The (Applied) Word Of The Lord
(Matthew 5:17-48)
Introduction: Thus far in our study of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we have looked at the Beatitudes in verses 3 thru 12, and the lessons that Jesus taught concerning the Will of the believer. We looked at verses 13 thru 16 at an analogy that Jesus used involving Salt and Light. And it was through this comparison that Jesus taught believers about their Witness.
Today we’re focusing upon verses 17 thru 48, and what Jesus taught believers about His Word. This section is summarized in six areas where the Lord Jesus refers to Ancient Tradition by saying something like, “it has been said.” But then He reveals Applicable Truth by saying, “But I say unto you.”
(Matthew 5:21-22) Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: {22} But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
(Matthew 5:27-28) Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: {28} But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
(Matthew 5:31-32) It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: {32} But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
(Matthew 5:33-34) 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: {34} But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
(Matthew 5:38-39) Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: {39} But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
(Matthew 5:43-44) Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. {44} 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;
In an article entitled “Speaking From My Holy Of Holies,” John Ortberg shared the following story in the Spring 2007 issue of Leadership Journal…
A good friend from the Pentecostal tradition, in which people will often stand up and speak very authoritatively to the congregation, told me a glorious story. According to my friend, a man once stood up and declared, “Thus saith the Lord: Even as I was with Abraham when he led the children of Israel through the wilderness, so I will be with you.” Then he sat down. His wife nudged him and whispered something. He quickly stood back up and said, “Thus saith the Lord: I was mistaken. It was Moses.”
The message this morning is all about “Thus saith the Lord.” It is His Word and how it applies to us.
1. In An Introductory Way, Let Me Mention Biblical Authority
Back in the 1980’s, Southern Baptists were in a battle for the Bible. Theological liberalism had crept into the seminaries and pulpits of Southern Baptist churches all over the country. And conservatives like Adrian Rogers, and Charles Stanley, and Jerry Vines, and W. A. Criswell were fighting for Biblical Inerrancy.
In his message to the Pastors’ Conference at the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Texas on June 10, 1985, Dr. W. A. Criswell preached a sermon entitled “Whether We Live Or Die,” in which he said, “United in prayer, preaching, witnessing, working, not around the higher-critical denial of Scripture, but around the infallible Word of God in Christ Jesus, we cannot fail. If we join hands with the blessed Savior, and deliver the message of the inerrant Word of God, God will rise to meet us.”
The liberals hated it, and the conservatives loved it. But this was a turning point for Southern Baptists who were fighting over Biblical Authority.
Charles Spurgeon faced a similar time of theological liberalism in his day and rose up in a fight that came to be called “The Downgrade Controversy.” Spurgeon said about the Word of God…
I would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two. Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps of divine revelation; a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is poor faith at best. It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not good for much.
2. In An Introductory Way, Let Me Mention Biblical Acclamation
In “The Christian Index” that came out this past week, there was a letter to the editor from Johnny L. Wilson of Tyrone, GA who wrote…
When we moved to Georgia, we were looking for a church where we would be fed by expository and exegetical preaching from the Bible. We couldn’t find a Baptist church where this was the norm. A friend of mine in Oregon asked his pastor why he didn’t ever preach through a book from the Bible or exegete a complete text. His pastor answered with, “You can’t grow a church with that kind of preaching.” This wasn’t a “liberal” pastor, either. He believes that only the King James Version is authoritative. He just doesn’t bother being “restricted” by preaching from the text. … How ironic that the very denomination that experienced such upheaval in attempting to affirm the infallibility of the Bible now spends the bulk of its time ignoring the very book God’s Holy Spirit took such efforts to inspire, preserve, and make accessible to us.
(Published June 21, 2007)
3. In An Introductory Way, Let Me Mention Biblical Aptitude
I’ve read quite a bit this past week about the problem of Biblical Illiteracy and Biblical Ignorance.
a. I Read Quite A Bit About The Instances Of Biblical Illiteracy
The October 18, 1991 issue of “Our Daily Bread” shared this little story…
A pastor asked a class of Sunday School children, “Who broke down the wall of Jericho?” A boy answered, “Not me, sir!” Upset, the pastor asked the teacher, “Is this typical?” She replied, “I believe this boy is honest, and I really don’t think he did it.” The pastor went to the head deacon. “I’ve known the boy and the teacher for years,” said the deacon, “and neither of them would do such a thing.” Aghast, the pastor went to the Christian Education Board. “Pastor,” said the chairman, “let’s not make an issue of this. Let’s just pay for the damage and charge it to the upkeep.”
In the August 9, 1999 issue of “Christianity Today,” Gary M. Burge in his article “The Greatest Story Never Read” wrote…
Jay Leno knew he had the perfect comedy routine. Roving through the audience of his late-night talk show, Leno asked people how much they knew about the Bible. “Name one of the Ten Commandments,” he asked. A hand went up: “God helps those who help themselves?” Leno went on: “Name one of the apostles.” No answer. But when he asked his audience to name the four Beatles, the names “George, Paul, John, and Ringo” flew from the crowd.
Last year (Burge said) I was listening to a speech on the radio given by a candidate for governor in Nevada. He wanted to propose a new tax on the gambling industry but did not want to give the impression that he was against Nevada’s most powerful and lucrative industry. Appealing to biblical authority, he announced: “I want to be like King David in the Bible. He didn’t kill Goliath, he just hurt him a little.”
Stephen Prothero is chairman of the religion department at Boston University and the author of the recent bestselling book “Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—and Doesn’t.” In the March 14, 2007 issue of the Los Angeles Times, Prothero wrote in an Opinion piece…
In a religious literacy quiz I have administered to undergraduates for the last two years, students tell me that Moses was blinded on the road to Damascus and that Paul led the Israelites on their exodus out of Egypt. We live in the land of biblical idiots
To the question “Can you name the first and last books of the Bible?” An older man answered, “First Testament … and I think second one.” They think “Moses” gave the Sermon on the Mount.
(From the November 27, 1999 issue of The Dallas Morning News)
“Eight percent of American teens,” for example, “believe that Moses is one of the twelve Apostles.”
(From the article “Bible Illiteracy in America” by David Gelernter from the May 23, 2005 issue of “The Weekly Standard”)
Al Mohler, the president of Southern Seminary, writing about “The Scandal of Biblical Illiteracy” said…
Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels. Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples. According to data from the Barna Research Group, 60 percent of Americans can’t name even five of the Ten Commandments. “No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time. They don’t know what they are,” said George Barna, president of the firm. … A Barna poll indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham. We are in big trouble.
“Biblical knowledge among professing Christians has become abysmal. … Is the Bible the least read best seller of all times?”
(Dr. David R. Reagan of Lamb & Lion Ministries in an article entitled The Plague of Biblical Illiteracy)
b. I Read Quite A Bit About The Impact Of Biblical Illiteracy
One blogger wrote…
Far too many evangelical seminaries produce graduates who fill church pulpits preaching piety and experience over doctrine and theology, which in turn produces church members who “love Jesus” but … don’t KNOW Him
(From the June 18, 2007 “Thoughts & Actions” blog by Will Shin – http://thoughtsactions.wordpress.com)
In an article on Biblical Illiteracy, Ibrahim B. Syed, the President of the Islamic Research Foundation International, said…
What are the consequences of being a Biblically illiterate society? Dr. Vinson Synan, Dean of Regent University’s School of Divinity says: “You can see the results everywhere, the breakdown of homes, divorces, the permissiveness of sex, homosexuality, AIDS, all of these things are consequences of not knowing the word of God.” He calls Biblical illiteracy the “ultimate disaster” for a nation, even greater than AIDS or atomic war. “Because if people lived Biblical lifestyles, they would not have AIDS, if people followed the Scriptures there would be no nuclear war, so most of our problems are from unbiblical behavior.”
In one interview, Woodrow Kroll of Back To The Bible said…
“When I was growing up, we blamed Bible illiteracy on King James,” the ministry spokesman says. “Well, now we have 35 or so modern translation Bibles. We’re dumber now than we were back then. One of the things we’ve already learned from our survey is this—there is a direct correlation between how much time a person spends in the Word and how easy they believe it is to understand.”
Christians who do not read God’s Word are stagnant in their spiritual walk, Kroll contends. “In the area of morality, we rob ourselves of a moral position if we don’t know the Word of God,” he says. “I think we also rob ourselves of the ability to move on toward spiritual maturity. We get stuck in spiritual infancy, and that’s a clear detriment that comes from not reading the Bible.”
(From a March 2, 2007 article by Allie Martin of OneNewsNow.com interviewing Woodrow Kroll of Back To The Bible)
Woodrow Kroll also said…
Because people in the pews don’t know their Bibles very well, and because the pastor feels constrained to preach so as not to offend the mixed multitude attending church on Sunday morning, born-again adults are beginning to formulate some beliefs and practices that are anything but biblical.
And this really brings us to the purpose of the message today. You see…
We need to proclaim Biblical Authority
And We need to practice Biblical Acclamation
And We need to pursue Biblical Aptitude
But I believe the point of Jesus’ teaching in our text today is Biblical Application.
You see, the people in Jesus’ day were hearing the Word, but they were not heading the Word. Some of the people were learning the Word, but many were not living the Word. Perhaps they were memorizing scripture, but they were not manifesting scriptural principles. Some of them thought that the Word was important, but they were not internalizing the Word.
I want to say this morning that it is imperative that we have deacons, and ministry leaders, and Sunday school teachers, and Awana workers, and Vacation Bible School workers who have a desire to know what the Bible says about how things ought to be done in the church; what the Bible says about church government, and church procedures; and what the Bible says about character and conduct in life. And it is imperative that we have people who are serving in the church and worshipping in the church who not only know what the Bible says, but they are willing to do what the Bible says.