Our text is found in Matthew
7 and verse 28 and 29. That is in Matthew 7 verse 28
and 29. And it came to pass when Jesus
had ended these things that people were astonished at his doctrine
for he taught them as one having authority and not as a scribe. These two small verses end one
of the greatest sermons in all the Bible. There would be a hard
thing to do to find someone who is not acquainted in some way
with the Sermon on the Mount. Many people will instantly know
the word Beatitudes. and it is one of the most popular
portions of the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon was a discourse
of our Lord Jesus Christ when he sat and taught them. And it
came to pass, the scripture says, when Jesus had ended these things
that people were astonished at his doctrine. The title of the
message this morning is The Astonishment of the Multitudes. The attention
of all the multitude that heard the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
in this great sermon was fixed upon the One who spoke them.
Even before our Lord Jesus Christ preached it, the attention was
drawn to Him because John the Baptist had pointed Him out to
be the One that should come. This was a reference to Jesus
as the long-expected Messiah who would not only be the Savior
of all, but also the Judge of all. John even pointed to Him
and cried with a loud voice which stirs my heart even to this day,
ìThe Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the worldî in
John 1 verse 29. And so everyone was already talking
about our Lord Jesus Christ, even before the Sermon on the
Mount was preached. They knew of Him. They knew where
He was born. They knew of His parents. They
knew His life. And now they were hearing Him
declare words that were untaught in that day. The Scripture said
He taught them as one with authority. John the Baptist was one who
declared this one person to be the very Son of God. In another
portion of the Word of God, in Matthew 3, verse 16 and 17, the
Scripture says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. When that dove came down, the
Spirit of God, like a dove, come down and lit upon him, and this
voice out of heaven declaring him to be the Son of God, how
many times had the people that day experienced something like
this? They had experienced many things
in Israel, but had experienced nothing like the miracles that
were associated with our Lord Jesus Christ. And now that Jesus
has spoken these wonderful words of the Sermon on the Mount, I
want you to look at what happens immediately after this sermon. And many times as we look at
God's Word, we need to look at what God says before our statement
of truth. And then look what God has to
say after he says those things, and he'll help us to interpret
the scripture in the very best light. We find that our Lord,
when he had finished these remarks, the scripture says, And when
he had come down from the mountain, a great multitude followed him.
And behold, a leopard came and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
if you're willing, you can make me clean. Then Jesus put out
his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing, be cleansed. And immediately the leper was
cleansed. Matthew 8 and verse 1 through
3. In those days a leper was one
of the most despised people, I suppose, in all the land. Leprosy
was one of the most despised diseases of the land. There was
no cure for it. People were afraid to touch.
or to be around or to associate those that had leprosy. But like
the grace and the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, he was not
like the natural man. He not only looked upon this
leper, but our Lord Jesus Christ went and touched him. Not only
did he touch him, but he willed that this person would be cleansed. The person said, if thou will,
and the Lord said, I am willing, and the person was made cleansed.
He was made clean of the disease that no one else could touch,
no one else could cleanse, no one desired to have. In those days, the leper was
utterly helpless and hopeless and unwanted. But here we find
a miracle at the beginning of this great chapter in chapter
8 that tells us that this man Jesus, who spoke in such a great
way in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, had more to say and more to do than
any other man that had ever faced the people of Israel. Better,
more powerful, and more authority than any man had preached are
declared or prophesied before him. Not only did our Lord in
this chapter, chapter 8 of Matthew, cleanse the leper, but he went
on to cleanse and to save throughout the two chapters to follow. Jesus
healed the Santerian servant by simply speaking a word from
a distance in Matthew 5 through verse 13. He then healed Peter's
mother-in-law and spent the evening healing the multitude of people
who came to him at Peter's door in Matthew 8, verse 16 through
17. Then he rebuked the winds and
the waves and calmed the storm of the sea, causing his disciples
to say, Who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey
him? in Matthew 8, verse 23 and 27. He cast out demons who cried
out, ìWhat have we to do with you, Jesus, you Son of God? Have you come to torment us before
our time?î in Matthew 8, verse 28 and 31. And then our Lord
Jesus Christ healed a paralyzed man in order to prove his authority. to forgive sin in Matthew 9,
1-8. Our Lord continues. He healed
a woman with a 12-year-old illness just by simply having her to
touch the hem of his garment in Matthew 9, 20-22. And then our Lord Jesus, He healed
a girl from the dead. In Matthew 9, 18-19, we go on. He gave sight to two
men, two blind men, in chapter 9 of Matthew 27-31. And then,
our Lord, He cast a demon out of a mute man, so the mute man
spoke in Matthew 9, verses 32 and 33. People were not only astonished
at what he said in his sermon, but looking at the miracles he
performed, they also said it was not seen like this in Israel. That's a very important statement
in the history of Israel, probably some 4,000 years, probably 2,000
years from the time of Abraham unto our Lord. The Israeli nation,
the people of God, they had known prophets, known prophets to prophesy
the things of God. They had seen prophets perform
miracles and bring down the rains and steal winds. They had seen
a lot of things. not with our physical eyes, but
it was foretold of what had happened in the past. But the remarkable
thing that I'll have you to consider with me this morning is that
our Lord not only spoke good words, not only did he preach
truth and righteousness and that of the character of the law of
God that is expected of each of us this morning, but our Lord
spoke and acted according to the divine purpose of our Heavenly
Father. This separates our Lord Jesus
Christ from all the prophets before Him. Even if Nicodemus
the Pharisee and the ruler of the Jews confessed, Rabbi, we
know you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do the signs
that you do unless God is with him. All the people of that day
realized that this man Jesus, this man born of parents that
they knew, was different from all of those that had come before
him. How could it be that this person,
this Galilean peasant, would speak with such words? How could
it be that this man could not only speak great words that testify
the truth of the Old Testament, but how could he, yes, not only
speak but do the works of God and demonstrate the power that
was within his hands. These two verses before us this
morning gives us a direct link between the things said of the
Sermon on the Mount and the miracles that prove his authority to save
him. Unlike preachers of this day,
Jesus sought to draw people's attention away from himself and
on the things that he said. But here the listeners were just
as amazed and astonished at not only what the Lord had said,
but they were also astonished at the person that was saying
them. Now compare with me this morning
our attitude about the Sermon on the Mount. If you've been
in college and if you've taken some literary courses, you've
studied some parts of the Sermon on the Mount. It's recognized
to be the greatest sermon on all of the scriptures. It's a
piece of literature to most minds and hearts today. We look upon
it as a set of moral, ethical standards that men should strive
for today. You've read books on the imitation
of Christ, how we should master ourselves and live according
to the life of our Lord Jesus Christ in meekness. All of these
things are true of our Lord Jesus Christ. But our Lord Jesus Christ
was more than what men think of the Sermon on the Mount to
be today. The people in our Lord's day
had a personal view and an admiration for the person and the words
of our Lord Jesus Christ. They were amazed and astonished. Today, people in somewhat have
the same opinion of the Sermon on the Mount. Ethical understanding
of this sermon. Many today hear the words that
are spoken of in this sermon, but they fail to hear and to
see the most important thing about the Sermon of the Mount,
and that is the person who speaks it, the greatest preacher on
the face of the earth, which is no more than the mouth of
God himself. Unless we hear more than just
an ethical standing of this sermon, we're going to fail to see and
to receive the great message from this great portion of Scripture. The people, again, from our Scripture,
they were amazed. How much more are we today than
those who heard the message for the very first time? Are we simply
just amazed at the great words that we read from the Word of
God, the great words from this sermon? This morning, I would
like for you to see three things from this portion of Scripture
in Matthew 8, verse 28 and 29. The first thing that I would
have you to consider with me is the effect that this sermon
had upon those that heard it. Remember that the eyes of those
who heard the Lord speak looked upon Him as no more than a Galilean
peasant. that had good speech. I think
of the Apostle Paul when he said that his speech was contemptible.
Evidently, our Apostle did not have the ability with flowering
language to hold the attention, maybe, of his audience, though
every word that he spake was that of God Himself. That was
the teaching of Almighty God. But here is a man, our Lord Jesus
Christ, who spoke that held the attention of the people that
day. Was he just, again, just a poor
Galilean peasant? And it came to pass when Jesus
had ended these things that people were astonished. They were astonished
at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority
and not as the scribes. Here is made known to us the
impression which our Lord's discourse produced upon the hearers. They
were amazed, as well as they might be. The speaker had not
graduated from a Biblical school, nor did he have a preaching license
from the Sanhedrin, but yet he captivated the hearts, the minds,
and the ears. of those that heard him. You know, it takes a little bit
of ability today to hold the attention of 30,000 people in
an auditorium. And I am confident today there
are churches and buildings within the city of Houston that have
at least 30,000 people hearing someone stand and speak for 45
minutes. It has to have some ability to
hold attention, to get that 30,000 people coming again and again
and again to hear what you have to say. Our Lord Jesus Christ
did not have credentials. He didn't have a license. He
didn't graduate from a biblical school. His father was not a
rabbi on this earth. His education was that of God
and not of man. He didn't have what I have in
my library today, a set of books called the Babylonian Talmud. He didn't have all of the works
of all the great writers of the Jewish history. He didn't have
that. But our Lord Jesus Christ has
something that no one has ever had until that point or has ever
had until this day. The Lord Jesus Christ had the
power of God. He had the voice of God within
His breast, in His mind, in His heart, and He spoke the words
of God unto the people. Isn't that amazing? Isn't it
amazing that when Christ spoke, God Himself spoke to the people. And I wonder, I wonder this morning
how we are affected by such a message as our Lord spoke on the Sermon
on the Mount. Would you have thought with me
that if God was speaking that these people would have heard
this Word and fall to their knees prostrate themselves upon the
ground and cried out to God for His mercy, asking God for forgiveness
of their sins and trusting Him as their Lord and Savior, trusting
Him that He is going to forgive them of all their past sins,
forgive them of all their present sins, and forgive them of all
their future sins. Wouldn't you think that their
whole heart and soul would be bound up in hearing the voice
of God from the very Son of God Himself? How much more so do
we in this hour, in this very church, hear the voice from our
pastor preaching the Word of God, the same Word of God that
our Lord Jesus Christ preached and declared in that day? Christ
preached nothing more than what is found within the Scriptures
itself. And when we preach the Word of
God and when we read from God's Word, we are speaking and teaching
that which God has said. In that day, the people fell
not upon the ground, nor did they cry out for mercy, nor did
they desire to be His disciples. In fact, not one place in all
the scripture do we find that the people of that day, when
he preached the greatest sermon on the earth, became his followers. Not one confessed their sins,
not one believed upon him, not one took up their cross and followed
him. Yet, the Son of God spoke to
them out of the mouth of God the great truth. that's before
us this morning in the Sermon on the Mount. How much more so
is it true in our lives today? How do we hear about the sovereign
mercy of God dying for our sins? We hear about the mercy and the
grace of God upon fallen man, how God gave his life, gave his
soul, gave his blood, and was crucified and bled and died for
our sins. And yet we find ourselves not
upon the earth crying out for God's mercy and sovereign grace. We have come to the place in
this life that those, like those in the day of our Lord, they
had heard all things. They had heard the very God,
the Son of God speak, and they were affected. The Scripture
says that they were astonished. Are we, this morning, no more
than astonished at God's Holy Word? Our hearts have become
cold and indifferent, and we've heard the Word of God preached.
We've heard the sermon preached again and again. Different text,
but the same message. The love of God toward His people
in all eternity. And our hearts have become so
cold and indifferent that it has not entered the very marrow
of our hearts and souls. That was the effect that this
message had. upon those that heard it for
the very first time. And I wonder, are we much better
than they? In John 7, in verse 46, the Scripture
says, Never man spake like this man. That Scripture comes to
us after those of the Sanhedrin sent the officials to arrest
Christ and bring Him before them to be tried. And they came back
without him. And they reported this to their
leaders. No man ever spake like this man. Are you simply this morning astonished
at the Word of God? How many books do we have in
our library this morning? I've got walls covered with books
and books put underneath of shells, 2D and 3D. and they sit there
and they sometimes mold and they are covered with dust and they're
filled with the greatest truth that is known to man today, but
yet, They rest alone, many times not being read for twenty or
thirty years. How much so is the truth of God
within our hearts this morning, cold and indifferent, lying with
dust and corruption and mold upon our souls. this morning
not being truly inspired through the teaching of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Secondly, I would have you to
notice this morning in our text that the people were not only
astonished, but they were astonished in His doctrine. The doctrine
of our Lord Jesus Christ was that He was the very Son of God
that would give His life and atonement for His people, not
just for Israel, but for all of God's chosen people. We look
upon the teaching of the time of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
He was teaching and preaching to those in Palestine, what we
know to be Palestine today. But the message of our Lord Jesus
Christ is that He came to die for His people, His chosen people,
from all eternity. We have good reason this morning
to be astonished at our Lord's words. We have good reason to
be astonished at the miracles that our Lord Jesus Christ had
performed. But if we this morning go no
further than astonishment at His words, His deeds, then we're
not going far enough to receive the blessing that God has for
us this morning. The scripture says, except a
man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. John
3 and verse 3. No, not even when the word of
God comes from the very lips of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we preach the gospel of
Jesus Christ, we preach the truth found in the scripture about
God's sovereign intention toward his people. Even though a faithful
minister stands and labors the gospel of Jesus Christ for years
and years and years, yet just because of his faithfulness in
preaching that message, it doesn't mean that that message is going
to be used to convert men unto the salvation of their souls. We today depend upon the Spirit
of God to take the gospel and place it into the hearts of God's
people. When our Lord spoke, he spoke
with great power and authority. But again, I remind you, not
one person is recorded was converted, came and tucked their cross and
followed him and became his disciple. Even the voice of Almighty God
through the voice of Christ did not convert the multitude. Are
we shocked today that we hear the Word of God preached with
such power and diligence and faithfulness and yet we wonder
in ourselves why it is that God does not convert people in our
very sight. How is it that this man Peter,
the apostle preached on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 people
came and believed and was converted unto Almighty God? Wouldn't you
think, wouldn't you think that when the Lord preached His message,
at least 1,000 would have come if Peter preached and got 3,000?
Wouldn't you think the Lord's message would have merited a
thousand believers? Or five hundred? Or even ten? Surely one would have come. Surely
one would have believed. It's not according to our will. Or, as the scripture says, not
my will but thine be done. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not
come to become the Prince of Peace on this earth at this particular
time. He did not come to the earth
at that time to make captivity captive. He did not come to save
men universally at that time. But there was a time that our
Lord was appointed to save us, to bring us into a relationship
with Almighty God. There was a time. Our Lord Jesus
Christ was in a time of humility. He was in a time of being a form
of a servant in Philippians 2, 7. And then in also John 6, 38,
I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will
of Him that sent me. I look upon our Lord's message,
and this world today looks upon The message of the cross. If we could just get the right
preacher, maybe the church isn't doing too well and what we really
need is to get a new preacher. We need to call that young man
with black hair that has a beautiful new wife, maybe one or two small
children, a very beautiful picture of youth and vitality. If we
could find us someone like that, that has a good tongue, that
can speak well, that was a good mixer, that could have Bible
studies in homes and develop the community and be a part of
the community, our church would grow and God would be blessed. That's not the way that the Spirit
of God brings people into a relationship with God. If the Lord Jesus Christ,
through his preaching, did not bring a multitude into the grace
of God, then what is the will of God in preaching? It is according
to God's sovereign will, not preacher's will, that men are
saved and brought into a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord, it says that he had
ascended from heaven in order that he should not take not be
taken by wicked hands. Our Lord spoke. He preached. But He had a mission. God had
sent Him on a mission. And that mission was to perform
a service and to become our Savior, to be our Messiah, and to speak
and to cleanse us from all of our sins. The Scripture also
says that a corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die
before the fruit. thereof is brought forth. So
the people's idea of the ministry of our Lord was not that of reality
of what actually was the mission of our Lord. The people heard
the message of God, but they only heard it with their physical
ear. And as long as we hear this message
of the Sermon on the Mount and the message of the Scripture,
if we only hear it through our own ears, we'll never know and
hear the real voice of God. The third thing that I want you
to see today is that He taught them with one and with authority
and not. as one of the scribes. This authority
that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of caused the people to have
wonderment. They were astonished and it caused
them to have wonderment. They looked upon Christ and they
looked upon the scribes and they could see a big difference between
the two. If we choose Christ or the scribes,
and if that's how we choose our faith today, are we going to
choose the faith of the truth of the scribes and the truth
that Christ preached? That's no way to teach and to
accept Him. Because the Word of God and what
Christ preached, it was because the scribes had no authority,
because most of what they taught was no more than the washing
of pans, and timing of meant and coming. But when Christ spoke,
he spoke one with authority. God had promised the people a
prophet. And this prophet, John, recognized
that Christ was that great prophet. But in Deuteronomy 18, verse
18, which is a great passage of Scripture, it says, I will
raise up a prophet among their brethren, like unto thee, and
I will put my words in their mouth, and he shall speak unto
them all that I shall command him." This was that prophet. This was the prophet that was
foretold even in the Old Testament book. This was what our Lord
was doing. This was what the mission of
Christ was, to preach and to teach that which was foretold
in the Old Testament. I think of the Lord's authority
when he declared his word as a great example to all preachers
today when they stand to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Titus 2, in verse 15, it said,
to exhort, to rebuke, with all authority. Would you agree with
me today that our Lord had the authority to declare the things
that he declared? The same authority that our Lord
had to declare these great truths is the same authority that every
godly pastor has to teach and to exhort and to rebuke with
all authority untoday. The people heard the message,
but they only heard it with their ears, their physical ears. The problem and the message that
I have for you this morning is this. The people were no more
than astonished. They had no more than wonderment
about the message of our Lord Jesus Christ. This wonderment
and amazement is something But in our life, we have to be more
than amazed. We have to be more than have
wonderment about the great message of the Word of God. This Word
of God has to be administered to the heart, and it has to take
effect and take root within our hearts and souls. I remember
that great parable of the sower, how the sower went forth and
he cast out the grain. And some grain fell upon the
rocks and instantly was dried up, useless. And then some fell
among the weeds and the tares. And the weeds and the tares choked
it out. If you ever had a garden, you've
got to keep the weeds out because the weeds take out the nourishment
of the soil. Vegetables won't grow. They'll
grow some. They might look okay for a while,
but they won't produce any fruit. But in this great parable, it's
said that some of the grain fell upon fertile soil and it grew
and it produced fruit. This morning, when the gospel
of Jesus Christ is delivered, it's going to fall upon some
rocky ground. It's going to fall upon some
where the tares and the weeds grow. But thanks be unto God
that there is a time that the Gospel of Christ falls upon fertile
ground that's been cultivated by the very love of God and it
sprouts and it develops into that which we know to be a believer
and a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for every time
the Gospel of Christ comes to an abiding heart. We think sometimes
that the Word of God goes out and it's like throwing the grain
into the wind and he just floats away, never to be seen again. But that's not so when it comes
to the will of God. I would like to close this morning
by reading a verse of Scripture from the Apostle Paul in Hebrews
12 and 25. It says, For if they escape not
who refused Him that spake on earth, Much more shall not we
escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. The
people, the multitude, heard the very voice of God speak these
words. They were astonished. They admired
his speech. They knew he was different. But
yet, they failed to accept and to believe the word of Almighty
God then this morning let us earnestly seek that the grace
of God be something to us more than astonishment. Namely, that
we must now pray that God would put within our hearts and minds
and incorporate this great truth of the grace of God and put it
within our daily walk that we might praise and honor the One
who gave it to us. May God bless you today. Amen.