Well, as the Lord will bless
us together, in the coming weeks we hope to meditate on what we
term the Sermon on the Mount, which is contained in the 5th,
6th and 7th chapters in the Gospel of Matthew. It is, I'm sure,
the most wonderful sermon that is recorded in the Word of God.
And of course it is totally pure in every word. and how wonderful
it is that we today are able to read that which the Lord Jesus
spoke to his disciples and those that gathered on that occasion.
Now this evening really I just want to speak on the first two
verses on this fifth chapter. And they read, And seeing the
multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was sent, his disciples
came unto him. And he opened his mouth and taught
them, saying, Now, one thing is clear, that the Lord Jesus
Christ has spoken many times, and did speak very many times,
of course, to the people that he gathered with, that here on
this occasion, we read, and when he was set, that means that he
was sat down and he was there ready to proclaim the great truths
of God contained in these chapters. It wasn't just something We might
almost say casual. It was a determined, predetermined
occasion. And therefore he sat down. It
was a solemn time. A time when the people were there
to hear the great truth of God. And so we're thankful that we
see this very clear evidence of the Lord in this position.
And when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened
his mouth and taught them, saying, First of all, he went up into
a mountain. And I'm sure we are familiar
with the fact that when the law was given in the Old Testament
to Moses, that the Lord came down onto the mountain. And here the Lord Jesus is going
up into the mountain. And it's not just those two similarities,
of course, In the Old Testament, the people were not allowed to
come up into the mountain. It was a very holy place where
the Lord came down. And therefore they had to keep
out of range. But how very different it is
here. The people come, the disciples come to Jesus as he went up into
the mountain. And what do we really see? We
see a difference, do we not? between the holy law of God and
the great and glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. And of course these situations,
as so many occasions were foretold, were prophesied in the Old Testament,
and none less this occasion and how Jesus would speak and how
he would command the blessing. And we read in the 61st chapter
of Isaiah, in the first four verses, these words. The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified, and they shall build
the old wastes They shall raise up the former desolations, and
they shall repair the way cities, the desolations of many generations. Well, that was a very clear prophecy
with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. And really, in this sermon
that we have here, those things which were prophesied in those
verses came to pass. How many things, of course, in
the word of God have indeed come to pass. Now, again, in the Old
Testament, there were the places to worship. There was the temple,
there was the tabernacle. It was a clearly defined place. And that's where the people came
together and caused to sacrifice and to worship. But those things
were to pass away. Lord Jesus here sets before us
the fact that he was just to preach on this mountain in Galilee. There was no special place there
at all. There was no pulpit. He just
came and he sat down. Surely that shows to us today
that the Gospel is not confined to buildings. It's not confined
to temples. Indeed, it is to be preached
and proclaimed everywhere throughout the world, on mountains, on the
plains, wherever it may be. we're not confined to buildings. And it's quite clearly the people
there, the disciples, they just came together, they hadn't kind
of got any prepared way and said, well this is going to be a wonderful
special day and we must dress up and do all this kind of thing.
They came and they heard the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And seeing the multitudes, he
went up into a mountain And when he was set, his disciples came
unto him. So we can see, can we not, that
there are really quite a lot of instruction and quite a lot
of direction in these things. And so, the Lord, you see, had
compassion on the people. And they were able to come to
this place. And quite clearly, he signified
the great and glorious gospel He had preached and he would
preach and should be preached. Well, there are a number of references
where we know the people were indeed welcomed. And we can read
in the Paul's epistle to the Corinthians, he tells us something
of the direction and blessing of this in the second epistle
and in the third chapter. we can read these verses which
tell us. But if the ministration of death,
written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children
of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for
the glory was countenance, which glory was to be done away, how
shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness
exceed in glory. For even that which was made
glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory
that excelleth." And therefore we have this very simple situation. The Lord Jesus speaking here
on this mountainside, and yet what a glory there was in the
wonderful words that he was to bring before the people. And
we really read similar words when the apostle wrote to the
Hebrews. And in the 13th, 12th chapter
rather, of the Hebrews, we read these words, which again is confirming
as to the prophecy being fulfilled. We read, look indiligently, lest
any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness
bringing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Lest there be any fornicator
as profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his
birthright. For ye know how the afterward
When he would have inherited a blessing, he was rejected,
for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully
with tears." Then we read, for, "'Ye are not come unto the mount
that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness,
and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the
voice of words, which voice, they that heard, entreated that
the word should not be spoken to them any more. For they could
not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it shall be stoned and thrust through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake. Well, that was the Old Testament
dispensation. But ye are come unto Mount Zion
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than
that of Abel." Well, that was, of course, and is the great and
glorious gospel the Lord Jesus Christ sets before us. And so
we have these words, and seeing the multitudes, he went up into
a mountain. And when he was set, his disciples
came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them. You
see, Jesus was speaking. Jesus was preaching to them. the great truths of the gospel,
and he taught them. And how many truths there were
that the Lord Jesus Christ taught to them. And as we go through,
God willing, these three chapters, we will see the important truths
and the wonderful truths that they are and that they contain. Now, again, just one or two,
just further little references to these great truths, which
had come to pass and again in Isaiah in the second chapter
of Isaiah and the second and third verses which incidentally
are repeated very similarly in Micah and the fourth chapter
of Micah and the first and second verses and they read almost identically
and it shall come to pass and I always think it's wonderful
to read that and it shall come to pass in the last days that
the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top
of the mountains, and shall be exalted above hills, and all
nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and
say, come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to
the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths, For out of Zion shall go forth
the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Well, there are so many references,
but perhaps I might just give one more reference. That's in
Ezekiel. And in the third chapter of Ezekiel,
we have another indication of the Lord's favour, which would
come to pass. And in the third chapter of Ezekiel
and the 27th verse, the last verse in the chapter, we read,
but when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth And thou shalt
say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, he that heareth, let
him hear, and he that forbeareth, let him forbear, for they are
a rebellious house. Now here, the Lord is speaking
and directing prophets to speak and to open their mouth and to
declare the great truths of God. And now, in this glorious gospel
day, we see the Lord Jesus himself opening in his mouth. And he
opened his mouth and taught them. Well, that's just a little brief
introduction really to this chapter. I thought it was important so
that we understand the blessed difference between the Old Testament
mountain and the New Testament mountain. Because they were both
mountains, but how one was really the law and here we see the Savior
going to preach the great and glorious gospel to the disciples
and to the multitudes and of course to us today. So we please
God to bless us as we meditate in these words and realise what
a wonderful favour it is that these are recorded for our guidance,
for our teaching, for our instruction, for our blessing and for the
favour and glory of Almighty God. Amen.