February 8 - Sermon on the Mount’s Significance - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

Gracetoyou.org ^ | 2008 | John McArthur, Grace Community Church

[metmom]

“When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him” (Matthew 5:1).

The gospel of the kingdom’s foundational truth (contained in the Sermon on the Mount) has had an impact for two thousand years on all who read and hear it. At least five reasons come to mind as to why Jesus’ greatest of sermons is so important.

First, the Sermon demonstrates the necessity of the new birth. In order for us to recognize our sin, Jesus made a fuller, clearer presentation of the law, followed by His offer of salvation. Jesus’ message here clarifies the reasons for sin’s curse and shows that we have no righteousness of our own to survive God’s scrutiny. Only those who have a new nature through Christ can meet the law’s demands. By no other way but saving faith can we have righteous attitudes as well as actions and be fully right with God.

Second, the Sermon points all listeners to their dependence on Christ’s enabling power to meet God’s standards.

Third, Jesus’ message gives us the Father’s pattern for true happiness and peace (cf. John 14:27; Phil. 4:7). It provides the real pathway to the believer’s sanctification.

Next, the principles in the Sermon on the Mount are some of the greatest scriptural resources for evangelism. If you as a Christian personify these truths, your life will attract others to the Lord.

Last, the life that is obedient to the Sermon’s teachings is the only one that truly pleases God—and that is the highest, noblest objective of the Christian life.

Ask Yourself

Embarking on a devotional study of something as monumental as the Sermon on the Mount, you’re always sure to discover truths and insights you’ve never noticed before. Which one or two of the five statements above do you think you’re most ready to hear more about?

From Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, Vol. 1, John MacArthur. Copyright © 2008. Used by permission of Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL 60610, www.moodypublishers.com.

[metmom]

Studying God’s Word ping

[chajin]

This is a rock garden at the Zuiho-In, a Japanese Buddhist temple in Kyoto. The temnple is unusual because it is dedicated to a Christian daimyo (samurai lord) of the late 1500s, Otomo Sorin. This particular example is designed to imply the Sermon on the Mount, with Jesus at the top rock, disciples around him, and the crowd coming to hear him.

[metmom]

Interesting. I never heard of that before.

[xp38]

Many years ago as a teen reading the sermon on the mount made me become a Christian. The words are divine. The ending line and the crowd was astonished for he taught as one with authority and not as the scribes sums it up.