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, November 13, 1988.

the Word of God. Take heed that ye do not practice your righteousness before men, to be seen of them. Otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine own, Do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret. and by father, which he is in secret himself shall reward the open.

And when they’ll pray. Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. For they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them, For your father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner, therefore, pray ye.

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. And if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance. that they disfigure their faces that they may appear of the men facts early. I think you may have their word. The bow and bow back. I had washed my face, but I’ll hear not of the men the fact that under my father, which is in secret and by father, which see it in secret, shall report the open.

Let’s pray together, briefly. Our Father, we would not turn away from our responsibility to the Word. Your Word is given us for our nourishment and growth comes to us as life. And Father, we would not turn away from our responsibility in terms of the support that is owed to the Word. And that is to the ends of the earth. That in our prayers and with our gifts, we would be concentrating upon the advance of that word and its increase. Surely our God. The nations are hearing. And your elect are turning. And they are being gathered unto you. We praise you, our father. For our part. in this ministry. But now we give our attention to your word. May we be helped in hearing it and in understanding it.

For Jesus’ sake, amen. that we are about to launch into new territory this morning, and it will be Matthew 6. We’re moving along in the Sermon on the Mount, and this is new territory for me, and therefore, if you find me halting a bit as I move along through it, you will understand. We’ll gain our bearings, and as time goes by, I’m sure clarity will come. Not only for you, but for me also. So, here we go. We’re launching into new territory. Matthew 6.

Before we do that, however, it is well for us to keep in mind the outline of the Sermon on the Mount Gemmell. And it’s good for you to have that ready to mind as we make progress through this sermon. So, the outline of the sermon as a whole, and that will provide us, then, our foundation for the consideration of this new section. And this, indeed, is a new section with the beginning of the sixth chapter.

All right, we have, then, Jesus on the Mount. We’ve talked about that The separation between multitudes and disciples, we know about the dual consideration of the audience in view. We also know about the significance of the mountain itself. Yes, a geographical point there in Galilee somewhere, it’s not named, it’s only called the mountain. It has then symbolic significance, it has representational significance, more than just a mountain of this world, this creation.

This mountain is to direct our attention above, to glorious self, so that when Jesus sits down on that mountain, you see a premonition of the coming session of Christ at the Father’s right hand. Indeed, as Jesus sits down at the Father’s right hand in glory, just as He did here on this mountain, So, he teaches, he teaches his people from his seat in glory.

And what does he say? Well, he says what you read here. There is no mystery as to what Jesus is saying now. He is saying the very same thing now from heaven that he said then from that mount in Galilee. All right, those considerations as we move into the sermon itself. Now the outline of the Sermon on the Mount and will go through this one more time, and as we take up new sections will review the outline, so that you have it well in mind as we make progress in the sermon as a whole. All right, we said first three beginning of the attitudes. There were three in chapter five through verse sixteen of that initial chapter in the Sermon on the Mount. What do we have here?

We have the blessing of the king the blessing of the kingdom of heaven, those conferred presently upon through the cycle of the kingdom. It’s not a matter of you waiting for something yet to arrive. It’s a matter of something already appear something already making its appearance, and that is the blessing of the kingdom of heavenly blessing now being superimposed upon one’s present life. That’s what happened there is Jesus speaks that all great. So it isn’t a matter of us waiting for the apostle Paul to find out about great. Here in the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus even before his crucifixion and resurrection. He is speaking to us a message that assumes the great. that shall flow forth from his death and resurrection.

The blessedness of heaven is a present reality being conferred. All right. We have the last of them running through verse nine. There are seventy attitudes. That’s my contention. I think I am good. Good rounder asserting that there are seventy attitudes.

Seven lessons, three through nine, then commentary, ten through sixteen. Jesus then gives us an inspired commentary, it’s inspiring too, but it’s an inspired commentary on the blessings. If you have any question as to what Jesus is saying in the Beatitudes, then you read verses ten through sixteen. It tells you right there what he has in mind.

That’s three through sixteen of chapter five. We move on to the main section of the third. And this main section, beginning in verse seventeen, runs on to the seventh chapter, the twenty-third verse. Flip over a couple of pages and you can see them. The conclusion of that main section of the sermon. He’s not going to leave you, then, merely with the blessings and commentary upon them, a declaration of the grace that has come to you because the kingdom of heaven has, in fact, now appeared in the world. He’s going to go on and talk to you about responsibility, obligation, duty in the kingdom of heaven which has come with regard to it. The main section of this sermon, then running from five seventeen to seven twenty three could be entitled this way.

There are many ways and there are many ways to fight, but this will suffice us. The fulfillment of the law and the profits. The fulfillment of the law and the profits with the superlative righteousness of the kingdom of heaven found nowhere else but in Jesus Christ. That’s a long, long time. But I think you can understand the progression of the fulfillment of the law and the prophets and the superlative righteousness through and in Jesus Christ. OK. Now, there is something that is well for us to remember as we move through this main section, and that is how What Jesus is saying reflects upon the law and the profits. You know how he starts in verse seventeen of chapter five. Don’t think that I came to abolish the law or the profits. I didn’t come to abolish, but to fulfill. That’s a catchphrase for us as we move through this main section, the law and the profits. That’s going to focus our attention.

Lo and behold, we move over to chapter seven and we look at verse twelve. and the so-called golden rule, and what do we find there but this catchphrase again, therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do so for them, for this is the law and the prophets.

You see how it all holds together, from verse 17 in chapter 5 over to verse 12 of chapter 7, the law and the prophets being at the center of Jesus’ consideration. The theme of righteousness is also there laid out for us in that chapter that is apparent to us as we look at first twenty of chapter five. For I say to you that unless you were right to surpass your superlative righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. So the fulfillment of the law and the prophets in the superlative righteousness of the kingdom of heaven through and in Jesus Christ, that being the heading of his main section to the sermon on the Mount.

Well, now you have the subsection to the main and let’s look at those for a minute. It’s all organized very nicely. If you’re into literary criticism, you’ll be able to pick it up rather quickly. You can just look at recurring phrases as you go down through the sermon, and you’ll see how all of these various things are grouped their group away around certain key phrases.

We have been this main section, then, of the Sermon on the Mount verses seventeen through twenty of chapter five provides us an introduction, an introduction to this main section, and we’ve already quoted two verses from this section, and you know what is being said there by Jesus, an affirmation of law and prophets. Jesus is not abolishing Jesus is not an antinomian is not against the law is not against the Old Testament. He is not a despiser of Moses. He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and of all the law and the prophets had to say that this fulfillment Fulfillment areas carries us on to the superlative righteousness of the kingdom of heaven, and that is what is to be expounded for you have the introduction to this main section verses seventeen through twenty and then the first really main section of this second part of the third. That was from verse twenty one to verse forty eight of that chapter clear to the end of the fifth chapter.

Now, I mentioned something about literary criticism and literary analysis. You will notice the sayings of Jesus that are grouped here. Notice how they are constructed for you. In the first instance, you have Jesus saying this. You have heard that the ancients were told.

You were heard that was said to them of old time. that in verse twenty one, and successively throughout the section, then there’s followed in verse twenty two, but I say unto you now that combination of you have heard that it was said, but I say unto you is repeated six times through verses twenty one through forty eight six times, and that groups them that section for you have here the you have heard that it was said section.

Now, we come into the chapter and the first eighteen verses. This also is a subsection of the Sermon on the Mount, and here you have Jesus taking up three specific aspects of piety, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, but he introduces each of these three the same way. He he tells you verse two when therefore you give your own verse five when you therefore pray for sixteen when you therefore each section each consideration is presented to you with the same kind of language again in a literary way grouping this these things by Jesus together as a whole. They comprise the unit there to be taken. altogether. All right, well, that brings us then up to verse nineteen, verse nineteen of chapter six, and that will take us through verse six of chapter seven, six, nineteen through seven, six. And here you have Jesus introducing us to various statements of his various sayings that are given us with the language of prohibition.

Verse nineteen, for instance, do not do not lay up yourself treasures of honor. You have been a verse twenty five. For this reason, I say, do not be anxious. You have also verse thirty one. Do not be anxious there again, and verse thirty four. Therefore, do not be anxious repetition with regard to anxiety of Jesus. is saying anything in this section, emphasizing it certainly seems to be with regard to anxiety. Don’t be anxious. Well, certainly a message that we need to hurt here.

Verse verse one of chapter seven. Another do not do not judge lest you be judged yourselves. Verse six of chapter seven. Do not give what is holy to dogs. So you have the do nots. of that section group together again in terms of literary considerations. Then you come to verse seven of chapter seven and after some do not use what would you expect would expect some dudes. And that’s what we want some imperative. That’s what given up. See not for seven.

That’s what that the root of verse twelve, the famous golden rule. Whatever you want others to do for you do for them. This is the law of the prophets. Here are the dunes. Verse thirteen. There’s another to enter, enter by the narrow gate. Verse fifteen. Another do beware, beware of the false prophets.

So this carries you down to verse twenty three. and ends that main section of the Sermon on the Mount as a whole. All of that accessible to you from a plain reading, a simple and direct reading of the text. All you have to do is note the recurring words, phrases, structure, and you can outline the sermon for yourself. You have it all there. That brings us to the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, which is a parting parable, if you will. It’s the famous one. We all learned to sing about it when we were kids. The wise man built his house upon the rock.

All right, well, that’s verses twenty four through twenty seven, and Jesus there impresses upon his audience the seriousness, the utter seriousness of what is being placed before them. So there you have it. As I’ve mentioned to you before, this is a three points are really. You have a blessing in commentary than the main section of the fulfillment of the law and the prophets and the superlative righteousness of the kingdom of heaven through Jesus Christ alone, and then the concluding parable of the wise and foolish men who build their houses upon rock and sand. That’s the well.

Here we are then with chapter Chapter six, one through eighteen. Now, I know that some of you may have. Some of you may feel cheated that I only considered verses twenty one through twenty six of chapter five, and then I jumped here to chapter six, and I am doing that deliberately. In the interest of time, I know that they’re very important matters to be considered in verses twenty seven to forty eight.

I hope that you will take what I said to you before with regard to the nature of righteousness and the centrality of the cross. And as you read through twenty seven to forty eight, which will do a little work on your own and apply what I said with regard to those things, to what you find there in those verses.

The cross is there. The cross is there when Jesus speaks about adultery and about love when he speaks about divorce and remarriage when he talks about swearing. Profaning your profaning God through false swearing when he speaks about the eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth when he speaks about loving your enemy as well as those who are close to you your friends. The cross is there and also that superlative righteousness of which we have been speaking.

Now I hope that I have made that point with you. The point being that there has been a transposition of environments to the disciples and kingdom of heaven. It will take a great deal of energy on your part to begin to think differently from what you have thought before. It will take a great deal of energy on your part and concentration for you to think in ways that are other than Jewish. Now I mean that with all seriousness, because what Jesus has done with his coming, he’s brought about a transposition in environments before The venue was the earth And the Jewish understanding of the kingdom was very realistic in terms of the matters and aspects of this creation But what Jesus has done He is now interjected into the consideration of his disciples the priority the preeminence of heaven Now, it’s not that you’re just to think about heaven. You see, the righteousness that belongs to you as disciples of his is the righteousness of heaven. So every circumstance you meet in life is translated now in terms of the realities of heaven.

See, that’s why it’s not adequate simply to say thou shalt not kill. You understand, it’s the force of this coming through. It’s not adequate just to say, Thou shalt not kill. In heaven, there’s no hatred. That’s why it’s not adequate to say, Thou shalt not commit adultery. In heaven, there’s no lust.

See what Jesus is doing. He’s bringing to bear upon his disciples the reality of the righteousness of heaven. Well, I hope that you can make some of those applications yourself. I hope that you can see clearly enough into what Jesus is saying here to go through these verses and begin to discern the significance of the righteousness that he is preaching and also how the cross of Christ is expounded in these verses. The very love of God expressed in Christ that he gives himself for the sake of others.

All right. But we come then to the sixth chapter along these lines with these considerations. It’s obvious that there has been something of a transition that has been affected here as we pass from the fifth chapter to the sixth chapter. We might say that we we pass from this is a little bit difficult, but hang with me here.

We pass from general considerations of righteousness to specific aspects of righteousness as they pertain to what we might call expected to churchly duties. We’ve moved from considerations of general morality and considerations of our life generally conceived in terms of our relationship to the world, and now we are focusing more on those aspects of piety that are ordinarily attached more to our relationship to the church. and the piety that is expected of us in relationship to those things, and I don’t think that it’s without reason, and the Jesus in this context mentions the synagogue mentions it specifically in this section. All right, well, there is this transition and a narrowing and focusing of Jesus attention and our attention as well. Attitudes of life here giving way to a much narrower view a more concentrated view with regard to our piety actually the three pillars of Jewish piety are under review. All giving prayer and fasting the three pillars of Jewish piety come under Jesus review and our view through him.

We move then in this way from the fifth chapter into the six under the theme of the practice of your righteousness, and that’s specifically related to these tasks that are ordinary responsibilities and duties for those would be called the children of God.

As we have moved. And that movement is playing, I believe. As there has been this transition, the message, however, the message, however, remains the same. We still have Jesus prosecuting. In terms of the same message. That message that he has been pressing upon his disciples there from Chapter five for this section. in chapter six is under the same heading as were those verses in chapter five so while there is a discontinuity in the tradition transition there is also the continuity and we are to be mindful of that Jesus is saying the same thing and what is. Well he’s going to press again on. He’s going to press again on. that transposition of environments.

How much do you care what others think of you? How much is that at the center of your life? I mean right at the center. We’re talking here. About a war. About a general. And serious and significant. Between. Two environments. To set. Those settings are.

What is considered important in the year seems to matter. Isn’t that what we see here from the opening verse beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. as if you had your ear trained to the applause meter. Recognition from men.

Why else do we live? Let me ask you, what is the psychology now operative in child development? Why, it’s the philosophy of positive reinforcement. Every child lives for applause, and not only do they live for it, we are going to make sure that they continue to live for it, because we will reinforce that in them now, as not only a way of life for children, meted out by all-knowing adults, but the transferral of all the adults to the children, because as the adults live for approval, so will the children. That’s the way of the world. Is there an alternative in education? Is there an alternative in child rearing? Is there an alternative for the people of God? What have we become?

I understand now that there is actually a meeting in the winter of the year where a group of evangelicals get together in Washington, D.C., and they have found out an award to the Christian of the year. Now, I gather that those of you who aren’t smiling or those of you without her overall actually expecting that one day you might be in line for that work. Why else do we live. If we live for the approval. The approval of people.

But what is on. in heaven is not honored among men. What is honored in the world is disregarded by heaven. There has been, then, this displacement effected by none other than Jesus. The world is giving way. Are we not told that it is passing away? And in its place is now being asserted. Heaven. Heaven. And you can, says Jesus, live in terms of heaven now.

Not man’s approval. But God’s. and so consumed by your desire for the approval of God that the approval of men seems utterly insignificant by comparison. I think there’s a verse that says, if God before us Who can be against. What does it matter who they are. If we have God’s approval. And approval.

Now there’s more here of course to be developed but I just want to call your attention to one of the things that is how it all centers in the cross. You see, it is the person who is concerned about the attitude of God, who then gives himself away with abandonment. I have God’s approval, and therefore, in the circumstances of life, when those pressures come, when those temptations arise, when those strains develop, I will stand with my God. And not only that, when I have the opportunity to express myself in terms of the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven, I do so in a way in which I give myself away with not as much as a thought for myself.

But then I pause, and I understand that that is exactly what Jesus did. That’s exactly what Jesus did. He gives himself away. Now I’m not leaving you in a position that is powerless. You backing off and you saying now, well that’s Jesus. He was the son of God, what do you expect of me? You see! The reality of the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven has come to you, so it’s not a matter of you being without something. It’s a matter of you having something, and you have Jesus, and the righteousness now that you are to perform is to be performed in and through him. It is a possibility. The cross and its expression is a possibility for you, and it becomes the discipline in your life.

You always reacting, drawing back. It’s enough, Lord. I’ve done my part. Let somebody else do it. I thought about these people long enough. I don’t want to be bothered with them anymore. Let’s suppose that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. Few aggravating people across the path. He draws back and says, enough, Lord! I’ve had enough! I’m not going to go! He didn’t say that at all.

Because he had respect unto the reward. And the reward came from God. And it is meted out in the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven. And that, my dear friends, is where you live, in the Kingdom of Heaven. And the standard of your life, operative in you, is the cross. And you no longer say, how much more do I have to give? Rather you say, I give my all as Christ has given his all. That’s right.

Our Lord, we are thankful to you that this righteousness of the kingdom of heaven comes to us as a gift, displayed well and effected in Christ your Son, available to us a whole new world into which we have been introduced, in which we can live. Lord, we pray that as this righteousness with its cross works upon us, that increasingly it would be said of us that we are conformed to the image of our Savior. And therefore, with regard to all of the aspects of piety that there may be in this world, may our disposition be such that we see first of all, foremostly, our God, His reward, turning our back then upon the flaws of man, considerations of this world, for His sake, We do pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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.