Attributes of a Repentant, Converted Person

Again, it's very wonderful to be able to see all of you today. And, of course, we all normally have our services here at 10 o'clock in the morning on Sabbath. And whenever we have a meal, we have afternoon service, usually meet here at 2 o'clock. And yet, sometimes that's challenging because you never know where the sun is going to hit. And you don't have to be careful about which chair you pick, because you might get a sunburn during church. I noticed Adana came in with her sunglasses, great big sunglasses on. And so she came prepared to church. And so if you actually happen to need to wear sunglasses during church, that's okay.

We're not going to be concerned about that. But, again, got it all fixed up, Kim? Hey, all right.

Well, to begin the sermon today, I wanted to just make a statement that I think most of you perhaps already know that the first four books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they're called the Gospels, they comprise some of the most important writing in the history of mankind, because they record the life of God in the flesh.

You know, we all realize 2,000 years ago, Jesus, of course, was born.

And we don't denigrate that in any way. You can read through Luke 2 and Matthew 2 as well, although Luke is actually prior to Matthew 2 as far as the time frame.

And the significance of Jesus coming to the earth and of what it says about his life.

We don't have a lot of information about him growing up, very little. You know a little bit about it when he was 12. He went to the temple and, of course, baffled the doctors of the law there at the temple. We know later, about 30, he entered into a ministry. And yet, I want to focus today, I know I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, what kind of Bible study plan do you have for this coming few weeks or months here during winter?

And I'm going to suggest that we study, because I'm going to be going over this over the next several weeks, different aspects of the book of Matthew. I actually started a Bible study in Topeka, going through or presenting information about Matthew, and I'm not intending to go over all of that. I'm wanting to cover specific things. Actually, I'm wanting to cover, ultimately, I'm going to show you, I want to cover, I'll let you determine where this is. The first section of major teaching, of Jesus Christ in Matthew. That's a pretty well-known section. And yet, I want to lead into that by going through a few other things. Matthew, of course, is a unique apostle. He wasn't a fisherman like Peter and Andrew and James and John. You know, they were fishermen. But Andrew was, or excuse me, Matthew was a tax collector. And so, because of that, you find that he was, I would say, a pretty good record keeper. He had to keep track of all the incoming and outgoing things as far as being a tax collector. I'm sure he was a good recorder. And he wrote the gospel that he wrote about the life of Jesus. He wrote that, directing it to the people of Israel, the people that would be the Jewish people, mostly of the house of Judah, who were there and who were where Jesus actually was born and grew up.

And part of what he was achieving in writing this account, because we have four accounts. We have three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that are all pretty similar. They're called synoptic. And then the book of John is an account of Jesus' life, but it goes through other things, not just what he did, what he said, who he where he went, but many of his thoughts, many of his inspired statements. You see John recording in a little different pattern. But I want to be able to point out to you. I'm going to give you two different sets of things. You might want to jot these down if you are able to do so. You find that Matthew, in a sense, gives the story of Jesus' life, his genealogy, his birth, the miracles, the actions, the teachings, the training of the disciples, his preaching of the kingdom of God, and then ultimately, as all of them do, record his death, record his crucifixion, his betrayal and crucifixion, and then resurrection to once again be at the right hand of God. And so, you find in Matthew, not just kind of that pattern, but you also find that it appears that Matthew created several sections. And I'm going to list seven of them for you here, and I'm sure they could be categorized in other ways, but as I look at the book of Matthew, I see that Matthew recorded seven different major sections of teachings of Jesus. The first one, and this is what we're going to go over, at least in part today, is the Sermon on the Mount. You find that in Matthew 5 and Matthew 6 and Matthew 7. Actually, that's quite a large section. That's why I'm going to be focusing on it over the next several weeks. So the first section of teaching, you actually see the way that Matthew wrote these. If we take a look, you might want to look at Matthew 7. Matthew, chapter 7, in verse 28, you see a little kind of a defining line that Matthew would add. Now, Luke says this same type of thing wherever it seems appropriate, but Matthew does it more consistently. In Matthew 7, verse 28, it says, when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowd were standing at his teaching. Now, that statement, when Jesus finished stating these things, that's used by Matthew five or six times throughout the book, and it kind of indicates the conclusion of the way that Matthew had categorized some of the teachings of Jesus. So as I said, I won't go through all of those as far as where each one of these, and when Jesus had finished the saying occurs, you can look those up. But let me just run through these quickly. The first one is the Sermon on the Mount, it's Matthew 5, 6, and 7. The second one is in Matthew, chapter 10. In Matthew 10, you see a commission that Jesus gave to his disciples, and ultimately to the Church of God. And so he gave that to his disciples initially, and it would later be expanded.

The third one we're pretty familiar with in Matthew 13. Matthew 13 talks about the parables how and why Jesus spoke in parables, and many of the parables of the kingdom. That's what you find in chapter 13, and at the end of that, chapter 13, verse 53, it says, when Jesus ended these sayings. That's in a sense a pattern that Matthew is using to put this information together, kind of compiled it, and then this is a conclusion statement. When you go over to the next one, the fourth one, Matthew 18, you actually see what might appear to be kind of disconnected messages, but I think you can see that they are all about reconciliation. Matthew 18, Jesus teaches about humility, about being reconciled to one another, and finally about, you know, how was reconciliation ever to occur without forgiveness. So Matthew 18 goes over that topic of reconciliation. In Matthew 23, you see the fifth one, and in essence this is kind of a different section of teaching, and yet Matthew records it in an elaborate way. You could say, well, I don't know if this was teaching, this was more of a diatribe or a condemnation of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

Matthew 23 is the fifth section of teaching, and I think in many ways we're kind of familiar with the next one. Matthew 24 and 25 cover the Olivet prophecy, and again at the end of that, in chapter 26 verse 1, it says, when Jesus finished these statements. See, that's the way he breaks those down. And then, of course, I'll just say that as I look at the book of Matthew and I see the way that Matthew categorizes what Jesus said, you find the last one in the last few verses, Matthew 28 verses 16 through 20, where he is giving a great commission to the church, where he is stating that you are to take the message of the kingdom of God to the entirety of the earth, and you are to realize that I am with you, even to the end of the age. That's kind of a short section, obviously, but incredibly important. So, as we look at the book of Matthew, you can see some major areas of teaching or discourse, or you could say sermon. The sermon on the mount is often called that. None of the rest of them, I think, are called sermons. But I want, as I mentioned, I want to go through this first section, the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7.

And I hope to inspire you to want to study, to want to more thoroughly read what it is that Jesus had to teach, and particularly here in this first section, because I'm going to break it down into five different lessons. I'll go through those for you and then go back to the first one again.

You know, the five lessons in the sermon on the mount, and again, I'm pretty sure this could be broken down. Others might break it down differently. This seems to make sense to me. But the first one of the sections from Matthew 5 verses 1 through 16, I would term, and this is a sermon title today, Mr. Jackson, attributes of a converted mind. The second section of the sermon on the mount is Matthew 5 verse 17, to the end of that chapter, verse 48. And you see a focus on the true intent and spirit of the Old Testament commands and laws. So that seems to be another section in itself. The third one, Matthew 6, pretty much the whole chapter, 1 through 34, explains the three main religious practices that the Pharisees were perverting. See, because that's, he was talking to people, he was talking to a crowd, his disciples, as well as people from a wide area. They were well familiar with the Judaic religion. They were aware of the Pharisees confronting Jesus, and so he was showing them, well, what they're doing is corrupting what God has given, and I want to show you what the right way to do it is. The fourth section is the shorter one there in Matthew 7 verse 1 through 12, a proper way to exercise righteous judgment without being self-righteous, a proper way of exercising right judgment without being self-righteous. And then the final section, the fifth one, you see from Matthew 7 verse 13, again down through the end of Matthew 7, down to about verse, let's see, all the way down to the end of that, verse 28 and 29. Now, I give these only to kind of show you where we're heading. Like I said, I want to start with the first of the teachings that you see about Jesus here in the book of Matthew following the Sermon on the Mount, but I only want to cover the very first section there that, again, I think many of us might be familiar with because it includes the Beatitudes. And I've described these as attributes of a converted mind. Let's look at Matthew 7. I mentioned verse 28. This is kind of Matthew's description of a conclusion of a section in his writing when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching.

Why? Why were they astonished at the teaching of Jesus Christ? Well, they were used to the teaching of the religious leaders, others that they would listen to or hear, and yet it says in verse 29, he taught them as one who had authority, not as the scribes. See, not as they were used to, but he taught as one who had knowledge that needed to be imparted. And actually, you would find that the way the scribes or the Pharisees actually wrote or passed things on, they would always be quoting someone else. They would be quoting an earlier source, and yet Jesus wasn't directly quoting any source. He says, you know, I'm the authority behind this. So let's look at this very first section. It's in chapter 5, and again, I hope that this would encourage us to study this.

I mentioned I'll create a series out of this. It will at least be a series of five, but for the elect's sake, the series of sermons will stop.

It will be cut short at five. Inside joke here. Anyway, that's what I would like to do over the next month or so, because the Sermon on the Mount is such an incredible, remarkably unbelievable teaching, and one that we often quote, we often read, usually a little section of, but I'm trying to give an overview of how it is that Jesus put it together and how Matthew was inspired to write it down, because he was writing down the Word of God, the words that we would have as a part of our Bible today. So it's interesting, here in Matthew 5, whenever you see the beginning of this teaching from Jesus, he's actually going to describe how that the religious leaders who had been leading and teaching and trying to get, you know, Jesus had been criticized for the things that he had done and some of the ways that he had kept the Sabbath, because he kept the Sabbath, and of course he kept it correctly. He didn't need to keep it according to what the Pharisees said. He kept it according to what he knew, the intent of it was, and how it was that it was designed to be observed. And yet you would think if he's going to start teaching about, as he will, the law, and about righteousness and about judgment, that he'd start out talking about the law, but that isn't the case. He actually, instead of talking about a description of the law, he starts out with the description of the attitudes of a repentant mind.

That's what he's describing. Whenever we read through what, again, we may be familiar with, I would think, you know, most of us could perhaps quote the Ten Commandments, at least the short part, and we should in many ways know at least some of the attitudes, and perhaps we know all of these. These are listed here in Matthew 5. There are eight of them that are listed here. You actually find them also in Luke chapter 6, but what Luke appears to have is somewhat of a summary of much of what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. Now, I don't know why it was abbreviated there. That was just the way he wrote it down. He actually makes a few other points that aren't made here. And yet, I think it's important for us to realize that Jesus started this lesson, this sermon, not with the description of the law, but with a description of the attitudes that would be reflected in the mind of a Christian, in the mind of someone who is following Jesus Christ, the mind of a person who is in a right relationship with God, someone who is properly relating to God through faith and trust. See, and that's what all of us aspire to. That's what we want to be. If we want to be a Christian, this is what we want to aspire to. Actually, as you read through the next several verses here, starting in verse 3, down through verse 12, as you read through these attributes, you find out they're often called the attitudes. And again, that would be the way they might commonly be described. But what we find there are qualities. Again, think about this. These are qualities that are in contrast with the way the Pharisees were pushing and teaching, in essence, external righteousness. Do this, don't do that. Now, obviously, that is a part of what we do. We do obey. If it directly says you should not murder, then obviously that is something you don't do. But there's far more to it than that. And what you see Jesus describing is qualities that are internal. Not external, but internal. Internally, what a real Christian will manifest through the help of the Spirit of God. Now, we might list these. Again, I'm not going through these yet, but I will. Inner, in a sense, spiritual values, like the fruit of humility, sensitivity to sin, meekness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, mercy, purity, peacefulness, and perseverance. Now, those are not external activities. Those are internal qualities. Attributes of a converted mind is what Jesus was teaching. Now, was he talking to a lot of converted people? No. Because at that point, his disciples were not even converted. They had been drawn to him. He was talking to a much wider audience. But see, it's applicable to us today because we see the value that he placed on those internal qualities.

So, let's begin in verse 1. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him, and he began to speak. So, the disciples, I would assume, were up closer on the mount or whatever kind of an area that they were able to gather in. They were closer. The crowds were wherever they could be, and however they might be able to hear. And he began to speak, and he taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He refers to Matthew, uses the term kingdom of heaven. He also uses the kingdom of God, both of which are synonymous. The Jews had a particular concern about the use of God's name, and so they weren't sure exactly how it should be said or even recorded or passed on. So, you know, he said the kingdom of heaven, but in chapter 6.33, you see it, you know, proclaiming, seeking the kingdom of God. And that, of course, is the way it's written throughout much of the other gospels. But he says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God, or kingdom of heaven. Now, what is that talking about? I think you find that Jesus was very careful.

in picking this first attribute of a converted mind. Because being poor in spirit means the one who is lacking pride and arrogance of a human carnal spirit. See, that's a nature that all of us grow up with whether we want to or not. Just by being in this world, we have what the Bible describes as a carnal natural mind of man. We find when we read the descriptions that this has been influenced by Satan and his deception of the world. But people who are poor in spirit, you know, they are seeing their own arrogance, their own pride, their own vanity, and resisting that. Poor in spirit could be referred to being full of humility and realizing that we have a need for God's spirit and an urgency in coming to God and asking for his help. See, I think it's very wise why he put it right at the very beginning. Because if this attitude is not projected by us, well then we're going to have a hard time learning almost anything else.

But you see this described. Actually, I guess you could say that those who are poor in spirit recognize that they're spiritually needy. That they need God. That they need Jesus Christ. That they need forgiveness. That they need mercy. That they need to be guided in their lives in order to ultimately be a part of God's plan and family and vision for all of mankind. You see in Isaiah 66, a verse I'll only use about one verse for each of these because the length of time here, but in Isaiah 66, you see God pointing out, heaven in verse 1 is my throne and earth is my footstool.

Verse 2, all of these things my hand is made. And so all these things your mind says, the Lord, but this is the one whom I will look to the humble, to the contrite in spirit who trembles at my word. So that's a description of being poor in spirit. Someone who is teachable, someone who is looking to the word of God to guide them, someone who has a desire to resist the pride and arrogance that's so common in the world. So to go back to Matthew 5 again, the first of these attributes is being poor in spirit. The second one in verse 4, blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Now, what is that talking about?

Should we be able to laugh? Should we enjoy anything? Well, yes, we should. But here he's talking about someone who actually has an attitude or an attribute of mourning the problems that they see in the world and in themselves, and actually, as you see it described in Ezekiel, sighing and crying over the abominations that happen in the world. That's the description in Ezekiel 9 verse 4. But someone who is able to mourn recognizes their own deficiencies, and we're able to better see the world as God sees it, and see all of the sins and all of the sorrows, and then mourn over that. He tells us that that's a part of the attributes that we want to seek if we are going to be like Jesus Christ. Here in James chapter 4, we see a directive here from James. James chapter 4, verse 8 says, Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. But then he goes ahead to point out, Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy and the dejection humble yourself before the Lord, and He will lift you up. See, that's what it is to learn to mourn, not only for our own sins, but even for the sorrows that we see all over the earth. Sorrows that are in even conditions in the world. You know, it's sad to see. We often see this advertised on television, people hungry, people who are in need, people who are hurt. Most of that we see so often, you know, it may not even affect us. It should. It should affect us in a right way to mourn for the sorrow that's going on in this world and to pray even more effectively, thy kingdom come. See, Jesus needs to return to the earth. Coming back is going to be a solution to the problems that this world suffers. Again, to go back to Matthew chapter 5, verse 5, the third attribute that's mentioned, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

Now the meek would be those who are not being overly impressed by a sense of one's own self-importance, being gentle or humble or considerate. Now there'd be a lot of examples you could look at in the Bible. And Moses was said to be the meekest man on the face of the earth in Numbers 12, verse 3. He had a humility or gentleness or meekness where God could incredibly use him. But you would have to say the very highest example is here in Matthew 11. Matthew chapter 11, Jesus says to those who are in need. Matthew chapter 11, verse 28, come to me all of you who are weary and who are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. He says in verse 29, take my yoke upon you and learn from me because I am meek. I am gentle and lowly in spirit or humble in heart and you will find rest for your soul. See what Jesus points out is that He's the epitome of that humility. It was clear whenever He was willing to take on the form of a servant and become the human Lamb of God, would take away the sins of the world that He had a humility that was foreign to the rest of the earth. Let's see, this is an incredible attribute that again we should seek. Back in Matthew 5, verse 6, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled, desiring to grow spiritually in grace and in knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You know, anytime we get hungry, we are looking for something to eat pretty soon. Anytime we get thirsty, we commonly just drink something. If we fast for a period of time, whether it's a part of a day or whether it's a whole day, as we are asked to do on the day of atonement, God directs that we fast during that day. At the end of that day, we know we're hungry. We know we're thirsty. We want something to eat and something to drink.

Do I, every day that I get up, do I think about desiring, hungering, and thirsting for God, for righteousness, for His outlook? Or is that something that I'm not as hungry about?

I'm far more hungry about breakfast. I need to get some coffee. I need to figure out what I'm going to have for breakfast. You know, is it? Hungering and thirsting for righteousness is what this next attribute is, and it clearly, you know, is a part of what Jesus was pointing out. In Matthew 5 verse 7, it says, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Now, that obviously is a major theme of the Bible. It's a major theme of the way God is, even in His calling. See, God says that He calls us. He draws us to Jesus Christ.

We may not understand very much about that to begin with, but that He draws us. He calls us to understand the incredible message of the Bible and the incredible blessing it is to know Jesus Christ and to know that we know Him. See, that's a part of what He does in drawing us to understand His Word. But He also says, in addition to that calling, that He extends His mercy to us. He's merciful to us. He's very loving. He's very kind. And, of course, I'm sure that's why one of Jesus' directives about the attributes of a converted mind would be being merciful, not only knowing that we need mercy, but certainly extending mercy to others. Here in Colossians 3, chapter 3, you actually find in many of Paul's writings the books that he wrote, and most of them written to churches or later to individuals, Timothy and Titus. But here in Colossians 3, in verse 12, he says, as God's chosen ones, so as those that God has chosen or drawn to Jesus Christ, as God's chosen ones holy and beloved, clothe yourself with compassion and kindness and humility and meekness and patience and bear with one another in verse 13. And if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Why is mercy one of the values and attributes that Jesus is focusing his audience on immediately in his actually lengthy teaching that he's going to give about how to be a true follower of Jesus Christ? See, back again in Matthew 5 and verse 8, the next of the verses there, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. See, how valuable is it to have a pure and innocent heart and mind before God? Well, that's what he says. Jesus said, blessed are the poor in heart or pure in heart. In Titus chapter 1, you see a statement that Paul makes in verse 15 as he spoke to Titus chapter 1, verse 15, he says, to the pure, all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Their minds and consciences are corrupted. And does God want us to feel a purity? Does he want us to have a purity of heart and mind, a thought of action? Well, I think that's exactly what Jesus was talking about. And of course, he even tells us in Philippians 4, Philippians 4, verse 8, he says to focus on positive, healthful attitudes and thoughts. He goes through a whole list here in Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians chapter 4, verse 8, finally brethren, whatsoever is true. Whatsoever is honorable, whatsoever is just, whatever is pure, pleasing, commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. He says focus on these positive, uplifting, beneficial, productive, pure things. It's too often that we enter into the other realm and of course, you know, don't focus on what Jesus says. Matthew 5, verse 9, blessed are the peacemakers, for they should be called the children of God.

Now, it's amazing that he would point that out because he lived in a world where there was a great deal of conflict. There was disorder even among the Jewish community. There was certainly unrest regarding the Roman occupation. There was strife all around and that would be the only way we could describe our world today, a great deal of strife, a great deal of difficulty. You know, creating peace is not something that the world is willing to do or able to do right now, but we can be peacemakers. That's what he tells us here, that we can be, he says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they should be called the children of God. Here in Romans 12, again, Paul supports all of these, Romans 12. In verse 17, Romans 12, 17, do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Again, another attribute that Jesus begins his discussion of what does God want? What does God desire to see? Well, he wants us to have these attributes in mind. And the final one that I'll mention here, Matthew 5, verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, I think there's a little more to that, I don't have written down. Matthew, chapter 5, blessed are those who persecute you for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. See, now there he's saying, well, be willing to endure persecution. You can read numerous different verses that would say you can expect persecution. Jesus said they persecuted me, they will persecute you. You will have persecution in the world, but in me you shall have peace. In John 16, 33, that's what he says that we have access to.

In 2 Timothy, chapter 3, you see this addressed in this way, 2 Timothy chapter 3, starting or just reading verse 12. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 12.

Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Jesus Christ will be persecuted. Again, there are many other verses you could go that would point out that same thing, but that's about as direct as you can be. That if we're persecuted for obeying God, for serving God, for yielding and humbling ourselves to His Word, well, then we're going to be blessed. And in Matthew 5 verse 12, he says, great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. He actually was telling his disciples and any others who would listen and all of us, you know, we can expect persecution. That may come, and it's not just may come, it's going to come. It's going to be far worse than it is today. Far worse. And yet, let's see what it is. He says, you know, what they are pointing out here is, don't be worried about that because I'm going to take care of you. And so it's, I think it's fascinating to see in these beginning instructions that Jesus gives in this Sermon on the Mount, that he doesn't just start out talking about the law, he starts talking about the internal attitudes and righteousness that we need to have to have a converted mind.

Here in John, or Matthew 5, to follow up this section with a few more verses, I said that this first section would cover verse 1 down to verse 16. And so I want to follow up. I want to follow up. And maybe, I don't know that I have thought about this in this way before, but as you see Jesus describing these attributes that we seek and that we want and that we need to be a follower of Jesus Christ, he begins to describe the effect and the results that we should have on the world. Here in verse 13, he says, you are to be the salt of the earth.

And in verse 14, you are to be the light of the world. Here he starts talking about, if we actually reflect the attributes of a converted mind, then we should positively be able to affect the earth, affect the world as salt and as light. Now again, I think many times we have extracted those and we have made a topic of being the light of the world or being the salt of the earth, and that's certainly good. But I think it's also good to see that Jesus was just saying, well, if you seek these incredible attributes that I am talking about, the internal righteousness that comes from God, well, then you are going to be able to achieve the job that you've been given by your heavenly Father.

See, verse 13, you are the salt of the earth. If the salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It's no longer good for anything. It's thrown out and trampled underfoot. It makes a description about salt that in essence is useless. And yet, as we think about it, salt can be used as a preservative. It can be used to give flavor. It can be used, and actually during Jesus' time, it was very valuable. It was almost used as a currency. You know, worth your salt is a phrase that people have used at times. And yet, see, how does this apply to what Jesus is saying in this very first section? Well, we could say that around us, the world is in a sense rotting in sin. You know, we see strife, we see division, we see disrespect, we see certainly not a recognition of the Creator God, not a respect for our fellow man. And so it is, in a sense, kind of polluted and foul and offensive and like meat, I guess, if you would leave it out, it would pewter up. And yet, how do you save that? Well, you know, you can salt it. You can use salt as a preservative. And I'm not very good at how you might do that, but I know that that's possible. Some of you know far more about that than I do. And yet, what is Jesus saying? Well, he's saying, you know, salt should actually positively affect the world around it. Instead of being consumed by it, you know, we're to be, you know, the salt of the earth. We're to be assisting in helping, you know, without reflecting the Christian attitudes and attributes, then we become worthless. We become like the salt he's describing here. You know, well, you've lost your working capacity.

And so he uses that example, you are the salt of the earth, and then he follows that up with, in verse 14, you're the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it under the bushel basket, but on a lampstand it gives light to all in the house. And the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. He's saying, in essence, like salt, that should be preserving and helping the world, actually preserving the values of God in a sinful and rotten world.

We should be the light of the world because, you know, the world is described as being in darkness. When Jesus came, if we look here in John chapter 3, it says in verse 17, God didn't send His Son in the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

He sent Jesus Christ to the earth to extend redemption and salvation. In verse 18, those who believe in Him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned because they've not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, verse 19, that the light has come unto the world, and yet people love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light so that their deeds may not be exposed. They were to be a light to others, and I think in many ways, you know, we strive to do that.

In many ways, we do a very good job of doing that. In other ways, and we might want to improve with that. What it says here in Philippians chapter 2, it makes another... Paul makes this statement. Philippians chapter 2, verse 12, therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, for couch your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and work for His good pleasure, and do these things without murmuring and arguing.

In verse 15, so that you may be blameless and innocent, the children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation in which you shine like stars or like lights in the world. See, Jesus had an incredible beginning to His discussion that He was going to elaborate on with the people who could hear, and perhaps even more so with people who have ears to hear and eyes to see today.

He has the message. He has a message of hope, a message of encouragement. He starts off this whole section, this Sermon on the Mount, with a discussion of the attributes of a converted mind. The inner righteousness that He is going to contrast and show is much different and much better than the righteousness of the Pharisees. The Pharisees claim to be righteous. They had a lot of external activity. They were involved in a lot of tasks that they put a lot of credibility in, and of course, these were coming out of the Old Testament.

But Jesus is going to show, He's going to show as we progress through here and as we actually get into this next section, whenever I am next time here, I'm going to go through the second section that really talks about how Jesus describes the correct application and actually magnifies the law. The law, you know, that again, they were aware of, but they were not correctly understanding and obeying. So I think it's amazing to see how it is that Matthew, as a disciple of Jesus, who was there, who was, like I said, an expert record keeper, who took down a lot of notes, I would imagine, who wrote down many of the things that he and the other disciples saw, that they perhaps heard Jesus go over many times.

And we see this recorded in this way for us, but probably he went over this more and more times than we would ever imagine. And yet it's good for us, and I hope that we will study this, and I hope that I will, and I hope that you also will have a much deeper understanding of what the Sermon on the Mount is about and how it is that Jesus used that in a very first teaching that we read about here in the book of Matthew.

So we'll progress to the next section next time. Jesus is going to show the difference between what they were used to and what really is correct for all Christians. And so I look forward to being able to cover that with you next time.