This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 16, 1987.
About this sermon
John’s Gospel is simple and complex at once, and its double language works on more than one level, as do Acts 21:30 and Matthew 5:1. That kind of layered writing offers vision to gain. Real clarity comes only from looking to the Word of God itself.
Sermon transcript
This morning we are reading from Matthew chapter 5 and we begin with verse 33 and read to the end of that chapter Jesus is speaking here Again ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.
But I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.” Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
But let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him plain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away.
He hath heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? But if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect.” Pray with me briefly. Father, may our concerns not be simply provincial, but may our concern be for the width and breadth of your kingdom and its expression here in this world.
May our desire be for the fullness of the body of Christ and the honor of Him who is the head, Christ Himself. And Lord, we ask that Your grace may abound in servants that You have moved, moved by Your Spirit that they, with a fire burning within them, might then speak, and speak boldly your word. Prosper them, our Father, in the proclamation of that word, as also, Lord, they feast upon it and are nourished, and by strength derived are encouraged to preach all the more. This day your word is heard, throughout the entirety of this world which is yours. By it strengthen your elect and call those yet not gathered that they might abide with us and under the shadow of your wing forever. Amen.
It is undoubtedly recognized by you that John writes an extraordinary gospel, that John’s gospel seems different from the other gospels that appear in the New Testament. It seems obvious in that gospel that we are confronted with a complexity. On the one hand, that gospel is simply written.
Let your mind go back over some of the highlights of that gospel, highlights that stand out for you, and think of how simply John writes, how straightforwardly he writes. In fact, he is so straightforward, he is so simple, that at one level there doesn’t seem to be any mystery whatsoever as to what he’s speaking of. But then comes the complexity. John truly is that extraordinary gospel and that one that is written with simplicity. Yet, there is a difficulty about him, something quite sublime, something that taxes us as we read him, for we are convinced as we move through his gospel that things aren’t as simple as they appear. The language may be direct and uncomplicated, but the thoughts are profound.
It is as if John moves at different levels simultaneously. It is as if John is moving on the level of the mundane at the level of the uncomplicated, but then, at the same time, he is placing before us something that transcends all that. So John becomes explicitly, then, the two-tiered gospel. The one tier being the ordinary level of things of this earth, the second tier, obviously, the level of those things which are above.
You might think of that discussion that Jesus had with Nicodemus, where he tells Nicodemus, you must be born again. Well, you can read that on a simple, naturalistic level, and that’s exactly what Nicodemus does, you recall. He says, how can a man, when he is old, enter into his mother’s womb and be born a second time? Well, you see, if we understand Jesus’ words aright, what he is really saying, though saying you must be born again, is this, you must be born from above.
So the words, you see, operate at two levels. Another illustration of this, is what we find in the fourth chapter of John, and I might say throughout the gospel of John in its entirety. But that fourth gospel, just as an illustration, you remember the story.
Jesus is traveling through Samaria. He comes to a town, he sits by the well, he sends his disciples into the town to get provision. He is left there alone, except now, in the middle of the day, at a time uncommon for women to come and get water, there comes one woman, and as the story unfolds, we understand why. She is an embarrassment to the community, and she comes at noon in order to avoid the and the gossip of everyone in the town.
Well, she comes, and Jesus is there. She is surprised at him, because he is a Jew, first of all, and secondly, he is a man. And he speaks to her, and he says to her, give me some water. Well, there’s the first level. Jesus is speaking about water, and we understand what he’s talking about. Then she, surprised, of course, how do you, being a Jew, ask of me, a Samaritan, for water? And his response to her takes us to the second tier, that other level. If you knew who it was who was speaking to you, you would ask of him, and he would give you water The kind of water, if you drink of it, you’ll never thirst again. There you have it, the two tiers.
The ordinary way of perception you see is merely to speak of things as you see them. We talk of water as we know it. We know how valuable it is and how refreshing it is, how essential to life it is, how essential it is for life here in this world. Right now, the water that I can see out the back windows in the Ohio looks very refreshing. Water of this earth! But you see, Jesus then speaks of a different kind of water. A water that belongs to the realm above, water that flows forth from the throne of God, water that has the power to confer upon those who drink it eternal life. Life above. Two tiers. Life in this world, life above.
It is as if when you are reading the Gospel of John, you need a new pair of eyes. You have to see things differently. It’s as if you need a new set of glasses. formally blind, even in your sight, formally blind, even though you say you see. But now, because of Christ, awakened, your vision clear, seeing things as you have never seen them before.
Well, there you have John’s gospel for you. A good introduction to that gospel. You’re saying to yourself, what does that have to do with Matthew? Well, the conclusion of many has been nothing, nothing, whatever. John is the gospel that belongs off in a corner. You read him in isolation from all the other gospels that appear in the New Testament. He’s the gospel that’s different. And therefore, you read him in a way that you simply don’t read. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. For John, as we have said, is presenting to us this sort of two-tiered notion of reality, and we simply don’t find that in the other Gospels.
They operate on a rather straightforward historical line. Things as they are Things are as they are, as they appear to be, a straight historical line. The story is as it is told here. There’s no mystery about it. There’s no second level. There’s no second tier being presented to us in these other Gospels. So John stands by himself and the other Gospels, they stand by themselves. John tells distinctive stories that the others don’t tell. He has a language and vocabulary that seems to be his alone, and thus he is in effect isolated.
But do you really believe that that is the intent of God in his providential dealings in giving us the New Testament? Do you really believe in your heart that God intends for you to take John, in effect, cut him out of the Bible and set him over here as a Bible all by himself? Or is the case quite different?
Is John the last gospel because the Lord in his providence wishes by John to make explicit what has been implicit in all the other gospels up to this point. So that you cannot leave the reading of the gospels in the New Testament without being confronted with this fact. and having come to the conclusion of John, you’re forced to go back and read Matthew, Mark, and Luke with the nuance that John has told you are indispensable for understanding Jesus. As a matter of fact, no other reading of Matthew, Mark, and Luke will do. while the critics and the scholars and the exegetes and the theologians may imagine that they understand that if they do not have that vision of which John speaks that vision which Jesus is able to give they understand nothing nothing an eloquent and moving message for the simple in faith where does a child begin usually in his reading of the New Testament. Is it not with the simple stories of John’s Gospel? The simplest among us. Yet, that child, with eyes opened by the Holy Spirit, understands more than the ancients and more than the most intelligent and profound of our age. in the sight of God.
And that’s the truth of it. Well, you want me to prove it, don’t you? Well, in order to help us understand I will take a passage written by a gospel writer, but not appearing in a gospel. I will take a passage written by Luke, because it’s so obvious, it’s so plain, we won’t miss it. My hope is that you will be convinced that what I’ve been saying is true, that no less than John, all the other gospel writers are also operating on this two-tiered approach to truth and reality. See the world? But the world is transparent to those who have eyes given them by God. You see through it and beyond it, through eternal things, those things that last forever. All right.
Let’s look at that other book by Luke, Acts, and see what he does. In the twenty-first chapter of that book, there appears a marvelous, marvelous statement that is filled with all kinds of significance for the Book of Acts as a whole, but also as it relates to what we have been speaking of here. This verse is verse 30. We’re at Acts 21, verse 30. Now, you read that passage and you might slip past it. You might glide right over it. You might miss the significance altogether. But you see, Luke is doing something here with you in order for you to see more than just what the words say.
Verse 30, And all the city was aroused. You know, Paul is there in Jerusalem. All the city was aroused, and the people rushed together, the Jews, and they took hold of Paul, and they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. No poet could have done it better. Shakespeare couldn’t have done it better himself, and immediately the doors were shut.
Do you see it? Do you see it? Oh, you might think, on the historical planes, it was just another day in Jerusalem. And there was a commotion in the courtyard of the temple, and as was always done in those circumstances, the guards rushed in and they immediately shut the doors in order to preserve the sanctity of the temple. Now, you can read it on that level. But do you understand what Luke is saying? Up to this point, you see, the Temple has played such an important role, even for the Church, even for the Christians. Paul is anxious to get back from his third missionary journey so he can go to the Temple, so that he can fulfill a vow that he has made. But now that he is dragged out, you see, now that the emissary of the King of Heaven is dragged out, The doors of the temple are shut, and they are shut permanently against the truth. Against the truth. Against the gospel. Against Jesus Christ. Now, the spiritual and heavenly significance of that is awful. and that is precisely what Luke wishes to convey. But what about Matthew? What about Matthew? Oh, here we are, Matthew four and five, the tail end of four and the sermon on the mount.
And the crowds are gathering, there’s a new celebrity in Galilee. He’s a marvelous person. What a grand and open and magnanimous personality he is. These magnetic, these charismatic people are just being drawn to him like a magnet. And oh, the crowds, the crowds, they come.
But Jesus looks at the crowds, and what does he see? Just a mass of people congregating to see one more interesting figure that has appeared on the plane of history. Even just another prophet Jesus looks at those multitudes and he looks at them as they come, as they are gathered, as they are assembled. And with those eyes, those eyes that literally are from above, he understands those multitudes in ways they don’t understand themselves.
For they come from the length and breadth and height of the territory. that was promised to Israel by God, was promised to the fathers by the Lord. They come from Syria, they come from Galilee, they come from Judea and Jerusalem and from the regions beyond the Jordan, the full range of that territory. Why? It’s as if all of Israel is being congregated.
And those latter-day prophets about the scattered people being restored, they are being fulfilled in the eyes of the one who sees things from the perspective of the kingdom of heaven. Not just a mass of humanity, not just another crowd. Jesus sees more. For as they come from Galilee, Galilee has already been identified by Matthew as Galilee of the Gentiles. Syria is in Gentile lands and hands. The regions beyond the Jordan are Gentile territories. Not only the gathering of all Israel, but the gathering of the nations. Jesus sees it all. He understands the multitudes in ways they don’t understand themselves. He sees them from the perspective of the kingdom of heaven. are operative in Matthew. Jesus goes up into a mountain And how did Jesus understand the mountain?
No name given to the mountain. Oh, we can think of those mountains geographically identified in the land of Galilee, but here no identification is given. It is called D Mountain. That’s the only identification given. It is a tip-off that we are to understand in this mountain more than anything simply geographically. something merely read along the level of that first tier.
Instead we are to read here something more magnificent. For superimposed upon this mountain of the earth is the mountain of glory and heaven. The ultimate abode of the Christ is being foretold in the ascension of Jesus of that mountain. Two tears, a crowd, you say, no more than that. A sign that the fullness of God’s age of promise is coming. A mountain, you say, no more than that.
You look at that mountain with new eyes, different vision altogether. And what about the message? The message, three chapters long, and oh, how it has confounded many. How it has confounded a great number because they simply have forgotten their glasses. They want to read things along a single level, on that first tier. Oh yes, we have the promises of the fathers. Oh yes, we have the laws and the commandments given to Israel. They want to read it along that level.
So they spend all their time trying to vindicate the law in the face of Christ, who has come with something far greater than the law. They wish this Christ to be a second Moses, and he is not, he is greater than Moses. So while it is perfectly conceivable that you could run through the Sermon on the Mount and read it as if it was more Old Testament literature, more of the same, There is that testimony that if you do so, you have left your glasses at home or you never had them to begin with. Now, how am I able to say that? simply on the authority of Jesus Christ, where Christ takes up the statements of the Old Testament law, and he takes on all those who want to live at that level, and he suggests to them, but I say unto you, calling their attention to the fact that there has intruded into their existence a reality that transcends Sinai, that transcends the old administration, that comes right down out of heaven with him.
And that is why it is not adequate to simply repeat the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill. It isn’t adequate to simply repeat the seventh commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery. That is why the Old Testament administration and legal code with regard to divorce simply will not hold water. And that is why the Old Testament administration with regard to oaths and vows will not either. or a statement with regard to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and its understanding of loving your neighbor and also hating your enemy. It will not hold, because something greater has come.
So, two tiers. not reserved simply for John and his marvelous gospel, that many have placed in isolation and made to stand in the corner. No, John, the conclusion of the whole gospel testimony of the New Testament, all of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, they too speaking at that two-tiered level. You read them along the line of history as it is, things as they appear, but that isn’t adequate. What you need are the eyes that have been given by God so that you can see the eternal verities of the Kingdom of Heaven. reality itself becoming transparent to you so that you see through it and beyond it to those things that matter eternally now you might feel a little confused this morning You may be saying to yourself, now I recognize that what you’re saying is true, but I’m having such a hard time with life. In fact, I’m having such a hard time with life that sometimes I don’t think that the things of which you are speaking about, those things in the second tier, those things about heaven, are really mine.
Now, I don’t want to give you comfort if you don’t deserve it. I mean, if you don’t have the eyes, and you don’t have the glasses, and you are sitting and living In a state of condemnation, I don’t want to give you comfort that that’s where you want to stay. I want to encourage you to flee to God and find in Him the vision that He alone is able to give. You are born and you must see if you are to live.
Now, having said that, though, it may well be, you see, that you’re struggling and you can’t keep in focus those things of which we’ve spoken this morning. It’s very difficult. And the battle is so severe that you now have doubts about your own salvation.
Let me say that the problem may not be that you aren’t saying, it’s simply that you aren’t utilizing that vision as God intended you to. You have it, but in all of those temptations thrown at you by Satan, you have convinced yourself that you don’t, or at least you’re acting as if you don’t. The encouragement of God is, you have it, use it. Therefore, it’s not a matter of you getting something you don’t have, it’s a matter of you using something that you already have. Now, it just might be the case that you’re lazy.
And I won’t give you any excuses either. You can’t train your vision and have it continually polluted by evil. Now I say this to the adults and I say this to the children. You cannot train and discipline your vision and have that vision continually cluttered with evil. I am beginning to think that television is an idol. And I know what Israel was to do with idols.
I’m good for at least one extreme statement of sermon. you cannot train and discipline your vision if you will not look into the word you cannot discipline and train your vision if you will not communicate with him who is above the object of your vision And you cannot discipline and train your vision if you cut yourself off from the means of grace which God has established in his church and with the communion of the saints. You cannot do it. It is impossible. So, I am assuming that you have the eyes and that you have the appropriate set of glasses to see things eternally.
The admonition of scripture, the responsibility of any minister worth his salt is to encourage you to use what you have for the glory of God and the good of your soul. how wonderful that this vision is given us but what a price for you see in the end the price of the new eyes given to God’s people was that of the Son of God who died that we the blind might see let’s pray Now, Father, encourage your own. May your elect be soothed and strengthened. May your mercies be real and present. And may they delight in the grace and peace extended to them by you. We ask it in Jesus’ name.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.