We are going to begin a series on the words of Jesus. Jesus speaking directly to you and me through the scriptures. I believe it's going to be life-changing. Welcome, friends, to the line of fire. This is Michael Brown.
So glad to spend this time together with you. We are going to explore what the Lord said, the red letters. If you have a red letter edition of the New Testament, we're going to explore the riches of His words. We're going to dig into His words. We're going to start.
with the Sermon on the Mount. But first the question. There are some teachers Born again. Teachers People who love the Word of God. who loved Jesus as Savior and Redeemer.
who actually say that his words are not directly applicable to believers today. They say that they are really part of the old covenant because the new covenant is only instituted with the cross.
So what Jesus said after the cross, that applies directly to us as believers today, but what's before the cross would really be like Old Testament verses that were spoken to Israel, to the Jewish people, and then have to be applied with wisdom until today. And that if you just take the words of Jesus at face value, say the Sermon on the Mount, you'll find it very condemning. You'll find it brings you to a place of hopelessness, and let's say that was the purpose of it. It was to bring Jewish listeners to the point where they recognized their own futility in trying to keep the law because God's standards were too high when rightly understood. And therefore, These aren't really words for the church.
They'll just condemn us if we take them at face value.
So I I I'm saying this in the most sympathetic way I can because I absolutely reject that notion in teaching. And I'm not going to mention names of people that teach it. In my book, Hyper Grace, I open these things up. I have actual quotes where you can get into it, look into it. In the context of a podcast like this, it's all too easy to just hear a name mentioned, and the next thing you think the person is all bad, or everything they teach is terrible.
So I'm seeking to present this in the best way that I can. And let me give you a quote that's really quite an extreme quote from a contemporary Bible teacher. I don't know if he still holds to this, I'm not mentioning his name. He's not that well known, by the way. But Here's what he said.
Matthew 5, 1 through 7, 29 is the Sermon on the Mount. Is this sermon intended for the Church? He says absolutely not. It's intended for the self-righteous. It's a pre-salvation preach.
That exposes self-righteous pride and performance and reveals the need for God's righteousness as a gift through faith in order to see the kingdom and become children of God. Unless you really understand grace, don't go near the Beatitudes. They will mess you up. Teaching the Beatitudes to Christians produces legalism. and religious pride or condemnation in them.
We must rightly divide the word of God to see what Jesus was saying. and trying to achieve here. Again, I'm not quoting him by name because I don't want you to hear the name and throw out. Everything he had to say. I am going to quote Charles Spurgeon by name because Spurgeon said this of the Beatitudes.
The whole of the seven Beatitudes composing the celestial ascent to the house of the Lord, conduct believers to an elevated tableland upon which they dwell alone and are not reckoned among the people. Their holy separation from the world brings upon them persecution for righteousness' sake. But in this they do not lose their happiness, but rather have it increased to them and confirmed by the devil repetition of the benediction. Jeremiah Burroughs, Puritan wrote in 15, was born in 1599. And he wrote a dense commentary on the Sermon on the Mount.
Uh he said it's the Sermon of Christ himself. He said, What can be more suitable for a minister of Christ to preach of than the sermon of Christ? For a minister to preach other men's sermons, it is negligence. But for him to preach Christ's sermon is faithfulness. Oh.
What attention is called for while you are hearing this sermon of Christ repeated to you and opened and applied to you? John Stott, one of the most respected evangelical leaders from the last generation, said the Sermon on the Mount has a unique fascination. It seems good to present the quintessence of the teachings of Jesus. It makes goodness attractive, it shames our shabby performance, it engenders dreams of a better world. As John Donne.
put in a sermon preached during Lent, sixteen twenty nine, not without a little pardonably hyperbole. all the articles of our religion, all the canons of our church, all the injunctions of our princes, all the homilies of our fathers, all the body of divinity, in other words, every good teaching. It is in these three chapters, in this one sermon on the other. On the Mount. Here's the deal, friends.
It is absolutely shocking. to the vast majority of Christians and would be absolutely shocking. to the vast majority of Christians throughout history, And to this very moment... to tell them that the teachings of Jesus are not direct words from God to them. that the teachings of Jesus are not directly applicable.
That the teachings of Jesus do not carry the same direct applicability, say, as the writings of Paul or Peter or John in the Epistles. or the teachings in Acts, in the book of Acts. It would strike most believers as As shocking. And for some Almost blasphemous. How could you take those from us as authoritative words?
Now, again, Those brothers and sisters in the Lord that believe they're not directly applicable, they'd say, no, there's still scripture. They're still holy. We just have to recognize they're part of the Old Covenant. And just like we take different parts of the Old Covenant and apply it through the cross, we have to do the same with the teachings of Jesus.
So if that's the case. If that's the case, if the teachings of Jesus are not directly applicable for us. Let me just list out what they mean. And then tell you why I completely reject this view and why throughout history it's been a view that would be completely rejected. If Jesus, when you read the Gospels, is not speaking directly to you.
And directly to me. And thus saith the Lord. then we can safely ignore his call to deny ourselves and take up the cross daily. We can safely ignore him telling us that we're the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We can safely ignore his invitation to leave everything and follow him.
We can safely ignore his instructions to turn the other cheek and pray for our pro persecutors. We can safely ignore all the warnings in his parables. We can safely ignore his teaching that there will be future rewards based on our obedience. We can safely ignore the lofty purity standards of the Sermon on the Mount. we can safely ignore his warnings about covetousness and materialism.
We can safely ignore his urgent words about hell and future punishment. We can safely ignore his teaching that if we don't forgive others, our Father won't forgive us.
Well, it's not directly applicable. Throw it out. God forbid. God forbid. So Let me tell you why.
There's absolutely no question. that the words of Jesus are directly applicable for us. Unlike everything else in scripture, If there's something that no longer exists, like he's talking about bringing your offering to the temple, well then you make application. This would be the same as us going to a church service to worship. or getting on our knees to worship and pray at home.
If you know that someone has something against you rightly, not just someone attacking you, but someone has something against you rightly, then you make it right with that person before you go on with your religious service. Right, so we can make application where circumstances have changed. Just like Paul Writing to the Corinthians about head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11, we have to make application in a society that doesn't have the same head covering custom, et cetera. But here's why I absolutely reject the notion that that the words of Jesus are not for today. First question.
Why write out the Gospels with all this teaching? If his teaching was for his Jewish audience, that's what it was for. Then why did all the gospel authors It's been decades. After Yeshua's death and resurrection, writing out the gospels and and including not just what he did and he died and rose, but including his teachings. Why put em in there?
Why spend so much time gathering them and making sure they had them accurately? And passing them on. And why was it in the early church it was customary to read through the gospels in a cycle?
So that as as believers would gather together, every Every so often, in other words, a period of time every number of months, they would have read through all the Gospels and start again, constantly hearing the words of Jesus. if they're not directly applicable for us today. Second question. What did Jesus tell the disciples in John 14, 26 that the Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance everything he taught? If they weren't supposed to teach us.
If they weren't supposed to bring these words to us as direct gospel, as direct words from God to us under grace, then why did the Holy Spirit bring them to their remembrance? Just move on. They serve their purpose for the Jewish audience then. Move on. No.
They're essential for us today. Number three. What about the Great Commission in Matthew 28? Jesus says, all authority in heaven and earth is given to me then. Go therefore, making disciples of the nations, or as you go, make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything I commanded you.
It's past tense in the Greek. Everything I already commanded you. Part of the great commission is to make disciples based on the teaching of Jesus. Mm. Number four.
Jesus himself said in John 6, 63, that His words are spirit and life. And Peter says in John 6, 68, where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal life. His words are the words of eternal life. By believing His words, we have life.
And what about John 15, 7? If you abide in me and my words abide in you. Ask what you will, it'll be done for you. This remains. an ongoing teaching of truth for the body.
Number five. Other parts of the New Testament quote the words of Jesus as speaking directly to us today, Acts 20, where Jesus is quoted: it's better to give than receive. Or 1 Peter 5, excuse me, 1 Timothy 5. the laborer is worthy of his hire.
So There you have it. He said, well, well, that was just an Old Testament reply. No, these are the words of Jesus that are always relevant for the church. And by the way, If you want words that are hard. One pastor said the words of Jesus are so harsh in the Sermon on the Mount, they're not for today.
Well, the words of Jesus in the book of Revelation rebuking five out of the seven churches in Asia Minor, they're stronger. They're harsher. Act six. Luke tells us that this is everything Jesus began to do and teach. That's what he recorded in Luke.
Now it's ongoing in action it it is It's an unbroken chain. It's the same message of the same Master and Lord. Number seven, According to the Gospels, Jesus preached the Gospel. That's the word that's used in Greek. The word that we get evangelized from it.
But it is the word for preach the good news. According to the Gospels, Jesus did that very thing. Jesus preached the good news. Jesus says this, point number eight. Jesus said, whoever is ashamed of me in my words, I'll be ashamed of him on that day.
Ashamed of me and my words.
So, this is ongoing. This was not just something that was a teaching for that moment. Number nine. The Beatitudes are not words of condemnation, but invitation. They are the way that show us to a truly blessed life.
And they're not condemning. And by God's grace, these are things we can live out. Let me just ask you a question, and we'll get into the Beatitudes in a few podcasts. But let me just ask you this question. Blessed are truly happy are those who mourn.
For they shall be comforted. How's that legalistic? How is that condemning? How was that hopeless?
Now, that's a word of encouragement to those. mourning with the pain and loss of this life if If they love the Lord and they're walking with him, he's encouraging them, hey, you're going to be comforted. Those of you who are being persecuted for righteousness, be encouraged. You're truly blessed if you're being persecuted for righteousness because Great is your reward in heaven. That's how the prophets were persecuted before you.
God forbid any one steal those words from you as meat and drink. And the Lord's Prayer, are are you Actually telling me That that the church has been in error through all the centuries and even back to the Didache, some of the earliest teaching preserved from apostolic leaders in the church. Will the Lord's prayers repeat it? That that was a mistake? You say, yeah, but it says if we don't forgive, we won't be forgiven, and we've been forgiven once and for all through the cross.
As far as salvation, yes, we've been forgiven once and for all through the cross, but relationally. Forgiveness is something transacted. In other words, In terms of salvation, yes, we've been forgiven once and for all by the cross. And if you refuse to forgive your brother, It doesn't mean you're not saved. You're lost at that moment because of it.
But there will be a break in your fellowship with God. You better believe it.
So please. Don't let anyone take the words of Jesus. from you. Quick word from our co-sponsor, Trivita, part of my daily healthy life habit, and then I'll come back with my concluding words and tell you where we're going next. Chronic inflammation is the greatest health threat to humanity.
Infections, injuries, toxins, poor diet, and chronic stress can. can attack your immune system and lead to chronic inflammation. But now there's a solution you can fight this dangerous silent killer with. Nopalaia. made from the superfruit of the Nepal cactus.
containing a unique group of bioflavonoids clinically shown to reduce chronic inflammation. I'm a personal trainer and owner of three gyms. Super excited doing a renovation in here, bringing new equipment in. And as I was bringing the new equipment in, I was trying to move a piece. I moved, the equipment didn't move, and I injured myself severely.
So it was frustrating. It was really depressing. I wasn't able to work out. I wasn't able to train. I wasn't able to do just normal daily functions.
After taking NOPEL A, I found that it really helped with my recovery, not only with my severe injury in my back, but it also helped in my recovery of my workouts. Try it for yourself by calling 1-800-771-5584. Order today and use promo code BROWN25. to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of the proceeds from your first order will go to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast.
So call now 1-800-771-5584. one eight hundred seven seven one fifty five eighty four. or online at TRI VITA TRIVEDA. com. All right, remember.
Use the code brown25 when you check out. products from our good friends at Trivita. Jesus when teaching his Jewish audience in John 6. They kept thinking in the natural. They keep thinking about earthly things.
Give us the bread. He said, I'm the bread of life.
Well, we're hungry. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. And they couldn't understand it. They were thinking earthly, he was thinking heavenly. That's when he said, the words I speak to you, they are spirit.
and their life. I want to encourage you when you read the words of Jesus, strengthen. Drink them in. Feast on them. Pray over them.
Look at them on the page and pray. Look at them on your screen and pray memorize them. Chew on them. Take them in. You'll find that they truly are words of Spirit.
and life.
Next broadcast. The Jewish Background to the sermon. on the mount. Mm-hmm.
