For whom is the Sermon on the Mount intended? To whom does it apply? What is really the purpose of this Sermon; what is its relevance?

We must ask these questions because there are conflicting opinions.

Is the Sermon for the Christian? To answer we ask is there any teaching to be found in the Sermon on the Mount that is not also found in the various NT Epistles. If we make a list of the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and then read the Epistles, we will find that Christ’s doctrine is expounded by the Apostles. Now all the Epistles are meant for Christians today; so if the teaching is the same as that of the Sermon on the Mount, clearly its teaching also is meant for Christians today.

The purpose here is not to expose the error that teaches otherwise. Dr. Lloyd-Jones does a good job of that in his introduction to the Sermon.

According to Lloyd-Jones the Sermon on the Mount is a perfect elaboration of what Jesus called His new commandment. So the Christian is a student of Christ’s words in this Sermon so that we might learn what it is to love one another as Christ loved us.

We agree that the kingdom of God in one sense has not yet been established on the earth. It is a kingdom that is to come, but it is also a kingdom that has come. ‘The kingdom of God is among you’, and ‘within you’; the kingdom of God is in every one born of the Spirit. It means ‘the reign of Christ’. He reigns in the Church when she orders her faith and practice according to His word. The kingdom has come in Christ; the kingdom is coming as the gospel is applied to believers in every nation and every generation; the kingdom will come in its fullness at the end of the age.

Whenever Christ is enthroned as King, the kingdom of God is come. While we cannot say that He is ruling over all in the world at the present time, He is certainly ruling in that way in the hearts and lives of all His people. The Sermon on the Mount is meant for all Christian people because it is a perfect picture of the life of the kingdom of God.

The Gospel of Matthew begins with this Sermon. Matthew was writing especially for the Jews and his emphasize was upon the kingdom of heaven. The Jews had a false, materialistic conception of the kingdom. They thought the Messiah was one who was coming to give them political freedom. They were looking forward to someone who would deliver them from the bondage and yoke of the Roman Empire. They always thought of the kingdom in an external sense, a mechanical, military, materialistic sense.

So Matthew puts the truth concerning the kingdom in the very forefront of his Gospel, for the great purpose of this Sermon is to give an exposition of the kingdom as something which is essentially spiritual.

It is the job of the scientist to question science. A theory should stand or fall on its merit. Anomalies in a theory are an important part of scientific investigation. They lead to advancement in knowledge. The job of the cultist is to suppress critical opposition and hide the anomalies.

Fraud along with the suppression of data is a mockery of the scientific method. Darwinism has now become synonymous with anti-science.

Good science will be to the benefit of man. Stating that opposing views are held by those to ignorant to understand is arrogant elitism, especially when the theory directly opposes the Christian world view and undermines the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Biblical Christianity and science are not incompatible. They are both concerned with truth. Biblical Theology is derived from God’s revelation of Himself in Scripture. We expect to see the majestic and the awesome in its doctrine of God and His works. Science is a search for truth revealed in the physical universe. We expect to see orderly and repeatable behavior consistent with the nature of the Creator. These are the scientific laws that govern cause-and-effect. Random behavior that is the basis of evolution theory would make science impossible.

There may be an infinite number of possible ways for a process to occur, but all these are not probable. For example, when an object is dropped it will always fall toward the center of the earth. The only probable action is that which obeys the natural law of gravity. So it is with bio-chemistry and the life sciences. The probable reactions obey the natural laws governing those processes.

For the consistent darwinite the considerations of quality of life trump life itself because his scope is limited to the physical and material world as opposed to the spiritual. Men are reduced to his physical attributes and his IQ as measures of his worth in the animal kingdom. If a person is physically or mentally challenged, then he is not fit to live.

This is the thinking of brute beasts and barbarians that is the end of Darwinism, only now the philosophers and scientists are among them.

The statement about ‘consequences of living in a truly secular society, devoid not only of the Christian God but also of Christian morality’ needs to be explored. If God is dead, then the Constitution is dead because the rights it was written to secure are God given, not derived from the state.

These men are not only enemies of the cross, they are enemies of liberty. They are the seed of lawlessness. Now the Scripture speaks of the ‘wiles of the evil one’; that is the ‘father of lies’ is clever in his deceitfulness.

An unbalanced emphasize on grace has led men to neglect certain of the law’s various functions. In its accusing and convicting function, the law is a schoolmaster to lead men to Christ. The absence of this dimension in the preaching of today has resulted in a truncated Gospel, rushed conversion work and a shallow religious experience. The law prepares the way for the Gospel and ‘a man can never preach the Gospel that makes not way for the Gospel’.

Mr. Tallman, the NT is clear that God’s love is demonstrated in Christ…

‘But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us’ [Romans 5:8].

But men outside Christ are under wrath because they are lawbreakers in rebellion against God….

‘God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already…and this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil…’ [John 3:17-21].

As it is written [Malachi 1:2-3], “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

How can the apostle say these things? What is his meaning?

Again, the apostles are faithful expositors of the doctrine of Christ. Isn’t sin a matter of the heart? Jesus says that out of the heart come the things that defile a man…

‘Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man…’ [Matthew 15:18-20].

James says that lust gives birth to sin and death...

Now Christian we can begin to begin to understand the great liberty where in Christ has made us free. The regenerating power of the Spirit opens the heart and applies the redemption accomplished in Jesus Christ. Grace has set us free. Because we are raised up with Christ, sin is on longer our master that we must obey. Its power over us is broken as is the power of the grave.

A renewed heart is free of the corrupting power of sin. Those things that God has given for our enjoyment can be freely enjoyed because righteousness is of the heart, not in outward appearances.

We are diligent to guard our heart for that is where sin arises. We know the words of the accuser…Let us sin that grace may abound. But the word of the apostle stands firm…

‘God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?’ [Romans 6:1-2]

Shall our liberty cause another brother to sin? God forbid! Rather, for his sake we will practice self denial because we are no longer slaves to the things of the flesh, but rather slaves of righteousness.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us His description of what a Christian looks like on the inside and how he interfaces with the world in which he lives.

We would do well to know how Jesus characterizes His people regardless of what the world thinks and what many professors say, His is the only definition that matters.

To take parts of this sermon and apply it to state relationships as between state and criminal is to wrest the Scriptures from their meaning. Let’s take this passage for example…

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” [Matthew 6:12].

What is its meaning? Does God forgive us because we forgive others? God forbid! Just as good works are a result of justification and not its cause, the heart willing to forgive has first experienced the mercy of God in the forgiveness of sins.

From the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, Jesus gives us insight into His meaning…

’You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ [Matthew 18:32-33]

The apostle is faithful in his exposition of Christ’s doctrine to the people of God…

‘… as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do’ [Colossians 3:12-13].

We are exhorted to longsuffering, to bear with one another and to forgive one another, but what is the motive; where is the power to persevere in these things? It goes back to considering the great mercy extended to us in the forgiveness of sins in the gospel…

According to the Bible ‘the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom.’ What is this fear of God that puts us on the path to wisdom?

The fear of God is the affectionate reverence, by which the child of God [yields] himself humbly and [willingly] to his Father’s law. His wrath is so bitter and his love so sweet; that hence springs an earnest desire to please him…and because of our weakness and temptations a holy watchfulness and fear, ‘that we might not sin against him.’ This enters into every exercise of the mind, every object of life. [Charles Bridges on Proverbs]

Should this fear of God not be our great concern since it is the principal part of knowledge? The best treatment of this subject to my knowledge is from the pen of John Bunyan…

http://acacia.pair.com/Acacia.John.Bunyan/Sermons.Allegories/Treatise.Fear.God/1.html

Now if the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, then it follows that the Bible identifies those who deny God as fools. Of all knowledge, the knowledge of God is the principal. Truth leads always to godliness. [Titus 1:1]

Morality is defined with respect to the moral law given by the Creator of life. Western culture has its foundation in this truth. Denying this truth to the public schoolers amounts to child abuse. Exposing them to a sexuality void of morality amounts to sexual abuse.

The government is quick to assume sexual abuse when it is even suspected in a religious community. They will suspend constitutional rights in their zeal to ‘protect the children’. But they will not see abuse in the publicly supported schools because the high priests of secularism have declared their doctrine to be truth.

Why did the Son of God ever come into this world? Though God is holy and just and righteous and absolute in all His qualities, He is a God of peace. That is why He sent His Son.

Where did war come from if not from man, from sin and from Satan? Discord was brought into the world in that way. But this blessed God of peace has come and done something He was under no obligation to do. God has made peace. He has humbled Himself in His Son to produce it.

How has He made peace? He gave Himself that men might be at peace with God, at peace within and at peace with one another. He ‘made peace through the blood of His cross’ [Colossians 1:20].

Jesus teaches at the last supper that the cup symbolizes His blood of the new covenant. He was to confirm the covenant with His own blood…

For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. [Matthew 26:28]

And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. [Mark 14:24]

Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. [Luke 22:20]

In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” [1 Corinthians 11:25]

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…’ [Hebrews 8:7-8]

In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. [Hebrews 8:13]

And for this reason [Jesus] is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. [Hebrews 9:15]

And [God] put all things under [Christ’s] feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. [Ephesians 1:22]

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. [Galatians 3:29]

In order to have this as a priority you must believe that the Constitution is based on truth about man and about liberty. You must understand that Constitutional government is by far the best system to promote individual freedom among a self-governing people and that liberty among an informed and truth loving people is a good thing.

Herein is the seed of self destruction of which the Founders left ample warning. With great liberty comes a great responsibility of the people. We the people must have integrity to live according to the consensus of morality. That is, we are law abiding as long as the law does not violate the ‘Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God’. We are citizens and free men that will not tolerate tyranny from the state or from the church.

Now what is the source of this kind of integrity? What led to the American Revolution? Until we understand the answer to that question, we cannot expect to see a priority, other than lip service, given to the Constitution.

The secular establishment cannot allow the Bible back in the public classroom.

The Bible is the friend of liberty and the great enemy of ignorance and tyranny. It strikes at our pride and self deception. It answers the questions of origins, epistemology, morals, sin and grace. It is the best of books because in it Jesus Christ is revealed.

The Scriptures are suppressed from the classroom to the detriment of the public school system. Any institution that suppresses the Bible will fail. Christ has promised to build His church, and He does so by the means of His word. Nothing can prevent Him in this purpose [John 6:39].

Imagine a scientific revolution. Imagine that evolution is shown to be the greatest hoax in the history of science. Imagine the resources that have been wasted on the premise that life, the earth and the universe are without design. Imagine the fortune invested in the research of fitting everything into a Darwinian framework. Imagine all the nonsense associated with a theory that stands in contradiction to the Bible.

This is why ID is suppressed because the next step is toward the Bible and creationism.

The history of American liberty is rooted in the Protestant Reformers. Could it be that the ‘freewheeling Protestant nation’ discovered liberty as a result of the separation from the Catholic Church?

Every Christian has been confronted with their own sin. The words of Christ have pierced the heart in mourning over our transgressions. We agree with the Psalmist…