PRECEPTS FOR LIFE
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Precept Ministries International
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The following is an actual transcript of the PRECEPTS FOR LIFE Broadcast. For the purpose of filling transcript requests quickly, they have received only light editing. If you have questions concerning the material covered in this broadcast, Kay has published a number of books explaining the Scripture in depth. These books may be ordered by contacting the telephone number or address printed above.
SERIES: Sermon On The Mount
TITLE: Program 1 – When Heaven Touched Earth
MONDAY (1/18/10)
OPEN
I‟m sitting at the Jordan River where heaven touched earth, where God came in the form of Jesus Christ to present the truth of what the kingdom of heaven is all about. Let me ask you a question. Has heaven come to you so that you know without a shadow of a doubt that you belong to the kingdom of heaven? That you know that there is one King and His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.
PART ONE
It was at the Jordan River when God separated the heavens and said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.” Heaven had come to earth. It struck a contrast and it began a conflict because now men would have to decide what they would do with this man called Jesus. As we look at the gospel of Matthew, we‟re going to study the Sermon on the Mount, those famous 3 chapters, Matthew 5, 6 and 7 that are absolutely revolutionary.
But
before we delve into the Sermon on the Mount, what I want us to do is I want us to get a setting, an idea of what God is doing in the gospel of Matthew. In the gospel of Matthew we have a presentation of the person of Jesus Christ, of the work of Jesus Christ and then it‟s followed by a teaching. And then again He presents more of the work and person of Jesus Christ and then another teaching. So this is what you have as you look at the gospel of Matthew.
The Sermon on the Mount brings the first teaching of Jesus Christ to a close and that‟s in Matthew chapter 7, in verse 28. And then we come to Matthew 11:1 and that‟s another segment in the book of Matthew and then we come to chapter 13, verse 53 and then we come to chapter 19, verse 1 and then to Matthew chapter 26, verse 1. And then we come to the conclusion of the book.
And what is the conclusion of the gospel of Matthew or the gospel according to Matthew? It‟s Matthew 28 and that‟s what I want us to look at. In Matthew chapter 28 and this is after Jesus death and burial and resurrection and now he is meeting His disciples here in the Galilee where the Sermon on the Mount took place. And it says, “When the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated, and when they saw Him they worshipped Him but some were doubtful.”
And it says, “… Jesus came to them and He spoke saying, „All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.‟” He says, “Go therefore …,” Since I have authority I‟m telling you to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them….” Now we‟re sitting at the Jordan River where John the Baptist was baptizing when Jesus came to him. And he says, “Go therefore and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
So this gospel of Matthew ends with one final teaching of Jesus, one final instruction and that is because of who He is they are to go and they are to teach the nations. And what does He want us to teach? He wants us to teach the Word of God and that‟s what we‟re studying. Well what I want us to do is I want us to go back and look at what leads up to Jesus teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and
I want us to start in Matthew chapter 1.
Now Matthew chapter 1 sounds very, very boring because it begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Listen to what it says. “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (1:1) Right from the very beginning, what Matthew wants us to know, what God inspired Matthew to write is this. This is the Christ, this is the son of David because the Christ had to come from David. The Christ had to come from the seed of Abraham. So immediately he establishes the fact that Jesus is the Christ. Another word for Christ is Messiah.
And then as we look at it, he shows us the proof that Jesus is the savior. And in Matthew chapter 1, in verse 21 when the angel appears to Joseph and tells Joseph that he is to take Mary and that he is to marry her and that he says then, “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus …” now listen carefully, “… for it is He who will save His people from their sins…” (1:21) I want to ask you a question, Beloved. Do you feel like you‟re trapped? Do you feel like you‟re ensnared? Do you feel like you‟re a slave,? A slave to your passion? A slave to your lusts? A slave to your desires?
Do you know that when heaven came to earth, heaven came to earth in order to set you free from your slavery to sin, in order that you might have the guarantee that when you die that you‟re absent from the body and you‟re present with the Lord, in order that you might experience the kingdom of heaven within and then someday live in the kingdom of heaven as it rules over all the face of this earth. So in Matthew chapter 1 he establishes that He‟s Messiah in verse 1. In verse 22, he establishes that He is the savior.
He‟s the one that saves us from our sins and then in verses 22 and 23, he shows us that this One that has come is God incarnate. Now when I say God incarnate, what do I mean? I mean this. God in karne. Karne means the flesh. That God has come in the flesh, in the person of His Son.
Remember He told Him to go and to baptize in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Spirit. And so in verse 22 it says, “Now all this took place that what was spoken of, by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled.” In other words this is a fulfillment of prophecy and then he quotes Isaiah, “„Behold, the virgin shall be with child,
and she shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel,‟ which means God with us.” (1:22-23) Heaven, in a sense had come to earth and what we had now is the person of God in His Son.
Now, it‟s His Son. It‟s not Joseph‟s son. Joseph and Mary aren‟t even married. Mary is still a virgin and yet Joseph knows that she‟s pregnant and this is what has dismayed her and he‟s ready to put her away and the angel is saying, “No, stop. No, stop.” Because what I want you to know is that this is My Son. This is the Messiah. This is the fulfillment of the prophecies. And then the last thing I want you to see is that He is Yeshua. He is Jesus. He is God, our Savior because it says, “… that you shall call His name Jesus.”
This is the person that God is presenting at the beginning of the gospel of Matthew and what happens in Matthew chapter 2? Well it says in verse 1, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi came from the east arriving in Jerusalem, saying, „Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?‟” (2:1-2) What God wants you and I to understand is that the Jews have a king and what Herod understands is that he‟s the king of the Jews and so there‟s a conflict. Heaven has come to earth and it has struck a conflict and it always does.
You find a king opposed to the King of the Jews. A king, an earthly king opposed to the King of kings and you know you find the same thing today. What government do you know on the face of this earth that is not ashamed to boldly announce and stand for the truth that there is a Savior of the world and His name is Jesus, that there is a King and He is the King appointed by God? So what you have in Matthew chapter 2 is you have an earthly king seeking to destroy, to dispose of the heavenly King but because God is sovereign that does not happen. So Joseph and Mary flee into Egypt and there they stay until Herod dies. And he dies because it is in God‟s time and God takes away his breath.
And then what happens in Matthew chapter 3? Well, what you and I see is we see in Matthew chapter 3 the repentance that God calls for to those that want to belong to the kingdom of heaven. Because heaven had come to earth, man had to make a choice. And so what you have in Matthew chapter 3 is you have John the Baptist coming. Now remember John was prophesied in Malachi. He was the
forerunner of the Messiah.
He would be the one that would come and prepare the way so that men‟s hearts would be made right, so that they would be ready to repent. Because how do you enter into the kingdom of Heaven? The only way that you can do that is to repent.
Listen to the message of John the Baptist; I want you to catch the moment. I want you to in your minds eye go back to that time and that message that John the Baptist brought. And it says, “Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, „Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.‟” (3:1-2)
And because the kingdom of heaven is at hand because heaven has come to earth, then you must repent. Now what does the word repent mean? Well, if you‟re studying along with me you know that the word for repent means to have a change of mind. And you know that logically if you have a change of mind that that change of mind is going to change your direction. It‟s going to change the way you live because as a man thinks in his heart, in his mind, so he is.
“Keep your heart, your mind with all diligence because out of it are the issues of life.” So you can look at a person‟s lifestyle and look at that lifestyle and you can know what they really and truly believe.
So John the Baptist came with a message and the message was repent. But then following on his heels was Jesus. We‟ll be right back and we‟ll talk about that in just a minute.
PART TWO
Now watch what happens. “John says, „As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.‟” (3:12) In other words, because heaven had come to earth there‟s going to be a separation, there‟s going to be a conflict, there going to be sides. When Jesus stepped into this world, He left no one in neutral.
They had to make a decision.
Who is this man called
Jesus?
And am I going to believe what He says or am I going to ignore it? Am I going to walk my own way, am I going to do my own thing? Well, “Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to stop him saying, „I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?‟” And Jesus said this, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
In other words this is something that God says is right. This is something that God wants done and then He permitted Him. “And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming to Him, and behold, a voice saying, „This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-leased.‟” (3:13-17)
Well, what happens after that? Well in Matthew chapter 4, Jesus is led by the Spirit of God. Now remember, the Spirit of God descended on Him at His baptism. And it‟s the same way with you and I, Beloved. When we believe in Jesus Christ then we are baptized by the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of God comes upon us and there‟s that identification with God because heaven has come to earth and we‟ve recognized it and we believe that Jesus is the Christ and we‟ve embraced Him. And so this is what happens. The Spirit of God comes upon Jesus and then the Spirit of God leads Jesus into the wilderness. And once again you see that conflict, because what you see is you see Jesus being tempted by the prince of this world.
The kingdom of heaven is being challenged by the kingdom of this world. And who is the prince or the ruler of the kingdom of this world? Well 1 John chapter 5, verse 19 tells us that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And you find every time that the devil tempts Jesus, Jesus turns around and says, “But it is written…it is written.”
What is the devil doing? He‟s challenging Jesus. He‟s saying okay, since you say that you‟re the Son of God then do this. Prove it. And Jesus goes back to show that Christianity is a life of total and complete and absolute dependence upon God and Jesus is not going to do a thing to prove Himself to any man except what God tells Him to do. What a lesson there is for us to learn in that, Beloved. You and I don‟t have to prove ourselves to anyone.
All we have to do is live by the Word of God.
Jesus says to the devil, “Don‟t you know that man doesn‟t live by bread alone but man lives by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” (4:4) Beloved, if you belong to the kingdom of God, you‟re not accountable to anyone except God. You have one God. You have one King. You have one Savior. You have one Lord and all the rest of the world, in a sense, does not matter. Well as you look at this he would offer Jesus the world. He would say to Jesus, “Okay, look. Look at all these kingdoms of this earth.”
He took Him to the pinnacle of the temple and he said, “Look at all the kingdoms of this earth.” He says, “If you will just bow down and worship me, I‟ll give you all these kingdoms.” (4:8-9) Now listen. He was the prince of this world. He could make that offer and yet what he was offering Jesus was this, a crown without a cross. Anytime you get a crown without a cross, without any cost, you can know this; it‟s going to cost you heaven. Jesus could have had all the kingdoms of this earth but he never, ever would have reigned and ruled with the Father again and you and I would have been lost.
So Jesus comes and then in Matthew chapter 4, in verse 17 this is what it says “And from that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, „Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.‟” (4:17) Repent. Have a change of mind for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now where was He doing this preaching? He was doing this preaching up in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali where those two tribes had settled when Joshua came in and portioned out the land to the children of Israel, to the twelve tribes of Israel.
And it says that, “The people…sitting in darkness saw a great light….” Why? Because heaven had come to earth and darkness had been dispelled by the light of the world. The light that lights every man that comes onto this earth. And what was His message? It was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In verse 18 it says, “And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
And He said to them, „Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.‟”
The Son had come and the Son was about the Father‟s business. The Son was about to build His kingdom and He needed to have men that would serve Him and to take that message out. And it says, “And
immediately they left their nets, and followed Him. And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.
And immediately they left their boat and their father, and they followed Him.
And Jesus was going about in all of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom….” (4:19-23) Now what‟s the gospel? The word gospel simply means the good news. The good news of the kingdom. The good news that heaven had come to earth.
The good news that you could be freed from your sins. The good news that you wouldn‟t have to try to please man anymore. The good news was that you could call God, Abba Father. The good news was that you could live forever and ever because heaven had come to earth.
Well, it says, “And He was going about in all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every king of sickness among the people…”
Then on one incredible day it says this. “… And when He saw the multitudes, He went up to the mountains; and after He had sat down, His disciples came and sat with Him…,” And it says, “…And opening His mouth He began to teach them, saying, „Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.‟” (5:1-5) And He pronounced blessings. Blessings that would come because of character that had been changed. That‟s what He brought and as we look at this we find in Matthew chapter 5, 6 and 7, He brings the message. This awesome, awesome sermon on the mount of what the kingdom of heaven is all about. And what those are like.
What the people are like that belong to the kingdom of heaven. And as we look at it you‟re going to find out that the kingdom of heaven is all about character. It‟s about character that is so different. Character that is like God intended man to be. Character that brings a conflict. But even though it brings a conflict, it brings a comfort and it brings the assurance of heaven come to earth.
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