or doesn't even make you a Christian. Watch this. Calling the Jesus Lord is not going to be enough. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who actually does the will of my father who is in heaven. Now, what it means here is that that you place your faith in Christ, he's going to he's going to give you the gift of the Holy Spirit. That spirit is going to work on your life. You're going to be born again. You're going to be changed. You're going to be different. If you haven't had that experience, you're not going to be changed. You're not going to be different. You could think of like a lot of religions think that Jesus was a great teacher or he was a good man. Well, thinking of Jesus as being a great teacher or even a great uh prophet is not going to get your life changed because you're not placing your faith in what he did on the cross. And therefore, you're not reconciled to God. Therefore, you don't have the Holy Spirit living you. Therefore, you're not going to be made brand new. Matthew chapter 6:10. You're going to live as a Christian looking for how to do God's will on this earth. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's part of the model prayer that Jesus taught. Wolves are dressed like sheep. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons in your name perform many? You think, wow, that's some pretty powerful stuff that these false teachers are doing. And Jesus is going to say, yeah, yeah, that's really powerful stuff that they've done. and they've done it quote in my name. But the key is I didn't know who they were relationally. I didn't know them. Then I will tell them plainly I he declare to you I will never I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers. Anyone who teaches anything except the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the way, the narrow gate to the kingdom of God. that person is teaching a false gospel and it will not result in a new birth or a new life or it will not result in a changed life. And as a result, these people are doing evil. They're keeping someone from the kingdom of God. That's as evil as you can be.
Here's and does God's will. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine, and Jesus, you talk about authority. Listen to how he says this. He says this doesn't he say he doesn't say everybody who reads their Bible. He says everybody that hears these words of mine and and puts them his words into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Okay. So he's going to talk to us about a wise man building his house on the rock and he's going to talk about a foolish man who builds his house on the sand. So let's go through these verses. But they're all about using Jesus's words or actually doing what Jesus says to do. the rain came down and these are going to be things that happen both to the wise man and to the foolish man. It matter to all of us. It's it's the circumstances that come across our lives. So everything that he's going to talk about here happens to everybody. The rain comes down, the streams rise, the winds blow, and they beat against this person's life. And yet their life did not fall. Why? Because they had built their life on the foundation of the rock. But anyone who hears these words of mine, but they don't put them into practice. They don't build their new life around these words, they they're like a foolish man who built his house on sand. And then he says the same thing. The rain, the same rain comes down, the same streams rise, the same winds blow, and they beat against that person's life, and that person will not stand. They will fall with a great crash.
Now, he's going to wind up. Matthew's going to wind up by saying uh what was the response to Jesus's teaching on the sermon on the mount. And he says this in these two verses. When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority and not as their everyday teachers of the law would teach. These the reason that teach Jesus taught with authority was he's a word of God in the flesh. You can't get much more authoritative than that.
Let me summarize the I'm going to take a look at the entire sermon on the mount just in bullet points. He starts out in chapter 5 by saying if you're going to be part of the kingdom of God, you understand this. God, your father, your new dad, you the one that you've just been reconciled to by faith that he wants you to be happy. He wants his children to be happy. So remember the biatitudes. Blessed are the god seekers. And he wants you once you are his child and you're still here on this earth, he wants you to remain and to be salt and to be light on this earth. It's a dark and dying world. You will be the light for others to follow. Sin then he said he goes on later to say sin is going to try to take root in your heart. It's going to come in as a seed, a temptation, and then if you allow it to grow up, it's going to get really ugly. So get it while it's small. And he talks about, you said, you've heard it said, don't murder. Well, I'm telling you, just don't be upset with people. Be like your dad. He says, your father, that would be God, your father in heaven. Even though everybody here on this earth was his enemy, he gave the life of his only son so that by believing in him and his death and his resurrection that you would not be remain his enemy would, but would become his child. So that's the way God works it. And we aren't to be any different. We are to love our enemies because that's how you love them into the kingdom of God. Sermon on the mount, uh, chapter six, careful, be careful when you're doing things for the glory of God that you don't slip into the habit of doing them for your own glory as well. And this is the model he goes on to say of th the template for your prayers. He and he gives this what we call the u the Lord's prayer. change your focus. He says from being from the temporary things in this world that are going to pass away to eternal things. And he he he talks about you can't serve God and money. And money of course is the temporal. Don't worry in this life because God is your shepherd. You couldn't have a better shepherd. He knows everything that's going to happen to you. He's got you. He He He loves you. He cares for you. And don't get distracted or anxious by the things going on in this world. You've built your house on the solid rock. So seek him first and you're going to be fine. Chapter seven, be careful when you judge others. Ask, seek, and knock in prayer. Treat others the way you want to be treated. And then he today's lesson, the path to the kingdom is a very narrow gate. Watch for the false prophets. They're going to tell you to go do other things or to believe other things. And watch for uh for they'll deceive you and destroy you. And then he goes on, he finishes by saying, "But my words, if you build your life on my words, then you will have real life."
The application for this lesson, of course, is that Jesus has absolute authority. In Philippians chapter 2:9, therefore God exalted Jesus to the highest place, and they gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. That's what I call ultimate authority.
So, you're going to build your forever house. Uh before you were a Christian, before you placed your faith in Christ, uh you were trying to build your life based on uh your own mind thinking, what your own beliefs, uh what your parents had taught you, perhaps what your teachers were teaching you. Uh but then you placed your faith in Christ. uh you were born again and you have God's spirit living within you and now you're going to build a different life because you're born again. You're a different person. The old is gone, the new has come and you're different. So now from that moment forward, you're going to build your life a different way using different materials based on a different foundation. So the question you ask yourself is how's that foundation and how are those materials? The foundation should be the word of God. That's who you're building this house on is the instructions. Every word that comes out of his mouth and you don't just read them and think about them, you do them. And then the materials of course are not temporary materials. They are eternal materials. And that would be the word of God and the souls of other people. Choose the lighting in your house that best reveals God's glory. Shine the light of God, not your own light. your own light is pretty it needs new batteries quite frankly. Keep the garden weeded. The garden of your heart is going to spout weeds from time to time and get them while they're little so that they don't grow up and infest your life. But every decision that you're going to make as you build this eternal forever home is should be based around this question. Will this house that I'm building, will God enjoy living here? Because he does. He lives within you. Make him comfortable. Make him happy. This is your forever home, but he lives there with you. So, will he enjoy living in your forever house? That's a great question to ask.
Well, that's the sermon on the mount. Pray with me. Father, thank you for these beautiful words, this great sermon. this Jesus is revealing the kingdom of God to us. And throughout the rest of this gospel and the other gospels, uh we're going to flesh these words out and understand them much better. And then in the letters of Paul and Peter and James, we're going to to see how these principles take hold in this beautiful forever home that we're building called our redeemed lives. Father, thank you for Jesus that narrow narrow gate and the narrow path that you have us on. Help us to not stumble off that path or listen to bad teachers, but help us to stay focused on you and your glory. In Jesus name we pray it. Amen. Amen.
Well, that's the sermon on the mount. I thought it was fabulous. So, we'll see you next week. Until then, stay safe. Know that we love you guys. Bye bye. Bye.