← ArchiveMatthewMatthew – The Sermon on the MountDateJune 8, 2025SpeakerJared MitchellTextMatthewPassages in this sermonMatthew 51:33Matthew 710:55Matthew 2314:38Matthew 1516:49Matthew 5:1437:21Matthew 2840:19TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00We'll be right back. We'll be right back.0:30And it's a privilege for me to be able to preach for us today.1:00As always, I'm just incredibly thankful to Jessica and the band for leading us so well, week in and week out. As you know, as we've started the summer, we've also started a new sermon series. And we're making our way right now through the book of Matthew. And just last week, our pastor started a series of two messages on the Sermon on the Mount.1:23And that's where we are today. Starting in Matthew chapter 5, last week we covered the Beatitudes. And today we're going to pick up where we left off. And we're going to cover the next few chapters. And the reality is that over the last week, as I've been preparing this sermon, that I've found myself with a challenge. That how do I deliver a sermon about another sermon,1:54which is known as the greatest sermon ever told from the greatest preacher that ever lived, Jesus. Now, on one hand, it's not that hard. I heard a story once that there was a church that came to worship together on a Sunday morning. And on this particular day, the pastor got sick. So with about an hour's notice, he wasn't able to preach.2:24Now, this was a smaller church. They didn't have any other pastors on staff. So that morning, the deacons came together. And they said, well, we're technically in charge now. What in the world are we going to do? But none of us know how to preach. And one of the deacons came up with a great idea. So that morning, as the church ended their worship time, and it came time for the sermon, the deacons got up and they lined the stage.2:54And they simply read through the Sermon on the Mount. And after each passage, they would take turns praying. That's a pretty good way to go about it. That for me, as this week, as I have studied, that I've become convinced that if all we did this morning was read through this sermon and pray, it would be more than enough. It would be more than sufficient to meet the needs of our time together.3:20But I've had some time and I believe that God has given us his word so that we can learn and grow. So today, we're going to ask a couple of questions. We're going to dive pretty far into this sermon that Jesus gives. But before we do, let it not be lost on us that God's word is sufficient for our lives and it is sufficient for our every need.3:49Amen? So church, let me pray for us as we then look directly at this sermon that Jesus prepares. Let's pray. God, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this time. And God, as your people, we declare that you are good and we give you glory. As we have already sung, you are the king of kings. You have put breath in our lungs. So today, we are here and with that breath, we worship you.4:18So God, as we look into your word now, God, would you open up eyes to see you clearly, ears to hear you clearly, minds to understand your word, and would you open up our hearts to receive. We pray this in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen. Amen. So as we begin to look at the Sermon on the Mount, we see that it covers three chapters,4:47Matthews 5, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Now, last week, Pastor Josh started in chapter 5 at the beginning with the Beatitudes. But this morning, I want to start at the end of his sermon in chapter 7. And I want to start at the end because I believe that it will help set the framework and the importance of what comes before it. So we're going to start in chapter 7 together5:15and then we're going to work our way back. And while I know that every verse in this sermon is worthy to be deeply studied, today in our short time together, our aim is to somewhat see this sermon from a 30,000-foot view and then to step back and see what God has for us. So look with me in chapter 7. And this is what Jesus says at the end of his sermon in verse 24.5:44He says, Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell and the rivers rose and the winds blew and it pounded that house, yet it didn't collapse because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn't act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.6:11The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew, and it pounded that house and it collapsed with a great crash. And when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching because he was teaching them like one who had authority, not like their teachers, not like their scribes. So I want us to start here because I believe that these words are uniquely written and framed by Jesus for a reason,6:41that he wanted the hearers of his sermon to understand just how vital his words were that came before this. And as we look into this sermon, we're gonna see that Jesus preaches about a lot of different topics, a lot of different things. He preaches about the life and the testimony of the believer. He preaches about hate, lust, integrity.7:09He preaches about loving your enemy. Giving, praying, fasting, materialism, judgment, anxiety, and even more than that. But let us stop there and realize that the word is relevant in our lives in the year 2025. Now, if you're here and you think that the word does not meet you where you're at, just look at this list of what Jesus preaches about. Praying, giving, loving your enemy, fasting, materialism.7:39fasting, materialism. These are things that we deal with on a day in and a day out basis. But he gets to the end of his sermon in chapter seven and he says, listen, once you've heard everything I have to say, the truth is that there are only two foundations in which your life will be built. He says, when the storm hits and it inevitably will. We will face the storms of this life,8:09which is everything from cancer, losing a job, death of a loved one. And you know, I started to write this sermon a couple of weeks ago, but then just this very last week, we've received calls, we've prayed with people, we've walked life with people. A sweet sister in Christ who was diagnosed with cancer. Another sweet sister in Christ who lost her mom this week.8:39Prayed with a sweet brother in Christ who lost his job. And I know that some of you are in the room today and I know that right now, this storm is hitting you harder than it ever has. And Jesus says that that storm might come today. It might be 10 years from now. But when that storm hits, one house will stand upon the rock and one house will crash into itself. And it doesn't matter9:10how we propped up our house. It doesn't matter how we fixed it up. It doesn't matter what other people think about it. Unless it is founded upon the rock of Christ, its fall will be catastrophic and it will be eternal. So on one hand, let us take this passage at the end of his sermon as a warning that without Christ, we have no hope in this life. We have no anchor. But let us also take this passage9:38on the other hand as an encouragement that when we do make Christ the rock of our lives, then on any bad day, this world can come at us from any angle and it will not budge who we are in Jesus. It will not budge our steady anchor. The hymn that we love to sing says, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And I think it's important10:08that when we sing of our hope and we speak about our hope, we focus on the righteousness that is not to be found in our own works or our own efforts, but in the righteousness that comes from Christ alone. And this is why we keep our eyes on the cross so that today when we read this sermon and we look at what Jesus is commanding us to do, we know that as a precursor to understanding this,10:37that the only way that me and you are going to live the way Jesus calls us to live is to trust only in the cross of Christ. Not our righteousness, but his. But as we consider righteousness from Matthew chapter seven, I want you to go to Matthew chapter five and look with me in verse 17. And I believe that this verse is really a focal point for his sermon,11:07but it's also a launching point in which the rest of his sermon would come. Verse 17 of chapter five, Jesus says, don't think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished. So therefore, everyone who breaks one of the least of these commands will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does11:37and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom. And verse 20 is key. He says, for I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, then you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. And this is where when you're reading, we're prone to raise our eyebrows a little bit. What is he saying here? That at face value, this seems like a warning12:07that unless our righteousness is greater than that of the religious elite, then we will not enter the kingdom. So what is Jesus calling for here? Do we need to be the religious elite? Will we ever be that good? And I think if we're honest, we know that we probably won't be. When I was in college, I was getting a biblical studies degree12:33and in order to do this, I had to take four semesters of Hebrew. Now for every single semester, I had an incredible professor. His name was Dr. Park. He wasn't only my Hebrew professor, but he was an elder at my church. He was a mentor to me and really he was just a good friend. Now I'll be honest, I finished those semesters with about a B average. I am no PhD, Dr. Josh.13:03But I did enough, I did well enough to get through the course and get my degree. Now let's just say that at the end of my last year, if the dean of the Christian Studies Department came to me and said, Jared, in order for you to get your degree, you must know more and you must be smarter than Dr. Park. In order to graduate, your understanding13:34your understanding of the Hebrew language must exceed his understanding of the Hebrew language. You see, if this were a prerequisite to graduating, I would have no hope. I would just have to give up because as a B student, even in my honest and most sincere efforts, I would never be able to know more than my professor. So is that what Jesus is saying here? That if you don't know14:04more than the religious elite, if you're not the best of the best and you can't enter the kingdom? That if the Pharisees scored 90% on the midterm, then you better score 95%? Certainly, that is not what he is saying. But if our righteousness is to exceed that of the Pharisees and scribes, then what kind of righteousness did they have? Now, we have some encounters in the Bible that show us14:33what Jesus thought about the religious elite. So look at Matthew chapter 23 quickly with me and I know that we'll cover this down the road, but I think it's really important to our context here in Matthew chapter 5. Look at this interaction between Jesus and the scribes. He says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You clean the outside of the cup, but on the inside you are full of greed.15:02You blind Pharisee. First, clean the inside of the cup so that then the outside might become clean. He says, woe to you, scribes, you hypocrites, you Pharisees, you hypocrites. You're like whitewashed tombs which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside you are full of every kind of impurity. In that same way, on the outside you seem righteous. On the outside you seem like righteous people, but on the inside15:31you are full of hypocrisy. Now, I want to be clear that righteousness is indeed the standard the standard that Jesus is after, but what kind of righteousness? I think from these examples we see that it is not external righteousness, but it is internal righteousness. Jesus is not after behavior modification, but he's after heart transformation.16:01heart transformation. Let's think about our own lives as we wrestle with the text and we look in the mirror that we're here this morning, you're here this morning, you woke up, you got ready, you brought yourself, you might have brought your family to church today because you believe this is where God wants you to be and I completely agree that I believe this is where God wants you to be. But if we're not careful I think that we can get into this pattern of doing the so-called16:31the so-called right things where we go to church and we pray before our meals, we serve in little pockets and we go through the motions but at the end of the day our hearts tend to remain the same. And my fear is that we become like those not only in Matthew chapter 23 but Matthew chapter 15 where he looks at the scribes and says they honor me with their lips but their hearts are so far away from me. And maybe if we're honest17:00this morning some of us would just raise our hands and say yeah I'm here but my heart is not. My body is in this seat but my heart is far from where it should be. And this is the battle that we all fight on this side of heaven. We know that is true but Jesus is saying here that the righteousness required of us begins not in our head not in our actions but in our heart. So then17:31So then launching from this point when we go from our head to our heart Jesus then gives a sermon that would effectively turn his listeners on their head. Because when we think about the law when we think about the ten commandments we think okay well they don't seem that hard don't steal don't kill don't lie I might not follow them perfectly but for the most part they seem attainable and then we have Jesus coming on18:00coming on the scene here and he takes it to a whole new level when he mentions the law and goes even further he says that you've heard don't murder but I say that if you've ever hated someone you've committed murder in your heart he says that you've heard don't commit adultery but I am saying that if you've ever lusted after someone then you've committed adultery in your heart you've heard to love your neighbor but I'm saying to go further and love your enemies to pray for those who persecute you and you read18:30read and you start to see that Jesus is now painting a picture of what true righteousness looks like and it's internal it begins in the heart and it's interesting I think that to some extent we can all agree that throughout our lives maybe it's the way we were brought up maybe it's influence that in a lot of ways we've come up with what we think19:00we think righteousness should look like some of it comes from the Bible some of it certainly does not some of this changes traditionally it comes about generationally maybe you grew up and you're tempted to think that righteousness has everything to do with what you wear to church on a Sunday I don't know if you noticed but my shirt's not tucked in today don't tell my wife even though she's right19:30she's right there maybe you've grown up and you're tempted to think that righteousness has everything to do with the way that we worship that only the hymnal can produce righteousness or only the newer modern songs can produce righteousness maybe you've grown up thinking that righteousness is all about the way that we act in church you know my grandmother said no dancing in church maybe your grandmother said the19:59said the same thing maybe you say the same thing now you're not going to see me dance up here because I'm not a good dancer but if you don't like dancing in church don't come to VBS and I saw some of you adults dancing there so come on now but you know if we're not careful that we can read these verses where Jesus says woe to you Pharisees and scribes and then we start to think well we would never act like that we would never have that kind20:29that kind of attitude but then we start to put lines in the sand that I'm not sure scripture commands and we put together our own picture of what righteousness should look like and before you know it Jesus is looking at us saying woe to you Jared or woe to you Bethel that you worship me with your lips but your heart is so far from me your traditions are so far from me self justification or good20:58or good appearance good actions that is not what Jesus came to do for us and that does not save people from their sins Jesus said turn from sin turn from hate turn from lust love your enemies strive for righteousness and this is now a new picture that Jesus is painting for us and this is what true citizenship in God's kingdom looks like so what21:27so what happens when we do decide to live for Christ when we start to grasp this not only in our heads but in our hearts what happens and the Bible is clear that we will see evidence of this we will see fruit of a heart change and our lives will start to look like what Jesus is calling for in the sermon on the mount and our external21:56external actions will begin to show proof of our internal transformation and it's not easy we're not going to be perfect we're human the temptation to sin is still very much a part of our earthly reality but we will see that our attitudes and our desires will change again this is with the foundation of keeping the cross in view22:26in view knowing that our righteousness comes through Christ alone and now that Jesus is our foundation we can begin to change the way that we live but what is the evidence of this internal transformation what does this fruit look like and all throughout Matthew chapter 5 we're going to see number one that our attitudes change not only do our attitudes change but specifically our attitude22:55our attitude toward others look at verse 22 and we're going to see number one that we adopt an attitude of reconciliation as Christians verse 22 of chapter 5 Jesus says I tell you that whoever is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment Jesus is saying do not come against each other don't be angry with one another but if you do seek23:25seek reconciliation and church that's the difference that's the difference for us because I think we all know that we will come we will come at odds with one another if you have a sibling in the room would you raise your hand and you probably know if you're raising your hand that you will come at odds with someone else but the difference for us the23:55the believers in the room that now as we are living and doing as Jesus calls us to do we will find ourselves at odds with one another but now we begin to seek reconciliation with one another that we can ask forgiveness we can forgive we can give grace and you know in a room this size I'm willing to bet in a24:20in a room this size with this many people I'm willing to bet that most of us know somebody that we need to ask forgiveness from and most of us know someone that we need to forgive listen we do not know what tomorrow holds so for the sake of today and for the sake of your heart seek reconciliation24:50reconciliation so as Christians we have an attitude of reconciliation and as Christians we also have an attitude and a lifestyle of purity we look at verse 27 we see a command to run and to turn our eyes from lust Jesus says that whoever has looked at someone with lust in their hearts has committed adultery so we do everything we can do as Christians to turn our eyes from this and I25:19and I know that this is a sensitive subject but for all of us in the room that when we strive to see like Jesus wants us to see then we can begin to see each other as God made us in his image and men we start to see ladies as our sisters in Christ and women you start to see men as uniquely made by God for God and for his good so I25:49so I will turn my eyes from a lustful temptation which by the way has every ability to ruin your life and it is a battle but it is worth it you know lust pornography pornography tells us to look at someone's body but when we begin to see like Jesus wants us to see we can see their heart so let us control our eyes and turn them upward toward God so that we can live the way26:19the way he wants us to live and that we can love each other the way he wants us to love each other look at verse 33 that we see that we have an attitude of integrity an attitude of honesty we have a growing desire to speak honestly when Jesus calls us to be honest with our words in verse 37 he says let your yes be yes and your no be no you know you can look at26:49at the state of your marriage you can probably look at the culture of your home or the culture of your workplace and you probably see a lot of different things that you want to change but what if it simply started with this that if you made the decision today I'm going to be honest I'm going to be honest with my husband be honest with my wife my family my workplace as our family we will adopt a culture of honesty and27:19and our yes will be yes and our no will be no Jesus is calling us to live with it's not if we want to it's that we have to and I believe that when we speak with honesty it has the ability to break down walls that we never thought we could look look at verse 38 this one seems tough Jesus says you've heard that it was said an eye for27:48for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I tell you don't resist an evildoer on the contrary if anyone slaps you on your right cheek turn the other to him also as for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt let him give him your coat as well if anyone forces you to go one mile go two give to the one who asks of you and don't turn away from the one who wants to borrow you've heard that it was said love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I'm telling you love your enemies now let's just be honest this is really hard for28:18for us as we think about what Jesus is calling28:33I just can't turn the other cheek if somebody wrongs us we want to respond harshly we want to respond justly but I think at some point we've got to start looking at what Jesus is saying and asking the question how are we going to do this again it's not if we want to but it's what Jesus is calling us to do Paul writes about this in Romans chapter so29:03so what does this look like on a daily basis in our lives I'm going to give you an example just because examples really help me I'm willing to bet that most of you know the name Phil Robertson and the Robertson family they were on a show back in the day called Duck Dynasty and a29:33a few weeks ago Phil Robertson the head of the family he passed away and before he did he wrote a book and in that book he told the story that his family they had a lake and every week they would go out to this lake and they would put different nets around trees and shallow water and they would wait for fish to come and those fish would be trapped30:02as well so a few weeks go by and he figures out that there were some guys who were coming down on their own boat and they were stealing his nets that had all of the fish so Phil he makes a plan he waits for them he gets in his boat and goes around the corner and pretty easily he finds them and catches them in the act and he confronts them now I'm sure that we all have different ways in which we would want to deal with these people but30:31but this is the way that Phil deals with it he confronts them and says listen you are stealing from me and it's that I'm going to give you what you're trying to steal he told them the next time that you want to steal I live right up there on that mountain just come up to my door and I'm going to give you some of that fish that you're after if you're after the fish don't steal from me just come and ask me and31:00and I'll give it to you for free he said that after that day those men never stole from him again and according to his book later in that year those very same men would come to Christ you see this is what it looks like to overcome evil with good when we leave the vengeance to God and we respond with grace we respond with goodness and then we just look and31:30and watch how God works and I'm not saying that it's easy I'm not saying that every situation is going to play out like this but let us not forget that God has forgiven us so that we can now forgive others that we have the ability to extend grace because of what God has done for us we can now love somebody in the most unimaginable way and we're going to32:00going to see practically opportunities that God gives us to love our enemies to forgive those who have wronged us and to extend grace and this is evidence this is evidence of God working in our lives that our hearts change our attitudes change and then we get to chapter 6 and we see that our desires change we don't only adopt the godly attitude but we adopt godly desires look at chapter 6 of Matthew and in this section of his sermon Jesus32:30Jesus is speaking about what godly desires will become in the Christian's life and what they will look like and he specifically mentions three of them and these are action items of the heart he mentions giving praying and fasting and he's not saying to abandon these things but he is saying be careful about how you do them chapter 6 verse 1 he says when you give be careful not to practice your righteousness in front32:59in front of others otherwise you will have no reward in heaven chapter 6 verse 5 when you pray don't be like the hypocrites praying on the corner for all to see but when you do pray go to your room and shut the door and pray to god in secret chapter 6 verse 16 when you fast don't look gloomy so that others will notice but when you do fast just take a shower that's paraphrasing but Jesus saying as you give as you pray as you33:29as you fast simply do it with humility just last week we looked at the beatitudes verse 5 blessed are the humble for they will inherit the earth and let me just suggest that as we consider this sermon which is the longest sermon ever recorded that Jesus gave he mentions these three spiritual disciplines so I think it's only fair for us to ask ourselves do we see these spiritual33:59spiritual disciplines playing out in our lives are we giving to the kingdom and kingdom work are we praying for our brothers and sisters and those around us are we fasting from things that we can give up so that we can have a closer relationship with God when you look at your life where are these three spiritual disciplines and we are not perfect in these areas but I34:27but I do think that striving to grow in these areas is evidence of fruit in our lives evidence of living for God and I'll just say on a personal note that I love looking around this church I love looking around these people and seeing the fruit seeing the evidence of God working you know every year I have the privilege to be34:55to be the race director of our church 5k that benefits our missionaries and missionaries that we get to partner with both locally and around the world and every year part of my job is to go out and find sponsors for our 5k people who might be willing to partner with us financially for this mission's benefit so I go to various members in our church and they have various businesses and I ask35:24them if they would be interested in partnering with us to help us sponsor the 5k and every year before I even get the words out of my mouth they say let me stop you right there I'm in and they don't care about their names being on a banner they don't care about a sponsorship but they believe in what God is doing and they simply want to say yes to him and it's in those moments that I just stand humbled by the35:54by the people of God Jesus mentions praying here I know a congregational pastor here on staff and he's sitting right there in the second row now he prays more than any man that I've ever met and he prays for you every single day and I say you because he prays for each one of you you might not know him he might know you but he is praying for you and I think about what36:24about what Jesus is saying here and I look around this room and I think about people who have said yes to God time after time and it's not about the attention they receive but it's because they simply take their faith seriously and once again I stand humble by the people of God living for the glory of God you see this is what happens when we say yes to God when we give him our lives and our homes our marriages our families our36:53our businesses our money we see our hearts change we see our attitudes change and we see our desires change and then we can start to see God do a work in our lives our church and our community that only he can do so we say praise be to God for the work that he is doing and lastly as we wrap up I want to go back to the beginning of this sermon Matthew chapter 5 verse 1437:22verse 14 look at what Jesus says he says you are the light of the world a city situated on a hill cannot be hidden no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket but rather on a lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house in the same way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven you see this right here is the beauty of the local church and you might ask the question well what does the sermon on the mount look like37:52look like in the year 2025 I think it looks like us it looks like me and you living the way God has called us to live Charles Spurgeon said this he says Christian you are the light of the world wherever there is faith in Christ there is light for Jesus himself said that those who follow him will not walk in darkness but genuine faith in Christ turns a person from darkness to marvelous light and transforms38:21transforms him into the light of the Lord so that then the light pours forth from the windows to be seen by others the Christian is appointed to be a lighthouse for others a cheering lamp a guiding star and as he learns more in Christ his light becomes brighter even for the newest Christian there is light wherever faith is the light pours forth so church as we end let me just challenge you that38:50that you are let the light of Christ pour forth from your life teacher in the classroom let the light come on husband mom dad when you're at home let the light go forth students when you go to school when you go to college live in a way that lets your light pour out of you so others would look at you and say they are different39:19different and I know that there is this reality that we hear a sermon like this about another sermon that was really hard to hear in certain areas and we think well there's just no way that I can live up to that to live with honesty or to follow what God is calling me to do is just too much and if that's you the truth is that you are not alone that to live opposite of this world while39:49while living in this world is the hardest thing that any of us are going to ever do and if we think that we can do this apart from Christ then we can just forget it but when we daily turn to Christ and look to him and say God I need you for this day I need you for this hour I need you to control my thoughts be with my eyes God says I'm with you we see this in Matthew chapter40:19chapter 28 he says I am with you and maybe you just need to hear that today that God is saying I am with you I maybe today you need to come to see Jesus face to face for the very first time the Bible says that if you call out to Jesus and you ask him to save you from your sins if you repent of who you are then God is faithful to save he will give you a new40:49new heart he is faithful to forgive so if you're a Christian turn to Jesus if you're not a Christian turn to Jesus there's not one person in this room right now that does not need Jesus in this very moment so we're about to sing and if you want to come down and pray and be prayed for we're going to be here to pray for you but don't41:19don't let today go by without looking to Jesus maybe for the very first time maybe for the first time in a long time and let him say he is with you trust in him church let's pray← Previous in MatthewMatthew – The Rich Life (Matthew 5:1-12)Next in Matthew →Matthew – The Untouchables (Matthew 8:1-13)More sermons on Matthew →
