Stranger Things - Part A

It's really not as much a Sermon on the Mount as it's a mountain of a sermon. In fact, I would give it this title, the Sermon of the Monarch, because that's what it's about, the Kingdom. It's the Kingdom of God.

It's the King announcing Kingdom living to subjects of the Kingdom. Hopelessness has long reigned in people's hearts, but today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares about the hope Jesus brought into the world and the hope He offers you. Before we begin, we want to let you know about an opportunity for you to visit the sites where the prophets and kings in the Bible heard from God. Skip and his wife Lenya are taking a group to Israel in 2022, and you're invited on the journey. Visit places like Nazareth, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and the Garden Tomb. And that's just a quick look at the trip.

Find out more about the trip at inspirationcruises.com slash C-A-B-Q. Now, we want to let you know about a unique opportunity you have to pursue biblical studies in a way that works with your schedule. Personal and small group Bible study is a great way to learn about God and His Word.

But what if you want to dig even deeper? Learn about the Bible's inspiration, inerrancy, and interpretation when you take the history and authenticity of the Bible at Calvary College. Increase your knowledge of the Bible and your confidence in its authority. An education in biblical studies will impact your spiritual life for the rest of your life. Classes start January 10th, so apply today at calvarychurchcollege.com. Okay, let's dive into today's teaching.

We'll be in Matthew, Chapter 5, as Skip Heitzig begins the study. I know you've heard the statement before that truth is stranger than fiction. And so often that is the case, right? There are some things that happen that are just outlandish, bizarre, unexpected, but real. Nonetheless, they happen.

And there are so many examples of this, but let me give you a few to show you what I mean. In 1979, a Burger King in the Midwest was broken into, burglarized. And though that in and of itself isn't odd, the name of the criminal who broke into the Burger King makes the story interesting. He was 18-year-old Ron McDonald. Right?

That's strange, right? How's that for our headlines? Ronald McDonald breaks into Burger King. A year later, in a completely different city, Detroit, Michigan, a burglary took place and the burglar was apprehended. His name was Jimmy Carter, 1980. Jimmy Carter was arrested in Detroit for burglary, not the president, but a man named Jimmy Carter. But that in and of itself is sort of strange, but what makes it over the top strange is the name of the arresting officer who was Richard Nixon. So when Richard Nixon arrests Jimmy Carter, that's strange.

Here's another one. In Orlando, Florida, in a courthouse, a jury of 12 were on their way to the courtroom to finish out the hearing of a case. As they were on their way to the courtroom, they were in the courthouse elevator and the elevator got stuck, so they're trapped in an elevator for 20 minutes. Eventually they get out, they make their way to the courtroom, but they were on their way to hear a case against the Otis Elevator Company.

So do you think the jury was prejudiced when they heard that case? Strange. And then there was an ad in a newspaper in Wisconsin, Marshfield, Wisconsin, that ran this way. For sale, parachute, used once, never opened.

I'm not going to be buying that parachute. Really strange. Now you've guessed by now, and you know by now if you've been in the series, that this series now streaming, we're taking popular shows that people stream on different platforms, and we're looking at kind of a biblical twist on the name.

Now I just want to give a disclaimer. We're not recommending any or all of these shows. Some of them I've never heard of. Some of them I have, and I have heard of the one called Stranger Things, and Stranger Things is based on the disappearance of a young boy in Indiana in a town that was near a top secret government lab. The boy disappears, the police, friends, and family go on a search for the boy, and the strange disappearance of this young boy leads to stranger phenomena, like government experiments and supernatural forces.

So it's called Stranger Things. Well, with that as an introduction, we are looking at a small section this morning of the Sermon on the Mount. And the Sermon on the Mount, as you probably know, is the best known sermon Jesus ever preached. Everybody knows about the Sermon on the Mount, but it's arguably the least understood sermon that Jesus ever preached. I would put it this way, the Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher who ever lived. But I've never really liked the title, the Sermon on the Mount, to be honest with you. First of all, it's not a biblical title. Jesus does not say, the name of my sermon this morning is the Sermon on the Mount.

That's just a name that we have traditionally passed down through history because Jesus spoke it on a little mountain that you can visit in Israel, a little outcropping of a hill. I preached the Sermon on the Mount from that mount several times with groups in Israel overlooking the Sea of Galilee. But the reason I don't like the title is because the title gives you no information about the sermon. That's like me saying, the name of my sermon this morning is the Sermon from the Pulpit. And you're thinking, every sermon is a sermon from the pulpit.

So it gives you no information. It's really not as much a Sermon on the Mount as it's a mountain of a sermon. In fact, I would give it this title, the Sermon of the Monarch, because that's what it's about, the kingdom. It's the kingdom of God.

It's the king announcing kingdom living to subjects of the kingdom. Now, this sermon is filled with some strange things. And the people who heard it, they had never heard anything like this before. So when it was all done, which is the end of chapter seven, the last two verses of chapter seven read this way. So it was when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his teaching, utterly amazed, blown away by what they heard.

For he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. It was all strange to so many of them who heard him. Now, much of Jesus' ministry was filled with strange things, strange sermons, sermons about controversial subjects, sermons that got people's emotions going, conversations that Jesus had, which were sometimes very heated and very intimidating, miracles that he performed. All of these together were strange to the people who observed them. In fact, when Jesus healed a paralytic and told him, your sins are forgiven, we're told they were all amazed. They glorified God, were filled with fear, saying, we have seen strange things today. The gospel is filled with strange things. Do you know that unbelievers think you're strange?

Right? You figured that out. They think you are weird for what you believe in. You mean to tell me you're saying the whole world is consigned to an eternal hell unless they believe in one guy who died and rose again? That is absolutely absurd to them. And the Bible says the message of the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing.

When Paul preached that gospel in Athens at the Areopagus, Mars Hill, and the philosophers were listening to Paul preach, they said, you are bringing some strange things to our ears. And so your friends, your acquaintances, and your family members weren't too happy to hear about your conversion. They weren't when I told them that I was saved. My parents weren't. My friends certainly were not. My brothers didn't like it. And that's because my friends and my brothers sort of knew from now on, this guy is making the statement that he's going to live a different kind of a life.

He's not going to do what he used to do, what we used to do. Peter speaks about that in 1 Peter chapter 4. In regard to these, they think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. So it's all strange to outsiders. What I want to do is have you look with me at the first little section of the Sermon on the Mount this morning, and I want to show you four strange things, four strange elements about this sermon.

First of all, a strange hopefulness. Now let me take you to verse one, where we read, and seeing the multitudes, just mark that, there's a crowd, there are huge numbers of people who are watching this. And seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain, and when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Now that you have that in mind, I need you to understand where the multitudes came from, because we're just kind of open up the story, and there's a crowd of people. And so the observer should ask, why is there a crowd of people?

And so the observer should ask, why is there a crowd of people? And that's because go back to chapter four, verse 23, just the last few little verses. Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then his fame went throughout all of Syria, that's the northern regions above Galilee. And they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various hormones, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics, and he healed them. And what's the result of that? Great multitudes, plural.

Huge, enormous crowds followed him from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, and beyond the Jordan. They'd never seen this before. People get healed when they went to church or synagogue. And now all of a sudden there's this new preacher who has come and he's saying strange things and doing strange things, healing people. Natural law gets suspended.

Bodies that naturally deteriorate, congenital anomalies are fixed instantly. Dead people come back to life. So this brought massive crowds with a hope that starts growing in their hearts.

I call it a strange hopefulness, and here's why it's strange. They hadn't had hope for hundreds of years. In fact, there had been a hopelessness to all of the people that were living in the land of Israel.

And here's why. The history of the Jewish nation is a history of oppression, occupation, a history of slavery, and subservience to other nations. They were slaves for 400 years in Egypt. After that, they got into the promised land for a little while until 722 BC when the Assyrians took them captive to their land. But in 586 BC, the Babylonians came again and took the rest of them captive to their land. And then later on, the Syrians, the Seleucids oppressed them.

So it was like one oppression after another. But in each of those cases, God sent them a savior, a deliverer. So they were in Egypt. Who did God send to deliver them from Egypt? Moses. Moses delivered them. He was their savior. He brought them out of Egypt. When they were in Babylonian captivity, God raised up Nehemiah to approach the king and brought a batch of them back into the land. When the Seleucids, the Syrians oppressed them, God raised up a guy by the name of Judas Maccabees. It's not in your Bible.

That's between the Old and New Testament. But now at this time, New Testament times, there's another oppressor called Rome. Rome is in charge. Roman rule is bearing down on the vassal state of Israel. They're paying taxes to Rome.

They're being told what to do by Roman soldiers. They are feeling hopeless until now. Now hope begins to grow. They've been longing for a deliverer.

Maybe this is the one that hope begins to grow. In fact, there was an ancient prayer that every Jewish person said that went like this. I believe in the coming of Messiah. And even though he tarries, yet I will wait for him every coming day. I am waiting for a savior, a deliverer, a helper. Now, chapter four, verse 23 on, now there's this hope, this messianic longing that is being birthed.

And here's what you need to know. The messianic longing is now at fever pitch. If Jews and they always have longed for a Messiah, if ever there was a time when they super longed for a Messiah, it was right now. Listen to the words of Rabbi Abba Hallel Silver, who writes this, and I'm quoting, prior to the first century, messianic interest was not excessive. The first century, however, especially the generation before the destruction of the second temple, witnessed a remarkable outburst of messianic emotionalism. When Jesus came into Galilee, spreading the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, he was voicing the opinion universally held, that the age of the kingdom of God was at hand.

Listen to his last statement. The Messiah was expected around the second part, the second quarter of the first century CE, Christian era. In other words, the expectation that the Messiah would come is happening right now. Now you understand why when John the Baptist was baptizing at the Jordan River, what was like one of the first questions they asked him?

Are you the guy? Are you the Messiah? He goes, no, there's one coming after me, who is the Messiah.

So now there's a preacher, and this preacher can perform miracles, and he cures people, and hope went ballistic. Crowds of people are teaming around him wherever he goes. Now who's in that crowd? Well, who's in any crowd?

It's a mixed bag, right? There were some real disciples, authentic disciples, there were some curious people, they just heard that this guy can do things, and he speaks differently, so I want to go out and see what he's about. But then there were people who were part of the crowd who were following Jesus, so to speak, who were really only there for the immediate benefit. Because I hear he gives free lunch if you hang around him long enough, and he heals people. So these people saw Jesus as a bread line, a free lunch, a healing line.

They saw the immediate benefit. In John chapter 2, when he is in Jerusalem, we're told, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did. What's interesting is right after that it said, but Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew the hearts of all men.

Then in that crowd, there were some people who just looked at this as a political opportunity. Jesus could be a political pawn, very useful. We hate Rome. We want to overthrow Roman bondage. This could be the tipping point we need to get Rome off our back. Jesus knew this in John chapter 6.

We read, Jesus knew they were about to come and take him by force and make him a king. So you've got people from authentic disciples to seeing this as a political opportunity, to people seeing this as a political opportunity, to people seeing this as a free lunch, all sorts of different motivations in that crowd. But there's a strange hopefulness that is growing. Here's a second strange thing I want you to notice. There's a strange emphasis.

Here's what I mean. The crowds are coming. They're here. There's thousands upon thousands of people. So what does he do? Verse one, seeing the multitudes, he went on a high mountain or he went up on a mountain and when his, when he was seated, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them, them being his disciples saying, so this is worded very carefully.

Don't miss this. He sees the crowd. It's as if he leaves the crowd or tries to with his disciples, and with his disciples, he takes them to a place where he sits down and he teaches them. In other words, and it's important to note this, this is a message not preached to the crowds at large, but to the disciples. Now, certainly there were people from the crowds who were there.

I don't doubt that. I mean, it's hard to keep that many people away, but you got to imagine this. Jesus is outside speaking and there may be thousands of people scattered around. He has no microphone. He might be talking loud, but the people that are really going to hear him are his disciples because they're closest.

And as you get further back in the crowd, you're going to miss a lot. But that's okay because this is a message preached in Jesus' mind and heart to his disciples, primarily spoken to his followers. Now, I'm bringing this up because some people say that the Sermon on the Mount is God's plan of salvation. And they will say that if you ever want to make it to heaven, you're going to have to obey the Sermon on the Mount.

So they see it sort of as a means to salvation. You earn your stripes with God by keeping the Sermon on the Mount, and then you'll go to heaven. Others look at the Sermon on the Mount as, get this, a charter for world peace. That if we can get nations of the earth to adopt the Sermon on the Mount, things will be good in the world.

Leo Tolstoy, who wrote that famous novel, War and Peace, that was his premise. The Sermon on the Mount, if nations adopted this, it could change everything. And then there are others, I would say many, many others, who just think the Sermon on the Mount is just, it's a great speech filled with nice sayings.

You know, you've got some Beatitudes, we like those. Golden Rule, that's awesome. Thing about birds and not worrying, cool.

But that's kind of it. It's just sort of platitudes and nice sayings and lovey-dovey and the brotherhood of men and the birds are singing and peace is reigning. These are people who don't understand the Sermon on the Mount. Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon of the Monarch has no broad universal application. It is a message for disciples.

Mathetai, followers, students, his own. So to expect non-Christians to act like Christians is absurd. They first have to be one. They first have to have life change, internal change, where something happens to that person. It's called conversion. Then they're in the kingdom.

There's something else you should note in this emphasis. He's teaching his disciples. It said, seeing the multitudes, you went up on a mountain and when he was, what did he do? He sat down. When he was seated, his disciples came to him. So picture in your mind Jesus giving a sermon. He's not standing up like I'm standing up.

He was sitting down. See, we have this saying all messed up. You know, I'm standing and you're sitting. If this was antiquity, if this was then, the rabbi would be seated and you would be standing. Now, you know what? Just for fun. Just humor me. Just stand to your feet. Just for a second.

Just stand to your feet. Just get the feel of what this is like. Oh yeah, I'm liking this. I can get used to this. Can you do this? Yeah, no, we won't do it. Have a seat.

I just just wanted to do. We're too far down that road to change it now. When a rabbi wanted to speak with authority, the rabbi sat down. If the rabbi was having casual, informal conversation, he might stand up or walk with his disciples and teach them. But it was considered not as authoritative as sitting down.

And we still use this idea to this day. Have you ever heard of a professor holding a chair in a university? Ever heard that term? Oh, that's a tenured professor. They hold a chair of philosophy or psychology or science.

To hold a chair means to have a place where that professor speaks with authority. That's Skip Heitzig with a message from the series now streaming. Now, here's a resource that will nourish your soul with God's amazing truths. Here's what Norm Geisler said about the book Tactics.

There is no better book to equip Christians to think clearly. Here's Skip Heitzig on the need to engage in active spiritual warfare. You'll never fight God's battles from a sofa.

You'll never contend for what really matters by just cruising in your La-Z-Boy all day. You're going to have to decide to get up as part of the house and join the fight. Become a contender for biblical truth with Fight for the House, a six-message series through the book of Jude with Skip Heitzig. This teaching series on CD equips you to get in the ring to defend the gospel and guard against false teachings. And it's our thanks when you give to connect more people to the truth of God's Word. And when you give $35 or more today, we'll also send you the book Tactics by Gregory Kochel to help you speak the truth about Christianity with confidence and grace. Call 800-922-1888 to give, or visit connectwithskip.com. Did you know that Skip has important updates and biblical encouragement on social media? Just follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get the latest from him and this ministry. That's at Skip Heitzig, at Skip, H-E-I-T-Z-I-G. Tomorrow, Skip Heitzig shares how you can have God's constant joy, even when you experience life's ups and downs. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.