The Justice of the Kingdom, Part 4: The Golden Rule

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The Justice of the Kingdom, Part 4: The Golden Rule

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7. We continue our study in our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. We have been for these past three weeks and today concluded, four weeks studying the first verses of Matthew chapter 7. And in this passage, we have learned that our Lord’s righteousness extends to the relationships that we have with others. Our Lord is not simply interested in us, having fellowship, a relationship with Him that has no practical effect on the way we relate to others. He desires our faith, our trust in Him to resound in our relationships with others. And Jesus in Matthew 7, verses 1-12 has been teaching about principles for righteousness in our relationships. We saw, for instance, in verses 1-5, where the Lord addresses the issue of…

The Justice of the Kingdom, Part 3: Ask God

Would you please turn with me in you Bibles, to Matthew chapter 7. We come to another passage concerning prayer in verses 7-11, and this passage may seem to have little direct connection with the verses that we have just studied, but in fact, their relationship is obvious if you give it a little reflection. Christ has just been instructing His disciples on how they are to relate to others. How they are to not judge and how they are to judge. In verses 1-5, He has been telling them that they should not be hypercritical. They should not be harsh and quick to judge, they should certainly not judge in accordance with their own opinion, but in verse 6, He has made it clear that they must judge. For if they are not to be hypercritical, neither are they to be naïve. And so they…

The Justice of the Kingdom, Part 2: Dog and Swine

If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 7. Last week we said that Matthew 7:1-5, was one of the most familiar, but one of the most misunderstood passages in the Sermon on the Mount. Well, today in Matthew 7:6, we come to what is just a plain difficult passage. It is a passage that we often scratch our heads at and I am sure there are some who shake their heads at it. We will begin reading however in verse 1. Because what the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 6, is directly related and counterbalances what He has said in verse 1-5. So let’s hear the word of the living God beginning in Matthew 7, verse 1. “Do not judge lest you be judged. “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it…

The Justice of the Kingdom, Part 1: To Judge or not to…

Would you please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7. This week we enter into a new section of the Sermon on the Mount. Having addressed the issues of the Christian's character, and his influence and his righteousness, and his piety, and his right ambition, the Lord Jesus now turns His attention to our heart attitudes in a series of relationships. Our relationships with our brothers, our relationships with those who are obstinately wicked. Our relationship with our heavenly…

True Religion, Part 6: Anxiety’s Antidote

Our songs have been songs of hope and trust in the living god, and we come to Matthew 6, and the Lord Jesus’ discussion of anxiety and its antidote. We’ll begin in verse 25, but you’ll notice that the first word, or therefore, points you back to the immediately preceding verses, and so these passages are tied together in thought. Matthew 6, beginning at verse 25, hear God’s word: (Matthew 6:25-34) Our Lord and our God, we know the difficulty with which we struggle with the sin of worry,…

True Religion, Part 5: Holy Affections

If you have Bibles, please open to Matthew chapter 6 and we will continue our study of Jesus' teaching about true religion. In fact, from Matthew 6, verse 1, down to verse 18, we have seen the Lord Jesus Christ address the issue of giving, of praying, and of fasting. And it is interesting in contrast to the Pharisees the Lord Jesus hasn’t said, well to make sure that you don’t get into the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is I am just going to make praying, giving and fasting optional. You…

True Religion, Part 4: Fasting

May all our hearts be drawn to God as we meditate on that vision of the glory of the new heavens and the new earth. If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 6. We have been studying in the Sermon on the Mount and in the last few weeks, have been particularly noting Jesus’ contrast between true religion and false religion. In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus took issue with the teaching with the theology of the Pharisees. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus takes issue…

True Religion, Part 3: Prayer and Forgiveness

Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6 as we continue our study in the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. The last time we were together in this passage, we were looking at our Lord’s teaching, contrasting what He expected His disciples to do in prayer with that which the Pharisees were practicing. This week, we will begin to look at the prayer itself, the prayer in which the Lord instructed His disciples, and more importantly the principles on which this prayer was based. And I…

True Religion, Part 2: Praying

If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Matthew chapter 6, as we continue our study of this great Gospel of Matthew and of the Sermon on the Mount. Last time we were together in this passage, we looked at the first four verses of Matthew chapter 6 and saw the Lord’s teaching on Christian giving. You remember that as we studied chapter 5, the first section of the Sermon on the Mount, we said that Jesus particularly in verses 17-48 of chapter 5, was that it pains to show the error in…

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