We Need the Gospel

As I'm finishing up my sermon prep this morning, I've been reading through Daniel Doriani's book on the Sermon on the Mount. My text for this coming Sunday is Matthew 5:33-37, which deals with oaths and telling the truth. It's a great call for the disciples of Christ to be truth tellers who are trustworthy in all their dealings. However, Doriani suggests that Jesus continues to call us to more difficult tasks as the Sermon goes forth. Indeed, this is true, as we see a great command in Matthew 5:48, "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." It appears that Jesus is setting us up for an impossible task. That is why we need the gospel. The following paragraph is how Doriani addresses the issue:

We need the gospel. It teaches us to ask the one who gives the standard to forgive us for breaking it. We ask the one who kept the standard in perfect righteousness to give us his righteousness and clothe us with it. And the Lord does it. He accepts us as his children and grants us the family resemblance that he requires. For the hardest command is also stated in a way that gives hope. Translated literally, Matthew 5:48 states, "You shall be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect." We rightly read the words "You shall be perfect" as a command, yet, reading it again, we notice that it hides a promise: you shall be perfect.

J.C. Ryle on the Unity of the Old and New Testaments

In J.C. Ryle's commentary on Matthew, when dealing with Matthew 5:17, he writes:

First, let us beware of despising the Old Testament, for whatever reason. Let us never listen to those who tell us to throw it aside as an obsolete, antiquated, useless book. The religion of the Old Testament is the germ of Christianity. The Old Testament is the Gospel in the bud; the New Testament is the Gospel in full flower. The Old Testament is the Gospel in the blade; the New Testament is the Gospel in full ear. The saints in the Old Testament saw many things through a glass darkly; but they all looked by faith to the same Saviour, and were led by the same Spirit as ourselves. These are no light matters. Much unfaithfulness begins with an ignorant contempt of the Old Testament.

p. 29

The Answer is Jesus

Last week I was in Louisville, KY for the Together for the Gospel conference. It was a great conference. The messages were fantastic and the music was too. One of the things I loved was the opportunity to see many old friends, and meet many new ones. My first night there I had a chance to meet Jared Wilson and a few other guys. Jared's post from yesterday (well worth the read!) reminded me of one of my points from my sermon this past Sunday at First Baptist.

I preached Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." In this verse, some have argued for a very general application of righteousness. In other words, some have said this is a longing for all kinds of righteousness (including the desire to see righteousness/justice done in our world today). My answer in that sermon was that we are not after changing the way the culture behaves, but rather we are after getting the gospel to those around us, praying the Holy Spirit blows like the wind and opens hearts to believe, and then we will see the culture change. We are not after seeing people 'act' differently, but rather we want to see people changed by the marvelous truth that Christ died for sinners.

A Few Quotes for Sunday

This Sunday I plan to preach Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." with FBC. Here are a few helpful quotes for you to think about on this verse and the implications for your life, your church, and the world.

"He means those who desire above all things to be entirely conformed to the mind of God. They long not so much to be rich, or wealthy, or learned, as to be holy." - J.C. Ryle

"If we know our spiritual poverty, if we mourn over our sin, then our hunger for righteousness should lead us to do something to pursue holiness." - Daniel Doriani

"These people hunger and thirst, not only that they may be righteous, but that justice may be done everywhere. All unrighteousness grieves them and makes them homesick for the new heaven and the new earth - the home of righteousness (2 Peter 3:13). Satisfied with neither personal holiness alone nor social justice alone, they cry for both: in short, they long for the advent of the Messianic kingdom." - D.A. Carson

"If this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements of the whole of Scripture you can be quite certain you are a Christian; if it is not, then you had better examine the foundations again." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

As I've prepared this message I have realized more and more that I have a long way to go to honor Christ as I should. I pray the Spirit causes me to hunger and thirst for righteousness and that He works in my life to fulfill that desire.

Does this Describe You?

From Matthew Henry:

The meek are those who quickly submit themselves to God, to his word and to his rod, who follow his directions, and comply with his designs, and are gentle towards all men (Titus 3:2); who can bear provocation without being inflamed by it; are either silent, or return a soft answer; and who can show their displeasure when there is occasion for it, without being transported into any indecencies; who can be cool when others are hot; and in their patience keep possession of their own souls, when they can scarcely keep possession of anything else. They are the meek, who are rarely and hardly provoked, but quickly and easily pacified; and who would rather forgive twenty injuries than revenge one, having the rule of their own spirits.

The Sermon on the Mount

This Sunday, God-willing, we'll begin working through the Sermon on the Mount on Sunday mornings at First Baptist. I plan to do an introduction and overview of the Sermon this Sunday, and the following two paragraphs are enough to excite me and to scare me for the journey we're about to take together as a faith family.

There is always a gap between our words and our thoughts, but Jesus' words perfectly represent his thinking. He never had to correct himself or explain what he "meant" to say. Whoever hears Jesus' words hears him. His words perfectly express his convictions; they also represent his character. His thought, his character, and his actions are wholly consistent. If we follow his word, we become like him, and that is a blessed thing (Matt. 5:3-12). That is another reason to accept the authority of his every word (7:28).

The clarity and power of Jesus' teaching is stirring, yet alarming because honest people know they cannot obey it. Some believe that it is also impractical, since it calls disciples to turn the other cheek and to give to all who ask, and these are hardly strategies calibrated for survival in a rough world. Taking the beauty, the authority, and the rigor together, it is no wonder that the church struggles to interpret the Sermon on the Mount.

Daniel Doriani in The Sermon on the Mount: The Character of a Disciple