really almost to the end of The Sermon on the Mount we’ve come in effect to the place where Jesus applies the truths that he’s been teaching and as we look here in these last few verses what you’ll notice is that the sermon is coming to a conclusion things are being boiled down if you will and we are about to come to really the moment of the climax the moment of the crescendo in order to understand this it’s very important that we grasp really the the overall flow of the sermon so if you’ll go back with me
just a couple of pages and look beginning at chapter five will see the overall flow beginning in chapter 5 and verse 1. what we’ve seen here is the Beatitudes that gives us a picture of Kingdom citizens who are Kingdom citizens and what do they look like after we see the Beatitudes there in the beginning of chapter five we we have this picture of us as Salt and Light that lets us know what Believers are in their distinct characteristics as compared to the rest of the world and the culture at large immediately thereafter we get to these
six antitheses and in these six antitheses we hear basically the same phrase repeated over and over again you have heard it said but I say to you basically in these six antitheses Jesus is teaching his people here’s what Kingdom citizens look like as it relates to the law of God so here are these characteristics and these indicatives about the citizens of the kingdom here are these characteristics about the citizens of the Kingdom as it relates to the law of God and it’s not that the citizens of the Kingdom no longer pay attention to the
law of God in fact quite the contrary being a citizen of the Kingdom raises things to an entirely different level as it relates to the law of God after the six antitheses we began to look at issues of practical concern or issues of practical religion if you will how do you practice the religion of Christianity within the context of the Kingdom he talks about prayer about fasting about giving all of these things here beginning in chapter six so he gives us a picture really of that inward life the devotional life of the Kingdom citizen
what does our religion look like when it’s being practiced as Kingdom citizens then we come to the end of chapter six talks about our anxiety and the beginning of chapter seven we have this statement about judging where he lays the foundation for what judging ought to be and how it ought to be practiced appropriately here we come to the end of the sermon on the mouth chapter seven is the last chapter it’s the end of The Sermon on the Mount we move into an entirely different part of the Book of Matthew so as Jesus brings this message to a close
he is about to come to his crucial Point listen to what Martin Lloyd Jones says about this last section there he says in effect is the character of this Kingdom which I am forming that is the type of life I’m going to give you and I want you to live and manifest it he has not only laid down principles he has worked them out for us in detail now having done that he pauses as it were and looks at this congregation and says well now there’s my purpose sounds like Martin Lloyd Jones if you guys know anything about his writing what are you going to do about it
there’s no point in listening to this sermon there is no purpose and you’re having followed me through all this delineation of the Christian Life if you are only going to listen what are you going to do about it he comes in other words to exhortation to application and that’s what we see in these last several verses of chapter seven The Sermon on the Mount this is the application this is the so what point of the sermon Jesus said I’ve given you all of these principles and you’ve listened to all of these principles so what so now what are you going to do about it
