You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.
Thank you, gentlemen, and thank you. Thank you for your hospitality in greeting me and my wife
as we have been given the blessing of spending a few days in your fair city and seeing the church
transformed into Vacation Bible School Central. I don't think this was done for the celebration of
my arrival, but I trust that it will be a wonderful greeting to the children as they come through the
week, and we will be praying for you because we have some special grandchildren that will be
participating here. I'd like to ask you to pray for us because as we return home to Memphis this
afternoon, we start Bible school in the morning too, and I have the fifth and sixth grade boys,
and you know what they're like. But it's a wonderful time for us to celebrate. We're actually going to
be doing a Bible curriculum based on the prophet Jonah, and I hear that you all have sometime in
the past done a series on Jonah. In fact, I'm going to borrow this little fella and take him back to
Memphis with me. What's his name? Hanaj? And where did you get that? How did you come up with that name?
It's Jonah's name spelled backwards. Well, isn't that interesting? Because this morning, I want to give
you a backward sermon. So you're one step ahead of me. You already do things backwards. Imagine if you
got up in the morning and you greeted everyone by saying good night, and at the end of the day,
you went to bed and you said good morning. Imagine if you got up in the morning and you ate dinner,
and just before bed you had breakfast. Imagine that you went to school or into the neighborhood and you
chose for 24 hours to walk backwards. Wouldn't that be an odd experience? And yet this morning, what I'm
going to do is you're going to join me in making homiletical history. How many of you have ever
made homiletical history? I didn't think so. In 34 years of preaching at my church, I have never made
homiletical history. But here today on this stage, we will make homiletical history because we are going
to preach a backward sermon. If it flops, Will will be here to clean up the mess. But what I want to do
is I want to preach through the sermon that Jesus preached in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, commonly known as
the Sermon on the Mount. Except for our purposes this morning, we're going to preach it Matthew 7,
6, and 5. So if you want to use your pew Bibles, you'll find it on pages 812 through 809.
Did you get that? 812 through 809?
Before we start, let's do the most important thing. Let's pray.
Father, as we come to your Word, we want to enjoy the study of your Word and the proclamation of your
truth. But we don't want to make a circus of it. We don't want to take it lightly. We want you to
speak to our hearts and our minds of your great love for us through Jesus Christ our Lord. And we
ask, Father, that you would accomplish your purposes in our hearts this morning, myself included. And we
pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I love to preach through the Sermon on the Mount because everybody
loves the Sermon on the Mount. After all, who does not love the golden rule? And who does not appreciate
the Lord's Prayer? And who does not memorize the Beatitudes? All of those things and many other
memorable things are contained in these three chapters of Matthew that are called the Sermon on the Mount.
But let's be careful about our approach to this sermon. John MacArthur, and I assume many of you
would recognize that name, says this,
That's an interesting statement. Hell will be filled with people who love the Sermon on the Mount,
who love to hear the Beatitudes read, who love to hear the Lord's Prayer said, who love to abide by the
golden rule, because in their attempt to please God and attain their salvation, they have determined
that the Sermon on the Mount has been given them to show simply the principles of the way to live
the Christian life. If that's the case in your heart, I have good news for you this morning.
Because just as hell will be filled with those who love the Sermon on the Mount,
heaven will be filled with those who have come to understand what Jesus was really saying.
And that's what we want to understand this morning.
We want to begin this sermon as that sermon ends. The closing paragraph of the Sermon on the Mount
really gets our attention. Matthew chapter 7 at verse 24.
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house
on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house,
but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of
mine does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and
the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it.
Our children learn the song, the wise man built his house on the rock. And every generation of children
is taught that song. Why? Because we want them to understand the necessity of a firm and solid
foundation for a faithful and fruitful life. But notice there are dangerous warnings attached to this
paragraph. There is a foolish man. There's a collapsing house and great was the fall of it.
There's disappointment and tragedy. If what? If your house is built upon sand.
Now I have a dear friend who just recently said these words to me. I'm going to have to take my wife
down to the coast because every once in a while she needs to get a little sand between her toes.
Are you like that? Every once in a while you need to get to the beach and you need to get a little
bit of sand between your toes. It's good therapy for you. And that may be true about the beach,
but to get a little sand between your toes is not a wise thing according to the Lord Jesus. That's why
he's given us this sermon. That's why he's correcting some misconceptions. That's why he wants to put rock
under our feet, not sand. This sermon is not just a collection of wise sayings. It's a matter of life and
death, standing or falling, success or failure, victory or defeat, even heaven or hell. Do you see why I'm
starting at the end? This paragraph gets our attention that we might realize what's at stake in this sermon.
So let's get the sand out from between our toes this morning. Let's listen to this sermon and try to
truly discern what's on our Lord's heart. And let's begin, of course, at chapter 7.
In chapter 7, Jesus describes it this way, our world is filled with people who make false assumptions and
live with false hopes. False assumptions, false hopes. As Jesus preaches, he realizes he's surrounded by
people whose feet are firmly planted in the sand, not rock, on lies, not truth. They may not know it,
they may not admit it, they may be blind to it, but that is the truth. How so? First, they're traveling
on the wrong highway. Notice verses 13 and 14 of chapter 7. Jesus says, enter by the narrow gate,
for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
For the gate is narrow, the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
This is vacation season. Imagine the disappointment of preparing for vacation and leaving for vacation
and moving out on vacation only to take a few wrong turns, and you end up in the middle of nowhere.
Not your intended destination.
As Will grew up, I'm not going to belabor the Will stories with you this morning, but this is a good spot for one.
As Will grew up, he was admired by many people.
He gave counsel to friends, but there was one area of counsel he was never asked for.
Directions.
He was directionally challenged.
The GPS was an answer to prayer.
If you use one, you can thank Will for that, because we never knew when he left the house
whether he would get to his destination.
Jesus is talking about that in this passage.
Imagine leaving and living on a highway that doesn't get you to the right place.
Multiply that by a thousand and consider the tragedy of living your whole life
climbing the ladder of success
only to find that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall at the end.
False assumptions
can lead to disastrous results.
But not only are they traveling on the wrong highway,
they are trusting in the wrong object.
They have hope and confidence.
They have expectation.
But it's not in the right object.
Notice chapter 7 at verse 21.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name
and cast out demons in your name and do mighty works in your name?
And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
Again, another surprise.
First, it's a large company traveling down a wide road
that when they get to the end of that road, it's destruction.
And now it's people who have actively been at work in the life of the church
who are told that he never knew them.
Depart from me.
Maybe we could paraphrase it this way.
Lord, Lord, I served in VBS, remember?
I went on a mission trip to Peru.
I was active in the youth ministry.
I volunteered at Lincoln Village.
I was even ordained to office.
What if Jesus took those claims and threw them out of court?
Have any of you read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress?
Hands?
Pilgrim's Progress?
You know how it ends?
You remember how it ends?
It's a glorious...
You've got to read the ending.
The glorious arrival of Christian and hopeful into the celestial city.
And the incredible description of the glory of the place.
Such that Bunyan says,
When I had seen it,
I wish I had been among them.
But if you've read it,
you know that that's not the end.
Because there's another couple of paragraphs that follow that description.
When Bunyan says,
Another man crossed the river of death.
And another man climbed the mountain to the gate of the celestial city.
And another man sought to enter therein.
And he was asked for his certificate.
And he had none.
And he was not let in.
In fact, he was led away.
And this is how Pilgrim's Progress ends.
And I saw that there was a way to hell even from the gates of heaven.
Wow.
Jesus gets our attention in this seventh chapter.
He's describing the tragic situation of people who think they are Christians but are not.
Who think they are headed to heaven but are denied entrance.
Who think they are standing on the rock when in fact they are on the sand destined to collapse.
Not to stand.
Well then we need to hear more.
What do we learn if we move back to chapter 6?
What do we learn from that chapter?
We learn this.
Our world is filled with people whose bodies are at church but whose hearts are in the world.
Church is definitely a part of their life.
But upon closer examination,
we see that they claim to trust God but their hearts are flooded with anxiety.
They're people whose lives are filled with worry and fret and fear and doubt.
Chapter 6 at verse 25.
Therefore I tell you,
do not be anxious about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink,
nor about your body,
what you will put on.
Verse 27.
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to a span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing?
Verse 31.
Therefore do not be anxious,
saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear?
For the Gentiles seek after all these things.
Anxious, anxious, anxious,
Jesus preaches to them
because he's seen through their smiles
and he's examined their hearts.
They claim to trust God,
but they fail the eye test,
how they live and think and speak.
They don't sleep at night
and they don't relax during the day.
The future scares them
and the present frustrates them.
They claim to trust God,
but their hearts are anxious.
They claim to worship God,
but they crave the approval of man.
Chapter 6 and verse 1.
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people
in order to be seen by them.
They do a lot of good things for the wrong reasons.
And Jesus goes into a discussion of giving
and follows that with a discussion of praying
and then digs even deeper
and speaks to those who fast.
Givers, prayers, fasters,
doing all the right things
for the wrong motivation
to be seen by men.
And then they claim to value God,
but they treasure the things of earth.
Chapter 6, verse 19.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth
where moth and rust destroy
and where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven
where neither moth nor rust destroys
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also.
My wife and I have just
started cleaning our attic.
I don't recommend it.
It's really not a lot of fun.
It's very convicting
to see what you treasure,
to see what you've kept,
and how much of it,
how much of it.
We sing in Christ alone,
but do we really live it?
We sing all to Jesus,
I surrender,
but we don't.
We sang this morning,
I'd rather have Jesus
than silver or gold.
I sang that song,
but boy, oh boy,
was that convicting
because I'm not sure I meant it,
and I'm not sure I live it.
We say Jesus is all the world to me,
but you couldn't tell it
by following people for a week
or looking at their checkbooks.
Their bodies are at church,
but their heart is in the world.
Sometimes after preaching,
when I go to the back door,
I have people say things like this,
Preacher,
you were really preaching to me this morning.
You really got me today.
That means I stepped on their toes,
I meddled a bit,
I spoke to a touchy area in their lives.
Well, I can say to Jesus,
you got me today.
This whole subject of where my heart is,
is exposed by Jesus' words.
He's making us examine our hearts,
and I'm not liking what I see,
my selfish attitudes,
my private fears,
my hidden motives.
I live and work and worship in the church,
but that's no guarantee that my heart
isn't still often in the world.
So first, Jesus raises the reality
of false assumptions and false hopes,
and then he identifies the weaknesses
of our hearts and our hidden idols.
Well, we need to hear more.
Finally, moving backwards to chapter 5,
we learn our world is filled with people
who are in desperate need
of a deliverance outside themselves.
Desperate need of deliverance outside themselves.
My guess is you have your favorite TV shows, right?
Your weekly shows that you wouldn't miss.
You record them if you have to be out
so you can see them later.
One of the shows that my wife and I
have gotten into lately is Scorpion.
Any Scorpion watchers in here?
Thank you.
We'll talk after the service.
Scorpion is obviously a very popular show.
It is the story of a group of geniuses.
See, only a few people really can understand it.
A group of geniuses that solve the problems
of national security by their brains.
Okay?
And in one particular episode,
Walter, who is the chief genius,
drives off a cliff
at a high rate of speed.
His car hurtles over the cliff.
It falls about 100 feet.
It's on a precipice,
teetering on this precipice.
And Walter inside is bleeding.
He's been badly injured.
And the Scorpion team realizes
that they have about an hour
to rescue him.
Well, I hate to ruin it for you,
but they do.
They figure out a way
to rescue Walter from this car.
But it really does kind of make you wonder
how in the world
they're ever going to rescue the man
from this horrible predicament.
Well, my friends,
Jesus in chapter 5
is describing man
in an even worse predicament
because it's a spiritual predicament.
And if you study chapter 5,
you'll be amazed
that Jesus demands from us
what no man can deliver.
Have you ever thought about
the gospel that way?
Jesus demands from us
what we cannot deliver.
Notice in verse 20 of chapter 5,
he says,
for I tell you,
unless your righteousness
exceeds that of the scribes
and Pharisees,
you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven.
That ought to blow you away.
You want to go to the kingdom
of heaven, right?
But he says,
you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven
unless your righteousness
exceeds that
of the scribes and Pharisees.
Now, the problem is
the Pharisees and the scribes
were the poster children
of what righteousness
was all about.
How in the world
could the average ordinary guy
have a righteousness
that exceeds that
of the scribes and Pharisees?
Then to make matters worse,
he begins a series of explanation
of Old Testament commands
describing how true righteousness
must include not just
the letter of the law,
but the spirit of the law.
He says,
you've heard that it was said
you shall not kill,
but I tell you,
you shall not even be angry.
You've heard that it was said
you shall not commit adultery,
but I tell you
that if you even lust in your heart,
you've committed adultery.
So Jesus takes the definition
of righteousness
and expands it
to proportions
that no man can reach.
And then if he's just not satisfied
with that,
at the end of the chapter,
verse 48,
he just puts it simply,
you therefore must be perfect
as your heavenly Father
is perfect.
If anybody thought
they had passed
the first two measures,
he gets them on the third.
You've just got to be perfect.
Great!
The kingdom of heaven
is a hopeless wish,
right?
Well,
he then goes on to promise
what no one can imagine.
In the Beatitudes,
Jesus speaks of those
who possess the kingdom of heaven,
inherit the earth,
receive mercy,
are satisfied.
they'll see God,
be called the sons of God.
Great is their reward
in heaven.
Now I'm really confused
because he's just set me up
for failure,
but at the same time
told me that it's possible
to have all these
wonderful blessings.
What's he saying?
What's he mean?
How can the incredible demands
of God
be met with the incredible
blessings of God?
Well,
it all starts
with empty hands,
not impressive performances.
Chapter 5,
verse 3,
blessed
are the poor in spirit.
It starts
by admitting
you can't,
not guaranteeing
that you will.
Years ago,
I heard this description
by Max Licato.
you don't impress
the officials at NASA
with a paper airplane.
You don't boast
about crayon sketches
in the presence
of Picasso.
You don't claim
equality with Einstein
because you can write
H2O.
And you don't boast
about your goodness
in the presence
of the perfect.
Mark it down,
God does not save us
because of what we've done.
The first step to joy
is a plea for help,
an acknowledgement
of moral destitution,
an admission
of inward poverty.
Those who taste
God's presence
have declared
spiritual bankruptcy
and are aware
of their spiritual crisis.
Their cupboards are bare,
their pockets are empty,
their options are gone.
They have long since
stopped demanding justice.
They are pleading
for mercy.
They don't brag,
they beg.
And they ask God
to do for them
what they can't do
without Him.
You see,
our problem in this world
is not with a backward sermon.
It's with a backward gospel.
Believing somehow
that heaven is awarded to us
on the basis of our success
rather than given to us
despite our failures.
If you study more closely
chapter 5,
Jesus is going to say
that He came
not to abolish the law
but to fulfill it.
What we cannot do,
He has done.
And He offers to us
a perfect righteousness.
In chapter 6,
He's going to invite us
to pray,
forgive us our debts.
because He knows
that He's headed
to a cross
where He is going
to shed His blood
for the forgiveness
of sin.
In chapter 7,
when He speaks
of a narrow gate,
perhaps He's thinking
to a later date
in John chapter 10
when He says,
I am the gate
of the sheep.
The gospel requires
that we admit
there is sand
between our toes
and we ask
to be cleansed.
And when we do,
the blood of Jesus
washes away our guilt
and God places
our feet upon a rock.
The psalmist
in Psalm 40
put it this way,
I waited patiently
for the Lord.
He inclined to me
and heard my cry.
He drew me up
from the pit of destruction
out of the miry bog
and He set my feet
upon a rock
making my steps secure.
What makes the gospel
so beautiful
is the depth
of our problem
and the height
of God's solution.
That rock
is not a place.
It's a person.
It's not a new set
of rules.
It's Jesus' blood
and righteousness.
That rock
is not trying harder.
It's resting
in His sufficiency.
It doesn't just point me
in a new direction.
It establishes
in my heart
a new affection.
I'm loved
and I love in return.
I rest
and I'm energized
to obey.
It all sounds
so backwards.
That's why
it's amazing
grace.
When this sermon
begins
in chapter 5
seeing the crowds
He went up
on the mountain
and when He sat down
His disciples
came
to Him.
That's what we must do
come to Him.
And when they left
in chapter 7
it says in verse 28
when Jesus finished
these sayings
the crowds
were astonished
at His teaching
for He was teaching
them as one
who had authority
and not as the scribes
and when He came
down from the mountain
great crowds
followed Him.
We must come
to Him.
Hear His voice
and follow
Him.
in the past
several years
I've had the privilege
of serving
in a retirement
community
immediately across
the street
from my church.
Imagine
if across
Jones Valley
there was a
retirement community
of 400 to 500
people right there
right in your face
well that's what
we've got.
And I started
offering myself
as a chaplain
and doing Bible
studies and meeting
people and ministering
to people
and now I'm
the hired
part-time chaplain.
It's an upscale
retirement community.
It's a place
where the successful
have come
at the end
of their life
to be pampered
and to enjoy
community
and fellowship.
And my message
to these people
has boiled down
to one primary
thought.
Being good
is not
good enough.
They've served
our country.
They've built
hospitals
and churches
and schools.
They've loved
the flag
and paid
their taxes.
They've raised
their families
and now in their
waning years
there are many
of them resting
on all that
they have done
and they want
somebody to come
along and say
to them
well done
you've done
such a good job
and I go
and tell them
your goodness
is not
good enough.
And I try
to point them
to the sufficiency
of Jesus Christ
and the completion
of his work
and say to them
empty hands
clinging to the cross
that's what God
desires.
The gospel of grace
we set the gospel
of grace
backward
when we act
as if
it's a reward
for our performance.
We hear it
accurately
when we come
to a table
like this
and believe
that Jesus
paid
it all
and all
to him
I owe.
The sermon
on the mount
is a hard
hitting
rebuke
to our hearts
it's not a
collection
of wise
and sweet
principles
but a reminder
to us
that the true
gospel of Jesus
Christ
meets us
at the point
of our emptiness
and fills us
with the fullness
of God's
love
and grace
and hope.
And it points
us to this table
because that's
where Jesus
is headed.
He knows it
and he loves it
because he loves you
and because he loves me.
Let's pray.
Father we ask
this morning
that as we come
to this table
we would be convinced
that we are
desperately in need
of a deliverance
that only you
can provide
and in fact
only you have
provided
in sending
your son
to this earth
to give his life
a ransom
for sinners
that we might
turn from ourselves
and receive
and rest
upon him alone
and know
the joy
and the peace
of standing
upon the rock.
And we pray
this in his name.
Amen.
For more information
visit us online
at southwood.org
For more information
visit us online
at southwood.org