The Sermon on the Mount

Cermin on the Mount probably is the most familiar sermon that Jesus ever spoke. It's actually one of five long discourses, long sermons in the book of Matthew. But probably most familiar of all of the sermons that Jesus spoke, but probably the most misunderstood, there are many who believe the sermon on the Mount is just an ethical teaching of how to live good and get to heaven that way. That's certainly not what the sermon is about. It's probably the least practiced. What Jesus talks about particularly by way of relationships and spirituality and heart righteousness, probably one of the least understood and practiced of all the sermons that have ever been preached. We're going to start with the setting of the sermon. Give you an idea of the geographical setting first of all, and then we'll talk about the ministry setting as well. The geographical setting of the sermon, let's take a look at a couple of maps. First of all, the sermon is somewhere here just on the north side of the Sea of Galilee on a mountain within sight of the sea. As we shall see in a moment, by the way, we're in Matthew chapter 5. That's where we're starting, which says now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountain side and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them, saying, so he's on a mountain side. We know that he is on the north side of the Sea of Galilee. We've been tracing his movements and we know that's where he's been ministering. And so he's on the north side of the Sea of Galilee. Let's take a look at a few pictures of the sermon. Where the sermon on the mountain would have been done. Here's the Sea of Galilee, the northern edge of it, and somewhere probably along this hill that rises up just north of the Sea of Galilee is where the sermon would have been preached. Let's look at the next picture. This is from the hill looking down across some of the meadows and up to a chapel that has been built there. Let's look at that chapel, Catholic chapel built in 1939 to mark the site, at least the supposed site of where Jesus preached the sermon on the mountain. Take another picture or look at that from the air. And then a last look here at the Sea of Galilee looking from an area just a little bit to the side of that particular Catholic chapel and the plane of Ganesha. I know you can't really see that, but this plane right along the north end of the Sea of Galilee. The next three pictures are pictures that were taken when I was in Israel at this particular site. This is probably up on the mountain that Jesus may have spoken from. Nobody knows exactly for sure which mountain the Lord was on. But this picture shows you a good view of looking down the mountain side into the valley and over to the Sea of Galilee, the mountains on either side of the Sea of Galilee. The next picture shows a few of our group as we stopped for service. This was on a Sunday and we were touring the region of Galilee for a few days and we stopped at this particular site for a church service. And one of the greatest blessings of my entire ministry, this was in 1984 when I was there studying for a month, was to be asked to preach at that particular location on that site. And the next slide is a picture of that. You can see the Sea of Galilee in the background, the mountains sloping down to where possibly much of the crowd was, his disciples may be closer to him on this hillside. But our group of seminary students and professors from Dallas, seminary and Grace Seminary and Calvary Baptist Seminary had an interesting day there. And it was, again, one of the highlights I think of my entire ministry to this point that to be able to speak there in that location, in that setting where Jesus quite possibly preached the sermon on the Mount. But that's the setting of the sermon, the geographical setting. Let's talk about the ministry setting. The ministry setting. This is early in Jesus' ministry. We've been tracing his ministry although we know that at least a year and a half has passed, so it's almost halfway through his ministry. The early part of his ministry is not dealt with in the synoptic gospels. As we saw, it's dealt with in the gospel of John, maybe eight to twelve months of ministry dealt with there. And so we've traced some of his ministry in Galilee, the tour of Galilee, one tour of Galilee is already taken place. So we may be a year and a half into his ministry. So although it's right near the beginning of the book of Matthew, this is not at the very beginning of his ministry. I think that's significant because quite often when people just read Matthew, they say, well, this is right at the beginning of his ministry, right after the baptism, right after the temptation. But it's not. It's a little further into his ministry. And I think that may bear some significance when we think about the topic of the sermon. And where it fits in the rejection of Jesus, the mounting opposition of Jesus as the Pharisees are already determined to killing. The interest in his ministry is described in these verses in Matthew chapter four. If you back up, there are several summary passages of the Galilee and ministry. And this is one of them. This passage kind of summarizes what's taking place at this time in our Lord's ministry. Verse 23 of chapter four says, Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, reaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon possessed, those having seizures in the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the decapillist Jerusalem Judea, and the region across the Jordan followed him. We've already seen that in Mark's Gospel describing this time of great popularity, his fame spreading throughout the whole region, north, south, east, and west of Galilee, to where people are coming to him from all over, bringing sick people to be healed, and demon possessed people to be cured of that, to demons to be cast out. And so there's tremendous popularity at this point in his ministry. But again, also rising opposition from the Pharisees, and it is in that setting that Jesus speaks the sermon on the Mount. Now, look again at verses one and two, and we'll highlight the introduction to the sermon. There is a sense in which coming at this point in his ministry, Jesus is describing if you will, his party platform. The reason Matthew has this account very near the beginning of his Gospel. Matthew's Gospel is designed around Jesus being presented as the king, the king of the Jews. And we talked about that a little bit when we started this study on the life of Christ, that Matthew presents Jesus as the king. And so he gives the king genealogy in chapter one where he goes back to David and traces it Abraham and traces it through David. He talks about the king makers, the Magi, what we call the wise men, coming from the East, men who installed kings into their places in the Persian Empire, coming to because they have heard about the one who's born king of the Jews. You can trace Matthew's thoughts of presenting Jesus as the king. He is baptized, recognized by John. He is tempted by Satan in chapter four. And then Matthew presents the very next thing, the sermon on the mountain. There's a sense in which Jesus is presenting, and Matthew is presenting very early in his Gospel, the party platform, if you will, that Jesus presents. This is what my kingdom looks like. And the reason for that is, he's presenting the spiritual basis for his kingdom, which I think is significant at the time that he's being opposed so fiercely by the Pharisees over their interpretation of the law. Jesus is going to spend a great deal of time in this sermon talking about heartright righteousness, and correcting the misinterpretation of the Pharisees of the mosaic law. There's a sense in which he's saying, this is what my kingdom looks like. Now we'll talk a little bit later about how this ties in to the kingdom and how the Bible uses the kingdom of God in three different ways. But in introducing it, Matthew says in verse five, when he saw the crowds, he went on a mountain side. On a mountain side, the mountain I think is significant. There is a tie in here to almost a similarity and a contrast to Moses. When God instituted his covenant with his people Israel in the Old Testament, Moses went up on a mountain to receive the law. Jesus goes up on a mountain to correct the misinterpretation of the mosaic law by the Pharisees, and what they were teaching the people, which was a misunderstanding of the mosaic law. Jesus, in a sense, paralleling Moses and in somewhat of a contrast with Moses, shows that the law has been misinterpreted and misunderstood by the Pharisees and thus for the people of Israel. He will interpret the law for them. Moses received the law. Jesus will interpret it for them. It is true meaning. It is true intent as he teaches from the sermon. And this says he sat down. Today we stand up to teach. I was sitting down to sing. Well, no, we stood up to sing too. I was sitting down when you were praying, but I stood up to teach. In Jesus' day, a teacher in the synagogue would sit down to teach. You would stand to read the scriptures, then you would sit down to teach. You would find in the gospel sometimes the expression in the synagogue the seat of Moses. Jesus talked about the Pharisees who occupied the seat of Moses. That was the seat in the synagogue that was used for teaching. So the seating is also significant. Jesus is signaling the fact by being seated that he is ready to begin teaching. So he is on a mountain. He is seated and then verse 1 says his disciples came to him. Now remember at this point in his ministry of disciples, is anyone who is following him, he has just called the twelve to be apostles. Remember that. He has just done that. But now this larger group of followers, those who are following him and learning from him, are listening to him teach. Now we know that there are also kind of listening in a crowd of people because at the very end of the sermon in Matthew chapter 7, verse 28, Matthew says when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught us one who had authority. So while this sermon is directed to his followers, there are others listening in, if you will, there is a crowd gathered and you can almost, at least I can visualize, the crowd spreading out in that valley as slopes down the mountain to the sea of Galilee. So that is the setting of the sermon, that is the introduction to the sermon. Now there have been many who have wondered if this is a summary of many of Jesus' teachings. This only takes about ten minutes to preach. No good sermon only takes ten minutes to preach. There are some who believe maybe this is a compilation of Jesus' teaching or a cliff notes version of the sermon on the Mount. Not maybe every word but the basic thoughts and concepts in the sermon on the Mount. It is difficult to say we have what the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to record for us of the sermon on the Mount. And that is all we need, that is all God wanted us to have. Any questions or observations about the setting and the introduction to the sermon before we actually see what its theme is and talk about the summary of it? We do know huge crowds were following him at this time. We just saw before he chose his disciples that they were pressing him against the sea of Galilee and he asked for a boat to kind of escape the press of the people, the crowd of people. So there are huge crowds following him. The sermon ends with saying there is a crowd, nobody counted, but there may have been a large crowd there. Any other questions, comments? All right, let's talk a little bit about the theme of the sermon. I'm going to suggest that the theme of the sermon is living a kingdom life. As Matthew presents Jesus as the king of the Jews, there is a sense in which this is his platform for his kingdom. There really needs to be an understanding, I think, of what is meant by the kingdom. And so I want to talk about that for just a few minutes. The Bible actually uses the term kingdom of God or kingdom in three different ways. This is a very interesting study. You have to be very careful with this because it's been misunderstood to a great degree. But the Bible uses the term in three different ways. First of all, the Bible uses the term kingdom or the concept of God's kingdom in the sense of his universal rule over all creation. God does rule over all creation. For instance, Psalm 103 and verse 19. It's on the screen for you. The Lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all. God has established his throne. He rules in heaven, but his rule is over everything. It includes all the universe, over all creation. So there is a sense in there are other passages that use the kingdom in this concept and this idea that God is ruling in a universal sense over everything. He is the king of all creation. That's a very broad use of the term. Another use of the term however in the Bible and maybe we're more familiar with is the earthly kingdom of Christ. The earthly kingdom of Christ is also described as God's kingdom or the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. Those two terms I believe are used interchangeably in the Bible. But the earthly kingdom of Christ. Now it's important to understand that there was a kingdom promised to David that would last forever. Look at these verses in 2 Samuel chapter 7, verse 13. He speaking of David's son Solomon, he is the one who will build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. This is called the Davidic covenant. The covenant that God made with David to establish his kingdom and his throne forever. Now we talk about this a little bit when we talk about the genealogies of Jesus but Jesus is the ultimate fulfiller of that promise that David's throne and his kingdom will be established forever. Look at the angel told Mary in Luke chapter 1 when he announced to her the birth of Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, very specifically David's throne, a historical reference to the throne of David that was promised to continue. He will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over who? Jacob's descendants. Over Israel, forever. His kingdom will never end. Now this promise of an Old Testament kingdom which will be fulfilled by the Messiah, Jesus ruling, is a kingdom that will go on forever but it has a particular beginning on this earth in what we call the millennium or the thousand year rule of Christ. At the seventh trumpet judgment in the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 11, which is toward the end of the tribulation time, the bowl judgment, seven bowl judgments happen, boom, boom, boom, just like that. I woke some of you up, sorry about that. Happened just like that real quick at the end of the tribulation. The trumpet judgment is toward the end of the tribulation, the seventh trumpet and at the seventh trumpet this is what said. The seventh angel sounded his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven which said, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah and he will reign forever and ever. In Revelation chapter 19 then we find him coming on the white horse, destroying the armies of the Antichrist and setting up his kingdom where Revelation 20 verses 1 through 6 say he will rule and reign for a thousand years on this earth. But that's not the end of the kingdom, that's an earthly form of the kingdom where Jesus will literally rule over the nation of Israel with Israel as the head nation of the kingdom but rule over the entire earth. For instance Jesus said in Matthew chapter 19 to his disciples in the regeneration of all things when the son of man sits on his throne you will be judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The twelve apostles will be judging the twelve tribes of Israel when Jesus sits on his throne on earth in the regeneration, the renewal of the earth. Speaking of the millennium promised in the Old Testament prophets as a time when the earth would be renewed and the curse would be lifted and all of that takes place. Jesus is ruling on earth during that thousand year rule. But 1 Corinthians 15 verse 24 says at the end of that time he will deliver up the kingdom to his father and eternity will begin if you will. Eternity future will begin new heavens and new earth created in Revelation 21 but the kingdom will continue on forever forever in answer to the promises that Jesus would rule over the throne of David forever. So that's the earthly kingdom of Christ. That is the focal point really of kingdom theology throughout the Old Testament leading up to the birth of Christ, the ministry of Christ and eventually his second coming. Why didn't Jesus establish his kingdom at the first coming? He was rejected wasn't he? He came preaching as John announced him and as Jesus preached preaching the kingdom of heaven is near. It's here it's ready to be offered and it was a genuine offer of his kingdom but it was rejected and so he will come a second time he will come the second coming to set up that earthly kingdom. Well there's a lot of speculation involved Steve's asking if his kingdom had been set up how would there have been salvation. Didn't he come to die? Was there really a genuine offer of the kingdom? There was a genuine offer of the kingdom. If Israel had accepted the kingdom from that point on it's speculation but Jesus would still have had to die. I mean all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, the whole plan of God of him dying for us since my speculation with him is purely speculation is that if the kingdom had been accepted the Romans would have killed him because of a threat to their rule. So he would have been crucified by the Romans would have accomplished redemption and the kingdom then when he arose the kingdom would have been established. That's pure speculation. We know that that was not God's plan. It was God's plan to have an interim time during which the church would be built and the kingdom will come later but Jesus would still have died. He would still have had to die. How it would have happened? Not sure but my speculation would be the Romans would have put him to death because he would genuinely have been a threat to them in their eyes. Okay? Any other comment question? There is a third sense in which the kingdom of God is used and that is the rule of God in the human heart, the rule of God in the human heart. There's a lot of debate about this but there does seem to be in Paul's epistles and in other parts of the New Testament some concept of the kingdom of God existing now in the sense that God rules in our hearts as his people. Let me give you a couple of verses and then I'll give a couple of disclaimers on this. Colossians chapter 1 for instance Paul says speaking of the Colossians and giving joyful thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. Now verse 13 says for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the sun he loves. There are those who say he's speaking of the future kingdom but there are some of Paul statements like this that seem to indicate there is a form of the use of the word kingdom to indicate God's rule in our hearts now. We have been translated out of the kingdom of Satan his dominion and we are in the kingdom of his dear son. We are under a new master. We are under a new Lord. We have a new ruler and in that sense of his rule in our lives we are in a sense in that part of God's kingdom. In Colossians 4 in the same book Paul speaks of some of his co-workers he says Jesus who is called justice also since greetings. These are the only Jews among the co-workers for the kingdom of God and they have prayed approved the comfort to me. Often in the book of Acts even in Acts 28 you'll find that Jesus or that Paul is preaching the kingdom. Okay. I don't think he was only preaching about a future millennial kingdom. He was preaching about a rule of God right now in our hearts and the lives as his people. And certainly those who were co-workers with him were not working to introduce and establish the millennial kingdom. They were preaching the gospel and they were building the church. So there is a sense in which the kingdom of God is also used of God's rule among his people today in our hearts. That does not take the place of the earthly rule of Christ. It does not take the place of the millennial kingdom. And Jesus is not right now ruling in the throne of David. That has yet to be set up. There's no indication that the kingdom that we are experiencing now of God's rule in our hearts takes the place of the Old Testament promises to Israel. That is the backbone of what is called covenant theology. And there's no indication that God has forgotten all about the literal earthly kingdom he promised to Israel and is just now setting up his kingdom through his church. There is a sense in which kingdom is used in that way but it does not take the place of the earthly kingdom. That is still to be fulfilled when Jesus comes back and sets up his kingdom as he rules from Jerusalem. Any comment or question about these three uses of the term kingdom of God or the rule of God in the Bible? The English word does seem to imply that. An ambassador in the sense of a governmental ruler. The idea is we are simply representatives of Christ for him on this earth. There are a lot of other passages that we can't really deal with here tonight about the kingdom of God and how it used even in current terms. There is some indication of that. The key thing to remember is that it does not replace, it does not take the place of the literal earthly kingdom that Christ will rule over during the millennium, during the thousand year rule of Christ. But there is a sense in which this presentation and the sermon on the Mount deals with what it means for even us today. There's been a lot of debate about whether or not the sermon on the Mount deals with us. In fact, you, in a sense, is presenting it as the kingdom platform, as it introduces the king. This is what my kingdom will be like, but does it apply to us today? Or is it just of the future millennial kingdom? I would say, and I think most would say, it does apply to us today. It is true. It is what Christ wants us to live today. How he wants us to live today. In fact, J. Dwight Pentecost, who has written a lot on this subject, gives 14 reasons why this cannot be describing the millennium. The conditions that are described here will not be true of the millennium. For instance, be willing to be suffering and persecuted for my sake. Will that happen to the millennium? Not when Christ is ruling on this earth. So there are lots of ways, lots of reasons to see that this is not necessarily speaking of the future millennial kingdom when Jesus will rule on the earth, but it does apply to us today. So in the sense that we live under God's rule today, what is he telling us about kingdom living? What is he telling us about living under God's rule? If we are going to live as his people in right relationship with him, what does this mean? How are we to live? Well, let's very quickly summarize the sermon. Chapter 5 verses 3 through 12, deal with kingdom character. If you're going to be under God's rule, this is the character you are to have. These are often called the be attitudes because of the word blessed. He gives eight character qualities here. Eight marks of character. It's quite a study about those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn speaking of an attitude of repentance, those who are weak or gentle, those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. They have a spiritual appetite. They're merciful. They reach out to people to meet needs. They are pure in heart. They are peacemakers and they're willing to suffer for Christ. Those are the eight character qualities that Jesus says characterize his people who are coming under the authority submission to our God. Kingdom character, there's kingdom influence in verses 13 to 16. We are to be salt and light. And again, these descriptions do not really fit the millennial kingdom. We are to be salt in the sense that we are to be a preservative, spreading the influence of the gospel and of Christ-like character in the midst of a decaying society. We are to be light in the midst of a dark world. So kingdom influence. And then there is kingdom righteousness and this is a heavy thrust in the sermon, verses 17 through 48, all the way through the end of chapter 5, where Jesus says there is a need for heart righteousness, not exterior righteousness. He introduces righteousness in verses 17 to 20. And then he gives six examples of what it means to live with a heart righteousness, not the kind of external righteousness that the Pharisees taught. And we've already seen this debate they've had with Jesus on about the Sabbath laws and so forth where they're emphasizing external observances to traditions. And what Jesus is going to do is say true righteousness is centered on obedience to the Word of God and then he gives six examples. He will take Old Testament teaching and say this is the intent of the command. This is how far it reaches. God is more concerned about what is happening in your heart and so he deals with anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation and love. Those six Old Testament principles and commands and describes how God is interested in what's going on in your heart, not just external crossing all the tees and dotting all the eyes just right like the Pharisees did. So kingdom righteousness is different from what the Pharisees were teaching. And then kingdom religion, chapter 6 verses 1 through 6 and 16 to 18, he talks about true religion being a matter of the heart and again he gives three examples, giving, praying and fasting. And he says here's the way that the Pharisees give, here's the way they pray, here's the way they fast, it's all external, it's all to be observed, it's all to be recognized and God is more concerned about what's going on in your heart. True religion, true spirituality is what goes on in your heart between you and God. It's not doing stuff to be observed and to be seen of men. And then he deals further with kingdom praying in chapter 6 verses 7 through 15 where again he contrasts mechanical, meaningless prayer with heartfelt communication with God. There's a difference in the way the Pharisees prayed and the way my subjects should pray, those who follow me, kingdom praying. Then he deals with kingdom ambition in chapter 6 verses 19 through 34 and he talks about the difference between worldly ambition and eternal ambition. Don't seek after the things of this world he says, treasures, things that moth and rust will corrupt and destroy, put your treasure in heaven, he says. And don't worry about what you're going to be clothed in and what you're going to eat tomorrow. Don't worry about those things. The Gentiles, he says, worry about those things. Unsafe people worry about those things. But then he says at the end of that section, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will be added to you. God will take care of you if you have the right ambition in like kingdom ambitions seeking first his kingdom, his righteousness and all these other things God will take care of. So kingdom ambition, then kingdom relationships in chapter 7 verses 1 through 12 and he deals with several examples of relationships how we should relate to our brother, not judging, how we should relate to dogs and pigs. That's an interesting study by the way. He's actually talking about people, unclean animals, people who trample underfoot the gospel that you give them, people who resist God and do it over and over again and trample under foot the precious news of the gospel. Talks about how we should relate to them as well. And then he talks about how we should relate to the father and then how we should relate to everyone. The golden rule, it's often called which is again one of the most misunderstood parts of the sermon. Some people think that's how you get saved, doing to others, you would have them do unto you. If you just live that way, you'll get to heaven. That's not at all what Jesus was talking about. He's talking about is people who are already saved, people who are already my subjects, my followers, my disciples, you're to treat other people that way. And then he talks about kingdom discernment in chapter 7 verses 13 to 20, choosing the right road in life, contrast the narrow road with the broad road, and avoiding false teachers, recognizing that some wolves dress up in sheep's clothing. You've got to have discernment to sniff that out and not to be deceived by false teaching. Then there's kingdom commitment in chapter 7 verses 21 to 27. A wholehearted commitment to Christ is what it takes to be a part of his kingdom. The house on the rock, house on the sand analogy is used there. And then the kingdom's king in verses 28 and 29. Crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught us one who had authority, not as their teachers of the law. So the king himself, who has the authority to rule over us, has the authority to tell us how to live. And we are his subjects, we are his followers, he is the king. All right, that's just a brief summary of the sermon on the mount. Let me throw it out in for any questions I've done too much talking tonight. We haven't had the kind of discussion that we typically would have. Anybody have a question or comment this evening? Yes, Holly? It is impossible for us to fully do everything in this sermon. Matthew 548, be you perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. It is in a sense impossible, although the goal is there and we're always to be reaching toward it, it could be that command has more to do with how you treat other people as he describes loving your enemy, not only your neighbor. So in that sense be perfect, be complete, mature like your father in heaven is. I would say as with any standard of conduct, none of us are going to reach it perfectly, but it is possible to continue pursuing that. Yes. Yes. It highlights the difficulty of true righteousness for sure. And that's exactly Jesus' point in chapter 5. Is the Pharisees think you're okay if you don't murder someone. As long as you don't actually take a knife or a gun or something and murder someone you're okay, but Jesus says, wait a second, what's going on inside your mind? Do you hate your brother? Do you hate that person? Do you call him a blockhead? Which is what rockup means by the way, similar to our term blockhead. You blockhead, Jesus says if you say things like that, you pretty much as much as murdered them. So he's more concerned about what's going on in your mind and your heart, which does elevate the standard of righteousness to a point that not quite as easy as the Pharisees thought it was. You know? Yes. Except God. Yes. Yeah, Jesus highlighting the fact that there is no one that can be perfect except for God. Yes. But the standard is there for us to continue to grow toward. Yes. I think so. Yes, John. Five, five. What do we want to do with the earth? Well, there is a sense in which ultimately those who are under God's rule, all of us as believers, will inherit the earth. Ultimately, the kingdom on this earth is an earthly kingdom and it will be delivered up to the Father and we will have an eternal abode on this earth. We will live forever on this earth. According to Revelation 21, 22, and Randy Alcorn's book, heaven. I think he's right that the place where we will eternally dwells in New Jerusalem, which comes down in dwells on this earth. So inheriting the earth is basically in the sense of the people who live this character, who demonstrate by their character that their my children will be with me in this eternal abode of our kingdom. I think some of our theology is mistaken about the future when we think that we're going to heaven to escape this earth. Jesus is going to recreate this earth and it's going to be the perfect place for us. If you've never read the book, heaven, please get it and read it. I think Randy Alcorn makes a great case for our eternal dwelling place and I won't try to get into all that, but I think we will inherit the earth. Yes, Gisdy? Any kind of Gisdy saying, don't you think when we look at a list like this, we can turn it into a legalistic, external form of righteousness that we think we can do this and it's possible to do that with any list of godly character qualities. Fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace. I just kind of try to love more. I've got to be more joyful today. I'm going to try to do that. Or character qualities in person of the three for spiritual leadership. It's easy to take any list of character qualities and make them something that I do and that's never the intent. Gisdy's intent is only these things can be produced as God through His Spirit works in a spice grace to produce this kind of character. Certainly, the Beatitudes are in that category. We don't become poor in spirit by trying to beat ourselves down. We become poor in spirit by recognizing the righteousness of God and then we understand that it's only by His grace we can be saved and live for Him and accomplish anything for Him and that develops that attitude of being poor in spirit. Yeah, it's a good point. Okay, it's eight o'clock. All done. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your grace without which we could not be anything. It's close to what you want us to be. I thank you, Father, that Jesus was in a sense saying that to the Pharisees through this sermon that righteousness is not just an external obedience to a standard, to a tradition. It is a heart relationship with you that then produces the fruit of righteousness. And I pray, Father, that we will always seek to allow your spirit to manifest through us those character qualities that you would want, that we may be more like Christ, that as we behold Him through your Word, we'll be transformed into His image from glory to glory. Thank you for our Savior, for His teaching. Pray that we will be good subjects of His, that we will truly allow you to rule in our hearts and our lives as our Lord. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.