Turn back with me again to Matthew
chapter 5. I want to speak to you this morning
for these first 16 verses on this subject, the multitude, the mountain,
and the master. Without a doubt, this is the
most well-known sermon in the New Testament, the Sermon on
the Mount. Now you can ask around and talk
to folks about Paul's Sermon on Mars Hill, and some will know
it and some won't. But you can go down here in Danville
to any church, any denomination, talk with their pastor, and he'll
be familiar with this message right here. the Sermon on the
Mount. And I caught something over here
in the reference. I have a Bible, I'm ashamed to
say, that was written and published by Campbellites, and all their
references are really off the wall, but they are exactly what
religion teaches and what religion believes. And over on the side
it had a little numbered reference, and I looked it up in the back,
and back in the back they have a picture of a temple And there's eight steps going
up to the temple. And these eight steps are these
eight blessings here. And then when you arrive at the
top of the temple, there's 27 columns sticking up. And these
columns, I'll just read you a few of them, are influence, law,
self-control, inward purity, the sacredness of marriage, speech
guarded, no resistance, unlimited servants, and so on and so on
and so on. And down at the bottom of the
temple it says, explanation. Now this is what this temple,
this is what this picture is all about. And I'm quoting, in
the Sermon on the Mount, Christ first enumerated the eight progressive
steps by which men reach the higher altitudes of spiritual
life, and then he sets forth the fundamental truths of the
Kingdom of God. Now this is what the religion
of this world believes. They believe that he taught in
this Sermon on the Mount these blessed attitudes, and if you
can achieve the attitudes, If you can change your conduct and
your habits, if you can change your thinking a little bit and
get in line with Him, if you can achieve these attitudes,
then you can walk a closer walk with God. And old Israel believed it, the
Pharisees believed it, and so has every earthly organized religion
in any day. But this is not what the Lord
taught in Matthew chapter 5. Two things were going on outside
Capernaum when our Lord ascended to the mountain to speak to this
group of people. Two things that always accompanied
His ministry. Everywhere He went, everything
He said, everything He did. And there are two things going
on in your life and mine every day we live on this earth. And
the same two things being manifested while I'm speaking to you this
morning. The natural and the spiritual. That's what happened
on that mountain. What you see with these eyes
and hear with these ears and what you can see and hear with
the eyes and ears of faith. Two things happened that day.
What seemed to take place and what actually happened. Look
back here at chapter 4 and verse 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee
teaching in their synagogue preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and
healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among
the people. And his fame went throughout
all Syria, and they brought unto him all sick people that were
taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were
possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those
that had the palsy, all these things, and he healed them. And there followed him great
multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis and from Jerusalem
and from Judea and from beyond Jordan. Now try to visualize
what's taking place here. These were a people who believed
and had believed for years and years, whose fathers believed
and their fathers believed that a Messiah was going to come.
He was promised of God. And he'd be a man like David.
He'd be a king. He'd be a great man. He'd be
a prophet. A prophet like Moses. A prophet
like Elijah. Not a man that could be missed.
This was a man who was going to come on the scene and be noticed.
A great man. When our Lord talked to the woman
at the well, you remember, she said when Messiah comes, even
she believed in the Messiah. When He comes, He's going to
straighten things out. He's going to tell us everything we need
to know. These were a people who believed in the coming of
a Messiah. And then Jesus came on the scene.
Rumors about his birth, angels attending, angels confirming,
angels singing, hallelujah. A child is born. Some say he
was born of a virgin. Miraculous birth. Attended by
the heavenly host. Rumors about his birth. And at
12 years old, think about that. Twelve years old, Lindsey, he
walked in with the masters of theology of Israel and left them
speechless, confounded them, amazed them with his knowledge
of the scriptures. And then came the baptism of
John when the voice of God spoke and said, this is my beloved
son, hear ye, this is my son. in whom I'm well pleased. A lot of things attended this
person, this man of God, this Jesus of Nazareth. And then his
miracles. When he left being tempted of
the devil in the wilderness, he went down, I preached on that
not too long ago to you, to a people who sat in darkness. And he preached to them. Great
lights sprung up in their midst. And he went down there and he
called his disciples. He just walked the seashore.
And he looked at them and he said, follow me. And they followed
him. And some left their father, left
their father sitting in the boat all by himself. Just got out,
followed him. He did miracles. It says, I just
read it to you and you're hearing it back here in chapter 4. He
healed the lunatics and the demon possessed and all those different
kinds of diseases that they brought to him. And he healed them, it
said. He healed them. And the more he did, the greater
his reputation become until the whole land began to just spill
out. with people, and they flocked
to hear him. They flocked to see him. They
flocked in multitudes to find him. And they came out of need,
and they came out of want, and they came because they were in
trouble. They came because something was broken and needed fixed.
They came because they were desperate and had nothing to lose. And
some, like Harriet of Oldham, they hoped to see a miracle.
They came out of curiosity. Some, like the folks who followed
him around the seashore, they came because they ate of the
loaves and were filled. Some came to judge him and scrutinize
him and see if he fit the description of their own concepts and ideas
of the Messiah. And then some were just caught
up in the frenzy and excitement of the crowd. Some were there hoping that if
this was the Messiah, and they could get close to him.
Maybe they could be like the friends of David when he established
the kingdom. They'd be right there in the
throne room. Some of the disciples had that idea. When I see the multitudes who
thronged him and pressed him and clamored after him everywhere
he went, I see the religion of this world. That's what I see. stirred by the excitement of
the multitude, drawn by his fame and reputation as the healer,
hoping to see something miraculous, something extraordinary, hoping
to see a sign from heaven, feeding on the crowd and on their stories
and on their hopes and on their desires, feeding on the concepts
and notions of who he was. In this world today, this very
morning, In nearly every corner of the globe, there's untold
multitudes gathering still on the reputation of Christ. For the same old reasons, and
the same old needs, and the same old wants, and the same old desires. Why? Because it seemed like that's
what he was here for. That's what it seemed like. Earthly needs. Earthly wants. Earthly problems. Earthly desires.
Let me tell you something. Everything religion does is a
ministry of this world. It ministers to earthly needs. It ministers to earthly wants
and desires. It's a ministry to the flesh. Broken marriages. broken homes,
destitute children, orphans, halfway houses, feeding the poor,
sheltering the homeless, moral reform. It ministers to the needs
of this world and to the flesh, all worthy causes, all needy
situations. But brethren, if God heals your
body, it's still going to die. He called Lazarus back from the
dead, but Lazarus still had to die. If God heals your marriage, you've
still got to leave one another. You're still going to have to
turn her loose or she's going to turn you loose. One of the
two of you, if not both of you, are going to die. If God heals your finances, you
can't take them with you. If God feeds your hungry body,
that body is still going to the grave. Nothing of the ministry of this
earth can do you any good spiritually. Religion always defines the blessings
of God. Now hear me, in the light of
earthly gain, I hunt with a fellow down there
and he told me, he said, you know something? He said, the
Lord's blessed me. He said, I don't have to work. He said, I don't have to get
out there and sweat in the hot sun. He said, I've got plenty
of money. He said, I go to church every
Sunday. My kids don't give me any problems. Both of them go
to church. He said, I'm blessed. I'm blessed. That's how religion defines the
blessings of God. health, habits, home, financial
security, marital standing. And this is what seemed like
was taking place. This is what appeared to physically
transpire here. They saw no difference in him
than they did in the pool of Bethesda. That's what I'm saying. They were just there waiting
for the troubling of the waters. They were there for the benefits.
They came to him because of his reputation to heal, to hear him
speak, to see him work, and to enjoy the benefits. In Proverbs
chapter 14, verse 12, it says this, there is a way that seemeth
right unto a man. And I'm telling you this, that
religion, they're sincere in what they're saying, and what
they're saying is what they see. And what they see is an earthly
ministry to earthly needs and wants and desires. That's all
they see. He physically ascended on a mountain. He physically looked at the multitude
in need. He actually healed their diseases,
tended to their needs. He physically sat on the ground
and taught everything recorded in this chapter to that multitude. That actually happened. That's
the historical account of what took place on that mountain. And it would appear that God
was concerned with the welfare of the world, that he loved all
men the same, cared for all men the same. But what seemed to be so here is why religion is the way it
is. All they can see is the natural, the physical, and the historical. Two things took place that day,
what seemed to be and what actually was, the natural and the spiritual. In Romans chapter 8, verse 4,
it says, The righteousness of the law
is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the
spirit. They look past the physical. They look past the flesh and
its desires. They look past the ability of
it, the understanding of it, the wants and the will of it.
They look past its logic and reason. to what eye hath not seen and
ear hath not heard, but God hath revealed them unto us by His
Spirit. And while the flesh attempts
to achieve the attitudes, the Spirit sees Him. You see what
I'm saying? It sees Him who is the end of
the law for righteousness. While the flesh tries to work
up repentance, The Spirit of God in you creates a godly sorrow
that leadeth thee to repentance. While the flesh tries to present
its works and offering to God for sin, faith rests in the finished
work of Christ. What I'm saying is this. The
cleansing of the leper meant nothing apart from what it pictured. Can you see that? God calling
Lazarus back from the grave, that has no profit to you whatsoever
other than maybe astounding you that he had the ability. And
I don't know why it would astound us that God could raise the dead
who created the world. But apart from what it pictured,
it has no value. And so is the Sermon on the Mount.
And all that we see and what seemed to take place won't do
you any good until you see what took place spiritually. But I tell you this, if God gives
you eyes and ears to see, you'll be astounded. You see, the Kingdom
of God, He says this over and over and over throughout the
New Testament. He said the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink.
It's not the physical. When He's talking about Himself
being the bread, He's not talking about a chunk of bread Catholics
take the wafer and that actually is Christ. That's not what he's
saying. It's not meat and drink. The kingdom of God is not in
word only. It's not learning something.
It's not learning a doctrine. It's good that you learn doctrine.
But doctrine's not Christ. The kingdom of God cometh not
with observation. Now, what that means to a poor
old country boy like me is you can't see it. That's what it
meant. It comes and you can't see it. It's like regeneration. He said
the Spirit of God is like the wind. You can't tell where it
comes from or where it's going. All you can do is see the effects
of it. That's the way the Kingdom of God is. The Kingdom of God
is in your heart, he said. And you can't see it coming until
it's established. Then you see the effects. The kingdom of God, our Lord
said to Nicodemus, can only be perceived by new birth. And that's why Paul says, this
is the rest of that scripture I quoted to you over in Romans.
They that are in the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.
They tend to them. That's what he's saying. They
tend to them. They minister to them. They worry about them.
They fret over them. They find security in them. They
mind the things of the flesh, but they are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. Now let me show you three things
here in Matthew chapter 5. All three of these things found
right here in verse 1, Matthew chapter 5. First of all, the
multitude. It says, seeing the multitude. Which multitude did he see? I know he looked with these eyes
and saw that multitude. But what multitude did he see? Did he see that mob that thronged
him and pressed him and clamored after him and wearied him day
after day after day? Or did he see that multitude
giving him of the Father before the world began? Well, I can tell you this as
a preacher. There was a multitude within the multitude. There was
a people within the people. There was a crowd within the
crowd, Bobby. A people elect and precious.
A people beloved of God before the world was. I preach here
and I preach there and I see their faces as I see your faces
here this morning. But what I see when I preach
is the multitude. I wouldn't preach at all if I
didn't think he had a people. What would be the point? We have
no ability to seek. There's none that seeketh after
God. There's none that doeth good. Just none, none, none righteous. None, no ability, no willingness,
no, nothing, just nothing. What would be the point in preaching?
But God has a multitude. He has a people. And he confirmed
that promise in Abraham. He said, look up, Abraham, and
look at the stars. How many can you count? Consider the sands of the seashore. Can you add them all up? So shall
thy seed be. There's a multitude. God has
a people beloved and precious, a people chosen for which he
made provision for, a people predestinated to an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, reserved in heaven for you. Adopted sons
and daughters and join heirs with Christ. And this people
is why he came into the flesh. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost, lost in the fall of Adam, lost to the nature of
a cursed father, lost in the bonds of a natural mind and a
natural heart and a natural will, lost by the deceit of worldly
religion, lost by their own love for darkness because their deeds
were evil. That's the condition of the multitude. Sin has infected the multitude. Every last one of them was sick.
Ain't that what I just read to you? Every one of them. They were all lunatics. Every
one of them. Every one of them was blind. Every one of them
was deaf. Every one of them was filled
with leprosy. The whole outfit was sick. Ain't
that what he said over in Isaiah? The whole outfit. From the top
of your head to the sole of your foot, you're just wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores. That's all y'all are. Like that
little girl cast out in the desert to the loathing of a person laying
out there in the sand, dirty and unattended. It's a navel
not cut, neither softened, not swaddled at all, not loved at
all. Cast out. That's the multitude. He sees their condition. He hears
their cries and he answers their prayers. He's seeing the multitude. He sees the multitude. And then watch this. It says
he went up into a mountain. In Zechariah chapter 8 verse
3 or something. One of his messages over here
in Zachariah caught my eye. It said, Jerusalem shall be called
a city of truth, now listen, and the mountain of the Lord
of hosts, his holy mountain. There is a mountain that must
be ascended to speak to the needs of the multitude. It can't be
done from the valley, it has to be done from the mountain. It's a mountain pictured throughout
the Old Testament. On Mount Moriah, he sent Abraham,
his loyal servant up there with his son, to offer him up to God. And his son said, I see the fire,
and I see the wood. He said, where's the lamb? Oh,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
Oh, he said, I'm going to call this place Jehovah Jireh. in
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." That's where it's going
to be seen if you see it. It's going to be in the mountain
on Mount Horeb where Moses saw the bush burning but wasn't concerned. And he turned aside to see this
wonder. And God spoke to him. And he
revealed to him his sovereign mercy and his sovereign grace.
I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I'll show mercy
to whom I will. On Mount Sinai where the ground
shook and smoked and burnt from the presence of the Holy God.
And that law demanded he to be kept. And on Mount Calvary, where
the Son of God ascended to its peak, gave his soul in offering
for sin, and poured out his blood, and declared God to be both just
and justifier of all those that come to him by Christ. David said, who shall ascend
into the hill of the Lord? Ain't that what he's talking
about here in Matthew chapter 5? Who shall ascend unto the
hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place? Who's going to stand on the mountain
and speak to the needs of the multitude? Who has the ability
to stand on the mountain? Who has the ability to ascend
to its peak? Who has the right and authority
to bless the people? Who has the power to heal the
diseases? All in Him. All in Him. He went up into the mountain,
a mountain of God's glorious perfections, a mountain too high
for man to climb, too holy for man to stand in. But the God-man ascended, and
when he did, That multitude, given him of the Father before
the world began, in an eternal union, inseparable from him,
indivisible, they ascended with him. They stood on the mountain
with him. And then watch this, Matthew
chapter 5 verse 1. He went up into the mountain,
and when he was set, when he was set. That means two
things. One, Bobby, it means he sat down.
He sat down. Why would the sovereign Lord
of Glory sat down? Because his work was done. It says he's seated there with
all power, all authority, a name above every name, and every knee I don't care what
kind of knee it is. Every knee's gonna bow. Every one of them. And all of
them gonna declare him to be Lord to the glory of God. He's
seated in the heavens. Seated at the right hand of God.
Seated until his enemies be made his footstool. And he's seated,
now listen to me, in full acceptance. He was in the tomb, but he ain't
there no more. How come? God accepted his work,
and He raised him up, and He set him up here. You say, well, I just don't think
the Lord could have anything to do with me. He can't. But
He can Him. You see what I'm saying? In Him
is fullness of acceptance, seeded with full approval, seeded with
a name above every name, having all fullness in Himself. fullness
of grace, and fullness of truth, and fullness of mercy, and fullness
of love, fullness of authority, fullness of power. In Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in
Him. When He was set. And the other
definition of that term is ready. I'll tell you when you're going
to be saved. I'll tell you when you're going to hear from God.
when he's ready. Not when you're ready, when he's
ready. I tell you what you're going
to do when you're ready, you're going to beg and plead and cry
and sob and tremble before the Holy God. And then when he gets
ready, he's going to speak peace. Now watch this, Matthew chapter
5 verse 1, when he was sick, says his disciples came to him.
when he was ready. There's a great gathering spoken
of over in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 10, and I know that this
has reference to the judgment at the last day. It has reference
to that final day. But there's a sense in which
this gathering's been going on from the beginning of time. From
the time the covenant was made and agreed to, there's been a
gathering. And everything in creation and providence is assisting
in its end. And I can't explain all the situations
and needs and diseases and whatever it is that brought those disciples
to Christ, but I know this. He said, no man cometh unto me
except the Father which sent me draw him. He's going to be
drawn. How's he going to be? I don't
know. I don't know. He may take your legs away from
you and bring you in here. Any of you remember John Hassell? Oh, he had a job. He had a great
job with, I think it was with Boeing or one of the big aviation
companies. Had it made. Had it made. Had a good wife, daughter, financial
security. Had it all. Till God gave him
that disease. He couldn't control his muscles
and he shook and finally he was in a little cart and his wife
left him and his daughter left him. And sitting there at the
house, he had nothing else to do, he turned the radio on, heard
Henry Mayhem preaching. He drawed him. He drawed him. We could go on and on this morning
with stories, each one of you in here. How did you come to
hear the gospel? He draws you. Every man that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Those chosen of Him, called,
given the will to leave all they had, follow Him. They gather at His feet. Now
watch this, Matthew 5. Seeing the multitude, he went
up into the mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came
unto him, and he opened his mouth. I'm telling you, I grew up in
religion. My daddy took me from the time
I was just a little feller. Every time that door was open,
he brought me in, sat me down, and I heard this one preach and
that one preach, and I went to all the revivals Went to the
mission churches and he set me up on an old feed sack and I
listened to them over there. And we went to the state conferences
up in Columbus, Ohio and I listened to them there. And I listened
and listened and listened and listened and never understood
a single thing they said. It's all superstition. All do
this just in case. And I came to a knowledge of
grace, and I joined a grace church, and I attended a preacher school,
and I went off to be a pastor of a church. And I went to all the conferences,
every one I could afford to go to. And I studied, and I preached,
and I read the Word of God every day. And one day, God spoke. He opened His mouth. That's when
you're going to hear something when he opens his. Oh, I'm willing. I'm willing to open mine. Will he open his? And I can't see your hearts.
I can't see your motives. I can't discern why you're here.
But I can tell you this. You'll be saved when he opens
his mouth. He opened his mouth in agreement
to a covenant when God gave everything he had to his house. Here it
is. He said, I will. God said, here
it is. He opened his mouth and creation
had it to be. He opened his mouth and the sea
parted and closed again. He opened his mouth and this
world was consumed with blood, all but eight men. He opened his mouth and everything
in providence obeys his voice. The disciples said even the winds
and the waves obey his voice. When he's pleased to open his
mouth, you'll hear from God. And here's what he's going to
tell you. Blessed are. Not you'll be blessed. That's
not what it says. It says blessed are. At the right
hand of God sits one accepted with all the fullness of the
Godhead body. having secured the covenant in
its every detail and he says blessed are. Blessed are. In John chapter 1 verse 4 it
says in him was life and the life was the light of men. To
have light you have to have life. It don't come the other way. The blessed attitudes are the
light of life. That's what they are. And when He gives life in the
soul, the mind, and the heart, and the will, they follow the
course. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Who are they? Bankrupt. That's who they are. They can't find anything in the
flesh to offer to God. Nothing in the flesh can recommend
them to Christ. No wisdom, no sanctification,
no righteousness, no redemption, no willingness, no ability. Cast
out from His presence. Separated from true worship like
the leper of old. He couldn't participate in anything.
He was just cast out. That's who's blessed. Find me a sinner and I'll show
you a blessed man. Bankrupt before God. Blessed
are they that mourn, that mourn over their sins, that mourn over
who they are, how they think, what they feel, Filled with shame,
they mourn. They mourn because they're separated
from Him. They mourn when He doesn't speak
to them. Blessed are the meek. Who's that?
Let me tell you something about being meek. You can't work it
up. You're too proud. But when God unhorses you off
that high horse of pride, and put your face in the dust, and
you're on the bottom looking up, you be meek. That's what a meek man is. A
meek has to do with position. You're down there looking up.
You prefer other men before you because that's how you see them.
You're looking like this. Everybody's up there. And I'll
tell you right now, all these church arguments and dissensions
and splits and all this kind of nonsense, it's caused by people
who are up here looking down, not down there looking up. That's
exactly the truth. That man down there looking up,
he's a blessed man. Blessed is that man that hungers
and thirsts after righteousness, not his own, but Christ's. He
needs it like he needs food and drink. He can't go without it. They crave it like honey in a
honeycomb. Without it, they have no hope,
no joy, no peace, no assurance, no foundation. Blessed are the
peacemakers, the merciful, the pure in heart, they that are
persecuted. These are all blessed attitudes
given the believer, just given to him. You don't achieve them,
they're given to you. They're the gift of God's grace.
And you get them when he opens his mouth. And I'll tell you
this, when he gives you the attitude, the doctrine will just fall in
line. You'll understand the sovereignty
of God because you know you couldn't achieve it. Only He could do
it. You'll understand righteousness
because all you can find in yourself is sin. That's all you can find
in the world. That's all you can find in others.
Sin. You'll see it in Him. In Him
was life, and the life was the light of men. Now He said, with these attitudes, You have to
have these attitudes. How do you get them? He gives
them to you. What's the result? He said, you're the salt of the
earth. You're the reason. Salt has two things that it does. One, it preserves. And the other
one is taste. He said, you're the salt of the
earth, Larry. The reason God doesn't burn this place up is
because you're here. That's what he's saying. And
this earth and all this confusion and all this nonsense and all
that mob gathered on that mountain, what made this place a savor
unto God was that multitude. Tasted good. Tasted good. This is the day the Lord hath
made. Let us rejoice in it. How can you rejoice? Because
there's salt. That's why He said you're the
light. Where's that light come from? Let your light so shine
that men may see your attitude and do what? Glorify your Father. When that true attitude of grace
shines, there won't be but one sense of glory and that'll be
His glory. You can't produce it. God give
us a heart to believe Him.