The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached Part I

The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached

For the next several columns, we will attempt to give you a glimpse into the heart of the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew's Gospel. It was delivered by not only the greatest preacher that ever lived, but by the greatest man to ever grace the face of the earth. He still lives today in the hearts of every man and woman who call upon Him as Lord and Savior.

(Commentary by Guy Glass and Scott Hescht)

Scott: Imagine being an ordinary man or woman in a place in time where your country seemed to have no identity of its own. Your people are said to be chosen by God and were once a great nation, yet to your dismay you are under the rule of the dreaded Roman Empire. Then there are those who are the elite of your own people. They are the religious officials; the Scribes and Pharisees whom your people look up to on a daily basis. However, their burdens are heavy. They are extremely demanding in all of their ways. You want to know God, but feel like you are stepping further and further away from him with each passing day. The religious leaders seem so far above you. They seem untouchable. Dare you say, they seem to even take pleasure in it?

In steps a man from Nazareth. This Jesus is said to be a deliverer of his people. In fact, he is said to be the One that the Scriptures foretold, the awaited Messiah! The Christ! You've heard that he is speaking today and you've gathered several of your friends and have gone to listen. Little do you know that you are about to hear the greatest sermon ever preached.

The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached (Matthew 5-7)

Matthew 5:1-3 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Guy: What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It means to realize your spiritual poverty. This is where true humility resides. We are all spiritual beggars possessing nothing with which to redeem ourselves. The pockets of our righteousness are empty with the exception of some lent or perhaps a filthy rag or two. Our spiritual poverty has two sides. The first, and more obvious of the two, is that we can not attain unto salvation by our own merits. Those of us who realize this and run to and treasure Christ and His cross are blessed. The other side of our spiritual poverty has to do with our joy - joy that is found in Christ alone.

You see, when the Scriptures say the poor in spirit are blessed, the word translated as blessed means happy or well off. It speaks of a peace of mind and a joy of spirit. The truth is that real peace and real joy can not be found outside of complete dependence upon our Creator. The whole of Scripture teaches that all things exist to glorify God. If you were created to glorify God, that being your purpose for existing, how can you be fulfilled doing something other than what you were built for?

So, the verse above could be communicated as saying, "Truly happy are those who realize their need for and rely completely upon Christ, for they will enjoy, with Him, all that is His." The Scriptures teach us that we who have realized our spiritual need and have run to Christ, He being our treasure, are God's children and Christ Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers - we are joint heirs with Jesus. The kingdom of heaven is ours - not based upon our worth but on the worthiness of the Lord Jesus.

We would sell ourselves short to look forward to our possession of heaven's kingdom in eternity alone. We have Christ now. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. The Spirit of the Living God is within us. So, though we have the splendors of heaven to look forward to, let's delight ourselves in the Lord now. Let's glorify God by enjoying Him at this moment - every moment - forever.