The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached

Today's Bible readings are Genesis 11:1-13:4, Matthew 5:1-26, Psalm 5:1-12, & Proverbs 1:24-28

Matthew 5 is the beginning of, in my opinion, the greatest sermon ever preached. This sermon continues through chapter 7, so you will be getting more of it in the next few days. In fact, at the close of this message the bible declares:

Matthew 7:28-29  (NLT)

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

I can only imagine how it really played out that day. I can envision Jesus passionately proclaiming to the multitude the truths about God & His character. As they listened to His teaching it must have resonated with their hearts at the same time bringing deep conviction.

I want to focus this morning on something that Jesus said that must have blown the minds of those that heard Him speak it.

Matthew 5:20

²⁰ “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of 
religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

This must have caused jaws to drop. People probably thought, "Did He just say what I think He said?" I'm sure that their were people in the crowd who had though it before but Jesus actually said it out loud.

Here was a group of people who practiced the Law to the letter. I'm sure that they were the standard that all people tried to live up to. They were the ones saying to others, "Be more like me." They thought they had it all together. Most people even believed that righteousness could be attained if they could only obey as well as the pharisees.

I love this part in Jesus' teaching. I use to think that it was a stern correction towards the leaders of the day but I'm lead to believe that He was really beginning to point the minds of the people to the concept of GRACE.

The pharisees thought that following a set of rules was enough to save you. That is what their faith was in. They practiced religion to the letter. As perfect as the law was it was weakened by their sinful nature. The law did nothing with it.

Jesus came to proclaim that the law of the Spirit of Life could free us from the sinful nature all together. That is the beauty of grace that is often never mentioned. We talk a lot about His grace to forgive us when we sin. That is what religion knows. That is all the pharisees knew. They knew nothing about how to deal with the nature in them that made them desire to do wrong.

Grace flows from the throne to enable us to live free from sin, not by following a set of rules, but by letting the Life of Christ, through His Spirit, flow through us! His Spirit resides in His children. We truly are born of His Spirit & washed in His blood!

3 THINGS I WANT YOU TO CONFESS OVER YOURSELF TODAY

1. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me NOW. 

2. Sin & satan has no power over me because the power of the Spirit in me is GREATER than him.

3. Through this Spirit I can do ALL things & will overcome EVERYTHING. 

Romans 6:12-14

¹² Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. ¹³ Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. ¹⁴ Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

Pastor Richard